So I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most times during a month, I’ll have a recipes following two regularly recurring events – college friend potlucks, and book club. Theoretically this would have been a day when I should have done a recipe for book club, but for the first time we decided to go to a restaurant for our meeting and book discussion/hang-out-session, and so I figured, if I’m not going to share a recipe, I ought to at least share about the restaurant we visited. And this time around, we were in the neighborhood of a member who lives in Clarendon – walking distance from my old apartment! – and we’d chosen Green Pig Bistro.
Green Pig is one of those trendy styles of restaurants – farm to table, head to tail. So everything is fresh, and everything is used. I’d visited once before with my cousin for dinner a few years back. I remember getting a burger, and it being very good. And since our book club meats at breakfast/brunch time, it was exciting to look at their brunch menu and get excited. Although there are a LOT of meat-focused items, so if you are a vegetarian, or friends with one, this might not be the place to go. The space itself is rustic, with a cozy country farmhouse meets modern industrial sort of air. But still bright and full of light.
Everyone in our group got a special brunch drink. Normally I would have been all over the hibiscus mimosa, but being that I’ve been sick, and I don’t like to drink alcohol when I’m not feeling well, I had to pass on it. Luckily there were a couple fun options for non-alcoholic fare, one of which also included hibiscus. So I treated myself to a hibiscus-citrus fizz – think more sparkling lemonade, and less Sprite or 7-Up. Is it terrible that I’m kind of in love with the pretty pink color too?
For the food itself, I strongly considered going with french toast. Especially because it had a berry compote, and I’m a sucker for berries in spring. But the “host” from our book club group had mentioned how good the chicken and waffles were, and how they were a little more savory than are normally presented. I tend not to like gravy on things, (have you noticed how few of the things that I make for myself have a sauce on them?) so it was initially ignored, but the idea of a sausage gravy – something a little more substantial was appealing. And the final dish did not disappoint. Just a little bit of sweet, and overall lots of amazing complementary savory flavors that I tried my best not to wolf down too fast.
I did manage to get one of my dining companions to let me photograph her meal. This was the traditional American breakfast, and that little cylinder? That’s a hash brown! We all oohed and aahed over how clever it was to serve that way. I didn’t hear any complaints from my fellow diners, and we all cleaned our plates, which I’ll take as a sign that we liked it.
So yeah – Green Pig was super fun for brunch. Our waitress did come by our table a few more times than I would have thought was strictly necessary (being kind and checking on our status), and street parking in Clarendon is a pain in the butt. However – if you can find parking in advance, or if you can take metro or uber in…I think you will not find your disappointed with a meal at Green Pig.
Details: Green Pig Bistro, 1025 N Fillmore St, Arlington, VA; Reservations online.