Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 21 august 2019
Lots to sample on a weekend visit to Pittsburgh dining scene

By MELISSA RAYWORTH So what should you try on
Associated Press a weekend of dining in the
PITTSBURGH (AP) — When Steel City?
celebrity chef Lidia Basti- FRIDAY NIGHT
anich decided to open a Dinner at Smallman Gal-
restaurant in Pittsburgh’s ley in the Strip District will
Strip District in 2001, she ar- give you a choice of four
rived in a neighborhood pop-ups, all offering el-
filled with warehouses and evated comfort food. Try
factories. the chicken and biscuits at
This narrow stretch of the pop-up called Home
streets in the shadow of and finish off your meal
the city’s downtown of- with sweets from the pop-
fice towers had long been up Sultry.
home to food purveyors If you’d prefer a more up-
like Wholey’s Fish Mar- scale vibe, try Zozula’s res-
ket and the Pennsylva- taurant, Whitfield in East
nia Macaroni Company, Liberty. She sources beef
known to locals simply as from a ranch two hours
Penn Mac. away in Bedford, Pennsyl-
But a high-end restaurant vania. The cocktail menu is
helmed by a James Beard strong (try the Queen Bee:
award-winning chef? That bourbon, chamomile hon-
wasn’t something anyone This undated photo provided by the Galley Group shows the exterior of Smallman Galley in ey syrup, lemon and pine-
expected. Pittsburgh’s Strip District, once an industrial neighborhood and now home to robotics startups and apple) and the vibe inside
Nearly two decades later, Argo AI. Associated Press this rehabbed Y.M.C.A.
as Bastianich’s epony- building is effortlessly cool.
mous Pittsburgh restaurant from other cities have flux of new residents drawn chefs like Le are “driving Then hit one of the many
is set to close in Septem- been opening risk-taking to Pittsburgh by Carnegie more of the innovation,” craft-beer taprooms a
ber, the neighborhood and award-winning res- Mellon University, the Uni- and that’s had a positive short drive away in Law-
around it has changed taurants, offering cre- versity of Pittsburgh and ripple effect on restaurants renceville. Eleventh Hour
dramatically. Along what ative spins on American the growing number of in general. Brewing Company is
is now called Robotics food and authentic takes tech companies operating “It’s almost as if the more among the best, offering
Row, tech startups vie for on cuisines like Venezu- in the city. Accustomed to corporate restaurant a sublime nitro stout and a
office space in new build- elan and Vietnamese that dining well in San Francis- groups are having to be range of other brews.
ings while Argo AI tests au- would have been hard to co or Austin or Seattle, he just as innovative” to com- Craving a late-night
tonomous cars. find less than a decade says, these new Pittsburgh pete, he says. snack? There’s a little
In the process, Pittsburgh’s ago. residents are seeking new Chef Bethany Zozula, who izakaya called Umami
restaurant scene has be- Earlier this year, the BBC cuisines and meals worth helms the Whitfield restau- tucked upstairs on the sec-
come almost as unrecog- called Pittsburgh “the Instagramming. rant at Pittsburgh’s Ace ond floor above the Round
nizable. one destination foodies At his food halls, Man- Hotel, says the city’s close- Corner Cantina on Butler
The city has always had shouldn’t miss in 2019,” tica and co-founder Tyler knit community of chefs Street. They serve authen-
spots where you could and The Washington Post Benson host a rotating se- encourage one another. tic Japanese skewers until
drop in for a memorable noted that Pittsburgh has lection of pop-ups, each In this relatively small city, 2 a.m. on weekends.
meal, from the upscale “cuisine worth writing workshopping a different “everybody knows each SATURDAY
Monterey Bay Fish Grotto home about.” dining concept. Their “res- other,” she says. They’re Sleep in, then wander in
on Mount Washington Ben Mantica, who co- taurant incubators” allow willing to help each other the Strip District and grab
to the always-satisfying founded Pittsburgh’s chefs to road-test creative source the right ingredi- an early lunch — either au-
French fries at Essie’s Origi- popular food hall Small- ideas without needing a ents, “or if you need a thentic pierogis at S&D Pol-
nal Hot Dog Shop in Oak- man Galley in 2015 and huge financial investment. phone number of a for- ish Deli or fresh seafood at
land. followed up with Federal Some, like chef Pete Tol- ager.” Wholey’s Fish Market.q
But a mix of homegrown Galley in 2017, credits the man’s Iron Born Pizza (De-
chefs and transplants restaurant revival to an in- troit-style deep dish with a
wickedly good fermented
crust that caramelizes as it
bakes in steel pans), move
on to open their own brick-
and-mortar restaurants.
Others shift to a new con-
cept: Chef Summer Le
had a hit with the Viet-
namese pop-up Bahnmili-
cious at Smallman Galley
in 2017, and opened Sha-
ka (Hawaiian poke bowls
and Vietnamese pho) this
month at Federal Galley.
Brian McCollum, who has This undated photo provided by Galley Group shows Elevated
been organizing Pittsburgh chicken sandwiches by chef Phillip Milton at “Which Came
This undated photo provided by the Galley Group shows Poke Restaurant Week since First?” a chicken- and egg-focused pop-up at Federal Galley
bowl by chef Summer Le at the Shaka pop-up at Federal Galley. in Pittsburgh.
Associated Press 2012, says independent Associated Press