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Dining & Spirits
Pigging Out at Orlando's Ravenous Pig
 The Pig’s surroundings are smart, and the food is an imaginative take on homespun cooking of a tavern, the English version of rustic Italian or French bistro |
The Ravenous Pig: An American Gastropub
1234 N. Orange Ave., Winter Park
407/628-2333
theravenouspig.com
If the term “gastropub” sounds pretentious, the full name of Orlando’s hippest new restaurant, The Ravenous Pig: An American Gastropub, should set you at ease — and your mouth to water.
At TRP, bacon may come to dinner with wild mushrooms on fresh tagliatelle. The rest of the little piggie goes uptown too, as fennel sausage in a frisee salad or put on a small plate with quail and braised endive. Even pork ribs bring a nouvelle slaw of parsnip and apples to the barbecue.
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Those lusty tastes give the Ravenous right to the newest culinary buzzword — and a reputation as one of toughest tables in Orlando only six months after opening. No white tablecloth, just plain brown paper, but the rooms are smart — old brick, dark wood and hip lamps — the crowd lively and the staff food-smart and table-savvy.
The gastropub concept was born across the pond 15 years ago when young chefs reclaimed old locals and updated pub grub. Call it New British. They promised only to care equally about what was on the plate as in the pint. They kept robust staples and added clever cooking and fresh ingredients (“New Pub’s Roots,” page 23).
Among the Yanks watching was celebrity chef Mario Batali, a partner at the Spotted Pig in New York, which opened three years ago. Soon James and Julie Petrakis, Winter Park natives and veteran Gotham chefs, were converts; they were off to England to taste the originals. They came home in 2004 to cook at the new Luna on Park Avenue and Primo and finally opened the gastropub of their dreams with Lee Kaleel, who brought the polish of California Grill and Seasons 52 to the front of the house.
Consider my delight in one swooping elliptical bowl. Roast suckling pig was as moist and tender as I’ll meet in this life. On one side was polenta creamed with sweet potato into a lush porridge. On the other were very lucky collard greens that grew up in Hammock Hollow near Gainesville, were braised for a decade or two and then kissed with a cider of bing cherries reduced to syrup. All it lacked was a crisp of cracklings. I’ll be back for the monthly pig roast in the parking lot to get some.
It’s an imaginative take on homespun cooking of a tavern. And brown: Why stir-fry when you can braise, roast, sear, smoke or pickle for extra flavor? Forget chicken breast, veal and delmonico, here’s to beef cheeks, lamb pot roast, duck leg and the glorious pig. “Pork just goes with my flavors,’’ chef James Petrakis says. “We have jars and jars of bacon fat we use almost like butter.’’
The seafood of preference is noble cod, lowly skate and rock shrimp. In winter, the kitchen loves peasant vegetables like cauliflowers, cabbage, turnips and Jerusalem artichokes and punches up salads with beets, nuts or soft-boiled eggs.
Flavors are big, like the swordfish with olives and currants, and the kitchen puts pub in the grub, too, including porter in caraway mustard and the fondue.
Baked goods are thoroughly unmodern and delightful. You’ve got to get biscuits, larded with gruyere cheese, or house-made pretzels. With luck, dessert will be red velvet cake.
 Restaurant Guide Online: Traveling? Check out the Great Florida Restaurant Guide for a list of the Top 500 restaurants around the state. |
