Dissertation defense dinner, in pictures

My cousin recently defended his dissertation, a huge milestone for a PhD student. To celebrate, I took him out to dinner at the Publican. We stopped by Maude's Liquor Bar for some pre-dinner cocktails, and then walked a few blocks north for the main event.

Oh what a main event. If pressed to choose my favorite restaurant from the seemingly infinite list of great Chicago eateries, I would probably pick the Publican. The food is always great, and I feel at home there. I could wax poetic about my love for the Publican in general and this meal in particular for pages, but instead I'll let these images from our dinner to the work for me.

Our beers. Mine (on the right) was something in the sour lambic family.

 Daily pickles.

Spicy pork rinds. Like delicious pig-based popcorn. A must.

Mussels. A classic. Bay, celery, and beer. They gave us a sample to accompany the mussels and our next course. Even a half order was huge.

Potted rillettes with rhubarb jam and sourdough bread. Creamy, delicious, spreadable pork. Rhubarb was just coming into season and pervaded the menu.

Grits and greens, listed in the vegetable section of the menu but no doubt there was some ham in there. This was so good. One of the best things I've ever eaten here, and that's saying a lot.

Pork belly. For a restaurant so devoted to pork, this cut is rarely on the menu (I've only had it one other time) so this was a treat indeed. Topped with an asparagus and mint salad to cut the richness of the belly. This dish paired so well with the grits and greens. 

Frites. Great but so ill advised. We were already pretty full. We also got dessert (cheesecake with something rhubarb-y) but I forgot to snap a photo. Oops. It looked like a piece of cheesecake.