Restaurant openings this month feel oddly well timed. Just as we’re collectively mourning the closing of Stuntpig and the loss of the iconic Mr. Orange sammie, a wave of comfort-food-heavy openings rolls in with giant Italian sandwiches, all-you-can-eat hot pot feasts, Korean fried chicken, frozen custard nostalgia and enough carbs, crunch and cheese to qualify as emotional support.
How did y’all know we’d be eating our feelings? Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe the restaurant universe sensed the collective heartbreak. Either way, this month’s newcomers are all about abundance and nostalgia.
Here’s what opened, what closed and what’s worth knowing right now … .
Openings
Shabu Shabu Hotpot and Grill
900 Providence Blvd., Suite 200, McCandless
Walking into Shabu Shabu without a strategy is akin to entering Costco on a Saturday. First things first: Come hungry, ideally ravenous and wearing stretchy pants.
After years of “coming soon” anticipation, McCandless finally gets in on Pittsburgh’s hot pot boom with this sprawling, all-you-can-eat spot.
Start with broths like spicy, mushroom, bone broth and tom yum, or opt for a split-pot setup that lets two broths simmer side by side at the same table. Then begin plotting. Thin-sliced beef, ribeye-style cuts, pork belly, chicken, shrimp, mussels and rotating seafood options share space with dumplings, tofu, noodles, fish balls, bok choy and enoki mushrooms. Buffet and conveyor stations keep sushi, small bites and rotating options circulating for repeat laps, while tabletop Korean barbecue adds another layer of cook-it-yourself fun.
There’s even more DIY energy at the sauce station stocked with sesame sauce, chili oil, garlic and ponzu-style combinations, plus bubble tea, fruit and desserts if you somehow still have room.
The Bohemian
22 W. North Ave., North Side
Golden Age Beer owner Pete Kurzweg never intended to “open a Czech beer bar in a former adult theater,” but here we are.
Inside the reimagined Garden Theater space, The Bohemian pours Czech-style lagers brewed at Golden Age’s Homestead brewery and served with Czech beer culture-inspired details: side-pull taps and foam-forward pours tailored to each style.
Expect four core beers always on tap — Pale, Gold, Pilsner and Dark — alongside rotating specials that stretch beyond Czech brewing traditions, including a recent Polish-style pilsner. The bar skips a traditional kitchen, but guests can bring food from neighboring North Side favorites including Mayfly Market across the hall, plus nearby Badamo’s Pizza and El Burro.
Tambellini & Co.
1011 Brookline Blvd., Brookline
It’s beach sandwich season, you said? Pittsburgh may lack an ocean, but we’ll happily eat this on a porch, park bench or folding chair near one of our rivers and call it coastal living.
The Tambellini family name has anchored Pittsburgh Italian dining for decades, but this new Brookline outpost takes a different route. Chef Mike Tambellini and Trista Fulton reimagined the legacy as a compact, 30-seat sandwich shop focused on Italian-American comfort food.
Expect porchetta stacked paninis, oversized chicken parm sandwiches, quarter-pound meatballs and focaccia flights served with pesto aioli, giardiniera and hot-honey whipped ricotta.
Consider our beach day packed.
Harry & Fritz
947 Penn Ave., Downtown
Owner Joe Beckham named the restaurant after grandfather Harry Oxenreider and great-uncle Frederick “Fritz” Mackes, two Pennsylvania men from the Allentown and Lancaster area who loved going out with wives, friends and family.
“The experience was your friends and your family,” Beckham said. “The restaurant was there to give you a great meal and save you from doing dishes.”
Beckham said he intentionally wanted to create something “a little retro and in contrast” to restaurants where “the restaurant was taking center stage.” He also saw room on Penn Avenue for broadly American food, saying he wanted “a place where I could eat a lot of the stuff that I just love to eat.”
