Pittsburgh: The Strip District and Foodie things



Beautiful bread and pastries, courtesy of Colangelo's



Saturday morning we got up bright and early (okay, not that early) to catch the 10:15 bus to the Strip District of Pittsburgh. And may I just say how much I liked this place? (A lot.)

At the bus stop, we met our first (and only) "yinzer." According to Sarah, a yinzer is a true Pittsburgh resident, one who embodies some of Pennsylvania's ties to the south and uses the word "yins" where a Southerner would say "ya'll." A middle-aged woman with scraggly hair and worn, torn clothes, had the bus schedule practically memorized, and politely yammered in our ears until her bus pulled up.


Seafood on the street in the Strip District



After the woman had boarded her bus and gone, Sarah explained to us just who we had encountered.

"Pennsyltucky," she remarked sagely.



Later that day, after a tour of Pitt and CMU (see previous post) we made our way to the much-lauded "Lu Lu's Noodle House" for dinner. I really wanted to like this place; Sarah talked it up quite a bit. And I did like the food. Service, however, left a lot to be desired. We were left standing at the hostess's stand for quite a while, being politely ignored by the girl working there. Finally, a server took pity on us and showed us to an open table. Later, when a friend of Sarah and Sam's joined us, she ordered a bubble tea...and never received it. The service was forgetful at best, surly at worst, but luckily my pho soup almost made up for it.

I've been meaning to try pho for a while; I know it's a favorite of Anthony Bourdain (who I saw/sort of met last Tuesday) and I've seen a couple variations of it on Top Chef now. Mine was pretty tasty, a steaming bowl of beef broth chock full of rice noodles, bean sprouts, shredded steak and what I think was cilantro. I ate (okay, slurped) everything out of it, leaving only about an inch of broth left in the bowl; however, I think I still prefer pad tai; after Sarah let me try hers I ate about eight more bites of it. (Sorry, Sarah) Maybe I should try it elsewhere, who knows?



Pho at Lu Lu's Noodle House



After dinner we traveled about half a block to Dozen, a Pittsburgh cupcake chain that bakes once per day, in the morning, and frequently sells out before closing. Luckily for us there was a selection left, and I took home a vanilla cupcake with blue vanilla icing. When I ate it at home I really enjoyed the cupcake, but would have preferred about half that amount of icing because it was very, very sweet. Too sweet for me. Dozen also sells breakfasty pastries like scones and croissants, but most people go for the cupcakes. And understandably so!

The next morning we had chocolate chip pancakes in Sarah's apartment, courtesy of her lovely roommate. After a couple of hours wandering the Andy Warhol museum on the other side of the city, I drove us over to the riverfront (which was quite an adventure...my GPS was like the All State "mayhem" commercial: TURN RIGHT NOW!!) where we got some lunch before getting on the incline. There were numerous chain restaurants in the area, and though I was tempted by Houlihan's, we were looking for something reasonably priced. And not totally overrated, like the Hard Rock Cafe.

We stopped in the Island Cafe for lunch, and for the life of me I still can't figure out why it was called the Island Cafe. It was more like a little cafeteria, with college hoops blaring from an overhead television and no themed decor whatsoever. However, the menu offered an impressive array of sandwiches. My Mediterranean "panini" was no such thing; it may have been served on flatbread, but it was full to bursting with peppers, feta cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato and other tasty item; definitely not pressed into panini form. It was impossible to hold together after the first bite, so I ended up carving it into sloppy pieces with my knife and fork. But it was tasty, and with fries and a drink it was a great value. I didn't want dessert...at least not right away.

And that brings me to the last tasty thing I ate in Pittsburgh: froyo! That's frozen yogurt, for those of you who were unaware of the terminology. Sarah and Sam took Megan and me to Razzie Fresh for some of that tasty stuff. Megan and I shared a cup, which we filled with mango-flavored froyo and then smothered with strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, a small amount of cookie dough, and some mysterious, pastel-colored, square candies. Delicious! Razzie Fresh had about eight flavors of froyo, plus a bar chock full of toppings, from fresh fruit to sprinkles. And the fruit was extremely fresh. I was quite impressed! Best of all, unlike some chains, you pay by the weight of your cup, not by the number of individual toppings you choose.

So, to wrap up, I probably gained about four pounds over the weekend but each one was worth it. And there were so many districts we didn't get to! I didn't get to go to the famous Pimanti Brothers, where cole slaw and fries are apparently stuffed into your sandwich, and I'm sure I missed out on a lot of other places as well. So, your assignment: where should I go next time?