The former Lombardozzi restaurant space in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood could be getting new life as the well-known food pop-up business Fet Fisk is eyeing the space for a bar, restaurant and event space.
Fet Fisk has run a pop-up dinner business for the past few years, serving Scandinavian-inspired dinners at restaurants across Pittsburgh, like Black Radish Kitchen in Point Breeze and Soju in Garfield. The business also runs a popular stand that is a regular at the Bloomfield farmers’ market.
Chef and co-owner Niklas Forsberg said ownership has signed a lease at the former Lombardozzi space on Liberty Avenue, which closed during the pandemic shutdowns and went up for sale last fall. He said it has always been Fet Fisk’s goal to open a brick-and-mortar location, and he is excited to bring that vision to Bloomfield.
“We have a particular aesthetic with our brand, and walking into Lombardozzi it all clicked,” said Forsberg, who lives in Garfield. “We always envisioned Bloomfield and, economically, the space there was perfect.”
Keystone Real Estate Advisors is purchasing the Lombardozzi building and is leasing out the space to Fet Fisk.
Forsberg, 32, was drawn to Lombardozzi because of how it hasn’t changed much since it first opened in the 1970s. He said they don’t plan on changing too much, and wants the space to maintain an old-school charm of a classic bar and separate dining experience. He said he wants the Fet Fisk dining experience to harken back to the days when you arrived and had a cocktail at the bar while awaiting your seat in the dining room.
“There is a lot of inherent charm with the space, and it is more in line with our values to not create a lot of waste and remodel too much,” he said.
Diners can expect European dishes with a Scandinavian twist, said Forsberg, who said his cooking combines his French cooking background with his Scandinavian heritage. He said oysters will usually be a big part of dinner and a rotating menu that showcases fresh produce from the Fet Fisk farm, as well as meat purveyors Western Pennsylvania.
“We are like farm-to-table, but the farm is from ourselves. We are proving the farm and the table,” joked Forsberg.
Fet Fisk’s pop-up dinners are very popular, and typically book-up weeks in advance.
For those unfamiliar with Fet Fisk’s style, Forsberg said his smoke trout nicoise salad exemplifies the restaurant’s style and values, which focus on sustainable food and practices. That dish contains Nordic-inspired smoked trout, tomatoes from their farm dressed with Castelvetrano olives from Italy, and a smoked trout tonnato sauce that Forsberg said speaks to the confluence of Nordic and European influences.
Forsberg said the restaurant’s bar will serve classic cocktails like martinis, negronis and old fashioneds.
Fet Fisk also will use the banquet space in the Lombardozzi building. Forsberg said that was an important part of the business because those events should help to ensure that the workers are paid adequate wages.
Forsberg said an opening date hasn’t been set. Ownership is contributing $40,000 to the restaurant and is hoping the community will match their investment through a GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign in order to secure a larger business loan. As of Monday, the campaign has raised more than $15,000.
He said it feels great to already have so much support.
“We knew the crowdsourcing would feel a bit vulnerable, but we felt we had the support we needed to get there, and so far people have come through,” Forsburg said.
The Lombardozzi space is located at 4786 Liberty Ave.
Ryan Deto is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Ryan by email at rdeto@triblive.com or via Twitter .