My spouse and I enjoyed brunch at The Spotted Pig on a
Sunday afternoon in late May 2016. The restaurant is located at the corner of
West 11th Street and Greenwich Street in the West Village. The
Spotted Pig does not accept reservations, but their website provides you with a
neighborhood map and suggestions on where to have a drink while you wait for
your table (such as the Rusty Knot, Perry St, and The Other Room, all of which are
located within a 3-minute walk of the Spotted Pig). The restaurant serves lunch
on weekdays, brunch on weekends, and dinner daily, in addition to a late
afternoon bar menu, and of course, drinks. Fortunately, we did not have to wait
for a table on the afternoon that we dined, probably because it was a holiday
weekend and most Manhattanites had fled the city.
The Spotted Pig is British Chef April Bloomfield’s first
Manhattan restaurant; it is a gastropub that features “nose-to-tail” eating
(using all parts of the animal). The Spotted Pig opened in 2004, and it has
held a Michelin star for many years since that time. Chef also runs The Breslin
and the John Dory Oyster Bar (both at the Ace Hotel), and Salvation Taco (at
the Pod 39 Hotel), as well as a restaurant in San Francisco. "Food +
Wine" magazine once named April Bloomfield as its “Best New Chef”. We have
visited both The Breslin and Salvation Taco (see our reviews on TripAdvisor
from November 2014 and April 2014, respectively).
The Spotted Pig is located in a corner building, and the restaurant
space covers two floors that offer more than 100 seats. (When the restaurant
first opened, only the street-level dining room and bar were available, but
then the owner expanded the space to include the second-floor dining room and
bar.) The greenery/foliage/flowers outside the restaurant are an attractive site
in the neighborhood. Both floors contain a bar with barstool seating, as well
as tables. Note that the tables in this restaurant are all quite low, and the
seating for those low tables are short padded bar stools. For this reason, we do
not feel that this restaurant is quite handicap-accessible. (A member of our
family has some mobility issues, and we would not be able to dine comfortably with
her at The Spotted Pig. In fact, NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni once
suggested that the restaurant provide guests with a special Kama Sutra handout
to instruct diners on the contortions necessary to get into and out of their
seats! Hilarious but true!) The décor at the restaurant is quirky and kitschy
and covers every available surface, with framed prints, decorative plates,
mirrors, and pig memorabilia accenting the dark wood floors, wooden stools with
colorful cushioned tops, pressed tin ceilings, and many windows; the resulting
effect is warm, cozy, colorful, and cramped, yet bustling and fun. The
second-floor restroom is unisex, yet has two stalls, so someone of the opposite
sex could be utilizing the stall directly next to yours, which felt a bit strange
(probably due to the extremely close quarters, the very narrow stalls, and the
shared sink).
The Spotted Pig serves British and Italian-influenced food. As
starters, we shared the chicken liver toast (chunky chicken liver pate spread
on crusty bread) and the deviled eggs (topped with chopped chives and chervil
and sprinkled with paprika). For our entrees, we ordered the pork rillettes (a
jar of meat spread served alongside mustard, pickled vegetables, and sliced
toasted bread) and the burger and fries (the beef was topped with Roquefort cheese
and served alongside an impressive pile of impossibly thin rosemary shoestring
fries). Fortunately, when the runner delivered our entrees, she instructed us
to mix the rillettes thoroughly; otherwise, we might have tried to spread a bit
of the fat and the shredded pork separately on the bread. After the two
textures mixed, the fat softened and blended nicely with the meat to a most
delicious consistency and taste! For dessert, we shared the rhubarb tart (served
with crème fraiche, nuts, and caramel drizzle).
We
have been trying to dine at The Spotted Pig for years, but we never wanted to
wait for a table. It was fantastic that we experienced a good meal on a
less-busy-than-usual weekend!
