Pittsburgh also has a great casino (The River’s Casino) which features great dining and entertainment for their guests. Their visitors can enjoy eating from restaurants like Andrew’s Steak and Seafood, Ciao, Grand View Buffet, West End Café, and Wheelhouse. Whatever foods you crave for, Rivers Casino have you covered with the best selection of food. It is the best place for those who want to play poker and other kinds of casino games. The hotel’s casino has a huge array of gaming opportunities which includes table games and slots machines. For people who are on vacation and cannot play live poker games because they are with their children, they can stay in the restaurant area while playing online poker games from websites like partypoker.com. In this way, they can still be with their children without missing out the fun of playing this card game on their smartphones.

Casbah is another great place to dine in Pittsburgh. Here, you can eat the best Mediterranean cuisines that you can crave for. {http://www.bigburrito.com/casbah/menu/index.shtml} offers fresh and interesting dishes every year. They have a relaxing and cozy ambiance that invites people who needs a break from a stressful day at work. The restaurant is known for their scallop appetizers, pastas, cheese tastings, Elysian Fields lamb, and healthy preparations of fish dishes. It is also a perfect venue for a Sunday breakfast meal with friends or family.

If you are craving for some pizza, you can visit Dinette. They make the best-tasting pies in the city. The restaurant is owned by {http://dinette-pgh.com/chef}, who was a semi-finalist for the James Beard “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award in the years 2009 and 2010. The most famous pizza in Dinette features a thin, crispy crust pie, topped with classic basil, tomato, fresh ricotta, and Mozzarella. They also offer soups and salads.

Craving for some American food? Eleven is the best place to go. It offers fine food in a classy atmosphere—not too formal or too casual. They also have rich house-made desserts that exhibit different flavors and textures. Some of these desserts are brownie with peanut brittle and the chocolate-peanut-pretzel candy bar.

Thought I’d drop in to say hello. If you miss me, you can find me over at my new blog: Taste of SLC – where I’m doing basically the same thing that I did here… write about good places to eat & drink, and other things to do… just this time in Salt Lake City Utah.

As I’ve mentioned before, anyone is welcome to step up and take over full time writing duties on this blog.  Just signup as an author and start writing about the Burgh.

On to the topic of this post: Lisa who runs Beautiful In Pittsburgh, and who has written on this blog before, is having a contest over at her blog and she passed along word to me over email.

The contest is to find the most beautiful people in Pittsburgh. The rules sounds pretty simple. Stop over and check out the contest for more details.

Good luck to Lisa with her contest and good luck to anyone that might decide to enter.

Motel 6 Blogging!

So I’ve officially left Pittsburgh. I’m sitting in a hotel room in Lincoln, NE at the moment on my laptop watching the NBA finals with my dog. I have 2 more days of driving left until I reach Utah.

My last week in Pittsburgh was spent selling the remainder of my stuff on Craigslist, hanging out with friends, and tying up some random loose ends. As I prepared for the move over the last month, the blog was the last thing on my mind.

I did visit some good food places in my final few weeks in the Burgh. Some highlights:

Round Corner Bloody Mary

• Las Velas: Mexican place in Market Square. It was good, but not as good as I had expected. I had a Groupon for it, so I had to use it before I left. The most expensive Don Julio 1942 shots in Pittsburgh.
• BRGR: Good burger and good chips with a special “crack” cheese sauce. If you’ve been to Burgatory, it’s very similar.
• Round Corner Cantina: Good Mexican food and some cool specialty drinks (bit pricey). I like the Micheladas, Bloody Mary, and Root Spirit. I’m told the Tijuana Street Dog is the sh#t – but I went with the Chile Relleno instead. Cheesy goodness.
• SMOKE barbeque taqueria – And the best for last… Small little place in Homestead.  Wish I would have found it earlier.  They serve smoked meat tacos (chicken, brisket, ribs, pork) and they are all amazing. The mac and cheese is also awesome. BYOB.  Getting hungry just thinking of this place.

If anyone is looking, my house is (still) for sale. (At a reduced price!)

I’m not really sure what to do with the blog. I feel kind of bad just letting it go to waste. I put a lot of time into over the last several months. If anyone has any ideas or would be interested in taking over, give me a shout. I may entertain the idea of selling it on Flippa.  But again, contact me if you want to possibly take it over.