The namesakes themselves offered a kind of blueprint. Harry was a businessman who favored three-piece suits and German pilsners. Fritz was an outdoorsman who carried a camera and loved fishing. Together, they inspired a restaurant blending old-school American dining with a little Pennsylvania nostalgia. The menu jumps from seafood towers, oysters, steaks and Käsespätzle to Sicilian-style square pies and tableside Baked Alaska, alongside a Rum Manhattan riff inspired by Beckham’s grandparents.
Winston’s Grilled Eats & Frozen Treats
624 North Ave., Millvale
A new summer headquarters just landed in Millvale. Pittsburgh Sandwich Society owners Michael Carney and Erin Andrzejewski originally bought the space for wholesale breakfast sandwich production and catering before spending time inside and realizing, as Andrzejewski put it, “this is such a great space. It could be so much more than just a production kitchen.”
Named after Winston, their late dog, the concept came together almost by accident.
“We had a bunch of other names we were choosing between,” Andrzejewski said. “I jokingly said Winston’s, and we kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that could be so perfect.’”
The menu swaps Pittsburgh Sandwich Society’s signature smashburgers for char-grilled burgers with what Andrzejewski calls “that nostalgic backyard picnic, flame-grilled burger” energy.
Expect Sahlen’s pork-and-beef hot dogs topped with Western New York favorites like Weber’s horseradish mustard and hot pepper spread, grilled chicken sandwiches and a house-made veggie burger. Frozen custard arrives in chocolate, vanilla and rotating seasonal flavors, with sundaes, beef on weck and more menu additions waiting in the wings.
Playa Bowls
172 Bakery Square Blvd., Bakery Square
The newest Playa Bowls outpost brings acai, pitaya and coconut bowls, smoothies and juices to the East End, with fruit-packed combinations layered with granola, bananas, berries and tropical toppings. Consider it breakfast, a post-workout stop or a superfood-packed dessert.
Gio’s Mexican Food
3160 Leechburg Road, Lower Burrell
Pupusas? Beef short ribs? Tripa tacos? Gio’s doesn’t seem particularly interested in menu restraint.
The family-run spot serves quesabirria with consommé, pupusas, gorditas, tamales and tacos filled with pastor, barbacoa, lengua and tripa, alongside sizzling fajitas and molcajete platters. There’s also a giant Gio’s quesadilla, seafood dishes and plenty more where that came from. Talk about being spoiled for choice.
Krunchy Bird
325 Mt. Lebanon Blvd., Castle Shannon
Get extra napkins and absolutely no white shirt for this one.
The menu centers on made-to-order wings, bone-in chicken, boneless bites and fried chicken sandwiches coated in sauces like honey garlic and spicy soy. Beyond the chicken, expect kimchi fried rice, Seoul Krunch bowls, beef dumplings, spring rolls, fries and Korean-inspired sides.
Closings
Stuntpig
1707 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill
Consider this an official ode to Stuntpig’s Mr. Orange. Smoked pulled chicken, fiery piri piri, briny cucumbers and chimichurri aioli pressed into a sesame bun: Stuntpig’s cult-favorite sandwich inspired Reddit threads, repeat pilgrimages and serious “best sandwich in Pittsburgh” arguments. And now, heartbreak.
The shop officially shut down after owners decided not to renew the Squirrel Hill lease, ending a run that started as a food truck in 2020 before becoming one of the city’s most beloved sandwich spots.
In true Stuntpig fashion, the goodbye carried just enough pig humor to soften the blow. The team recently called the ride “quite a hog” and hinted at “future stunting” still to come.
For now, though, Pittsburgh is feeling a little bacon-broken. Too ham-strung? Sorry. Grief does strange things.
Penn Brewery (?)
800 Vinial St., North Side
This is not necessarily closure. Pittsburgh’s oldest brewery has found itself in a precarious chapter. Penn Brewery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this spring and faces mounting uncertainty, including a planned sheriff’s sale tied to the property. Leadership, however said the brewery remains open and operating as usual.
