Destination: Pittsburgh

We spent the weekend with our good friends in Pittsburgh, and "seeing the city" pretty much turned into "eating our way thru the city," which is just fine with me. 

It's an interesting little city, isn't it? 

I could never live there myself, because those curvy, hilly roads would have me permanently terrified and perhaps vomiting out the car window. 

But.  Man.  We had some good eats.

I'd like to apologize in advance for the lack of photos. I was too busy chatting and chewing and being generally involved with my food to have the time/energy to photograph it. Hopefully descriptions will suffice. Then you must venture out on your own.

• The Church Brew Works: A low-key pub-atmosphere located in a gorgeous converted church. I was feeling meh from a 6-hour drive and wanted to order light. Went with a sald - The Greek: Romaine, radicchio, chilled marinated orzo salad, feta, cucumbers, pickled red onion, tomato, and kalamata olives served with a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette. It was awesome. Also tried the sweet potato fries at my friend's recommendation, and they were disturbingly addictive.

{totally not us. but this was the spectacular view!}

• The Grandview Saloon: Next stop was up to the top of Mt. Washington to take in the gorgeous nighttime city view. It was completely breathtaking. We got a table on the patio at the Grandview Saloon with the express purpose of oogling the view, and did so quite successfully. We meant to get drinks, but no one really came to our table to offer us any, and we were too lazy/tired to hunt them down. But, the view was enough!

•  Pamela's:  Tiny breakfast joint in the midst of the University of Pitt campus. Even though it was summertime, there seemed to be a lot of rumpled, sweatpants-clad undergrads desperate for eggs and pancakes. I had the California French Toast - whole wheat raisin bread dipped in cinnamon-vanilla egg batter, topped with strawberries. Oh yes. Oh oh yes. Jared had the Chocolate Chip Banana Hotcakes - their famous super thin/crispy-edged crepe-style pancakes stuffed with bananas, chocolate chips and whipped cream. Awesome.

• Mad Mex: Let's just say, Jared and I haven't stopped talking about Mad Mex since we left our little table in the restaurant. And now I'm kind of trying to figure out when I can make a trip to the one in Philly. It's a tiny little place with a hole-in-the-wall vibe and I had to use the glow of my cell phone to try and read my menu in the dark - but the food is awesome, tons of vegetarian options, and they're committed to using fresh ingredients. It took me forever to order because I literally wanted every single thing on the menu. I finally decided on the fried fish tacos - cornmeal crusted tilapia, spicy cabbage slaw, avocado slices, cilantro and chipotle aioli, with a side of avocado-tomatillo salsa, rice and black beans. And oh sweet mama it was glorious.Top it off with a glass of red sangria - perfection.

• Dave and Andy's Homemade Ice Cream: It smells like a giant waffle, thanks to the homemade waffle cones. Since we were post Mad Mex, I kept it simple with a scoop of cookies and cream and a scoop of chocolate cookies and cream. It's ultra creamy and thick. I thought the chocolate version had a better flavor than the plain old cookies and cream, which almost tasted buttery.

• Square Cafe: A super cute, totally packed breakfast spot with a simple retro vibe. It's tight quarters inside, with a decent-sized sidewalk-dining-area (we opted out of the outdoors because it was probably 110% humidity and I just couldn't do it). After much deliberation I got the Lemon Ricotta pancakes. They were tasty, but a little heavy for my liking, and after inhaling the entire plate I was reminding of why I do not normally order pancakes. Let the record show that I, Kathryn, shall never order pancakes again, because they make me feel like a giant carbo-inflated blob who wants to vomit for approximately 6 hours.

{Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, my french toast, my giant pancakes}

Avenue (Long Branch, NJ)

On Saturday Jared and I had one of those perfectly perfect dinners where all circumstances unite for a dining-experience-to-remember. The weather was perfect. The waves were lapping. The food was incredible. The drinks were plentiful.

I've been trying to drag Jared down to Long Branch to go to Avenue for years. Literally. We finally made the trek and man oh man it was worth it.

Avenue has a really stunning outdoor dining area, a cordoned-off section of the boardwalk so you're literally eating right over the beach. I'd have prefered a little less techno James-Bond-esque music pumping thru the speakers and a little more ocean waves, but other than that, perfection.

