[Pigging by Wilfrid: May 12, 2008]
Hakata Tonton, the piggy grill in Greenwich Village hardly lends itself to a re-review.
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After all, it serves one thing, about thirty different ways, and it's hardly going to vary with the seasons.
But I am still loving the place, and I'm happy to remind everyone it's there, in a former sushi restaurant just a step from Arthur's Tavern and Marie's Crisis Cafe.
Hakata appears to exist on a steady stream of Japanese devotees of what the menu proudly calls "Collagen Cuisine". A solid lobby of Japanese women, at least, seems persuaded of the health benefits - primarily to skin and complexion - of a steady diet of pigs feet.
Still, I bet there are a few self-appointed adventurous foodies, feeders and chowhounds who've yet to dare the place.
The look of the menu has changed, but scarcely the content, based around huge communal hotpots of trotter stew. I tried a couple of dishes for the first time. As a change from the feet, I sampled an appetizer of ears.
For the more mainstream palates present at this dinner, I ordered up some skewers of pork belly, caramelized and slightly sweet.
Pleasant, a little chewy, and not as good as the feet. The best preparation of the latter, as far as I'm concerned, remains the Bordelaise, with its rich wine sauce and smooth purée of potato. The simple grilled and salted foot, now somewhat spicy, is a close second. These were previously reviewed here, along with the lush, creamy carbonara, which now features a more assertive presence of smoked ham along with nuggets of foot jelly.
Dessert is really just an excuse to eat something without pork. In this case, a dense, unsweet chocolate cake with some black sesame ice cream.
With these dishes, spring rolls, a bottle of riesling, glasses of sake, forty bucks a head. How can you resist?
