City Winery upscale eatery, concert venue coming to Pittsburgh's Strip District

City Winery, a national chain offering food and wine experiences paired with intimate live performances, is coming to Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

A late fall opening is projected for the space at the westernmost end of The Terminal at 16th and Smallman streets.

Founded in 2008 by Michael Dorf, City Winery seeks to provide upscale dining and locally made wines to urban wine enthusiasts who also are interested in music.

Each City Winery offers intimate concerts, upscale dining, private event spaces and a fully functioning winery. In addition to its original New York City location, City Winery also has venues in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Hudson Valley, N.Y.

Dorf said he was approached by The Terminal’s developers, McCaffery, prior to the pandemic about moving into the renovated, historic produce distribution terminal.

“They knew my brand and they knew the concept. They understood what a great fit it was,” he said. “I was really interested in the project, and I liked the neighborhood. It felt really homey. The building itself called to me.”

Reuse of buildings is part of City Winery’s branding and history, Dorf said.

“The company started in New York with the adaptive reuse of an old printing house, and our Chicago location is another 100-year-old warehouse,” he said. “The main supply for our company, besides music, is grapes — and that’s produce. Obviously, the historical connection wasn’t lost on me.”

“City Winery’s presence in the neighborhood provides a new and exciting reason to visit The Terminal, Penn Avenue and indeed the entire Strip District,” said Dan McCaffery, CEO of McCaffery.

The performance venue will have a capacity of 250 guests, with 70 indoor seats and 100 outdoor seats for dining. It will feature City Winery’s proprietary tap system, pouring wine from stainless steel kegs. The space can be reserved for private events with the capacity to hold 400 people standing.

City Winery anticipates creating 100 job opportunities.

“Our tagline is that the menu is wine-inspired, globally influenced and locally sourced,” Dorf said. “The menu is 75% the best of our national items and 25% generated locally by the executive chef.

“We’re also known for our music and being able to create – if you will – a high-end, sort of luxury concert facility,” he added. “Our audience likes to sit down and drink wine in a real glass and have good food and great sightlines.”

Each City Winery location has its own winemaker.

“We have about 30 vineyards under contract in California, Oregon and Washington state, and we bring in grapes from Argentina and Chile during the southern hemisphere season,” Dorf said. “The advantage of not growing our grapes in the backyard in the traditional way is that we can go to a particular terroir, or grape-growing region, for the best grapes we want to get.”

The chain’s network of chefs and wine-makers collaborate during quarterly “internal summits,” Dorf said, to share recipes and best practices. Local dishes presented at these events have a chance to make it into the national menu.

“There’s that saying about too many cooks, but when you have some of the best cooks in the region, you can smartly collaborate to come up with the best product, which manifests in both our wines and the food that comes out of the kitchen,” Dorf said.

In addition to the Pittsburgh location, City Winery also will expand into Detroit, St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio, this year.

“I’m enamored a bit with the Midwest right now,” said Dorf, a Milwaukee native. “The Midwest has been underserved … for a facility like ours.”

Performers currently on the schedule at existing locations include singer-songwriters Shawn Colvin and John Waite, bands Candlebox and Roomful of Blues, comedians Pauly Shore and Jen Fulwiler, and others.

For information, visit citywinery.com.