The past (almost) 8 years in Pittsburgh have been great. I made a lot of unforgettable friends and memories…

I’ve always talked about moving out West.  I passed up an opportunity to go to California when I first got to Pittsburgh.  I don’t regret making that choice at the time, but at this point I figured that I better give it a shot before I’m too old to actually enjoy it.  I didn’t want to look back and kick myself for passing up a 2nd chance.  As the kids say these days: #YOLO.

View from my new bedroom window!

One of my first introductions to the city of Pittsburgh was a visit to the Strip. I came to Pittsburgh to celebrate a friend’s bachelor party and we hit up all the night clubs that were around at that time: Bash, Touch, Sports Rock, Tequila Willies, etc.

All of those places have since closed, or in the case of Tequila Willie’s – floated away down the river. But what the Pittsburgh Strip is really known for, it’s historic weekend morning market, is still alive and well.

My birthday was last weekend on Cinco De Mayo, so my mom came to Pittsburgh to visit for the day. She had never been to the Strip, so a small group of us headed down around 11 am to browse the stores and street vendors in search of food.

If you aren’t familiar with the area, the Strip District is a half mile strip of streets that sit just northeast of downtown, along the Allegheny River. The boundaries are 11th St to 33rd St, with the majority activity going on around Smallman St and Penn Ave between 16th and 22nd St.

On a typical weekend morning or afternoon, many of the small restaurants, grocery stores, and specialty shops will setup sidewalk displays to sell cheap items and draw you into their stores. Things such as antiques, artwork, sunglasses, Steelers/Penguins/Pirates gear, general Pittsburgh souvenirs, and all kinds of different types of food can be found while walking the streets of the Strip.

Live fish at Wholey's

• Wholey’s Fish Market – Huge sea food market and grocery store. This is the go-to place if you are in need of fresh seafood. They also have an on-site sushi bar and sell giant fish sandwiches.
• Mon Aimee Chocolat – Great selection of every kind of chocolate imaginable, plus other specialty candies. I love the dark chocolate covered sea salt.
• Pittsburgh Popcorn Company – You can’t leave the Strip without a bag of popcorn. The best is to mix the cheese with the caramel.
• Roland’s Seafood Grill – Not the best food ever, but I enjoy sitting on the upper balcony overlooking the Strip and people watching. They do have some pretty decent pizzas and I love the Bloody Marys.
• Primanti Brothers

– The sandwich that Pittsburgh is known for – thick bread, meat, fries, and coleslaw. This is the original location (they are now located all over the Pittsburgh area). You’re best bet might be to come to this location on a different day because there is usually a line to get inside on weekend afternoons.

Those are just a few of my favorites. Be sure to also check out the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, Mancini’s Bakery, Pamela’s for breakfast (if you can get inside), and giant loaves of pepperoni bread for $5 (I always go home with 1 or 2 of these).

Looking for an apartment in Pittsburgh? The Strip has also become a hot spot for new condo and apartment development. With a great location right along the river and easy access to everything that downtown has to offer, quite a few of the old abandoned factory buildings have recently been converted into residential space. Check out the Cork Factory Lofts as just one example.

If you are new to Pittsburgh or just in town for the weekend – and you are looking for something to do to kill some time, head over the the Strip District. Parking is limited on the streets, but there are several lots that will allow you to park for about $5. Be sure to observe any No Parking signs, because the tow trucks are always on the prowl.

Oops.

Despite the minor setback, I decided to try the new pizza joint that I’d been hearing about from several different people and it just happened to be right across the street.

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza began in 2002 in Florida. The company has grown over the last 10 years and now has locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. The Monroeville spot is located in the Miracle Mile shopping plaza and has been opened for about a month.

Anthony’s is located in the old Ponderosa building, which looks to have been completely remodeled and looks brand new from the outside and on the inside. The interior is decorated with sports posters, jerseys, and old style black and white photos of celebrities. As soon as you walk in the door, the large coal oven is visible near the front door.

Paul & Young Ron Pizza

I went with the lunch sized pizza, “Paul & Young Ron” style, topped with sausage, meatballs, sweet peppers, and ricotta cheese.

Oven style wings topped with onions

The wings were excellent. The pizza was excellent. I definitely want to stop back and try some of the other specialty pizzas. I’m also going to try to talk my work crew into stopping here on Friday night for happy hour, as I’m always looking to try new happy hour spots. They have plenty of bar space and look to have 6 or 7 beers on tap, plus a small craft beer bottle selection.

If martinis are your thing, Wed night is Meatball and Martini night. Martinis are on sale for $5 from 5-7:30 and free food samples are served at the bar.

