2 popular Pittsburgh restaurants close their doors - TribLIVE

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The past 24 hours have brought permanent closure announcements from two popular Pittsburgh eateries, Downtown’s NOLA on the Square and East Liberty’s Spoon.

Spoon’s announcement came yesterday through Facebook, though the rationale is more complicated than just the financial pressures which have accompanied covid-19 restrictions.

According to Spoon’s part-owner and founder, Brian Pekarcik, the East End food scene pioneer’s lease was to expire this August, spawning a series of negotiations. Talks began in March then were tabled until May, which was long enough for the realities of restaurant ownership in a pandemic to set in.

“I think once I was able to remove my emotion that I had tied up in Spoon and the space, it became much more clear for me that taking the opportunity not to renew the lease, to close up the operation, lay low for a little bit and really try to regroup and recharge and try to figure out what the future holds,” Pekarcik said.

The highly-acclaimed Spoon opened in June 2011 as one of four restaurants in a now-bustling corridor of East Liberty, and it’s the third to officially close its doors in a matter of a few weeks.

“While Pittsburgh has come leaps and bounds with their dining scene and all the amazing restaurant that have opened, Pittsburgh itself still isn’t one of those major markets like New York or LA or Chicago or San Francisco. We don’t have the dining density population who are looking to go out seven days a week,” said Pekarcik of the unique pressures facing restaurants in the East End, specifically. “We all kind of start to steal that little piece of the pie from each other.”

Pekarcik and businessman Rick Stern run S+P Restaurant Group, which also includes three BRGR locations, Willow and, formerly, Grit & Grace. The group was the recipient of federal Paycheck Protection Program funds at the end of April, which are allowing the group’s other operations to survive, according to Pekarcik.

The decision to close Spoon became official two to three weeks ago, but Pekarcik prioritized one-on-one meetings with each employee and attempts to place them elsewhere before making the decision public.

Just hours later, news broke that NOLA on the Square will permanently close its doors, according to Pittsburgh Magazine.

NOLA’s one-of-a-kind bayou vibe has been a Market Square mainstay since 2011. The restaurant temporarily closed during Allegheny County’s stay-at-home order and chose not to reopen when the county reached the green phase on June 5, with the permanent closure announcement taking some time to materialize.

Restaurants, like these two, whose takeout business was either minimal or nonexistent, face more of an uphill battle, according to Pekarcik.

“Restaurants who haven’t had that factor built into their operations, such as Spoon, it’s a really difficult process to just throw into an already-running operation who may not have delivery drivers,” he said, citing the additional costs of offering disposable utensils, condiment packets and packaging.

Abby Mackey is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. You can contact Abby at abbyrose.mackey@gmail.com or via Twitter.