Portsmouth's latest answer to the low-carb craze? Beer, burgers and Fat Belly's.

Most people remember the green-painted building at the corner of Bow and Market streets as the former home of the notorious King Tiki. Others may only remember it because a friend once told them that they were there the night before singing Def Leppard at Karaoke and seriously considering taking a shot from the nipple of a bare-breasted plastic woman hanging on the wall behind the bar.

For many months after the slow death of King Tiki and the short-lived Steakout Takeout, the space remained empty, leaving passers-by to speculate on its future. Wonder no more. Twenty-eight-year-old Joe Kelley, owner of Joe's New York Pizza, has now claimed the spot and named it Fat Belly's.

Fat Belly's, named after a nickname a friend cunningly calls Kelley, will be a restaurant and lounge. It's projected to open in mid-August. Kelley explained that, after some major overhauling, the floor below street level has been transformed into a complete kitchen. The ground level is going to be a casual restaurant where people may eat at a table or sit at the bar and watch the game while possibly drinking one of the 12 draught beers. And the top floor will be more of a lounge, with couches and built-in seating where people can enjoy a fancier drink. The menu will be mostly pub food and yes, you'll be able to get a slice of pizza.

Kelley owns Joe's New York Pizza in Newington, Portsmouth and Durham, famous in Portsmouth and Durham for the last-call crowd of late night bar hoppers desperate to get a slice. If he's got the same business sense with the new place, it'll definitely be worth checking out.

If a person really must lose weight that they should do it any way they can, but sometimes you owe it to yourself to put down the soy shake and have a good time. And that's what places like Fat Belly's are for.