Fish nor Fowl, Part of the Richard Deshantz Restaurant Group, Closes Its Doors
The eatery’s demise comes less than a month after Richard DeShantz was arrested on domestic abuse charges.
Garfield’s Fish nor Fowl, part of the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group, has permanently closed.
“Thank you to everyone who joined us for pasta, cocktails and long dinners upstairs,” a post on the eatery’s website read on Nov. 2.
Chef and owner Richard DeShantz, who was arrested in October and is facing domestic violence charges for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, stepped away from all involvement in the restaurant group while legal proceedings are ongoing.
Fish nor Fowl opened in 2018 in a Penn Avenue space that once housed chef Kevin Sousa’s Salt of the Earth. The rustically modern, Italian-inspired restaurant’s name stems from an old Norwegian saying that means “hard to classify.”
When the pandemic started, it closed its doors and — aside from hosting a few holiday pop-ups — remained shuttered until Valentine’s Day 2023.
The Deshantz company runs more than a dozen Pittsburgh restaurants, including Meat & Potatoes and Coop de Ville, and is in the process of reimagining täkō tôrtä in Larimer’s Bakery Square. An as-yet-unamed American dining concept is expected to open in February 2027 in the former taqueria.
Butcher and the Rye, its Downtown eatery that closed in December 2020 due to the pandemic, reopened in July. The nearby Japanese-Mexican fusion restaurant Täkō is temporarily closed for renovations.
Other DeShantz-brand openings include Pre Amp Coffee Studio in Squirrel Hill and Sea Monkey in the Strip District, which also houses the speakeasy Vieux Carré.
