My Trip to Pittsburgh
I just got back from a great trip to Pittsburgh, to explore my friend Joe’s hometown. On Friday Night, I got to check out Station Square, The Georgetown Inn, MATRIX Night Club, and Primanti Bros. (amazing cheesesteak w/ fries & coleslaw on it!). Saturday led to some college football watching, catching Joe’s cousin’s manager-pitch baseball game (he’s 6yrs old), a great dinner cooked by Joe’s mom, and then a trip to the Oakland area to see CMU, PITT, and of course, India Garden. Sunday was the Steelers-Seahawks game (a disappointing 21-0 loss for the Hawks), a BBQ for Joe’s grandmother’s birthday, and Sunday Night football over Quaker Steak & Lube wings. That’s the rundown, read on for the reviews and details.
Food in Pittsburgh is awesome. I feel like all we did was eat, and aside from the 20 billion pounds I probably put on during the trip, I loved it! Below are my ratings, on a 5-star scale (not your traditional “5-star is hoighty toighty expensive” type scale, but on what I liked the best.)
The Georgetown Inn: 4.5 Stars - I had the Strip Steak Siciliana, which was cooked to perfect temperature and had a tasty parmesan garlic crust. It was preceded by a nice spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. All this was great, but they fell down on the Onion soup. The onions were under-done and still too firm, and the broth was a bit bland. Still, a nice meal overall. The view of the city from atop Mount Washington was killer. I’d definitely go back again, and just get the wedding soup instead.
Primanti Bros: 4.5 Stars – Oooo Cheesesteak! This place was excellent. Gotta love french fries on top of your sandwich! I might do without the coleslaw if I were to make a similar sandwich myself, but as it was, it was hard to top.
Sheetz MTO: 3.5 Stars – I’ve never before ordered my meal via a touch screen device. It was pretty cool. The best part was when I was ordering my sausage, egg, and cheese on a croissant sandwich and it asked me if I wanted to add sliced pepperoni to it. OBVIOUSLY, I did! For a made-to-order (MTO) restaurant in a gas station, the food wasn’t half bad. LOL – this place cracked me up.
Joe’s Mom’s Cooking - 6 Stars – Clearly, I could never give a low rating to a cook who takes me into her home and offers me tasty tasty beef
Plus, I got to try Pirogues (I hope I spelled that right), and they were darn tasty!
India Garden: 5 Stars – Soooo good! I had the Chicken Tikka Masala, one of my favorite Indian dishes, with 9 out of 10 on the spiciness scale. I’d go back and order it again 100 more times if I lived anywhere close!
Joe’s Dad’s BBQ (for Joe’s grandma’s birthday): 6 Stars – Excellent burgers!
Quaker Steak & Lube: 4.5 Stars – Great wings, big beers! The wings were much better than anything I can get on the West Coast, for sure! My faves were the Louisiana Lickers sauce, but the Hot were really good too.
So there’s the food reviews. Now onto the action! First off, MATRIX. Best club I’ve ever been to outside of Vegas. It does the whole 4 rooms in one club thing, with a different theme in each room. But it’s not pretentious, it’s not snobby, and it’s not expensive. They start Friday nights with $1 drinks from 10-midnight, and they pack the place every weekend, I’m told. The music selection was excellent, and the people there were exciting, friendly, and hot Plus, the layout of this place was perfect – traffic flow and bar access were a cinch.
The Seahawks game, unfortunately, did not go so well, with the Hawk’s offence deciding to fly back home during half time, leaving the defense on the field all but a measly 5 minutes. It was cool to be in Heinz Field, though! The fans there are great, and I appreciate the crap they gave me for being an opposing fan, all the while being kind hosts.
And so now I’m back home. It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed again, although, thanks to Joe’s sister Leanne agreeing to share a bed with her older sister Lisa, I had a very cumfy bed to sleep in while I was there. T-minus 2.5 weeks until Vegas, baby!
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