There is a narrow street in Shadyside where, most evenings, something extraordinary is happening in a small dining room that seats just 36 people. Since it opened in 2023, Lilith has become one of Pittsburgh's most coveted reservations — a place where the cooking of Jamilka Borges and Dianne DeStefano draws from two island traditions, Puerto Rican and Sicilian, and turns them into something that has earned national attention and put Pittsburgh's food scene firmly on the map.
Now, the pair are ready to grow. This late summer, Borges and DeStefano plan to open Giulia at 4744 Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield, a new coastal Italian restaurant that will expand on everything they have learned at Lilith while giving them the space and equipment to cook in ways their current kitchen simply does not allow. The news has already stirred anticipation across the Pittsburgh dining community — and for good reason.
A Bigger Kitchen, the Same Commitment
Lilith runs on resourcefulness. Borges and DeStefano make pasta there, but the kitchen is tight and the equipment minimal — perhaps one or two pasta dishes on the menu at any given time. Giulia changes that entirely. The new Bloomfield space will house four floor-model pasta extruders, a setup that will let the chefs explore fresh shapes and house-made pasta in ways that were never possible at Lilith. For pasta lovers, this is significant news.
The menu at Giulia will lean toward the light and the bright — no red sauce, which already sets it apart from many Pittsburgh Italian spots. Instead, the kitchen will draw on sustainably sourced seafood, local farm produce, and the kind of simple-but-complex flavors that define coastal Sicilian cooking. Borges, who grew up in Puerto Rico, brings a deep affinity for seafood and island ingredients. DeStefano's Sicilian family background shapes the framework. Together, the result will be something Pittsburgh has not quite seen before.
The restaurant will be larger than Lilith, though still intimate by most standards. The added size will also give Borges and DeStefano the ability to take on catering — a revenue stream and creative opportunity they have had to turn away at Lilith due to space constraints. The vision is not just a second restaurant but the foundation of a restaurant group, still a rare achievement for women in Pittsburgh's dining industry.
A Neighborhood with Deep Roots
For DeStefano, the choice of Bloomfield is personal. Her family has long ties to the neighborhood — Bloomfield's historically Italian-American community is part of her family's story — and opening Giulia on Liberty Avenue is, in her words, something of a homecoming. Italian cuisine once defined the street; Giulia aims to bring it back with fresh eyes and a contemporary coastal lens.
Bloomfield has emerged as one of Pittsburgh's most exciting dining corridors. Restaurants like Fet-Fisk and Brothmonger have made Liberty Avenue a destination, and the neighborhood's combination of residential density and walkability makes it fertile ground for a serious dining concept. DeStefano noted that the quality of restaurants in the neighborhood has reached a level that genuinely excites her — and she is proud to be joining it.
A City's Culinary Confidence
Borges's recognition as a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic — a distinction that put a spotlight on Pittsburgh nationally — was not an anomaly. It reflected something that Pittsburgh diners have known for years: the city's independent restaurant scene has matured into a genuine culinary force, driven by chefs who choose Pittsburgh not as a consolation but as a conviction.
Giulia is exactly the kind of expansion that comes from that conviction. Borges and DeStefano are not franchising a formula or opening a casual spinoff. They are building a restaurant that will demand the same care and seasonal discipline as Lilith, with more room to express what they do best. For Pittsburgh, it means another restaurant to be proud of — and, at last, a table that might actually be possible to book.