Sprezzatura, a woman-owned community cafe and catering kitchen, specializes in customized, Italian and Italian-American food. Our menus are sourced from fresh, local ingredients and organic whenever possible as our promise of quality to our customers, and a commitment to support local growers and our environment. Operating as a Gold Level Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant in a reclaimed building, our business practices include operating from a solar-powered kitchen; equitable employment practices; commercial composting; and strong community partnerships that bring healthy, accessible food to low/moderate-income families. In our café, diners enjoy occasional musical and theatrical performances as well as food-related and environmental programs. Sprezzatura offers café, catering, events, wholesale, and community partnerships to best serve the community with healthy, accessible, delicious, affordable foods. 
We Do
Awards & Accolades
Jen Saffron
Creating beautiful food and bringing people together for shared meals is second nature for Chef Jen Saffron. Growing up in a loving Italian-American family provided a setting for countless delicious meals, celebrations, and events where food and camaraderie took center stage. Jen is an artist with a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Bard College, and a longstanding professional background in arts nonprofits and education. Always wanting to create a café space of her own, Sprezzatura was launched in 2018 through Jen’s participation in “Launch Millvale”, a business incubator program through New Sun Rising. Her vision for Sprezzatura Catering + Café merges her love of community, art, and food.
Kitchen
Sprezzatura makes its home in Millvale’s former Moose Lodge — now the Millvale Food & Energy Hub — a shared 10,000-sq.-ft. facility with a solar microgrid and new energy technology supporting the building’s operations. Sprezzatura chefs cook in a solar-powered kitchen and the café is a model of reuse: incorporating reclaimed wood, metal, and marble into all of its surfaces, and serving dinner on the Moose’s restored mid-century-era tables. The Hub uses a clean energy smart system to reduce 11,000 kg/yr of CO2 — mitigating climate change, making it easier to breathe, and providing electrical support to at-risk residents in the event of power grid failure.
FARM SOURCED
Farmers are our friends. We source food from regional growers to keep things fresh.
ECO-MINDED
It all starts in our solar-powered kitchen! Sustainable choices are part of our mission.
FRESH & HOMEMADE
Embracing family recipes, old-world techniques, and flavorful seasonal flavors.
WOMEN-OWNED
Proprietress, Jen Saffron is a chef, mom, educator, artist, party-thrower, and friend!
COMMUNITY IS KEY
Creating beautiful food and bringing people together for shared meals. Food = Love.
MEATBALL CHAMP
In our kitchen, we hand-form, slow-cook, and serve up more than 20,000 meatballs a year!
Philosophy
The philosophy of Sprezzatura is that food is love. Our goal is to provide nutritious, delicious food combined with welcoming, authentic hospitality. We aim to foster a sense of belonging, nourishment, growth, and community. Everyone is welcome to the table. We’ve located our sustainable café and custom catering business in a restored former Moose Lodge, now Millvale Food & Energy Hub. Together with partners in the Hub, we strive to establish fresh food access, participate in local life, and support Millvale as a vital, resilient community.
