I had heard of The Piggy Market from Ottawa Foodies and from Twitter, but could never find it. Earlier that week I had walked around and noticed that it was on a side street barely visible from Richmond. I went up to it and looking in the window (it was early in the morning on the Monday) and I thought it was a butcher shop. Or a caterer. Actually I didn't quite know what it was. But after seeing the pulled pork Bryan brought in, I was determined Friday to get my own.
Inside was interesting. The feeling was a little disorganized, like they just opened and had not set everything up. But they've been there a while. Straight ahead was a glass counter with sausages, chili, desserts etc. Behind was the young, alternative looking crew making sandwiches and taking orders. On the right is the board to order from and a collection of homemade breads and buns. The other half of the space has Pascale's Ice Cream (homemade ice cream that fits in with The Piggy Market's 100-mile/locally sourced foodie mantra).
The Piggy Market Lunch Menu
Sample Menu from Feb 2010
When I got there, there was already a line of people, including Bryan, Emma, Petri (and after me Jennifer) from my class who were all hooked on the idea of a tasty lunch. I overheard a customer asking for the pulled pork and the girl at the counter saying they were out. When I got to the head of the line, I asked if it were true, and she said they were out, and for next week too as someone had bought their whole supply. Wowzers. Looking back to the board, I asked if their ribs were lunch friendly or to take home: to take home only. They could heat the chili up though, but I felt more like a sandwich. My 2 choices were Roast Beef or Roasted Porchetta sandwich.
Bryan went with the pork porchetta sandwich (above). Here are his comments:- Mustard had a red wine flavour, but had a bit of a spice kick.
- The greens offset the mustard nicely.
- The panc . .. pork definitely had pepper on it.
- The toasted sunflower seeds on the bread was a nice touch.
- Overall a good sandwich.
I decided to go with the Roast Beef (the popular choice at lunch). I watched as they sliced meat and built the sandwiches, trying to keep up with demand.
Served on Art Is In Grain and Fennel Panini bun, I was surprised when I received the heavy sandwich how warm it was. The bun had a very crunchy exterior, but was light and fluffy inside. This was a bread with a lot of flavour and texture. Hearty is truly the best word for it.
Inside, the smell of freshly fried caramelized onions was wafting out. I watched and smelled as they made them at the shop, the walk back to class, and before biting. The smell was intoxicating to me. They laid on top of the thinly sliced roast beef.
The roast beef was full of flavour. Savoury. Roasted beef goodness. Wow. These were the words racing through my mind. Each bite (which required a very large mouth) was met with warm beef/onion/bun that really hit the spot. I didn't even miss having mustard or mayo or any other condiment. Those three ingredients were all that were needed.
It was a great lunch. While $7 for a sandwich is a bit much in my opinion, this was hearty fare and because it was all made in house more than worth it. I'm still sad there was no pulled pork.
I only have two complaints about The Piggy Market:
One is that because they are so locally sourced and personal, things seem to run out without warning (on Monday when some went back for lunch, they were out of the pork sandwiches, in addition to the pulled pork). The other is the lack of pricing. No where can you see how much the ribs, or sausage or food other than sandwiches is. Their chalk board doesn't detail all their products either. Oh well. I will be back to try the pulled pork for sure, and maybe their rotisserie chicken, sausages or ribs sometime soon.
That Pascale ice cream looked good too!
The mustard was more than likely made in-house by Kate, one of the Piggy Market's chefs. She sells the mustard too.
ReplyDeleteNow I think I know what I'm going to get for Sandwich Thursday
Don - I think you are right about the in-house mustard. I wish I could have tried some on my sandwich. Good call on the Thursday lunch!
ReplyDeleteThose are monster sandwiches!
ReplyDeleteI hear Diva Q makes a mean pulled pork, maybe she can hook ya up:)
ReplyDeleteThat's the bad thing about most Q places. Most decent ones only cook so much of certain dishes and since you can't rush smoking 8-16 hour dishes, when they're out, they are out. Of course, most of them figure that out quickly and don't run out until evening service.