The Blind Pig now open for service !!!!

The Blind Pig's opening day made the news...please check it out @ http://www.fox41.com/global/story.asp?s=12228774

We are planning on coming for lunch tomorrow. What should we have????

Great opening day at the PIG! We've decided to close for lunch tomorrow to fine tune a few things in the kitchen, but we'll be open for dinner, and every day thereafter like normal! We will open @ 5pm for dinner service !

Mike,

Any idea when the website will be updated from "Coming Soon" status?

Planning on stopping in tonight after work and school for a cocktail and a bite! Looking forward to checking it out!

Hi Brad, I'm hoping our website will be up by the weekend !! It's been so busy that Joe & I haven't been able to finish it yet. Hard to get a breath in inch wise when opening a new restaruant. Please come see us soon...I think you'll like what we have to offer my friend !! Thanks again !!

Two thumbs up for The Blind Pig! Robert and I went in tonight and we loved it! The atmosphere is awesome - great music playing, the right amount of lighting (dim-ish but not too dark), and the kind of place that feels like you could dress up for if you wanted to, but that would still be okay if you didn't want to. Very inventive drink menu - there was a bacon cocktail! - and the food was executed amazingly well. Robert is on the endless search for the perfect fish n' chips and he is almost never totally satisfied, but as soon as he took one bite of his fish tonight he said, "This is how a fish n' chips should be done." According to the server, it is in a champagne batter. Great! I got the salmon croquettes and they were superb! Definitely not your mother's salmon croquettes, or at least not my mother's, anyway. Even though I loved hers, they were made from the canned salmon, and these were made of chunks of super fresh salmon that has never gone near a can. Super yummy! Maybe my expectations were too low for a 2nd night in business, but everything went off without a hitch. Friendly and knowledgeable service, delicious food at reasonable prices, and the kitchen is wide open to the dining room so they are on stage while they work even during this first week of business. Cute boys back there too! We will look forward to going back!

Thanks Laura, I'm so glad that you enjoyed everything darlin. The atmosphere & food that you described is exactly what we were aiming for. We thank you so much for these kind words..it makes us feel so proud of what we're trying to do here in butchertown !!!

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I'm so glad Marsha had the idea for a girls' night out at The Blind Pig! I had the fried oyster appetizer, and though I lived in Charleston, SC for over seven years, where they really know how to fry an oyster, I've never had breading like this. It was crisp, light, almost tempura-like. I then had the bison melt and split the portobello sandwich with my friend and both were fantastic, The bison was cooked just right to maintain all the juiciness. Fries were amazing. My husband works in a kitchen so he doesn't get out to dinner much, so I got a shepherd's pie to go for him. It was terrific as well, and each bite bursts with almost-crisp fresh peas. Loved it!

Remember, it was a First Friday Trolley Hop, Friday of their first week open for business, and we didn't have a reservation - and there were five of us! (There's me breaking two of my cardinal dining rules right off the bat)...

Yep, a great time was had by all - Jesse and I dragged Laura T back to the Pig since we hadn't been, and we were also joined by Antonia L and a friend of Jesse's from work. I love opening a menu and seeing the words "pork rillettes" in the appetizer section. But pork rilettes with Blue Dog baguette? I knew we were in for a good ride. I had the rilettes (served in a little crock, with the fat sealing the surface), the Old School Whiskey Sour, and then the "fish and chips". Fantastic showing here; hand-cut frites double-blanched the way God intended, in peanut oil (if I'm not wrong); malt vinegar and house-made dill/garlic aioli, ethereal breading on the (actual) cod, and (!) they avoided the sin of putting more fried fish than you can eat at one sitting on the plate. Leftover fried fish isn't good - everybody knows that!

Service was very competent without being the slightest bit intrusive (thanks, David!) Following Jesse's lead, I brought a shepherd's pie home for John as well. We told David this early on in the meal, that we wanted to take entrees to go as we left. I didn't even bother to ask him to give them to us piping hot just as we were leaving - if you've ever worked in the front OR back of a restaurant, you know that's pretty impossible to do; you'd have to know exactly when the time was right to fire the to-go entrees. And yet that is exactly what happened. Now that is impressive. Maybe it was just luck - but I think David and the expo (one of the owners, maybe) just really had their shit together.

The place is very VERY nicely appointed, love the look and feel of the place; nice beer list. It's hip - oh, brother, is it! - but it's as only as hip as you can imaginably be without being in any way "tragically hip".

For two cocktails, two entrees and one very special appetizer (you guys, actual CORNICHONS with the rilettes!), I got out for just under $55 with tip.

Will I go back? *looks at watch* - what time do they open?

[Robin Garr]

Will I go back? *looks at watch* - what time do they open?

Don't laugh! After a quick drop-in for the soft opening, we were back with a friend 10 minutes after opening time for dinner on its first day. Those guys are doing it right ... even slammed, you couldn't tell it was a new restaurant from any serious glitches in food or service. I think we have a winnah, ladies and gents.

I agree wholeheartedly with Marsha's wonderful review, with one tiny correction. They did not "drag" me back, I returned enthusiastically! Loved it again!

What's funny is that I went back... again... last night. Twice in one night. I ran into some friends at the Gallery Hop, and they were starved, so I directed us right back to The Blind Pig. (I also recommended the place to two other groups of friends that were looking for a place to go earlier in the night. I can be such an obnoxious billboard for places I like.) They raved about their food, and they tried the Spicy Sangria and loved it. I'm excited to go back and take my husband, because I know he's going to flip for the fish and chips.

Thanks everyone for all the positive feedback.... We had a great opening week !!!!

I've heard great things on here but horrible things from friends who have been. Complaints vary from awful service to bland, greasy and undercooked food. Everyone I know personally who has been says it was a horrible experience. I just wonder if they started with a bang and quality/service has fallen off already or if it just so happens that my friends represent the occasional rather than the normal experience at the Blind Pig.