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Erik Ox

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Congratulations both to the city of Pittsburgh, and also to our own MeMc who has become the new restaurant critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Find the kitchen bar at Salt Of The Earth if you haven't found it already. A wonderful all-around dining experience, with interesting dishes, rock-solid cooking (right before your very eyes), and, what I remember most of all, exceptional hospitality. Look at this level of attention to customer satisfaction - old-world manners in a very new-world restaurant.

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From: Don Rockwell <donrockwell@dcdining.com>

Subject: Re: "Come As You Are" Dress Code /

Date: July 3, 2012 1:37:15 AM EDT

To: Salt Of The Earth <hello@saltpgh.com>

Hi! I'm very interested in trying Salt of the Earth tomorrow night, but there are a couple reasons why it might not work:

1) Your website says "Come As You Are," but I'll be coming with my 15-year-old son from Cedar Point amusement park (and a 4-5 hour drive), and we'll look like a couple of decrepit rats. We won't have tank-tops or anything, but we'd definitely be in t-shirts, shorts, and athletic shoes. Obviously, you could stick us in a back corner of the downstairs bar area. Is this okay?

2) Also, your website says your kitchen is open until 11 PM. On a Monday night in summer during a heat wave, a lot of places will close early. Would it be safe to show up as late as 9 PM? We aren't looking for your restaurant's best effort; it would be more like "sustenance" at that point, but I would love to see your place because I've never been before, and since we'd be passing through, this is my one only chance.

And with this said ... there's probably only a 50-50 shot of us coming anyway because we'll be exhausted. Ah, the joys of working in the restaurant industry. :-)

I hope this letter finds you well (and obviously, if you reply, a simple "yes / no" or "yes / yes" (or whatever the answers are) is all that's necessary.

Kind regards,

Don Rockwell

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From: Salt Of The Earth <hello@saltpgh.com>

Subject: Re: "Come As You Are" Dress Code /

Date: July 2, 2012 3:27:37 PM EDT

To: Don Rockwell <donrockwell@dcdining.com>

Hello Don,

You're definitely welcome to dine with us after a Cedar Point car trip. We really mean it when we say feel free to come as you are to our restaurant.

Additionally, our kitchen is open until midnight Monday through Saturday. We take reservations until 10:45pm, and welcome people to join us in our walk-in seating as long a we're serving food. I would say 9pm is a fine time to come in.

Take care and have a fun trip with your son.

Best regards,

Amanda

Salt of the Earth

5523 Penn Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15206

www.saltpgh.com

(412) 441-7258

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From: Don Rockwell <donrockwell@dcdining.com>

Subject: Re: "Come As You Are" Dress Code /

Date: July 3, 2012 1:37:15 AM EDT

To: Salt Of The Earth <hello@saltpgh.com>

Dear Amanda,

What a lovely response to my email.

We did, in fact make it in, and had a wonderful meal - we could not have been happier, and I don't know of a better meal that I've had in Pittsburgh.

Thank you SO MUCH for having taken the time to write, and please look for a little review on www.donrockwell.com - I love your restaurant, and have nothing but good things to say. May I have your permission to cut/paste your most thoughtful response to my email?

Kind regards,

Don Rockwell

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From: Salt Of The Earth <hello@saltpgh.com>

Subject: Re: "Come As You Are" Dress Code /

Date: July 3, 2012 6:43:11 PM EDT

To: Don Rockwell <donrockwell@dcdining.com>

Hello Don,

We're glad you enjoyed your experience at our restaurant. I hope you and your son enjoyed the kitchen bar.

You are more than welcome to copy and paste our correspondence on your website.

Have a great holiday,

Amanda

Salt of the Earth

5523 Penn Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15206

www.saltpgh.com

(412) 441-7258

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Spent a few days in Pittsburgh:

Church Brew Works - no smell! Last time I was there it was intense and as we approached this time my daughter whined...once inside, very nice. Maybe last time was during a certain stage of brewing, or the wind wasn't right, or something - glad I went again. The pierogie pizza is awesome - basically, pureed potato replaces the red sauce and cheddar replaces the mozzarella - delicious, with a nice chewy crust. The standard and special pierogies were also delicious. This is decent pub food with fresh beer at a reasonable price, plus a neat, cavernous place. I wonder how they heat/paint/repair the place without going bankrupt...yet they seem to do fine as this was my 3rd or 4th trip over about 12 years.

