Cockscomb

We had pasta made from pig skin, «ham“burger that was all oink, no moo and one amazing rib eye. Nights like these make me glad Im not a vegetarian.
We also had the cauliflower, mushrooms and crudo and finished with the brûlée and chocolate pudding (I don’t think I was actually pudding but it was similar).
I’d been waiting to get here for a year and it was more than worth the wait!

I came here with friends without any expectations, and man, I was completely blown away by the food and the drinks. Chris Cosentino is a solid top chef and his food is a true testament of his talents.
My friends and I ordered drinks as soon as we were seated. Sweet November is an unforgettable cocktail so much so that I’ve been trying to recreate it at home! Now on to the food. Everything we ordered was so rich (in a good way) and delicious. It was very MEAT heavy, but that’s what this restaurant is known for, right?
Eats:
+ Country Pâté: So yummmmy. I’d come here everyday just to eat this. Pistachios in my pâté? YES PLEASE!
+ Country Ham: Served with chicharrones. basically pork on pork but the asian pear was a great contrast to the saltiness of the ham and the chicharrones.
+ «Ham“Burger w/​Egg and Foie Gras: This dish could very well feed at least 2 people. When I ordered this, I thought I was going to get a juicy beef patty but boy, was I wrong. «Ham» = lamb. It was cooked well, although, I should have left out the foie as it got a little overwhelming after a few bites.
+ Bacon Chop: Disclaimer: not actual bacon, but a HUGE portion of thick cut pork. It was tender and well seasoned. My friend was surprised at the size of the meat and ended up portioning it out to 3 others. Besides the pork, the true highlight was the charred onions. They had a lot of flavor and paired well with the pork.
+ Cornish Game Hen: My favorite dish of the night. It was juicy and the pomegranate sauce was amazing! Everything about this dish was well balanced. the taste, the textures, and the color of the ingredients.
I definitely would come back here again just to try their other menu items, perhaps be a little more daring.

Cockscomb definitely reminded me of Bestia in LA. The menu offered all sorts of things I would never normally try, but always ended up tasting amazing.
I’m sure the dining experience would have been better at an actual table, but our party sat at the bar instead and shared a few dishes amongst each other. From what I can remember, the most of the food was delicious.
I’m glad when I try things I’d normally never order because it always ends up being really good. For example, I never had fried pig ears and I never had the desire to eat them. Once I had a little bit of liquid courage in my body, I tried a few bites and it was SO good! It was zesty from the lime and every bite was full of flavor.
Beef tartare is something I’ve had at other places, but a small part of me gets grossed out after a few bites. Unfortunately for my friends, that wasn’t the case this time. I found myself going back for more bites.
The grilled cheese was my safe option until I read the description and I really didn’t want to order it anymore. HONEY? In grilled cheese? It seemed blasphemous, but then I was proved wrong once more. It went so well with the melted cheese and bread.
When I said «most of the food» there was one thing that I was kind of gross after a few bites. It was some sort of mashed potato, but it was SO SALTY. At first the bites were good and when washed down with water, you would be ready for another bite. After awhile the saltiness was just too much.
If you’re a picky eater, you should try to do what I did and just give everything a chance. What I thought would be gross actually ended up being something I would definitely order again if I could go back to Cockscomb.

If you’re as perverted as me, then you bookmarked this place solely because of its name. Rawr.
I’m just kidding – I guess I was also intrigued by the glowing reviews that this new restaurant received in so little time. But seriously…(insert creepy smirk here)
Despite the shortfalls with a few dishes we ordered, overall, our group had a fabulous dining experience here.
I recommend:
+ Little Gems Salad (Buttermilk ranch, radish & crispy pig ears) Crispy pig ears were legit
+ Beef Heart Tartare Starter w/​grilled bread and greens
+ Lacinato kale and butternut squash (creamy garlic dressing & bird seed)
+ Pin Bone Steak (Serves 4 – 6 people) topped with foie gras: This thing is colossal
You can probably do without (these dishes were run-​of-​the-​mill):
+ Farro stuffed pumpkin (swiss chard, sage, & parmesan)
+ Duck Fat Cauliflower
+ Zampini (pork & fennel sausage, fried oysters & smoked oyster remoulade)
+ Liver and bacon: I usually ADORE liver, but I wasn’t feeling this liver because it tasted undercooked – strong metallic taste and its texture was akin to foie gras
The Pin Bone Steak was legit scrumptious – perfectly cooked to a tender medium rare and it had a delicate smoky flavor. We blanketed it with the bone marrow dip it came with.
According to the reviews I’ve read, you may want to skip the wood oven roasted pig’s head because it’s supposedly unpalatably fatty and chewy. If you fellow chocolate enthusiasts are still up for it, after all the entrees and starters, then order the Mexican Chocolate Cake w/​pumpkin. This was so thick and rich — not overwhelmingly sweet. Great drink menu and accommodating service as well.
+ Chef Chris Cosentino is a sweetheart

