As an apparent result of success, Italian Village Pizza expanded recently into a few new locations. One of which was in Fox Chapel/Blawnox and when the wife and I needed to get out and get some grub one night, we found ourselves in the friendly confines of a place with possibly the greatest happy hour hours ever (7-9). And while I enjoyed a Yuengling, I was really at Italian Village Pizza for their namesake.

After a lot of thought and conversation with our awesome waiter, I decided on the Buffalo Chicken Pizza because the guy had lived in New York for a while and said it was a good choice. What can I say? I’m a sucker for pizza suggestions from people who have experienced great pizza.

It took a bit to get my pizza cooking, and when it came out I couldn’t wait to dig in. So dig in I did and must admit I was somewhat disappointed. Had this been a grilled chicken pizza, it would have been pretty good, but the buffalo sauce and spicy flavor was a bit lacking. The dough was pretty much in New York fashion, not doughy but not crispy either.

In general it just seemed kind of like a safe place to get some pizza. Not a whole lot to complain about, but nothing to push people towards either.

Alas, the road trip had to come to an end someday. But that someday did not have to go without delicious food and our new town of Pittsburgh welcomed us with open arms and a lengthy wait at a burger place called Burgatory, in Fox Chapel. We were taken there by my family in Pittsburgh and they informed us that Burgatory simply had the best burgers in town. It was quite a claim, but one that I was eager to test in city that has “burg” in its name.

The place has a healthy number of burger options, including some unique meats like elk, bison and crab, but I was more interested in their custom menu. There were definitely some choices there to set the place apart from The Counter and the like. The biggest of which being the option to get a “Rub” for the burger, which is basically a seasoning. For my burger, I chose their regular hormone-free beef on a brioche bun, rubbed with Memphis BBQ seasoning and topped with Buffalo Cheddar, Sriracha Remoulade, a Fried Egg and Applewood Smoked Bacon. It came with homemade chips instead of fries, but we ordered a basket of Truffled Gorgonzola Pommes Frites to make up for it.

When all the food arrived and I began to have my way with it, I realized Burgatory was really something special. The fries were cooked to a perfect crisp and had just the right amount of salt, truffle and gorgonzola. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, the egg was nicely runny and the bacon was deliciously crispy. It all added up to a delicious meal and the perfect welcome to Pittsburgh. The burger bar had been set high and I was eager to taste how the rest of Pittsburgh would compare.