First Bite: The Grumpy Pig
By Justin Fischer, Dec 21st, 2011 | In Dining
Exciting eating times in these last few weeks of the year. Lots of little bits and bobs have been opening or re-opening around town, so you can expect to see lots of coverage coming up on The Wire.
First off, let's talk about a re-opening, The Grumpy Pig. This is a re-tooling of underground DJ, club owner, and hip-hop maven Gary Wang's Kin Cafe. This new incarnation is a much better use of the space. He's covered the sheet rock up with a brick facade and partitioned it off with some antique Chinese screens. It looks more like, well, a restaurant.
As you can guess by the name, pork is the centerpiece of the menu here, namely because, after hip-hop, it's the most important thing in Gary's life, supposedly. If you ever visited when it was still Kin Cafe, much of the menu still remains, like the tonkatsu ramen, which has garnered quite a reputation around town apparently.
Definitely worth checking out.
***
He's brought on a chef by the name of Vinh Ngyuen to expand the menu with some tasty sandwiches like a beer-braised pulled pork sandwich with bacon onion compote, arugula and a bacon vinaigrette or a BLPT. That's bacon, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes.He's also thrown in some Viet staples like his "Pho Kit" (pun obviously intended) and a green papaya salad with the interesting addition of watermelon.
Riding that cocktail wave, Vinh's also incorporated a few simple and unique cocktails like the "Cel-Ray," a gin martini mixed with celery juice and a Japanese citrus and pepper condiment called yuzu kosho--a little savory, a little spicy, refreshing, nice.
First off, let's talk about a re-opening, The Grumpy Pig. This is a re-tooling of underground DJ, club owner, and hip-hop maven Gary Wang's Kin Cafe. This new incarnation is a much better use of the space. He's covered the sheet rock up with a brick facade and partitioned it off with some antique Chinese screens. It looks more like, well, a restaurant.
As you can guess by the name, pork is the centerpiece of the menu here, namely because, after hip-hop, it's the most important thing in Gary's life, supposedly. If you ever visited when it was still Kin Cafe, much of the menu still remains, like the tonkatsu ramen, which has garnered quite a reputation around town apparently.
Definitely worth checking out.
***
He's brought on a chef by the name of Vinh Ngyuen to expand the menu with some tasty sandwiches like a beer-braised pulled pork sandwich with bacon onion compote, arugula and a bacon vinaigrette or a BLPT. That's bacon, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes.He's also thrown in some Viet staples like his "Pho Kit" (pun obviously intended) and a green papaya salad with the interesting addition of watermelon.
Riding that cocktail wave, Vinh's also incorporated a few simple and unique cocktails like the "Cel-Ray," a gin martini mixed with celery juice and a Japanese citrus and pepper condiment called yuzu kosho--a little savory, a little spicy, refreshing, nice.
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