I’ve got a big announcement. I’m all aflutter as I type these words. I’m in love. His name is Nick, short for The Nick Rib. And yes, I am talking about a sandwich.
OK, no more creepy anthropomorphization, at least for today. But in reality, I am truly to excited to have discovered my new favorite sandwich. It’s the brainchild of longtime Clarity chef de cuisine Nick Palermo, hence the name, and really has nothing to do with the McDonald’s monstrosity that it references.
What makes this dish the greatest thing since sliced bread? The airy homemade brioche bun, topped with sesame seeds, is part of it. It’s so light that it practically vaporizes into the pork within as teeth meet bread.
And that meat? According to chef-0wner Jon Krinn, “Often Nick uses Sakura pork, a cross between Duroc and Berkshire breeds raised in Indiana.” This is special on its own. But then Palermo uses an immersion circulator to sous-vide the cap of the ribeye before coating it in flour and buttermilk and frying it. I’m talking about chicken-frying a well-marbled piece of fork-tender pork. It melts and crackles with each bite in pure, porky lust.
Plain, it would be memorable, but it’s crowned with pickled onions, Upland cress, and most importantly, a blackberry-Carolina Reaper pepper barbecue sauce. Krinn says that Palermo is a “hot sauce whisperer” and this is obviously correct. The sauce would make a Thai chef hang his head in envy for its ideal balance of acid, sweetness, and heat. It masterfully cuts through the fattiness of the pork, resulting in a sandwich that rouses the taste buds with every bite.
According to Krinn, The Nick Rib isn’t always on the lunch menu, but it does reoccur. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for its return, and you should, too.
442 Maple Ave. East, Vienna
Feature image by Alice Levitt
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