Salt of the Earth - we went early on a Monday night and we had the place virtully to ourselves, so we (with the kids) sat at the counter and chatted with the kitchen staff. The food was really interesting and well executed. The hanger steak is cooked sous vide and comes out more like filet mignon. The scallops were also very nice on a cool evening, with lots of kale and squash. For us, a special part was the kid's noodles with butter - what I assume were house made noodles that were really delicious and stood up well in such a simple preparation. The crab appetizer included fresh, chilled stringy crabmeat with some roe and crispy chicken skin (very crispy, like a pringles chip) and we also really enjoyed the turnip appetizer, almost a slaw, with its interesting flavors. The upstairs seating area is dramatic and would make a nice romantic dinner. Downstairs the communal seating is a bit more relaxed. The_Smiths on the sound system fits right in.

Primanti Brothers - seems you either love this place or throw up in it, or maybe both. For my first time, it was fine - an interesting sandwich at what seemed a fair price and with fresh ingredients. For $6.29, I thought it was a decent value and of a quality that exceeded my expectations a bit. But at $6.29 I did't have lofty expectations. So - it was fine and if I am near there again I might go again. Or, I might not. Just depends.

Lidia's - also in the Strip District, we stopped here for their Sunday family-style special. First, the place is on the large, even huge side and obviously a ton of money was spent on decor and infrastructure. Valet parking and a mini bookstore featuring Lidia's latests greet you as you enter. We (two adults, 12 yr old, 9 yr old) got the family style approach and it was just an avalanche of food. I guess Italian dining is supposed to be that way but we ended up with takeout that weighed...I dunno....about 4 pounds. I feel like we did something wrong. The prices were fair- $25 per adult, $9 or 10 per kid - it just seemed like SO much food. The mussels were excellent, though with 2 large bowls full it felt more like all-you-eat; I might have eaten 50 mussels. The chicken picatta was tangy and tender. The 3 other pasta dishes were decent, though I think the ravioli had been sitting awhile. My advice - order a la carte, share some dishes and order as you need. Otherwise, this is a place you can dress up a bit, take some friends and sit for some time. The service was excellent, the food pretty good (and plentiful) and the ambiance is really nice.

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Well, it seems I have little to add, since the consensus around Salt of the Earth -- apparently named after a Rolling Stones song :P  -- existed long before I stumbled in the other night, having been drawn by proximity and availability (Cure was booked) as much as the sterling and trusted recco's here.

But having nothing to add never stopped me.

I wandered into Salt late-ish with the boy and decided against the kitchen bar because why is watching a saute station fascinating?  And that shit is loud.  We switched over to the communal table with the other socialists, and I decided that  the woman who'd guided us looked decidedly familiar.  Unlike Don's kid,* mine favors designer neckties and designer cocktails and so I left him waiting for his unfortunate Scotch concoction and looking for a local girl who appreciated his gangster style and made my way back to the front to confirm that the manager was indeed better half to former DR Superstar John Wabeck, the esteemed Melissa Horst.  Melissa pretended to be glad to see me, which was heartening, and texted Wabeck who immediately texted her back not to tell me where he worked.

The food was quite tasty.  Tastier, in fact than some of the newer and better-reviewed spots here in DC, in a sort of pan-global, neo-American kind of way.**  Chestnut and celery soup tasted more, it seemed, of celery, but I liked it -- bright on the palate and stuff.  It's hard to fuck up beef cheeks with cavetelli, but Salt went one better than not fucking up, the rapini and pepper lifting it (them?) from comfortable to intriguing. The winner of the night was pork belly -- again, an easy winner, and again elevated by a deft touch, in this case, steaming the belly to the melting point and then sauteeing the outside until crisp.  You practically expected it to run liquid onto the plate like a ripe Epoisses after you cut through the crust.  The boy stopped checking out the girls until he was through.

The millionaires shortbread -- gilded with a little gold leaf left behind when the Mellon family fortune fled East Liberty for the suburbs -- tasted like a million bucks, stupid good with peanuts and chocolate and caramel atop the shortbread.

if there was a downside, it was a rather lame wine list, chalked on the wall and featuring pedestrian selections like Lohr Cabernet and Trapiche Malbec and such-like.

