Black Sheep Pub: Not your usual haunt

We always hear about the shiny, new food companies. The Spot is a series about the Philadelphia area's more established establishments and the people behind them.

Growing up in Belfast, James Stephens was surrounded by the hospitality business. His parents owned a hotel, his grandfather and uncle ran a butcher shop and his older brother had a restaurant. Stephens planned to follow in their footsteps, until he got a taste of America.

He first visited at age 21 on an exchange program that placed him as a junior hotel manager in Atlanta's Ritz-Carlton downtown, where he became enthralled by the high standards of the U.S. service industry. Following a girlfriend to the Jersey Shore, he worked at Frederick's in Wildwood for a summer before returning to Ireland.

Not long after, the owner of Frederick's called overseas to ask Stephens to come back and help launch an outpost in Philadelphia. Seeing as his family's hotel had just (again) been destroyed in a bomb attack, he accepted the invitation. He spent eight months at the luxe Italian restaurant (which was on the Queen Village site now occupied by Kanella) and then moved onto bartending at Moriarty's, a place much more his style.

A few years later, he and fellow Irish barkeep Matt Kennedy decided to try their hand at proprietorship. They partnered with developer Gene LeFevre to restore a historic three-story house at 17th and Latimer Streets and turn it into an Irish tavern. Renovations took nearly a year, but in September 2000, the Black Sheep opened to a packed house.

Opening chef Edgar Alvarez, an alum of Striped Bass and Susanna Foo, had crafted a menu of "elegant comfort food" –at the time, a relatively novel concept - and the tri-level gastropub flourished. Both Alvarez and Kennedy have since moved on, but over the course of the last decade and a half, the Black Sheep has continued to thrive.

Now also co-owner of St. Stephens Green in Spring Garden (with Jeff Keel of Bishop's Collar), Stephens, 48, poured a pint of Smithwick's and took a seat at a thick wood table in the ground-floor dining area. Between sips of his favorite brown ale, he held forth about the good graces of the L&I inspector who allowed him to open, why he lets his staff comp drinks, and how the internet has changed the bar business.

What do you know about the history of this building?

It was built in the late 1800s. I've been told the original designers were Frank Furness and Frank Miles Day. We have half of the building, and there must've been a fire here at one point, because when we gutted it, we found a lot of burnt timbers. If you look from outside, you can see the other half has apartments up top that must've been lost on this side. We've heard the building was once an orphanage. And of course we all think it's haunted.

Haunted?

When we came up with the concept for the bar, we decided to try to make it look just like it did back in the day. We found old architectural plans that showed several bay windows had been concreted over, so we had a builder restore them. He was working late one night when a little kid comes up to the window and looks out at him. He ran inside to find the kid, but then realized nobody was here. It scared him so bad he just packed up his tools and took off. He didn't even tell us about it until after we opened. But I've been here many a night on my own cleaning up when I hear walking going on upstairs, and I know there's nobody in here except for me.

How often are you here?

I'm here every day. I very rarely take a day off. Seven days. But I don't do nights anymore. I try to be home now for 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, to be with my kids. I'm coaching my son's soccer team. My family has changed my whole outlook. When we first opened, I bartended every night.

When exactly did you open?

I'll never forget. It was the Friday before Labor Day, and we had to open, because we didn't have any money left in our bank account - I had to borrow money to just get enough beer. But I couldn't reach the guy from L&I to give us the stamp of approval. When I finally got him on the phone, he was in Wildwood for the weekend already. I said, "I'm beggin' ya. I've got my head on the table. We've no more money left!" He said, "Are you sure you've done everything I asked you?" I said yeah, and he goes, "OK, open up and I'll be in on Tuesday and give you the stamp." Thank God he did us that favor.

Are inspection officials tougher now?

Most of the time we pass everything. But it has gotten much more difficult. I had a conversation with a health inspector last year. I said, "Man, it's becoming harder and harder to pass." And the inspector looked at me and said, "Try saying 'impossible' to pass." I asked him, "Is that just because you want to come back for a second visit?" He goes, "Yeah. You got to pay us now when we come back, right?" But, it is what it is. I haven't had any issues. All the new inspectors, they've been really nice.

Has the menu changed much?

It's changed a bit, with different chefs, but the idea is the same. Great food, but in a place where you can laugh out loud and have a good, boisterous time and not feel that you have to be quiet. I don't mean to sound like I'm blowing my own horn, but I really feel like we were one of the original gastropubs in Philly. We were very lucky to have Edgar Alvarez, a great chef. People weren't just coming in here for bangers and mash; they were coming for paella and gnocchi. Although the bangers are great, too - it's a recipe that was originally my grandfather's, from his butcher shop in Belfast. Czerw's in Port Richmond makes them for us.

Have prices gone up a lot?

Not too much. I had this $4 drinks menu for a long time, and we just made it $5, because my staff was like, dude, stop giving this stuff away. 'Cause I don't do cheap liquor. My well vodka's Smirnoff; my well gin is Gordon's. What we do here is strong drinks at decent prices. And I let my staff comp drinks. I bartended for more than 20 years myself so I'm not one of these guys who's like, weighing the bottles. I always try to look after the regulars.

Really, the thing I love about this place is you can have a 75-year old guy sitting beside a 25 year old guy having a great conversation. Everyone gets along. I think there's been maybe three fights in here in 16 years.

Has the internet changed your business at all?

A lot of people want to book their private parties now through the internet. Personally, I'd like to talk to you and get a feel for what you want to do at your event, but a lot of these people don't even give you a phone number. We're in the process of getting our website redone, and with that we're going to have the Facebook, the Twitter, the media stuff. I'm a friggin' dinosaur with all this. But I'm looking forward to it, because I really need to jump in. I have a 10-year-old who's very tech-y, and she's going to help me as much as possible.

One thing I don't like about the internet is that people can do nasty reviews and just remain anonymous. Most of our stuff's really positive on Yelp, but I feel like if you get one crazy person, they can make your life hell. That's why I don't read Yelp; I wouldn't sleep at night. Also, it kills me when I'm sitting here watching people play the jukebox from their phone when they're just 10 feet away from it.

Have smartphones changed the atmosphere?

You'll see six people sitting around a table, and three of them will be on their phones. It's killing conversation. Although we're one of those places people seem to still talk a lot. Not like a bar I went to in the Newark airport last month. I sit down, and nobody comes near me for 10 minutes, so I say, "Excuse me, miss?" She tells me to use the iPad in front of me. You have to swipe a credit card, because no cash allowed, of course! Ten minutes later, my beer appears - she sets it down and just walks away, saying nothing. I asked her, "Do you like working like this?" She said, "It's just the way of the future." I'm like, "Well, it's not going to be my future, sister." It's killing the art of what we do.

Your favorite thing about owning a bar?

It's a lot of work, and there's a lot of hassle, but it's evened out by all the people you meet - you can just have a good time. You can have a laugh, you know. I've been in this business all my life. I worked in my family's hotel since I was 5, and started full time when I was 13. I really don't know what I would do if I wasn't doing this. It's in my blood.

The Black Sheep Pub

247 S. 17th St., 215-545-9473

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily