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Gene Philbin from the Peculiar Culinary Co. gave the traditional dish a twist on a recent Thursday evening, using braised local pork shoulder as the protein — and enhancing it with cherry wood-smoked bacon morsels and pork demi glaze along with sweet peas, onions and roasted corn under a covering of browned mashed potatoes.
Perhaps it’s the individual touches — mascarpone cheese in his mashed potatoes, for example; Irish whiskey in his gravy and wild boar, apples and sage in his house-made sausages — that convinced local food fans to select Philbin as “best chef” in the 2015 Readers’ Choice Awards.
“He puts a lot of love into his cooking. The taste alone is great, but the passion he puts into it keeps people coming back,” said Stan Buzilek of Kingston, who attended a recent dinner at the Peculiar Culinary Co.’s new digs in the Pittston area.
“He uses a lot of local vendors, local meats and cheese and dairy,” Buzilek’s wife, Renee, added. “Everything he makes is nothing less than spectacular.”
Philbin and his wife, Miranda, opened the Peculiar Culinary Co. in 2012 as a pop-up restaurant, staging occasional appearances at various venues where they would arrange to take over the kitchen and serve their own food.
In January they moved the business into a more permanent location at 30 Center St. Exd in Hughestown where Philbin happily notes he has 10 burners, two ovens, a fryer and a flat griddle.
There’s plenty of room in the spacious kitchen to be creative, or, as Philbin says, “kick it up.”
“We take pride in what we do,” he said.
And, pickle fans will be happy to know he still includes a pickle in at least one dish at every event. On a recent Thursday, it could be found in the tartar sauce.
Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or Twitter@BiebelMT.