Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email


2014 December 03 • Wednesday

Piora is a restaurant in the West Village that celebrated its one-year anniversary a few months ago and already has a Michelin star. All I knew about it, however, was its address and what time I was supposed to be there for dinner.

It turns out that Piora is a Korean/Italian restaurant and definitely on my first-call list.

What you have there is a grilled Heritage pork chop with fig, apple and soppressata. Delicious. I wish I had taken a photo of the egg appetizer, which was served with chicken wing, potato and artichoke barigoule. It was amazing, perhaps even unique.

Piora's owner came by our table to say hello and was kind enough to give me a sample of their house-made kimchi, which follows his mother's recipe. It was wonderfully light and complex. I love kimchi anytime, anywhere, but this was something different.

What else? Nice atmosphere, small but not at all cramped—intimate is the word, overused as it is—decor extremely tasteful, highly knowledgable, alert and friendly staff and one of the best negronis I've ever had (with a very interesting ice cube).

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