"No-Frills Pork Chops Grow in Popularity" — Nation's Restaurant News
"Sourcing, and a good story, are at the heart of the Pork Chop that Saved the World, a menu item at The Occidental at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The restaurant dates back to 1906, but it reopened in March under the management of Starr Restaurants, based in Philadelphia and led by Stephen Starr.
The Occidental was famously the site of a dinner between a Soviet embassy official and an American news correspondent in October of 1962 that possibly helped broker an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The restaurant’s current chef, Neil O’Connell, recounted the story, in which the Soviet ordered a pork chop and the American ordered crab cakes.
The orders were switched, and whether the diners switched them back or not is a detail that’s lost to history, as is the recipe of that particular pork dish.
But the story remains and is honored by the dish’s name.
O’Connell is making sure that he’s using the best pork he can: a Berkshire pork chop from Newman Farm in Missouri.
“We found over the course of going through probably 50 tastings with Stephen [Starr] that this was the best flavor we were looking for,” O’Connell said."
When you can't make it to The Occidental, try Newman Farm's Berkshire Pork Chops at home!