benright's Profile
Pizza in NOLA - where?
I've tried a bunch of pizza in NOLA, sadly, most of it underwhelming. I know good pizza, Pitfire and Mozza in Los Angeles, I've eaten the great joints in NY (John's, Grimaldi's, #28 Carmine, that place on E 13th street), of course Boston and Chicago too.
Theo's is a joke! Often hailed as "the best," the crust is like bread dough, the toppings thick, the price $$$$ and always a 20-30 minute wait for the pie! Come on NOLA, that's crazy! I've watched the kitchen in "action" it's NOT a pretty sight. If I were the owner I'd fire them all and UP the standards.
Slice is good, nice people, good crust, fast service and great ingredients. I like that they'll custom bake a slice with toppings of choice!
Went to NY Pizza. It's dirty, the guys who work there are right out of an SNL skit. The slices are VERY small though the cheese and crust are good. Most city health depts would shut them down for their food prep practices!
I'm going to try Cafe Sud and see about some wood fired magic.
Pittsburgh Eats 2008
Now into my 3rd month I'm still loving PGH! Burgers at Tessaro's have NOT been beat, Thai Me Up doesn't shine next to my spot in Edgewood.
Piccolo Forno and the lovely manager, Jenny, are worth a visit. Good food, good peeps, good vibes and the kind of local business worth supporting.
The Dozen shop on Butler is inspired, especially those macaroons! Yum yum yum.
Cafe Allegro on the SS was NOT worth my time. Obsequious service, strange atmosphere, burned piece of fish (I think it was called "grilled?"), the moving walkway is coming to an end, KEEP MOVING...
Thank God there's a Chipotle here! Lunch Sat and Sundays on the same weekend just makes me smile inside and out. Groovy college Oakland kids serving it up, even put the burrito back under the panini press for that grilled, crunchy, SoCal effect. Bueno.
Tried Qdoba for the first time. Better than nothing and almost tastes good. Chipotle wins hands down anytime.
Sesame Inn at Station Square just serves the yuck. I don't get why Chinese can't be simply tasty?
I want to find pirogies, next on my list!
BTW, Bob Evans in Breezewood had an OK grilled cheese sandwich (got it w/ Monterey Jack and fries).
PGH is still home to the nicest people in the US.
Pittsburgh Eats 2008
PGH Eats Redux/Update- I've had a few more weeks to eat and think about eating in PGH. I still REALLY like this place, the people, the sights and the food. I wouldn't at all say the food is superlative (except for that Thai, I've been back 2X times including a stop at 915PM when they were closed, opened up for us, cooked food to go and we ate it in the car in the light of the laundromat, YUMMMM).
The food here is just good, plain and simple and there's a LOT to be said for that.
STRIP-
I love better, the 21st St Coffee, that Clover machine is 2nd to none. Enrico's rules, Penn Mac to live for (hint, take a number, go down the street and shop, come back in 30 minutes, VOILA!). Primanti's is great/fine/whatever. I take some of the fries off the 'wich and feel MUCH better later.
I don't know who writes the reviews for the Communist Paper (CP) but I gotta warn everyone about STEEL CITY RIBS! I read a review, they loved the place, blah blah. So we went. The people couldn't have been nicer, warmer or more hospitable. I don't know what kind of ribs they were, have never had a sauce like that (I swear, I think it was a coca-cola/ketsup reduction, I'm NOT kidding), another sauce was "mustard." The greens were all watery served in paper cups, the green beans worse. The air was clouded with atomized fryer oil, it was beyond a simple "haze." The bottom of the evening was the "shredded" beef. Bad, ground, dead animal covered in the coca-cola sauce. GI distress soon ensued. Lovely people, horrible ribs. Sorry...
Didn't try Double Wide because I asked about greens and they offered me salad OR suggested the vegetarian dished (tofu kabobs, etc). No greens? Bring on the pork.
Heard about the Sushi Bar at the Fish Market. What a let down. No Japanese greeting upon seating (Ohio Gozymas or whatever they say), no hot towel, no dish for soy & wasabi and the WORST, thick rice tuna hand roll I've encountered, coast to coast. I didn't think a tuna roll could be poorly done! No meat/tuna, bad rice, stupid service. I knew better, and still do. No sushi 1000 miles from an ocean. Duh! This Hawai'ian boy knows.
I'm going to keep eating and eating...
Pittsburgh Eats 2008
I'm here from LA for 4 months, January through April and am determined to make it a food safari. So far, after 10 days I love this place. Really, I've read the "moving to PGH with dread" posts and I gotta say, turn that frown upside down.
