How the North Side’s East Ohio Street slowly but steadily became Pittsburgh’s Restaurant Row

For a thoroughfare that stretches less than a mile, East Ohio Street packs in an awful lot of good food and drink. A diner on East Ohio can choose between wood-fired cooking at Fig & Ash , vegetable-forward dining at EYV , inventive seasonal fare at Siempre Algo , cocktails at The Eastman , craft beer at Allegheny City Brewing , or Nepalese momos at Subba . These are just a few of the many options. Analysis paralysis has never been so appetizing. Soon, Filipino restaurant Amboy will join the corridor, along with 408 Heirloom , a “storytelling”-driven concept from the Bistro To Go team, and Butterfat Gelato for that post-dinner scoop. Al Grasso , co-owner of Allegheny City Brewing, remembers seeing a Pittsburgh restaurant ranking that placed Fig & Ash, Siempre Algo, and EYV among the city’s best. “I texted those guys the next day and said, ‘It’s pretty amazing that you could practically throw a stone and hit three of the best restaurants in the city all in a row,’” Grasso tells Pittsburgh City Paper . Allegheny City Brewing Co. on East Ohio Street Credit: Mars Johnson The street’s growing collection of restaurants has earned it a new nickname: Restaurant Row. It’s not the first time the corridor has drawn a crowd, though. Before Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City in 1907, East Ohio was one of its busiest commercial streets. The North Side Market House, also known as the Allegheny Market House, was one of the district’s defining landmarks before it was demolished to make way for Allegheny Center. Much of that landscape disappeared during decades of urban renewal, highway construction, and disinvestment. East Ohio Street, however, retained the bones of a great business district.  “We’ve got great historic building stock,” Grasso says. “We’ve got an intact Main Street, or close to it. We’re right outside downtown Pittsburgh. We have a park next door. We have easy highway ac