Next time you are in the Monroeville area and looking for a good pizza, give Anthony’s a shot.

Anthony's Lunch Menu

On Sunday, the tour stopped in Pittsburgh at Mr. Smalls and my friend Will and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for $10 worth of food and beer.

Before I talk about the Dumpling Experiment though, I want to go on a quick rant… Mr. Smalls is located in Millvale and I’ve seen several shows at the place. We arrived about 40 mins early, thinking that there might be a line, so we wanted to be there early to pickup our tickets from will-call.

It turns out that we were the first ones there and the box office wasn’t even opened yet, so we decided venture out and explore Millvale… Let me just say that there is not a whole hell of a lot going on in Millvale on a Sunday. And I thought downtown Youngstown had it bad.

Millvale Park offers a great view of a brick wall

There was literally nothing open in Millvale on Sunday around 1pm. Even the handful of dive bars that were in walking distance from Mr Smalls were all closed. And as you can see by the picture, the local park was also deserted.

So after doing a few laps around the empty streets of Millvale, we ended up back at Mr Smalls just in time to see a small line forming.

If you’ve never been inside Mr Smalls, it’s an old church that has been renovated with a stage, a big lighting system, smoke machines, and 2 bars. It was actually a pretty cool spot to hold the event, although a little unorganized.

We were basically herded inside, given a plate and fork, and left to roam around and collect our dumpling samples. Thankfully we were near the front of the line so we were able to taste mostly everything before the place became overly crowded and people began forming strange lines wrapped around the theater. Some people seemed to have a tough time figuring out how to form individual lines for each food station, but I’ll just leave it at that…

Brooklyn Beer was a major sponsor of the event and we were given a ticket for a free beer to enjoy with our dumplings, so that was an added bonus.

As for the food, there were 15 amateur chefs competing. Food items ranged from traditional Pittsburgh style pierogi and Italian style gnocchi to lobster and mac & cheese dumplings. Some contestants even entered desert style dumplings. The sweet potato pierogi covered in ice cream were pretty amazing.

First of several plates

My favorite ended up being the “Quince-Apple-Mint Dumplings” which were filled with apple, ham, and cream cheese, from what I could tell. Coming in a close 2nd were the “Shot to the Heart” dumplings which I think were actually made with pig hearts, amongst other things.

We got our fill of dumplings and beer and headed out before the final votes were tallied. There wasn’t much to do after we finished eating and there wasn’t much room to stand or sit, so we bounced.

From the website it looks like my top choice came in 3rd place from the public vote. My number two choice ended up being the top winner from the judges. The sweet potato pierogi was also another excellent choice, and it ended up winning the top prize for “Experimentation”.

I think only the #1 choice from the judges will go on to Broooklyn to compete nationally, but congrats to all of the winners! If the Food Experiments visit Pittsburgh again next year, I highly recommend that you check it out.

Pittsburgh Food Experiment Tour at Mr Smalls

Final Results

Judges
First Place:  Kitchen Destroyer / Shot to the Heart (And You’re to Blame)
Second Place:  Yinz Dim Sum / Far East PGH Drunken Duck Potsticker
Third Place:  Zuko’s Pierogies / Zuko’s Pierogies

Audience
First Place / Grand Prize:  The Pork Dorks / Pork Dumplings
Second Place: Yinz Dim Sum / Far East PGH Drunken Duck Potsticker
Third Place: Mr. Small, Man-In-Motion / Quince-Apple-Mint Dumplings

Theo’s Prize for Experimentation: Yamzers / Sweet Potato Dessert Pierogies

OK, so it’s no secret that Roethlisberger has had his troubles. He was accused of sexual assault and rape, the key word being accused folks. No charges were ever filed, he never spent any time in jail. Nothing ever came of the accusations against him. In America we are innocent until proven guilty, unless the media is involved. In that case we are guilty the second someone cries wolf. Either way this is old news, so why would Big Ben top the list of the most hated NFL players a few days ago? Ben has been nothing but a great role model recently, getting married and graduating college. Oh yeah, and remaining a great quarterback. Should he really be included in a list with dead beat dads and animal abusers?

James Harrison basically made the list because the writer felt he hits too hard and doesn’t apologize for it. This is football! If you can’t take a hit you should probably switch careers, perhaps figure skating would suite some of these players better. Yes Harrison is rough. Yes, he is going to hit you, that’s his job, and he does it well. That’s what we do here in Pittsburgh! If you’re playing the Steelers than you better get prepared, and have some ice packs handy.

