Pittsburgh: The Foundry (September 2018)



My spouse and I dined at The Foundry Table and Tap for brunch on a Saturday morning in mid-September 2018. The Foundry is open daily for lunch and dinner, with extended hours on event days. You can make a reservation using the online Open Table system.

The Foundry opened in fall 2016 on Pittsburgh’s North Shore in the space previously occupied by restaurants called Asiago Tuscan Italian and Pittsburgh Grill and Sports Bar. The restaurant is located on the street level of a commercial building positioned between football’s Heinz Field and baseball’s PNC Park. Other restaurants occupy the same building, including Jerome Bettis Grill 36 and Rivertowne; the building across the street houses Little Red Corvette, BRGR, Bar Louie, BURN by Rocky Patel, and Southern Tier Brewing Company.

Although The Foundry bills itself as a sports bar, it offers an industrial-chic decor (think barn wood and hanging Edison bulbs) rather than sports memorabilia and black-and-gold theming. The restaurant layout is strange; upon entering the space from General Robinson Street, we nearly departed when all we saw was the small front bar area with a few high-top tables. But fortunately we stayed! The hostess led us down a long hallway (with doors off the hall for the restrooms and the kitchen) to an expansive back dining area that offered seating at stand-alone tables in various sizes and configurations, at some tables that share a banquette on one side, or at the four-sided rectangular bar. An adjoining dining room space handles overflow crowds and private parties. In appropriate weather, al fresco dining on the back patio offers a view of the Allegheny River. 

The Foundry serves creative American pub food in an upscale sport bar environment. We shared the pork belly bites as a starter, deliciously fatty, tossed in a light bourbon glaze, and then topped with jalapeno slivers. Next, as our main dishes, we ordered a burger and the duck confit cabbage noodles. (The latter, although a bit greasy, was absolutely delicious!) For dessert, we shared the key lime parfait, an imaginative twist on the original dish that contained pineapple, coconut, and broken graham cracker pieces.

We enjoyed the food at The Foundry, and we appreciated that it was a less frantic atmosphere than other restaurants/bars on the street.














No comments: