Perhaps best-known for their pizza, The Porch at Schenley is a semi-gourmet little restaurant perched on the cusp of Schenley Park. Also, it happens to be owned by Eat’n Park, a Denny’s-esque restaurant that The Porch works hard to leave out of any marketing. From what I’ve heard from Eat’n Park, I can’t blame them. Yet, The Porch has a good reputation and I wanted to see whether that rep was founded in truth.
Without much hesitation, I knew what I wanted as soon as I looked over the menu. Made from organic grass-fed beef and topped with BBQ beef short ribs, crispy shallots, tomato jam and a choice of cheese, I knew The Porch Burger had to get in me. First I had to confirm that the crispy shallots were like onion rings (they were) and that the tomato jam was like ketchup (it was), then I went ahead and ordered medium-rare, hoping for the best.
Unbeknownst to me, the burger also came with some hash-brown-like smashed up potato things and I found this to be a much more pleasant surprise than the usual pickle or veggie garnishings I find. Also pleasantly surprising was the fact that my burger was cooked to a perfect medium-rare. This has become a bit of a rarity for me in Pittsburgh and I was glad to see The Porch was on top of it. But, such a burger still needs good toppings and I am happy to report that The Porch Burger had these. Yet, while I had nothing to complain about, I couldn’t help but notice the BBQ short rib didn’t really add anything to the burger because the tomato jam and shallots just overpowered it. Again, not a complaint, but something that could be planned better.
The Porch Burger was one of the best burgers I’ve had in Pittsburgh so far. I’m looking forward to a return trip to see how they treat their pizza, especially when they drop it to 1/2 price on weeknights from 9-11.
