The Pig Will Channel a Butcher Shop and a Roald Dahl Poem

Nearly two weeks ago we learned that EatWell DC was planning to open a new concept on 14th Street named The Pig — which, accordingly, will be pork-centric. But there weren't too many other details at hand. Now owner David Winer shares a bit more on the design the restaurant group envisions, the shape of the menu and some chef speculation.

First of all, put away your pig kitsch. Winer says that while people have already started offering him the use of their tchotchkes and adorable pictures of pigs, that's not exactly what he has in mind for the space. He's going a darker route. "I really would love it to feel like you're walking into an old butcher shop ... gussied up to be a relatively attractive restaurant." Among his inspirations? Roald Dahl's grisly poem The Pig, in which an English pig who realizes a farmer is about to eat him and turns the tables.

But no pig will get away that easy at The Pig. The initial press release declared that The Pig will be "nose-to-tail" and "farm-to-table," and Winer says that he means it: They'll be using trotters, making their own headcheese and sausages and eventually curing their own meats. But, he notes, there will also be some beef and poultry items on the menu — though these will be more unusual cuts, too, rather than strip steak and chicken breast.

All this said, Winer emphasizes that he's leaving the particulars of both the menu and the restaurant layout until they officially bring a chef on board. "It's going to be chef-centric from start to finish, so the kitchen has got to be really comfortable for the chef." EatWell is in talks with two potential chefs for the gig at the moment — one high-profile, Winer says, and the other not so much. Both chefs have ideas of the direction in which they'd like to take The Pig, so we'll have to wait and see.

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