Bethesda construction update: Barrel & Crow restaurant (Photos)

Work continues at Barrel & Crow at 4869 Cordell Avenue. In addition to the menu preview I gave you recently, the future restaurant gave a sneak peek of two menu items on its Facebook page recently - beer braised short ribs, and pork belly with warm asparagus salad.

Construction is going on inside, and outside on the front patio.

Barrel & Crow has been planning for a April opening - stay tuned...

Barrel & Crow gets chef, menu, sign; plans April opening in Bethesda

The sign is up, and Nick Palermo has been named Executive Chef at Barrel & Crow, the new restaurant concept taking over the former Freddy's Lobster + Clams space on Cordell Avenue. He posted a preliminary menu on local dining site DonRockwell.com yesterday. It ranges from oysters on the half shell with pickled ramp mignonette, to Berkshire Pork raviolis and 21 Day Dry-Aged Roseda Beef, with Old Bay rustic potatoes, grilled jumbo asparagus, and house-made steak sauce.

"We plan to offer regional American food mostly in the the $18 to $24 range for dinner," Palermo wrote in his DonRockwell.com post, "along with a couple items in the $30 range. We are looking to be a great neighborhood restaurant for people to come to and enjoy some great comforting food and drink, at a decent price point."

Palermo is best known to area diners for turning Potomac's Old Angler's Inn into a legitimate dining destination in recent years.