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Spencer Pernikoff, Whiskey & Soba blog
Josh Galliano's justly famous fried chicken--you can almost hear the crunch.
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Kevin Roberts
Exec chef, chicken meister, and partner in The Libertine, Josh Galliano.
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Kevin Roberts
The dining room at The Libertine
You’ve heard about it, you’ve read about it, and if you’re like us, you need to be reminded about it. “It” is the Fried Chicken Sunday Supper at The Libertine, and it come around only once a month (every second Sunday, in fact), which happens to be this coming Sunday.
It’s also one of many reasons both The Libertine and chef/partner Josh Galliano have become so damn popular.
The Lib’s Sunday Supper is a 3-course meal that costs $30. Wait, you say, isn’t 30 bucks a bit steep for, uh, fried chicken? Only on the surface, my overly frugal friends…
You see, Sunday Supper is the antithesis of the ubiquitous 3-piece dinner deal….you know, the one with over-whipped potato buds, pasty gravy, and slima beans. Rather, this is the quintessential chef-driven dinner for the masses.
On Sunday Supper Sundays, no other menu items are offered—it’s the three-courser or nothing. As it should be, since Chef Galliano says “It takes over our lives…we start preparing for it on Wednesday.”
Sunday Supper menus include an appetizer, 5 pieces of fried chicken, two sides, and a dessert. Below is this Sunday’s menu, with notes from Chef Galliano.
1st Course
Cantaloupe Salad
Marinated Eggplant, Ricotta Salata, Apicius Vinaigrette
(The vinaigrette utilizes our sauce apicius, which is an old recipe derived from the reportedly first cookbook written in Ancient Roman times. It is a heavily spiced sauce using dill, coriander, white pepper, vinegar, and honey.)
2nd Course
Fried Chicken
Spinach Madeleine, Kentucky Stone Ground Grits, and Gravy
(The chickens come from an Amish farm in Illinois, get tea-brined in-house on Wednesday, soaked in spicy buttermilk for 24 hours, then coated in cornmeal, flour, and spices before being fried in canola oil. The Spinach Madeleine is adapted from an old Junior League recipe from the great cookbook River Road Recipes. It's like a really good creamed spinach that uses a pepperjack cheese, celery salt, and worcestershire.)
3rd Course
Peach Buckle
An American Classic Fruit Dessert featuring Illinois Peaches
The following sides are available at an additional charge:
- Churn Pickles
- Buttermilk Biscuits with Sorghum Butter
- Strawberry Preserves
- Sliced Heirloom Tomatoes
- Jalapeno Hot Sauce
As is customary at The Libertine, as many products as possible are sourced locally: The cantaloupe and eggplant come from Double Star Farms, the peaches are from Eden Orchards, the strawberries from Scharf Farm, and the jalapeños from one of our favorite named farms, Such and Such Farm in Desoto, Missouri.
About that chicken…
By most estimations, it’s as good as chicken gets. Readers may remember Galliano's chicken from Monarch restaurant, or from his one-night-only, fried chicken pop-up restaurant a few years ago, where the bird sold out quickly.
The part that always struck us: Precious little fried chicken yields an audible crunch; Galliano’s version does. And with a bit of a kick, too.
Spencer Pernikoff, curator of the food blog Whiskey & Soba, wrote that “it smelled so good when they put it in front of me that I could barely remember my own name, let alone how to use a camera.”
It's chicken worth the hype, folks. Get your ration Sunday night, and please make a reservation. You don’t want to get within fried chicken aroma range and then get turned away at the door. You'll never forgive yourself.
The Libertine
7929 Forsyth
314-862-2999
Sunday Supper, July 13 (and every 2nd Sunday of the month)
Sunday Hours: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
