I could not eat the crispy pork belly. I was simply too full, and it was impossible.
It was course #5 on a 7 course tasting menu at Julienne, in Santa Barbara, CA. Everything was AMAZING. We got the wine-pairing and every person had their own customized menu. So, at the start of a course, the dude brought out 2 or 3 bottles of wine to match our individual dishes. Fun! Seriously, everything was delicious, perfectly crafted, well thought-out, fresh and local. One interesting note was that there was no beef on the menu…hmm…could beef be going out of style? I don’t care.
Let me back up for a moment to help you understand the tragedy of this pork belly business. I spent an inordinate amount of time, inappropriately during work hours, picking the Right restaurant in Santa Barbara. Julienne was selected because of it’s CRISPY PORK BELLY. And I couldn’t even eat it!! We were all intensely uncomfortable by course #4. It was a ridiculously huge amount of food, each dish was about half a meal, so we were served 3.5 meals each PLUS a bottle of wine each. In addition, the dishes were quite rich– several pasta dishes, lots of sausage, like quail stuffed with sausage. Looking back at the menu, the four of us tried nearly every single dish offered.
Perhaps Julienne has a portion problem with their tasting menu. We were tossed back and forth between utter ecstasy and hell. I would do it again in a heartbeat, except next time I’d probably get the 5 course tasting menu.
The happy ending to this story is that the next morning, I pan-fried up the pork belly and put a fried egg on top. Glorious!
P.S. Oh! When our waiter was taking my crispy pork belly away to be boxed up, he teased me with the secret for how they get it crispy. It’s briefly deep fried. Whoa! Did I just blow your mind or what?
Piggy Goes To Market 