Shady Grove is probably best known for it’s messy Wednesday night wine night when they drop their bottle prices by half. But like most other places in Shadyside known for drinks, Shady Grove also sports a sizable food menu and it’s not just bar food. Of course, I still made my way to the menu that was more like bar food and found myself a pretty-looking burger.
Pennsylvania has some crazy alcohol laws. One of these is that places that sell six packs of beer also have to sell immediately consumable food. You know, like a restaurant. Clever, enterprising humans in Pittsburgh have realized that the easiest and cheapest way to do this is through selling hot dogs, so Pittsburgh is full of crappy little hot dog spots with overpriced beer. Despite the name, D’s Six Pax & Dogz is not one of these places.
EDIT: Stack’d II quickly became The Ave which quickly became the Tipsy Cow. Gone are the sandwiches, but you can read about the Tipsy Cow here.
While the list of great sequels is quite short, a few stand out. And joining the ranks of X-Men 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze is Stack’d II (hopefully someday they’ll update their site to include this). As you may recall, I once paid a visit to Stack’d in Shadyside, a build-your-own burger concept that found success on sales of beer, keeping their burgers cheap and not by the quality of burgers being pumped out. In fact, this was so successful that they made a sequel that swapped burgers for cheesesteaks.
One might expect a place called Square Cafe to be decorated with all sorts of squares. Perhaps some rectangles or trapezoids to mix things up, but certainly quadrilaterals. Well one would be wrong because Square Cafe in Regent Square is pretty much fully interior-decorated with circles. Alas, when I overcame my confusion I was able to get down to the food.
EDIT: The place has been bought out and is going to be converted to a Southern Restaurant called Buford’s. Hopefully it still appreciates its Michigan folk.
We Michigan people are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. So it stands to reason that my brethren can be found in Pittsburgh, which is just a few short hours on the turnpike from America’s High Five. Owned by a fellow Michigander, Blue Line Grille sits across the street from Consol Arena and has decided to play host to Michigan games. As you might expect, this place was already a winner in my heart, but I still had to try the food to ensure I would be coming back for meals or just drink specials.
Slowly, but surely I am beginning to recognize the ethnic offerings Pittsburgh has for me. It shouldn’t be a surprise considering the universities here and the international students they attract. One of those internationals led me to Hunan Bar, a hot pot restaurant that I couldn’t wait to get to.
A long, long time ago, in a lifetime far, far away, a friend once told me about a place called Roam Artisan Burgers in San Francisco. At the time, I was riding the wave of Umami Burger and all the other delicious burgers being pumped out of LA, so I didn’t pay too much attention to burgers happening up north. Yet, when the opportunity came to make my way to Roam, I pulled it off and even convinced a few people to join me.
I’m not sure what it is about my two business school trips, but both have somehow led me to eat Turkish food, which I love but certainly eat rarely. First I went to Cafe Turko in Seattle and this time it was Anatolian Kitchen in Palo Alto. Based on my experience, the menu seemed pretty authentic. Of course, that is just the opinion of a man who has been to Turkey once, but in my mind that was enough.
The world may be full of Mexican restaurants, but little taquerias are kinda confined to certain parts of the USA. Fortunately, while in San Jose we happened upon a place called Tacos al Pastor #2. The whereabouts of #1 are unknown, but the thought was that any taqueria deserving of a sequel was deserving of my stomach.
What do you do when you’re stuck in San Francisco’s Financial District late at night and looking for an actual meal? I sure as hell didn’t know the answer, but my friends guided me to Osha Thai, a place that apparently has multiple locations, but the one we went to was ready and willing to take in a sizable crew. After a lengthy debate about what to eat, who wanted to be a part of the family-style and how I was going to get my share of meat, we made our order.