Don Mahaney knew this one had to be different. Otherwise, it simply would not work. Not in this neighborhood.

So when he briefly lost his way this summer, his neighbors and prospective clients in Troy Hill were sure to let him know.

“I went to the VFW and was verbally eviscerated,” Mahaney recalled. “ ‘No one — no one — is gonna pay $28 to go out to dinner in this neighborhood' and many other pejorative-studded lines were slung my way.

“They could not have done me a better kindness. In my exhaustion, I forgot the reason I was taking over Billy's in the first place: to make local and seasonal restaurant fare affordable to the people of this neighborhood. Luckily, the (men) at the VFW weren't afraid to let me know of my mistake.”

Mahaney's Scratch Food & Beverage opened on a Thursday night in the space formerly occupied by Billy's Restaurant, a neighborhood and North Side fixture for more than three decades.

Mahaney knew the transition would be touchy. He lives in Troy Hill, having moved from Lawrenceville five years ago. His grandparents and his father's family lived here. As a kid, he spent his summers here and came to love what he describes as “one of the last truly working-class neighborhoods in the city.”

And he wants to protect that identity.

So when Billy's announced it was closing last year, he approached the owner and said he was interested in buying. But only, he said, if his new venture could connect with Troy Hill as Billy's did.

“You came in (to Billy's) and it was like ‘Cheers' — you hear that a lot, but it was very much the case,” Mahaney said an hour before Scratch's grand opening. “And you hear stories. You hear about what made the place special for my parents, for my grandparents, why they always gravitated to this place when I was kid.

“This was a beacon for the people that lived in the neighborhood — people lining up around the block. It was a place that everybody really identified with.”

With that in mind, Mahaney focused on continuity.

He offered Billy's staff jobs at Scratch. He remodeled, but preserved the old Billy's stained-glass window fronting Froman Street. He and chef Chris Biondo (formerly of Butcher and the Rye and Nine on Nine, both Downtown) developed a menu that includes inventive dishes while maintaining Billy's staples but with updated flavor profiles. He kept the stroganoff and added veggie pot pie. The grilled cheese remains, but now it can be accompanied by pear salad.

Then he held a series of pop-up dinners — and quickly learned of his first mistake.

“I (messed) up with the menu,” Mahaney said. “I know better. Such a menu would go for $40-plus in any other place. My thinking stopped there. I'm trying to attract people who spend an average of $14 to $16 a visit. How could I be so stupid?”

The folks at the VFW wondered the same thing.

Mahaney went back to work.

He arranged deals with local farmers to reduce costs. During the remodel, he used salvaged wood from a vacant Troy Hill house to build tables, and old wooden pallets from a North Side warehouse to redo the walls. He and his staff did much of the work themselves, laboring long into the night — the doors always open to visitors — throughout the summer.

“We will have spent about $100,000 less than we would have if I'd taken the usual routes, paying designers for plans and craftspeople or big-box vendors for furniture and lights and paint and things that we can take care of ourselves,” Mahaney said. “We won't be the prettiest girl at the dance, (but) we will age beautifully, since without a huge debt obligation, we can afford to improve ourselves yearly with even modest financial performance.”

He didn't have to do it this way. He could have opened with higher price points, confident that diners would come, even if those within walking distance wouldn't.

He chose not to because he believes that Troy Hill is unique.

“It hasn't changed yet,” Mahaney said. “The people here are honest, real, straightforward — people who have a very strong sense of place. We're trying to get woven into that tapestry.”

Bar manager, Shipwreck Asunder (also a Troy Hill resident who prefers the title of “hooch apothecary”) added: “Troy Hill is truly, intrinsically Pittsburgh. You can actually see what Pittsburgh is in Troy Hill. I don't want that feel to go away.”

Whether Scratch succeeds will not be measured in traditional terms, Mahaney said. The food and drink, he is confident, will be mentioned in the same breath as Pittsburgh's other new ‘it' restaurants. (Even before the restaurant opened, Biondo's beef tongue Reuben won the top prize at the Northside Sandwich Week). Profits are only part of the equation.

The real test, he said, is whether his neighbors visit, whether Scratch will be seen as a part of Troy Hill the way Billy's was.

“We may be a private business, but everything we do has a public component to it,” he said. “We need to be cognizant of that.”

With that, the time had come.

Everything was in place. What could be done was done.

Mahaney slid the key into the lock and opened the front door. Scratch Food & Beverage officially opened for business.

And the real story began.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---