Pork Slope Makes Moves to Open in July on Fifth Avenue

Get ready to “oink” in the Slope at on Fifth Avenue.

Although an era ended this past New Year when Aunt Suzie’s and being one of the avenue’s pioneering establishments, a new chapter of bars, restaurants and clothing stores has already opened.

Pork Slope, , will crack the spine of the encyclopedia of new, chic spots dotting Park Slope’s second business district when it opens in the middle or end of July, between Carroll Street and Garfield Place.  

The roadhouse-style bar and restaurant, owned by a John Bush, David Massoni and Dale Talde, will focus on whiskey, bourbon, rye and scotch, and have southern-inspired menu.

The establishment is coming right along: the bar’s frame has been installed, the pool table is in place, a new paint job coats the walls and tin ceiling and the maple mantelpiece, behind the bar, will soon be filled with strong, brown American liquor from under the Mason-Dixon Line.

“We’re feeling good, we’re looking to open sometime in July. We are psyched about it and now things are really coming together,” David Missoni said on Friday, while workers brought in a refrigerator, a freezer and other kitchen supplies. “We are pumped to reveal Pork Slope to the world.”

Missoni said that the menu is coming together and as each day passes, their spot finds a bigger place in their hearts.

“We fall in love with our name and our mission here everyday,” Missoni said.

John Bush, who will be the beverage proprietor and will actually work behind the 35-foot bar, just got back from a research trip down in and around Louisville, Kentucky to finish up his whiskey, rye and bourbon menu.

He said they will have the staples like Jim Bean, Jameson, Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey, but the trip, where he visited various Southern distilleries and bars, revealed a couple of bottles that will make their patrons happy, and warm with drink.

“I hit a lot of liquor stores and distilleries in four days,” Bush said, explaining that he learned about Willett Single Barrel Bourbon, Four Roses Whiskey, Heaven Hill Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year Reserve Bourbon. “I was drinking a lot of bourbon you can’t get up here—I was on the Bourbon Trail.”

He said the reason of his trip was to make connections and gain knowledge to help him create a whiskey bar that is full of unique and rare bottles. 

“I’d never be able to find what I found down there if I was up here,” Bush said. “I made a lot of connections in Kentucky to help me find great bourbon.”

Bush’s favorite he drank down there was Willett Single Barrel Bourbon, a 25-year-old bourbon.

“Now Willett is f@*$ing good,” Bush stressed, saying he went to their distillery. “They pulled it right out of the barrel, you can never get it that way unless you go there.”

But Willett was hardly the only American brown liquor he tasted while down in Kentucky.

“It was also nice to see a lot of Pappy Van Winkle,” Bush said. “It’s the hardest to get, they make a small batch twice a year.” 

Bush said that if you order a shot of a 23-year-old Pappy in New York City it could cost you $50, at least. But down there he was drinking shots of Pappy for $15.

“I was drinking a lot of Pappy,” Bush said. “We’re going to have a couple nice bottles of that too, I guarantee it.”

He’s excited about Pork Slope, but more than anything he’s ready to start pouring shots.

“I am just anxious to open,” he said.

The menu, chef Dale Talde explained, is going to be southern-themed with barbeque ribs, pulled pork, brisket and smoked meats. But, being from Chicago, Talde will also give a nod to the Windy City.

“We have been playing with a Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich as a special at Talde, but it’s going to be on the menu everyday here,” Talde said, referring to the Italian Beef Bao at his . “Imagine a Philly Cheese Steak dipped in juis, covered in giardiniera cheese, with Italian-style pickles.”

He also described it as a “French Dip sandwich meets a Chicago Beef Steak.”

“It’s going to be a Pork Slope staple. It’s one of the things we have decided to serve so far,” Talde said of the sandwich. “After we made it we said, ‘It’s just the beginning.’”

Talde acknowledge the competition they are going to have with all the new spots opening along Fifth Avenue—like and —but he said they’re ready to compete and help make Fifth Avenue even better.

“With all the new additions on Fifth Avenue, hopefully this will become one of the most fun places to hang out in Brooklyn,” Talde said. “People are going to come to Pork Slope to drink, hang and have a nice meal.”

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