So, put me on the SOTE bandwagon -- I left wishing that they'd move the whole operation a little closer to my house, where I'd be among the many to make it a regular stop.

And let's drive the bandwagon past the projects that also sprang up when the Mellon Family Fortune fled, in the general direction of the less menacing Whole Foods that sprang up more recently, and park in front of Spoon, where John Wabeck seems to have assembled a fine wine list despite the absurdity of Pennsylvania's liquor laws. Their kitchen was closed and we were too happy with what we'd already eaten to eat more but John  -- who, I was happy to see, seems immensely happy with life -- generously poured out a few glasses of Italian and Portuguese plonk.  No tasting notes, alas, but the selection was creative and tasty and I suggest that the Pittsburgh-bound consider exploring the list, and the food, at greater length.

Primanti Brothers has a certain low rent charm, a great place for a breakfast beer before the Steeler's Game or a drunk munch anytime after.  It's hard not to like it but I'd have to be too drunk to drive to drive out of my way for it.

And the Strip itself was surprisingly un-horrible -- you know how these redeveloping yuppie magnets can feel more like a "concept" than real life.  The Strip gets a little bit of everything in terms of customers and sellers (it seems) so you can buy organic, raw milk cheese and grass-fed onglet at the barely-relocated Pittsburgh Public Market and then bulk frozen wings and fries at the butcher shop a half block down (and then -- a breakfast beer, of course, and some hippie tiny donuts).  I wish I'd had more time.  I'll let you know about the cheese and onglet.

*Don, you do know you can just change in the amusement park parking lot, right? ;)   Hell, I once changed in a rest-stop restroom on the New Jersey en route to lunch at Jean-Georges.  Aside from the sound of a key in your mistress's front door, nothing much makes you dress faster than realizing you're in a Turnpike men's room stall wearing only socks and a pair of plaid boxers. (yeah, get THAT image out of your head, bitches!)  (Sorry, Breaking Bad marathon).

**Once we get past the inevitable "fresh, seasonal and local" drivel, what do we call the sort of cooking that these days pretty much defines any not-obviously-ethnic mid-to-up-scale place that does all those things that everybody does now: slices heirloom tomatoes in the summer, braises pork belly in winter, revels in root vegetables and pasta stuffed with corn and other oddities, serves kale 24/7/52, and appropriates techniques from whatever culinary culture seems appropriate at the moment?  If I was 65 (instead of a stripling of 54), I'd call it "Continental (except when they play with curry or raw fish) and if it was the 80s I'd say "New American." There was a lot of "Mediterranean" talk there for a while, because of pasta and arugula and cured pork, but then people rediscovered butter and the French and ladled those on top so, while it's often very good stuff, I'd say today's benchmark style lacks a shorthand name to slap on it. If anyone calls it "mindful," I will punch them.

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With her permission, the list former DR contributor and current P-G restaucritic Melissa McCart was kind enough to send me (thanks, Zora, for hooking us up):

For me the list goes: cure, legume or butterjoint, salt. Here is the more extensive version.

South Side

Dish Osteria or Stagioni on the South Side (prefer the scene at Dish)

Acacia for cocktails

PGH Pierogi Cart (follow hours on Twitter)

Oakland

Legume or Butterjoint (the bar is less expensive, serves til midnight.Don't

miss this place)

Lawrenceville

Cure for dinner

Allegheny Wine Mixer for drinks

Garfield

Salt of the Earth (also open late night, from 11-2. much less expensive, fun

scene)

Strip

Casa Reyna for surprisingly interesting Mexican food, homemade tortillas,

etc.

Penn Ave Fish Co. for lunch

Bar Marco drinks, brunch, dinner is hit and miss

Eleven for happy hour, brunch

Thin Man Sandwich Shop

East Liberty

Spoon (this is where Wabeck went, Missy) for dinner although it's a bit

conservative for me.

Notion -fancy dinner)

Dinette- pizza, lovely seasonal

Downtown

Butcher and the rye. Go for a drink.

Elsewhere

Root 174

E2 (BYO. Super charming, good not great food)

Park Brugges

I Tea Cafe for shabu shabu

Max's Allegheny Tavern (old school. Food is terrible. Good place for beer)

East End Brewing

Everyday Noodles soup dumplings.

