Breslin’s Chef’s Table – Suckling Pork Roast

Ever since I read about the Chef’s Table at the Breslin, I’ve wanted to give it a try. Just like the Bo Ssam at Ssam Bar. But it was hard enough to scrounge 6 people for Bo Ssam (and actually has not happened yet), but 8 people? So when the opportunity presented itself you better be sure that I took it. I think I might have hijacked my good friend Lige’s birthday party. And she’s a good friend to be kind enough to let me repurpose this for my own good. (And she’s one of my best friends so she enjoyed every bite of it.) Hah, I mean I wanted to show her a good time, but I think she might have realized later that she asked the wrong person. Our exchange kind of went like this:

Lige: What should I do for my birthday? Where should I go?
Umi: Do Bo Ssam! OMG, I always wanted to try it.
Lige: I think I’ve all ready been to Ssam Bar…
Umi: But you’ve never done the Bo Ssam! Pig Butt!
Lige: Hmmm…
Umi: Let’s do the suckling pig dinner at the BRESLIN!
Lige: I’ve been to the Ace Hotel/Breslin too! And pork? I am beginning to see a pattern…

We got reservations for 8, where they sat us in THE prime location, right in the middle of the back, which was right next to the kitchen. When we got there, we saw these burgers just flying off the table. (They were probably the much written about lamb burgers.) I really just wanted to pluck one off the table and hope they don’t notice. I behaved myself, because, well I needed to save room for what was coming. The suckling pig dinner features a whole suckling pig cooked to perfection (with a crispy salty skin that’s divine), with the sides of caeser salad with anchovy croutons, brocolli rabe, duck fat fried potatoes, roasted fennel, and two different kinds of salsa. The meal concludes with a bitter chocolate tart and icecream.

The sides were delicious. My favorite was the roasted fennel and the potatoes roasted in duck fat. The brocolli rabe was the least favorite, but a great dish to pair and counter balance such porkiness (and contrast to the starchiness of the potatoes). Man, even the caesar salad was amazing. The anchovy croutons were so flavorful and surprisingly full of punch and bite! They give you SO much food. I don’t think we finished a single side… or the whole pork (Jay, Rubi and I took the pig home and I ate pork for two other whole nights).

The pork, I will admit, might look a little grotesque to some. But when you see it in person… the glistening CRISPY skin… that’s enough to make me drool. I was a little worried about carving the thing, but that’s why my +1 (not shown) was another good high school friend and a pathologist at NYU. “Uh… I don’t know how to carve pork, but I can dissect it for you? Isolate all the muscle and tissues…” You know, that sort of thing. I, of course, did not need to worry since our waiter was fully trained and really efficient with the carving.

I mean, we freaking devoured that thing! Absolutely devoured Mr. Pig. I will admit that I polished the shoulder, some belly, meat on the ribs, and by the end of the meal the different cuts were sort of indistinguishable to our untrained eye. It was all REALLY good. The meat was super tender and really fragrant and full of salty flavor (especially with the skin). I mean, I guess they smoked and cooked the pig slowly, but I didn’t put ANY of the salsa on the pig. In fact, my least favorite thing of the whole entire meal was the two salsas that came on the side. UNNECESSARY.

Finally, once you tear the pork apart, towards the end of the meal the waiter comes back and carves up the head for you. He slices open the top (you can take home the skull too) and shows you the brain. Then he proceeds to carve the ears, snout, tongue and cheeks. Jay and I picked out the eyes and we got very little resistance from the rest of the table.

The snout was actually really favorful but there really wasn’t much “meat” per se. Just some soft tissue. The tongue was chewy and delicious. I love tongue. The brain was really bland… surprisingly. I was a little surprised. And here’s the thing, another reason why it’s cool to have a doctor at dinner is this. At first, everyone in the table was a little hesitant to eat the brain. You know, we all knew it was cooked but we were a little skeeved out about, not that it was brain totally, but the idea that brain was “dangerous” to eat. However, Jay assuaged our fears pointing out that pigs don’t have that disease, nor would it be likely to be in any animal not in the wild, and finally the brain was cooked. The brain TOTALLY tasted like pâté. Bland pâté. The ear was crispy and something I’ve had before. The crowning glory of all this is the pork cheek. The most amazing cut of pork I’ve ever had. Delicious, fatty, and so very tender. Better than any pork belly, son. I think hands down, everyone at the table loved the pork cheek and there was so little and we just cut it all up and devoured it.

The desert was top notch, although it’s hard to concentrate on it when you are so full. I loved it. The bittersweet chocolate tart was tasty and not too sweet. I could eat that for a week straight and not get tired of it. The ice cream was divine. It was a light butterscotch and nutty accompaniment that was creamy more than anything. It was a perfect end to a great evening.