We just had the most delicious lunch.  It was just so good.  We went out to a few shops afterward and I still had things I wanted to say.  I also figured I ought to write it down while it still rings in my mind.  The Ravenous Pig is a much acclaimed local and semi-seasonally inspired restaurant in Orlando.  The owners also own my favorite local restaurant, Cask & Larder.  The Ravenous Pig is styled as a gastropub serving up delicious and thoughtful food alongside masterful cocktails and beers.  The chefs have been nominated for James Beard awards as well as best new chef by Food & Wine in 2012.  This is actually only the second time we have been to the restaurant.  The first being waaaaaay back in 2009 on our 1st anniversary, and if I remember correctly, the first meal out after Z’s liver transplant.  Today was actually his 5th anniversary of the transplant and I happily responded to an email for today’s once a month pig roast and having made a reservation on Open Table.  It worked out well to celebrate transplanitversary.  Once we were seated Z ordered a Coke and I quickly weeded through the cocktail list and ordered a Gin & Jam.  Oh. Em. Gee.  It was ginny and filled with home made clementine rosemary jam.  It was sweet and I had to totally restrain myself to not to chug it down in a long satisfied slurp.

This month the food was modeled after a French country roast and included heavenly succulent roast pork loin.  It was so smooth and densely flavorful.  It sat on top of lovely luke-cool new potato salad that was just lightly dressed with a bit of oil and vinegar and a few herbs.  It was also piled on a small power packed choucroute (sourkraut en francais) with mustard seeds and warm vinegary sourness.  Some highly flavored pork sausage also graced the plate which was swirled with some bitey mustard that had a bit of mustard oil heat and this cool accompaniment called bereweka on the menu. I’ve scouted around the interwebs for this item and it seems to be Alsatian in origin and seems to be in this case, a dark beer reduction chutney that was deeply sweet and raisiny.  It paired perfectly with the pork and sourness of the choucroute.  Everything was just delicious bites including the tiny little nod to dessert-a little brown butter and almond cupcake-maybe three bites with the wispiest hint of sweetness in an almost all butter frosting.  It was so full of flavor that I could hardly believe what I was eating.  Oh, and I almost forgot, we had a tall glass of truffle salted shoestring fries that just added salty goodness to the overall pleasure of the thing.

I kind of wonder why it took me five years to find this lunch but I’m really glad we did.  It’s not the least expensive thing going but this is the kind of careful and delicious food that I crave and is so worth it.