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At Tender in Pittsburgh, I had the best burger I've had in longer than I can remember. For $7 on Mondays, you have your choice of several burgers. I got the blue burger - 1/3rd pound burger, cooked perfectly medium rare, with blue cheese, fried egg, onion jam, and balsamic aoli.

Also, great cocktails (bias: I have friends who work there and hooked me up while there) and a great atmosphere.

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Salt of the Earth and Legume were the best restaurants I've been to in Pittsburgh. Had dinner twice at Salt, I can't really recall any specific dishes, but everything I tried there was delicious. I agree with Waitman it was on par with several popular DC restaurants, although I remember both times feeling portion sizes for the main courses were a bit small for their price. Sitting at the kitchen bar is definitely a worthwhile experience.

I only had lunch at Legume once, but it was a great lunch. The Summer Vegetarian Explosion is a steal at $12, with a salad, slice of quiche, soup, and a piece of grilled bread. The salad had a bit too much vinegar, the quiche was solid, but the bread paired with the soup was spectacular. I had a corn soup, and it was rich, complex, and extremely satisfying on a slightly chilly day. The bread was fresh off the grill, fluffy, and complemented the soup perfectly, both in terms of flavor and being able to use it to mop up every last drop. I finished off with a pair of fresh chocolate chip cookies for $3.

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Point Brugge Cafe, Smiling Banana Leaf, and Noodlehead were all reliable places to grab a meal. Noodlehead in particular does a variety of Thai noodle dishes at $6-9 apiece, which are packed with flavor and heat if you ask for it, although my last visit there was a bit disappointing. The Porch was pretty tasty the one time I went, although it seemed to close down every so often with hygiene issues. If you're ever in the mood for Chinese near Pitt/CMU (not recommended), the best of the bunch was Little Asia.

There's a place called Teppanyaki Kyoto in Highland Park that makes traditional Japanese dishes in front of you at the kitchen bar, including their specialty Okonomiyaki, made with your choice of filling and optional soba noodles. This was the only Okonomiyaki I've had and I didn't particularly care for the combination of cabbage and mayonnaise, but the restaurant as whole seemed authentic and I enjoyed their other dishes.

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Everyday Noodles on Forbes is a pretty decent rendition of hand-pulled noodles. We got there pretty late so they weren't pulling them fresh anymore, but they were still nicely chewy. The beef tendon soup wasn't spicy at all, but that was easily fixed with a copious spoonful of spicy paste. The beef tendon and beef cubes were perfectly cooked; I usually go for beef tendon to counter overcooked beef, but the beef here was so tender it was almost unnecessary. The soup dumplings and potstickers were forgettable, the soup dumplings so dried out they barely had any soup.

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Just got back from my first trip to PGH. We were there only for 2 nights and were with a huge group for a surprise 70th b-day party, so we didn't get to hit the really good spots. I'll give a thumbs up to Max's Allegheny Tavern, though. I'd called on a Thursday at around 4p for a party of 9 at 7p. The kind gentleman said no problem. I called about 30 minutes later to change the time to 7:30p because of a delayed flight and the kind lady said no problem. Eleven of us arrived at 7:30 and I realized I forgot to call to add the extra people I didn't know would be with us. The kind hostess said they'd need to adjust the tables but it's no problem.

The restaurant is a warren of rooms, so we felt like we were relatively secluded, which was great. I'm not sure if the other 5-6 tables in our area appreciated our group, but we all had a great time. I agree with a note above that the food is not good, but the beers were. The German selections on tap were a wheat, a dunkel, a golden ale and one other, I think. Served in mason glasses, they were wet and tasty. The potato pancakes are nothing like I've ever seen in a German restaurant. They were like savory flour pancakes with some grated potato in them. Truly awful. I don't think anyone raved about their meal, the the server was awesome, the beers flowed quickly, the food service was fast and they didn't pitch a fit when two more people came and one had a meal after we'd all finished.

If I lived nearby I'd be happy to keep trying the menu to find the things I liked because it was such a friendly place to be. I know people who live nearby go often for just that reason.

Before we went to Max's we gathered at the James Steet Speakeasy and Gastopub. It didn't appear to be either of those things, but they did have a great draft list of about 8-9 beers you don't see often. Unfortunately, the draft board didn't list prices, so I was surprised by the $9.50 I paid for a Stone Enjoy By 7-4-15. Oh, well, high alcohol and not common, so I wrote that off. The other beers seemed to be in the $6-7 range.

