Front counter at the Tic Toc Restaurant, circa 1965.

The Tic Toc Restaurant, once a popular Pittsburgh eatery, was located downtown on the first floor of the former Kaufmann's (later Macy's) Department Store. First opened on March 21, 1955, as part of a $10 million store expansion, it was originally called Tic Toc Corner, or Tic Toc Snack Bar, a reference to the historic Kaufmann's Clock, an image of which adorned the tables and menus, along with the large window at the entranceway.

Sun-Telegraph - March 20, 1955

The following year, it was renamed the Tic Toc Restaurant. The entrance stood tucked in a corner spot behind the men's clothing department. It was open for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Saturday, from eleven until three o'clock in the afternoon. Despite these short hours, the restaurant became one of the most popular in downtown Pittsburgh.

  
The restaurant entrance and the decorative front window adorned with an etching of the Kaufmann's Clock.

Midmorning visitors came for homemade muffins, butterscotch rolls, German apple bread, blueberry pancakes or steamy pecan waffles, all prepared at Kaufmann's Arcadia Bakery. By lunchtime, a blackboard was set up outside the dining room listing all the day's specialties, mostly fancy desserts, the most well-known of which was the Mile High Ice Cream Pie.

Also known for it's mouth-watering burgers, "Taste of America" reader Patty Rowe of Riverside, California, said, "I have tried, sampled and enjoyed hamburgers all over the country ... the best I ever tasted was the Tic Toc in Kaufmann's, in America's No. 1 city, Pittsburgh."

  
Tic Toc Restaurant menu on display at the Heinz History Center.

The Orlando Sentinel, on February 25, 1988, had this to say about the restaurant - "this Tic Toc burger is a dandy, charbroiled to a glistening crusty crunch on the outside, yet thick enough to still be moist and rose-pink in its center, served inside a big homemade bun. Excellent hamburgers are not the only thing the Tic Toc has to offer. In fact, the oozingly drippy, two-fisted burgers are a bit of an oddity on the otherwise ladylike menu of soups and salads, dainty cream-sauced dishes of chicken and turkey, and fluffy cakes and chiffon pies."

In 2012, Norm Domek, executive chef, had this to say, "It’s is a place for shoppers to stop as well as people Downtown to come in and have a meal. There are people who come to town just to dine here. There is a group whose members did not know each other, but met at the Tic Toc and now come back on a regular basis. It’s an extremely popular spot during the holidays, too."

When Kaufmann's closed in 2006, the Tic Toc Restaurant became a part of Macy's Department Store. It remained open for another nine years until, on July 31, 2015, the downtown Macy's store ceased operation.

At the time of Macy's closing, the city of Pittsburgh negotiated for the rights to the name "Tic Toc Restaurant."

For many Pittsburghers, there was something quite charming about having lunch with a friend at the Big Store. "Meet Me Under The Kaufmann's Clock" is a phrase that has become part of Pittsburgh lore. For sixty of those years, from 1955 to 2015, generations of Pittsburghers surely met under that iconic clock for a trip to the Tic Toc Restaurant.

  
Historical Tic Toc Restaurant items on display at the Heinz History Center.

The last vestiges of the Tic Toc Restaurant can be found at the Heinz History Center. Over 100 historically important items from Kaufmann's can be found on display, including such familiar Tic Toc relics as two table and chairs, some of the clocks from the walls, and one of the final menus. Another historical item is a rare recipe book that features many of the Tic Toc favorites, including the desserts.