Second Chengdu Gourmet location to open soon in North Hills.

The second Chengdu Gourmet location, coming soon to the North Hills since July 2021, looks set to open quite soon on McKnight Road. Paper is off the windows, the large bar and dining area is nearly complete, and "Now Open" signs are primed in the lobby. It will open at 4768 McKnight Road (map), in what was formerly Oriental Market (which moved up the street earlier in 2021).
In Pittsburgh Magazine last year, Hal B. Klein summarized some key differences between it and the Squirrel Hill location, which is routinely named among the best restaurants in the city:

There will be two significant distinctions [between the two restaurants]: Zhu plans to install tanks that will allow him to sell fresh-as-can-be fish and shellfish, and he’ll offer an expanded selection of Americanized-Chinese dishes (which were dialed-back in Squirrel Hill a few years ago) to better serve North Hills diners new to Sichuan cuisine.

The ample space will offer expanded seating, including two private dining rooms, a sushi counter and, as Zhu has acquired a liquor license for the new restaurant, a bar. “It’s going to be a much bigger restaurant. Everyone will be happy when they come here,” Zhu says.

Oakland's K-Town Snack Bar eyes soft opening later this month.

K-Town Snack Bar, a Korean quick-service restaurant from the team behind the Mr. Bulgogi food truck, is eyeing a soft opening later in August. Originally scheduled to open August 15, the new restaurant will be located at at 210 Oakland Ave. (map), which briefly and most recently held Wild Ninja Asian Grill. K-Town's social media has interesting pictures of the new artwork in the store, done by Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture students.

K-Town Snack Bar opening next week in Oakland.

Signage is up for K-Town Snack Bar (케이타운 스낵바) a Korean quick-service restaurant from the team behind the Mr. Bulgogi food truck that is set to open in Oakland on August 15. It will open at 210 Oakland Ave. (map), which briefly and most recently held Wild Ninja Asian Grill.

Parlor Dim Sum offering take-out on August 10 as opening date nears.

The Parlor Dim Sum, a long-awaited restaurant from Roger Li coming soon to Lawrenceville, will be offering a first-come first-served take-out menu as the opening date nears. From its social media posts:

Who's ready to eat some @theparlordimsumpgh food?!
We know the IG posts aren't enough to satiate your cravings so we're gonna let chef @roger_li and his team feed some of you.
This Wednesday 8/10, we'll be running some takeout as we're still putting some final touches to our space and team.
2pm til 6pm
First come, first serve til sell out
Cash or Card (no pre-sale)
Your options are:
- Cantonese BBQ Rice Trio: 燒臘三拼: Roast Duck, Cha Siu, and Crispy Pork Belly, Side of Gai Lan ($22)
- Mapo Tofu: 麻婆豆腐 (Vegan): Silk Tofu, Wheat Gluten, Pickled Radish, Fresh Chili, Douban Sauce ($16)
Both served over rice.

The Parlor Dim Sum is located at 4401 Butler St. in Lawrenceville (map), the previous Ki Ramen spot.

K-Town Snack Bar, from Mr. Bulgogi Food Truck team, opening August 15 in Oakland.

K-Town Snack Bar, a "Korean quick service restaurant" from the team behind the Mr. Bulgogi Food Truck, is opening August 15 in Oakland. It will open at 210 Oakland Ave. (map), which briefly and most recently held Wild Ninja Asian Grill.

The Parlor Dim Sum coming soon to Lawrenceville.

via @DimSumPGH
Signage is up for The Parlor Dim Sum, a new Cantonese restaurant from Roger Li (Umami, Ki Ramen) coming soon to Lawrenceville. LOcated at 4401 Butler St. (map, the former Ki Ramen spot), it aims for a July opening. Writes a July 6 Pittsburgh Magazine preview:

The Parlor Dim Sum will be one of the few Cantonese restaurants in Pittsburgh, so Li is excited to share his culinary heritage with folks who may be unfamiliar with the cuisine.

Guests will be able to order a whole or half Cantonese roast duck that is cured and dry-aged in-house. The bird is chopped into bone-in pieces and served with the drippings over rice. Li says he will source 40 to 80 Maple Leaf-brand ducks a day from Connecticut and Long Island, New York.

Other offerings include a variety of dim sum, small appetizers such as steamed or pan-fried dumplings, egg tarts, crispy pork belly, chicken feet and spare ribs served in stainless steel baskets. Shareable dishes — which will be set upon Lazy Susans at each table — will include rice and noodle bowls as well as soups.