We had a good breakfast sandwich at Lindo's, which had a cool dive feel, along with somewhat surly but kind older waitresses. Had a cheese steak at Peppi's on the same street. Meh. The bread was too chewy for what I was expecting, but I didn't get their specialty, The Roethlisburger, which I'm kicking myself for. Cool place, though. Old school.

We stayed in the North Shore area, and walked everywhere, so none of these places is in downtown, FYI. Cool city, though.

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We were able to fit in a dinner in Pittsburgh and ended up at Butcher and the Rye, somewhat dangerously close to an active Pirates game.  The drinks here are good and they recently re-imported (since he claimed to be originally from the Pittsburgh area) a bar manager with an impressive handlebar mustache.

The food is also really really good.  Toe to toe with best of Philly or DC good.

Taking this sampling as reflective of the top portion of the Pittsburgh restaurant scene, we're making our plans for a return.

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is there any hope for people driving around Pittsburgh on the PA Turnpike? I've had to make that trip a few times this year and have mostly been motoring past. Quick eats are preferred, but if there's a destination for a sit down meal I may be able to swing it.

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I'm not sure if it's completely worth the detour, but we went to Wild Sage while in town a few weeks ago and they put together some pretty good dishes and a couple good cocktails or two. I'd recommend it for people in that area as there aren't many great options that aren't pizza. Probably 5-10 minutes down Rt 8 off Exit 39.

Oh and of course there's always Eat'N Park  :)

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Popped into Meat and Potatoes downtown last night for an impromptu dinner.  Even at 7:30 on a January Sunday night, there wasn't an empty table until we were finishing with our meal.

Coming off a nice win at the Rivers Casino next to Heinz Field (a surprisingly nice casino that I'd never heard about, if you're into that sort of thing), I was in an indulgence mood.  Started with the roasted bone marrow ($18) which came with three large bones, bread and various accoutrements.  Wife got the fried brussels ($6) to start.  My 'barrel-aged' manhattan ($12) was fine, if somewhat unremarkable.

Heading into the mains, my wife's Shrimp and Grits (I believe $24 but was on the special menu) brought nicely cooked shrimp but it lacked a depth of flavor and finesse, though the fried pickled okra on top was a hit.  My roasted Branzino (also on specials menu but was in the mid-twenties) came with a mediterranean-themed sauce of tomato/olive/artichoke hearts.  Theme was the same of a very nicely cooked protein, but accompanying flavors were surprisingly bland.

Finished with a coconut cake that ended up being one of those ubiquitous jarred parfait situations that are everywhere in gastropubs these days, but daaaaaaaamn that was a good dessert.

Bottom line - everything ordered from the regular menu was good to very good.  Everything ordered from the specials menu was a bit disappointing but not bad.  For $112 post tax but pre-tip (I also had two draft beers), it wasn't a bad deal.  Just not quite worth the 'hot spot' designation, in my opinion.

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We were up in Pittsburgh so my cousin could register for college classes Saturday.  We dropped her off and headed to Shadyside as Mom and I used to always shop there when I was younger.  It is a lot more commercial than it once was, but still has some fun places.  We wanted to eat lunch at The Yard as I ate there last time with my cousin and their "grilled cheese" selections are really good for well done bar food.  They are huge and really messy, but great.  The tomato soup with them is really good.  But there was an hour wait, so we went to the little French cafe up the street which was also packed.  So we ended up at Mercucrios which I think was Mulberry Street.  They had all sorts of awards for their gelato, but it was a really cold and rainy day Saturday so we weren't in the mood for that.  We had the rustica salad and the melanza panini.  The salad was so good, we probably could have just split that, it was a big portion.  The panini was fine, I liked the veggies, it could have used a tiny bit more seasoning on the vegetables, but was a nice sandwich ratio of filling, bread, veg to cheese.  I love paninis.  The pizza looked good.  We stopped in Prantl's Bakery and I got some petits fours for Easter and these delicious little twist rolls. All the baked goods just looked amazing.  My cousin might be bringing some of there goodies home with her on breaks!

