The pumpkins are here! The pumpkins are here!!

We supply the pumpkins, sharp knives and alcohol...you supply the talent.

Come down and join the fun with TWO WAYS TO WIN! 
Carve up one of our pumpkins any time between now and Halloween and post it on INSTAGRAM with the hashtag #PortersPubPumpkins for a chance to win prizes. The pics with the most likes wins! - pretty easy, eh?
​
OR.... Carve your entry on Saturday Night October 28th at the Pub where we will award the grand prize for the bestest Jack-O-Lantern in the Lehigh Valley! Your pumpkin must be carved that night and you must be present for the 11 pm judging to win. Good luck to all!!

Grab a pumpkin to carve on your next visit, we've got tons of 'em. Make some jack-o-lanterns to help us decorate the place for Halloween and be sure to post your masterpiece on Instagram for a chance to win. And don't throw away those seeds either. We'll take 'em back to the kitchen and sprinkle some magic Halloween seasoning on them and lightly toast them for all to enjoy.

All of this "practice" carving will culminate at Porters' Pub's Pumpkin Carving Challenge on the evening of October 28.  Winners will be announced at 11 p.m,

Be sure to check out everything going on Halloween Night at Porters' Pub.

Stop in and get your carving on!

Join us on Saturday, October 28 for a Halloween party full of ghosts, goblins, celebration, brews, contests, and more.

Porters' Pub is ghouling-up for one of the most memorable Halloween celebrations yet. Check out what's on tap for Halloween 2017.​

• Beermuda Triangle Halloween Pub Crawl: Join Porters' Pub, Black & Blue, and Two Rivers Brewing Company for the Beermuda Triangle Halloween Pub Crawl! Get your passport from any of those three great West Ward locations. Every person who gets their passport stamped at each location will get a prize! We'll also have a grand prize drawing at 11 pm at Porters' Pub.  Don't forget your costume!
• Bobbing for apples: An oldie, but a goodie. Seriously too much fun! Successful bobbers will get a very special prize. (it's a secret).
• Prizes for the best Halloween costumes!
• DJ CHAOS will be in the house!

Porters' loves Halloween and we want to show you just how much. Join us for our 28th annual Halloween bash for some of the most fun you might have in 2017.  DON'T BE ASCARED!!!

We have an incredibly delicious special for you all the weekend of October 13-15 (while it lasts!)

Join us for lunch and dinner specials made with the Blue Ribbon beef courtesy of Dale Koehler & Sons Farms. This beef was judged as Northampton County's best and you'll be able to taste why. Take a look at what's in store...

Lunch - Blue Ribbon Grilled Cheese
Northampton County's best beef bbq shredded brisket with cheddar cheese our own bacon onion jam on toasted country brioche bread. 13 

Dinner - Northampton County's Best
Koehler and Sons Blue Ribbon 10 oz. NY strip grilled over Scholl's Orchard's herb roasted fingerling potatoes and sauteed spaghetti squash topped with a Koehler fried egg and Stoudt's Fat Dog Oatmeal Stout demi glaze. 27   

This is literally a once in a lifetime chance to taste the best of Northampton County's beef for 2017!

Join us during "Blue Ribbon Beef Weekend" at Porters' Pub September 22 - 24. We will be serving some delicious choice cuts of local  beef. This steer was  judged the winner or the  2017 Northampton County fair and Porters' was able to purchase it!! We are so excited to be able to offer it to our customers.

This is our way of supporting local responsible animal husbandry while bring our customers some of the best that Northampton County has to offer. Come down and try it for yourself. The Blue Ribbon will be on display at the Pub.

The steer, delivered from Dale Koehler & Sons Farms, was judged to be best in show during the recent county fair and we want to share it with you.

For Dinner we will offer your choice of:
 Filet Mignon or NY Strip 
AND
Short Ribs or Brisket 

We'll also be serving a delicious Blue Ribbon Burger- 1/2 pound Blue Ribbon Beef Burger topped with a fried egg from Koehler Farms and local apple wood bacon on a toasted brioche roll  

​Come and get it!!!!

Join us September 29 through October 8 as we present a special Porters’ Pub Oktoberfest Menu.

Lunch 
Appetizer 
Best of the Wurst- Spaten Oktoberfest braised Krainerwurst Weisswurst, Knockwurst, sliced over a bed of braised red cabbage served with Whole grain mustard $10

German Krainerwurst- Grilled garlic sausage topped with sauerkraut and a smoked garlic horseradish sauce on a torpedo roll $8

Chicken schnitzel- Pan fried herb marinated chicken breast topped with caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and a lemon caper aioli on toasted ciabatta $9

The Bavarian- Thick sliced honey ham with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese and whole grain mustard on a toasted pretzel roll $10 

Dinner
Appetizer 
Best of the Wurst- Spaten Oktoberfest braised Krainerwurst Weisswurst, Knockwurst, sliced over a bed of braised red cabbage served with Whole grain mustard $10

Entrée 
Sauerbraten- A traditional German braised beef with brown gravy served over spaetzle and braised red cabbage $16 

Wiener schnitzel- Tender pan-fried veal medallions with a caper brown butter over spaetzle and braised red cabbage $18  

Schweinebraten – Oktoberfest braised pork loin and sauerkraut with apples and caraway seeds served with braised red cabbage $16 

The latest Porters' Pub eNewsletter is here. Take a look inside to read about our new Jazz Trio Nights, Karaoke, the tail end of Restaurant Week, and more!

