New Upper St. Clair restaurant stresses local sourcing
Team member Catherine Gilbert of Upper St. Clair informs customers of today’s specials.
Carla Richards prepares some essentials behind The Porch at Siena’s bar.
Executive chef Kevin Hermann is ready to make use of the restaurant’s garden.
The Porch at Siena’s LiveRoof hybrid system acts like a sponge to absorb excess rainwater.
If you look for locally sourced food in your restaurant selection, let Kevin O’Connell tell you about The Porch at Siena:
“We’re so local that we have our own garden in the back,” the chief marketing officer for Eat’n Park Hospitality Group said.
When the company opens the new restaurant in Upper St. Clair on June 12, patrons can see for themselves.
Growing next to the outdoor patio seating area is an array of vegetation, including eight varieties of tomato plants plus herbs like dill, tarragon, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, along with Swiss chard, eggplant, kale and even strawberry, raspberry and watermelon. Seedlings are provided by Grow Pittsburgh, which supports individual and community gardens in the region.
“If we’re running a special on a Friday night, the garden is the first place I’m going for the tomatoes and for the herbs,” executive chef Kevin Hermann said. “And soon after we open, once the construction’s finished, we’re going to have beehives at the restaurant, as well. So we’ll have our own honey.”
The Porch at Siena represents Eat’n Park Hospitality Group’s first expansion of its successful The Porch at Schenley in Oakland. Prior to that restaurant’s 2011 opening, plenty of research went into ascertaining customer preferences.
“One of the things we found people wanted was different things at different times of the day,” O’Connell explained. “At lunch, they want a great experience but they want it a little faster. With dinner, you like to be more relaxed and to hang out, and same thing for the weekend.
“So the experience in here is what we call fast casual,” he said. When you come in at lunch, you order and pay, and then sit wherever you want. And we’ll bring the food out to you, and we’ll clean up afterward.”
The Porch at Schenley also has its own garden, which is on the roof, overlooking Schenley Plaza and the former site of Forbes Field. At the South Hills location, part of the new Siena at St. Clair development on the former site of the Consol Energy headquarters, is a hybrid green-roof system containing and assortment of plants above the patio.
“It helps in energy conservation and rainwater absorption,” Hermann said.
Beyond the in-house gardens, the restaurants’ emphasis on localization extends to partnerships with a variety of local farms, suppliers, distiller and brewers.
“It’s really not just about saying we’re local, but also about helping local businesses grow,” Hermann explained. “Just like they helped us grow, we help them grow. So it’s not just about the food. It’s about the economic side, as well.”
For more information, visit www.dineattheporch.com.