East Liberty : Buzz

In the 1950s, the neighborhood was the state's third-largest shopping district behind Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh. However, urban renewal schemes like high-rise public housing and ring roads drove the area into a "40-year coma." Now, the area is seeing a rise in economic attention. Mosites Company's Eastside and Eastside II developments have introduced Whole Foods, Walgreen's and Borders to the area; a 145,000-square-foot Target is set to take the place of a demolished public housing building; and the Bakery Square office and retail project has landed Google as its anchor tenant.

Sabina Deitrick, a co-director of the Urban and Regional Analysis Program at the University of Pittsburgh, says East Liberty's fortunes finally seem to be on the rise. "Pittsburgh grows so slowly that gentrification means something different here," she says. "The recent stages of development could be a way to reunite neighborhoods that were separated by urban renewal."

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Finn has been announced as a semifinalist in the "rising star chef" category, against the likes of Kevin Gillespie, a runner-up from season six of Bravo's Top Chef.

Dinette focuses on local, seasonal and organic pizza and wine, and is located at 5996 Penn Circle South.

The James Beard Foundation's Restaurant and Chef Committee selected the nominees from 21,000 online entries. An independent volunteer panel of more than 400 judges from across the country will vote on specific award categories to determine the final five nominees in each category. Those nominees will be announced on March 22, following which the same panel of judges will pick the winners, announced at the foundation's annual gala on Monday, May 3, 2010 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.

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Dinette's Finn made the No. 10 spot on the list of 40.

Finn started as a prep cook and garde manger at Baum Vivant in Pittsburgh., worked at restaurants across the country, and returned to Pittsburgh in April 2008 to work on her own pizza-and-wine place, Dinette, which opened in East Liberty in October of that year.

Dinette embraces sustainability through recycling, energy-efficient appliances and local, seasonal, organic ingredients. Also, employees are paid a living wage and are eligible for health insurance benefits.

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