New Restaurants to Open in the Strip District

New restaurants, businesses, and night clubs are heading into the Strip District with their openings occurring in July.  These businesses are just some of the developments heading into this area of Pittsburgh.  This Pittsburgh shopping district is starting to become busy with activity, and it is bringing a whole new set of shoppers to the area to experience what it has to offer.

A string of openings have come to the Strip District, including the new Italian restaurant Emilia Romagna; Marty's Market; and R Wine Cellar.

Marty's Market , a specialty food store and café, held a soft opening on Saturday, giving shoppers a glimpse of the new market that replaces the former Right By Nature at 2305 Smallman Street.

The market is one-third smaller than the former grocery store, and specializes in locally grown and organic foods. But Marty's seeks to distinguish itself as a unique retail experience, starting with design.

Renovations to the space include three glass garage doors--which open to the downtown skyline--two kitchen areas, and a coffee bar.  Owner Regina Koetters says transparency, from the kitchen to the street view, was a guiding principle in the market’s design.

Marty’s cafe, which seats up to 45, serves made-to-order meals from a menu that changes daily.  The cafe is also planned to serve as a community kitchen of sorts, with tastings and cooking demonstrations by local chefs and amateurs alike.

-  Just a few blocks away Emilia Romagna will celebrate its grand opening this Friday.  The restaurant is a project of Chef Jonathan Vlasic, of the Allentown restaurant Alla Famiglia, and Peters Township’s Arlecchino.

The menu features dishes inspired by those regions of Northern Italy, as well as popular dishes from the proprietors’ other two restaurants.

Located at 108 19th Street, the space will also introduce a new nightclub to the Strip--V Ultra Lounge--which will also open on Friday.  The lounge will occupy the building’s second floor and balcony, and will feature a limited menu of antipastas, burgers, and sushi.

The lounge and restaurant are a project of Vlasic, Vince Isolde, and Chef Cory Hughes.

-  R Wine Cellar has opened at 2014 Smallman Street, selling house-made wines.  The cellar, a family owned urban winery, currently has four reds and four whites available, including oaked and un-oaked Chardonnays.

Although juices are currently brought in from elsewhere, all wines are fermented, blended, and bottled on site.  And several wines are made using grapes from the Lake Erie Region, including the white Traminette ($12) and the Lake Erie Red ($13).

Owner Steve Russell says they chose this location because they wanted to be in the middle of the developing Strip District.

"We think the potential here in the future is very strong," he says.

Koetters agrees, and says it’s an exciting time to be part of the Strip District, and recognizes that each new businesses is a boon to the neighborhood.

“We’re fortunate to be enjoying a great time in the Strip,” she says.  “There’s a lot of stuff going on… [and] I want Marty’s to be a vehicle to encourage more investment in the Strip.”

For more information on these restaurants go to PopCity. 

Night Market on Liberty

Another reason for Pittsburghers to make their way downtown!  Market Square will host a Night Market featuring music, vendors and various types of food.  The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is sponsoring the event to showcase Liberty Avenue and all it has to offer.

For the first time in recent memory, an unused lot in Downtown Pittsburgh is being transformed into a one-night-only Night Market, giving city residents one more reason to venture to (or stay in) the Golden Triangle after work.  The Night Market, which takes places this Friday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. will feature music by DJ Soy Sos, independent vendors of jewelry, art, and crafts, and food from a variety of local eateries.

Jeremy Waldrup, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, says his organization created this event in order to showcase this particular stretch of Liberty Avenue as a block filled with activity, including a variety of bars and restaurants, and the August Wilson Center.

“By providing individuals with another reason to come to this street we hope to encourage more folks to mill around downtown and see what opportunities there are to experience,” Waldrup says. 

At Friday’s market (located at 917-919 Liberty Avenue), the restaurant Meat & Potatoes will offer a preview of food from its new concept, Pork & Beans, which is expected to open later this fall.  And Conflict Kitchen, which is set to open Downtown in the coming months, will also be serving food.

Among the 15 independent vendors will be Tugboat Printshop and Devorah Naturals.  And café tables and chairs will be set up at the Night Market to encourage guests to linger in the space.

This Friday is also the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Gallery Crawl, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

“It should fit very well into the [Gallery Crawl] with people exploring that area,” says Ida D’Errico, of PDP.

D'Errico says this is the only Night Market currently planned, but based on the event’s success there could be more in the future.

“Pittsburgh enjoys various markets and our outdoor plazas, and so potentially this could expand into another location at some future point in time,” she says.

The Night Market is the latest endeavor to come from the Project Pop Up Program, a partnership between Mayor Ravenstahl, the URA, City Planning, and the PDP.


For more information on the Night Market please see PopCity.

New Jobs and Developments Are Coming to Pittsburgh

Hundreds of jobs will be coming to Pittsburgh thanks to the development of three aircraft hangers and other numerous projects coming to the area.   The projects are expected to have a positive impact on the community and the economic development of the city.

The development of three aircraft hangers, an environmental study to demolish a dilapidated building and other redevelopment projects expected to create hundreds of new jobs will get a boost from gaming fund revenues awarded by the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA).

"The approved projects will improve public safety and have a positive impact on community and economic development in Allegheny County," said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker. "The gaming fund revenues will provide important infrastructure improvements to the area, which in turn, will add capacity for future economic development."

Five projects in Allegheny County will each receive $500,000 under the CFA's action. The $2.5 million in total funding comes from the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund Program (GEDTF), which was established to fund community and economic development projects in Allegheny County, through revenues from the Pittsburgh – The Rivers Casino. 

GEDTF program provides grants for single-year and multi-year projects that promote community and economic development in Allegheny County, including: economic and infrastructure development, job training, community improvement, public safety, public interest and costs to administer GEDTF funds. 

For more information and a detailed list of the projects please see US Politics.