TAKE IT OUTSIDE!
9+ local spots with fire pits, good food and sizzling drinks
From the beginning of the pandemic more than 2½ years ago, many restaurants’ best bet to stay afloat was to maximize their outdoor spaces for as long as possible, in all forms of weather.
The acute phase of the pandemic, thankfully, has stabilized, waned and retreated, but what of all those heaters and firepits and various contraptions meant to keep the cold at bay?
Well, they’re being put to good use, extending the outdoor eating and drinking season around Pittsburgh well into autumn and beyond. Here are nine favorites (and some bonus picks) around the area.
Bigham Tavern
Mount Washington’s answer to Cheers or Paddy’s Pub has a pair of TVs on its uncovered “turf” patio and overhead heaters on the covered patio with a big screen because, as Bigham Tavern co-owner Jessica Rewis said, “We totally feel like football watching in the crisp air is amazing.”
Hard to argue with that sentiment, even given the tenor of the Steelers’ and Pitt’s seasons. But if you do catch a little chill, the wings — some of the best and hottest in the city — will take care of that. Try Bigham Tavern’s gnarbenero, a mix of its honey-garlic habanero and gnarly sauce — a mix of spicy, sweet, hot and barbecue sauces. More adventurous? The cluckin’ hot is a true face melter that manages to retain a nice flavor profile despite the blowtorch levels of heat. 321 Bigham St., Mount Washington
The Foundry Tap & Table
At The Foundry on the North Shore, owner Andy Stackiewicz put his and his father’s carpentry skills to the test in 2020 and built their own “igloos” for coldweather outdoor dining rather than pay the exorbitant, gouged prices for premade ones.
“People love them,” Stackiewicz said. “It’s nice — you have a view of the rivers and Downtown when maybe there’s some snow flurries. It’s cool.”
They continue to prove a popular option for diners to The Foundry’s rustic dishes like the Yukon Gold pierogies, chicken pot pie, 48-hour braised short ribs and fall risotto with a butternut squash puree, roasted apples, wild mushrooms and pickled beet creme. 381 North Shore Drive, North Shore
Shorty’s Pins x Pints
A relative newbie to Stadium Row,
Shorty’s opened in February, bringing the three years the multimillion-dollar project had been in the works to a close. The vast space houses plenty of gaming fun (duckpin bowling, pinball), but grab a board game and head outside to get cozy by one of the three fire pits. While noshing on tacos (the al pastor, with slowcooked pork meeting sweet pineapple, is particularly flavorful) or one of the many shareables. (A Pizza Box of Nachos is exactly as described, and it is substantial.) A small weekend brunch menu adds huevos rancheros to your options.
Large-scale Jenga games aid the party, as do the patio’s so-Pittsburgh-it’s-ridiculous views of the Allegheny River and Fort Duquesne Bridge. Two bars serve up drinks including a winning draft cocktail, the Nitro Cold Brew Martini, which, in addition to vodka, includes La Prima Coffee and Maggie’s Farm coffee liqueur.
Among the alcohol-free options is the Fauxjito, which is based on Seedlip Garden 108 and may just transport you to a summer day spent sipping limeade. Pretend the gas-powered flames from the firepits are the sun.
353 North Shore Drive, North Shore
Bonfire
At Chris Bonfili’s South Side restaurant Bonfire, which is based around a wood-burning oven, they leaned hard into the challenges presented by COVID by turning their stretch of sidewalk facing South 22nd Street into an outdoor seating oasis, complete with actual “bonfires” in sidewalk firepits.
“Every time we got a curveball, we think about how we can make this work for us,” he said at the time. Their commitment to a safe and comfortable outdoor experience helped them flourish through the pandemic, and they continue a robust outdoor service this time of year, because it’s “so pleasant to sit outside in the crisp air,” and eat and drink, bar manager Amanda Wilkerson said.
Bonfili’s menu deftly threads the needle between hearty and elegant comfort with dishes like the chicken confit pappardelle with charred leek and mushrooms; roasted chicken with grits, corn, shishito peppers, Brussels sprouts and bacon jam; and the best damn meatloaf in the land, a wagyu beef meatloaf with chive and goat cheese whipped potatoes, blistered tomato and a veal demiglace.
2100 E. Carson St., South Side Flats
Cafe du Jour
The hands-down cutest and most charming little courtyard in Pittsburgh — complete with koi and turtle pond — would be closed for the year by now, but Cafe du Jour chef and owner Paul Krawiec is getting his money’s worth out of his pandemic-era outdoor heater investment. The wild mushroom consomme at the BYOB spot is a soothing umami broth with shiitake, king oyster, porcini, maitake and shimeji; the roasted eggplant rolls are a revelation; and do get the warm pecan pie for dessert.
1107 E. Carson St., South Side
Bridges & Bourbon
Downtown restaurant and cocktail bar Bridges & Bourbon was an early adopter of the “igloo”-shaped plastic bubbles for all-weather outdoor dining on Penn Avenue. They used them so much they wore them out. They’ve replaced the domes with
gleaming new, sleek and chic models shaped like gazebos, which they’ve dubbed BridgeHouses. Reserve one and try their fall cocktail menu, which includes concoctions like Waterfall in the Woods (rye whiskey, toasted banana mint syrup, cranberry bitters, smoked applewood), Autumn Nectar (bourbon, pimento dram, blueberries, lemon juice, maple blueberry ginger syrup)
and The Curse (vodka-spiced hot chocolate, presented like a fiery cauldron).
930 Penn Ave., Downtown
Golden Age Beer Co.
This list could be composed solely of local breweries, which have cornered (if not invented) the market for quaffing ales around fire pits, as there are scores of great setups along these lines in the region. But
we’ll give the nod here to one of the newer kids on the block: Golden Age in Homestead, from the team
behind Independent Brewing Co. and Hidden Harbor in Squirrel Hill and Lorelei in East Liberty.
They do smashburgers and schnitzel in the kitchen, which you can wash down with lip-smackingly crisp pilsners in the cozy courtyard beer garden, where they’ve been known to keep a fire roaring while hosting live music or Drew’s Clues trivia. 337 E. 8th Ave., Homestead
Off the Rails BBQ/ Strange Roots
What pairs well with the beckoning aroma of slowburning barbecue smoke? How about the warm hug of campfire smoke? Ken Shields turned this former Verona service station into a smoked meat oasis, and you can have his outstanding St. Louis-style ribs and hickorysmoked Texas-style brisket around Solo Stove fire pits.
You can also try OTR’s killer ’cue at Strange Roots Brewing’s new West Deer taproom, with a spacious beer garden. And we’d be remiss not to mention Strange Roots’ flagship Millvale taproom, also with a large outdoor space where you can nip on their signature fermented ales and nosh on the decadent creations of the Pittsburgh Sandwich Society, and their newly opened New Kensington location, which features Neapolitan pizzas from Common Oven Pizza Co.
Off the Rails: 549 Allegheny River Blvd., Verona
Strange Roots: 4399 Gibsonia Road, West Deer; 501 E. Ohio St, Millvale; 977 5th Ave., New Kensington
Piazza Talarico
The “piazza” at the Talarico family’s charming red sauce spot in Lawrenceville refers to the twolevel rear brick patio that remains open each year “as long as is possible,” according to Katie Talarico. It’s southern facing, so it’ll potentially catch sunshine all day long and it’s bolstered by plenty of heaters.
The wine at Piazza Talarico is pressed and fermented in house by family patriarch “Papa” Joe Talarico — lots of rich red varietals — and the food is pure loving comfort from family recipes, like the stick-to-yourribsbaked maccheroni.
3832 Penn Ave., Lawrenceville