Blue Flame and Fat Cat close, but new Pittsburgh restaurants open

You know what they say … late March temperature blues brings April food news! I’ll show myself the door, but not before you check out these eats.

Flowers and new flavors are both on the rise in Pittsburgh. Ironically, all these new restaurants are old favorites. Our closings, sadly, couldn’t weather the winter.

Openings

Mount Washington kitchen and ale house Coughlin’s Law opened its second location at Mount Nebo Pointe on March 25. The Ohio Township spot serves the same sandwiches, salads and entrees north of the point.

Coughlin’s Law gets enough praise as is but — like a healthy serving of fries in Pittsburgh — let me heap on some more.

Their signature Coughlin’s Burger is smokey and balanced. Its sweet bacon jam is tempered by arugula and a savory purple cabbage slaw. If anything, this burger understayed its welcome, only because I ate it too quickly.

Coughlin’s pizza crust is crisp and chewy with spots of woodfire char that feel like a little treat. We tried the Pierogie Pie, which was delicious, but the potato-topped crust felt dry in the mouth (a problem that — like many in my life — can be solved with a cup of ranch).

The kitchen at Coughlin’s new location is open Mondays through Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.; Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The bar is open until 11 p.m. on weekdays, 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 9 p.m. on Sundays.

Mark Mammone and Joe Bardakos — the chef-owners behind food trucks The Bridge City Brinery and The Smashery — have parked to set up a restaurant in Sharpsburg.

The Brinery draws on all of the duo’s projects: their pandemic pickling, the 2021 launch of Bridge City and the 2023 smash-burger follow-up truck. Although the meats are familiar, The Brinery leaves most of Mammone and Bardakos’ sandwich creations for the truck. Instead, they serve bigger plates like dry-brined chicken and scallion liege waffles, lamb ramen and salads, alongside a slew of new sandwich creations. 

The Brinery soft-launched on Feb. 29, and is now open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The team at Space Bar has something cooking. Not literally, but they will soon!

Owner Dale Vaughn says a local vegetarian chef may join the crew in the coming months, adding that the relationship would be similar to the coalescence Bar Botanico and Scratch & Co. had when they initially opened. Part of becoming the best bar in the galaxy, he says, is having the best food in the galaxy.

Although the food menu’s currently a spec in the stars, Space Bar’s spring cocktail menu is in full force, with two new additions nearly weekly. The first is the Space Time Bubble Tea — a sweet, floral, white tea cocktail with Hako vodka, Daiyame sweet potato sochu and lychee popping bubble boba. Most importantly, it’s served in a sealed plastic cup, adding a hint of nostalgia to the cocktail’s experience, Chief Mixologist Arum Krause says.

The Kalamansi Comet, Krause’s latest concoction, blends green chili vodka, banana liquor, basil cordial, mole bitters and calamansi — a citrus fruit from the Philippines. In seventh grade, my biology teacher told me I’d never be able to draw an alien because everything I know is based on existing, earthly things. It’s why we can never come up with a truly new color, he said. But this cocktail is alien. Its flavors rocket between harmony and entropy, and your only option is to take another sip.

The bar has seven other cocktails on its rotating craft menu, each as unique as the last. If the last two didn’t strike your fancy, I recommend the Tart-ooine Sour. You’ve never seen it before, and won’t find it anywhere else. Plus, Tart-ooine and a handful of other cocktails can be served nonalcoholic if you’re just looking to enjoy the craft and the atmosphere.

Space Bar is open 4 to 10 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays through Thursdays; 4 to 11 p.m. Fridays; and noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays.

After selling at farmers markets for about a year, Third Space has found its own space. Bakers Chloe Newman, Erika Bruce and Beth Taylor have been producing their baked goods out of the space for a few weeks, and are gearing up for the April 12 grand opening.

Read our recent coverage here.

Closings

Out, out, brief candle! Macbeth aside, Blue Flame Restaurant and Catering ended its 68 years in operation on Sunday, March 24.

In an interview with WTAE, owner Greg George says the family’s youngest generation took career paths away from the restaurant, leaving no one to take up the business. Blue Flame has been listed for sale for about a year, and a sale is currently contingent.

In a message on its website, the George family thanks its patrons, employees and “Les George Sr., who opened the restaurant in 1956.”

“While saddened about the closing of the family business, we have immense gratitude for the wonderful journey of the past 68 years and the community … we have had the pleasure of knowing,” they write.

I’ll let alt-rock band Muse explain this one: “The Fat Cat’s had a heart attack.”

The North Side’s grub and groove joint closed its doors for the last time on Saturday, March 30. Fat Cat opened in July 2023 under Fig & Ash owners Cory Hughes and Alex Feltovich.

“Thank you to all of the Staff, Family, Neighbors, Friends (old & new), Artists and Performers who helped build the Fat Cat culture,” the post announcing the closure reads. “All of your hard work and determination has made tremendous strides to continue to promote the North Side.”