I guess I never did contemplate what I was getting myself into when I signed up to host a dinner at Incanto Restaurant. Nestled amidst the sleepy homes of Noe Valley, this darkly stained wood paneled italian restaurant offered a whole new experience for those adventurous to try something different.
Incanto is famous for serving pig parts. That is, the offal. Some diners dismiss offal as being, well, awful. But the cognescenti view the texture and flavor of the offal as being the best part of an animal. De gustibus non est disputandum.
So in early August, I signed on through Meetup.com to host a whole-pig dining experience at Incanto. At first, I signed up for the Leg of Beast. But with enough people voicing approval for the whole-pig experience, I shelled out the $600 for the deposit and prayed that those who signed up will actually show up. Our reservation was for October 2, making this a two-month planning.
Incanto's fee structure for this feast is simple, but complicated. First, because the dining experience is held in the Dante Room, there is a maximum occupancy of 17 patrons. Next is the minimum $1500 not including tax and gratuities. Third is a prix fixe of $55 per diner. To get to $1500 from $55 per diner, you add in the piglet, $375, and all the beverages you can consume to bring the total to $1500.
Fortunately for my tastes, Incanto has a great selection of italian wines. For the main meal, I chose the Brunello di Montalcino. Very tasty.
Up to the day of the event, I was still not sure of who would or would not be arriving. There were seven of us for "almost" sure, as they paid the deposit through Eventbrite. Another nine had said yes, but didn't put down the deposit. Two were guaranteed no-shows as the group's organizer mentioned to me that those two were frequent no-shows-ers (one being an unemployed student wasn't going to be plunking down $160 for dinner, that's for sure).
So that brought the total attendees to 15. As it were, 12 showed up. One of the no-shows had the audacity to sign up that day. Brilliant move there, guy.
We arrived at 5:30, just as the restaurant was opening up. After we got in, we sat by the bar and had a drink or two before dinner. Me, I was running around looking to see if any others were coming. Finally, by 6PM, we were ushered in to the first circle of hell (or heaven), the Dante Room. It was a long narrow table with yours truly sitting at the top of the table.
We were first served the Boccalone antipasto platter consisting of various sorts of salumi. Very tasty. While the appetizer was delicious, I think most of us were wary of over indulging on the appetizers before the big meal came out. The appetizer was followed by the salad, or soup, for some. Now, the salad was quite a refreshing and tasty salad, too. It wasn't your Fresh Choice salad bar option, to be sure.
During this whole time, the group was getting into the mood and had a swell time chatting away and enjoying the company. Seated to my right were this 50+ somethings couple, who met through a meetup event (Meetup.com beats all dating sites for getting successful dates by far.) To my left was a person who worked with VISA in their security detail in Foster City. Can't recall all the other guests, but there were five "regulars" besides me.
Then came the piece de resistance. The whole pig. It was a suckling piglet, about forty to fifty pounds live. But in this roasted condition, where most of its innards have been taken out, it was probably twenty-five pounds not including the stuffing.
The first thing one notices is that, yup, it's a pig. Chris Consentino, the head chef of Incanto, came to carve into the pig. Each one of us was served a generous helping of the very tender, very tasty meat. The crispy skin was also delectable.
It was a daunting meal: one just had to look at the huge pig and realize that it's impossible to divide that into twelve and have all of us finish it there. Of course, we all brought home leftovers. The meat was quite tender. I couldn't find the parts that would be where pork chops would come from. Most of the meat, at least the portions I ate, were the fibrous type; the type one would see in pulled pork or other southern-style pig feasts. We finished the meal off with a terrific dessert. For me, it was the panna cotta.
Now the opinion. I was slightly disappointed. And it's nothing to do with the cooking or Incanto. When I queried the servers as to when we get to try to pig brains or other organ meats, I was told that federal law prohibits serving those parts along with the rest of the pig. Well, I was sorta looking forward to grossing myself and others out and, hopefully, enjoying the wonderful taste of the organ meats. That was too bad. It was like getting nothing but turkey breast on white bread with water to wash it down. Satisfying, but unexciting. Well, nothing we can do about it. It's a federal law ferchrissakes.
Would I do the whole-pig experience again? Perhaps. But certainly, I would come by Incanto to sample some of their other menu items as the perparation made the food really dance in my mouth.
Incanto is famous for serving pig parts. That is, the offal. Some diners dismiss offal as being, well, awful. But the cognescenti view the texture and flavor of the offal as being the best part of an animal. De gustibus non est disputandum.
So in early August, I signed on through Meetup.com to host a whole-pig dining experience at Incanto. At first, I signed up for the Leg of Beast. But with enough people voicing approval for the whole-pig experience, I shelled out the $600 for the deposit and prayed that those who signed up will actually show up. Our reservation was for October 2, making this a two-month planning.
Incanto's fee structure for this feast is simple, but complicated. First, because the dining experience is held in the Dante Room, there is a maximum occupancy of 17 patrons. Next is the minimum $1500 not including tax and gratuities. Third is a prix fixe of $55 per diner. To get to $1500 from $55 per diner, you add in the piglet, $375, and all the beverages you can consume to bring the total to $1500.
Fortunately for my tastes, Incanto has a great selection of italian wines. For the main meal, I chose the Brunello di Montalcino. Very tasty.
Up to the day of the event, I was still not sure of who would or would not be arriving. There were seven of us for "almost" sure, as they paid the deposit through Eventbrite. Another nine had said yes, but didn't put down the deposit. Two were guaranteed no-shows as the group's organizer mentioned to me that those two were frequent no-shows-ers (one being an unemployed student wasn't going to be plunking down $160 for dinner, that's for sure).
So that brought the total attendees to 15. As it were, 12 showed up. One of the no-shows had the audacity to sign up that day. Brilliant move there, guy.
We arrived at 5:30, just as the restaurant was opening up. After we got in, we sat by the bar and had a drink or two before dinner. Me, I was running around looking to see if any others were coming. Finally, by 6PM, we were ushered in to the first circle of hell (or heaven), the Dante Room. It was a long narrow table with yours truly sitting at the top of the table.
We were first served the Boccalone antipasto platter consisting of various sorts of salumi. Very tasty. While the appetizer was delicious, I think most of us were wary of over indulging on the appetizers before the big meal came out. The appetizer was followed by the salad, or soup, for some. Now, the salad was quite a refreshing and tasty salad, too. It wasn't your Fresh Choice salad bar option, to be sure.
During this whole time, the group was getting into the mood and had a swell time chatting away and enjoying the company. Seated to my right were this 50+ somethings couple, who met through a meetup event (Meetup.com beats all dating sites for getting successful dates by far.) To my left was a person who worked with VISA in their security detail in Foster City. Can't recall all the other guests, but there were five "regulars" besides me.
Then came the piece de resistance. The whole pig. It was a suckling piglet, about forty to fifty pounds live. But in this roasted condition, where most of its innards have been taken out, it was probably twenty-five pounds not including the stuffing.
The first thing one notices is that, yup, it's a pig. Chris Consentino, the head chef of Incanto, came to carve into the pig. Each one of us was served a generous helping of the very tender, very tasty meat. The crispy skin was also delectable.
It was a daunting meal: one just had to look at the huge pig and realize that it's impossible to divide that into twelve and have all of us finish it there. Of course, we all brought home leftovers. The meat was quite tender. I couldn't find the parts that would be where pork chops would come from. Most of the meat, at least the portions I ate, were the fibrous type; the type one would see in pulled pork or other southern-style pig feasts. We finished the meal off with a terrific dessert. For me, it was the panna cotta.
Now the opinion. I was slightly disappointed. And it's nothing to do with the cooking or Incanto. When I queried the servers as to when we get to try to pig brains or other organ meats, I was told that federal law prohibits serving those parts along with the rest of the pig. Well, I was sorta looking forward to grossing myself and others out and, hopefully, enjoying the wonderful taste of the organ meats. That was too bad. It was like getting nothing but turkey breast on white bread with water to wash it down. Satisfying, but unexciting. Well, nothing we can do about it. It's a federal law ferchrissakes.
Would I do the whole-pig experience again? Perhaps. But certainly, I would come by Incanto to sample some of their other menu items as the perparation made the food really dance in my mouth.