Bacon, Bacon Everywhere (And not a drop to drink)

Even though we can’t actually drink while working our Living Social Adventures, we CAN eat. And tonight…. we ate bacon.

We ate SO MUCH BACON.

Touring Queen Village with bacon and beer as our goals, we were living socially all night. We started the night at Ela with some of the most delicious “noodles” of my life. Diver Scallop “noodles” (so inventive, carved from scallops)  with bacon cream, wild mushrooms, and shaved bacon with a little rye toast bite. HELLO LOVAH!

Not the most gorgeous picture. But hello lover is right.

Creamy and rich, the bacon cream was savory and cut nicely (I assume) by some Ommegang Hennepin. The presentation was adorable in little tin cans, and this was an ideal way to start the night. After a little stroll down a ways, we hit up Village Belle for what was absolutely my favorite dish of the night.

Let me go back a bit. Remember that time that I went Pescatarian for Lent last year? Of course you do.

My “last meal” as a meat-eater before 40 days of boycotting pork, steak, chicken, lamb, deer, etc. was a DELICIOUS pork belly sandwich from Tyler’s in Durham. And that might’ve been the last time I had pork belly. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Don’t worry, that beer isn’t mine.

Maple glazed pork belly with a parsnip puree and a parsnip chip. And, lucky for me, a young lady at the table was a vegetarian (not lucky for her, especially considering there wasn’t a veggie friendly dish in sight). So guess who got TWO SERVINGS OF PORK BELLY?!

This lady. All the pork belonged to me. And paired with the parsnip puree, which was just as smooth as any mashed taters, and SO HEALTHY! I mean, the double portion of pork belly probably wasn’t the healthiest. But moderation and balance is key. Like how that parsnip chip balanced proudly in the puree.

Our next dish was wolfed down too fast to snap a shot. But it was from a very very secret place…

TOP SECRET COOKIES!!

A bacon chocolate chip cookie. YUP.

Cookie Confidential was SO generous giving us not only bacon chocolate chip sweets BUT tiny, perfect little cupcakes. Beer Cakes to be specific.

Philadelphia Pale Ale cupcake!!

Craft beer cupcakes is not a totally unique concept, but these mini cupcakes were next level tasty. The beer isn’t only in the cake itself BUT ALSO the frosting. And they’re all locally brewed beers, so you know they’re fresh.  I almost went back for seconds, but there was something else waiting for me.

They all want that sausage game.

Sausage, sauerkraut, and beer mustard from Brauhaus Schmitz. Also, a DELICIOUS-looking beer that I yearned for…. if only my professional moral standard weren’t so high!

If you’re into this kind of thing, it’s a Living Social Adventure in Philly, and I know that I’ll personally be working a few more after the winter break.

If you’re a vegetarian, I also encourage you to come. And then I will eat your pork belly. You can drink the beer, though. Fair’s fair.

Now, I think I’ll slip comfortably into a salty pork coma…