Here's the deal: yeah, it's provincial BUT it's trying, yeah it doesn't stand up to NY, LA or SF standards but it has it's own and finally, there's good stuff here and if you want, you can always cook or hop on a plane.
Notes to date-
Whole Foods- rocks as always, buffet has saved my life a few nights when I don't want to go exploring
Giant Eagle near Whole Foods in Shadyside is like ghetto nightmare mutant Whole Foods. What a bad idea. Lots of stuff, really weird layout, looks and feels dirty, the staff is beyond coarse. Just goes to show that presentation is about 99% of the job. WF gets it, stick with that.
Strip district stores, especially Macaroni, just flat out inspires. Soooo good, you want to eat, purge, repeat. Especially for the short term resident, there's little containers of spices, bulk oil and vinegar, gads of cured animal products like meat, olives and cheese forever. If only they made sandwiches.
Ate at Lidia's and was underwhelmed despite the local raves. Admittedly, I had a bowl of pureed minestrone (I think they called it something else) and arugula salad (it's winter, the leaves are woody, that's NOBODY's fault) and both, though simple, were pretty uninspired. I've heard that the pasta special is ALWAYS good but it looks like a plate FULL of food and not what I typically search for. I'm happy for the locals that they love it and will leave them with their sense of accomplishment, enjoy!
Tessaro's- as promised, GREAT, handmade burger. Even had steamed broccoli. Yum! Too bad no fried products but just as well, my colon will thank me 20 years from now (1 meal likely won't make a difference though).
Harp and Fiddle- delightful place though go for the music, smiles, Ceili dancing and 2nd hand smoke. The food is only worth it if you, like me, want to walk no further than 2 blocks from home on a 20 degree night while enjoying 20mph winds. I love the place but the food needs some major love. Then again, it's a pub, Irish at that and what should I expect!
I had likely the BEST, really, the BEST Thai meal of my life last night on the side of the road, next to laundromat in Edgewood. It's called Thai TYK (Tom Yum Kung) 4 tables, tiny, pictures of the king and queen (a good sign that Koreans or Chinese have not just propped up a Thai food sign to gain market share...), some cool Bhudda statues and mom, dad and son working and serving the hot gritty. I ordered (only) panang with brown rice and tofu. Before it arrived the cook, the mom, came out and asked if I wanted the tofu steamed or fried. She agreed with me that the fried texture would be best (it was). The panang was amazing. Wilted lettuce, kaffir limes, a really delicate, homemade curry, fresh veggies and the rice wasn't some pablum brown glop but had almost a wild/unrefined look about it. I ordered tofu figuring I wouldn't want chicken or beef from a strange little place in the (seemingly) middle of nowhere, a good call since tofu is hard to screw up. In any case it was so good, I'm going back for pad thai, green papaya salad and will ask the chef to make something special.
Our offices at at Station Square and as you can imagine, it's so far, the Death Valley of food. A lunch at the Sheraton, took about an hour to cook and was horrible. Chicken caesar from the Hard Rock (yeah I know, but the office assistant thought it was a good idea) caused 2 of us GREAT gastric distress though we did lose weight spontaneously.
Kaya- Fine, OK, would do it again if for nothing else than flavors. Good flavors, amateur workers, walking distance from my place.
21st coffee- The owner, Luke seems cool though a bit cautious. The coffee, especially the Clover, single cup varietals, are great but what's with the horrible looking pastries? Are there no artisanal bakeries here? They might be fresh but they look like they came from Costco. The Choc Chip cookies look Otis Spunkmeyerean, the muffins bland and doughy. I'm glad it's there but think it could be so much more.
had breakfast at Pamela's and yes, if you're after greasy nostalgia it's for you but I thought it just didn't have to be so, so lubricated. It was literally a corned beef and hash, plus dry scrambled egg dish just oozing oil, really, oozing, like puddles. Unnecessary and I'm a dirty, greasy food lover!
Oh Yeah Ice Cream- good idea but they seem like they've overreached their real estate obligations. Soups, waffles, etc feel like a "we need more revenue" play. The basic ice creams are dry, not enough cream, likely a lot of air. I'm a North Shore Boston ice cream freak (Bentsons, White Farms) so my expectations are high but rural/local. When you know it can be done, done well and for not a lot of money, you gotta wonder why it's so hard to replicate? It's ice cream, people like it, serve it BIG and they'll keep coming back.
I'm going to keep eating and will report back.
Love this PGH town, 3.5 more months to go.
