Raccoon Creek State Park is a gem for hikers in southwestern Pennsylvania. This massive park contains miles of paths, creeks, a lake, waterfalls, and even is home to an impressive wildflower reserve that has a twice a year bloom.
We were very fortunate to check out the wildflower reserve during peak bloom in 2017, and we wanted to share our experience to encourage you to get out and explore this one during the next bloom event as it was our highlight of the spring season!
Piccolo Forno in Lawrenceville is a rustic Italian restaurant serving up wood-fired pizzas and pastas.
This place has been around for over 12 years, meaning they were in Lawrenceville before Lawrenceville was cool. We hadn't visited in several years, so we were eager to see if it was still as good as we remembered. In short? Yes!
When it comes to hotels with city views in Pittsburgh, we are fortunate enough to have several of them. In our quest to visit the city's top hotels, we've come to find that while many hotels have city views, not all of them have great views in relative abundance. As such, planning on getting a room with an epic view can be tricky depending on where you stay.
To help with this, we found five hotels that not only have great views, but views in a good number of rooms as well. You may still have to do a bit of work to get one, but if you plan accordingly your chances for that stellar scene go up quite a bit!
We’re fortunate here in Pittsburgh to be home to a lot of green space in and around the city. You may know some of the staples, like Frick Park and Schenley Park, but beyond these we are also lucky to have several other large parks that are practically hiding in plain sight. Take the Beechview-Seldom Seen Greenway. … Read more
Onion Maiden closed for dine-in service in March 2023, but has frequent weekend take-out popups. This review is from an in-person experience prior to closing the dining room.
Vegan restaurants seem to be popping up all over Pittsburgh nowadays, and even though we're not vegan in the slightest, we have really been enjoying these new spots like Onion Maiden in Allentown.
I've always thought it takes more creativity and skill to make restaurant-worthy vegan dishes than meat dishes, and Onion Maiden definitely gets this right.
When we write about pizza in Pittsburgh, we often write about the corner pizza shop phenomenon where most every neighborhood pizza joint tastes almost identical to each other.
If you want a quick, cheap, and often greasy pie but aren't in the mood to go out of your way for a favorite spot, they are the kind of place you would go to out of convenience more than anything else.
As much as I don't want to say it, Pizza Fiesta is one of those places.
Normally when we visit a new bar around the city, we often categorize it based on what they're good at. Allegheny Wine Mixer is great for wine. Independent Brewing Company has a killer draft list if you like Pittsburgh beer. We could go on.
While you can go to all of these spots for other reasons, odds are good you're going to gravitate to their specialties because, well, that is what they're known for.
Brillobox in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood does not have one of these primary focuses. Instead, they shine on all three. Throw in a unique and welcoming ambiance and you have a bar that that comes together for the coveted goal of being good at many things- a rare treat in the city.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival is not unique to Pittsburgh. In fact, it is not even unique to the midwest or even the United States.
This film festival originates from the tiny mountain town of Banff just outside of Calgary, Canada. Aside from being a town in its own right, this part of the world is also a great spot to get out and experience all things nature.
To capitalize on this, the city has created a film festival that showcases some of the world's best videos of adventure sports and other associated topics. The main festival takes place in Banff each fall, and after that the best videos go on a world tour with an annual stop in Pittsburgh.
As adventure lovers ourselves, we've been attending this event for many years. Today, we wanted to share the experience of what the festival is like to help encourage you to get out to the next one!
If the explosive growth of the restaurant scene and the local food movement in Pittsburgh is any indication, Pittsburgh has tons of locavores and foodies. One of the most popular annual events for such individuals is perhaps the Farm to Table conference.
This event is the perfect opportunity to network with other like-minded Pittsburghers, learn about things like canning and preserving, attend demonstrations, and browse the huge exhibit hall.
We recently had the chance to attend the conference as well as the Sunday night farm to flask tasting and left with a renewed appreciation for the local food scene.
Club Cafe re-opened in July 2025; however, this review is from a previous visit.
Club Cafe in Pittsburgh's South Side is a unique performing arts venue in that it is incredibly small, yet attracts some of the best up-and-coming musicians there are.
So when the guitarist of one of our favorite bands (Chris Eldridge from the two-time Grammy nominated Punch Brothers) came into town to perform with one of his closest friends (guitarist Julian Lage- Grammy nominated for the Best Contemporary Jazz album), we bought tickets in a heart-beat.