Friday, July 28, 2017

New For the Tastebuds

Hop Saint, (previously reviewed) on 190th Street, Torrance, has two items that were new to us. 

When asked by our server if we would like a drink to kick off the meal, we, of course, said "Yes."  (For the record, we have never said, "No.") 

I had studied their beer menu at home and knew that I wanted an OB Blonde Kenobi which is described as being a mead-beer hybrid with  "an insane amount of orange blossom honey and 13 pounds of hand-harvested fresh orange blossoms."  The menu added that it was 7.6 per cent alcohol and a pint was $7.    "Did it taste like an Orange Julius?" you ask?  No, it had a light-ish beer front and a faint orange back taste.   It was quite refreshing.  I forget which beer Himself ordered.  Clearly though, he liked it. 

In the past we've gotten either the deviled eggs or cornbread skillet to go with our pre-dinner libation, but this time we tried the Bacon Belly Bites, billed as pork belly with caramelized onion, bleu cheese and cane syrup.  The four bacon pieces (about 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.) were presented  nesting in a cup of one leaf of butter lettuce.  The bacon looked like little rafts with indeterminate smears across the top of the other ingredients.  $8

I had never eaten pork belly before and I have mixed feelings about it.  The lean part of the bacon was thick and extremely chewy.  The fat went "crunch" in my mouth and then "soft" which was ... semi-unpleasant somehow.  I was very much aware that I had just crunched into OMG Fat! 

Richie ordered the time sensitive (only served on Thursdays) Barbecue Plate which consisted of:  andouille sausage, brisket slices, chicken, sliced pickles, onion, and jalapenos $11.

My pulled pork po'boy was garnished with pickled radish slices and fennel, roasted red pepper chipotle and served with house slaw.  $14.  Very generous portions - dinner tonight is already settled and it's 9:43 a.m. 

Altogether, plus a glass of wine each with dinner, the tab came to $80.85 plus a $16 tip.  But figure four tasty dinners for $20 per meal - not too bad.   But it's still a really noisy room.  They had 17 customers at 5:50 p.m. but 15 of the 17 were yelling. 

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