Join us during Easton's Summer Restaurant Week July 23 - 29. As always, we've put together two fun and delicious menus for you to choose from.

​RSVP or get more information on Facebook.

Don't forget to visit some of the other 17 restaurants also participating!

LUNCH MENU

Enjoy any of our restaurant week special sandwiches plus a cup of our homemade soup or side salad for only $10.

All sandwiches accompanied by a deli pickle and your choice of kettle chips or today’s house made side dish.

Koehler Farms Steak Sandwich: Thinly sliced herb marinated flank steak, asiago cheese, herb pesto, oven dried tomatoes and spinach on a baguette.

Just Peachy: Local grilled peaches and melted brie on toasted sourdough with fresh basil and arugula.

Elvis with a Twist: Creamy Hazelnut spread, Applewood smoked bacon, strawberries and bananas on toasted Brioche Bread.

Chicken Avocado Sandwich: Herb marinated chicken breast, shaved and topped with rustic house made guacamole, cave aged white cheddar, lettuce and garlic aioli.

DINNER MENU

Appetizers

Bruschetta: Valley Milhouse soft Clover cheese and baby shrimp topped with a golden beet salsa on crusty multigrain bread with a citrus aioli.

Eggplant Rollatini: A twist on the traditional rollatini with eggplant, cream cheese, walnuts and cilantro with a smoked garlic and herbed olive oil.

Second Course

Your choice of our Homemade Soup or Side Salad

Entrees

Steak & Soppressata: Grilled Koehler Farms flank steak stuffed with soppressata and provolone, with a lemon basil balsamic reduction over creamy roast asparagus risotto.

Monkfish Medallions: Roasted Atlantic monkfish medallions in a traditional puttanesca with red chili, tomato, anchovie, olive and caper over a spinach risotto.

Southern Pork BBQ: Local pork belly, dry rubbed and slow roasted with creamy tomato, scallion and cave aged white cheddar grits.

Vegetable Cavatelli: Local summer squash sautéed with heirloom cherry tomatoes, Tuscan kale, fresh basil and garlic, topped with fresh mozzarella and a red pepper coulis.

Dessert

Homemade Tiramisu or Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bars

Prix Fixe $30 for Four Courses.

Bon Appetit !

If three is a magic number, then three jazz musicians must have magical qualities. 

Join us on our Jazz Thursdays for Jazz Trio Nights through September.

Be sure to check out our up-to-date full Live Music Calendar here.

Jazz Trio Nights will include:

July 6th: Vaughn Stoffey (Guitar) / Tony Marino (Bass) / Dan Nadeau (Drums)

July 13th: Ron Oswanski (Hammond B3 Organ) / Adam Niewood (Saxophones) / Bill Goodwin (Drums) 

July 20th: Dan Wilkins (Tenor Saxophone) / Joe Michaels (Bass) / Adam Niewood (Drums)

July 27th: Bill Washer (Guitar) / Dave Leonhardt (Organ) / Gary Rissmiller (Drums)

August 3rd: Adam Niewood (Sax) / Joe Michaels (Bass) / Bill Goodwin (Drums)

August 10th: Ron Oswanski (Hammond B3 Organ) / Adam Niewood (Saxophones) / Ian Froman (Drums)

August 17th: The Bill Washer Trio

August 24th: Ron Oswanski (Hammond B3 Organ) / Adam Niewood (Saxophones) / TBA (Drums)

August 31st: The Jon Ballantyne Trio

September 7th: Ron Oswanski (Hammond B3 Organ) / Adam Niewood (Saxophones) / Ian Froman (Drums)

September 14th: The Bill Washer Trio

September 21st: The Jon Ballantyne Trio 

September 28th: Ron Oswanski (Hammond B3 Organ) / Vic Juris (Guitar) / Adam Niewood (Drums)

By Larry Porter
 
In 1988 my brothers and I, young men in our mid twenties, purchased what was then the Central Bar on the corner of 7th and Northampton streets in downtown Easton. We had just finished rehabilitating a building on the 200 block of Northampton Street and were looking for our next project.

The Central Bar was for sale, liquor license included, and we decided to go for it. By all rights the building probably should have been condemned. The bar had been closed for a year, there had been a fire upstairs, and there was a ramshackle addition off the rear of the original structure of dubious nature and construction.

​The place was literally falling down... the roofline sagged, inside the pipes were rotten, the plaster was falling off the walls, and the rear addition was ready to cave in. What were we thinking?

