Deep-fried stuffed pig’s foot from The Breslin. Sorry for the bad photo, but as anyone who’s been to The Breslin knows, it’s not the most well-lit of places. I love The Breslin for its lamb burger most of all, but as delicious as it is, the burger is one of the least indulgent things on the menu. The pig’s foot, on the other hand, is pure gluttony. The entire foot is stuffed with sausage, breaded, and deep fried resulting in a delicious combination of meat and fat of all kinds. It’s also bigger than a man’s arm. After this, I should probably only eat smoothies and salads today, but it’s the Fourth of July, so I’m headed to Shake Shack for hot dogs.

Home version of the Pablo Honey from the bar at The Breslin. Sorry for the bad picture.

I love The Breslin, particularly the lamb burger, but they also have a great bar with some really good, original cocktails. I haven’t tried this one yet from the source, but we attempted to recreate it for a friend who had. It’s kind of an anise-y margarita. The tequila and anise flavors really compliment a snack bowl full of cinnamon and ancho chile spiced almonds. The recipe:

• 2oz good quality silver tequila
• 1/2oz anise-infused agave nectar
• 3/4oz fresh lime juice

Shake with ice and strain.

There are two tricks. First, the different nectars we bought for this varied greatly in sweetness and viscosity. It will take some experimentation around the 1/2oz portion size to get a drink you like best. Second, how to do the anise infusion. We found that lightly crushing an anise pod into 3-4 oz of nectar and letting it infuse overnight worked pretty well. Just be sure to carefully strain the nectar to prevent the little bits from getting in your drink.

The Breslin Lamb Burger—for real, not my version. Now you see why there are no previous pics of this on here; it’s so dark in the restaurant that the only source of light for iPhone photography is this mini-lantern from the table (I don’t use flash in restaurants). That and after waiting for 1.5 hours for a table, it’s just too hard not to devour the burger the instant it’s set down in front of you. How was it? The wait at The Breslin is annoying, but the bar is great and the burger so good I’m willing to put up with it.

My knock-off of the lamb burger from The Breslin. This is such a great burger—leg of lamb is ground fresh with parsley, onion, and black pepper, sprinkled with salt, cooked to a crispy medium rare, and served on a sourdough roll with baby lettuce, onion, a slice of good feta, and lemon-cumin mayo.