after dinner sneeze

t says:  Every now and then you hear about something devastating and have a severe negative reaction: sadness, anger, regret.  These emotions are often appropriate, following things like national/international tragedies, losses of family, etc.  But every now and then, they sneak up and ninja you at times you didn’t expect.  For example – it’s like when you trade in your first car – I mean who cares – it’s just a car!  It didn’t matter yesterday, when you used your foot to kick your door closed because your hands were full.  And you were so excited today, when you bought a new car!  But I’ll never forget the few seconds of remorse that flashed into my mind as we left the dealer, never to see our trusty ‘ol red-orange-burgundy-colored S40 behind ever again [even though we were driving away in a newer, better car!].  Sometimes I still look for her …

Well, today is one of those days:

Pig BYOB extraordinaire, Cochon, has closed.

For those that don’t know, Cochon was the classic “Philly BYO” in the truest sense.  It was small.  It was homely.  Chef cooked spendidly, but stayed out of the spotlight.  Prices were incredibly reasonable, often in the low-20’s.  Portions were incredible.  You always felt like you were “getting away with something” when you ate there – like how could it be that you had such a great meal without spending $50 per head?!

That said, I recognize that g and I haven’t been to Cochon in years – 2013 according to our blog.  Of course, we still recommended it to everyone, but we just hadn’t made it there ourselves.  I guess we, like the rest of Philly, forgot about it.  Damn.  Had we lost our way?  Maybe we got caught up in things like “craft cocktails”, “beer gardens”, and “tasting menus”.  We sought out the hot new restaurants with narrow niches, like Pho and “plant-based” cuisine.  “Interesting wine lists” made us tolerate the non-BYO-tariff.  “Celebrity chefs” came from New York and/or television cooking shows.  Meanwhile, the Solomonov, Vetri, and 13th Street empires continue to grow, proving that success-begets-success.  The Philly dining scene has certainly lost its Scrappy-Doo attitude, nowadays far closer in resemblance to Fred[dy Prinze Junior].

So let’s to take a moment to reflect on the Cochon:
It all started in 2009 for us.  (Cochon apparently opened in 2007, though).
There were pork shoulders and tenderloins and everything inbetween (want “the fish?” or “the duck?” – it probably had pork in it).
But of course, the memories that will get me just a little choked up will be those of the BRUNCH:
The Elvis French Toast and Those One-Inch-Thick Pancakes (sometimes with chocolate!)

So yes, we at adsz will mourne the loss of Cochon.  While I am sad they didn’t have a celebratory “Cochon is closing week!” where undoubtedly the adsz would have dropped everything to attend one last hurrah – perhaps it is better this way, leaving us with the fond memories of dining with mimosas/wine in hand, raising a glass to how lucky we were be together, eating [there].