PHOTO COURTESY OF LOADED

December’s Lawrenceville Cookie Tour did more than soothe Phoebe Fraser‘s sweet tooth, it recharged her emotional battery. 

This March, after five years of renovations and red tape, the food hall project she started with her husband, Brett Minarik, and business partner Adam Harvey will open at 4609 Butler St. 

Lawrence Hall will have four independent restaurants, a Leona’s Ice Cream scoop shop, a full bar called Dear, James, seating for 225 and a mezzanine overlooking the whole operation. 

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

In addition to support from community members, the owners find inspiration in Capt. James Lawrence, the neighborhood’s namesake, who is remembered for his War of 1812 heroics and his dying words “Don’t give up the ship!”

“The Cookie Tour was the first time we encountered the public in our own space,” Fraser says. “Along the way, we’ve had many opportunities to stop — to give up the ship — but there’s something in all of us that says, ‘Keep going!’”

When I first dropped by in January 2020, Lawrence Hall was just a big, dusty space that was better suited for a wrecking ball than a business plan. Constructed in the 1890s, it served as a theater, and later, a car dealership. But Fraser, Minarik and Harvey saw the potential in the building’s bones. It is now a mix of old and new.

Dear, James — named in honor of Capt. Lawrence — will have 12 taps pouring local beers and a full bar with an extensive mocktail program for teetotalers who don’t want to give up the sip. 

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

The four restaurant owners will each have a 220-square-foot space leased for three years. Leona’s, a local brand known for real dairy, lactose-free ice cream and dessert sandwiches (they provided the cookies during the morale-boosting Cookie Tour) will run a service window facing Butler Street. There also will be a walk-up counter inside the building. 

After 11 years in business with 59 wholesale partners, owners Katie Heldstab and Christa Puskarich say Lawrence Hall is the perfect option for their business because shared space means shared overhead, making the leap to a brick-and-mortar shop less risky. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEONA’S

They’ll start the new venture with straightforward scoops with toppings in cups and cones (including a gluten-free variety) and a grab-and-go freezer with pints and sandwiches packaged in their Wilkinsburg kitchen. The duo will add more flavors (Sichuan peanut streusel with caramel, anyone?), hot toppings and cookies for made-to-order sandwich combos. 

Lawrence Hall will feature technology that allows customers to order from all vendors, the bar, the ice cream shop and two food truck spaces and have the goods delivered to their table. A long hallway behind the kitchens will give servers easy access to food orders, dishwashing stations and a service elevator.

La Palapa, a South Side Mexican restaurant and mezcal bar, will operate one of the kitchen spaces. LOADED, an “American-fusion” eatery of street food that started in Massachusetts, will occupy another. Lawrence Hall management is in negotiations with other vendors to fill the remaining spots.  

In 2012, La Palapa owners Jesús Martinez and Oscar Avila started dishing out authentic Mexican fare at the former Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District and, a year later, opened a food truck and their first South Side brick-and-mortar. They moved to their current spot at 2224 E. Carson St. in 2018.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LA PALAPA

Their menu will feature their best-sellers, including fresh tamales, taquitos and enchiladas with mole sauce. Opening another full-service restaurant seemed a bit daunting, Martinez explained, but Lawrence Hall provided a nice alternative. 

Boston natives Anthony and Katrina Tomacchio, owners of LOADED, discovered Lawrence Hall while on a walk with their children. They sent an email to management and a partnership (and friendship) was forged.

“We loved the owners, we loved their vision, we loved their passion and we loved their commitment to the community and enriching it,” Katrina says. “Just like us, each Lawrence Hall owner brings their unique point of view and experience to the table, and we felt that it was a winning combination. All around, we could not have asked for a better opportunity to be part of and we’re so proud to have been the first restaurant to have signed on with them. We believe in their vision, and I think equally, they believe in ours.”

LOADED started as a fast-casual restaurant; They describe their style as “chaos cooking.” The result of this culinary madness? Smash burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, wings, steak frites, loaded Korean corn dogs, Po’Boy fish and chips and other Frankensteined kitchen creations representing a different flavor profile from various regions and cultures. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOADED

Katrina, who served as a non-alcoholic beverage consultant for several bars and restaurants in Massachusetts, will help build Lawrence Hall’s mocktail program. She posts recipes and highlights boozeless brands on Instagram.

Since parking is limited in Lawrenceville and the owners want to promote responsible alcohol consumption, customers who use ride-sharing programs will get a discount. There will also be incentives for employees who use mass transit to commute.

Fraser says they’ll partner with the Estelle S. Campbell Boys & Girls Club of Western PA, located across the street to offer a career-training program for local youth interested in the culinary industry.

The ol’ Captain would be proud.