The inside of the restaurant is also gorgeous. All very white-washed, open and beachy (though, more French Riviera than Jersey Shore). The bar was packed, even at 5 o'clock, and there was a wedding taking place on the roof deck.

Avenue also has an exclusive beach club (see photo above). We decided we are really going to need to pay whatever exorbitant fee is involved so we can remain close to the incredibly good cocktails while reading on those extremely enticing round beds.

 

To start, the Avenue Salad. You should really eat this. Mixed greens, just a hint of very thinly shaved veggies (tomatoes, radishes, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers), fennel, avocado, and grilled shrimp. In a very light, non-overwhelming lemony vinaigrette. In my mind, an example of The Perfect Salad.

Also had a very tasty mojito.

Jared did the 3 course prix fixe menu. 1st course, shrimp cocktail.

Here, you can also see Jared's drink of choice - The Summerhouse (Hendricks, St. Germaine, orange bitters).

A quote from when we returned home that night: "That drink is all I want to ever touch my lips again."

So. There's Jared's recommendation.

Since I had a pretty substantial salad, I didn't want to overdo it on the entree. I was delighted when I saw that the seafood ravioli I'd been lusting over was also available as a half portion. Perfect serving size. And SO. FREAKING. GOOD. I hate to even utter it, because you know where my loyalties lie, but this ravioli was 10x better than Due Mari's (I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!). Due Mari's was a little bit chewier... you actually got chunks of shrimp... but Avenue's ravioli was a perfectly delectable combination of crabmeat, shrimp, scallops and ricotta. Sitting in some sort of light lemony sauce, with a heartier fresh tomato sauce piled in the center. Good gracious it was excellent.

Jared got a burger. Or perhaps, as you can see from the picture, fries with a side of burger. But let me tell you those are some goooood fries. Burger was also very good, but to quote from the man himself, the bun tasted like it came from a Little League game. Let's work on the bun Avenue - it's a burger's crowning glory!

For dessert, Jared selected the chocolate pot de creme from the prix fixe. Smooth and not too sweet, he was a happy camper.

I was extremely full at this point, but felt it was my duty to sample the dessert selection as well (read: cannot refuse sweets). On the waiter's recommendation I got the classic profiteroles, which were very good, but a bit boring. I think I should have been more adventurous and gone for the pistachio cake or chocolate and pistachio crepes.

For a memorable meal right on the water, you should go here. Soon.

The Little Tuna (Haddonfield, NJ)

I was in South Jersey on Saturday - land of reesees peecees and I'm done my homework - visiting friends. We went into Haddonfield for lunch. Man is that town adorable. Very quaint and historic looking. One can almost forget she is in the uncharted waters of the southern half of the state.*

We ended up at The Little Tuna right on the main street and ate outside on the sidewalk. Super cute. The tables and chairs were slatted and wooden and kind of looked like they were going to collapse the moment we sat down but no worries - we all survived; the furniture was sturdier than it appeared.

In short, everything was delicious. Everything on the lunch menu looked amazing and was reasonably priced.

Alas, I have no photos because I was so busy shoving food into my mouth and delighting in the perfect temperature and stimulating conversation that I was too lazy to break out the (crappy) cell phone. Apologies.

I started with a cup of their famous lobster bisque soup. And oh yes. Ohhhh yes. It was mighty good. Creamy and not overly-salty... a sadly common occurrence in soup, especially seafood ones. Giant chunks of lobster - not the usual Where's Waldo-esque hunt for lobster remnants, but truly large hunks of lobster floating happily on my spoon. Awesome. Get it. A cup is very filling. I probably could have had that and a small salad and called it a day.

But no. That'd be no fun. So a friend and I decided to split two things. The Blackened Fried Group wrap was awesome - a tinge spicy, perfectly cooked fish, really tasty fries on the side. It comes with stoneground sauce (a mix of mayo and mustard) - but I got it on the side. The Garlic Charred Jumbo Shrimp salad was tasty - with a "limey Caesar dressing" - but I found the shrimp to be a bit too salty/garlicky for my liking.

The service was fast, outdoor ambiance was lovely, and very reasonably priced. A perfect Saturday lunch.

*Just kidding! But really - South Jersey is kind of a different beast....