Someone needs to get this writer a terrible towel so she can dry her eyes. Better yet, lets make our own list. List the 5 best teams in the NFL, then scratch of the last 4, because only number one counts. You are left with the Steelers. So, until someone else can replace us on that list, lets stop picking apart their personal lives and let them do what they do best…demolish everyone else.

For the Competitors

The tour is trying to find the best amateur chefs from around the nation and they will be making a stop in Pittsburgh on Sunday May 20th. Chefs will be judged on their best dumpling dish: “From pierogies, raviolis and pork dumplings to even a chocolate dessert dumpling”

The grand prize winner will win a trip to Brooklyn NY to compete in the National finals. Other prizes include cookware and bakeware and good old fashioned CASH money.

All competing chefs will receive a $50 gift certificate to a local grocery store to help with costs of ingredients.

Word on the street is that they still have a handful of slots open for chefs to compete!

For the Attendees

If you like to sample new and exciting foods and/or you like craft beer, then you might want to stop out at the event.

Attendees will be able to sample around 20 of the dumpling dishes and also get one free beer from Brooklyn Brewery. Tickets are only 10 buck!

When and Where

The whole thing is going down on May 20th at Mr Smalls in Millvale from 2pm to 5pm. I’ve been there in the past to see a few concerts. It’s a really nice venue.

Check out their event page for more details and info on tickets.

I have a few posts in the pipe (visit to BRGR, a trip to the Strip District, and a few other events and places that people have asked for mentions on the blog), so look for those coming in the next week.

The last 3 weeks of the farm share have been great.  There’s been a lot of variety and I’ve gotten to try a lot of foods that I’d probably not normally try if I were just walking around the local Shop N Save or Bottom Dollar.

Here are the items that I’ve received in the past 3 weeks:

CSA Week 3

• 1/2dozen eggs, Orchard View Farm or Buterbaugh’s Farm
• Boltonfeta, Hidden Hills Dairy
• 1/4 lb wild foraged ramps, Nu Way Farm
• green garlic, Clubhouse Gardens
• 3 lb white potatoes, Blue Goose Farm
• 1 lb crimini mushrooms, Wild Purveyors
• lettuce head, Clarion River Organics, OG
• 12 ounces honey, Bedillion’s Farm

CSA Week 4

• fresh garlic parsley rotini from Fontana Pasta
• 1 lb popcorn, Troyer Farm
• 1 red & one green butterhead lettuce head, Clarion River Organics, OG
• 1 small wheatberry loaf, Clarion River Organics, OG
• 2 lb French fingerling potatoes, Clarion River Organics, OG
• 1/2 lb young kale, Clarion River Organics, OG
• Rosemary, Goose Creek Garden’s, CNG
• 1/4 lb goat milk feta cheese, River View Dairy

CSA Week 5

• 1 lb rhubarb, Nu Way Farm
• 1/3 lb green onions, Nu Way Farm
• 1/2 gallon apple cider, Kistaco Farm
• 1/2 lb asparagus, Schramm’s Farm
• 1/2 lb young kale, Clarion River Organics, OG
• mixed lettuce or butterhead or bibb, Goose Creek Garden, CNG, Clarion River Organics, OG, Grow Pgh, OG,Milestone
• 2 lb cornmeal, Clarion River Organics, OG
• honey puffed corn or spelt, Clarion River Organics, OG

Lots of great variety, including vegetables, eggs, cheese, juice, honey, popcorn (kernels), and more.

The fresh pasta in week 3 might have been one of my favorite items.  I used a can of tomatoes and ground turkey, along with some of the kale to make a sauce for the pasta – and topped it with some crumbled feta cheese. I used the fresh greens to make a salad.

The popcorn kernels were also cool. I’d never think to buy plain kernels and pop them on the stove.  I was able to pop up a huge bowl of popcorn using about a tablespoon of olive oil.  I dried some kale and crumbled it and mixed it in with the popcorn, along with some feta.

The potatoes are also great. I’ve eaten enough mashed potatoes to last me until Thanksgiving.

Three more weeks to go for our 8 week share.  I’m looking forward to finding a CSA to join once I get to Utah.

If you are interested in supporting local farmers, there is a pretty cool event coming up in a couple of weeks.  For $10 you get to check out a screening of the documentary American Meat.  Proceeds benefit the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.  Food and beer are included with your $10 ticket.  Follow the link above for more info.

I ate this before I even got home