And this little piggie stayed home.

Now, I know I'm a little late on this review. The Three Little Pigs sandwich at the Silver Palm hit the bigtime when Anthony Bourdain reviewed it on his chicago episode of No Reservations way back in February. And since then everyone has been all "OMG! That sandwich and I are like BFFs 4-eva!! LYLAS!!", or something to that effect. But us chicago foodies have known or at least heard rumors of these 3 Little Pigs for some time. I had actually had one prior to February '09 (suck it, Bourdain!), but i think the memory was lost in the pork-induced stupor I experienced after eating it.
In any case, I have been mulling over my latest Triple Pig sandwich experience for a while-- roughly for as long as it would take to digest this intriguing bacon explosion-- and I finally feel ready to admit that I have some reservations.
This sandwich is certainly nothing to take lightly. It is made up of several thick slices of ham off the bone, breaded and fried pork tenderloin, a generous serving of bacon, topped with two eggs and some special kind of sauce that I'm sure was made from the arteries of people who dropped dead at the table mid-piggy. This is all stuffed between an appropriately huge bun and, of course, served with fries. I debated asking for a vegetable side instead of fries, but I expected I would be heckled out of the restaurant.

The only way to eat this sandwich is in a pair--you need the moral support and double stomach capacity of another pig enthusiast to even attempt it. I recommend that this be a very close and non-judgmental friend who can cheer you on and not laugh at your "Thanksgiving Pants".

My pig partner will remain anonymous, but I will say that he has serious pig cred, and may love swine even more than me. After we did a little light physics to determine the best way to actually consume the sandwich, we both had the same reactions. First, it was almost impossible to get all the 3 piggies in your mouth at once. The sandwich almost had to be eaten in parts (If this were my sophmore critical theory class, I would assert that it is a postmodern, deconstructed manifestation of sandwich discourse. We would need to "unpack" this "sandwich" before going any further).

The second reaction was that the proportions were all wrong. Ham off the bone usually makes my heart sing, but in this case it dominated the other two piggies. The bacon was lost in the sea of ham (sounds like a good place to be, bacon), and the pork tenderloin was almost an afterthought. The latter made my foodie friend very, very sad, because breaded pork tenderloin
is his favorite pork product. I actually ate the pork tenderloin alone, and it was really very good. We came to the conclusion that the pork tenderloin should pull a Joey McIntyre and start a solo career, because those other guys were, like, totally cramping his style. In its place, I'm not really sure what other pork product could stand up to that ham (aka Jordan). Sausage? More bacon?

Now, don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this pig extravaganza, and I strongly encourage everyone to go try it and form their own opinions. Even if it has its faults, I agree with Tony that the sandwich is "Genius in an evil way."

Anyway, I hope we can still be friends, Tony. As long as you dont claim to have discovered the Matchbox, too.