Year: 2019

East Liberty Neighborhood Guide – Attractions and Dining

If there is any neighborhood in Pittsburgh that has changed the most in the last few years, it would be East Liberty.

The neighborhood is the poster child for gentrification and is now home to luxury lofts, numerous restaurants, and easy access to the growing tech hub in Bakery Square in nearby Larimer (although tenants there like to call themselves part of East Liberty partly due to association-by-gentrification).

While we could spend a long time discussing the gentrification of neighborhoods like these (we encourage it in the comments!), in our neighborhood guide series we want to take a look at what East Liberty is now and highlight the history and some of the spots we visit when exploring the neighborhood- namely the restaurants and a few limited attractions.

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Behind the Scenes Tour at PNC Park is a Must for Baseball Fans

PNC Park is home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and is also considered to be one of the most beautiful ballparks in the country.

While a great place to be during a game, the park is also home to a behind the scenes tour that goes to a number of interesting spots inside the stadium that you normally won't see in a regular game, including:

  • Legacy Theater
  • The Clubhouse (away days only*)
  • Batting Cages, Tunnel, and Dugout
  • The Press Box
  • Club Level and Suites

Taking this tour was high on my Pittsburgh bucket list, but I always had trouble scheduling a visit to coincide with a date I could get inside the Clubhouse. Now that I finally made that happen, it is time to share a few highlights from the tour!

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Fogo de Chao Review – All You Can Eat Meats in Pittsburgh

It is a rare event on Discover the Burgh for us to feature a national chain, but every so often we will make an exception if it is interesting and somewhat unique among what is available in the area.

When I was invited into Fogo de Chao in downtown to try out their menu of all-you-can-eat meat as part of a local media event, it was one such exception. 

It is time for more churasscaria in Pittsburgh!

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Las Velas Review – A Surprising Find in Market Square

If you're like us, when you think of Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh odds are good you think of mostly mediocre restaurants that are overpriced. 

But there is one gem that is hiding on the second floor of a commercial space that you may otherwise overlook- Las Velas. 

Not only does this one have a great view of Market Square, it also has some rather decent food as well!

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Learning About the City With Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours

Whenever we travel (especially abroad), we always love finding free city tours as a means to get our bearings in a new location and to also learn more about the city/country's history.

While Pittsburgh does have periodic, free city tours run by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, they are often limited in frequency and location. We, as a city, simply needed more.

It wasn't until late 2018 that Pittsburgh finally got its own free walking tour, put on by the appropriately named Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours. Naturally, I jumped on this one in early 2019 to give it a try and really enjoyed the tour overall!

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Visiting the Donora Historical Society and Donora Smog Museum

One of the things we love about the boroughs in southwest Pennsylvania is that many of them have a historical society and museum dedicated to sharing the history of the area.

Some of these, like the Saxonburg Museum, are huge. Others, like the Harmony Museums, are spread out over multiple historical buildings that are all worth exploring.

In Donora, the museum managed by the Donora Historical Society is fairly small. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in sharing the borough's history and the Donora Smog environmental disaster.

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Mars New Year Blast Off Dinner – A Celebration of Mars, In Mars

Any time I think of Mars, PA, it is almost always in tandem with at least one Martian reference of some sort.

As such, I wasn't too surprised to find out that Mars hosts a semi-annual Mars New Year celebration to honor the planet's roughly 687-Earth day revolution around the sun. 

While the actual three-day festivity is taking place a few months after the official new year (which occurs on the Mars spring equinox in the northern hemisphere), the borough hosts an annual dinner as close as possible to the exact Martian New Year (most recently on March 23, 2019).

With a line-up of speakers and Martian references aplenty, we were pretty excited to attend this one as guests of our friends at Butler County Tourism.

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Drury Plaza Pittsburgh Review – A Refreshing Stay Downtown

When it comes to downtown Pittsburgh hotels, we have quite a few with each having their own unique features.

We didn't know much about the Drury Plaza Hotel, located just a few blocks from the convention center, but when we were invited out for a review we were excited all the same.

As we quickly found out, this one has comfortable rooms and some pretty awesome on-site perks!

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