#60 – CRISPY PATA at ENGELINE’S

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

I’ve eaten lots of different animals – chicken, beef, lamb, venison, even kangaroo. But I’ve never had dinosaur. Until I went to the Filipino restaurant Engline’s in Woodside, Queens.

Of course they don’t really serve the extinct reptiles at Engeline’s. I’m not sure they’d be allowed to even if they could get their hands on the beasts. I think scientists might have something to say about that. But the Crispy Pata, which is a giant fried pig’s foot and another TONY list item, sure resembles the prehistoric monsters.

Filpino food is finally gaining popularity in this city with Purple Yam (which will be another TONY stop) and the brunch pop-up Maharlika.  They serve lots of pork dishes, utilizing all parts of the animal adding sour and salty seasonings and flavors.

After sampling some delicious chicken adobo and laing (which was a smoky combo of taro leaves, pork, and shrimp), the crispy pata was presented to us. It was a beast of browned crispy fat hiding some foot meat. I examined it to figure out how to eat it and I finally discovered the toes and they were the biggest digits and knuckles I’ve ever seen. It was monstrous. A few days after this meal I went to Blue Hill Stone Barns upstate and met their enormous pigs. And none had feet even close to the size of this giant. It was a pig dinosaur!

This was so different than eating chicken feet or my past experiences with pig hooves because there was lots of dark and fatty meaty underneath all the crackly skin and fat. The entire foot was a little too rich and heavy for me to handle. Most of it ended up not being touched, which I felt bad about wasting, but in the interest of my heart I decided to take the less is more approach.

But the few salty, tender meaty bites I indulged in were quite tasty. It was served with a sour vinegar based sauce for dipping that intensified all the rich creamy flavors of the indulgent meat. If this type of food catches on (which it seems to be doing), it’s only a matter of time before we’ll all be raving about Pterodactyl Wing.

Would Engeline’s Crispy Pata make my Top 100 of the Year? The monster of a foot has so much heart-stopping flavors and richness that it earns a 7 out of 10. But while the flavors are unbeatable, a few bites go a long way and the thought of eating this artery killer again pains my insides.