In the event you look across the new Mission District restaurant Piglet & Co., you’ll see faces with mouths agape staring on the trade of blows plastered on the tube. Kung fu films play on loop to the sounds of lo-fi hip-hop beats; over the course of a meal, you’ll intimately get to know Jackie Chan’s clumsy however swish struggle choreography.
It’s only one type of consolation served at Piglet, which attracts inspiration from Taiwanese evening markets however serves a broader menu of Asian consolation meals. Opened by chef Chris Yang and accomplice Marcelle Gonzales Yang in early January, it has already attracted some nationwide buzz: Yang, previously the chef de delicacies of contemporary, now-shuttered Hawaiian restaurant Aina in Dogpatch, has grown a following through the years for his two pop-ups, the informal avenue food-focused El Chino Grande and the fashionable Taiwanese Hen-zhi.
At Piglet, the evening market inspiration principally comes by means of the setting: The pink and blue neon glow of lights provides the darkish room a neo-noir feeling, like a leftover set from a “John Wick” flick. In the event you’ve visited Asian American bar Viridian in Oakland, Piglet will really feel acquainted, however moodier. A portray of a pig watches over the eating room as if it have been ripped out of a web page from “Lord of the Flies.”
Regardless of the pig idolatry, essentially the most charming components of the restaurant are the sharply executed greens. They emphasize how veggies ought to consolation as a lot as any meat; they’re much less showy however much more thrilling right here.
Diners who sit on the bar can watch outdated kung fu films whereas they eat.
Salgu Wissmath/The ChronicleProbably the most outstanding is the aspect of luxuriously smoky potatoes ($10). These starchy orbs are coated in egg yolk mayo and garnished with finely chopped fermented cabbage. The inside of every smoked potato is as gentle as a cloud, and the daring style appears like cozying as much as a crackling wood-burning furnace.
The vegetable spectacle continues with the cabbage ($19). The cruciferous wedge is charred simply shy of incineration then cooked in lard for supreme decadence. Chimichurri and a thick moss-green sauce fabricated from taro leaves brighten up the blackened ordeal. To take issues additional, order two oil-based sauces on the aspect: mala sauce ($4) and ginger scallion relish ($4), one for spice and the opposite for aromatics.
Each of these sauces make it into the seductive rice porridge ($12). The creamy congee is improved with smoked, velvety egg yolk, which melts into the starchy slurry. Regardless that the rice is cooked for a very long time, the grains nonetheless possess a little bit of their chewiness.
Smoked potatoes are a spotlight at Piglet & Co.
Salgu Wissmath/The ChronicleIn all chance, it’s the flashy gadgets that convey most diners by means of Piglet’s doorways. Maybe it’s the honey walnut shrimp toast ($18), a reincarnation of the Chinese language basic introduced over Japanese milk bread. Or perhaps it’s the tediously sauced mala ribs ($22), the place the 4 bones are bejeweled with dots of koji mayo, pickled onions and crunchy rice pearls.
These dishes, whereas undoubtedly inventive, aren’t practically as compelling because the meatless choices. The toast comes off as a meals portmanteau, combining a shrimp toast and honey walnut shrimp, however the sum doesn’t attain the heights of both dish. Although the ribs are tender, the flavors are considerably muted. I obtained higher outcomes by spooning the aforementioned aspect of mala sauce over each bone.
Then there’s the Korean-inspired gadgets like sticky-sweet wings ($25) and pork stomach framed as bossam ($25-$35), pork served with banchan and lettuce to get pleasure from as wraps. In the end, they aren’t convincing sufficient to order right here over a conventional Korean joint. Normally, they may use extra spice.
Honey Walnut Shrimp & Pork Toast includes a crispy patty on high of milk toast.
Salgu Wissmath/The ChronicleThe steamed fish ($65) was so oily I thought of whether or not it was a part of the Group of the Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC). Draped over a complete trout is a bushel of greens slick with burnt-tasting oil, fully distracting from the silky fish. Even the aspect sauces couldn’t put it aside, as they solely add extra oil.
Sundays at Piglet are devoted to a three-course brunch menu ($45) — an appetizer, rice bowl and dessert. The small tasting menu additionally has a vegetarian choice, and as soon as once more, greens are extra participating than the meat. The gochujang-slathered cauliflower has a gorgeous heft, and the wooden ear mushrooms and Chinese language greens marinated in tare — candy and salty Japanese marinade — are merely pleasant.
That stated, there are some exceptions to the order-vegetables rule. The elegant kampachi crudo ($19), for instance, is a serene pond of melty fish slivers, citrus, charred avocado, and fried fish pores and skin soaking in ponzu. The gathering of complicated smoky, citrusy flavors, and disparate crisp and creamy textures, jogged my memory of a Peruvian ceviche.
Kampachi crudo is complicated and filled with texture at Piglet & Co.
Salgu Wissmath/The ChronicleThere may be one downside that could possibly be solved quickly: The moody, cool area mixed with wealthy, spiced meals begs for booze, however Piglet remains to be ready for its alcohol license. A lot of the menu appears like bar meals — what’s chimek (Korean wings and beer) with out the beer? The alcohol-free cocktails, sadly, don’t reduce it; the CBD-infused drinks are canned and really feel extra consistent with a soda.
What’s plain in regards to the area is its enthusiastic power, and it already has the look down. I think with some menu tinkering and its future cocktail program, the restaurant will emerge victorious like Bruce Lee in “The Huge Boss.”
Piglet & Co
2170 Mission St., San Francisco. pigletandco.com
Hours: 5-9:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
Accessibility: All on one stage.
Noise stage: Reasonable.
Meal for 2, with out drinks: $50-$60.
What to order: Smoked potatoes ($10), charred cabbage ($19), rice porridge ($12), mala sauce ($4), ginger scallion relish ($4), veggie brunch ($45)
Drinks: Nonalcoholic drinks.
Finest practices: Sit on the bar; order the smoked potatoes, rice porridge and cabbage; and benefit from the kung fu flicks.
Attain Cesar Hernandez: [email protected]; Twitter: @cesarischafa
