'Twas the Night Before Christmas at Jacob's Pickles
’Twas the night before Christmas,
and we wanted a healthy dinner.
Instead we got fried chicken at Jacob’s Pickles,
so we are definitely not getting any thinner.
After three years of trying to get into Jacob’s Pickles, I finally went, but this time there was no two-hour wait involved (aside from the two hour wait in anticipation for this meal). They now (or always did) take reservations only for large parties and Christmas Eve calls for a southern comfort food fiesta.
We started off with a platter of eight pickle jars:
Special Sours
Hot Sours Cukes
Big Dill Kosher Cukes
Dilly Green Beans
Candy Red Beets
Sweet & Spicy Carrots
Sour Green Tomatoes
Thyme Jalapeño
I am a huge pickle lover – I go to every picklefest in NYC, and my coworkers have even gotten me tubs of pickles for Secret Santa, so I was a little disappointed that I only liked one out of the eight – the Big Dill Kosher Cukes. However, they were delicious, so we ordered more!
We also got a few Biscuits & Fixins and they were to die for. It came with house strawberry and orange preserves, clover honey and organic butter. The strawberry preservatives tasted like buttery, fruity candy. I could put it on bagel for breakfast every morning and be set for life (and also 100 lbs. overweight).
For my main dish I ordered Catfish Tacos with lime crema, cilantro slaw and cebollines with fresh lime and it was MEH. Whenever I go to southern restaurants I have to try the catfish, but between the Cajun spice, cilantro and cebollines – it was not my cup of tea.
We also got the Mushroom Mac & Cheese, which was filled with king oyster, shiitake and portabella mushrooms, and it was delicious, but a bit too creamy for my liking. It was also HUGE and we have leftovers for days.
Everyone around me got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Caesar, and I had serious food FOMO as they were enjoying it, while I was not into my dish. Luckily, the meals were very well portioned, and I got to have a little bit of theirs.
Someone at the table also got the side of non-mushroom Mac & Cheese, so of course I picked at that too. It was much less creamy, so personally I preferred this one.
And then there was Chicken & Pancakes buttermilk fried chicken with crispy sterling bacon, homemade syrup:
Now, I did not try it because I don’t eat bacon; however, E&TC is not going to discriminate against bacon so we still got the DL for you from my friend who ordered it. Apparently they were “Fluffy and big enough to satisfy your inner lumberjack. I give them an 8:10.” Assuming your inner lumberjack is synonymous with inner fatass, you definitely want to get this if you plan to go to back-to-back Flywheel classes the next day.
Word on the street is, if you can’t get yourself to indulge in 4,000 calories, get the Grilled Salmon Salad. It comes with baby greens, sliced oranges, shallot, cilantro and light orange vinaigrette.
Overall, I would give Jacob’s Pickle a #foodtosexratio of 6:10. It was good, but not great. I forgot to note the service was not the best, but with that being said, it was Christmas Eve, and who wants to work on Christmas Eve? The waitress was still very sweet. I’d like to go back with hopes to give it a better rating, now that I know what to order.
Feel free to comment if you feel differently or have any other recommendations for my next visit to Jacob’s Pickles.
