Royal Myanmar in West View is one of the only places we know of in the city to get traditional Burmese food. As we had never had Burmese food before eating here, we can say that this place is a great introduction to the cuisine.
The restaurant itself is a tiny hole-in-the-wall type place where service is friendly and everyone knows the regulars – it's almost like what I would imagine a Burmese diner to be like.
Close your eyes and imagine the perfect camp fire. If you're like us, and everyone in the United States without an Eastern European heritage, you are probably thinking of marshmallows roasting on a stick.
But if you are fortunate enough to have Eastern European family, especially those from Hungary, you may be envisioning something a bit different- a bacon roast.
The premise is exactly the same as making S'mores over a fire, but swaps the marshmallows for pork belly, and the graham crackers and chocolate for bread and vegetables, to make what could be the ultimate sandwich.
It wasn't until we were invited out to the North Side Hungarian bar and restaurant Huszar for their annual roast that we knew this was a thing, and we'll never look at camp fires the same way again.
Although banh mi sandwiches have been trendy for a while now and regularly pop up on all sorts of menus around the city, there are relatively few restaurants in the city solely dedicated to Vietnamese cuisine. Enter Banh Mi and Ti in Lawrenceville, a cute new spot with a self-explanatory name.
Altius on Grandview Ave in Mt Washington is a relative newcomer to the fine dining scene in Pittsburgh set among establishments such as Le Mont and Monterey Bay Fish Grotto.
With all of these restaurants, you're understandably paying a premium for the Pittsburgh city views, so we recently dined at Altius to see if the food and experience was worth the cost.
We're slowly working our way through the plethora of Asian restaurants in Squirrel Hill, and on our most recent trip we found ourselves at Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33.
This spot on Shady Ave. right next to Starbucks is housed in what used to be the neighborhood laundromat, and it serves up a huge menu that's a mix of Taiwanese food as well as Americanized Chinese food.
With stiff competition just steps away, we wanted to find out how this one stacks up.
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!
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.
In a neighborhood where it would seem almost impossible for a business to be hidden away, especially one that serves alcohol, the South Side cocktail bar known as Acacia is just that.
Ringing true to their speakeasy theme, this spot should be on your list of places to seek out in the city if you are in the mood for a superb drink.
If you can find it, that is.