The Chocolate Pig

The Chocolate Pig was opened on Nov.8 in the Cortex innovation district of midtown St. Louis.

Peanut Butter Bomb“The chocolate part is the fact that we use Bissinger’s chocolate and most of our dishes that involve any of our chocolates so we get the rich family history from Bissinger’s in that and then the pig aspect is the fact that whenever we get in a hog we get a whole hog in and we use everything from snout to tail in our cuisine,” said Howie, a server at Chocolate Pig.

The setting is industrial chic with beams exposed on the ceiling. I was seated in one of the two big booths in the back looking over the tables in the middle of the restaurant. A neighboring wall featured a garden as art. This is only one example of the quirky aspects of The Chocolate Pig.

Despite the pig in the title, the restaurant is fairly vegetable-forward — featuring several vegetarian-friendly options. Vegetarian options continue on the dessert menu with the Chocolate Pig Candy Bar ($8) which is a maple bacon ice cream candy bar with hazelnut and toffee topped with tonka bean caramel and milk chocolate.  (The vegetarian option substitutes the bacon for a coconut bacon replacement.)

For my main dishes, I ordered the chicken fried brussel sprouts ($9) and the roasted acorn squash ($11). Contrary to the name, the chicken fried brussel sprouts are actually vegetarian. They are brussel sprouts fried like chicken with buttermilk dressing on the side. When I heard “fried,” I thought that the dish would be greasy like any other fried food. Instead, the sprouts, their coating and the dressing were like nothing I had ever tasted before. The roasted acorn squash was also good, but could not match the brussel sprouts. Although the plating was both beautiful and colorful, the flavor was mild and the dish was in need of some seasoning. Because I loved the buttermilk sauce so much from the previous dish, I dipped the slices of squash into the dressing. The combo improved the roasted acorn squash, but I would probably not order it again.

With a name like The Chocolate Pig it is essential that your desserts shine — and, if anything, this is where the Chocolate Pig delivers. The sweet potato pie milkshake ($12) is a shake with housemade sweet potato pie ice cream, Sailor Jerry’s Rum topped with toasted mallow fluff.  I was eager to get it so I ordered it without alcohol. It was brought out with a metal straw, one example of the restaurant’s effort to help the environment. The shake was reminiscent of Thanksgiving. It was coated in spices and marshmallows, two things that one couldn’t not love. The shake was true to its name; it really tasted like pie. There was not a strong flavor of sweet potato, which I did not expect. When I got to the end of my shake I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the marshmallow had sunk down to the bottom.

The peanut butter bomb ($7), a dark chocolate, peanut butter and berry ball with peanut butter cookie crumble and warm mixed berry compote was the other standout dish of the meal. Part of the charm of the dish is the presentation — a shell bubble of chocolate melted by poured raspberry compote, flooding the peanut butter dessert under it. While I am not usually a fan of peanut butter, this dessert was unparalleled. The raspberry sauce was the star of the dish and blended the flavors seamlessly.

True to the name, a  chocolate square accompanied the check.  The Chocolate Pig is quirky, and for the most part, features delicious dishes. A great addition to the Cortex district and the St. Louis dining scene.