Pittsburgh restaurant named one of the best in America by OpenTable
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An eatery in Pittsburgh was named one of the 100 best restaurants in America for 2024.
OpenTable recently released its "2024's Top 100 Restaurants" list, and Morcilla in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood made the list. The eatery on Butler Street was one of two restaurants in Pennsylvania to make the cut. Saloon Restaurant in Philadelphia was also named by OpenTable, which is an online restaurant reservation platform.
"We've been here for nine years and to still get recognition after all that time is definitely a great thing for the restaurant and for Pittsburgh," owner Nathan Hobart told KDKA-TV.
According to its Facebook page, Morcilla creates "Spanish inspired dishes - small plates and family-style dishes best for sharing."
"It's not traditional Spanish food whatsoever," Hobart said. "Definitely focus on local ingredients, seasonality. We work with a lot of awesome farmers."
OpenTable said it found the best restaurants in America for 2024 after looking at "insights from diner reviews." The online restaurant reservation platform said it looked at more than 14 million reviews on OpenTable and metrics from October 2023 to September 2024 to compile its list. The metrics included the percentage of five-star reviews and the percentage of reservations made in advance, OpenTable said.
Hobart said Morcilla's success is due, in part, to its terrific staff and awesome patrons.
Best places to eat in Pittsburgh
Morcilla is the latest restaurant in Pittsburgh to receive high praise from people in the food industry.
On Wednesday, Fet-Fisk in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood was named one of the 14 best new restaurants of 2024 by Eater. In September, Fet-Fisk was named one of the 50 best places to eat in America by the New York Times.
The restaurant on Liberty Avenue in the city's Bloomfield neighborhood is "the restaurant equivalent of a cozy sweater," according to New York Times reporter Priya Krishna.
In January, Bootsaba Tongdee from Pusadee's Garden in Upper Lawrenceville and Kate Lasky and Tomasz Skowronski from Apteka in Bloomfield were named semifinalists for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region.