Spitzer’s Corner
101 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002-2203
(212) 228-0027

Full of Porchetta porky goodness, we headed south into Soho/Lower East Side to see what was new & check out the Essex Street Market. The market is amazing – but more on that another time.

Having wandered for a bit & with NYC still somewhat August blazing (I believe the temperature was about 85°F), we decided to look for a place to get out of the sun & have a beer. Cherie noticed an open front bar at the corner of Ludlow & Rivington. First impression was it was targeted at the eurotrash & wanna be hipster douchebags that stay at THOR. Perhaps it is. In any case, it had 40 craft beer taps & a very friendly helpful bartender – so we took a seat. Sometimes looks can be deceiving.

Spitzer’s claims to be a gastropub – a term I find a bit obnoxious. If you’re a pub & serve food – you’re still a pub. The “gastro” generally serves no purpose other than to add 25% to very item price. The menu reflected that. Much of it was a bit too over the top & over priced to be decent pub grub. Beer prices were in the usual craft range ($7 or so for a pint). We had decided to have a couple of beers & skip food until we noticed one appetizer priced at a reasonable $5:

Pork Fat Edamame

Given we had decided the day would be devoted to pork – foregoing BBQ for other porcine delights – we were basically obligated to order this dish.

Rather than steaming and/or blanching the edamame, Spitzer’s sautes them in pork fat then tossed them in cayenne & sea salt. It’s a double punch of saltiness with a touch of spice & the smokey porky undertone of the pork fat. We polished these off in no time.

Quite glad we did not just this pub by it’s cover & ventured in. Will now need to see if I can replicate this at home.