Dreaming of summer in mid-winter, plus love story
Christine and Ryan Piper new owners of Porters’ Pub, where they met
She was the front-of-the-house manager. He was manning the bar and floor. It took a bit for them to realize that there was a spark, but once they did, it was obvious: Christine and Ryan
Piper were meant to be.
Soon, they were married. They had a kid, then another. They kept showing up and working at the place they met. But it would take over two decades for them to realize that that place was another, very obvious, part of their love story: Porters’ Pub, the bar and restaurant at 700 Northampton St. in Easton.
On Feb. 1, the couple took over Porters’ Pub from brothers Larry, Jeff and Ken Porter, who reached out to the Pipers about continuing their legacy. For the Porters, there was no other option.
“We felt like we had known them for a long time and it would be a really good fit,” Jeff Porter said. “They’ve been a part of the pub for a long time.”
Ryan said that while he’d always dreamed of having a bar and restaurant, he didn’t know that the one he’d been modeling his dreams off of would be available.
As Christine put it: “We weren’t planning to buy any pub. It was all because it was this restaurant, this pub.”
The Pipers’ roots run deep at Porters’. Besides being former employees at the pub, they’ve had life events punctuated by Porters’.
“We got married at St. Anthony’s down the street, and stopped at Porters’ in between,” Christine said. “We had to go to Porters’ on our wedding day.”
Their firstborn earned a callout on a sign outside the pub; the two continued to spend time and offer their services at Porters’ throughout the years.
In retrospect, it only makes sense that the Pipers were destined to take over Porters’. As for the brothers who opened the bar over three decades ago as a place for Eastonians to gather over a mug of beer?
“We’re all adjusting,” Jeff Porter said. “We’ve done this [own Porters’ Pub] for 35 years. There’s a lot of change of habits, change in our heads, that we have to do.”
One thing Porter won’t worry about, though, is if Porters’ is in good hands. “It was always a small corner neighborhood public house,” he said. “It was fun and wonderful and enjoyable and cozy.
“It’s not broken, so why fix it?”
Summer state of mind
February brings to mind lots of things: Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl, probably snow (though we haven’t gotten much of it this particular February — yet). You’re probably not craving cold treats, but that hasn’t stopped local eateries from dreaming of sticky summer nights and even stickier desserts.
Come spring, Batter Up by Batch Microcreamery will be opening at 307-311 E. Third St. in south Bethlehem. Owners Rick Pongracz and Manny Rodriguez are expanding their Lehigh Valley
premium ice cream footprint with the region’s first waffle-andice-cream shop.
These won’t be your everyday waffles though. Pongracz said the shop will introduce Liege waffles to the Valley, a distinctive waffle that hails from the Wallonia region of Belgium. Compared to the waffles you may be used to, Liege waffles are denser, smaller and — thanks to the inclusion of a bigger sugar crystal and its caramelization — crunchier, which makes them an ideal contrast to ice cream. Think “waffle and ice cream sandwiches, handcrafted waffle cones, bubble waffles, signature items with our waffle cones and signature items with the bubble waffles too,” Pongracz ticked off.
Batter Up chose the location not only for its proximity to Lehigh University students but also its “artsy” and “trendy” demographic, Rodriguez said. Indeed, Batter Up’s future home (set to open by June) offers a case study in the movement of cold desserts in the Lehigh Valley. Right across the street from Batter Up at 310 E. Third
St. will be Playa Bowls, the New Jersey franchise that has been selling fruit-based smoothies and bowls at the location since 2017. Next door at 312 E. Third St. is the former spot of Dinky’s Ice
Cream Parlor and Grill, which closed its storefront featuring an extensive menu of ice cream in December in favor of a food and ice cream truck.