Pittsburgh: Pork and Beans (September 2018)



My spouse and I visited Pork and Beans for dinner on a Friday evening in early September 2018. The restaurant is open for lunch on Tuesdays through Saturdays and for dinner daily. You can either call to reserve a table, or you can book online through Yelp.

Pork and Beans is owned by the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group, which operates other Pittsburgh venues including Meat and Potatoes (where we ate in October 2014), Butcher and The Rye (where we ate in September of 2016), and tako (where we ate in October 2016); the latter three restaurants are located in the same 2-block stretch of Sixth Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. Pork and Beans opened in October 2016, and we have been trying to eat there ever since, but it never worked out until now.

The theme/decor inside Pork and Beans is as memorable as it is at Butcher and the Rye and tako. It begins on the sidewalk where you can drink and eat at a bar rail and watch the crowds pass by. Just inside the door, you can dine at high-top tables or at the long bar (with a subway tile back bar and antique porcelain wash basins for the drafts). Passing through a pink chain-link fence, you enter the main dining area of the space, which is reminiscent of an old Southern BBQ joint. On one side, a few choice booths one step up from the floor offer maximum privacy for dining, separated from one another with what seems to be reclaimed wooden doors, some of which have small windows. In the center of the room, guests dine at long regular-height communal tables; an antique icebox filled with beer is positioned on the far wall amid cords of firewood used to smoke its meat. Interesting wall decor includes beer cans that form the shape of a pig’s head, an old VFW sign, and a neon pig caricature sign copied from the raunchy early 1980s movie Porky’s. A vintage open-top Coke cooler holds water bottles. Every detail is carefully thought out, including the paper towel holders mounted on the walls next to each booth (the holders are free-standing at the tables) and the wooden boxes on each table that hold different sauces (which weren’t needed because the meat was so good!) and the large aluminum food cans filled with silverware. Frosted globe pendant lights and Mason-jar-covered string lights keep the space from being too dim. Exposed brick, weathered wood, and salvaged building materials feature prominently. Even the restrooms are designed to continue the theming.

Pork and Beans serves Southern barbecue with a twist. The protein choices are more traditional, but some of the sides are more creative. As an appetizer, we shared the jalapeno corn fritters (a sort of hush puppy that previous guests rave about but we just thought were “Meh”). We each ordered a blue-plate special which came with two meats and two sides (cleverly plated on a novel plastic tray suggestive of an elementary school cafeteria). It was difficult to decide which of our chosen meats was the most delicious: brisket, pork belly, tri-tip, or sausage (which didn’t have the look or shape of conventional sausage). Our sides were mostly successful: a beet salad (that contained oranges, cheese, and seeds), burnt ends baked beans (again highly recommended by just okay), potato salad. Portions are large, and we didn’t have room for the white rolls included on the trays with our meats and sides. Your check arrives in a cheeky way, tucked into a Campbell’s Pork and Beans tin can!

We loved the food, the decor, and the fun casual atmosphere of Pork and Beans! We will surely return!





























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