In The Works: Iron Born Pizza & Tazza D’Oro

You could say we’ve been feeding our habits this year. Craft beer client kinds of habits.

We have two more habits to add to the list — craft coffee and pizza.

Meet our latest clients.

Tazza D’Oro

If you live in Pittsburgh and drink any amount of coffee, you know Tazza D’Oro.

Tazza D’Oro in Highland Park.

Opened in 1999, Tazza D’Oro (we’ll abbreviate to T’Do) introduced specialty coffee to the city before Starbucks even knew where Pittsburgh was.

Hard to believe, huh?

Since boosting the city’s coffee game from their original cafe in Highland Park, T’Do has opened three additional locations — two on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus and one in Millvale. You can guess where we hang out.

They’re also:

• The first to bring the authentic panini to Pittsburgh.
• The first in Pittsburgh to carry and serve the top 5% coffee grown in the world.
• The first in the country to develop and provide a professional barista certification — even before the Specialty Coffee Association developed theirs.

They run several coffee labs, where they conduct cuppings and extensive training for their baristas.

Nearly 20 of their baristas have gone on to stay in the industry, and two have opened their own shops — Constellation and Redhawk Coffee.

Where are we in all this? Obsessive neighbors, and now their web design team. The site, complete with fresh photos of the new locations and more, is set to launch later this year.

Iron Born Pizza

Detroit-style pizza? You might not have heard of it. But one thing is for sure: you can’t just slap any old branding on a pizza like this.

Photo courtesy Iron Born Pizza on Facebook.

Over these distinct-looking slices, we got to know Pete, the chef behind Iron Born, and his partner Carrie.

After spending his earlier days working in not one, but two of the top 15 restaurants in the U.S. — including Chicago’s 3-Michelin Star rated restaurant, Alinea — Pete swerved into the pizza business.

In the city with the second-most pizza restaurants per capita, it all comes down to breaking the mold. Pete’s dough recipe is always evolving, and Iron Born’s menu changes every few weeks with new pies — none for the weak of heart or tongue.

Iron Born has been selling out of the Strip District’s Smallman Galley, and they’ll be opening an additional location here in Millvale mid-October.

We’ll be helping with a rebrand touching the exterior/interior, pizza boxes, takeaway menus, website and more.

Stay Tuned

What habits will we indulge next? Time will tell. For our moms: don’t worry, it’s healthier than it sounds.

PS: Coffee. Pizza. Beer. Pittsburgh. Do all of life’s finer things have double letters? It looks like it.