A Little Bit of Southern at Salty Pig - Boston

We started our long-awaited evening (which took months of planning, thanks to my unpredictable almost-MD schedule) with the Speck and the Porchetta. The speck was a light ham with a speck of flavor, the porchetta was a heavier, sweeter cure, and the pickles were a refreshing palate cleanser. A special shout-out to the Dijon mustard, which is one of few that I didn’t find overpowering.

I was afraid it’d be sacrilege to order vegetarian at a restaurant whose namesake bears a close genetic resemblance to humans, but clearly this place doesn’t hide behind their meat. The Anson Mill Grits are an open-minded Southern girl’s dream. Baked with a thin layer of cheese and mixed with a savory hint of butter, the grits are less creamy and more solid than most of us below the Mason-Dixon line would accept, but they were rich, dense, and so well-made that I put my shotgun away, labeled this a forgivable sin, and ate my grits smothered in fried farm egg yolk. The accompanying side of Brussels sprouts sautéed with juicy wild mushrooms tasted like they were picked from the same back yard as the sweet lady with a drawl and a gingham apron who made my grits.

The one downside to this meal was the Pappardelle with Pork Bolognese. Although the pappardelle was a standard al dente, the sauce was watery and just not all that flavorful with too much watered-down cream to taste like a sharp red Bolognese. The ground pork was a clever substitute for the usual ground beef, but overall this plate was so run-of-the-mill unmemorable that I don’t even remember it enough to comment on the flavor (of which there wasn’t much)…

All in all, Salty Pig is great for an affordable, casual meal, but it depends heavily on what you order. If you’re looking for good slices of cured meats, Coppa is better, and if you’re looking for pappardelle then go to Via Matta. Then again, if you’re hungry after a long day of mall shopping, you probably won’t regret poking your mouth in the hard-to-find door of this cute little nook, and if you’re craving comfort that only the south can provide, steer clear of Soulfire and dream of pig pickin’s while dipping in your grits at Salty Pig.