At Murph’s, ordering a Guinness with your pasta is not only possible, it’s encouraged.
Photo by Jason Varney
Francesco Bellastelli came to Philadelphia from Puglia (the heel of the boot) to be with his wife and her family, and he’s been cooking at Murph’s for about five years. He is the man who is making this food. He prefers to speak Italian (his answers for this interview were translated by his wife), and he drank at Murph’s before he ever cooked there.
“My neighbor, my wife’s cousin, and I were at Murph’s having a drink. They were regulars. I got hungry and wanted to eat, but the bar didn’t serve food,” explains Bellastelli. “We eventually talked to one of the owners, and he said he had an empty kitchen downstairs and asked if I would be interested in renting it.”
Bellastelli was interested. He began renting the unused kitchen space from the bar’s owners, Theresa and Greg Walton, in 2014, and a mutually beneficial relationship blossomed. The Waltons had a new stream of customers coming into the bar, in search of Italian food, and Bellastelli had the opportunity to serve burrata, orecchiette, octopus salad, and other dishes from his region of Italy.
Chef Francesco Belastelli, the man from Puglia.
Photo by Jason Varney
“In the beginning, I think people would get confused,” says Belastelli about the patrons walking into an Irish pub and finding ravioli. “But now they come for the Italian food and drinks. I feel very fortunate that it has been so popular, and that I found Theresa and Greg. Without their open-mindedness, this probably wouldn’t have worked.”
It also wouldn’t have worked without good food.
Six days a week, Belastelli works from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., making classics like seafood manicotti (the restaurant’s most popular dish) and the Amatriciana (one of his personal favorites). It’s unfussy, plated without the consideration of a fine dining establishment. And it’s not always totally Italian: On St. Patrick’s Day, he makes ham and cabbage arancini to marry his Italian heritage and his Irish digs in a more direct sense.
What else would you expect to eat at an Irish pub in Philadelphia while sitting across the room from a lamp shaped like Elvis Presley?
Alex Delany is an associate editor at Bon Appétit.