Pica’s Pub

A North Shore staple.

“It's quality beef.  It’s James River. It's a good cheese and it's a great roll.”

A Merrimack Valley mainstay.

“It's very simple, but I call it simple perfection”

And a Canadian classic.

“It’s the ultimate comfort food.”

No matter where they’re from, you can find all of the iconic dishes you crave at Pica’s Pub.

Located in Methuen, Pica’s Pub and Grill is the kind of place where you’ll feel like family.

Because for decades, it’s been run by the same family, who ran businesses in the space ranging from a dive bar to a Blockbuster video. When a fire destroyed the place in 2016, the family, including fourth generation owner, Shane Bernard decided to rebuild- this time as a restaurant. 

“We decided, let's build a full serve restaurant, I always kind of had the dream to do that. I'd rather keep this legacy going. Keep the property in the family and who knows my 15 year old daughter maybe she'll be the fifth generation.“

Back in the scratch kitchen, they’re always coming up with creative dishes- something Shane encourages.

“They bring the ideas and I say, Okay, I'll get the ingredients, go nuts with it, we'll try it as a special. It makes them feel like more of a part of it as well. And that's what kind of we are here. Just a big family.”

And a meal here feels like a family reunion with friendly faces bellied up to the L shaped bar to watch a game and filling the tables in the big and airy dining room.

“We're going for a feeling at home. Feeling comfortable. Like you want to hang out for a while and visit with friends or bring the family. First time coming in, you're going to be greeted like you've been coming in since the day we opened.   Everybody feels comfortable.”

If you want to start your meal off right, you have to get your hands on some of Pica’s piping hot steak and cheese eggrolls.

“It's tender steak. It's cheddar cheese. There's some onions in there. Nice crispy egg roll wrapper, and we fry them off. We serve a little bit of white cheddar dipping sauce and they're addictive.”

Equally addictive are the wings, smoked to perfection on site.

“The wings are juicy.   They’re nice jumbo wings.  They're crispy on the outside.   You get you get a little bit of a hit of the smoke.  Every plate comes back with all bones.”

For a plate filled with the ultimate comfort food order the poutine.

“It's rich. You get the pull from the cheese curds and you get the crunchiness of the French fries. It's fantastic.”

In fact, Shane likes this Canadian specialty SO much, he created a Poutine Burger.

 “I love poutine and we have a great burger. So I said why don't why don't we combine the two a little bit. I didn't go as far as to put the french fries on there. But we've got the cheese curds, we've got the gravy, we have some onions on there….it's a fantastic burger and pretty popular as well.”

The sandwich game at Pica’s is strong. And it better be….’cause they offer one of the defining delicacies on the North Shore: The Roast Beef Three Way.

“With the North Shore beef. You got to have the cheese on the bottom. You have to have James River barbecue. And, you know, you have to have mayo on there or else it's not a three way. Nice, rare roast beef. slow cooked.  We do it on a nice fresh onion roll. And it's fantastic. It's messy, but it's delicious.”

Another regional favorite is The Chicken Barb.

“The chicken Barb is a Merrimack Valley staple.  You've got braised chicken.  You've got crispy Iceberg lettuce, you've got mayonnaise on a Tripoli ciabatta. It's a little bit of a wet sandwich. But when you bite into it, those flavors just work together.  It's simple perfection.”

There are ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with slow cooked brisket and sauteed onions on Texas Toast.

And a Meatball Sub assembled using a foolproof process.

 “So what we do is we take a Tripoli stick. We cut the end off and we hollow the center out of the sub.  So the soft bread inside you get the crispy outside, and then we stuffed the inside with the meatballs, the cheese, the marinara, stuffed a little piece of bread back in the end.  The worst part about meatball subs is usually biting into it and having that last meatball jump out. This doesn't happen.”

Entrees at Pica’s range from house smoked cheddar jalapeno sausage served alongside hot honey bacon jam cornbread. And some of the best steak tips around.

“It's almost a kind of a cross between sirloin and tenderloin…it's got the flavor of the sirloin but it's almost as tender as that filet mignon. It's really a nice combination. It takes the marinade well, and we sell a lot.”

At dessert, you can either pop next door to Pica’s Deli and Ice Cream for a scoop or try the indulgent Chocolate Chip Cookie Lava Cake.

“This is a giant chocolate chip cookie filled with chocolate ganache served with vanilla ice cream, a little bit of drizzle a chocolate over the top.  It is a fantastic way to end your meal.”

And pretty much every dish, from appetizers to entrees to dessert comes with a little bit of love at Pica’s Pub.

“It's a tough business, but I love it. I love the people. I love creating new things in the kitchen.  I've always been creative as far as food goes. I enjoy coming here and that makes it not work. You know? If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.”