"We wanted to share the food we love with Pittsburgh," Wengmu Ciren told NEXTpittsburgh this month, describing Chi Le Ma, the family-owned noodle shop she has opened at 709 Bellefonte St. The name is a Chinese greeting that means "Have you eaten?" NEXTpittsburgh points out that it asks the same question as Pittsburgh's own "jeet jet?"
The address is a small room half a block off Walnut Street, and it has a track record. Over the past year, the big Walnut storefronts have been filled by national brands after sitting empty for months or years. Meanwhile, the small rooms on and just off Walnut keep bringing in the independent cooks and local operators who give the neighborhood its newest flavors. Chi Le Ma is the latest of them, and it's in a space that has done this before.
The room on Bellefonte has done this before
This isn't the first time the space at 709 Bellefonte has introduced Shadyside to something new. The short history, as reported by PennsylvAsia and NEXTpittsburgh:
- 2013: I Tea Cafe opens and becomes one of the first bubble tea shops in Pittsburgh.
- February 28, 2025: Kung Fu Chicken opens its second location in the former I Tea Cafe space, serving Taiwanese chicken cutlets modeled on the night markets of Taipei. Its first location is in the Novo Asian Food Hall in the Strip District Terminal.
- October 2026: Chi Le Ma appears in NEXTpittsburgh's October openings guide, published October 22, as a new family-run noodle shop at the same address.
Taiwanese tea, then Taiwanese street food, and now noodles from western Sichuan have each had a turn in this one room. Each one brought something to Shadyside that you couldn't easily find on Walnut. A small room keeps the opening costs within reach of a family business, a first location, or an operator trying out a second neighborhood, and that's who has kept turning up at this address.
What's in the bowl at Chi Le Ma
According to NEXTpittsburgh, Wengmu Ciren is half Tibetan and half Chinese and comes from Ganzi in Sichuan. The restaurant draws on both traditions. Her husband's travels add more inspiration, and her father brings 30 years of experience as a restaurant chef to the kitchen.
The dish that comes most directly from her home region is the Ba Tang noodles. Other highlights from the same report:
- Crawfish mapo tofu noodles
- Curry beef noodles
- Pork rib noodles made with traditional Chinese red-braising
- Lang ya tu dou, spicy crinkle-cut potatoes, which NEXTpittsburgh suggests as a starter
The restaurant's own website says online ordering is coming soon and describes the room as a cozy place to eat with friends. The hours listed there don't line up on Mondays, so check before a Monday visit. Chi Le Ma also appeared in Pittsburgh City Paper's October 15 restaurant jobs roundup, hiring for front-of-house, kitchen, and cashier roles. If you're a neighbor looking for part-time work within walking distance, that listing is worth a look.
The big rooms on Walnut wait longer, and fill with bigger names
Walk a block to Walnut and the pattern looks very different. The two biggest storefront openings on the street this past winter went to national and international chains, and both moved into spaces that had sat empty for a long time. Pittsburgh Magazine reported both in January.
| Space | Previous tenant | How long it sat empty | New tenant and opening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corner of Walnut and Ivy streets | Banana Republic | Since March 2025 | RH, January 16, 2026 |
| 5514 Walnut St. | Williams Sonoma | Since its 2022 closing | Paris Baguette, December 2025 |
The RH space covers 15,000 square feet. The company calls the four-level store RH Pittsburgh, The Gallery on Walnut Street, and it carries the RH Interiors, RH Modern, and RH Outdoor collections alongside antiques and an RH Interior Design studio. Paris Baguette is a South Korean bakery chain with about 4,000 locations worldwide, and its Shadyside shop wasn't even its first in the region. The chain opened at The Block Northway in Ross in 2024.
Set those vacancies next to the Bellefonte timeline. The Williams Sonoma space at 5514 Walnut stayed dark for about three years before a 4,000-location chain signed on. The Banana Republic corner sat empty for roughly ten months. Big storefronts on a high-visibility street go to tenants who can pay for that much square footage, and a small room off the main drag can go to a family with a chef father and a recipe from Ganzi.
These new chains are also good for the street. A furniture gallery and a busy bakery turn two long-dark windows into reasons to walk Walnut, and that foot traffic carries past Bellefonte too.
One small corner on Walnut went local
Commonplace Coffee, a Pittsburgh roaster, took over the former Georgie's Corner Cafe at 5743 Walnut St. NEXTpittsburgh reported its soft opening on June 22, 2026. The company's grand-opening announcement says the cafe also houses its Pittsburgh baking operations, and the celebration was moved to August 1.
Commonplace's Shadyside page lists daily hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with indoor and outdoor seating. A neighborhood corner cafe passed from one local operator to another, and the bakery behind the counter means some of what's baked there gets eaten on the same block.
This year's openings line up with room size. The large footprints at 5514 Walnut and at Walnut and Ivy went to RH and Paris Baguette. The corner cafe went to a Pittsburgh roaster. The small room on Bellefonte went to a family noodle shop.
Where the calendar puts you between now and the holidays
Several of the places above are part of the Walnut Street calendar over the next two months. These listings come from ThinkShadySide, the Shadyside business district's site:
- Thursday, November 12, 8 to 9 a.m.: The Shadyside Chamber of Commerce hosts Shadyside Perks & Pours at Paris Baguette, 5514 Walnut St. The listing describes it as casual conversation and idea-sharing over coffee.
- Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Holidays in Shadyside fills the Parklet on Walnut Street with face-painting, caroling, photos with Santa, and visits from local sports mascots.
- Thursday, December 10, 5 to 6 p.m.: The next Perks & Pours moves to Cappy's Cafe, 5431 Walnut St.
- Saturdays, December 12 and 19, starting at 10 a.m.: Holidays in Shadyside comes back for two more weekends.
The Holidays in Shadyside listing also encourages visitors to shop and dine with local vendors while they're on Walnut. On any of those Saturdays, Bellefonte is a short walk from the Parklet, and a bowl of red-braised pork rib noodles after Santa photos is easy to fit in.
Watching small rooms like 709 Bellefonte change hands is one of my favorite parts of following Shadyside, because they tell you a lot about how a block is doing. If you're wondering which storefronts near you are likely to turn over next, or what a small commercial space on your street might mean for the homes around it, Miranda Micire would love to talk it through with you, ideally over noodles.
