Tag Archives: hoisin

Living High on the Hog (Peckish Pig)

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Mark T

Wow, where has all the time gone? My first quarter in grad school has come and gone. I came out on the other side of stats class a little older due to stress, but overall I’m ready to go into quarter numero dos starting January 3rd. The holidays are currently upon us in Chicagoland, and the weather is definitely playing its part. We have it all: -30 F temperatures, icy streets, and snow covered sidewalks. Luckily, these bleak conditions are ideal for writing some wonderful Mastication Monologues posts that I’m sure you have all been clamoring for due to my prolonged hiatus. Today’s post involves the Peckish Pig, Evanston’s first brewpub.

Chicago has always been a city that has enjoyed its adult beverages. My parents have always told me about how many bars there were in the old neighborhoods they would frequent, and how now most have them have gone away due to changing regulations and consumer tastes, among other influences. However, the rise of craft beers has been seized upon by many purveyors of food, and they have been reaping the benefits ever since. Case in point, the Peckish Pig which is always overflowing with patrons come rain or shine, so I would recommend making a reservation ahead of time if you’re not willing to wait. Janice and I tried this eatery when it was a bit warmer this year, but the laid-back, gastropub ambiance is a warm welcome for most diners even in the dead of a Chicago winter.

There’s always one person creeping on me when I take pictures.

We started our meal with some libations to cool ourselves off. The Peckish Pig had an extensive drink list, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. I was interested in their beers given we were in a brewery while Janice was naturally drawn to the mixed drinks. She went with the shoemaker ($11), and I got a cherry beer. The shoemaker was toe-tappingly good with a mix of Belle Meade bourbon, amaretto, amaro, and walnut bitters to cut through the sweetness with an ever-so-slight earthiness. My cherry beer was not as elating since it seemed to only be “cherry” in terms of hue. They could take some notes from the Belgian Kriek makers if they are looking for a refreshing beer that is both colored and flavored nearly exactly like the sundae toppers. I would not recommend this beer if you are a fan of fruit beers that are bursting with flavor. At least it looked pretty if that was any consolation. Moving on to the appetizer round, we let our grumbling stomachs lead the way. After looking over their options (there are vegetarian options, by the way!), we decided to try their selection of European meats and cheeses ($15 for a medium and $20 for a large plank) as well as their Brussels sprouts ($7). When both arrived at our table, we could see why the name of the establishment was the Peckish Pig. The portions for the price were gigantic, so we were quite excited to tuck into the wonderful repast in front of us. First, there were the Brussels sprouts. The typical scourge of kids’ palates at dinnertime is actually one of Janice and my favorite foods. Therefore, we expected this version with bacon and brown butter to be a highlight of the meal, but similar to my cherry beer, it did not live up to the hype. Yes, it contained all of the aforementioned ingredients on the same plate; however, together they did not taste like anything. It only tasted like some more well done pieces of bacon along with the bitter, almost burnt flavor of the roasted Brussels sprouts. We were not impressed. Thank the culinary gods the charcuterie version of Noah’s Ark came ashore on our table. Where to begin? At the top left, there was the Manchego cheese that was a bit better than your typical Manchego which is known for being crumbly and moderately grainy. It was a bit part player to the other elements on the chopping block. Next, there was the Gloucester cheddar with chives; the very same of the famous Cotswold Games where they roll a wheel of the delicious dairy down a hill while people give chase and try to catch it. Don’t believe me? Check it out here (Fast forward to 2:09 for the rolling). This was the double variety of the cheddar which meant that it had a very sharp cheddar tang to it which was enhanced by the chives. Definitely one of my favorites. To the right of the cheddar was the Stilton blue cheese that was the standout favorite of mine. It paired particularly well with the apricot jam because the potent funk of the cheese was soothed by the dulcet tones of the fruit spread. Finally, there was the ash-cured goat cheese that had a hint of smoke to its flavor profile but was not much different from the run-of-the-mill spreadable cheese. Following the cheese top half, there were the meats. The salami on the left was slightly spicy which I enjoyed as I moved on to the Spanish chorizo. I personally prefer the peninsular sausage over its Mexican equivalent due to its low greasiness and high piquancy. Next to the red disks of chorizo was a fellow Spanish product: Serrano ham. It is Spain’s take on Italian prosciutto, and I highly recommend trying some in this lifetime. It is both delicate yet filling with a bold, peppery flavor. Finally, the Peckish Pig plank treated us to some duck meat which was rich but nothing of note.

We definitely overestimated how hungry we were and the portion sizes at the Peckish Pig when we ordered our food because we also got an order of the hog wings ($13). You’ll never see wings this big at another restaurant unless pigs fly.

Slightly intimidating

These pork shanks were marinated in a hoisin sauce that was sweet and tangy with a soy base to represent its Far East roots. If you’re looking for an app that is gargantuan in size and flavor, I highly recommend this tribute to marinated meat.

