My year of eating unctuously

Months ago when I was spending a lot of time reading Gourmet I would often come across the word unctuous used to describe various foods ranging from pâté to marrow to truffles to... well, most anything rich rich rich. And I observed that I rarely, if ever, ate food that could be described in this way. So, for my birthday back in January I made a little pledge to make this a year of eating unctuously. This piece in particular, hovers in my memory. I don't think the word unctuous is even used, but the eating, and the feeling are there.

There's a number of items on an unctuous eating list - including the afore mentioned pâté, marrow and truffles. I have also included French macarons as they're rather rich and decadent and I just wanted to include them. And, well, I'm certain there are other things, but it's late and I'm beat and I really just wanted to say that...

I ate my first pâté.



Last Saturday Jeff and I met our buddy Rocky at Evoe over in Pastaworks on Hawthorne. It's a smidge of a restaurant, but pared down to the perfect, bare necessities. We had stools at the butcher block counter which also serves as the chef's main work surface.



The Artichoke, Fennel and Guanciale salad was crisp and earthy combined with the brittle pork cheeks that melted when they hit the warmth of my mouth.



And the Charcuterie Plate we shared was covered with treats. We all really loved the pickled gooseberries, and I was quite taken with the pâté. I didn't press for particulars, and I know there are so many types of pâté available. But it was rich, unctuous for sure, and I did like it a lot.

Abby spoke highly of Evoe earlier this year. I would highly recommend trying to grab a seat at the counter the next time you've got an hour to spend enjoying a thoughtful, special lunch.