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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