No Pork, No Shellfish

Bar mitzvah week continues. You still have a couple more days to enter to win the present we’re giving away: a pair of tickets to next week’s port wine class and tasting.

Port is just one letter off from pork, which just so happens to be one of my son’s favorite foods. Sure, he likes beef when it comes in the form of burgers. And he can demolish a shocking quantity of chicken when it comes in the form of nuggets. But his two favorite foods are the pork soup dumplings from Ala Shanghai, and the pulled pork from just about anywhere.

It doesn’t matter if the pulled pork is smoked like at Memphis King or braised in cider at Slidin’ Dirty. If it’s soft, rich, and shredded, it’s up his alley.

Our goal was to make the bar mitzvah kid centric. Even though we’re a reform congregation, our temple still has a few rules about the ceremony and the event. One red line is no pork and no shellfish.

Sigh.

So both pulled pork and soup dumplings were off the table. Fortunately there are some other things the kiddo likes. Many of them come from Trader Joe’s. And we briefly considered hiring a cook to warm up some of his TJs favorite in mass quantities. But then we thought better of it, and brought in the catering experts from Slidin’ Dirty.

Maybe you remember, but not too long ago I brought both kids to Slidin’ Dirty in Troy to see if they would enjoy macaroni and cheese that was served in a restaurant that won the Mac and Cheese Bowl multiple times.

It turns out, they did. And after Slidin’ Dirty opened in Schenectady, I took the boy there to see if he still liked the restaurant’s macaroni and cheese and recipe. He gave it a big thumbs up.

The kids table at the bar mitzvah will have the classic macaroni and cheese, plain hamburgers with ketchup, and because the catering manager at Slidin’ Dirty cares more about kid nutrition than I do there will also be some fresh fruit, veggies, and hummus.

Still, the majority of people at the bar mitzvah will be adults. While it’s great that the kids will be happy, I wanted to eat well too.

So our macaroni and cheese will be dressed up with shiitake mushrooms, and we’ll have the Slidin’ Dirty arugula salad which has a bright acidity to balance things out. As far as sliders go, we went with the The Dirty Ninja Chicken, The Philly Beef, and The Dirty Hottie Black Bean.

Those words probably mean little to people who haven’t been to Slidin’ Dirty before. Here’s the translation.

Grilled chicken cutlets will be topped with sauteed bok choy and shiitake mushrooms, scallions, sesame seeds, and asian mustard; The ground beef burger will be topped with sautéed mushrooms and peppers, arugula, fried onion, and horseradish cream; And the house made vegetarian black bean patty will have pepperjack, jalapeno, tomato, red onion, avocado, and chipotle cream.

It’s a little something for everyone. And then, as you heard yesterday, donuts for dessert.

One of the things I realized recently after reading Jim Leff’s write up of a quick visit to the region is that Slidin’ Dirty doesn’t actually make sliders. They make mini burgers. Or maybe you can even say they make diminutive gourmet sandwiches.

It may be interesting to debate this with Raf and some of my fellow foodies who will be at the reception and after party for out of town guests. But more on that tomorrow.