I rarely post about the same restaurant more than once, but recently I had the opportunity to return to The Purple Pig and I just had to share the experience. This time I went with Michelle from Taste As You Go who is just as lovely in person as online and we had a great time sampling the menu and gossiping over wine.
Once again we started with the pork fried almonds. They may have been even better this time around though instead of pork bits, there were roasted garlic cloves in the bowl. I won't bore you with another picture of them. We shared the eggplant caponata with goat cheese ($11). A sweet and savory caponata balances the thickly smeared, tart goat cheese on rustic bread.
The dish that I was most excited to try was just as good as I had hoped it would be. Pig's ear with crispy kale, pickled peppers and a fried egg ($8). The pig's ear is thinly sliced and fried to a crisp. The yolk from the egg gives the dish a silky feel to balance the crunch and the peppers spice it up a bit.
The panini with taleggio and fig jam ($10) added a bit of substance to the meal and once again provided us with that perfect balance of salty and sweet.
The broccoli with roasted garlic and anchovy vinaigrette ($7) is fresh with a dressing reminiscent of a Caesar salad dressing. The breadcrumbs add a bit of a crunchy texture.
We could not resist dessert and the Sicilian Iris ($7) did not disappoint. It's a brioche filled with ricotta and chocolate chips and fried. It's topped with powdered sugar and tastes like the best filled doughnut ever.
Clearly The Purple Pig is consistent in its excellence and I am looking forward to more return visits.
The Purple Pig
500 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 464-1PIG (744)
Website
15 comments:
The caponata looks yummy!
I agree... this just made me hungry for caponata!!!
Those almonds are a must try! Such a great idea. It'd be nice to candy the bacon and maybe add some red pepper flakes for spice. Yum.
Apparently the purple pig is somewhere I need to go...even the veg options sound delicious!
Your photos look so much better than mine. I really have to get over traveling with the dSLR. I bought it for a reason, right??
:)
wish we could have seen the inside of that dessert!!
those almonds sound insanely good
In love with the name of this place :)
Doughnuts and pigs ears? Now, why didn't I diner here again? Darn!
man i really need to plan a chicago trip just to eat at all these places you keep writing about! that Sicilian Iris is calling my name!
This look great! I must try this place soon! Thanks for sharing!
My goodness! I'd be giddy with glee at the sprinkling of pork bits in my dishes. The meal looks so good.
I normally don't like to blog about a restaurant twice either, but this place looks like they have delicious food, look at that egg! I'm a big fan of good eggs. :D
I'm a huge fan of The Purple Pig! It was great meeting you at the event last night!
I really wish I lived near this restaurant because the food looks so scrumptious I'm drooling all over my keyboard!
I want to go back to the Purple Pig! The goat cheese schmeared rustic bread looks amazing with the capoonata. And, that doughnut! Wow.
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