The Pig & Porter has closed

The Pig & Porter in Cedar Rapids has closed for “the foreseeable future,” according to a Tuesday afternoon post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The post said the owners are “currently exploring our options as a business.”

Pig & Porter has been closed since the beginning of the month, although a July 2 Facebook post said it was a temporary closure, because “we have decided to take some time off to be with friends and family.”

The New Bohemia District restaurant opened in 2016, serving a selection of small- and medium-sized plates and a limited number of large dishes made for sharing. Writing in Little Village a few months after Pig & Porter opened, Susan Bednar Blind called the restaurant “something unexpected and interesting.”

The menu focused on local ingredients, and changed seasonally. “Each menu item is carefully designed to get you out of your comfort zone and to try something that is amazing and out of the ordinary,” according to the restaurant. Its bar offered craft cocktails and boasted a selection of 31 bourbons.

Chef Matt Melone and Will Monk both had backgrounds in the Cedar Rapids restaurant scene before opening Pig & Porter in July 2016. The two met while working at the downtown dining spot, Cobble Hill.

Like other Cedar Rapids restaurants, Pig & Porter had a difficult winter, as the brutally cold weather discouraged people from going out to eat. Melone told the Gazette in February that January was the worst month the restaurant had since it opened.

“The consensus is, from talking to friends in the (restaurant) industry, this winter has been pretty awful from the month of January on,” he said. “I can’t remember a winter like this.”