A rollicking roadhouse
Fourth Downtown restaurant for DeShantz group promises barbecue at Pork & Beans
After months sitting in park like a restored Chevy Big Block pickup in an old shed, Pork & Beans is ready to roar to life today on Sixth Street, bringing Texas-style barbecue in a rollicking roadhouse setting to Downtown.
The much-anticipated restaurant is the fourth in the Golden Triangle by chef Richard DeShantz and his partnership, the DeShantz Restaurant Group, and the third on the same twoblock stretch.
The others — Meat & Potatoes, Butcher and the Rye, and Tako — have become synonymous with the resurrection of Downtown as a dining and drinking destination and with an overall elevated citywide restaurant scene.
Keith Fuller, who opened nearby Six Penn and the acclaimed former Root 174 in Regent Square, is Mr. DeShantz’s culinary co-pilot in the endeavor, along with James Ciminillo, who has worked with Mr. DeShantz for nine years and most recently ran the kitchen at sister establishment Meat & Potatoes on Penn Avenue.
As is the case at other DeShantz restaurants, expect the menu to be a mingling of high society and friends in low places. For instance: fried chicken with a Trenton pork roll, foie gras terrine, pepper jack cheese and a truffle aioli. Drinks, by bar managers Michael R. Anderson and Riley Snyder, will also have a Waldorf meets Wal-Mart quality, as evidenced by the Green Chartreuse and Mountain Dew slushy.
And, naturally there will be meat — a lot of it.
“I haven’t eaten so much smoked meat in my life,” Mr. Fuller said, as he and Mr. Ciminillo have worked for months to perfect what he said is the 14hour process for pork belly, ribs and brisket. Mr. DeShantz has as much hand in the look as the menu, and the decor is, as Mr. Fuller said with a bellowing laugh, “Like the fanciest Cracker Barrel you’ve ever seen.”
Indeed. There are frosted globe pendant lights but also bulbs covered with Mason jars. A century-old wooden icebox has been restored to working order and holds both bombers of craft beer and 40’s of malt liquor, and it sits amid cords of firewood on metal shelves for use in the smoking process. There’s an old VFW sign and a replica of the neon sign from the raunchy 1981 comedy “Porky’s.” A wall of beer cans is fashioned into a pig’s head. The bar back is of subway tile and sleek piping, the drains for the 36 taps are antique porcelain wash basins. A vintage Coke machine holds wine.
“I want somewhere that people feel comfortable and are going to have a really good time,” Mr. DeShantz said. “Decor, service, food — we try to hit every note. I want it to be fun and for people to enjoy themselves. There’s something for everyone here.”
Plans for the restaurant were announced in 2015 with an original anticipated opening around Memorial Day 2016, which was bumped a few times due to permit issues.
“We had an issue with our putting our smoker in,” Mr. DeShantz said, conceding that it’s hard to have a barbecue restaurant without one. “There’s a lot of other new restaurants opening up, too, and so the process is a long one. It’s not like, ‘Hey, fix this,’
and you fix it, and the next day they come back. It’s more like, ‘Hey, fix this, and I’ll see you in two months,’ ” Mr. DeShantz explained.
“When you’re building things, obstacles come up. We want to do everything by the book so we don’t have any issues down the road. The city wants to make sure everything is done right, too.”
The unanticipated extra downtime ended up being a plus, both personally and professionally, as they were able to spend time with family and take vacations but also were able to fine tune the restaurant and build anticipation for its opening. That said, they are more than ready for Pork & Beans to open.
Plus, as Mr. Fuller quipped, “I haven’t had a paycheck since May,” referencing the closure of Root 174.
For Mr. DeShantz, a city native who grew up modestly in Sheraden, it’s been quite a journey that’s taken him from Justine Street to the king of Downtown dining, with more on the way — next year a sushi spot is planned to go in next to Butcher and the Rye.
“I’m pretty humbled by where I’ve come from and what I’ve accomplished … when you step back a little bit, it’s like ‘Wow,’ ” he said.
“The past few years have been really good to me. But I don’t think with money. I think with passion. My success is based on how many people I make happy and how many lives I can change [through employment] and do good things for the city.”
“When you’re building things, obstacles come up. We want to do everything by the book so we don’t have any issues down the road. The city wants to make sure everything is done right, too.” — Richard DeShantz of Pork & Beans