You can't get porkier than the "smothered and fried pork chops" ($18) at the Cardinal, a new East Village café named for the state bird of North Carolina. A pair of substantial Heritage Pork beauties malinger in their crunchy, chicken-fried crust, moistened with red-eye gravy, infused with coffee to a mellow beige. Crushed black peppercorns dot this classic sauce, and, as an unexpected bonus, a thick slice of bacon rides on top like a balsa-wood glider that has just landed on a dune at Kitty Hawk. Really, what dedicated carnivore wouldn't be delighted with this capacious entrée? It comes with two sides, and I guarantee you'll be hard-pressed to decide which two. When it first appeared a couple of months ago, the Cardinal didn't seem promising. For one thing, the menu looked too much like Pies 'n' Thighs—minus the pies. The immediate lure was fried chicken, the bird done in the identical way as its Williamsburg model: by having the skin "untimely ripp'd" from the carcass, as Macduff famously said in Macbeth. The skinless bird is then brined, giving the breast an unfortunate marshmallowy texture—yes, chicken can be too tender.
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