When it comes to restaurants with multiple locations, it is fairly easy to write off other branches as duplicates of the same model with the same menu and offering. After all, this has been the model for chains and franchises for decades.
But for Park Bruges in Highland Park, sister restaurant of Point Brugge in Point Breeze, the subtle differences make this restaurant almost a unique entity in and of itself.
I'm going to guess that you've never had food from Uzbekistan. I know I hadn't until our visit to Kavsar on Mount Washington, and I consider myself to be quite well traveled.
In fact, if you would have asked me what Uzbeki food was prior to our visit, I probably would've fumbled in an attempt to make something up. Now that I have tried it for myself, I can try and give describing it a shot.
I am a staunch critic of the pizza scene in Pittsburgh.
It seems like there is a standard recipe that every pizzeria in the city uses when making their pies. The crusts are all the same, the sauce is the same, and the preparation style is virtually all the same.
The pizzas are all good enough when you want a quick meal, but when you go to different shops you really can't say much to distinguish them from each other.
Sure, there are places to get a good pizza at a restaurant that isn't a pizzeria (La Tavola, anyone?), but when it comes to takeaway from a dedicated pizza shop the options for something astounding are few and far between.
It is because of this reason that we don't write about most of the pizzas we order in Pittsburgh on this site as most all of them would have the same exact summary.
For us to talk about pizza it needs to be something special, and we thought Spak Brothers in Garfield would be just that.
After living in Pittsburgh for five years and eating our way through neighborhood after neighborhood, Kaya is definitively one of our favorite restaurants in the city.
The laid back yet classy Caribbean vibe, awesome bar and happy hour, one of the best burgers we've ever had (just about anywhere), and a creative menu with Latin American and Caribbean influences combine to make this an all-around standout restaurant.
But to truly get the best out of this great restaurant in the Strip District, you'll have to visit at least three times.
Where do home furnishings go when they die? Well, in Pittsburgh if they have any remaining value and have the potential of being salvaged, it is highly likely that they'll end up in Construction Junction in Point Breeze North.
I ended up in Construction Junction the same way I visited Artifacts in the West End a few weeks prior. Angie and I were on the hunt for some home furnishings and were checking out the odd stores in Pittsburgh to see if we could find the perfect pieces we're dreaming of.
But where Artifacts caters to high-end items imported from around the world, Construction Junction's showroom is all reuse items that could use a little love and attention.
If there was a store that could save me from the seemingly inevitable trip to Ikea, it had to be this one.
Tako in downtown Pittsburgh is a modern taco restaurant with elevated and unique takes on this classic food. We hadn't been to tako (Japanese for octopus) in several years, so we thought we were long overdue for another meal at this hot spot.
Pittsburgh is a hub of unusual museums, and The Center for PostNatural History in Garfield is no exception.
For those who are not familiar with the term, PostNatural describes living organisms that have been modified by man through everything from selective breeding all the way to genetic engineering by accredited scientists, mad scientists, and everything in between.
As an engineer this museum sounded perfect to me, and I was incredibly excited about visiting during their limited Friday and Sunday opening hours to check out the exhibits.
I have a serious frozen concoction problem. I think it all started when I first moved to Pittsburgh during a bloody hot summer and the apartment I was renting didn't have air conditioning. But what it did have was an ice cream store next door, and I ended up eating my fair share of ice cream during that time.
Ever since then, my quest to find the best ice cream in Pittsburgh was born, and in this one we share some of our favorites!
When it comes to barbecued meat, the country of Argentina could really teach the world a thing or two.
During our travels in Argentina we devoured the country's famous barbecue and were so enamored with it that we frequently highlight the dish of Patagonian lamb as one of the best things we've ever eaten. (…and if you read our full travel destination list, you'll understand that this is truly saying something).
That being said, crafting an authentic Argentinian barbecue is not easy, and we can attest to being disappointed in most Argentinian restaurants that try to produce this country's iconic food outside of South America. As you can imagine, we had mixed emotions going into our visit to Gaucho Parrilla Argentina.
On one hand the reviews we've seen were all fantastic, but on the other hand we have a long history of being disappointed by restaurants in other parts of the country that simply do not stack up to the real thing.
Luckily for Gaucho Parrilla, they are absolutely spot on and routinely deliver what could be our favorite meals in all of Pittsburgh.
If you have an itch to do some fantasy shopping for one-of-a-kind items in Pittsburgh, look no further than Artifacts in the West End. Touted as a “museum with a price tag,” Artifacts is home to over 20,000 items ranging from Turkish rugs, European artwork, hand crafted tables, to stuffed lions and giraffe busts, human-sized griffon statues, and everything in between.
We couldn't make this up even if we tried.
We first learned about Artifacts during a quest to find a seating area that would compliment a Turkish rug and lamp that we bought while traveling in Istanbul. Naturally, stories of Artifacts' massive showroom of Turkish rugs and other unique items inspired us to visit in hopes of finding our dream accompaniment.
We didn't, and that is fine by us.