Green Pig Bistro (Arlington, VA)

This is what Arlington has been missing!

I was able to talk our way into the Green Pig Bistro last week when it had a soft opening (i.e., friends and family) to partake in their cocktails with some friends. Think custom-cocktails, a la The Gibson or PX, which take time to be made, but deliver a delicious punch. While the Green Pig (the signature cocktail) is interesting (as it uses a fat washed bourbon), my favorite is the Pimms and gin focused Almost Paradise.

A week later (i.e., last night), we returned to sample their food. Soulful and delicious. Between the eight of us, we sampled a wide range of the menu. My favorites included the fries (with duck liver gravy and cheese curds), the duck breast with farro, and the bacon cheeseburger (which I couldn't help but order). The bacon is ground into the burger itself, and the cheese provides a thick, velvety unctuousness that I covet on a burger (but only rarely find). All of the desserts looked amazing (observing what we ordered and what was delivered to other tables), and the strawberry-basil bread pudding tasted as rich as the other desserts looked.

The setting matched the food well -- country chic, with (what appears to be) reclaimed woods and rustic trinkets. I would note that, while the service at the bar during the soft-opening was first-rate, the only disappointment last night was the service: it took a while for the food to arrive and there were several instances where our drinks were empty (with our server MIA). Hopefully, this was an opening week issue which is ironed-out, as the food, drink, and ambiance make the Green Pig Bistro a place I want to return to (frequently).

Food: A
Ambiance: A
Service: C