Pittsburgh restaurant news: International fare expands and a beloved neighborhood spot closes
By Hal B. Klein / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The past couple of months saw an expansion of international eateries ranging from gorgeously plated Indian cuisine to hyper-specific regional Chinese fare. Pittsburgh also said goodbye to several establishments, including a beloved Lawrenceville restaurant and a neighborhood gem in East Liberty.
Openings
Reva Modern Indian Cuisine
The first thing you’ll probably notice about the meals offered at Reva Modern Indian Cuisine in East Liberty is the artful plating.
Succulent tandoori salmon comes atop an autumn-hued bed of roasted sweet peppers and onions, the plate streaked with herbaceous green chutney and delicate herbs.
Streams of ghee run across a soulful bowl of lentils as toasted chili peppers bob like spicy beacons, tempting you to dig into the aromatic dish. The resonant emerald palak paneer, an often overlooked dish that’s an early standout at Reva, is crisscrossed with yogurt, offset with tender microgreens and specks of crispy roasted garlic.
Reva is the second restaurant from co-owner Pritesh Patel and his family. They opened Sankalp The Taste of India in Cranberry in 2022.
Patel says he looked for a location close to Downtown when the family decided to expand into the city, but jumped on the turnkey East Liberty space (which previously housed Sia’s Garden Grown and Union Pig & Chicken) when it became available in May.
They opened in July following a quick cosmetic refresh of the dining room and the addition of a few items, such as a clay tandoor, essential to Indian kitchens.
“My chef was ready with a great team,” Patel says. “All the chips fell into the right place.”
Executive chef Rohit Mhatre is also a partner in the business.
The native of Maharashtra state in Western India trained in Mumbai in 2014 and later worked his way up the chain in cruise ship kitchens.
“I started as an appetizer chef on the lowest rung and worked my way up to curry chef at the top of the kitchen,” Mhatre says.
He specializes in Northern Indian cuisine, though you'll find a few southern dishes at Reva, too. Mhatre’s execution of the dishes, at least those that I’ve tried so far, lives up to the anticipation built by the gorgeous plating.
220 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty; revapgh.com
Northeastern Kitchen
Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang are the three provinces that encompass Northeast China, sometimes known collectively as Manchuria. It’s a rugged, industrial region with extreme temperature swings and brutal, long winters. The area of nearly 100 million people has a deep history that, over the past two centuries, was at times fought over by the Russian and Japanese empires.
To that end, Northeastern Chinese cuisine has a distinct regional flair. Here, you’ll see a lot of stewed and simmered dishes as well as lacto-fermented vegetables; sauerkraut is as vital to the cuisine of far northern China as it is to the Eastern European foodways.
You’ll also notice a heavier reliance on wheat (Northeastern Chinese dumplings are a real treat) and corn than you will in rice-rich southern and Central China.
In short, Dongbei dishes are the perfect thing to look for as we move from a hot and humid Pittsburgh summer into the chillier cozy season.
The place to get it is Northeastern Kitchen on North Craig Street in Oakland. The restaurant, which opened earlier this month, is unrelated to another restaurant with the same name that operated from 2018 to late 2020 in the subterranean Squirrel Hill space now called Jian’s Kitchen. (That restaurant offers some Northeastern Chinese dishes, but now takes a more pan-Chinese approach to its menu.)
Braised spare ribs with sauerkraut is a terrific place to start if you’re new to this style of cooking. The chopped, bone-in ribs are slowly cooked to fall-off-the-bone tenderness, with just the right amount of chew in the texture. And the fermented cabbage adds a zippy tang to counterbalance the savory gravy.
Old-style braised pork is the kitchen’s take on red-cooked pork belly. While the dish is typical throughout China, various regions have their own style. Here, the presentation is a fragrant warmer on a cool night with star anise and ginger cutting through the aromatic soy sauce-based braise. The skin is left on the pork belly, which gives it an unctuous texture.
Pair rich, nourishing dishes such as those with lighter elements like quick-pickled cucumber (here served as big hunks), peanuts with spinach in vinegar and tofu with scallions.
192 N. Craig St., Oakland
Grapow
Seven years into running the terrific Senyai Thai Kitchen in Shadyside, Tu Wade extended her reach last month to open Grapow. The fast-casual restaurant in Oakland is geared toward the neighborhood’s bustling student population, but fits the bill for anyone looking for an easy, tasty meal.
“It’s a mix of street food. If you go to Thailand, Korea or Vietnam, you’ll find good food with quick and easy service,” Wade says. “When I travel I see a lot of this and that’s where the idea came from.”
Wade has partnered with one of her employees, Nima Sherpa.
