Mellon Park stands on what was the estate of industrialist and banker Richard Mellon. Although Mellon's mansion is now gone, the park and the beautiful walled garden, previously attached to the home, remain.
Today the park is used as a beautiful public space with live music at the Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch series in the summer months, and is also home to a hidden memorial in the Walled Garden that only comes out at night!
There are some restaurants that you know the meal is going to be good from the very beginning, and within moments of entering Bar Marco in the Strip District I knew that this would be one of them.
While I was right on my hunch that the food and drinks would be fantastic, the portion sizes gave us reason to pause.
When we talk about Pittsburgh streets, it is often followed up with how terrible it is to drive on them. We get it, we all stink at driving here (with no added thanks to the roads), but we're not going to talk about that here.
One thing we have found interesting in our exploration of Pittsburgh is not just how bad the drivers are, but rather how many unique streets this city has! Between our downtown roads being designed on a triangular grid and the outer neighborhoods being full of hills, many roads in this great city are unique to say the least.
After countless trips out and about in the city, the following is a collection of our favorites that we've visited so far.
In 2022, Subba moved around the block to East Ohio Street. We have not visited the new location yet and this is from the former iteration. When we return we will update our review accordingly.
Nepal isn't known as a culinary capital of the world, but during our travels we fell in love with the country's unique cuisine– specifically the momos (a local dumpling) and daal bhat (a common feature in traditional lunch sets).
We weren't expecting to find this cuisine in Pittsburgh, but to our surprise a local Nepali family opened Subba Asian in the North Side which features dishes from India, China, and their home country of Nepal.
Naturally, we had to try the Nepali food we fell in love with during our visit.
At one point in time Pittsburgh was home to nearly twenty active funiculars, or inclines as they are called here, which were used to transport people and cargo up and down the many different hills located around the city.
Sadly, most of the Pittsburgh incline funiculars have closed over time, the city is now home to only two: the Monongahela Incline, located at Station Square, and the Duquesne Incline, located a mile down Carson Street.
Although we thoroughly enjoy riding both of these funiculars, for those who are interested in enjoying the best view the city has to offer, taking a ride on the Duquesne Incline is a must do experience.
The grilled cheese trend has not been one we've been particularly excited about, so when a few friends asked us to meet up at The Yard for late night grilled cheese, our hopes were not high.
Luckily, The Yard came through with many unique offerings, an incredible dessert menu, and for those who aren't into grilled cheese as much, a fantastic bar.
Vietnamese cuisine is a culinary style that hasn't taken off in popularity yet in Pittsburgh, but is one of the best national cuisines in the world. During my travels in Vietnam I fell in love with the cuisine, but also came away with an understanding that it is also hard to do right as there is a fine line to make the sweet, spicy, and salty flavors work in many of the dishes.
There are several restaurants that do an incredible job at Vietnamese food in Pittsburgh, Tram's Kitchen and Lucy's Banh Mi cart being a few, and it was with great excitement that I visited Pho Van in the Strip District to try some more of one of my favorite cuisines.
Unfortunately, I left reminded why this cuisine is so hard to do right. Pho Van was a major let down.
The aptly named North Park in northern Allegheny County is a popular spot for those looking to enjoy a day out for hiking in the woods, walking along the paved lake path, or taking in one of the many other activities available.
No matter why you visit this one, there is enough to keep returning time and time again!
Our quest to find Pittsburgh's best burger brought us to the popular local chain Burgatory, which prides itself on having organic and all natural ingredients, massive portions, and a devious selection of meats ranging from Wagyu beef to grass fed elk.
With multiple locations around Pittsburgh, including in PPG Paints Arena and Acrisure Stadium, we hoped that the burger chain would shine where its major competitor BRGR fell flat. Luckily, after sampling our way around the Burgatory menu, we can most certainly say that it does.
Pittsburgh is one of America's greatest cities, there is no question about that. We have an incredible history, amazing sports teams, an exploding food scene, many local celebrities, and just about everything else you could ask for in a city.
As it is our quest to discover all of these aspects of Pittsburgh, we've recently turned to reading any and all Pittsburgh related books we could get our hands on to learn more about the city we call home.
The following are some of our favorites that we think you should definitely check out!
Note: When available, we offer links to purchase the book on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org is an online retailer that supports local and independently operated bookstores with every sale either through direct purchases (if available) or profit shares. Please try and support local stores as much as possible!