Good all the way to the bone

For the entree, I got a duck sandwich ($14). Mind you, you might be wondering how I survived this marathon of delicious food, but I only ate half of the sandwich. Nevertheless, I greatly savored the meal that on paper should not have left the runway but in practice soared like a Concorde. The panini-style foccacia was fresh and crunchy and contained a true yin and yang of flavor profiles. First, the smoky duck was enhanced by the coffee bacon. You read that right. Coffee bacon.

Grounds for imprisonment…in my stomach

Once more the Peckish Pig kitchen managed to finagle some coffee-cured piggy into a dish we tried, and it was executed to perfection. With all of these smoky and savory flavors swirling around my tongue, I appreciated the neutral brie that brought them under control and allowed for the sweet and spicy apricot spread to compliment the rest of the sandwich. It was a very unique sandwich that expertly balanced sweet, spicy, salty, bitter, and umami between two pieces of foccacia. Talk about a mouthful! At this point, we thought it wasn’t possible to finish another bite, dessert was calling our name. We found room for the English sticky toffee pudding ($7). It was a sumptuous feast for both our eyes and taste buds. The moist cake was studded with small chunks of delicious toffee and swimming in a thin pool of custard cream and caramel sauce. If anything, skip the meal and just have dessert. It is definitely worth it.

Overall, the Peckish Pig is a casual restaurant that would be ideal for catching up with old friends and family or perhaps you would like to try one of Chicagoland’s many brewpubs. I would also recommend it for its attention to both meat-lovers and vegetable fans as well as its extensive drink menu.

Good But Not Gr8

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Mark T

Welcome to Mastication Monologues! If this is your first time here, prepare to be amazed with some of the most unique and delicious food adventures you’ve ever seen. If you’re coming back, then thank you so much for your support and your views. Remember to always tell your friends about my reviews as well. So, today’s post deals with a cuisine that I never really dabbled seriously in until recently: Vietnamese food. For a majority of my life, I ate mostly Chinese or Japanese food, but then I started dating my lovely gf Janice who just so happened to live next to Little Vietnam in Chicago. Therefore, the amount of Vietnamese restaurants I have tried now have increased greatly, and Pho 888 is one of them.

If you walk down Argyle street, you’ll be beckoned by every storefront since there is a plethora of Vietnamese eateries and Chinese bakeries like the iconic Tank Noodle shop or Bale Sandwiches, but I wanted to try Pho 888 since I had heard good things about it. Plus, it didn’t seem as Hollywood as the more popular eateries. Janice, Michael, and I hit this place up back in December a.k.a. life in the Ice Age. So, they both wanted to get the quintessential Vietnamese dish, pho, but I was in the mood for something different. Inside, the place was super simply furnished with plenty of chili sauces and seasonings on the table. It’s literally a dining room and a kitchen. The menu was huge like any good Asian restaurant, and the prices were pretty cheap (range of 4-12 bucks per item). After a bit of deliberation, we made our choices and waited for the food to come out. The first dish we sampled were the gỏi cuốn or “salad rolls” in English. They consisted of bún (vermicelli noodles), cooked shrimp, herbs, greens, and it was all wrapped up in bánh tráng (rice paper). These rolls were served at room temperature and were a refreshing alternative to fried spring rolls that sometimes can be too greasy. The tương xào (hoisin sauce) that was served on the side had peanut pieces in it, but all of it put together was delectable. The sticky rice paper was strong enough to hold all of the ingredients within its insanely thin cocoon. Everything from the shrimp to the fresh cilantro and lemongrass made this dish really pop, and dipping the rolls in the sweet hoisin sauce blended well with the herbal notes from the vegetables. As for the vermicelli, it provided a much needed body to the rolls and a solid foundation for the house party that was happening in my mouth. The other appetizer we got, the fried shrimp balls, were quite the opposite experience. While they looked scrumptious on the outside with their golden brown exteriors with an accompaniment of greens, pickled radish, and some sweet and sour dipping sauce on the side, what we found inside was horrifyingly gross. I don’t know what was inside them, but it was like eating pre-chewed eggs mixed with seafood with the consistency of cream cheese. I’ll just leave you with that image. On the plus side, my main course came out soon thereafter I tasted one of these horrid appetizers. I got the chả tôm (shrimp cake) and pork combo that was paired with more noodles, greens, pickled radish and carrot salad, fresh cucumbers, rice paper, and a bowl of warm water to make my own gỏi cuốn. I tried a bit of the shrimp cake, but I really didn’t like it. It was more fishy tasting than the fresh shrimp from the salad rolls we ate earlier in the meal, and it just seemed oddly artificial with its orange, spongy, Nerf-like interior yet wrinkled, glistening exterior.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on one plate

That cake ain’t right

So, I focused more on eating the seasoned pork that was stir fried in a chili sauce that had plenty of personality to make up for the awkward shrimp cakes on my plate. So, I set to making my first Vietnamese spring roll. First, I had to take one of the rice paper disks and submerge it in the warm water. Once wet, I placed it on my plate, and I placed my ingredients in the middle of the nearly invisible Vietnamese version of a tortilla. Then came the tricky part. Rolling this rice paper up into a presentable roll was way more difficult than making a taco since the edges of the rice paper were incredibly sticky which meant that if you didn’t position your toppings right while rolling, then you risked a lopsided roll that will explode all over your hands/clothes when you bite into it. After some trial and error, I finally got the hang of it, and it was an interactive meal that I really enjoyed. As for Michael’s and Janice’s pho, I found it to be just below Tank Noodle’s version since it seemed to be a bit more on the salty side, but it still was delicious and kept us warm against the frigid conditions outside.

