Chicago: The Purple Pig

It sucks taking my family out to eat because they don't enjoy the experience of eating out as much as I do and they always manage to find something to pick at. I told them in no uncertain terms that we would be going to The Purple Pig for dinner and that they would LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT. I wasn't going to let their sour faces ruin my much anticipated first visit:



I'd heard so many good things about Purple Pig that I got excited just walking through the gate. I was afraid that we would be in for a long wait, considering it was Black Friday and Purple Pig is located right on the Magnificent Mile. Shockingly, there was no wait at all. We were immediately seated at the end of the long communal table by the front door. I expected the restaurant to be a lot bigger than it actually was:

The place was so small that we were basically a few feet from the front door. As a result, every time the door opened we would feel a cold draft. The hostess was very gracious about our request to switch seats and we were quickly moved over to an individual table further in.

Before I even left the apartment that morning, I already knew 2 dishes that I wanted to order. The first was the pig's ear with crispy kale, pickled cherry peppers, and fried egg:



The pig bowl was just too cute for words and what it contained was simply amazingly delicious. The pickled peppers added a burst of sour awesomeness to balance out the saltiness of the kale and pig's ear.

Thanks to my roommate, my sister is now a big fan of butternut squash:

Butternut squash and pumpkin seeds with brown butter and ricotta salata....so very good.

The 2nd dish that I was dead set on trying was the roasted bone marrow:

Oh my. The fattiness of the marrow spread on a toasted piece of bread...sprinkled with a liberal pinch of salt and garnished with a few leaves coated in vinaigrette...perfection. No joke. You must try this or you're seriously missing out something magical.

At the server's recommendation, we got the milk braised pork shoulder with mashed potatoes:

Not gonna lie, that pork was pretty damn good.

The Purple Pig is designed to be a small plates kind of place, so the portion sizes are on the small side. I think the ideal party would be around 3-4. Any smaller than that and you won't get to try a lot of stuff, any bigger and you'll end up with an awkward seating arrangement.

I found the meal to be quite satisfying and thought my family felt the same way too...until my dad seemingly out of nowhere asked if we could hit up Crisp afterwards. And that's how we ended up eating two dinners instead of finishing off a long day spent exploring downtown Chicago with what I had hoped to be a grand finale at The Purple Pig.

Ah well...what more can I do? Not that I protested much, I love Crisp just as much as that next person (except maybe my father).

The Purple Pig

500 N Michigan Ave

Chicago, IL 60611

(312) 464-1744

http://thepurplepigchicago.com/