Zagat’s recognition of Pittsburgh last year as the “No. 1 Food City” in the country has boosted international awareness of the latest unexpected, compelling reason to discover the ever-evolving Steel City.
Driven primarily by enterprising, passionate young chefs drawn to Pittsburgh by its affordable rents and entrepreneurial culture, it’s a story that is producing remarkable results as Pittsburgh celebrates its bicentennial in 2016, directly credited with attracting new tourism, businesses, hotels, talent—and the group market.
“Pittsburgh’s food scene is on fire, and thanks to the Zagat designation as the nation’s No. 1 Food City, meeting planners and conference attendees have taken notice,” said Craig Davis, president and CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH. “New restaurant concepts, award-winning chefs and a cutting-edge beverage scene have put Pittsburgh on the culinary map, providing yet another reason groups are excited about meeting here. There are wonderful opportunities here for new experiences and ways to enjoy the city—whether it’s unique food tours, market districts, fabulous hotel dining options or amazing new restaurants.”
The story—and surprises—extends to group locales across the region, where farm-to-table heritage, historic distilleries, festivals and other discoveries are attracting attention in their own deserved ways.
Pittsburgh
With more than 200 restaurants within easy walking distance of the LEED Platinum- and Gold-certified David L. Lawrence Convention Center and nearby hotels, plus a growing number of exciting neighborhood destinations, culinary beacons include The Butcher and the Rye. Opened in 2013 and already twice James Beard-nominated for Outstanding Bar Program, this rustic two-level Cultural District refuge features evocative vintage decor, a prodigious whiskey and cocktail collection, a steak- and seafood-driven menu and a private dining room.
Other event-capable Cultural District hot spots include Six Penn Kitchen. Featuring an open-air rooftop bar and serving seasonal locally sourced American bistro fare, the restaurant received Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence in 2015. Sienna Mercato features three Italian-themed dining concepts under one roof, each offering versatile rental options, including partial or full buyouts: first-floor “meatball joint” Emporio; second-floor Mezzo, serving wine, charcuterie and pizza; and rooftop beer garden Il Tetto.
Revolutionizing the downtown hotel scene in 2010, the 185-room, LEED Gold-certified Fairmont Pittsburgh, with 12,000 square feet of meeting space, features the upscale Habitat Restaurant, offering semi-private space, chef-led cooking demonstrations and themed events. Opened in January 2015, Kimpton’s 248-room Hotel Monaco has 11,300-plus square feet of space and The Commoner gastropub, hosting special events and catering group programs at the hotel.
Dating to 1814 and birthplace of Pittsburgh’s legendary Primanti Bros. sandwich in the 1930s, the alluring Strip District is one of six stops on the popular ‘Burgh Bits and Bites Food Tour.
Reborn as a thriving half-square-mile of restaurants, coffee shops, markets, ethnic food stores and street vendors, the Strip is home to the pioneering Smallman Galley, a 200-seat incubator for emerging chefs featuring two bars, evolving restaurant concepts and event space. Amid a number of smaller restaurants, groups also have Lidia’s Pittsburgh, from celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich, and housed in a restored warehouse alongside old railroad tracks, Eleven Contemporary Kitchen.
Close to Heinz Field, event-capable Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36, from the popular former Steelers running back, is Pittsburgh’s top-ranked sports restaurant. Groups can see the stadium and all of Pittsburgh from Grandview Avenue’s “Restaurant Row” atop Mt. Washington, including five-star institution LeMont.
Pittsburgh also booms with breweries, including Munich-inspired Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh on the South Side and Penn Brewery on the North Shore. Brewers of award-winning labels such as Celestial Gold and Pious Monk Dunkel, Church Brew Works, housed in a restored Roman Catholic church, offers a variety of group banquet packages.
In the East End neighborhood of Oakland, the Porch at Schenley accommodates 220 people for events and caters groups at close-by historic Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor Center, adjacent to the historic Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
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Country Stores
Sustainability is a key focus in Butler County, north of Pittsburgh, where North Country Brewing Company, in downtown Slippery Rock, is devoted to near zero-waste farm-to-fork practices. Groups can eat at the on-site brewpub and try over 100 different types of beer, tour the production and canning facility, and hold events at the 1856 Harmony Inn.
