Fried pig ears tossed in hot sauce reverberate in the right kind of heat: fun, not painful. The entire dish is a play on the football classic with ribbons of curled celery and blue cheese crumbles as garnish.
Field & Main, opened last year from veteran hospitality personality Neal Wavra and his wife, Star, is helping to make Marshall a thing. Wavra also opened up the Chicago-themed shop Riccordino’s as a way to honor his hometown but also to reduce food waste by finding an outlet for Field & Main’s whole-animal butchery program. The town also welcomed The Whole Ox, Red Truck Bakery and Gentle Harvest, from the team behind the local organic player Ayrshire Farm.
Live-fire cooking is a trend across the country, and Field & Main takes advantage with flame-licked rockfish, where the embers are like a texture all its own, and roasted rainbow carrots, deliberately undercooked and subtly smoky, blessed with Whole Ox coppa and a harissa vinaigrette.
The wines, Wavra’s specialty, always highlight Virginia’s best grapes, and he’s even gotten in on the winemaking game by collaborating with Early Mountain Vineyards to create a red and a white on tap. It’s another trend in restaurant land, and leave it to Marshall to lead the way.
Field & Main
Modern American | $$$
8369 W. Main St., Marshall
