Good food and good music in Salem? Yes, please! Check out In a Pig's Eye

A few friends went out in Salem recently and we decided to check out the local bar scene. We cruised the streets and stumbled upon In a Pig’s Eye, a classic hole-in-the-wall bar with brick walls and dim lighting. This is the kind of place you head to in a sweatshirt and jeans with every intention of staying for 1 or 2 beers, and end up stumbling home at 1am.

We walked in around 7pm and were lucky to snag the last spot big enough for our group. The waitress came over right away and we had beers in hand within 5 minutes of sitting down. They had some interesting brews on tap, and also offered $2 PBRs for those who aren’t picky.




My perfectly cooked scallops and
butter-drenched veggies and rice!

 

We told them we needed a couple minutes to decide what to eat, and with that we lost sight of the waitress for a good 20 minutes. I finally flagged her down and we placed our order. I asked for the Boston Baked Scallops ($13), and the waitress told me the dish had gone up 2 bucks because scallops are expensive right now (scratch that, $15). Fine…at that point, I was just hungry. They also ran out of marble rye bread (which they told us 10 minutes later), so J had to pick a substitution. At this point, I was a little discouraged and remember thinking “this food better be really good.”



Nett's amazingly delicious BBQ Pork sandwich



Lucky for In a Pig’s Eye (and me)…their food is AWESOME. Conversation ceased for a good 15 minutes as we all inhaled our delicious entrees. My scallops were tender and cooked perfectly, which – if you’re a scallops fan you know – is no easy feat. J got the Cubano ($8), and even without the marble rye, he said it was delicious. According to Nett and Blizzard, the BBQ Pork sandwich ($7.25) and the Vegetarian ($8) were amazing as well.

At this point any bad feeling about the amount of time we waited to eat had melted away, to be replaced with contented faces and full tummies.

Another cool thing about this place is they have live music from local bands on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9-11pm. Their website says they have jazz players on Sundays from 6-9pm as well. Sadly we had to take off before the band got going, but I can still vouch for the quality of the music as I’ve seen one of the musicians before. The Ross Livermore Band is top notch – very chill, very entertaining. They play in the City regularly so I highly recommend checking them out (in fact, they'll be at Copperfields April 1st)!

Overall, In a Pig’s Eye is a great little spot to kick back and have a couple beers, while listening to some good tunes – just don’t go if you’re in a hurry!

Happy St. Patty's weekend!

Little B