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| - Basis for my starred ratings (which skews heavily to the food or drink):
1 star: Never again.
2 stars: Poor food, poor experience, extraordinary measures in order for me to come back.
3 stars: Average, nothing really special, nothing particularly bad.
4 stars: Very good, would definitely return.
5 stars: A favorite, one of the best.
Came here for lunch and had an unexpectedly really good sandwich. Roast pork that was rubbed in mustard, on a roll with some local gardiniera. The pork was moist, juicy, and tender - well roasted, juices dripping from the meat onto my hands. It was messy, but a good messy. The gardiniera was pretty weak, lacked punch, didn't add near enough the acidity to cut the richness of the pork, but you could still taste bits of it and it added something - minimally. This was a Larder + Delta equivalent of an Italian beef, just not dipped, and using pork. It was definitely worth it.
Comes with thick-cut housemade chips that were also good.
On previous visits, we've had the perlou, the cauliflower, the pigs' ears, and the hoppin john. The cauliflower is excellent, get it all the time. The pig ears don't quite measure up to Crudo's. The Cheeto dust is unnecessary, overpowers a lot of the porkiness. Will probably ask to leave it off from here on out. The hoppin john is filling but a little bland. But they use good peas in it. Finally the perlou. It's a good portion, and the way they prepare it you get crispy bits of rice from the frying pan. Some of those bits ended up burnt - the rice, though my beloved Carolina Gold, seemed undercooked. The way it's prepared here is not as "wet" as I like my perlou, but there is plenty of seafood and you taste the essence of the South in the completed dish.
I'm a big fan of Chef Jones since his Blue Hound days and am glad this is here. Some dishes are uneven, some better than others, but all in all, he sticks to the ethos he has written up on the chalkboard in the store and puts out some good, soul-satisfying food in the process.
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