After picking her up she was hungry and had wanted to try Mineo's pizza on Murray Ave.  So we went that way.  We completely over-ordered in terms of pizza size, but it was delicious and the leftovers have been good.  We got a s Sicilian style with red sauce, pepperoni and cheese.  I loved this pizza it was similar to deep dish in that it had a thick crust, but the dough was less crusty.  It was delicious.  We also got a normal crust white pizza with feta, olives, bacon and spinach that was also delicious.  Note: It is cash only, but they have an ATM.

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It's not exactly off the beaten track (Yelp had it as the #7 favorite readers' restaurant in the USA for 2015), so the lines are long, but Gaucho Parilla Argentina is worth the hassle. Lots of grilled Argentine meat sandwiches (with chicken, seafood, and fish -- way more variety than you'd likely see in Argentina), empanadas, a few small plates like a seafood stew (caldo de mer), provoletta. Very casual and fairly cheap -- you order at the counter. 

We ate well in our long weekend in Pittsburgh (Aug. 2015), but Gaucho Parilla Argentina was definitely the highlight of the trip. It's located on Penn Avenue, down at the end of the Strip, so parking is a hassle on the weekends too. Still, it's worth it.

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Going to a wedding in Pittsburgh in the not too distant future. If you had just one dinner you could have in Pittsburgh where would it be?

Open to all cuisine, low, middle and high end are all possible. Would like a place with good cocktails and a decent wine list though, if possible.

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On April 28, 2016 at 0:43 PM, Simul Parikh said:

Probably Cure. 

 

We almost went to Cure or Spoon, but instead settled on Morcilla. Wow what a great meal. More on this later, including pictures. It's a little loud and the pacing of the food and sort of uncomfortable seating is designed to try to get you on your want in two hours or less. But it is easy enough to slow it down by pacing your ordering. Anyway, more later, but the octopus dish alone was worth the price of admission. 

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A friend shared this with me today. Looks like a place worth checking out if you're in the area.

" If you're ever in Pittsburgh, seriously check Conflict Kitchen, a tiny boutique takeaway that serves food only from countries with whom the US is in conflict. Their current iteration focuses on the food, culture and politics of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. I mean, don't you want the chance to taste NEOGË' WADE'SGÖNDAK? I know I do! "

http://curiositymagazine.53.com/articles/food-for-thought/

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Short trip to Pittsburgh and stopped in at Gaucho Parrilla Argentina in the Strip District.  Really impressed by how good and inexpensive this place is.  Well deserves it’s #1 position on Yelp.  Also ate at Morcilla and Cure, they’re very good but pales compared to Gaucho.  Also love the stores in the Strip District.

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If we wanted to eat dinner on a Friday night, where Pitt students eat when their parents aren't visiting and taking them for more upscale food, where would that be? Somewhere with decent-to-good but cheap food in Oakland, and probably not Primanti's.  The teen will want some non-vegetarian options at dinner, and we'd like a place that won't be so crowded (at maybe 6 or 7 on a Friday) that we have to wait a half-hour or more.

Pitt has these places listed on their restaurant list in Oakland (plus chains like Five Guys and Qdoba that I deleted), but I don't know how old their list is:

  • Oakland (North & South)

Thanks!

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9 minutes ago, Genevieve said:

If we wanted to eat dinner on a Friday night, where Pitt students eat when their parents aren't visiting and taking them for more upscale food, where would that be? Somewhere with decent-to-good but cheap food in Oakland, and probably not Primanti's.  The teen will want some non-vegetarian options at dinner, and we'd like a place that won't be so crowded (at maybe 6 or 7 on a Friday) that we have to wait a half-hour or more.

Pitt has these places listed on their restaurant list in Oakland (plus chains like Five Guys and Qdoba that I deleted), but I don't know how old their list is:

  • Oakland (North & South)

Thanks!

While I was thinking not Primanti's, my spouse would be very happy if we had homestyle Italian food or subs - we used to get great inexpensive Italian food when we lived near Boston, but not very often near DC (other than Italian Store).

But other options could also be good (kebabs, pizza, Mexican, Korean if they have it).  

