Year: 2023

Sommerfest at Teutonia Mannerchor for German Beer and Fun

The era of the social club often feels like a distant memory. But Pittsburgh is actually home to many private clubs focusing on heritage, sports, and a whole lot more.

Perhaps one of the most well known is Teutonia Mannerchor, the German club residing in none other than Deutschtown in the North Side. Not only is this one of Pittsburgh's oldest and largest private clubs, it is also somewhat difficult to get into without knowing a member or joining yourself.

Thankfully, Teutonia Mannerchor offers a number of public-facing events throughout the year. For roughly nine days each summer, the aptly named Sommerfest is your chance to check out this beautiful building, listen to German music, eat German food, and, of course, drink copious amounts of German beer!

As we have a soft spot for all things German beer, we naturally visited as soon as possible.

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Chef Alekka Offers a Pittsburgh Chef Experience at Home

We have to admit that cooking at home is one of our favorite activities. When we're not out exploring the city or eating at local restaurants, odds are good you can find us in the kitchen whipping up an involved meal that takes all day to prepare, baking, or setting up an unusual fermentation project.

But as we are always excited to learn more cooking techniques, we were really excited to have Chef Alekka, a in-home chef in Pittsburgh, come over to our house for a cooking demonstration with some delicious summer appetizers.

All the best things about cooking with a chef but in the comfort of our kitchen? Sign us up.

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City Winery Brings Live Music, Comedy, and Wine to the Strip

Note: In January 2025, City Winery added a mandatory $25 food and beverage spend for all show attendees. Please keep this in mind when visiting.

City Winery has been taking the entertainment world by storm with its unique combination of being one part winery, one part entertainment complex.

While City Winery has been operating in several major cities in the USA for many years now, their first Pittsburgh location opened right in the heart of the Strip District in the Terminal building complex in 2023.

Wine, live entertainment, and late-night hours in the Strip? We're in for that!

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The Western PA Lamb Fest is a Must For Lamb Lovers

This one should go without saying, but we love lamb. It is one of our favorite meats, and we are spoiled here in western Pennsylvania to have so many fantastic producers that raise lambs.

As such, it should be no surprise that there is a festival that celebrates all things lamb, and the Western PA Lamb Fest does that and then some at the annual event!

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Duo’s Taqueria Review – Learn Spanish, Eat Tacos

Duo's Taqueria in East Liberty is a fun and delicious concept restaurant by Duolingo, where you can eat delicious Mexican food and also learn and practice Spanish. This spot has a colorful, upbeat, casual vibe that serves up delicious tacos on homemade tortillas as well as other Mexican specialties.

Duo's Taqueria was just a walk-up taco stand at the Duolingo building. We visited many times and judging by the long lines, we knew this concept was going places. And rightfully so, with Chef Marcella Ogrodnik at the helm. Chef Marcella was the owner of Cafe Agnes, an El Salvadorian pop up that served amazing pupusas and tamales at farmers' markets around the city. We are so excited that she is now at Duo's, bringing her skills for making fresh masa for tortillas and her knack for creating amazing flavor combinations.

Duo's recently built out an interior space in the building to change the restaurant to a sit-down concept (the walk-up window is now, sadly, closed). We visited shortly after re-opening to check it out and practice our Spanish.

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ECHT Coffee House Review – Go For Coffee, Stay for the Food

ECHT Coffee House in Mount Oliver is more than just a coffee shop. In addition to roasting their own coffee and serving up cafe-style food, this sleek and design-focused spot will also soon be home to a distillery and cocktail bar giving the neighborhood a must-visit spot that will soon be enjoyed morning, noon, and night.

While we visited this one to get our coffee fix on, we ended up staying to enjoy the food menu and exploring the soon-to-come additions on the building's lower level.

You will be wise to do the same when you visit as well!

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Chatham Baroque Offers a Unique Concert Series in Pittsburgh

Chatham Baroque is a period music ensemble that was founded in Pittsburgh in 1990 that performs their own concert series in the city, in addition to collaborating with other groups in Pittsburgh and touring around the country and world. Artistic directors Andrew Fouts, Patricia Halverson, and Scott Pauley invite other musicians from around the world to perform with them, making their concerts special and unique.

We were first introduced to Chatham Baroque when they accompanied the opera Idaspe, put on by Quantum Theater in the fall of 2022. I don't think we had ever seen instruments like the viola da gamba or the theorbo played in person before. We were instantly drawn to their unique look and sound, and knew we had to learn more about this interesting ensemble.

Cut to early 2023 and we were able to check out Chatham Baroque play their final concert of the season, The Joy of Bach!

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10 Questions With Dave and Johnny of the Bayernhof Museum

If you've been following us on social media for a while now, you have likely seen us post about the Bayernhof Museum in O'Hara Township. This gorgeous mansion was once the home of Charles Brown III, a local business owner who created a rather unique property full of intricate designs, an observatory, an underground cave, and more and began collecting self-playing music machines for good measure.

The house is now open for tours to see all of these great highlights, and we have visited several times over the years as there is always something new to see at this hidden gem.        

In this interview, we are fortunate enough to have not one but two interviewees! Dave is chairmen of the board of the Bayernhof Museum, managing the trust and upkeep of the property, and Johnny helped build and maintain the Bayernhof over the years. Both were close friends of Charles Brown III with many stories to tell.

Note: Historic photos included in this post were taken by Johnny and are shared with permission of the Bayernhof. More recent photos were taken from one of our many visits to the museum.

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6 Places to Make a McKnight Road Shopping Trip Enjoyable

We will be the first to admit that when we have to go shopping to the big box stores on McKnight Road, we immediately get filled with a sense of dread.

Not so much because we have to shop at the big chains, but rather that driving on McKnight Road to our destination is, shall we say, a form of torture– and that is putting it kindly. From the abundance of red lights, never-ending traffic, and overall frustration of reaching our stops, we find that we need to give ourselves a little reward to get through it all.

So in this one, we thought we'd share a few of our favorite spots on (or just off of) McKnight Road that you should consider stopping at to help save your sanity when shopping!

Note: Businesses featured below are organized from north to south along McKnight Road between McCandless and Ross Township, specifically.

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