Home Turf Tourists – Pittsburgh
Moving to suburban Philly after college, I got a lot of flack about being from Western Pa. “Pittsburgh? That’s not a city!” And then I moved to New York for graduate school. You can just imagine what I heard. Yet, when getting together with my childhood friends, I can think of no more fitting gathering spot than the city of our youth. With a wealth of museums, parks, shopping districts, restaurants and bars Pittsburgh offers both the casual visitor and hardcore tourist a plethora of things to do.
This summer Marilee, Nickie, Ann, Jen and I revisited the Andy Warhol Museum, the largest American museum devoted to a single artist. Want to see Elvis, the Last Supper, Silver Clouds or Brillo Boxes writ large? The Warhol’s got them as well as 4,000 other works of his art.
Along with a love of New York, the Velvet Underground, eccentricity, art and cats, the late pop artist and I share a birthday, August 6. Thus, I found it quite fitting to be there, admiring the best of Andy and his “Wild Raspberries” cookbook, less than two weeks before “our” special day.
A short ride up the Duquesne Incline brought us to observation platform on Mount Washington. From there we gazed out at the three rivers, ball parks, Carnegie Science Museum, the Point and skyline. A few feet away on Grandview Avenue we had a wealth of fine-dining-with-a-view options, including such standbys as the Tin Angel and the Le Mont.
Back on river level we wandered around the Strip District. Once home to factories and mills, produce and meat wholesalers, the Strip now houses bars and restaurants as well as cookware, coffee, book, antique and tchotchke shops. It also hosts a variety of outdoor street markets where we could root through stacks of Myron Cope’s gold-and-black “Terrible Towel” as well as Steelers, Pirates, Penguins and “Pittsburghese” t-shirts.
Back in Shadyside, our home base for the weekend, we shopped and dined along Walnut Street. The tree-lined street offered a pleasant mix of independent boutiques such as Kawaii, The Picket Fence and Shadyside Variety Store and upscale chains such as Apple, Banana Republic and Williams-Sonoma. We walked away with lighter wallets and larger credit card bills but also with some great finds, including a new Prince racquet from Tennis Village.
The best part of visiting Pittsburgh was, and always is, the opportunity to spend time with dear friends whom I could never see often enough.
Pasta lovers, we ordered such entrees as penne marinara with chicken, spinach and ricotta ravioli in a tomato cream sauce, gnocchi and spinach spaghetti with nubs of fresh corn, sliced cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella. Talk about a night of pleasant surprises. My meal, the room temperature spinach spaghetti, provided an intriguing mix of textures – melt-in-your-mouth cheese, crunchy corn, al dente pasta – and flavors. Yet another hit. 
For dessert we indulged Ann’s love of cheesecake and split a slice of chocolate cheesecake five ways. From the dark chocolate crust to the cocoa whipped cream and the chocolate-infused cake, fresh blueberries and strawberries in between, this was a to-stop-your-diet-for dream.
As a relative newcomer to Al Dar, I feel compelled to sample as many dishes as possible. One week I might opt for moussaka or a falafel sandwich with a side of tzatziki or dolmathes and ful medames, a mixture of mashed fava beans, onion, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Another time I may splash out on pan-seared striped bass with artichokes, olives, capers and tomatoes. No matter what I choose, I can expect well-prepared, traditional Middle Eastern/Mediterrenean food. 
The evening ends with a trio of vibrant, all natural sorbets. Made by the chef’s attorney-by-day/pastry-chef-by-night wife, they come in such exotic flavors as blackbery brandy, cactus pear, mango-habanero and the fuchsia-colored hibiscus flower. Definitely a festive end to an extraordinary meal, one that I never would have experienced had it not been for my food-savvy, Philly friends.
In class we worked with high and low acid foods so used both types of equipment. Low acid foods such as vegetables and meats tend to carry botulism so must be preserved at a temperature of 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Hence why we employed a pressure canner for our jars of sliced carrots. With the lid locked in place, the canner cooked away for roughly 35 minutes. Once the cooker had cooled and the lid removed, we wound up with jars of beautiful, copper-colored carrot coins.
For me, nothing beats Sunday brunch. Order a basket of muffins — strawberry, zucchini, and cinnamon crunch among the favorites — or a tofu-black bean-carrot burrito and a cup of coffee, sit back, and relax in one of the restaurant’s many dog-themed, antique-filled rooms. Prefer a mimosa, mojito or bloody Mary at 10:30 on a sultry Sunday morning? No problem. The bar serves them, too. 
Eight years translates into quite a few brunch entrees. At present the favorite is Eggs St. Bernard. Two poached eggs sitting atop smoked salmon and toasted English muffins, all topped with a brandied hollandaise sauce and served alongside steamed green beans. Just delicious!