…because we’re re-releasing RPF 13: Cucumber Wheat as a warm-weather seasonal, and we’re bestowing upon it the name Garden Party, and we want to host a big end-of-summer, vegetable-themed blowout with our friends. Well, kind of. That’s definitely a part of it, but the real reason is a bit larger than that.
Garden Party is a celebration of the momentum that’s been building in Braddock over the last couple of years. We’re very fortunate to be able to be a part of that momentum, and invite you to come check it out. Now that we’ve been open for three months, we figured it was a good time to have another blowout event. So we gathered up a few of our friends whose establishments have all contributed in some way to the forward progress here in Braddock.
In the past few years, we’ve seen a low rumble of foodservice entities trying to help combat Braddock’s status as a food desert. Chef Kevin Sousa‘s Magarac restaurant concept switched names and locations to become Superior Motors, and after being the most funded restaurant project to date on Kickstarter, the renovation has begun. Kevin will be serving small-bite pairings inside the taproom and talking about the Braddock restaurant ecosystem he’s put so much focus into creating.
Superior Motors will be working closely with Braddock Farms, a part of Grow Pittsburgh. Admittedly, having been around since 2007, Braddock Farms is not one of the new guys, but one of the early steps taken to revitalize vacant space here in town. Marshall, the director of the farm, will be holding a miniature farmers’ market selling fresh veggies grown just down the street from the brewery. Joining him will be Shauna Kearns of the Braddock Community Oven, which is expanding to a much larger oven in tandem with the renovation of Superior Motors. Much like both the restaurant and the farm, the outdoor brick oven serves as a community and educational tool.
The other part of the beginnings of a Braddock food scene is mobile food. Starting with PGH Taco Truck‘s weekly lunch service (often joined by other trucks including Burgh Bites Cart) outside local printing shop Ink Division, Braddock’s status as a completely unserved market has drawn more and more mobile food businesses to town. Upon our opening, we had an opportunity to host a different mobile food option four nights a week – PGH Taco Truck being one of them, as well as Gyros N’at.
The momentum is not only food-related; for anyone that’s traveled through Braddock Avenue within the past year, you’ve seen the constant construction going on across the street from the brewery. Diagonally to us, there are new homes and a large green space that will eventually become a public park. Directly across the street is a large mixed-use complex that will house a medical clinic and street-level retail and offices, as well as live-work spaces. Trek Development, the folks overseeing these projects, will be at the event talking about Braddock’s revitalization from a construction standpoint.
So while the vegetable-related festivities of Garden Party may seem like a rather arbitrary group of unrelated entities, we do all have a common thread: we all want to see Braddock flourish. We’re glad we’ve been able to round up the gang for a blowout, and we hope to see you there.