More than two years after closing, Little Five Points institution Porter Beer Bar reopens Friday, May 10 with a new look and a menu that features both old favorites and new dishes.
The bar, located at 1156 Euclid Ave. NE, was purchased in 2022 by longtime Atlanta barman Manuel “Manny” Maloof, the grandson of the founder of Manuel’s Tavern, who currently operates Manny’s Grant Park and Euclid Avenue Yacht Club in Little Five Points.
Also on board as a partner and executive chef is EJ Hodgkinson, who spent more than four years working with Kevin Gillespie at Woodfire Grill, six years with Ford Fry Restaurants, where he served as executive chef at JCT Kitchen and King + Duke. Most recently, he served as the culinary director at Electric Hospitality, which includes concepts like Muchacho and Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall.
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
They purchased the bar from Molly Gunn and Nick Rutherford, who opened the Porter in 2008. The pair met at Seeger’s in Buckhead, where Rutherford was a chef, and Gunn worked the front of the house. Over the years, the Porter earned two James Beard Foundation award nominations for its bar program and has been named to several national best bar lists.
Hodgkinson and Maloof spent the past couple of years updating the Porter building and reimagining the menu, though longtime patrons will very much recognize the reopened bar.
“One of the hardest things to learn, but also one of the most rewarding things to learn is, listen to your guests,” said Hodgkinson, who spent time crossover training in the kitchen with Rutherford and Gunn. “When Manny approached me about working with the Porter, he asked if I wanted to keep it as the Porter or do my own thing. I told him I’d have to be crazy to think that putting anything else in that building would go well. I’d be met with pitchforks and torches. It’s such an important place for so many people.”
The menu will continue to offer several longtime favorites including salt and vinegar popcorn, goat cheese fritters and fish and chips, but there’s still plenty of opportunity for Hodgkinson to put his own spin on the menu.
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
Guests will find new dishes including crispy hen of the woods mushrooms with French onion dip; grilled Toulouse sausage with butter roasted cabbage, dry cherries and mustard; mussels ‘n’ beer with chiles, lager, butter, garlic and grilled bread; and a salad of little gems and baby kale with goddess dressing, crunchy bread and grana padano cheese. There are also homages to dishes Hodgkinson enjoyed eating at the Porter when he was a customer, including a housemade Velveeta-style mac and cheese.
The menu will also feature several veggie-forward dishes with many different preparations, Hodgkinson’s nod to the wide selection of quality produce grown in Georgia.
Hodgkinson said he was inspired by restaurants he visited during his travels, from Balthazar in New York to Joe Beef in Montreal and True Laurel in San Francisco when developing the menu for Porter.
“I love eclectic, fun, funky very classically inspired cuisine, and to me, that’s a lot of what the Porter is. As wildly creative as the specials were, and the core menu lived up to this classic, nostalgic beer bar.”
Already known for its selection of beers, the bar added 18 more taps, for a total of 60, including engines for cask beers. The majority of the taps will be dedicated to Georgia-made beers, though there will also be representation from global and domestic breweries.
Credit: Brian Crumb
Credit: Brian Crumb
Ten direct draw tap lines were added to another space in the restaurant which will activate when the bar offers more expensive or rare beers or hosts one-off collaborations with beer makers.
The Porter will continue its extensive vintage beer program and will host special events in a beer cellar located on the interior of the dining area.
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
Credit: Courtesy of Angela Hansberger
The building also received a face-lift, including changes made on the back end to improve efficiencies for the staff. Small changes guests might notice include a bar rail added to the front bar with a slight lip, new tables and booths, and more paintings featuring animals drinking beer to complement the art made by a former Porter employee that hung in the restaurant previously.
The bar’s old tables and booths were fashioned into a barrel-shaped ceiling that hangs over the front bar.
Credit: Brian Crumb
Credit: Brian Crumb
Also familiar to longtime patrons of the Porter will be the staff. Nearly every employee worked for the bar before it closed, some taking jobs at Maloof’s other bars while the Porter was being remodeled.
“Every decision we made wasn’t like, ‘Let’s change this just because,’” Hodgkinson said. “It was, how does this make sense for the guests and our staff. That was what informed any change that was made.”
Opening hours will be 5 p.m.-midnight Wednesdays-Sundays, with plans to add weekend brunch soon.
Hodgkinson said he hopes that he and Maloof have struck the right balance between maintaining the old spirit of the Porter, while introducing some of their own touches.
“The whole idea is to usher in the next evolution of the Porter,” Hodgkindson said. “A lot of people have a circuit of restaurants that they go to, and I think the Porter has always been one of those for so many people. This is a hub for people to share a beer, a conversation or a first date. Manny bought it because he didn’t want to see it going away. We’ve lost a lot of great restaurants in this town, and if the Porter was gone, that would be very sad.”
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