Second try for Camden riverfront tavern

The 20 Horse Tavern appears out of place.

Once surrounded by homes and businesses on Camden's South Second Street, the charming brick building with its row of old-fashioned lampposts now sits in an industrial landscape of paved lots and warehouses. A giant pile of scrap metal blocks a view of the Delaware River.

The new owners, who last week opened for lunch and early dinner, aren't deterred by the location. Nor are they concerned about the bad economy or the fact that a tavern with a similar business model and the same name failed there less than two years ago.

"The traditional way of thinking in a place like Camden doesn't apply," said Tyrone Pitts, 44, of Pennsauken.

Pitts, who grew up in Camden and runs Arline Construction there, and business partner Kim Monaco, 46, who owns A Nice Little Bar on Camden's Broadway, signed a two-year lease-to-purchase agreement on the historic property in October.

The section of Camden's waterfront being redeveloped as a pedestrian-friendly family destination stops well north of the tavern. But Pitts and Monaco say the site, once a stable for horses that hauled goods for the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Co., deserves a revitalization all its own.

The resiliency of the building, which has survived many vacant years, gives it character and, to Pitts, could be one of the restaurant's biggest draws. That character, he said, "is the heart of Camden."

The National Register of Historic Places dates the building to 1904, but previous owners say it's older than that.

Page Lyons, who owns Tri-State Bulk in Camden, a stevedore company, turned the building into a restaurant in 1989. Lyons had a good run, drawing a large lunch crowd from the port and downtown offices, but closed the restaurant in 1996.

Eight years later, Jeff Wheeler and his partners at Camden International, which operates cocoa-bean warehouses on the waterfront, opened under the name 20 Horse Tavern. It was billed as the city's only white-tablecloth dining experience.

Wheeler said the group had no restaurant experience. The building is charming, but its location didn't help, he said.

"If we could have picked it up and moved it, we would have," he said.

After the tavern closed in 2007, the group wanted to see it remain a restaurant and approached Monaco. She knows the restaurant business and has a following, Wheeler said.

"The place is so nice it deserves the right opportunity," he said.

Monaco, who lives in Washington Township, was looking to expand, and she and Pitts had talked about teaming on a new venture. The tavern was a chance to bring to Camden what they say has been a long time coming: a comfortable place for families and working-class people to go for good seafood and steak.

The two are investing $450,000 in the reopening, said Monaco, who will oversee all operations at the restaurant.

She was working out more than just the details last week, hiring kitchen staff, including chef Benito Farfan, who has worked at several Philadelphia restaurants, and planning the menu.

The dining room is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the bar will serve until midnight. Monaco said the hours may change as the dinner demand grows.

The restaurant, which will employ 10 to 15 people, seats about 150. Walls of the main dining room are hung with old photographs, saws, and relics of the lumberyard. New wood floors, a mirrored bar, and cushy lounge chairs give the second floor a more modern feel.

The tavern doesn't have the built-in customer base of Victor's Pub, which is in the same building as the Victor Luxury Lofts on Market Street. But Monaco said she thinks the atmosphere of the restaurant, which she called the city's "best kept secret," will draw people there.

The neighbors are rooting for her.

Joe Balzano, chief executive officer of the South Jersey Port Corp., said he believes the site will thrive as a restaurant as the city sees a resurgence.

"That's how history is," he said. "Sometimes you find the most beautiful things in the middle of someplace you wouldn't expect them."

The port owned the property before Lyons took over. Now it owns much of the property around it, including the pile of scrap metal that serves as its backdrop. When that scrap is gone, Balzano said, the restaurant will have a nice view of the river.