Black & White & Country

Hay bales, country music, fried chicken… Couldn’t possibly have turned this down when The Pub and Kitchen is doing a special Country Delight night.

Black and White is the nickname for two new items on P&K’s recently revised menu.

The Black Pudding ($8.00) is a bar of soap sized block of blood pudding served with a battered fried egg and a ginger cocktail on the side. The pudding had excellent texture and was mildly seasoned. I particularly like the presence of the slightly battered and fried semi-soft egg. A bite of the blood pudding covered with egg yoke was pure enjoyment. The ginger cocktail looked and tasted more like ordinary cocktail sauce. I could not detect any hint of ginger in it nor could I figure out the logic behind this even being on the redwood platter on which the dish was served. Regardless, I did enjoy this dish very much.

The White is the Bone Marrow. It is split in half lengthwise, roasted, and served with a caper vinaigrette on greens and a few slices of crostini. The marrow was done nicely except it was quite a small bone for $9.00. The two pieces on my plate were no longer than 4 inches and there was only a minute amount of marrow on one of the pieces with the way it was cut.  I enjoyed the salad very much with the acid in the dressing helping to cut the heaviness from the bone marrow.

If you have ever had the roasted chicken at P&K, you know it’s worth the 30 minute wait for that moist and succulent meat. I had high expectations of the Buttermilk Fried Chicken specially made just for this night and it did not disappoint me. There were four perfectly fried pieces on this $13.00 plate; all dark meat which suited me just fine since I am not a fan of white meat. The pieces had a crunchy not overly seasoned crust with soft, tender, and juicy meat underneath. A small paper cup of hot sauce came with the plate. It was a perfect companion to sprinkle onto the crusty crust. On the other hand, the corn bread needed some serious work.  While I tried to pick it up with my hand, it completely crumbled like the vampires when they were killed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was quite tasteless and looked like it needed a few more minutes in the oven. If I hadn’t had the Black and White, I would have ordered another plate of the fried chicken all for myself. 

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