I had the good fortune to eat at The Spotted Pig twice recently. Once for a late weekday lunch with friend and fellow designer Nick and the other on a weekday evening with the boss and a friend in from Scotland. The reports of a Michelin star made me curious. We had to see what the fuss was about. As coincidence would have it a nice review of the S.P. then popped up in the New York Times by Frank Bruni.

For lunch Nick and I sat at the bar on the first floor. We talked ‘design business’ over a pint of the Spotted Pig’s own bitter. Excellent stuff. Went down almost too fast for a Wednesday afternoon. There was another couple finishing burgers at the bar and a few groups of people scattered around the small dining room. At that time of day the big windows let in a lot of light and the room feels quite cheery. Nick had the chowder and I ordered the burger. Not sure why, seeing as I try not to eat too much red meat. Maybe it was the way the couple next to us was gulping theirs down that did it. Well, was I in for a treat. The burger was one of the best I’ve ever had. On a brioche bun with only Roquefort Cheese to dress it, the burger was pure simplicity but explosive with flavor. And the shoestring fries with fried garlic and rosemary at first seemed annoying, too thin to handle easily, but by the end of the meal I found myself shoveling them into my mouth by hand, head tilted back so none fell astray. Nick eyed my burger enviously. I traded him a bite for a bit of his chowder. Lovely ‘crabby’ taste and good creaminess.

On the night that we came back, I got a better idea of what all the articles were talking about. When I put my name in there was still a little room to maneuver around but by the time we were on our second pint of bitter the place was packed. We were escorted upstairs to the north end table near the bar. Luckily there were only three of us or the fourth would have had to sit hunched over on a stool while someone at the bar stood with their rump resting on the sitter’s shoulders. The food again was fantastic. I had the smoked trout, beets and creme fraiche.

Now, I refuse to complain about how crowded the Spotted Pig was. If I owned a restaurant I would want to see it jammed full of people every night. You would too. And why are people bitching anyway? Heelloo-oo. We live in New York City! If you haven’t noticed - it’s crowded! But we like it that way. You like it that way. That’s why we are here. To be in the mix of the chilly-chills, the idea-havers and the trendsetters. So clamp it and enjoy the beer. What I would say is that the Pig is visually cluttered. I know this adds to some sense of charm but with so many people every night adding their own ‘visual clutter’ it is easy to go overboard. I do not like the mismatched upholstery fabric on all the stools. Too ‘thrift-store coffee shop’. Pick a solid color and run with it. Also, and this is nit-picky, but there were a few things like unpainted electrical conduit that add to the ‘noise’… although I was probably there in the middle of some work they were doing and the conduit is by now painted so no big deal. What was really nice, and a nice surprise, was when I used the bathrooms (all two of them), I found them to be painted and decorated and very charming. Too easy it would have been for the owners to paint it tan and put a roll of paper towels on the sink. And speaking of- Ken, one of the owners, along with another manager were very attentive when they noticed the line I was in for the bathroom growing longer with no hint of life from within. Grabbing keys, they happily banged on the door while trading jokes with me and then keyed it open to find no one inside. They all seemed very good-natured and easy going. On our way out, Ken asked how everything was, a gesture I appreciated in a joint with about 4,000 people milling about.

For a tiny casual place in the Village, the Spotted Pig is super. April Bloomfield, the chef, is doing serious food for serious crowds. The Pig’s sugar daddies, Mario Batali and Bono must be very proud. No crowd or two-beer wait for a table is gonna keep me from going back soon.