Full-boar chili
Most Fairmount restaurants might push menu specials themed to blockbuster exhibits at the local museums. But what does London Grill's chef-ower Michael McNally do with Cleopatra still drawing crowds to the Franklin Institute? He kicks "Elizabeth Taylor" to the curb - her famous chili con carne, that is, the very recipe that McNally's had on his menus for the better part of three decades.
Most Fairmount restaurants might push menu specials themed to blockbuster exhibits at the local museums. But what does London Grill's chef-ower Michael McNally do with Cleopatra still drawing crowds to the Franklin Institute? He kicks "Elizabeth Taylor" to the curb - her famous chili con carne, that is, the very recipe that McNally's had on his menus for the better part of three decades.
"It was time to do something different," he says.
Good thing that something new - a hearty bowl of wild boar chili - is smokin' hot, too. Literally. McNally's take is more reminiscent of a fiery mole than a typical ground-meat chili, with tender chunks of gamy pork in a brown stew that sparks with ancho and arbol chiles, cozies up with sweet molasses and cocoa, then spins off exotic notes of cumin, espresso, and a campfire whiff from Weyerbacher's smoked ale. With a pretzel roll and smoked beer mustard on the side, it's a meal that at least evokes the season, if not necessarily the season's blockbuster exhibition.
Wild boar chili, $8 a bowl, at London Grill, 2301 Fairmount Ave., 215-978-4545.
- Craig LaBan