This month, Grow Pittsburgh is excited to hold our spring Let Us Eat dinner on Thursday, April 28th, at staff favorite e2.
Grow Pittsburgh has had a relationship with owner Kate Romane since she opened the Highland Park staple in 2010. e2 quickly became one of our regular restaurant partners, working directly from Braddock Farms to incorporate just about anything we grow into her seasonally driven menu. In addition to using our produce on her Italian inspired dinner and brunch menus, Kate has worked with us on several events, including A Taste of Grow Pittsburgh, Braddock Feast, and private events. The staff holiday party had to be planned around the restaurant’s catering availability so we could have our favorite meatballs!
Kate moved to Pittsburgh in 1997 and quickly fell in love with Italian food while working in the Strip district. She learned to bake from old Italian mechanics, who taught her bread was a requirement at every meal. After traveling and training at Bidwell, she was ready to take on her own venture. It’s hard to imagine Highland Park without e2, which hosts weekend brunch and dinner Tuesday-Friday. Sunday Sauce is a family-style dinner on the last Sunday of every month, held in the restaurant’s lower level event space.
Living on an urban farm for three years, Kate learned how demanding and rewarding it can be to grow food. She gets the majority of her produce from Braddock Farms and Who Cooks For You farm in New Bethlehem. Kate enjoys being challenged creatively by what is available each week from her farm partners. As a small restaurant, e2 has the ability to buy just about everything the farms offer her.
What’s next for chef Kate? Beautifying the vacant lot next to restaurant, owned by Highland Park Community Development Corporation. She has been trying to jump start community involvement to change this vacant lot into an inviting green space. The HPCDC has approved planter boxes and picnic tables, which she hopes to install this spring. Expect to see food truck round-ups and fish boils by the end of the summer.
For more information about helping with the green space, the Sunday Sauce series, or catering, contact e2 atinfo@e2pgh.com. And don’t forget to join us this Thursday, April 28th, for a meal to remember at the spring Let Us Eat!