And it just kept going

After all of the birthday festivities over the weekend, I wanted to spend Monday - my actual birthday - somewhere low-key but delicious. After careful consideration and outside consultation (thanks @ErikMichielsen for giving me the final validation I needed), Eric and I ended up at Joseph Leonard in the West Village. Previously a Cuban restaurant and then a Le Gamin, Joseph Leonard sits on a sunny side street corner and has a bar in its center with small tables along the sides. Cramped and cozy like many restaurants in this area, the windows were open and the people-watching enjoyable on a finally-warm April evening.

At Michielsen's recommendation, I ordered the crispy braised pork hock served with a sprightly arugula salad topped with fried capers. What I didn't realize, however, was that this pork hock could feed a family of four.

As you know, I am not one who normally gets full quickly. And while Eric and I had finished off our appetizer of salt cod brandade and a few chicken liver crostini, I was still hungry. I put up a mighty fight against this Flinstonian-sized serving...but alas, unlike Michielsen - who would not let this dish defeat him - I had to ask our server to pack up the majority of the delicious pork to bring home.

Of course, despite my surrender to this entree, we ended up ordering carrot cake for dessert (it was a birthday dinner after all). By far one of the best versions of carrot cake I've ever tried - moist, tender, full of carrot flavor (as opposed to the spice flavor that often dominates this dessert) with a perfect frosting-to-cake ratio. Needless to say, this piece of cake didn't stand a chance.

So, what happened to that pork hock? Well, I had ambitious plans to turn this into tacos with spicy guacamole, pickled red onions and crumbled queso fresco. However, laziness took over and I made some brown rice and a quick green salad with a rice wine vinegar dressing. After heating the pork in the microwave, I threw everything into a large bowl and topped it with some black sesame seeds and copious amounts of crispy garlic in chili oil that Eric's co-worker smuggled back from the Philippines for us (this stuff is like crack...garlicky, spicy crack). The perfect dinner for a rainy night of watching PTI off the DVR.

Even after eating this for dinner on Tuesday, there was STILL enough left over for Eric to take for lunch on Wednesday. It was the birthday gift that just kept giving.

P.S. I finally changed my profile picture on the right...instead of me drinking water in the doctor's office, here's me drinking beer at the Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.