A Gluttonous Experience

Today has been a slow moving day. Getting up and off to the gym was unusually difficult and I seemed to feel as though I had been hit by a truck, sometime between last night and 6:30am this morning. I arrived at the gym around 7:30am, still feeling REALLY sluggish. Half hour into my workout, I am slow moving, have no endurance, and sweating like a pig. Right after this thought, the light came on and I realized the culprit was the pig, in last nights dinner. After hearing nothing but good things, I checked out "The Purple Pig", (500 N Michigan Ave), last night. Let me start by saying that nothing about this morning makes me regret the indulgence that took place, last evening. 

Being fortunate enough to catch a great Chicago evening, we were seated outside. The menu, alike the communal table arrangements, were designed for sharing. We started with a great rock shrimp antipasti with three different types of peas, shaved asparagus with feta cheese, a fried cheese dish that reminded me of a great Greek saganaki (sans fire), and a fried deviled egg. The deviled egg stood apart as an early favorite, mostly because it was fried, but also because it didn't remind me of the traditional deviled egg that I don't particularly like. We then moved onto the "Smears" portion of the menu. Feeling adventurous, we went with the roasted bone marrow with herbs. Never having ordered, or eaten, bone marrow before, I can say that it's texture was similar to the fat on a grilled ribeye steak. We "smeared" the hot marrow over bread, and mutually found our maiden marrow experience to be better than expected.

For our final round, we ordered braised pig's tails, pork blade steak and the milk braised pork shoulder with mashed potatoes. Alike the bone marrow, eating pig's tail was a new experience. After marinading in balsamic vinegar, the tails were covered in brown sugar, then braised. The end product was delicious, and tasted a lot like ribs. For desert, we tried the Sicilian iris, which came heavily recommended by a neighboring diner. The iris is a deep fried ricotta and chocolate chip filled brioche, and yet again, delicious!

Everything we had at The Purple Pig was fantastic. If you're in Chicago, and enjoy pork, check out this restaurant, you won't be disappointed. Just be forewarned, you won't be operating at full speed the next day!