I had such high expectations of dining nirvana here but it was just not meant to be. I remember enjoying Incanto’s head-​to-​tail dinner during Chris Cosentino’s early days as its chef. I had not tried his latest venture before New Year’s Eve when they were offering a special $ 110 four-​course prix fixe dinner. Surely this was an optional choice. No, it wasn’t. Since I made the reservation just two days in advance, I was left a message that there was a no-​cancellation policy and that the prix fixe menu was mandatory. It struck me as rather restrictive, a reason to give me a case of pre-​meat sweats. Would Cosentino’s chops be worth it?
Now understand that since I tried Incanto over a dozen years ago, Cosentino has become a celebrity chef as he became a constant presence on the Food Network and the ultimate anointment, a friend of Anthony Bourdain when he came to town looking for local eats. So when Jamie W. and I entered the restaurant, the former Zuppa, we saw his staff hovering around him like acolytes near the grill oven (photo:
). We were squeezed against a banquette right next to a trio of obnoxious twenty-​something hipster wannabes bellowed their conversation like it was a decibel-​challenged nightclub. Cocktails were needed immediately.
Jamie ordered the $ 11 Pisco Punch, a sweet Peruvian elixir with pineapple and nutmeg added to the mix (photo:
). I went for the more clubby $ 12 Boothby, a blend of cranberry juice, Douglas Fir bourbon, sweet vermouth, bitters and sparkling wine (photo:
). It was almost enough to distract me from the ‘dude’-laden dialogue inches away from us. For the first course, Jamie tried the Parsnip & Smoked Haddock Chowder, a buttery-​salty blend that was indeed velvety good and gone all too soon (photo:
). I went for what I presume to be a Cosentino specialty, the Foie Gras Torchon with Cranberries & Brioche (photo:
).
Except for the sweetness of the cranberries, I found the foie gras quite bland and not lusciously addictive. The second course brought salads. Jamie tried the Castel Franco & Ricotta Salata with Olives (photo:
). Castel Franco is a mild form of bitter radicchio that was overwhelmed by the amount of ricotta shavings on the plate. Mine was the other choice, the Butter Lettuce with Hazelnuts & Blood Orange (photo:
). It tasted like a standard steakhouse salad, inoffensive and tasty enough but nothing more really. The entrees came next, and we knew this was the make-​or-​break point of our evening since Cosentino, by all accounts, knows his meats.
Jamie ordered the Pork Belly, Clams & Buddha’s Hand Citron Salsa (photo:
), an odd surf-&-turf combo that just didn’t quite mesh despite the richness of the belly. The citrus flavor of the salsa added another idiosyncratic note that made Jamie’s shoulders shrug in indifference. I went for the Ribeye with Bone Marrow & Spinach, and at last the steak delivered the goods in its tender preparation and meltably good texture (photo:
). Strangely I would have thought the bone marrow would mean toast wedges would be forthcoming upon which to spread the marrow. When I inquired about this, I received a puzzled look of acceptance and then about ten minutes of radio silence.
When he did come with the grilled bread, I was done with the marrow and rather perturbed to find my request added to the bill later for $ 2. I just think for a restaurant at this exorbitant price point, a simple piece of bread could have been made complementary. Oh well. We moved to our final course, the dessert, and they were reasonably satisfying treats. Jamie had the Chocolate Cremeux & Golden Marshmallows, a mousse-​like creation with its sole marshmallow given a bit of gold leaf (photo:
). I went with the Baked Apple with Gorgonzola & Honeycomb (photo:
). It was just half a small apple given the peasant treatment, but it was enough.
Nearly $ 300 later, we felt somewhat disappointed. It was less about the quality of the food which we didn’t question but rather the indifferent manner which was pervasive throughout what should have been a more festive evening. The restaurant never did crowd up while we were there, and while we didn’t expect Cosentino to stop by, it would have been a nice gesture. However, I could say the same about the staff overall since we didn’t feel much warmth though it was clearly thrown at other diners around us. Alas, maybe we’ll try the regular menu sometime as the burger looked like a good deal, but frankly we’re in no hurry.
FOOD — 3 stars… considering Cosentino’s reputation, marginally disappointing especially given the price point
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… doesn’t look much different than Zuppa but that’s fine
SERVICE — 3 stars… didn’t feel the love
TOTAL — 3 stars… it should be more than the meat, right?