Pig Industry Dinner

Last night, I was very lucky to be in possesion of a ticket for a special dinner at Fuel. It was an industry (meaning food industry) event, so it started at 11pm. It was so worth the wait.

We started with predrinks at Maenam. The service was spotty at best. 20 minutes to get a drink from the bar?? The server kept blaming the bartender, but I think they shared the blame...

A glimpse of what was to come in the window.

The room was set up with 5 long tables and it was packed. Silver pitchers of cold beer from R&B Brewing sat on every table and the room was humming as people caught up with old friends and made new ones.
The dishes started to come out of the kitchen. First a bowl of roasted red and yellow beets with toasted almonds. Next, a mound of baked beans with pork meatballs and pork lardons. Cabbage, the best cabbage I have ever eaten, creamy, braised cabbage with (I think) bacon. A crisp salad of arugula, apple and Montreal smoked tongue. My plate was filling up rapidly and there was still more to come. Buttermilk fried onion rings and roasted potatoes and then, finally, the star of the evening, the roast suckling pig.

Yeah, I was that happy.
As we enjoyed the feast, servers came around with platters of the good bits... jowls, brains, trotters and ears. Having tried all those good bits before, I took a trotter and left the other bits for my table companions.
Just when we thought it was over, the plates were cleared and more came out ~ a selection of cheeses with honeycomb and crisp bread, bacon ice cream and something called pudding Chaumard (basically cake cooked in a maple syrup concoction).
We were begging for mercy by the end of it. I stumbled home full of beer and found, with a big smile on my face. It was 1:30 am when I got home.

Unfortunately, Fuel will be closing Nov 29th. Fortunately it will be reopening as refuel Dec 2nd. And Fuel is doing some Whole Hog Dinners Tonight (Nov26) and tomorrow night..<