Autre Monde: Pork Chop 

Brian Brock has, by his own estimation, eaten at Berwyn’s Autre Monde more than 500 times. The pork chop is his go-to meal, when he’s not tempted by the specials. He fell for the restaurant’s welcoming, neighborhood vibe as he searched for a new home.  

“My husband and I were living outside of Ann Arbor, and we were both like, where’s our next place going to be?” Brock said. “A friend from college posted that some friends he used to work with at Spiaggia were opening this place in Berwyn. And my husband’s like, ‘Where? Oh, my gosh. Brian, look. At these houses.’ We started making the drive to check out houses, and then we would stop at Autre Monde every time.” 

Brock and his husband, David, bought the house in Berwyn and became regulars. Brock keeps circling back to one item.  

“When I go out, I want to eat something that I’m not going to go through the trouble at home or have a failure at home. The pork chop is that that dish,” said Brock.  

For the partners at Autre Monde the pork chop is special too.  

“It’s been on the menu in some iterations since we opened,” Christine Tully, partner and managing director, said.  

“I love the pork chop. I think it is, if not unique, pretty special in the world of pork chops,” Dan Pancake, chef and partner, said.  

The chop itself comes from a Duroc breed pig raised in Iowa on a farm where it’s allowed to roam freely. The restaurant buys the whole rib rack and deconstructs it in house.  

“There’s meat around the bone. Pork belly is sitting on top of the pork chop. When it cooks, it releases all that fat into the meat, kind of internally basting itself,” Chef Pancake said.  

The grill at Autre Monde is special too. It was an essential feature, built into the kitchen.  

“They wanted a charcoal grill in there because meat is just so different when you do it that way,” Tully said. “The temperature, bit of char, the caramelization you get on something like that.” 

“We pull the door and it’s like, you’re hit with that wood smell. And I’m like, OK, I want the pork chop,” Brock said. 

But before the chop hits the grill, it begins a Mediterranean transformation with a soak in brine: pink peppercorns, red pepper flakes, black peppercorns, some sliced onion and salt. Then, after it’s grilled to perfection, it still has a few more steps.  

“What is as important as cooking it properly is letting it rest properly. We let all of the meat, especially the pork chop – because it’s a little bit bigger piece of meat, let it rest for five to ten minutes,” said Pancake.  

Then it’s onto the plate.  

“I love the olives and then the kind of sweet anise flavor from the caramelized fennel. It’s just a really nice dish, really tender, flavorful,” Brock said. “It’s a big pork chop, so I will take some of it home. And then before the night is over, you can gnaw on the bone in the comfort of your kitchen.” 

“On the menu there are probably three to four or five things that have survived the test of time. Maybe this is prideful, but I think we figured out how to best represent those dishes. We found the right product and the right way to cook it in the right combination of flavors,” Pancake said.  

While the restaurant has this very thoughtful, mature process for getting food onto the table, the overall dining experience is meant to be approachable.  

“This is still a neighborhood restaurant,” Pancake said. “The whole point is to create an experience that begs people in off the street to eat at a neighborhood restaurant.” 

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