Michigan people are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Not only that, but those people have a lot of pride, and as one of them I can’t say I blame them. That’s why, when I was in New York and was told a restaurant called The Grey Dog was run by Wolverines, I had to offer them my patronage. The highlight of its menu is a section called Michigan Sandwiches and despite the fact that none of them seemed to have any correlation with Michigan itself, I knew one of them had to get in me.
EDIT: This location is closed, but if you still want fried pizza there are other Forcellas to be found.
While in New York, I ended up making my way to Forcella in the East Village to grab some pizza. After all, no trip to New York really counts unless pizza is involved. Forcella’s pizza, though, was much more Italian than New York-style and even that Italian had a twist to it. That twist was a little something called Montanara, which is more than just a combination of the state of Montana and marinara.
Casual dining chains are a weird thing. Applebee’s gets a bad rap, but somehow Chili’s seems to be immune from negativity. Then there are places like Olive Garden and Red Robin that people sincerely love. It’s a strange world. But after a few people in my life talked about the goodness of Red Robin’s burgers (myself having not eaten there since the age of 10), I found myself at one of those restaurants and in need of a burger (as always).
In an afternoon filled with wandering around Lawrenceville for food and drink, a group of us finally found ourselves at Franktuary. With a church-esque theme, Franktuary fits right in to Pittsburgh, which seems to have more churches per capita than Vatican City. And it’s not just a little hot dog joint. Franktuary is a full-on restaurant specializing in hot dogs, but with a lot else to offer.
As I’ve mentioned before, the Big Burrito restaurant mafia in Pittsburgh is kind of a big deal. Such a big deal, in fact, that I recently visited a third member of their family: Casbah. Featuring a menu with dubious claims of Mediterranean origin, there could be no doubt that the ever-changing menu looked nothing short of delicious. It also looked nothing short of beyond a student’s budget, which is why I found myself there with the in-laws.
In addition to Primanti Brothers, Pittsburgh’s other claim to food fame is Pamela’s Diner, a spot that POTUS himself makes sure to hit up every time he’s in the steel city. Breaking away from the diner norm, Pamela’s specializes in a little something called Crepe Hotcakes and they are supposed to be the cat’s meow.
Perched in the top of a building on top of Mount Washington and featuring a bar design that hasn’t been updated since the seventies or was intentionally painted to look that way is Monterey Bay Fish Grotto. Monterey Bay features one of the best views of Pittsburgh’s three rivers and downtown. It also features fish in a menu that even made me believe seafood could be a viable food source.
I am a man of strong principles and one of these is that beans have no place in chili. Sorry, that’s not how we did it where I’m from and I intend to keep it that way. To see how this would fly, I started looking for food ideas at ThorsFork.com which helped me put together a chili recipe to participate in a chili cookoff and took home the grand prize. So here it is, the Award Winning Unvegan Original No Beans About It Chili Recipe.
Loyal readers may know that this food blog adheres to an almost exception-free policy of not re-reviewing restaurants. First impressions are the most important impressions and that is why this unwritten policy is in place. However, when a restaurant innovates or completely reworks a menu, they could be considered for another feature on the Unvegan. Typically, this has been relegated to Taco Bell, but another faux-Mexican restaurant called Mad Mex is continuing that trend. Namely, this innovation is called The Gobblerito and it means Thanksgiving in a tortilla.
Where Philly has cheesesteaks, Pittsburgh has Primanti Brothers, which is both a restaurant and a term for the sandwich style that represents the city. Rather than just throwing cheese and steak into a hoagie bun and calling it a day like on the other side of the state (I mean seriously, cheesesteak is delicious but hardly revolutionary), Primanti Brothers sandwiches are rich with blue collar history and innovation.