Lawrenceville’s Titusz has been named to the New York Times’ annual list of America’s top 50 restaurants, becoming the third Pittsburgh establishment to have made the exclusive ranking.
Inspired by its chef-owner’s Austrian and Hungarian heritage, Titusz is helmed by Csilla Thackray, who opened it in the former Merchant Oyster Co. space on Butler Street in April.
With her first venture into ownership, the well-known and accomplished Pittsburgh chef (Fet-Fisk, The Vandal, Legume Bistro, Churchview Farm) named the restaurant after her great-grandfather and promised a “refined yet heartfelt” à la carte menu that brings “modern flair” to Austrian and Hungarian culinary traditions.
“It’s very validating. I think, to us, it says we’re meeting the goals that we wanted to meet from a hospitality perspective,” said Thackray. “The goal was never to make it on lists or anything like that, but if it’s getting recognized, then they’re seeing us for what we’re trying to do — which is provide really warm, lovely hospitality to people and food that is evocative for people emotionally, comforting, but also a little bit innovative.”
Upon its launch, signature dishes included langos (a Hungarian deep-fried flatbread), kaspressknödel (cheese dumplings), chicken paprikas, tafelspitz (slow-simmered beef) and walleye, as well as topfen cheesecake and “Titusz Torte” desserts.
The Times highlighted dishes including lángos, chilled sorrel soup and roasted duck leg as standouts.
“It is typically food that is pretty hearty, and we try to kind of bring a little bit of a delicate touch to it, while honoring tradition and the ways things are traditionally made,” said Thackray. “I never think you can improve upon tradition. But I think if we can add, using our knowledge, to a process, then we’re all about it.”
Diversity of approach, she said, is key.
“It’s a very diverse background of cooks and and managers here,” she said. “Not everybody in the room is Hungarian, so it’s fun to try to explore this specific cuisine while everyone is bringing a different perspective to it.”
The dishes also draw heavily from the local environment.
“(We’re) trying to balance (classic dishes of the genre) with the seasonality of Western Pa. and celebrating the produce that we have right now as well,” said Thackray. “We try to really just cook with the seasons and let produce availability dictate, rather than forcing it the other way around. We’re always excited when squash and more beets and more cabbage come around. That’s right up our alley.”
Titusz’s beverage program is led by her husband, Allegheny Wine Mixer’s Sean Rosenkrans, and features a selection of Central European wines and cocktails.
It’s all done under the name of Thackray’s great-grandfather.
“I never got to know him, and I only knew him through my grandma. Her stories of him. And he was always kind of this larger-than-life figure that she painted these really beautiful tales about,” she said. “I think when we were starting to conceptualize the space and the food, I wanted to directly tie it to my heritage. But his spirit felt like very aligned with what we wanted the restaurant to feel like.”
Over the past few years, Thackray has been no stranger to national accolades.
In 2023 and 2025, another spot she helped launch, Bloomfield’s Scandinavian restaurant Fet-Fisk, was named a James Beard finalist in the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic and Best New Restaurant categories, respectively.
In 2024, it also made the New York Times’ list.
The only other Pittsburgh restaurant to have earned the Times’ distinction so far is another Bloomfield spot, the vegan Eastern European restaurant Apteka, which appeared on the list in 2022.
“I love that we are a part of the dialogue,” said Thackray of Pittsburgh’s evolving food scene. “I think Pittsburgh is still relatively small — and I think in a lot of ways it’s good to keep it small. But I think we all deserve to have our hard work recognized, no matter what we’re doing and what industry we’re in. And it’s nice to say, ‘OK, there’s people doing it even in these littler cities with less resources. That feels really nice.”
Titusz is open from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Sunday and Monday and from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
