Food Babies: Longman & Eagle: For The Love of Ampersands & Tasty Eats

-By Lindsay

Everyone has been telling me to go to Longman & Eagle. & so, because I’m easily influenced & have a perpetual case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), I went. My lovely friend Angie & her boyfriend Chris (who I love despite the fact he’s from Oklahoma), joined me.

We ventured up to Logan Square, which apparently, in case you didn’t know, is the neighborhood preferred by real hipsters. “Wicker Park? It’s so [insert some obscure lyrics to a song by a band you’ve never heard of that only releases records on vinyl & references how silly & clueless everyone is],” says the skinny jean clad hipster with the ironic 1920’s mustache.

Per usual, I digress.

Luckily, Angie & my favorite game to play is Let’s Pretend To Fit In, so it all worked out regardless. Upon giving our names to the hostess with the mostess (Longman & Eagle doesn’t take reservations), we saddled up to the bar where I ordered a draft of Three Floyds Pride & Joy, Chris a draft Goose Island Matilda, & Angie a G&T complete with the most perfectly cubed iced cubes I’ve ever seen.Like the ones you etched incessantly on the front of your geometry binder in middle school.

We spent our impressively short wait (about 20 minutes on a weeknight at 7pm & the place was packed) perusing the 19 page drink menu. Intimidating? You bet. I was determined to get a whiskey flight; that narrowed our choices quite a bit, but I still felt somewhat helpless. Upon sitting down at our table, I asked our server (who, of course, was appropriately & hipsterly named Cortland) for help. Can I please tell you how much I heart knowledgeable servers? Love them; love, love, love. Cortland rocked. He helped us choose the white whiskey flight, which consisted of three locally distilled whiskeys – a rye, an oak, &a wheat. I liked the wheat the best as it was the whiskey-est of the three & had a good bite to it. The rye was reminiscent of moonshine. The oat smelled sweet but wasn’t really that smooth.

Whiskey in itself is fascinating, & I am determined to understandall of the differences one day… whiskey versus whisky versus bourbon versus scotch. Ahh! It’s all a-jumble in my head. However, on this outing, I did learn this Whiskey Fun Fact: white whiskey (as opposed to the more typical brown whiskey) is not aged in a barrel. Put that in your tumbler & drink it.

We started with an unexpected taste from the kitchen; always a nice little surprise, in my book. A spoonful of carrot & cumin soup with fava beans & olive oil. Simply delish, & warmed up my taste buds quite nicely.

Angie & Chris insisted I take the lead on ordering, which was a first for me. I felt the pressure, definitely. Usually when dining with fellow Food Babies Power Couple Jess & Keith, I sit back & let Keith do that whole song & dance; he never leads us astray, so I have no problem putting my palate in his care. Putting the fork in the other hand, so to speak, felt a little out of my element. So, I played another favorite game of mine: Fake It ‘Til You Make It. & you know what? I think I did okay.

We ordered three small plates to start. First up was Gulf prawns & grits topped with an over-easy egg, braised collards, & black pepper shrimp gravy. I’m always a little skeptical ordering seafood away from a shoreline (although a third coast, Lake Michigan does not count), but I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor. The prawns were whole, so if you’re a little queasy about ordering food that comes to the table with the eyes still intact (sometimes an issue for me, but not in this instance), I would recommend staying away from this dish. If you love grits, like this native-Texan does, I would recommend welcoming this dish with open arms.

Next was goat sausage (by Slagel Family Farms) with heirloom tomato & white peach relish, basil, eggplant baba, & black olive oil caramel. Good, but not awesome. Upsetting because I really love goat… really, really love goat. But the eggplant baba gave it a good flavor though & was sort of reminiscent of foods I ate while living in Kenya, which made me happy.

Finally, out came the dish I had been anticipating consuming all day: tête du cochon with a sunnyside-up duck egg, pickled shallots, parsley salad, &a five spice mustard. “Tête du cochon” literally translates to “head of the pig.” No, they did not bring out a pig’s head on a platter or anything like that. All it is, is they take all the very yummy, very tender meat out of a pig’s head & then braise it to perfection. Put a runny egg on top of it? Ohh. Emm. Gee. Food porn at its finest, my food babies. Rating: XXX.

Wait for it...

Niiiiice

Personal Sidenote: the word “cochon” reminds me of watching my parents drink coffee out of this totally awesome retro mug when I was little.

Then, entrée time! Chris had been eying the sloppy joe at the table next to us, so he decided to give it a try. Wowie! This was not your run-of-the-mill meat-out-of-a-can sloppy joe. Ohh, no. First of all, it was huge (that’s what she said). Second, it was made from wild boar meat. Uhh, what?! Yum. Topped with crispy sage, onion, & pickled jalapeño, served on a pretzel roll, & complete with a side of beef fat fries. Best sloppy joe any of us had ever tasted, hands down.

Chris finished the whole thing. Can you blame him?

Angie got the roasted half chicken with macaroni & morels, fava beans, baby carrots, & natural jus. It’s really hard to mess up roasted chicken. & Longman & Eagle did not disappoint.

I, of course, if you can’t tell already, am totally & utterly in love with everything & anything pig. & so, I ordered the confit of smoked pork shoulder with new crop potato-spring onion hash, apple, & a bacon-upland cress salad with cumin honey vinaigrette. A little greasy, but that’s just all the unavoidable pork fat goodness. Overall, delightful.

After all that savory, we needed a little bit of sweet. Hello, sexy dessert menu. Cortland recommended the donuts, but none of us were really feeling that. So we got the terrine of Madagascan chocolate, espresso cream, peanut custard, caramel glacage, baton of genois, honey foam, & clear coffee jelly. I don’t know what half of that stuff is (such class!), but it tasted damn good.

When all was said & done, we split the check three ways & only spent about $50 a piece. Not my usual Wednesday night dining out routine, but pretty good for a scrum-diddily-umptious meal.

Bonus points: I forgot my to go bag on the table; our server ran it out to us after we had already left the restaurant. Thanks, Cortland; you’re alright. You can bet your ass that pork shoulder tasted just as good heated up the next day. Fancy leftovers? Yes, please.

Longman & Eagle also has early morning tea, brunch, & hotel accommodations. I can’t comment on any of that whole business, but I would expect it’s just as wonderfully delectable & quintessentially hipstery.

Here’s to you, Longman & Eagle. I will be back again & again.