芋见BAO to take over Lulu's Noodles spot in Oakland.

芋见BAO will move into the Lulu's Noodles spot in Oakland after the latter's owner sold the restaurant. 芋见BAO, opened at its current location at 114 Atwood St. in early 2021 and offers a menu of dim sum, noodle dishes, bubble tea, and more. A Pittsburgh City-Paper review last September wrote:

Dim sum are small dishes that originated in Guangzhou in southern China. The phrase typically calls to mind dumplings, buns, starchy or glutinous cakes, and light desserts, and 芋见BAO’s dim sum menu covers all of these. To try as wide a variety as possible, I ordered with my partner and we shared the dim sum dishes, which came with enough pieces for us to enjoy at least one or two of everything.

The name of the restaurant refers to 芋, or taro, a tropical root vegetable common in African, South Asian, and Oceanic cuisines. While 芋见 translates directly to “seeing taro,” it’s also a homophone for “meet” or “come across,” creating a secondary phrase “come across bao,” or “come across steamed buns.”

Living up to its name, 芋见BAO has several bao options, including Pork Buns 肉包, Vegetable Buns 菜包, and Pork and Dry Bamboo Buns 笋干肉包. Each comes with six buns and has the option between steamed or pan fried preparation. I opted for steamed Pork Buns 肉包, and the pillowy dough and subtle sweetness combined with a more robust savory flavor in the meat filling was an excellent start to the meal.

There is no timetable yet for Bao's opening. The Lulu's Noodles spot is located at 400 S. Craig St. (map).

Izakaya coming soon to Bakery Square.

An izakaya from the Richard Deshantz Restaurant Group and Chef Michael Taylor of Gi-Jin is coming soon to Bakery Square, NextPittsburgh writes. As the Bakery Square Instagram page says, an izakaya is "a type of Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks." Bakery Square is a mixed-use development in Larimer, across from Mellon Park and a block from the East Liberty Target (map).

Maya Sushi opens in Squirrel Hill at former Mr. Egg's Kitchen spot.

Maya Sushi has recently opened in Squirrel Hill at 2101 and 2103 Murray Ave (map), the home of Mr. Egg's Kitchen from July 2020 to April 2022. Maya Sushi is running a specia from May 23 through June 23: 20% off online orders through the QR code on the window.

Mr. Egg's Kitchen relocated down the street in April to share a storefront with Teppan-BBQ.

Squirrel Hill's Mr. Egg's Kitchen relocates down the street and into Teppan-BBQ.

Signage recently went up at Mr. Egg's Kitchen in Squirrel Hill that the hot pot and juice restaurant has relocated down the street to Teppan-BBQ (板川名府). Mr. Egg's Kitchen opened in July 2020 on Murray Ave. after three years of planning and construction, and Teppan-BBQ opened in November 2020 at 2209 Murray Ave. (map) in the former Ka Mei location. Teppan-BBQ remains open; a counter inside the restaurant contains hot pot ingredients.

A bunch of locally-owned Asian food stalls coming to Strip District's Terminal Building.

A group of locally-owned Asian food stalls is coming to the Strip District's Terminal Building, Hal B. Klein writes in Pittsburgh Magazine.

McCaffery Pittsburgh has reached a lease agreement with Mike Chen, co-owner of Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill, and Alex Tang, co-owner of Mola in East Liberty, to curate and oversee the development of a food hall centered around Asian restaurants.

“Our focus is to offer real representations of what you would find in Asia right now,” says Tang.

The food hall, which doesn’t yet have a name, will feature seven stalls surrounding a large bar in The Terminal Building in the Strip District. As of now, Tang plans to operate an offshoot of Mola and Chen, a version of Everyday Noodles.

Established Pittsburgh businesses will run the remaining five stalls: Korean Garden, Sumi Bakery, Silk Elephant and Golden Palace (serving sui mei; Cantonese roasted meat). A boba tea stand run by the owners of Many More Asian Market will round out the food hall.

Signage up for new Chengdu Gourmet location, coming soon to McKnight Road.

Signage is now up for the new Chengdu Gourmet location. Routinely named among the best Chinese restaurants in the city---and its head chef routeinly named among the best in the country---it announced a new location on McKnight Road last July. For more information, please see Hal B. Klein's article in Pittsburgh Magazine last summer.