Well, that was 27 years ago and anyone who's lived in Easton for a while knows the outcome. My brothers and I worked for almost 2 years on that building, replacing and repairing just about every inch, until the grand opening of Porters' Pub on May 16, 1990. Porters' opened with Guinness Stout, Bass Ale, and Harp Irish Lager on tap in an era before imports were commonplace and micro brews were sexy.

"People told us we were crazy for opening an upscale establishment in a neighborhood like that" recalls my brother Jeff. "And when we decided not to have the popular mass produced domestics on tap they said we'd never make it... be closed within a year". But we had a vision and stuck to our guns. Maybe we had the courage of our conviction or maybe we were just too young and naive to think we could fail. 

During construction Ken realized the whole rear addition was substandard and had to be torn down. When I say substandard I mean it was downright dangerous… holes in the floor, leaking roof, randomly spaced joists and studs… you get the idea. What we were left with was the original structure dating back to 1834.

We restored the 2 residences upstairs… one 2 bedroom townhouse with original interior stone walls and the other a very roomy 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhome. We jacked the building up to repair the sagging roofline, replaced the roof, clad the exterior in cedar siding, installed new windows, furnaces, bathrooms, kitchens, plumbing, gas, electric services, refinished the floors and sheetrocked and painted the entire structure. Ken did the bulk of the demolition and framing work early on,

​Jeff would come home from college on weekends to lend a hand when he could, and I was working a full time and helping on my days off. I eventually quit my job and lived off my savings for about 7 months to help finish the project and get the Pub open. I remember working sun up till sundown and being filthy, grimy and smelly after a hard days work. Then we’d head up Northampton Street to the old Mt. Vernon Hotel and sit at the bar drinking 7oz bottles of Schmidt’s for 35¢. Ah, the good ol’ days.  

When it came time to put a roof on the kitchen we needed some serious steel beams to support the weight of the concrete deck that also served as the patio and entrance area for the upstairs residential units. I had a beat up old Ford King Cab that I had purchased for $100. It wasn’t pretty but it did the job. So we drove up to Easton Iron & Metal scrap yard and picked out a likely bunch of I-beams and proceeded to load them into the truck. The beams rested on the dashboard inside the cab, went out through the opened rear window of the King Cab and rested on the rear tailgate.

​I tied a red handkerchief to the protruding end and off we went. Thank god I didn’t have to make any quick stops… those I-beams would have easily gone right through the windshield….looking back it’s probably not the smartest thing I ever did. Anyway, after several trips we had enough beams to build our support structure. Our neighbor Elliot who owns Jacobs Produce gave us a hand with his bucket truck and we hoisted them into place. He also did all the cutting and welding for us and never asked us for a penny. I remember working quite a few late nights after the produce market closed before being able to head down to the Mt Vernon for our nightly treat. Needless to say Jacob’s Produce has been our only produce supplier in our 20 years of being in business. 

About a year into the project we had only one small problem…no more money! The upstairs was finished and occupied, but the bar downstairs was an empty gutted shell. Our dad was helping us buy lumber with credit cards at that point. I went from bank to bank until Merchants agreed to lend us enough to finish the project and get the Pub open. We have fond memories of the hard work that went into the place, having lots of fun along the way. We had lots of fun with passers bye too. Folks curious about the project would stop in daily and ask “When are you opening?” to which they received the reply

​“We’ll be open in 2 weeks” no matter if we were 2 days or 2 months away from completion. We opened Porters’ Pub in 1990 as a Publick house in the true sense of the word. It’s a local place where the regulars all know each other and the bartenders have your favorite drink ready when you sit down. Conversation and friendly debate is encouraged and the small TV is turned on only by request in anticipation of a particular event. Though we have all worked hard on our business over the years, covering every position from bartender, cook, dishwasher, bookkeeper, waiter and host, we also realize the importance of a friendly well trained staff. Our staff is what makes the Pub so great and without them we wouldn’t be here today. 

After several years the Pub was running smoothly and we each eventually headed off to our own careers. Jeff started several successful businesses; a property management business, a beverage distributorship and a water conservation business. I worked as a network engineer for a fortune 100 company and Ken started his own successful general contracting business and continued specializing in restoration and rehabilitation. As a family we’ve been really lucky to have the Pub. It’s helped keep us together over the years and has given us a shared sense of pride and accomplishment. 
 
I guess we all got our strong sense of tradition and history from our mom and dad, but there’s no doubt we all have it. All three of us would much rather restore a building than tear it down and replace it, even though it’s usually cheaper to build new. There’s something inherently valuable in preserving our past. The beautiful architecture evident throughout the city is what drew us here in the first place. We did a number of smaller projects together in the years after the Pub opened but I guess we started getting itchy again around 2003 and were looking for another real restoration project to dig into. You know the old saying “be careful what you wish for”.

The old Washington School building behind the Pub on 7th Street came up for sale and we couldn’t resist. It was built in 1854 as the first publicly funded schoolhouse in the City of Easton and had been sitting vacant for 30 or 40 years. It’s now a beautifully restored fully occupied building with 5 spacious 2 bedroom apartments, hardwood floors, huge windows, 13 foot ceilings and a restored façade. But that’s another story…