This morning, the AJC uses the Iberian Pig and the strategy of its owner, Federico Castellucci III, to launch into an interesting discussion on revived practice of bartering by businesses in a poor economy.

“In this time, banks aren’t even going to look at us — a new restaurant opening in a nasty recession,” Castellucci said of his family-run Decatur eatery, the Iberian Pig, which opened in October.

But Castellucci, whose family owns two other restaurants in metro Atlanta, built on an existing space on the Square by bartering services with contractors and other vendors.

He financed the opening through future sales and the fee he pays a trade exchange firm based in Lawrenceville, Castellucci said.

Castellucci tells the AJC he was able to barter “a little less than half” of his opening costs.  Impressive.

Business owners: how important is bartering to your business model?  And is it another one of those things that’s easier to arrange in a tight-knit community?

Creative Loafing’s Besha Rodell hopes the Iberian Pig will serve as a “stepping stone” for Spanish food in Atlanta, but also labels the popular Decatur spot’s offerings as “bastardized Spanish food” in her recent review.

A 90 minute BSP-style wait at the Pig on Saturday (“Do you have a reservation?” “Um…maybe?”) sent me and the wife down to Feast for a satisfying, walkable alternative.

Over on her AJC food blog, Meredith Ford Goldman reports that the Iberian Pig will officially open to the populace next Monday, September 28th.

Her post teases us with a couple of menu items and mentions this interesting feature…

The drinks sound winning too: a tempered ice block will rest on the bar for hand-chipped ice in the cocktails.

Wow.  Now that should be a sight to see!

P.S. Once the Pig has settled in a bit I’m thinking we should set up a “Thanks for Saving the Smith’s Shoe’s Sign” night when we can all show our patronage in thanks.  What’s everyone think about that?

Decatur Food and Wine Dude notes via Twitter that the Iberian Pig’s website, which includes menus and much more, is now up and running.

At first glance, my immediate reaction is – these folks know what they’re doing.

The menu is lengthy and detailed, each member of management has a decent bio attached to their name, and there’s already a nice “press” page that includes things like “menu concept” and “green initiatives”.  To give you a taste, here are the Pig’s stated “green initiatives”…

•A unique partnership with Whole Foods to compost our food waste. This is a partnership that we are very proud of, and we hope that we can encourage others to follow our lead in creating partnerships with other businesses that positively influence our impact on the planet.

•All of our excess cooking oil is converted into biofuel that is used in a variety of different consumer cosmetic products such as lipsticks, shampoos, and conditioners.

•All of our to-go containers and to-go cups are made from either sugarcane or corn and are 100% compost-able.

•We are committed to recycling all of our paper, plastic, and glass products

•We are committed to reducing our energy and water consumption.

•We are committed to buying locally and organically whenever feasible.

The site also predicts a “late summer” opening.

Scott’s panoramic pic of Smith’s.

A couple days ago, Dave posted a pic at InDecatur that showed an old “Smith’s Shoes” sign had reappeared over Sage’s old location on the Square.  On seeing it, I hoped this meant the new owners of the Iberian Pig were bringing a piece of history back to the Square.  Today I received word that this isn’t part of the plan.   According to a source, The Pig has plans to paint over the old sign.

I’m hoping we can change their mind.

The owner and tenants of this building ultimately can do what they want, but Decatur has already lost far too much of its history. We cannot rebuild any of the old distinctive buildings and neighborhoods or rebuild the intricate web of city streets lost during invasion of massive buildings and parking lots.

But we can individually try to save pieces of what remains.

And though I can understand the hesitation to retain a sign that could be seen as confusing to new Pig patrons, I’d argue that the old sign would more than make up for any momentary confusion by providing this rather ordinary 1920s commercial building with distinctive character that would separate it from every other business on the Square.  “The Iberian Pig. Under the Smith’s Shoe’s Sign on Decatur Square” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Comment below to show your support and perhaps together we can help save this piece of Decatur history.

Decatur Square sure is attracting it’s fair share of oddly named restaurants lately and I for one couldn’t be happier.

First there is the Irish Pub, Dick Macks, going into the old Saba location.  Now, just a day after my wife asked me, “what the heck is going on with the old Sage space?” and I mumbled some sort of vague statement that amounted to “I don’t know…look over there! a puppy!”, Cheryl over at the Decatur Minute has the answer!

As she tells the story, after seeing some activity going on inside the restaurant this afternoon, Cheryl “peaked in” to get some answers.  She’s got a play-by-play over at the Minute, so I won’t steal her thunder entirely, but bottom line is that the Castellucci Family, which owns and operates three Mediterranean/Italian Sugo restaurants around Atlanta will be opening “The Iberian Pig” in the old Sage space sometime in August.

I can’t wait to see the signage!  Even more, I can’t wait to start calling it “the Pig” for short!

Get an idea of the new owners’ passion for food from the video after the jump…

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