Movin’ on up
New Downtown Gaucho opens; Smallman Galley to relocate
The wisps of smoke from the woodfired grill emanated out of the broad open windows onto the Penn Avenue sidewalk, beckoning like an old friend, and the chalkboard sign near the registers said it all: “Bienvenidos! We’ve missed yinz so mucho!”
Gaucho Parilla Argentina, previously a Strip District sensation known for drawing long lines for its South American-style grilled meats and vegetables, opened in its new Penn Avenue location Wednesday afternoon.
It isn’t the first eatery to open anew during the COVID-19 era, but it is easily the most anticipated.
“So far so good, we’re super psyched on this line and going at it,” Mr. Falcon said, adding that it’s been a relief to reopen.
“Oh my God, yes,” he said.
The new Gaucho is open for limited takeout hours only right now, but Mr. Falcon said they plan to offer dining room and bar seating in mid-July.
The original plan was for the Strip District location to shutter altogether on Apr. 25 and open Downtown in May, but it was closed, allowing takeout only along with the rest of the restaurants in the state on March 15. Mr. Falcon said that on March 19 a staff member had a Covid scare -- she would turn out to be negative -- but Mr. Falcon said that was enough to err on the side of safety and discontinue operations a month early.
“There wasn’t a question in my mind then that we shut it down,” he said.
Mr. Falcon opened Gaucho in 2013 at 1601 Penn Ave., in the Strip and announced in January that he would take over the space 10 blocks southwest at 146 Sixth St., vacated by Six Penn Kitchen in early 2018.
Since its opening, Gaucho has regularly drawn crowds that flow out the door, with lines that extend up the sidewalk of the 16th Street Bridge. It’s been routinely mentioned in national publications about Pittsburgh dining.
Eat’n Park Hospitality opened the 180-seat Six Penn in the Cultural District in 2005 with an outdoor roof terrace, dining rooms and bars on two floors, and a view of the kitchen from across the room.
Mr. Falcon was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and his family moved to London, then to Venezuela. His early schooling was in Manhattan and Brooklyn, followed by the Poconos. During his senior year of high school, he came to Pittsburgh and attended the now-closed Le Cordon Bleu/Pittsburgh Culinary Institute, Downtown.
He worked eight years in Las Vegas as an assistant executive manager for Bally’s Hotel & Casino and the Paris Hotel, and rose through the ranks to help oversee dozens of restaurants and a staff of close to 50 chefs and 500 cooks.
He returned to Pittsburgh in 2005 to run the kitchen at Southpointe Golf Club in Canonsburg and eventually became the head of the food and beverage program there, while saving and planning for what would become Gaucho.
Dan MacLaughlin of the North Side got the first order off the grill at the new location. He said the last restaurant he ate in before COVID hit was at Gaucho’s previous home in the Strip.
“This kind of feels appropriate,” he said.
Some other recent restaurant openings:
— Pizzeria Davide, the pizza shop arm of the nationally recognized Strip District Italian restaurant DiAnoia’s Eatery opened its second location Tuesday in the Robinson Town Centre.
— Jefferson Hills favorite Yoli’s Cucina last week reopened the tiny original pizza shop at 1216 Cochrans Mill Road where the business sprung from back in 2016. Owner Ben Bartilson had taken on a partner and moved to a full
restaurant location at 1101 State Route 885 also in Jefferson Hills in 2018. The “new” location will be takeout only.
— Earlier in June, Choolaah opened a second Pittsburgh location of its wildly popular fast casual Indian concept at the Point at North Fayette shopping complex.
Smallman Galley to rise in Bakery Square
Per a post on their social media, the Smallman Galley — the Strip District food hall — will close and move to the Bakery Square complex in the East End. It will be rechristened as Galley - Bakery Square and aims to open in 2021.
The Smallman Galley was an instant hit when it opened in 2015 and spun off the Federal Galley on the
North Side and the North Loop Galley in Minneapolis, as well as locations in Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit which have since closed.
Brugge on North closes permanently
The ownership of Brugge on North announced on social media that it has closed for good after two years, owing to a decrease in business and events because of COVID restrictions.
The restaurant was the ground-level tenant in the Alphabet City development at 40 W. North Ave., which it shared with the City of Asylum bookstore and artists space. Previously, the space had been anchored by shortlived, cheese-focused restaurant Casaluella.
Point Brugge in Point Breeze and Park Brugge in Highland Park remain open, and some Brugge on North staff have been transferred there.
Brugge on North is not the first prominent restaurant to close this month.
In early June, Derek Stevens announced the closure of his Union Standard restaurant, which opened to great fanfare in 2017 as an anchor tenant of the renovated Union Trust Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.
In East Liberty, Andrew Garbarino has closed his high end Twisted Frenchman concept, the second floor component to his namesake Garbarino’s Italian restaurant. The space has been rechristened as “Grazing Rights,” an upscale chop house which will open next month.