“He wanted to have a food business. I thought it would be a good idea to partner with him on this because he’s young and has a lot of drive,” she says, noting that one of his friends, Sani Shrestha, is also involved in the venture.
Grapow’s menu features an easy-to-like exploration of pan-Asian bites. Khao soi — the popular northern Thai curry with egg noodles, pickled mustard greens and red onions, plus a choice of protein — is an early highlight. Extra-crispy Korean chicken bites coasted in an earthy, slightly spice glaze makes for a solid, shareable starter too.
According to Wade, the menu will change continually.
“Since it’s street food we want to rotate the menu and add here and there so that everyone is able to experience all the different flavors,” she says.
411 S. Craig St., Oakland; grapowpgh.com
Braddock Public House
Matt Katase and Alaina Webber officially opened Braddock Public House on Sept. 21 following an extended soft opening. The establishment, an offshoot of the decade-old Braddock brewery Brew Gentlemen, is a reinvigoration of the former Superior Motors space that shuttered in March 2020.
The opening menu is a mix of pub favorites such as fish and chips and chicken wings and dishes such as spam musubi that draw from Katase’s Hawaiian heritage. The musubi and pork tonkatsu sandwich (get it spicy) are highlights from the early offerings, which are expected to grow as the kitchen settles into its rhythm.
Katase and Webber are still in the process of adding knickknacks, fresh flowers from the Braddock farm Sol Patch Garden and other touches to soften the harsh postmodern build-out that worked for the aesthetic of the previous restaurant but isn’t the ideal vibe for a taproom from one of the better breweries in Pittsburgh.
1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock; braddockpublichouse.com
Closings
St. Clair Social
Longtime Pittsburgh hospitality industry linchpins Cat Cannon and Cecil Usher opened St. Clair Social in October 2020, right in the deepest depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duo turned the East Liberty bar in the former Sharp Edge Beer Emporium space into a neighborhood hub with high-quality cocktails sold at a decent price, a terrific beer selection and events such as trivia and game nights. The kitchen served easy-to-love pub grub like hamburgers, wings and crispy chicken sandwiches.
“We opened a bar in the middle of COVID and sustained it for nearly four years. We were able to do that because of where we are in our careers, the community that surrounded us and the community we grew while we were there,” Cannon says, noting that on any given night, the bar was populated with locals who made up a rotating crew of regulars.
Cannon and Usher worked under a long-term consulting contract and served as proprietors of St. Clair Social, overseeing the day-to-day operations. The building and liquor license, however, are owned by an LLC belonging to real estate developer Ahron Freilich, who listed the property for sale earlier this year.
“St. Clair was amazing and we loved to have it,” Cannon says. “We learned a lot. It was our first time doing everything when it comes to running a restaurant, so we got to see what works and what doesn’t work.”
Cannon and Usher will continue with Mindful Hospitality, the consulting brand they launched in 2019. They’ve also both picked up shifts to fill in gaps at some of Pittsburgh’s top bars including The Warren and Acacia, so now is an excellent opportunity to see some of the key members of Pittsburgh’s craft cocktail revolution behind the stick again.
“We’re able to give our friends in the industry some relief which is really nice,” Cannon says. “We’re a community that sticks together.”
LeVia Trattoria
Brothers Christopher and Anthony Castine opened their neighborhood restaurant in mid-2021 in the former Cure space in Upper Lawrenceville after both had worked for many years at excellent area restaurants, including Sienna on the Square, Cure, Spoon, Avenue B and Union Standard.
They spent the past three years serving easy-to-love Italian cuisine. Anthony Castine, the restaurant’s executive chef, wrote in a post on the restaurant's website and social media channels that they decided to close at the end of September rather than renew the lease on the space.
“We started this small family venture almost four years ago, in the middle of the COVID pandemic,” Castine wrote. “With a small staff and a lot of hard work, we were able to maintain, grow, and survive through a difficult time in the food service industry.
“We never wavered in our commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality food and excellent service, we are proud of what we were able to achieve.”
Smoke Barbeque Taqueria
September also saw the closing of Smoke Barbeque Taqueria. The establishment was wildly popular when it moved from its Homestead roots to the heart of Lawrenceville in 2016. Read more about Smoke’s run and other places to eat in the neighborhood in our Eat Pittsburgh: Upper and Central Lawrenceville.
Soluna
Soluna, which rebranded from Cafetino after adding a mezcal bar in 2022, shuttered following a three-year run in the Strip District. The building that housed Soluna previously was home to early iterations of Gaucho Parrilla Argentina, which moved Downtown in 2020.