The Salted Pig

 Melissa and I had dinner at a trendy little joint called The Salted Pig a few months ago. It was really really great. We spent some time on Yelp! looking through the menu and really had trouble choosing what we would eat because everything sounded so good...

The restaurant is very open with an open bar, but not an open kitchen, unfortunately. That's one thing I really like about contemporary restaurants these days is being able to see the chefs at work. I was a bit disappointed they didn't have that.

Appetizer: Bacon-wrapped deep fried dates with maple aioli. This was really great, but the creamy, sweet aioli sort of added more richness to the already fatty, fried date. I would have preferred something spicy, sour, or tangy to dip these in. Kind of a rookie mistake if you ask me. Cut through that richness!  

Melissa peruses the menu.

Entree: Melissa ordered the maple grilled chicken with parsnip purée and roasted root vegetables. I thought it was absolutely delicious. Melissa thought it was just okay.  

Entree: I had The Pig Burger. This was a masterpiece. Served on a soft, delicious bun, the patty was 50% ground beef/50% ground bacon. It was seared perfectly and had this amazingly crunchy crust on it. I was blown away. It was also topped with a fried egg and a spicy ketchup. Loved it. The fries were handcut and delicious as well. 

We also ordered some mac and cheese to share (man, what a fatty meal) which was really good. We didn't finish it. 

Dessert: Finally, we ordered the doughnuts and candied bacon ice cream. Life changed. The ice cream was made in-house with candied bacon lardon. It was creamy and some of the best ice cream i've ever had. The doughnuts were also made in-house and came in a variation of chocolate, peanut butter, and sort of a crusted maple. Needless to say, by this point we were stuffed, but not too stuffed to finish it all.  

I was very pleased with the meal, as you can see.

The check came in a cute mason jar. It was just a great experience for dinner. Expensive, but really really great. If you're in Riverside anytime soon, check it out. And bring me along!

http://www.saltedpigriverside.com/

My favorite sandwich...

I am a sandwich person. I LOVE them. Every kind.

The ham sandwich: classic, simple, maybe a bit overdone. But let me show you how to make the BEST ham sandwich ever.

The first and key ingredient to the best ham sandwich is a leftover spiral ham, preferably from an amazing Sunday dinner. Don't ask me why that matters, it just does. That thin stuff from the grocery store that comes in a Tupperware case will not do. You have to use spiral ham. 

Take the delicious ham and fry it in a pan with just a little nob of butter. You could fry the ham without butter, but I've found that it adds a little bit of much needed moisture to the meat. Plus, you can never have too much butter. All you're really doing is warming the ham up because it's obviously already cooked, but take advantage of putting some sear on the slices while you're at it. A little burnt ends never hurt anybody. 

You'll want to use buttered wheat toast for your bread (more butter, i know). Don't put too much ham on the sandwich, just a couple of slices, enough to cover the length of the bread and maybe a little extra. Proportions are important. I don't think a lot of sandwich places really understand that. There's either too much bread, or too much meat, or too much mayonnaise. I feel like if you specialize in sandwiches you should understand that, right? I once had a sandwich at a notable Provo bakery and they put a freaking pound of meat on my sandwich and half a can of mayo. More is not always better.

Finally, you'll want a proportionate amount of plain yellow mustard as a condiment. Now you may be thinking that putting butter on the bread and then mustard may sound weird, but it's not. Trust me. I can't explain it, it goes together so well. You get the butteryness of the bread, the tangy mustard, and the spicyness of the ham. It's incredible! I'm not much of a leftover guy, but this is one of my favorites.

It's laughable how easy this is. I know what you're thinking, "That's it, three steps?" I know, I know. Maybe this isn't even "blog worthy" but I've been eating a lot of these sandwiches this week and I had to share the joy my heart has been experiencing. 

I learned this sandwich from my dad. Growing up he would make this for me on Sunday nights long after a delicious Sunday dinner. It was the type of sandwich we would eat while watching a football game or MacGyver or something.

I'm certain part of my love for this sandwich comes from just sharing it with my dad, but part of it is because this is pretty much a perfect sandwich. Give it a try.

Every once in a while I've gotta have some hole-in-the-wall Mexican food and my place of choice is Beto's.

It's nothing fancy, but that's exactly why it's so good. It's simple. It's fast. It's authentic.

Try the bacon breakfast burrito. Amazing!