Mike Sheerin, who is stepping down as chef de cuisine at Blackbird to work on opening his own restaurant, said Thursday a Brothers Sheerin restaurant -- mentioned as a possibility in an earlier interview -- will have to wait.

"Pat [Sheerin, chef at the Signature Room at the 95th] is kind of locked in where he's at now," Mike Sheerin says. "I'm sure some day we will come together to do something. But at the moment, I'm going at this alone."

What Sheerin is planning (for next summer, he says) will be "definitely casual, definitely approachable."

"I want to continue to do the same kind of food now, which is creative and seasonal, but keeping it where I don't lose an audience. I want to gain an audience. I want to create an audience. I want to really bridge the gap between fine dining and casual dining," he says.

Meaning ... designer burgers? Hot dogs? Goat-themed gastropub? Nope. Nope. Nope.

"I think there is a lot of beer- and pork-focused food out there now, and I think the ones doing that all do that very well," he says. "But that's not what I want to do."