I had hog but somehow the hen escaped me. And it gets top billing.
This was at the Hen & Hog, a new quick-serve restaurant in Winter Park that is ostensibly a renamed and relocated reboot of the Mason Jar Provisions that previously was in Thornton Park.
The new menu is similar to the old, with sandwiches, salads, burgers, a few larger entrees and assorted “snacks” and starters.
My lunch companion and I started with something I don’t remember from the MJP menu, Cajun pork rinds, from the snacks category. (Not sure what differentiates a snack from a starter so we just made our own rules and called it an appetizer.) The crispy bits of hog hide were coated in chili pepper dust and served with a sauce similar to remoulade. I liked the mildly spicy chicharrones all by themselves.
My lunch guest stayed high on the hog with the pulled pork sandwich, an ample pile of shredded meat dressed in barbecue sauce and served on a brioche bun accompanied by pickles and a curiously cobbled slaw. The meat was moist and flavorful. Instead of fries, a salad – a generous serving of lettuce with croutons, onions, some cucumber slices and a bit of tomato – was selected for an additional two bucks. ( The sandwich was $13.)
I chose the Bourbon Blue ($15) from the list of burgers. The burgers are smash style (that was clear on the Mason Jar Provisions menu but not on H&H’s) so cooking it to a rarer temperature isn’t really possible. Still, it was a sizable patty, juicy enough and plenty beefy, slathered with a blend of blue and cheddar cheese with chopped caramelized onions mixed in. It did not look pretty – in fact it looked a bit off-putting – but it tasted terrific. By default, it came with fries, which were fine.
Hen & Hog occupies a small storefront space that previously was held by Manzano’s Deli. The menu is on large screens to the right of the ordering counter. After making your selections and paying for them, you can have a seat at one of the spartan tables along the side of the room, which is decorated with pictures and placards apparently from Mason Jar Provisions.
The restaurant fronts Fairbanks Avenue, which is not conducive to parking, but take note: there is a parking lot for customers of Hen & Hog and its neighboring businesses on the west side of New York Avenue just north of Fairbanks (look for the sign).
The Hen & Hog is at 221 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park (map). Although its hours are not listed on its website, it is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday (closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday). The phone number is 407-637-2863.
