What is Lilith

Lilith is a place for you, a neighborhood restaurant in what locals refer to as “old Shadyside”, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s a gathering space for decadent dinner parties and casual dinners and brunches alike. We see ourselves as the ultimate neighborhood restaurant, paying homage to the legendary restaurant that previously occupied the space and serving our eclectic coastal-inspired cuisine with nods to our Sicilian and Puerto Rican heritage. Our goal is to be around for years to come and become fixtures of the Pittsburgh dining scene.

Lilith, the name, comes as an ode to our perseverance as chefs in a male dominated field; Lilith was Adam’s first wife. She believed that they were created equal but after Adam disagreed, Lilith fled the Garden of Eden to gain her independence. With our first restaurant we want to change the way traditional restaurants run. Only 25% of restaurants have a female as their Executive Chef with under  6% leading high-end restaurants around the country. We strive to change that and foster the next generation of chefs in our city.

Our cuisine reflects years of honing our respective crafts and our modern take on our heritage; bold flavors served with the ultimate care in a fun, whimsical yet refined environment.

Who we are

We are chefs Jamilka Borges and Dianne DeStefano. We have worked together in different restaurants for over a decade and are now ready to do our own thing. As individuals we have been fortunate to have been awarded multiple accolades and are esteemed as top chefs in the city of Pittsburgh. Some of those accolades include Pittsburgh Chef of the year 2018, James Beard Foundation Semifinalist for Rising Star in 2015,  James Beard Foundation Semifinalist for Best Chef Mid Atlantic 2019, 40 Under 40, among others. You can spot Chef Jamilka talking about the future of food with Anthony Bourdain on Parts Unknown: Pittsburgh, cooking Puerto Rican Food with Andrew Zimmern on “The Zimmern List”, and showing off our local bounty with Chuck Hughes on “Chuck Eats The Street”.

We have a long standing relationship with the Pittsburgh community as well as other cities in our country. We strongly believe in creating connections and working with nonprofits, art organizations and other chefs to create the kind of world we want to live in.  Some organizations that we support are: 412 Food Rescue, PAAR, FoodChain, among many others. Lilith will continue to expand that tradition. 

 

 

The Space and its legacy

We have secured our dream space at 238 Spahr Street in Shadyside; as some of you might know this space was occupied by the wonderful and celebrated Chef Toni Pais from 1997 until last February. Toni ran a successful restaurant there for 26 years and we are beyond honored to be following his footsteps in the space. Toni and his restaurant, Cafe Zinho, are loved by many people and we want to live up to his legacy. Besides being an extraordinary chef, he is an outstanding gentleman. 

                                                 

 

Why Crowdfunding?

Here is why we need your help; the space needs some major updates and upgraded equipment, and instead of going the traditional route by securing bank loans we want to ask our community for help. We are all in; we want this space to be our home for years to come and we know we can count on our community.  This will be the first time that we will be cooking and running a restaurant that is 100% a reflection of who we are as people, our cuisine and our sense of hospitality. We know we have something special. The magic is there and we can’t wait to share it. The rewards are set up to compensate our supporters in a special and exclusive way; we see it as a symbiotic relationship. We want you to experience the very best of what we do:  from cocktail parties to special dinners and full buyouts we will deliver top notch experiences to all who are able to support us in this journey. There’s no party like a Lilith party. 

raspberry and chocolate semifreddo with strawberry paper

charred octopus with sunchoke puree and heirloom beans

jerusalem bagel with labneh and salsa verde

duck confit with orange-aleppo and kohlralbi-buttermilk soup

 

Lilith’s first bit of press:

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/dining/2023/0…

Special thanks to Huggybear Media Productions with their help on the video.

https://www.huggybearmedia.com