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Never found eating in Oakland to be particularly good. That's where my residency hospital was, and even though there were a million places, very few were any good. I still like Mad Mex, it's sort of Tex Mex and students definitely go there, great beer selection. Lu Lu's is pretty good, but when I was eating there I had tried very little in the way of authentic Asian food. I've been to almost all of those places. Conflict Kitchen must have moved to Oakland, it's pretty good. Places I wouldn't go to - Fuel and Fuddle, Antoon's, Hemingway's (though it was fun to flirt with undergrads back in the day). Pizza Sola was in E Liberty before, I think, and I liked it, but it's a quick stop sort of place. QSL has fairly good wings, but nothing to write home about it. Union Grill is fine, actually it's pretty good. Surprisingly, Spice Island isn't on the list - it's like Indonesian/Malaysian, and really good. Korea Garden and Oishii are pretty solid, but again, pre-enlightenment. They might be shit. I miss PGH.... 

If you sneak out of Oakland, can consider Everyday Noodles (hand pulled noodles, delish), Piccolo Forno (italian), Tessaro's for burgers (but not much else), Gaucho Parilla (Yelp's big winner nationally a few years back), Cure (not so casual, though), Chengdu Gourmet (pretty good Sichuan).

And go to Dancing Gnome for their hazy, juicy, soft IPAs!!

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Thanks! This stop will be about getting a feel for the school, so we're definitely going to eat in Oakland. Will look at Mad Mex, Conflict Kitchen, Union Grill, Pizza Sola (quick stop is fine), QSL (as the kid likes wings).

I think I took Spice Island off the list when I was deleting coffee shops and yogurt / ice cream places (to make it a dinner list), because I thought it was a tea shop (full name Spice Island Tea House).  I'll put it back on, but I don't think that's what the rest of the family will choose for dinner (I love Burmese food and they have a bunch of it, I see, so I'd pick it).

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As a student - I (and frankly my parents) liked Fuel and Fuddle for what it was.  Granted this was a decade ago but it was always solid for a couple beers and sandwiches / pizza.  Its not upscale but my parents never turned their noses up at it.

I agree with Tessaros and would add Church Brew Works (a brew pub in a church) if you're going to venture over the Bloomfield (I think) bridge, which is still pretty close to campus.  Breakfast at Pamela's was always good as well.

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22 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

Never found eating in Oakland to be particularly good. That's where my residency hospital was, and even though there were a million places, very few were any good. I still like Mad Mex, it's sort of Tex Mex and students definitely go there, great beer selection.

If there's a location of Mad Mex near where a bunch of college students eat, then I've been there - I remember it as neither good nor offensive, but how can you not like a place (at least, in theory) that serves a dish called, "Taco Misterioso," made with, gulp, "Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders?" Ugh, there is some *nasty* stuff on their menu - this is cheap food for kids with bottomless pits for stomachs.

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We did an overnight trip to Pittsburgh and were very happy with our restaurant choices.  The two restaurants we ate at are arguably the best of their kind we've found anywhere (maybe some equivalent places in Philly and Portland, OR).

Butcher and the Rye is still all around excellent, in my opinion much better than The Cure or Morcilla for everything including charcuterie.  It's not cheap but you get a lot of very high quality food for the price. 

Did a deeper dive at Gaucho Parrilla Argentina and loved everything (picada, carne platter, shrimp, veggies, and dessert).   Lines out the door throughout our visit but we were lucky to order and get seated in about 20 minutes.  For their high volume of business, the quality is really consistent and everything was seasoned and cooked correctly.

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Haven't been to Pittsburgh in a while.  Hope the weather is good.

One local food treat is the "famous" pork and fries at Primanti's.  The Primanti's in the strip is the original one.  Visiting there is a bit of "local flavor" and the strip itself is real Pittsburgh.  On the other hand there are other worthwhile places to visit.  It depends on your length of stay.   If there are alternatives and you skip Primanti's, there is a terrific local alternative;  the Pork and Fries at Earl's in Arlington.  Better ingredients.

Have fun.  If you manage to put a hex on the Penguins that would be good for the Caps.

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7 hours ago, Bob Wells said:

Looks like our annual family mini-vacation over the holidays will be to the 'Burgh this year. Have never been there, so looking for ideas -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack ideas all welcome! 

You may want to contact Melissa McCart (who I'm proud to say got her start here on DR - she's our own MeMc) - she is once again the Restaurant Critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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On 11/13/2017 at 10:39 AM, astrid said:

Butcher and the Rye is still all around excellent, in my opinion much better than The Cure or Morcilla for everything including charcuterie.  It's not cheap but you get a lot of very high quality food for the price. 

Thanks Astrid. BatR caught my eye on Yelp so it's good to get validation from a Rockwellian.

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