Um, here’s a tip from me to you. If you want to use your laptop, you have to charge it. I know! News to me! I got on the train yesterday, opened my laptop and had 2% battery which lasted all of one minute.
Monday my friend Morgan and I had plans to see Samin Nosrat at the Harris Theater. If you haven’t seen her show on Netflix – Salt Fat Acid Heat – you need to. She’s got such a passion for food and just such a bubbly personality.
We had time to grab dinner and The Purple Pig has been on my bucket list forever. Only one tiny problem, they don’t take reservations. But we got there at 5:30 and luckily got a seat. By the time we left at 7:15 I think there were at least 30 people waiting for a table!
There’s my friend Morgan – best food date evah.
The Purple Pig is like a shared plate place – she said between the two of us – 3 to 4 dishes would be plenty.
We started out with the ham croquettes. At first I thought the mustard seeds was a mustarda – a slightly sweet mustard sauce – but it was just pickled mustard seeds – what?! It had a saffron aioli and they were spectacular. I am going to figure out an air fryer recipe for this.
We got the grilled broccoli with an anchovy vinaigrette and toasted bread crumbs – so good!
We split the New York strip – which was amazing. I always worry when restaurants slice the beef in the kitchen. Part of me thinks “are they cutting into it to see if it’s cooked to temp?!” I’ve had beef get dry at other restaurants that do this, but this was like butter – juicy, delicious. That chimichurri sauce was amazeballs
Mom, we will have to come here so you can try the Halibut. So amazing!! It had a crispy crust, an eggplant salad (and Mom, I am not even a fan of eggplant and I ate every bite of it), with crispy chick peas. Swoon.
And probably because I am Instafamous (not!) they brought us two desserts to try – this one was a crispy donut filled with a chocolate chip ricotta filling – what was interesting is that the inside was warm!
And we split the coffee gelato – so good.
Our event ended around 9:10 so I was able to grab the 9:30 train. Which got me home at 11. Ha!
And I was almost the next to last car in the parking lot.
I am kicking myself for not trying The Purple Pig sooner. My suggestion is to go early or be prepared to wait for a table – which is totally worth it to me. They moved across the way and are now in the lobby of 444 N. Michigan Avenue, which ironically I worked at the building when 9/11 happened, and my husband quickly put my resume on Monster.com so I wouldn’t work downtown anymore. I didn’t like me working in the city. I didn’t come back to work downtown until after he died – but if he were alive, he’s still worry. 😀
Happy Wednesday friends – come back tomorrow for our next adventure – Morgan and I went to see Chef Sean Brock and had dinner at The Vig in Old Town. Stay tuned!
Purple Pig is one of my favorite restaurants on the entire planet (and I do travel! 🙂 ) Looks like some new things on the menu and since they moved. It’s been over a year since I’ve been to Chicago. My favorite thing there is the chicken thighs. I don’t know what they do to a humble thigh but it’s magic!
I’ve been wanting to try that place forever – I hate places that don’t take reservations though…
I know – that’s the only downfall – we got there early, but there were 30 people waiting in line when we left at 7:15!