Once an understudy, pork tenderloin takes center stage, hams it up as entree

Nation's Restaurant News, June 3, 2002 by Florence Fabricant

In the meat lineup at high-end operations, pork often took a back seat to beef, lamb and veal. Ham, bacon, sausage and such were fine as garnish but not necessary for the center of the plate, except perhaps in the Midwest. Other exceptions, of course, were certain ethnic cuisines, like Chinese, for which pork is an essential component.

But in recent years several factors have given pork more cachet. First of all, the pork producers have been working overtime to communicate the notion that pork is lean and tasty and just as suitable a partner for porcini mushrooms, say, as a veal chop. And, increasingly, chefs are turning to boneless pork tenderloin as a vehicle for creativity. The meat has no waste, can be roasted, braised, barbecued or sauteed, and does a fine job accepting an array of seasonings and flavors. It's hard to ruin.

Take, for example, pork tenderloin with a fresh fig sauce, an utterly nonethnic dish that's served at Aixois, a country French operation in Kansas City, Mo. Also, at Navio in the Ritz-Carlton Hall Moon Bay in California, a tenderloin of pork is plated with savoy cabbage and caramelized apples, for another dish that has haute cuisine aspirations.

At the Court Avenue Brewing Co. in Des Moines, Iowa, grilled pork tenderloin medallions come with a black currant-red wine sauce. And at the Varsity Brasserie and Coffeehouse in that same city, pork tenderloin is sauteed and glazed with a spicy honey sauce.

At Seven in New York soy-sauce-charred pork tenderloin is served with a warm potato pancake, roasted shallots and salsify. At Jeffrey's in Austin, Texas, rosemary pork tenderloin comes with a sweet potato-apple gratin and a red-currant glaze. Wink, also in Austin, beds its grilled pork tenderloin on a lentil salad alongside collard greens and applesauce. Though one might argue that there's nothing particularly inventive about pork and apples, they are classy dishes all the same.

The increased interest in Hispanic influences also has done a great deal for pork in general and the tenderloin in particular. Mark's South Beach in Miami Beach has roasted Cuban-marinated pork tenderloin served with Seville oranges. Twelve Twelve in Chicago marinates pork tenderloin in achiote before roasting and then serves it with white cheddar cheese grits, sauteed spinach and an apple-thyme jus.

At Churrascos in Houston, pan-roasted pork tenderloin is garnished with red peppers and scallions in a Key lime sauce. The restaurant also offers achiote pork tenderloin with lump crabmeat, avocado, yuca and a shrimp timbale. Americas, also in Houston, roasts pork tenderloin to be served over spinach with maple butter, caramelized pecans and pineapple. Saba Blue Water Cafe in Austin and Houston has come up with a Calypso pork tenderloin with plantains in a habanero-papaya mojo.

At the Laurier Cafe & Wine Bar in Houston, pork tenderloin is treated to a chipotle and citrus marinade and then grilled and served with potato mash, grilled asparagus and sauteed spinach. Ramblas, a tapas specialist in San Francisco, offers skewers of grilled marinated pork tenderloin. Tamayo in Denver bathes roasted pork tenderloin in tamarind vinaigrette and serves it with a roasted corn puree and pumpkin seed sauce.

In New York at TanDa, grilled pork tenderloin is given an Asian personality with a mung bean glaze and Asian ratatouille alongside. And at Pfiff, also in New York, a pork tenderloin schnitzel comes with truffled potato salad and sherry vinaigrette. Truffles and pork tenderloin? Why not?