The Spotted Pig

So here's the real confession, I LOVE the West Village. I love downtown in general, especially the West Village, which is slightly ironic because I've always lived on the East side. To me, The East Village all about the convenience, but the West Village is a gem. It is less hectic, a lot of more quaint, and somewhere tucked in the narrow streets with pretty names like Jane Street, Gay Street, Horatio Street is an establishment which is conceptually still quite new to New York called The Spotted Pig, and it's a gastropub. If it sounds very English, that's because the chef April Bloomfied (also executive chef at John Dory) is from England.

For a restaurant with the word "pig" in its name, they actually don't serve a lot of pork dishes. The decor is simple, with wooden tables & chairs and a long bar in the front.

I tried a few things on the menu on a recent late night visit to The Spotted Pig. I loved the Sheep’s Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage. After doing some reading online, it seems that chef April Bloomfield started a gnudi frenzy. A gnudi is a small dumpling but instead of potato, it's made with ricotta cheese. It's more delicate than a gnochhi and the brown butter & sage sauce was simple yet fantastic.

The Prosciutto & Ricotta Tart with Marjoram was another hit, the ricotta tart was so fluffy & buttery, and I've never even heard of the word "marjoram" until I went to The Spotted Pig. After reading an interview online with April Bloomfield, sounds like she loves marjoram & think it's underrated. It's a green herb with aromatic leaves, it looks a little bit like the rocket/arugula.

I heard the Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings was popular, turned out it's special not in the burger but in the cheese they put on top of the burger. Roquefort cheese is made with ewe's milk. It had the pungent taste of a blue cheese. Sounds fancy? Now you know what I mean by a gastropub?

The Deviled Eggs on the other hand was very so-so, it was very vinegar-y, I've definitely had better ones.

I laughed out loud when I read this interview on NYT - April Bloomfield said that her guilty pleasure is condensed milk, directly quoting her - "until you boil it for four hours and then it becomes sex in a tin!".....now where's my condense milk? :D

Address: The Spotted Pig, 314 W. 11th Street @ Greenwich St., New York, NY 10014.