Things haven’t been the same at a Philadelphia-area restaurant and bar since the theft of the iconic eatery’s trademark walrus penis.
The owners of famous Camden, New Jersey, cheesesteak-slinging dive bar Donkey’s Place don’t want the thief arrested. They simply want their priceless-to-them antique walrus penis returned in one piece, NJ.com reports.
The strange-looking penile bone — a walrus baculum or oosik, if you want to get technical — was on display at Donkey’s Place along with a megalodon tooth and other interesting artifacts. The stolen walrus penis was, as the article puts it, a conversation piece popular with patrons.
Owner Rob Lucas, Jr., told NJ.com he can’t remember a time when the walrus penis wasn’t behind the bar at Donkey’s Place. Lucas said that people who come to the restaurant for the first time often ask the staff what kind of bone they were looking at. And the bartenders there would often bring the bone in, giving them a closer look before asking them to wager a guess on its original owner, Lucas explained.
But last week, one of the bartenders lost track of the walrus penis.
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“The bartender handed it out for them to figure out what it was,” Lucas said. “[The woman with the walrus penis] went to the back to do something else and then one dude stole it.”
Lucas said there is a clear picture of the penile bone pilferer, who he suspects isn’t “from around town.”
Donkey’s Place posted a TikTok video on New Year’s Eve, featuring the bartender who lost track of the walrus penis. In the clip, she urges the customer to bring it back.
“I wasn’t thinking that they would do something like this,” the bartender explained in the clip. “If the person that stole it is watching this, please bring it back. Not the same without it.”
Lucas said he is the grandson of original Donkey’s owner, 1940s boxer Leon “Donkey” Lucas — who earned his nickname thanks to the power of his punch, which opponents likened to a donkey’s kick. He wants the penis back, no questions asked.
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Donkey’s Place has not tried contacting the man, who used a credit card to pay for his meal.
“We didn’t want to file a police report or anything like that,” Lucas said. “We just want the thing back.”
Oddly, none of the Yelp reviews Us Weekly perused for Donkey’s Place mentions the walrus penis.
Us Weekly found two polished walrus penis bones on eBay. One was priced at $950, and the other was set at $1,000.
The late Anthony Bourdain once lauded the cheesesteak prepared at Donkey’s Place. During an episode of Bourdain’s program Parts Unknown, Donkey’s Place’s fare forced the celeb chef to question whether Philadelphia was truly the “center of the cheesesteak universe,” or if it was Donkey’s Place.
“Behold the Jersey cheesesteak,” Bourdain narrated in the episode. “It’s round, it’s got steak, spices, browned onions, real American cheese, such as it is, and a poppy seed roll. And it is sublime.”
