after dinner sneeze

t says: We went to Cochon for dinner this past weekend, and it was great! I’m not in the mood to do a proper full-on post which includes the context of the visit and super-long descriptions, so let’s go straight to the restaurant and get to the good stuff…

December 2010, Fri Dinner, Party of 6. The atmosphere was very nice – dark tables and little candles reminded me a bit of Audrey Claire – but I hoped the food would be better than Audrey Claire. It did get louder as the evening went on, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.

The food was amazing … I had the pork belly for the first course. It was the best cookery of pork belly I’ve ever experienced. Better than Talula’s. Better than Morimoto. Morimoto might still have an edge for sneaking in those Asian flavors, but damn this was so silky smooth it was unbelievable. And I believe that an appetizer is a great size for pork belly, because I think it would have precipitated a heart attack had I eaten any more (and if I was given more … I would have eaten it without a doubt). I thank them for saving me from myself. There were some Brussels sprouts and bacon underneath the pork belly – they were also quite good. Hell – they could have spun that into a whole ‘other appetizer had they given me more of it. I will say, however, that maybe if they snuck in some sort of something to cut through some of the fat and refresh the palate every now and then (?citrus? veggie? I don’t know) then I’m pretty sure I would have cancelled my second course and ordered another of the pork belly …

For my second course I had the “lamb steak” special. I’m actually blanking on what the cut of lamb was. Maybe I should call them and ask. Nah – what’s the fun in that? In any case, the mystery cut of lamb was surprisingly not “lamby”.

g says: pardon the interruption… it was lamb sirloin. continue!

t says: It really was like eating super tender steak (think of the shape and done-ness of a medium-rare hanger steak with the tenderness of a braised short rib) that had a hint of lamb. It was wonderful. Yes, there was some delicious Israeli couscous underneath it, but who cares? The lamb was the hero.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food as well (g and I went with our parents). sr totally cleaned up his bouillabaisse, and ha did the same with her suckling pig dish. g and her mom had no qualms with the pork loin, and g’s dad dispatched with the scallop dish (we spoiled his appetite beforehand with stromboli and meat and cheese from DiBruno Bros. so he was quite content with a single order of scallops).

The desserts were also pretty tasty – I had the “molten” chocolate cake and was satisfied because the chocolate didn’t just ooze onto the plate after you sliced into it. It was a thick molten chocolate cake. Woohoo! I hate stabbing into a molten chocolate cake and having to chase after the precious oozing liquid all over the plate. This dessert needed but a single scoop of bacon-vanilla ice cream and it would have been perfect …

There were two problems with the evening, though: no parking in the area on a Friday night (which is not really their fault), and there was some poor timing with the scallop dish – it came out a good 5 minutes after everyone else’s. g’s dad didn’t mind – he said that they were handicapping him so he wouldn’t finish his scallops faster than everyone else finished their meal …

Overall, I found this to be a fantastic dinner. The price was reasonable, the food was great. It’s up there near Bibou for our favorite BYO dinner. And it was so much fun to see Cochon at night when it has a bit of “swank” in its atmosphere vs. what we normally see for Sunday brunch (which, btw, is still unbelievable).

THE NEXT DAY …

The next day, g and I were throwing a party, so I picked up a bacon maple apple pie. That’s right. Bacon … in your apple pie … Who would do something like this? The same people that brought you bacon maple cinnamon rolls. I now wonder why would anyone NOT put bacon in their apple pie? I dare say that to NOT put bacon into your apple pie would be un-American! You know – I have no pictures even though I wanted so badly to take one. How’d it taste? Well, I felt that it was very well-executed apple pie with a hint of smoky, salty bacon – it was superb. Not the absolute best pie I’ve ever had, but definitely a step up from ordinary apple pies. g felt the bacon was quite pronounced – I’m still not sure if she felt if that was a good thing or not. Our friends … well … they really didn’t say anything about it in particular – but they did go back for multiple pieces and demolished it … sooooo … I think it was good!

Here’s the question though … Penza’s crumb apple pie vs. GTC’s bacon maple apple pie … On one hand, you have my favorite maker of fruit pies ever (go ahead and google Penza’s pies) … but on the other hand, you have bacon … We have GOT to do this showdown …