It’s not unusual for people to associate Pittsburgh with steel or the Steelers. I recently returned from this river city having spent time eating my way through the various neighborhoods.   

After Esther, my rubber chicken and I Jet Blued to Pittsburgh, we checked in at the Courtyard by Marriott in Shadyside complete with a comfy bed and much needed work desk for my computer. First food spot! It was off to lunch at Point Brugge Café, European café mode, in the neighborhood called Point Breeze. I sampled an appetizer of an artichoke and spinach concoction, followed by an order of lentil soup with lamb sausage.  

A walking (and eating) tour of the Lawrenceville section is home to the “16:62 Design Zone”, a funky district that includes antique shops, artist galleries, boutiques and accessories. Lawrenceville is one of those up-and-coming revitalized neighborhoods. Sherris Moreira-Byers of Sole City Tours conducted the tour, which commenced at Dozen Bakeshop and Dozen Cupcakes (www.dozenbakeshop.com).  

The bakeshop on Butler Street, one of five locations, provides some of the best cupcakes going. Partners James Gray, the recipe provider, and Andrew Twigg (whose grandfather once lived in Lawrenceville) have recently won an award for having the best buns! Andrew told me that it’s their Lawrenceville locale doing the baking. Along with their baked goods, they also set up sandwiches as well. I found “Dozen” at the Andy Warhol Museum as well as the being the dessert supplier for Tamari Restaurant…later about that.

We stopped at places such as Borelli-Edwards Galleries, where the artist showed us how Japanese woodcut printings were made using hundreds of colors, with each painting requiring a separate wood cut for each of the colors used in the design. Neat! Then there was Oriental Carpets and Elements, a fashion and furnishing store from the past and present followed by a backstage tour of a local theatre called Grey Box Theatre, where they were rehearsing “Top Dog/Underdog”.  Food, again. Espresso Mano and Frankie’s Extra Long, noted for their wieners.   

After checking out a statue called “The Doughboy”, we continued to walk until the “It’s 15 minutes since we ate and I’m feeling a little week” was evident.  It was time for cocktails as we were carted off to a local bar called Brillobox.  

Believe it or not it was now time for dinner at Tamari's, an infusion of Asian and Latin American cuisine. I began with a pretty good sake that was not filtered. We all had a small appetizer of skewered and grilled items served with three dipping sauces - ponzu butter, ginger and chimichurri. Sushi was important! Maki rolls. One was a lobster roll in two portions. The lobster tail was filled with some of the tail's meat and prepared “tempura” while the maki rolls had some other good stuff with it. There was also a TNT roll with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, masago, avocado and tempura fried. Naruto roll of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, tobiko, wrapped with cucumber, served with ponzu. As an entree I had Charred Serrano Hoi Sin crusted Lamb Lollipops with sweet potato mash and cilantro-mint chimichurri.    

Steel Away To Pittsburgh - Part 2