Gulp, gulp, oink, oink. You could say that was certainly me at Chef Bryce Gilmore’s new venture Barley Swine. Chef Gilmore has earned critical acclaim and tremendous success with his food trailer venture Odd Duck. Having eaten there plenty of times, and dreaming of some of his concoctions when I went to bed at night, I was pretty certain Barley Swine was not going to disappoint. I love it when I’m right.
David and I went there with Luke and Lindsay, AKA Apron Adventures, on the restaurant’s first official opening night. Heck, I was even nervous for the restaurant but there was no need for the nerves, the food seriously, seriously rocked. Just to tell you how much it did, as we were walking in two guys said “Just order everything on the menu, it’s that good.” I did want to order the whole menu but we settled on: Potato fritters with goat cheese, leek, espelette; white bean soup, Spanish chorizo, flaked cod, olive; scallop, duck cracklin, cauliflower, green garlic, coriander; barley, foie gras, duck sausage, mushroom, sweet and sour onion; sweetbreads, garlic puree, almond, brussel sprouts, bacon. INSANE, all of them. I almost licked the sauce off the fritter, scallop and sweetbread plates. One small complaint, the soup came out lukewarm instead of hot. We weren’t sure if that was how it was meant to be served or what but it was still amazing.
For wine drinkers like moi, be warned that the wine list is limited. It’s not called Grape Swine now is it? The beer list is lengthier and I was told had a nice selection. I ordered the Troublemaker blend and thoughrougly enjoyed it. The space is super small and is all either community tables or bar seating so be prepared to get to know your fellow diners or the chefs! Overall, we loved our first visit and thank goodness it’s just down the street so we can go again and again and again. We’ll be back Barley Swine. Call me, mean it!
