McCandless food guide: Perry Highway, McCandless Crossing and North Park

The short version

McCandless is a home rule township in the North Hills that calls itself the Town of McCandless, although a town is not a municipal unit in Pennsylvania¹. Our directory lists 74 places to eat and drink inside its 16.49 square miles, 7th among municipalities outside the city²³.

The mix is unusual: Coffee and cafes is the top category with 12 listings, ahead of ice cream and dessert (8), pizza (7) and bars and pubs (5)². 43% of listings are independent.

Perry Highway and the town center

Perry Highway has 19 listings, the most of any street. Duncan Avenue has 7 and Covenant Avenue has 7². McCandless Crossing, finished in 2016, acts as a town center, combining a strip mall with apartments and townhomes¹.

Farms, an interurban and an oil boom

The first European settler, James Duff, bought 400 acres in 1796. The township was founded in 1851 as Taylor Township and was renamed McCandless in 1857, after District Judge Wilson McCandless¹.

It was mostly farmland through the 1800s. In 1908 the Harmony Line interurban made commuting to Pittsburgh easy, and an oil boom at the same time drove early development around the Highland and Ingomar stations¹. George Washington visited in 1753 with his guide Christopher Gist¹. During the War of 1812, a supply route carrying war materials from Pittsburgh to Commodore Perry's forces on Lake Erie passed through the area¹. Its neighborhoods include Longvue Acres, Pin Oak, Foxcroft Village and Guyton Farms¹.

North Park and groceries

North Park, the county's largest park, is listed in the asset inventory for McCandless⁴. Food stores here include Genji, Giant Eagle #45, Giant Eagle #67, Kuhn's Market, Trader Joe's #624, and Whole Foods Wexford #10377⁴. The county farmers market list includes Eichner's Farm Market & Greenhouses⁵.

McCandless is part of the North Allegheny School District and participates in the Northland Public Library¹⁴. The stop file lists 106 active stops, but only about 2% of working residents commute by transit, and 26% work from home⁶⁷. Our directory counts 42 chains and 32 independents².

Who lives in McCandless

McCandless had 29,698 residents in 2020, up from 28,457 in 2010 (+4%)⁸⁹. The median household income is near $110,858, the median age is 42.7, and 62% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. About 28% of homes are rented⁷.

Coffee, dessert and the creek

McCandless's leading categories are Coffee and cafes and pizza, not bars or chains, which suits a town of schools, families and park visitors². The terrain is generally hilly, cut through the middle by the deep valley of Pine Creek¹.

McCandless borders Pine to the north, Hampton to the east, Ross to the south and Franklin Park to the west¹. Perry Highway runs straight through to Ross and Pine, so a North Hills food run can follow one road through three towns, and each has its own guide here. Our data shows 2 McCandless listings with a patio².

North Park and the postwar boom

North Park was started by county commissioner E. V. Babcock, who bought the land and sold it to the county at cost; the county founded the park in 1927¹. About 1,600 acres of it lie in McCandless, roughly 15% of the township¹.

The Harmony Line closed by 1931 as cars took over. The population more than doubled between 1930 and 1950, from 2,653 to 6,488, then doubled again by 1960 to 14,582¹. McKnight Road, built in the mid-1950s, became the main route into the northern suburbs and brought the retail and office development that followed¹.

How McCandless compares

Set against the 129 municipalities outside the city on this site, McCandless ranks 7th by number of listings and 72nd by listings per square mile. The typical (median) one has 14 listings and about 6 per square mile; McCandless has 74 and 4²³. Its independent share, 43%, is below the median of 75%, and 11% of its listings have a full bar, against a median of 27%.

For getting around, 1% of working residents walk to work and 2% take transit; the medians across these municipalities are 1% and 2%⁷. 26% work from home, against a median of 19%⁷. McCandless has 106 active transit stops, 7th on this list, and about 8,269 scheduled trips a week (30th)⁶.

Picks, inspections and new places

This week's Spotlight picks are Lucky Bug Coffee (coffee & cafes), Bellisario's Restaurant (pizza), Shooters Golf (bars & pubs), A.W. Beattie Career Center Restaurant & Bake Shop (bakeries), Chub's Place (breakfast & brunch), and Clark's Restaurant (American). Each is independent and its latest county inspection on file reads “Inspected & Permitted”¹⁰. Picks rotate every week.

We matched 37 of McCandless's 74 listings to Allegheny County Health Department records from Aug 11, 2025 to Jul 28, 2026¹⁰. Every matched listing's most recent placard is “Inspected & Permitted”. 6 facilities here passed a preoperational inspection in that window, including UPMC Passavant Temporary Kitchen, Cookie's Creamery & Dirty Soda, and Tender Care Learning Center - McCandless.

Getting there

The stop file lists 106 active stops and 5 route codes (2, 12, O12, O5, and P13), with about 8,269 scheduled trips a week⁶. The busiest stop is Peebles Rd at Vincentian Drvwy Fs (274 weekly trips). Park and ride lots: Mccandless Park & Ride and North Park Pool Park & Ride⁴.

We matched 37 McCandless listings to county health inspection records¹⁰.

McCandless by the numbers

Counts from our directory². Land area from Census TIGER/Line county subdivisions³.

Listings by category

Main food streets: Perry Highway (19), Duncan Avenue (7), Covenant Avenue (7), and Providence Boulevard (6).

New and changing

These McCandless facilities had a preoperational inspection from the Allegheny County Health Department between Aug 11, 2025 and Jul 28, 2026. That inspection happens before a food facility opens, changes owners or reopens after major work¹⁰.

• Jul 21, 2026UPMC Passavant Temporary KitchenInspected & Permitted
• Jul 21, 2026Cookie's Creamery & Dirty SodaInspected & Permitted
• Nov 20, 2025Tender Care Learning Center - McCandlessInspected & Permitted
• Nov 5, 2025Avenue C @ Lowes #3051Inspected & Permitted
• Oct 27, 2025The Commons @ Sisters of Divine ProvidenceInspected & Permitted
• Oct 8, 2025Commonplace Coffee @ Northland Public LibraryInspected & Permitted

Things to do nearby

Transit details

How working residents commute

Percent of workers 16+, 2020-2024 estimates⁷.

Who lives here

Survey estimates for small towns have wide margins of error.