LARGO — A new gastropub co-owned by the founders of Barley Mow Brewing Co. is holding a series of events and specials this week to celebrate its grand opening.
The Raven, which opened recently at 2535 E Bay Drive, will have craft cocktail and beer tastings, food samplings, music and prizes for the celebration, through Saturday.
Barley Mow owners Jay and Colleen Dingman teamed up with Allan and Ashley Fernandez, owners of Largo-based Out of the Pot catering, to open the restaurant.
"We kind of hit it off with them and knew the energy was good," Jay Dingman, 41, said. "We liked what they were doing with the food and they like what we're doing with the beer."
The menu ranges from pork belly sliders for $9 as a starter to chicken and waffles for $13 to several types of burgers, pizzas and tacos. The drink menu is packed with craft cocktails and Barley Mow beer that will be freshly brewed by the end of spring when construction on a pub brewery is complete.
It was beer that inspired the name of the restaurant, Jay Dingman said. His brewery's flagship brew is an India pale ale called "Unkindness," a name for a group of ravens. The pub is open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The future of the original location of Barley Mow is still unclear, with a retail and residential development planned to go up in the 500 and 600 blocks of West Bay Drive, Jay Dingman said. But the opening of the Raven has given him and his wife more time and flexibility to figure out their next step.