Members of the King family, stars of former reality TV show The Farm Kings, host public and private events at their Freedom Farms in Valencia, including the “Dinner in the Field” series from May through September featuring locally produced beer and wine.
At the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, training facility for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Executive Chef Geoff Straub keeps the 2016 Stanley Cup champions healthy with whole grains, organic meats and vegetables. Sourcing from the Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance, which represents some three dozen local producers, Straub also oversees the menu at the facility’s public Training Table Cafe.
Just east of Pittsburgh in Monroeville, Pourhouse is one of four area locations of the Rivertowne brand. Hosting 80 people for standing events, the brewpub’s production facility in nearby Export, Pa., offers tours and can host events.
Continuing east, Indiana County, birthplace of Jimmy Stewart, offers an ensemble of diverse group choices. Mainstays in historic Indiana, the county seat, include the Rustic Lodge (1945), accommodating 400 guests in three banquet rooms, and Irish-themed The Coney, with two rooms for 250 people. Housed in a timber-frame building inspired by The White Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the Coventry Inn, combining an English pub with gourmet restaurant, regularly hosts events for up to 60 people.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Benjamin’s Restaurant, housed in a Victorian home, offers seven dining rooms and an outdoor event area. For true local flavor, the Eat’n Park chain, founded in 1949 and partnering with area farms for its produce, offers dedicated meeting space for 25 people at many of its locations, Indiana included.
In bucolic Washington County, southwest of Pittsburgh, Mingo Creek Craft Distillers tapped into the legacy of the hardscrabble Scotch-Irish veterans who made whiskey in these parts after the Revolutionary War. Opposing onerous taxation on their spirits, these pioneers formed the “Mingo Creek Society” and defiantly planted “Liberty Poles” throughout the county. Noted as “America’s 1,000th Distillery” by the American Distilling Institute, the venue offers tastings of its signature “Liberty Pole” whiskeys, plus private tours and event hosting.
Host venue for the annual Washington County Agricultural Fair, the Washington County fairgrounds offers versatile venues for year-round events, while The SpringHouse offers farm tours and catering for social and corporate events.
Heightened Appetites
Covering some 3,000 square miles an hour southeast of Pittsburgh, the Laurel Highlands boast Pennsylvania’s highest peaks, Frank Lloyd Wright masterworks and standout agritourism experiences.
Combining the latter two, Fish Hawk Acres, a collaboration of local sustainable farms, partners with Wright’s Kentuck Knob estate on a series of summer and fall farm-to-table dinners at the property, guided tours included.
Along with its versatile Executive Conference Center and four outdoor event spaces, the 318-room Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, fresh off a $30 million renovation, is home to the Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five Diamond Lautrec restaurant. With its Moulin Rouge-inspired decor, this 96-seat gem, serving fine European-American cuisine with ingredients from the resort’s holistic garden and local farmers, accommodates large parties and groups of eight at the Chef’s Table. Groups also have chef-led cooking classes and private tastings of wines from the resort’s award-winning 21,000-plus bottle collection.
Hosting the annual Mother Earth News Fair each September, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, the state’s largest year-round resort, partners with nearby Slope View Farms to incorporate local produce into its extensive menus.
In Johnstown, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh, Asiago’s Tuscan Italian Restaurant and Wine & Martini Bar offers an unbeatable fine-dining perch at the top of the city’s historic Inclined Plane. With a menu as flavorsome as the views and Italian-inspired decor, there’s stylish banquet space for 120 guests through Asiago’s Mirage catering arm, which services the Grand Hall in Johnstown’s Cambria City and other venues.
Food and drink flavor Erie’s festival calendar, such as July’s Beer on the Bay, the region’s largest craft beer festival, and Wine Fest in late September. With the world’s largest and oldest Concord grape-growing region running along Lake Erie’s south shore, Erie’s wineries include group-friendly South Shore Wine Company. For “chews” to accompany the “brews,” group options include Cloud 9 Wine Bar and Bayfront Grille.
