On a narrow stretch of Forbes Avenue in Squirrel Hill, a coffee counter now shares the room with a wall of album art and a turntable that runs from open to close. Pre Amp Coffee Studio, the first dedicated coffee concept from the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group, has turned a compact, high-ceilinged storefront at 5840 Forbes Ave into something between a specialty cafe and a listening bar, and it has quickly become one of the neighborhood's more distinctive daytime hangouts.
The shop is co-owned by Danny Ryan, Richard DeShantz and Tolga Sevdik, and it grew out of a plan Ryan had been carrying for years. Ryan spent more than 15 years working in specialty coffee in New York City before he and his family relocated to Pittsburgh in 2020, with the explicit goal of opening a shop of his own. The pandemic complicated that timeline considerably, but the idea never went away.
"Fast forward five years later, and I have the coffee shop of my dreams right here in Pittsburgh," Ryan told trade outlet Daily Coffee News shortly after opening.
A Room Built Around Records
The design leans on warm gold tones, vintage-style lighting and bar stool, table and lounge seating arranged around a Modbar espresso setup that keeps the counter looking closer to a cocktail bar than a coffee shop. Ryan has said the concept borrowed from Japanese vinyl cafes and classic American diners in equal measure, and the result is a room where the music is as much a part of the pitch as the espresso.
"We specifically wanted the coffee bar to feel open and inviting, which is why we chose the Modbar system. This setup keeps the counter clean and allows the bar to resemble a traditional cocktail bar, but one where the focus is entirely on meticulously crafting coffee, while spinning vinyl records."
Danny Ryan, Co-Owner, Pre Amp Coffee Studio
Beans come from Passenger Coffee in Lancaster, a sourcing relationship Ryan has described as central to the shop's identity. Passenger's practice of freezing green coffee for long-term storage lets Pre Amp rotate through a wide seasonal list rather than settling on a single house blend, and the menu reflects that range, from straightforward pourovers to specialty drinks like the Smokey Robinson, made with local honey, smoked sea salt, cinnamon and peppercorn, and a Yuzu Espresso Tonic. Food is intentionally kept in motion too, with the current lineup built around Italian-style sandwiches and fresh focaccia that the team plans to rotate every few months.
A New Lane for a Familiar Name
The Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group has built its reputation on Downtown and Lawrenceville dining rooms, from Meat & Potatoes to Poulet Bleu, so a dedicated coffee bar in Squirrel Hill marks a genuine expansion of the group's footprint rather than a variation on an existing theme. Pre Amp is now also responsible for the coffee programs at two of the group's brunch-focused siblings, Coop DeVille and Sally Ann's, giving the new venture influence well beyond its own four walls.
Ryan has said the team plans to use the Squirrel Hill space for dinner pop-ups and coffee classes as the shop settles into its first full year, treating the room as a neighborhood gathering point rather than a pure walk-up counter. For a commercial strip that already carries some of the city's densest concentration of independent restaurants, a coffee shop built specifically for lingering, rather than grabbing a drink and moving on, adds something the neighborhood didn't quite have.
It's also a reminder of what keeps drawing operators to Pittsburgh's neighborhood corridors: a storefront doesn't need to be large to make an impression, and a concept built on genuine specificity, in this case a lifelong record collection and a coffee career, tends to find its audience. Squirrel Hill's newest counter is betting that Pittsburghers still want a reason to sit down.