BarBacon is a swine-centric sports bar, operated by owner Peter Sherman and executive chef Shawn Hewitt, where the white tablecloth is eschewed for butcher paper and culinary nuance is abandoned in favor of unbridled bacon-loving. In most neighborhoods, a restaurant of such singular obsession might seem out of place, but at the north end of Hell’s Kitchen’s unfailingly kitschy Restaurant Row, it fits in seamlessly.
A visit here is an exercise in unapologetic indulgence, certainly not for the health conscious or weak of heart. The brussels sprouts ($10) come piled high with blistered greens and massive hunks of slab bacon, all coated in a Vietnamese glaze and served above a swath of Greek yogurt. Despite a visually unappealing pool of oil, it’s a home run. Not so for the hand roll special ($12), a meat tube taking on any one of several rotating ethnic identities—one night it was deemed Thai due to the dubious inclusion of Japanese seaweed salad and hot chili sauce.
Less offensive are the fish tacos ($15), which are not so much tacos as they are mini Tex-Mex salads plated atop flour tortillas that are impossible to eat with your hands. The Lobster Loves Bacon Mac & Cheese ($20) has the components of a hit entrée—generous hunks of lobster, crispy lardons and melty cheese—but in this case, the whole is not quite as great as the sum of its parts.
BarBacon is not the type of restaurant where you’d linger for a three-course meal (cardiologists everywhere are nodding in earnest), but it’s a fun nosh for those looking to satisfy a lust for the cultish comfort food.
Michael Pearson (Time Out Community reviewer)