Construction is moving ahead on Cask & Larder, the new restaurant and brewery from the folks at the Ravenous Pig. In fact, I’m told that the project is a week ahead of schedule, making the Labor Day projected opening date look attainable.

You can’t tell that by the way the place looks, however. And indeed there is still plenty to do. But sheetrock is going into place and plasterwork is being accomplished. So who knows?

C&L will bill itself as a “Southern public house,” and will feature Southern-inspired dishes as well as beer brewed on the premises. The menu will feature such things as smoked lamb shank, glazed country ham, whole roast duck and smoked brisket. There will also be an oyster bar. James and Julie Petrakis, chef/owners of the Pig, will also oversee things here along with partners Dennis Bernard, who will serve as the head chef, and his wife, Tracy Lindskoog, who will manage. Bernard was formerly with Blackbird and the Publican in Chicago. 

Cask & Larder occupies the space that was Harper’s Tavern and Le Cordon Bleu and more recently was the Boathouse of Winter Park and Drake’s. It will be essentially one big space (as it was when an O’boys Barbecue occupied it). The main entrance to the restaurant will be on the Fairbanks Avenue side. Brewing equipment will be installed where Drake’s had a stage for live bands. The building sits on Fairbanks Avenue where Orange Avenue merges onto it.

In anticipation of Cask & Larder’s opening, the Ravenous Pig is beginning a repositioning of its menu to be more varied and to focus less on the Southern stylings that will be featured at the sister restaurant. To that end, Joseph Burnett, formerly sous chef at Norman’s at the Ritz Carlton, has been hired as the chef de cuisine. If you’ve stopped in at the Pig lately, you may have noticed new dishes with Asian or Latin American influences. James Petrakis told me that whereas Cask & Larder will be more a la carte, Ravenous Pig’s plates will be full plate offerings. One thing he hasn’t decided: whether the Pig’s popular — and decidedly Southern — shrimp & grits dish will move to the Cask & Larder or stay at the Pig. Or be featured in both.

I’ll keep you up to date as I hear more.

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