Meat Hook's Brent Young to Open Restaurant in Ace Hotel Pittsburgh

Brent Young, the restaurateur behind the popular Brooklyn butcher shop The Meat Hook and its sandwich offshoot, Meat Hook Sandwich, is expanding his empire to Pittsburgh. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Young will open a "meat-centric" restaurant within the new Ace Hotel.

Called Whitfield, the 100-seat establishment will offer a menu of "all-American" fare. Young notes that the food will not be fussy and will center around local ingredients: "[Expect] straightforward food, simple dishes, [and] clever presentation." He promises that there will be "big, impressive steaks" too. Like The Meat Hook, all of the meat will be sourced from nearby farms that use "natural, humane methods for raising animals."

The new restaurant will also feature an eight-seat private dining room which will offer a "family-style speciality menu" tailored to the group using the room. As for desserts, pastry chef Casey Shively — who has worked at acclaimed New York City restaurant Del Posto — will head up the program.

So why open in Pittsburgh after all the success he has seen in New York? (His sandwich shop recently received one star from the New York Times and Eater NY’s Robert Sietsema notes that The Meat Hook is "the mother of all celebrity butchers.") Young explains: "I love New York but it's really awesome to come to my hometown, to open something bigger than anything I have done before." Whitfield is slated to open in late 2015. Eater has reached out to Young for more info.