The Ravenous Pig – Winter Park Florida

The Ravenous Pig – An American Gastropub – Winter Park Florida

As the sun’s rays retreated behind the clouds in the western sky and the air in the dusky late Central Florida afternoon began to settle, I parked my car along N Orange Avenue in Winter Park and took my partner by the hand as we walked together toward The Ravenous Pig, renown as an American Gastropub, for a dinner out on the town.

The Ravenous Pig may sound like a barbeque place, at first, specializing in pork dishes or something along those lines, but contrary to their name they only have a few dishes that actually emphasize pork (they do have a suckling pig roast once a month however). The Ravenous Pig specializes in a menu that changes by the season and emanates from the chef’s inspiration.

The whole trip was a spur of the moment decision, I had always wanted to try The Ravenous Pig out as I have heard rave reviews about it from friends and professionals alike. The quandary with being spur of the moment at The Ravenous Pig is that there may be a wait time for a table. They emphasize, and I recommend as well, to place reservations for a table before hand to ensure a table. However, if you so choose to take the risk of walking in, you will have to wait in the bar area for a first come first serve basis. Luckily our wait for a booth was only 10 minutes as the line wasn’t too long.

@ The Ravenous Pig – A view toward the Pub area

Inside, the Ravenous Pig is decorated in classy browns and layers of bricked walls. Our server for the evening is sweet and attentive, checking up on us throughout our meal and quite friendly.
For starters we begin with the Crab Hush puppies ($7) a twist on the traditional hush puppy appetizers, made with charred corn, bacon, and served with a orange-habenero aioli.

My partner mildly enjoys the Pacific Halibut ($27), olive oil poached, with provincial summer gratin, olive tapinade, in a tomato fennel broth, though she is not a fan of the olive tapinade.

@ The Ravenous Pig – Crab Hush puppies ($7)

@ The Ravenous Pig – Pacific Halibut

Steak Frites ($24), is a porcini marinated flat-iron steak served with their signature truffle fries and tarragon aioli. The steak was tender and grilled perfectly with a warm outside and a cool red inside, just the way I like it. Truffle fries are basically like shoestring french fries with a hint of truffle mushrooms. The tarragon aioli sauce that accompanies the dish was very unique and all in all the dish was very creative.

@ The Ravenous Pig – Steak Frittes

@ The Ravenous Pig – I enjoy my meat this way

@ The Ravenous Pig – with the Tarragon Aioli sauce

@ The Ravenous Pig – The Frittes in Steak Frittes

For dessert we enjoyed the Custard ($7), served with a coconut cream frozen souffle’ and white chocolate macadamia biscotti crisps.

@ The Ravenous Pig – “The Custard”

@ The Ravenous Pig – The Custard

@ The Ravenous Pig -The coconut cream frozen souffle

@ The Ravenous Pig – The white chocolate macadamia biscotti crisps

Overall I definitely enjoyed my meal at The Ravenous Pig. I would come back just to check out their menu and all the creativity that they put into it. It’s surprisingly refreshing to see such ingenuity in their dishes and I wish more Central Florida restaurants practiced this philosophy, although I do have reservations about their pricing. I would want to come back to try their Pub Burger ($12) since its pretty cheap hah.

Tasty Chomps Rating!
4 out of 5 TASTY CHOMPS!!!!

Hours
Lunch: Tuesday – Saturday — 11:30 am-2:30 pm
Dinner: Tuesday – Thursday — 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Friday – Saturday — 5:30 pm-10:30 pm