Sunday
Aug222010
Sunday, August 22nd—Bar 224
Day 214—Saturday, August 21st, 2010
The Spotted Pig
It’s Saturday and we all know what that means: Cheeseburger Saturday Night! One place I’ve been meaning to go and try the cheeseburger is The Spotted Pig in Greenwich Village. It’s a popular place and known for its cheeseburger, so I thought I’d go early and see if I can snag a seat at the bar. So, it’s off we go.
Here we are, there's no official sign, you have to look for the dangling pig overhead.
Let's go in and see what's happening.
It's already crowded in here, but I see a seat at the bar.
Kristen was the friendly bartender and she was quick with a smile and a beer.
A brick archway leads to tables and chairs in the back.
Here's the view from my perch at the bar.
This lovely trio of ladies were seated next to me at the bar. From left: Abbey, Jeanine and Tracy. They came in from Hoboken and Jeanine had read about the 365 Bars website online. They told me about a bar in Hoboken that has great cheeseburgers, so that may be next week's stop.
And here I am with my neighbors at the bar.
Their food arrives and reminds me that I need to look at the menu.
Here's the draft and cask beers available at the bar.
And the proof of a great pub, a tin ceiling overhead.
Their signature ale, the Spotted Pig Bitter.
There's ceramic pigs in the front window.
And there's also pigs to the left...
And a quartet to the right.
These three hooligans were seated to the right of me.
From left: Buster, Andrew and John. They're studying at a culinary school in the neighborhood and stopped by to do some homework by sampling the cuisine.
And speaking of food, mine's starting to arrive. I started out with the deviled eggs. They had a hint of chili oil to them and were a little spicy and a lot delicious.
And here's the main course, the Roquefort Cheeseburger and shoestring fries. It looks great!
And tastes even better!
Now that's a tasty burger!
My neighbors at the bar were getting ready to head back to Hoboken, so Jeanine and I took a parting picture. Goodnight, everybody!Review
The Spotted Pig is a cozy, two-level gastro-pub. The walls are brick and there are pig ornaments on the bar, wall and hung upside down from the ceiling. The bartenders and staff are friendly and the crowd is a mix of neighborhood locals and tourists who have read about the pub from guidebooks that all give this place a high review.
The owners bill the place as a gastro-pub and as such features two cask beers, Spotted Pig Bitter and Six Points Bengali Tiger IPA. Kelso Pilsner, Harpoon UFO White, Speckled Hen Pub Ale and Guinness Stout are available as draft beers. There’s a good bottled beer selection as well including: Samuel Smith's Organic Lager, Saison Dupont Farm House Ale, Pacifico Clara and Pork Slap Pale Ale. They also have a decent selection of wines and a full liquor bar.
There’s wonderful bar snacks available and some of the offerings are: Deviled Eggs, Marinated Olives, Chicken Liver Toast and Roasted Almonds. Some of the entrees include: Grilled Skirt Steak with Roman Zucchini, Milk Braised Pork with Roasted Trevise and Chard, Pan Roasted Striped Bass with Tomatoes and Saffron and Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings.
Stop by and Dig the Pig (and yes, I stole that from Tim Carey.)
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314 W. 11th St. (@Greenwich St.)
212-620-0393
19 Comments
Reader Comments (19)
"And my soul has been Porkedelicized..."
A great Saturday Cheeseburger Stop for you!
Nice casual looking place and atmosphere.
And that burger!
Perfection!
Th-Th-Th- Th-That's All Folks!
The burger looked great, Marty...massive meat in an age of microwaved soy burgers that look like toasted skin grafts when you have a look under the bun. Three oinks and a hearty squeal for the spotted pig!
Spotted Pig Bitter, man, that sounds great because cask conditioned beers to me taste better. I always like beers from hand pumps, but down here in sunny south Florida we just don't have too many. Burger look great, toasted bun, just like it should be. Nice bar, think maybe we can hook up that pig outside with the lonely one by the front door at Rudy's? They would make a nice couple.
@Al: That would be a good hookup for the Rudy's pig!
Cool place and a great burger! And the fries look tasty too!
Beautiful ceiling! And that bun looks perfect. The deviled eggs looked yummy too. And thanks @Jaws for that imagery, glad I don't like soy burgers. Looks like a very friendly place, somewhere I would feel comfortable relaxing the day away in.
Wow ! I see Old Speckled Hen on draft there ! it's a "must go" to this place for the BBC !
@GENE: I guarantee this place will be BBC approved!
Onik Oink
PS: Los cerdos pueden comer los humanos!
Bueno buscando Burger, ¿tiene carne de cerdo en ella?
Necesito una cerveza ya!
Food looks good! espacially the fries! yum!
Oh, and I saw a few time that you call guys "hooligans" on the website, but what it means in american slang? because we use it in french slang too but not in a positive way at all! in France an "hooligan" is a military from the French Foreign Legion greedy for violence (also they are well known to rape women in Africa, and even if humanitarian associations denounce what happens, the french gov. is not proud of that and try to hide the facts, only few of those thousands crimes went to justice...) So, never say to a French he's an hooligan or he will break your teeth! LOL
@ Puerco de puerco : cuidado con los cerdos porque pueden te corto el pito con los dientes! jaja
@Zioum Zioum: Here it's good-natured slang for troublemaker, I'll watch it if I ever get to France!
That burger literally just made my mouth water. I'm now off to find something at least half as delicious in my kitchen. Not sure I'll succeed.
That burger looks awesome! It's breakfast time here, and I'm craving a burger!!!
Got my "I follow down under" t-shirt the other day. Took a month to arrive (Aussie customs took some interest in it apparently). Will take a photo (with a Cooper's Green of course).
That cheeseburger looked so good that I almost took a bite out of my Mac Book.
Another serious hung over monday. I drank ( a lot at my mates place...6 beers and 5 glasses of red)
I got lost on my walk home and had delusions that I was Eric Carr from KISS. I have no Idea why. Maybe I had them playing on the ipod. Shit. That means I would have been walking the streets at 2am playing air drums. The things ya do....the things ya do.
So its 2 up chucks and a moment of sombre reflection and I'll be back down the pub by 4:30 this arvo for a debrief.
@Brooksy: Howdy mate! I'm expecting my downunder T any day now.
@365: I love ya work, but I'm really struggling to keep it together looking at the beers on the site today. Apologies for sharing my self induced pain.
@SuzRocks: Are you out of ice cream?
@Brooksy: Glad you got the shirt and thanks for the order. Send in the photo when you get a chance!
@Tim Clack: No apologies necessary, I'd say I feel your pain, but I just got back from another night of swilling beer. Hic.
I've heard about this place before and have always wondered if the food was any good. Ever since the advent of Planet Hollywood, I've been a little wary of those "investor-owned" places. I know Mario Batali co-owns this place, and I'm pretty sure Jay Z, Bono and Michael Stipe have their hands in it as well (hope they washed first!). But the burger certainly looks delish and you can't go wrong with deviled eggs! Plus, Kristen seems like a great bartender. And I am a big fan of places without a dress code, so I guess I'll give it a whirl sometime. I'll just be sure to save my coinage first. And, in the meantime, if anyone knows how Veg-Meister Michael Stipe got in cahoots with the God of All Things Offal, let me know.
@Biff: I had heard that Bono had a chunk of this place, but I didn't know about Michael Stipe. Shiny Happy Piglets!
Two things first, there's a restaurant here in Peoria called the Spotted Cow but probably should be called the spotted pig. Second, I've never had a cask ale but apparently in Britain if the pub doesn't have at least one cask ale than it isn't a real pub!
The burger and fries look absolutely delicious!!!!!