From the outside, the Hangover Pub doesn’t look like much, it looks more like your local bar than place a with good food. Inside, however, the place has a nice cozy bar with a row of tables down one side and a largish room in the back. The walls are decorated with art from local artists, all for sale of course and the crowd was very diverse.
Most of the menu items have some sort of bacon twist to them. For an appetizer, I had the Smoked Parmesan and House Cured Bacon Chips. Basically, home made chips, sprinkled with smoked parmesan and tossed with small bits of house cured bacon. They came in a folded-over paper bag and were absolutely delicious. The portion size was plenty large for two, maybe even enough for three as an app and the flavor was fantastic. The smokiness of the bacon and slight tang of the parmesan blended with the chips perfectly creating a really nice overall flavor.
Dinner was the Porchetta, Roasted pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, drizzled with local honey, mascarpone polenta, pan jus, and green beans. The portion on this was also more than enough to be able to bring some home for leftovers. The porchetta itself was seasoned nicely, slightly peppery and had just a hint of a kick to it and the smokiness of the bacon played very nicely with it. The marscarpone polenta was creamy with just a hint of the polenta texture to it and also very delicious. The flavors of both complemented the other almost perfectly creating an overall great flavor. The combination of the honey drizzle and the marscarpone did create an overall sweetness the dish that I loved, but some of my friends found a little overpowering. All in all, this is a great dish that I’ll be having again.
Being crowded, I expected the service to suffer a bit but our waitress more than kept up with the demand. She was knowledgeable, friendly and hustled to make sure we were happy. The owner also came around a few times to make sure everything was up to par and that we were all happy. In fact, all the wait staff seemed to be rushing around trying to keep up, but kept smiles and friendly faces going!
Overall, The Hangover Pub is a great blend of your local bar, great food and an eclectic decor. The fact that they’re displaying, and selling, local artists work is also a great touch. While the concept may seem a bit like a gimmick, with bacon in just about everything, the food itself is great and will hold up just fine. This is a place that I’ll be back to often.