Monday, January 24, 2011

January 24 Pittsburgh Weekly Food Favorites

Gosia's Pierogies cooked to order at the Pittsburgh Public Market.
A weekly list of what I like in and around town, in no specific order. If you haven't tried Pittsburgh Public Market, I'll make that my first recommendation. Two vendors have made the list again, and there are many more I haven't gotten to try. It's important to mention that I receive no free food, nor compensation from anyone on this list.

1.  Bananas Foster MarshmallowsPgh Marshmallow Factory @ Pittsburgh Public Market

2.  Chicago Hot Dog, Fries & Root Beer, Dee's Six Pax & Hot Dogz, Regent Square
Dee's gets the balance right:corner bar, sports & conversation. Beer & good food.

3.  Vegetarian Brunch @ the Zenith, Southside
Spicy green beans, peanut noodles & stuffed grape leaves. Entree & buffet  just $10 on Sundays.

4.   Cumin & Chili Chick Peas, Trader Joe's, Penn Avenue.
Mixed in with some homemade shrimp bisque...the result was very delicious.

5.  Sweet Potato Pierogies, Gosia's PierogiesPittsburgh Public Market & other locations
Sweet Potato Pierogies, prepared at home by me as dessert with brown sugar Riesling glaze.

6.  Valle de Santuario Peruvian Coffee, Counter Culture Coffee @ Espresso A Mano, Lawrenceville
A well balanced cup of Joe. (balancing on my knee)

7.  Maple & Nut Cinnamon RollOakmont Bakery

Barista of the Week: Alan at Tarentum Borders Bookstore. Warm, friendly and welcoming on a bitterly cold day. The coffee is not my favorite, but Alan more than made up for it. Sometimes service and attitude define the experience.

Pizza of the Week: Aiello's, Squirrel Hill, 2 slices "off the top" & plain. Nothing new here. I've been a loyal customer since 1988 and couldn't be happier with their pizza. Of note, it's great hot or cold. More on this later...

Spice of the Week: Minced Garlic, from Penzey's Spices in the Strip District. If you sign up for their mailing list, they send you catalogs that sometimes have coupons for free jars of their spices, which are of very good quality.

That's all folks!


7 comments:

  1. Anonymous1/24/2011

    Took my first trip to the Pittsburgh Public Market this Saturday and loved it. Couple that with a new Steelers shirt from a vendor on Penn and that's a good day.

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  2. Anonymous1/24/2011

    Is the spelling error D's?

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  3. The winner is Sarah from dkscooks! Thank you for being my outsourced proofreaders! Keep an eye open for the next one...

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  4. Should I be buying minced garlic at Penzey's instead of at the supermarket? Is it better or did you just want to plug Penzey's?

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  5. Good question. I'd never say go with a dried garlic over fresh. You are correct: I was just plugging Penzey's because I got a coupon for a free jar. They have a nice catalog with recipes submitted by readers. I like that I can find things there in one place that I can't find elsewhere. Sometimes minced dried garlic can be a reasonable shortcut (like when camping or when pressed for time or out of fresh garlic). I'd always stay away from granulated garlic--it's pretty nasty stuff and people tend to overuse it and induce awful gas in their guests. Oh, and yes Penzey's is kind of pricey but they source their stuff responsibly, it seems.

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  6. Just wanted to say that I also enjoyed your visit to Borders in Tarentum.
    Thank you very much for the kind words and the distinction of being named a Barista of the Week.
    Thanks for stopping in over the weekend and telling Kerry about the site; I'll be visiting here often.

    Alan

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  7. Thank you, Alan. The pleasure was mine, and you have quite the following. Borders have been a valuable resource for their respective communities. It's great to see a chain store that allows their employees to be real people and manage with personality, and you are a fine example of that.

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