There will be two significant distinctions [between the two restaurants]: Zhu plans to install tanks that will allow him to sell fresh-as-can-be fish and shellfish, and he’ll offer an expanded selection of Americanized-Chinese dishes (which were dialed-back in Squirrel Hill a few years ago) to better serve North Hills diners new to Sichuan cuisine.

The ample space will offer expanded seating, including two private dining rooms, a sushi counter and, as Zhu has acquired a liquor license for the new restaurant, a bar. “It’s going to be a much bigger restaurant. Everyone will be happy when they come here,” Zhu says.

It will be located at 4768 McKnight Road (map), in what was formerly Oriental Market (which moved up the street last year).

Asian Grocery opens in Castle Shannon.

via @asiangrocerypit  Asian Grocery opened in Castle Shannon on February 5. Located at 300 Mt. Lebanon Blvd. (map), it carries a variety of produce and staples from East, South, and Southeast Asia. The Allegheny County Health Department reports note it's the same ownership as the "Asian Grocery" on Library Rd. that closed in 2021.

Sushi Go, descendant of Texas Japanese-Korean chain, coming soon to Shaler.

Signage is up for Sushi Go at 890 Butler St. in Shaler (map). Sushi Go is a small chain of sushi places throughout Texas; this one will be operated by Duk Ku Kang, who ran a Sushi Go in Garland, Texas, until last year.

Chinese beauty salon Wonder Beauty (首你亚美) coming soon to Squirrel Hill.

A new Chinese beauty salon, Wonder Beauty (首你亚美), is opening soon in Squirrel Hill, in a spot most recently occupied by Dalmo Optical. The owners of Squirrel Hill restaurant How Lee purchased the spot building at 5831 and 5833 Forbes Ave. (map), which also includes the former Jimmy John's, in March 2021. No word yet on what's planned for the former restaurant space next door.

Ten most-read posts of 2021.

Here's a look back at the ten most-read Pennsylvasia posts of 2021; seven deal with new restaurants or Asian grocery stores opening in Pittsburgh:

1. Oriental Market moving up the road to Old McKnight Road and the former David's Bridal. [January 9]
2. Oishii Donburi to soft open, March 19. [March 17]
3. 98 K Burger opening in Squirrel Hill. [August 1]
4. Pittsburgh's Chinatown granted State Historical Marker. [March 10]
5. Panda Supermarket (熊猫超市) to open at new location, September 1, with expanded hours. [August 21]
6. African Cuisine moving into old Chaya spot, February 27. [February 16]
7. Sushi Kim 2 opening soon downtown. [July 7]
8. "Four Evenings" discussion with Charles Yu and his 2020 novel Interior Chinatown, October 14 at Pitt. [October 7]
9. New York-based, Chinese-owned fastfood chain 98K coming soon to Squirrel Hill. [September 5]
10. Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival, October 16 at Mellon Park. [September 9]

Sushi Kim 2 opening downtown on October 5.

Sushi Kim 2 has announced it will open downtown on October 5. The first Sushi Kim closed its famed Strip District restaurant in 2019 and announced the opening of a new spot in July. It will be located at 110 Smithfield St. (map). The new restaurant boasts of a sushi bar and "traditional Korean kitchen," and has posted its menu on its new website:

Seoul Korean BBQ opens in Carnegie, with a Grand Opening set for October 6.

via @Kasai-Kogi-Bar Korean BBQ

Seoul Korean BBQ has opened in Carnegie, PA, a rebranding of Kasai-Kogi Bar Korean BBQ. The menu includes a variety of Korean sides, soups, bulgogi, and galbi dishes. Kasai-Kogi opened in summer 2019 and announced last year the name change and fall 2021 reopening. It is located at 523 W. Main St. (map), though at this point it is only open for take-out, and has a Grand Opening set for October 6.

The Parlor Dim Sum & Cantonese BBQ working on physical location in Pittsburgh.

Dim sum and Cantonese food gain a bigger presence in Pittsburgh, as The Parlor Dim Sum works on a brick-and-mortar location. The Parlor has been a pop-up project of chef Roger Li---Umami, Nanban, and formerly Ki Pollo and Ki Ramen---for the last few years. His websites and social media say to stay tuned for big updates and more information about a physical space.

98 K Hamburger now open in Squirrel Hill.

98 K Hamburger opened in Squirrel Hill over the weekend. The Chinese-owned restaurant is a new location of a New York-based fast food chain. It's located at 5867 Forbes Ave. (map), and is running some soft opening specials through the 14th.