Getaway
Fabulous Pittsburgh Food Finds
Drink (in a Church), Nosh (on a Walk) & Shop (Where the Chefs Do)
By Paris Wolfe
My parents are from Western Pennsylvania so I should know Pittsburgh. I know all about yinz, gutchies and gumband. I eat no-bake cookies and gobs. And before I was introduced to “Barney” on TV, I thought everyone said “red up” when they meant “clean up.”
Still, it took until this year before I devoted 24 hours playing in the Steel City. I went armed with my GPS to untangle the web of freeways and one-way city streets. The elegant Renaissance Pittsburgh — in the historic Fulton Building — was my headquarters for the Friday-Saturday stay and offered its own Pittsburgh-centric room touches.
We indulged in sampling of the city’s myriad food experiences. It’s culinary wealth has me eager to return.
Here’s where we went and what we did.
- Church Brew Works, 3525 Liberty Ave. (412-688-8200, churchbrew.com). We left downtown Cleveland at 3 p.m. Friday and, with stops, arrived at the church on time — 5:30 p.m. — to meet my cousin and her husband. After all, doesn’t everyone from Northeast Ohio have family in Pittsburgh?
The Church Brew Works opened in 1996 in a repurposed 1902 Catholic church. The owners maintained as much of the original structure as possible, including the hand-painted ceiling and the pews shortened for seating. The confessionals store alcohol, and the vibrant blue altar is used as brewing space. The building is one of a few repurposed Catholic churches that retains original stained glass windows.
The food and beer — note, two IPA offerings — are as worthy of admiration as the building.
- ’Burgh Bits and Bites Food Tours (412-901-7150, burghfoodtour.com). Sylvia McCoy is genius with food tours that sample the cultural anthropology of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. A first-generation American, she brought the idea home from an outing in Greenwich Village and launched the first excursion nine years ago in The Strip District. Today she has 10 guides leading tourists through six neighborhoods.
Our tour started Saturday morning at Pitaland in the outlying Brookline neighborhood. Owned and operated by two generations of the Chahine family, Pitaland is part Lebanese grocer, part wholesale food company. Owner Joe Chahine welcomed us with snacks and an explanation of his business selling grape leaves by the pound, hummus and other products.
While I wanted the Strip District tour (unavailable on Saturday because of crowds) I enjoyed our trip to Pitaland along with stops at a Mexican grocer, two traditional bakeries, a coffee shop and a now-shuttered smokehouse. For $42, visitors get more than enough food for a meal — pitas and hummus, tacos, baked goods, pork belly — and a bit of history and food facts.
- The Strip District (stripdistrictneighbors.com). Before “foodie” was part of the popular lexicon, chefs shopped Strip District wholesalers to pick up produce, meat, cheese and other menu must-haves. Then, the Food Network helped create a string of celebrity chefs, and wannabes followed their favorite kitchen professionals into this select, though somewhat gritty, enclave of edibles east of downtown Pittsburgh. In the past 20 years, the district has evolved to please palates of both professional and non-professional cooks and food lovers.
The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company serves up historic ambiance with basic metal shelves stacked high with Italian specialty items, from industrial-sized tubs of Nutella and 10-ounce boxes of macaroni shaped like farm animals for the grandkids, to glass cases of imported cheeses and charcuterie for grown-up gatherings. Across the street, Robert Wholey & Co. Inc. offers professionals and homies 24-ounce lobster tails, eels on ice and tanks of schooling fish.
The setting is sophisticated at Mon Aimee Chocolat, which supplies chocolates from 45 countries as well as from Pittsburgh-based confectioners. You’ll find olive oil, seasoned salt and kitchen supplies among other items. Perhaps the only evidence of a real chain on the Strip is the Penzey’s Spices outlet — although its fragrant spice assortment defies chain stereotypes.
Bring a cooler and your appetite. I wish I had. Street vendors, food trailers and restaurants tempt with tastes from Thai to tapas.
The Strip District runs between 13th and 33rd Streets and includes three main roads — Smallman Street, Penn Avenue and Liberty Avenue.
- Wigle Whiskey (2401 Smallman St., 412-224-2827, wiglewhiskey.com). With its educational tour featuring spirits and history, the Wigle Whiskey distillery on Smallman in The Strip District is a must. If your GPS takes you to their Barrelhouse aging location on the Northside (closed in winter), reroute to the mothership or visit both locations in warmer weather.
Tours — which require a reservation and cost $25 — include a craft cocktail ($7 to $10 value) and simple sips of five whiskeys. With dramatic intonation and exaggerated gestures, our guide transfixed our attention on the Whiskey Rebellion — the first taxation of an American product and the men who protested it, including distillery namesake Philip Wigle. The entertainment and education factors about this 18th century protest of Pittsburgh origin are priceless. Oh, and the spirits are worthy, too.
The flagship product is an organic rye whiskey, which, like all but one spirit, is organic. Sometimes, such as with ginger-whiskey, it costs more to go organic; locally grown, organic ginger costs 14 times that found at a regular restaurant supplier. But Wigle is about more than product and profit. The owners and staff are committed to changing the food production model.
When the history lesson and distillery tour ended, we squeezed through the tasting room crowd to sample bourbon, absinthe and gin. The absinthe is a departure from tradition, including hints of orange peel and mint that challenge the strong anise flavor. The company also makes four bitters — aromatic, lavender, orange and mole. Available in 10 states, Wigle Whiskey products are coming to Ohio this spring.
- Monterey Bay Fish Grotto (1411 Grandview Ave., 412-481-4414, montereybayfishgrotto.com). Recently renovated and reinvigorated, this restaurant takes fish to new levels — both figuratively with a new menu and literally to the elegant ninth and 10th floors of a luxury apartment building on Mount Washington.
Chef Eric Wallace joined the restaurant in 2016. In addition to 20 years as a chef, he’s been nose-to-nose with the freshest, best fish as a salesman for fishmonger and Philadelphia-based Samuels & Sons.
Wallace explains that fish are subject to little gravity in their watery environment. As a result, their flesh is delicate with connective tissue. “Handling is key,” he says. “Samuels & Sons cuts them as soon as they come out of the water, packs them on ice and delivers to me the next day.”
That TLC shows in the flavors the chef sends from the kitchen. We were overwhelmed by clean, clear flavors of ceviche with corn, mango, pineapple, cilantro and lime. The unexpected star on our intimate lounge table was a charred octopus with baby potatoes, purple mustard and sherry vinegar. It was like eating fine steak. The finale was a deconstructed grilled cheese sandwich using bruleed angel food cake slices stuffed with sweetened cream cheese. Monterey Bay Fish Grotto lives up to its high-level location.
