Part arcade, part unique eating establishment– that’s the newest (and oddest) addition to the historic Boneyfiddle neighborhood in downtown Portsmouth.
Oddfellows opened its doors in December, bringing a fun, tasty blend of food and gaming to the 1850s three-story building that once housed a feed store and was also briefly home to the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The idea of bringing this experience to Portsmouth began more than five years ago in the mind of local attorney and civic leader Jeremy Burnside, the late husband of Oddfellows owner Maddie Burnside.
Visitors to Oddfellows are greeted by a large mural created by Portsmouth High School art teacher April Deacon and featuring larger-than-life faces of Jeremy Burnside and Milton
Kennedy the building’s original owner, abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor, Portsmouth entrepreneur (and quite the odd-looking man). “We hope their lives and this building will long inspire the people of Portsmouth,” Maddie explained.
Maddie and her partner in Oddfellows, Jay Kehoe, also hope their new business will fill a gap in the region’s dining and entertainment lineup by providing a place to eat and have fun– whether it’s for date night, a special occasion, or a family outing.
Oddfellows features four lanes of duckpin bowling and an arcade with all the legendary classics: Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Mario Brothers, Galaga, Street Fighter, Golden Tee, Simpson’s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, NBA Jams, Shooter, and Alien games.
The bar area and indoor seating can accommodate 100 people, with space for 20 more on the outside patio. Many of Oddfellows’ furnishings are custom designed and handcrafted out of reclaimed lumber from the building. Kehoe, who is from Ironton, is a builder and a chef – two skills that come in very handy in this new business venture. It was Kehoe who built Oddfellows’unusual “tree table,” which stands out from the rest of the restaurant’s repurposed lumber.
“The entire place is basically all new inside, reinforced structurally from the top down,” Maddie explained.
Jeremy Burnside’s vision, back in 2019, was for Oddfellows to be located on the second floor of the building and be limited to gaming only. In the winter of 2020, the adjacent building fell which led to structural issues in the Oddfellows building as the two structures were tied together in the front by a beam. The façade was replaced and a new steel beam put in place. Steel buttresses on the patio side were used to reinforce the building. Then Jeremy got sick and passed away in the summer of 2022. Later that year, Maddie, a mother to four young girls, got to work on bringing his vision to life. She and Kehoe formed a partnership and their new plan included adding high-quality food to the mix.
The Oddfellows’ menu includes signature pizzas and chicken wings. There are also a variety of starters, including brown butter seared sea scallops and prosciutto, siracha glazed carrots with a preserved lemon
yogurt sauce, and fire roasted brussels sprouts and leeks. The soup and salad menu contains a
variety of unusual creations, such as saucy shrimp and sweet corn soup and a roasted potato salad with hot honey, pickled carrots, toasted pumpkin seeds and cranberries. The homemade dessert offerings include white chocolate blueberry cheesecake, bourbon pecan pie and wood-fired salted caramel brownie.
Everything is cooked in one of two wood-fired ovens, including the colorful ceramic-tiled one
near the restaurant entrance. The dishes are made with seasonally appropriate items that are purchased locally whenever possible. The wild mushroom and goat cheese pizza, for example, includes fungi from Appalachia Unveiled, a gourmet mushroom grower in West Portsmouth.
Oddfellows will begin offering Sunday brunch in the spring (opening an hour earlier), featuring breakfast pizzas, frittatas, espresso martinis and mimosas. The regular drink menu includes beer, wine, and a variety of specialty cocktails like house-infused honey limoncello, smoked old fashioned, and several drinks named after the vintage arcade games on site.
“I was nervous. I had never been in the restaurant business, but I’ve surrounded myself with a lot of people who know what they’re doing,” Maddie said. “I think we offer an exciting menu that you can’t find anywhere else around here.”
“Oddfellows has enjoyed a great community response since opening in December,” Maddie said. The staff of 54 employees has seen little turnover. Maddie admits there were many moments during planning and construction when she wondered what she was getting into. “But I always felt Jeremy around me, encouraging me.”
And now that the doors are open, Jeremy is ever present, she said. “I can feel his excitement. He would be just bouncing off the walls, talking to every person.”
If you go:
526 Second St., Portsmouth, Ohio / 740.529.2470
Hours: 11 am to 9 pm Sunday through Thursday; 11 am to 10 pm Friday and Saturday. (Sunday opening will move to 10 am when brunch service begins.)
Visit Oddfellows online at www.pizzasandpins.com. You can also follow it on Facebook and Instagram.