The Pickled Pig Pub: great food without the trough

“Pickled Pig Pub said fast a few times will definably trip a few people up,” said Doug Frampton, general manager.

Frampton and wife, Lisa, and Michael Stiglitz and wife Denise opened The Pig+Fish Restaurant Co. on Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach in 2007. They had purchased Sydney’s restaurant in 2006, which they operated for a year before they changed its name.

Stiglitz is chef at the Pig+Fish and also at the Pickled Pig Pub.

Featuring a menu and prices that are a gastronomic stimulus package, Stiglitz said the Pickled Pig’s offerings are created to be doubly irresistible.

“We wanted to have very reasonable pricing, offering smaller plates for smaller prices. Everything on the regular menu is $10 to $14, and everything on the Plate of the Day menu today is $11 to $14,” Stiglitz said.

Frampton said the pub features dishes and flavors that have wide appeal.

“It’s kind of global pub-grub meets bistro. The global influence is strong. The menu offers a wide range of things,” he said, pointing out the Cuban Press sandwich, $9, featuring smoked pit ham, shredded pork, pickles, Swiss cheese and Dijon spread on a panini roll, and the very British-style Chip Buddy sandwich, $7, featuring french fries, curry gravy and green peas on a toasted panini roll.

Stiglitz, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America, is blending years of experience having prepared food for the fine-dining experience, and for a multiple location brewpub, to create The Pickled Pig’s version of a gastropub, a style of dining with British origins.

“Our cuisine blends from the classic pub steak to a classic Italian sausage, pasta and peppers, to a couple of Asian-influenced items,” he said. Also on this week’s menu: a ‘Pork chop Schnitzel,’ $10; ‘Creole Meatloaf,’ $12; and ‘Soy Sake Skirt Steak,’ $12.

“We don’t have a 15-page laminated menu like the casual restaurant chains do. Our menu is on a regular piece of paper that came right out of the printer. Next week it might not look like this,” Stiglitz said.

The pub’s Build Your Own Cheese Board (B.Y.O.C.B.), $12.95, lets the diner choose two cheeses from a choice of offerings and is served with smoked chorizo, imported olives, dried cherries and petite toast points.

Cheese board offerings include Rouge Oregonzolla, a tangy, fruity, Italian-style blue cheese; Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper, a smooth and buttery sheep-milk cheese; and Sartori Sar Vecchio, a hard, dry Wisconsin Parmesan.

“You know that the people who are getting that plate and who enjoy cheese are getting exposure they can’t get anywhere else,” Stiglitz said. He said since the pub’s April 10 soft opening, the cheese board is already popular.

“If you just want to stop by and have cheese and a great micro-brewed beer or a glass of wine, then that’s what you do. You don’t have to come in and have dinner,” Stiglitz said.

He said the pub’s focus would remain fresh quality foods, a varied menu and fast service.

Like all great pubs, in addition to a full-service bar, the Pickled Pig’s selection of beers is broad and will please aficionados – and those endeavoring to become one.

“We have an extensive list of bottled beers, including European beers. We have Ayinger, Samuel Smith and Tomos Watkin’s European extra special bitter.

“We also carry Lindemans Framboise, a nice raspberry-flavored beer,” said Frampton.

He said the pub also features a half-dozen beers on tap.

“They’re great food beers, and they’re great cheese beers. They’re fun,” he said. But imbibers be warned: some on-tap beers are high in alcoholic content. Frampton characterizes the Gonzo Imperial Porter, South Hampton’s Belgian-style Double White Ale, Troegs Pale Ale, Arrogant Bastard Ale and Dogfish Head’s Chicory Stout – as big flavored and great with food.

The pub’s large wall-mounted graphics feature vintage photographs – some of well-known characters – all with a common theme – pickles, pigs and good stuff from the brewery.

The pub’s warm lighting, earth-toned décor and crisp interior line evoke an ease that makes adjacent Route 1 dissolve.

The restaurant is open daily, serving lunch and dinner, without the inconvenient break between that would-be customers sometimes experience elsewhere. Plans for a grand opening are in the works.

For additional information on The Pickled Pig Pub, Harbor Square (next to Atlantic Books and Starbucks Coffee), Route 1, call 302-645-5444.