Cork & Crust to open at The Oaklander Hotel with James Beard semifinalist at the helm

PITTSBURGH — The Oaklander Hotel just debuted its second restaurant, Cork & Crust.

An elevated pizza and wine bar, Cork & Crust is led by Executive Chef Kristin Butterworth, a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist. Her work with Lautrec at Nemacolin elevated it to become a Forbes Five Star and a AAA Five Diamond Restaurant, making her the first female chef in the country to boast both at the same time. After spending some time cooking on the coast of Georgia, she’s returning to the region, and the Italian cuisine she grew up with.

“It’s the roots, truly the beginning of what got me into cooking in the first place, was cooking with my grandparents and with my mother,” Butterworth said. “Those are the beginnings that got me interested in it and kind of encouraged me to take it on as a career. Getting back to that and back to the roots of Pittsburgh and the heritage here and the food scene, it just kind of is very nostalgic for me and very exciting to kind of get back to the very beginning.”

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