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Steel Hearth
A chef pours sauce from a copper saucepan over plated dishes on a dark kitchen pass in warm amber light.
A raw T-bone steak on a wooden cutting board with a chef's knife, fresh parsley, and a mortar and pestle of chopped herbs, laid out on a dark prep counter.

Our Story

A Pittsburgh Hearth

Chef Daniel Whitmore grew up in Pittsburgh, learned to cook at his grandmother's table in Lawrenceville, and never really left. After culinary school and a decade in fine-dining kitchens around the city, he wanted something different: a place that felt like home, where the food was serious but the room was not.

The Steel Hearth opened on Carson Street in 2018, in the heart of the South Side. The name is a nod to the city Daniel loves: the steel that built Pittsburgh, and the hearth that has always brought people together. A hearth is home, warmth, and the fire a meal is cooked over. We put all three on the plate.

Today we are a neighborhood gathering place. We cook comfort food from scratch, pour local beer and good cocktails, and save a seat for anyone who walks through the door. Whether you are here for a burger and a draft or a long dinner with friends, we are glad you came.

A confident and friendly older male chef with a white beard smiles warmly while holding a plated sandwich in a dim restaurant kitchen.

Meet the Chef

Daniel Whitmore

Owner & Chef

Daniel Whitmore is a Pittsburgh native who has spent the last fifteen years in restaurant kitchens. He graduated from culinary school in the city, then worked his way up through fine-dining line cook roles, sous chef positions, and a stint running a kitchen downtown, before deciding he wanted to cook the food he actually loves to eat.

In 2018 he opened The Steel Hearth to bring comfort food back to the neighborhood. Daniel cooks every shift, sources from local farms and butchers when he can, and is usually the one who says hello when you walk in. His goal is simple: food that tastes like someone made it for you, in a room that feels like you belong there.

When he is not on the line, Daniel is probably eating somewhere else in the city, arguing about where to find the best sandwich in Pittsburgh, or walking his dog along the river.

Come See Us

Our Kitchen

Made From Scratch

Everything that comes out of our kitchen is made from scratch. We hand-cut our fries, brine our own chicken, roll our pierogi by hand, and bake our pretzel knots fresh every morning. The barbecue sauce is ours. The house sauce on the Heinz Field Burger is ours. Even the sour cream for the pierogi bites is house-made.

A line cook in a black apron uses tongs to flip steaks on a flaming charcoal grill, smoke and orange flames rising in a dark kitchen.
A raw T-bone steak on a wooden cutting board with a chef's knife, fresh parsley, and a mortar and pestle of chopped herbs, laid out on a dark prep counter.

Local When We Can

We source from local farms and butchers whenever we can. Our beef comes from a farm an hour south of the city, our produce is picked as close to service as we can get it, and our beer is almost all from Pittsburgh and Western PA breweries. Fresh ingredients, cooked well, served generous. That is the whole idea.

The Room

A Look Around

A few frames from a typical night at The Steel Hearth.

Warmly lit dining room with wooden tables, wine glasses, and string lights under a trellis ceiling at The Steel Hearth.
The dining room, lit warm.
Two cheeseburger sliders with fries on a wooden board at The Steel Hearth.
Burger night.
The backlit amber bar at The Steel Hearth, with glowing bottle cubbies and a long wood counter.
The bar, end of service.
A chef in white coat and hat cooking on the line, with flames leaping from a saute pan at The Steel Hearth.
On the line.
A cast-iron skillet of parmesan-and-paprika fries at The Steel Hearth, with a side of ketchup.
Loaded fries.
A bartender pouring a craft cocktail into a coupe glass, with an orange-peel twist held above, at The Steel Hearth.
Tonight's cocktail.