Oozing Inspiration
Fried eggs get fancy at Old Town Social
A runny yolk is a chef's favorite garnish these days, with everything from salads to pasta topped with fried or poached eggs. And both are combined in a most delicious way in Old Town Social's Irish Egg.
The dish comes in a deep cast-iron pot with anchovy-butter-brushed croutons on the bottom, topped with charred onion vinaigrette and a nest of frisée that cradles a golden-brown egg. The vinaigrette's sharp acidity is balanced by the intense richness of the soft-cooked, Saltine-breaded, deep-fried egg that oozes over the greens.
It's inspired by a vintage Joy of Cooking recipe for Scotch Woodcock. But the prettiest antique in the house is the 1926 Berkel meat slicer, proudly displayed at the marble charcuterie bar, where it glides through chef Jared Van Camp's homemade cured meats and sausages.
Social may have a clubby feel, but Van Camp takes his meat (and menu) seriously. He cures and smokes six kinds of charcuterie in-house, grinds grass-fed beef daily for burgers, and bathes house-cured pork belly in duck fat for his BLT.
These big-flavored foods beg for a beer, and Social has a diverse selection of 16 drafts and nearly 60 bottles. Or, for a taste of a different craft, try the Poor Man's Gueuze, mixologist John Kinder's sherry-, gin- and beer-based cocktail version of a Belgian lambic.
Old Town Social, 455 W. North Ave.; 312-266-2277 or oldtownsocial.com
