Pittsburgh

I'm in Pittsburgh this week, staying at the Westin on Penn Ave in the cultural district. If you've never been to the 'burgh before, your first visit will likely surprise you. First of all, Pittsburgh is no longer the dirty, gungy, industrial place you are probably expecting. It's got a lot of greenery and a dearth of good restaurants and things to do.

I'm under a mile from the client site, so it's definitely walkable. The stretch along Penn Ave is filled with theatres and restaurants. Here's some of the places I've eaten while here. I'll add some pictures before the week's out.

Primanti Brothers - 2 South Market Places and numerous other locations
A Pittsburgh institution. If yinz guys hadden't had a sandwich with fries and coleslaw n'at on it, yinz haven't experienced Pittsburgh (no, these aren't typos). Big, fat sandwiches on Italian bread with the fries and salad right on the sandwich. Good for lunch when you need to spend the afternoon in a food coma. Also good after a night out at the bars when you need something in your stomach more substantial than Rolling Rock (trust me on the last one).


The Fish Market - 1000 Penn Ave. in the lobby of the Westin hotel.
I ate here with Matt H. and Joe on a business trip here about six years and remember being blown away by the sushi. This place does seafood both cooked and uncooked. Although the rainbow roll didn't have roe eyes and bean sprout antennae like it did the first time I came, it did have sea bass and four other kinds of fish to make up for it. The rare, sushi-grade ahi tuna I had as my main was crispy on the outside for about 2 millimetres, and rare-as-rare-can-be on the inside. It was served with a fragrant rice patty and lightly sauteed onions and red peppers. Good stuff!

Nakama Japanese Steakhouse – 1611 East Carson St.
This trendy bar and restaurant in South Side has excellent sushi and great atmosphere. As the name would imply, it also has teppenyaki, but I didn’t try it. Matt H and I split a maki platter and a sashimi platter between us. The sushi chef came over to us and told us that he was going to do something special for the sashimi platter. When it came, it had thinly-sliced firm snapper, tuna in a light tempura that was so red it could have been carpaccio, and melt-in-your-mouth salmon. The maki were also excellent. Although Fatheads is just down the street, you may not want to leave here.

Fat Heads – 1805 East Carson St.
I don’t know about the food here, but there are 38 beers on tap. I had a Victory Storm Stout which wasn’t bad (a little sweet), but the real memorable one was the Dogfish Head 120 IPA. This is not the kind of IPA you are thinking of. First of all it’s really sweet. Secondly, it has 21% alcohol. They will only serve it as an eight ounce pour, and will only serve one to a customer. You probably wouldn’t be able to drink more them because it’s just so sweet. Each sip was like drinking maple syrup and malt, and then getting kicked in the nuts.

Rolands Seafood Grill – 1904 Penn Ave. (In the Strip District)
Once again didn’t try the food, but the bar has a great selection of taps and a good bartender. I tried the Chocolate Stout – very yummy. Supposedly the food is good here as well. The original Primanti Brothers is just down the street to satisfy those late-night post-bar cravings.

Sonoma Grille - 947 Penn Ave.
This fine establishment is almost right across the street from the Westin. The food is California cuisine which means fresh ingredients with flavours from pretty much everywhere you can imagine. If you like surprises, you can order a four course meal where the chef chooses each dish. There's also a mixed grill where you can choose one, two, or three items such as seared ahi tuna, grilled salmon, pork tenderloin, and so on, each with a dipping sauce and veggies a la carte. The waitress may warn you that the portions are "small". Don't let this put you off as they are "normal-sized" for most humans and not served on serving platter-sized dishes. The wine list is varied and contains about 65 wines by the glass (excellent for the lonely business traveller). I will definitely go back.