So if you’re looking for a real authentic Vietnamese restaurant in Chicago that may not be the best but does have simple and fresh food for reasonable prices, check out Pho 888.

Number One Sun, Wah You So Good?

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Mark T

In the beginning, there was meat. Meat, meet fire. Fire + meat = a dawn of a new culinary era. Fast forward from the caveman days to today, and this elemental fixture of meat roasting over a fire drives our entire food industry. It has been elaborated upon by different cultures and chefs to the delight of generations of eaters around the world. Today’s entry focuses on a restaurant whose entire existence revolves around not only the glorification of roasted meat but the ceremony of serving said meat. If you’ve new to Hong Kong style barbecue, then I highly recommend visiting Sun Wah BBQ located in the Little Vietnam/Edgewater neighborhood on the North side of Chicago.

While there are plenty of top quality Vietnamese restaurants surrounding Sun Wah, this is the number one place to go for Hong Kong barbecue in the area. I haven’t tried any places similar to Sun Wah in Chinatown, but I’m sure they’re out there. However, I have tried actual Hong Kong barbecue while in Hong Kong along with some other more serpentine delights. While Sun Wah doesn’t get as crazy as they do back in the homeland, they do offer plenty of quality plates to choose from. Their crown jewel is their Peking duck service where you can get a full meal for $40. Note: Remember to call ahead to order it when making a reservation since they can run out of ducks! After I tried Peking duck in its home city, Beijing, I can say that Sun Wah’s quality is the same as in China with a couple small differences that I’ll address later. Now, I’ve been throwing around the word “barbecue” left and right in this article, but let’s not get American and Hong Kong barbecue conflated. While American barbecue focuses on using savory/spicy sauces and different types of wood to smoke the meat, HK barbecue utilizes sweet and aromatic glazes to be rubbed on the meat before being placed on a fork and roasted over a fire. Any way you slice it, I love them both! Anyway, back to the meal. Janice, I, and her whole family went there for her mom’s birthday. It was very large and busy inside, and we could inspect the hanging ducks in the front window while we waited for our table to be ready. Once seated, we went ahead and ordered some starters like pan fried soft shell crab, butterfly shrimp, and stir fried Shanghai bok choi. While I’m not a huge seafood fan, I enjoyed the soft shell crab. It was crunchy yet soft on the inside, and the breading was light and buttery. Just goes to show that deep-frying things improves food every time. The butterfly shrimp were really decadent yet so so good. Not only were they fried but wrapped with bacon. *Cue the heavens opening*. As for the bok choi, it was good but not great. True, it wasn’t fried, but you can only do so much with greens. Eventually, the pièce de résistance came out: the Peking duck. The preparation hasn’t changed much since 500 A.D., but as the old adage says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. With this meal, I wouldn’t change a thing. First, they wheeled the roast duck to the side of our table to slice it in front of our eyes. This was very different from my experience in Beijing. Instead of being in a deserted open air courtyard in a small hutong, it was brightly lit and surrounded by friendly faces. The duck in Beijing had the neck and head still attached while the Sun Wah duck had it chopped it off before it even came to our table. Another key difference was the serving style. While in Beijing, they brought each plate out with each component of the duck: skin (the most coveted part of the meal) first, then a bit of meat, and then a connected meat and skin combo with a bisected roasted duck head that I ate. At Sun Wah, time is money, so they just heaped it all on one plate even with drumsticks. They then gave us warm and squishy bread buns, julienned carrots and onions, hoisin sauce, and fried rice on the side. Beijing differed in the fact that they didn’t have carrots, but instead had onions, cucumber, and a thick sweet bean/hoisin sauce. Also, instead of sliced buns, the Beijing Peking duck was eaten with steamed pancakes that were like rice tortillas. Plus, they also gave me horseradish and sugar on the side that they didn’t at Sun Wah. Even though Sun Wah was slightly different, it didn’t mean that it was inferior in any aspect. When all of the aforementioned ingredients were combined in one of the fresh and fluffy buns, it was amazing! From the crunchy sweet skin to the tender duck and fresh vegetables jazzed up with the sweet soy notes, it was a parade of flavors and textures that resulted in culinary perfection. Finally, they took the remaining bones and residual meat into the back to make a thin but rich duck broth filled with crunchy winter melon. It was a warming end to a sumptuous dinner, and a wonderful way to celebrate with Janice’s family. Plus, for a dinner for five, it was less than 100 bucks! Not a bad bill for the duck (pun totally intended).