Gypsy Cafe closes up shop

One of Pittsburgh's most beloved and distinctive restaurants will be serving its final meals this weekend after eight years. The Gypsy Cafe, on the South Side, has been sold, according to co-owner Melanie Evankovich, and will close after dinner service on Sunday.

"I think we're going to make a lot of people very sad," Evankovich says. "We never made a lot of money, but we made a lot of friends."

The restaurant's eclectic, creative Eastern-European cuisine doesn't really have an equivalent in Pittsburgh, nor does its weird, fun programming -- from Sunday morning's "Geek Brunch," to "Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School," to Thursday night's raucous jams with Jerry Grcevich's various bands (The Gypsy Strings, Bingham Street Tamburasi).

The space will re-open in the fall as a new restaurant called Slate, run by chef Cheryl Tacka and partner David Sgro.