Teppanyaki Kyoto Review – Unique Japanese Fare in Highland Park

When you hear the word teppanyaki, your first thoughts are probably about those horribly themed hibachi restaurants that are available in just about any city in the country.

I'm here to report that the Japanese restaurant Teppanyaki Kyoto in Highland Park is not that.

What this restaurant is, however, is one of the most authentic Japanese establishments you'll find in Pittsburgh. As someone who has eaten his way around Japan, and loves just about everything there is about the country, it is high praise when I say that Teppanyaki Kyoto does it right.

But as much as Teppanyaki Kyoto offers an incredible menu full of Japanese items you may never have tried, the real gem of this restaurant is one particular dish: okonomiyaki– my favorite Japanese food of all.

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Monterey Pub Review – Neighborhood Pub of the War Streets

Note: In fall 2021, Monterey Pub reopened with new owners. We have not visited since the pub was purchased. The below review is from a visit with the previous owners. As such, things may be different now. We will update this review once we return for another visit!

Tucked among the quaint row houses in the Mexican War Streets, Monterey Pub is exactly the kind of neighborhood watering hole you'd expect it to be: it's the kind of place with regulars, wooden booths, and dark corners.

But it's also got a few delicious tricks up its sleeve, including a great food menu full of Irish pub fare, burgers, salads, and sandwiches.

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The Best Happy Hours in Pittsburgh for Local Beer

When it comes to happy hour specials in Pittsburgh, just about every restaurant and bar has them. Restaurants just love offering discounts during everyone's favorite time of day, and we're not going to complain about that in the slightest.

Although we could highlight every single happy hour special the city has to offer, we only want to look for the best. In our Pittsburgh cocktail happy hour post, we focused purely on the restaurants and bars that offer craft cocktails at significantly reduced prices (upwards of 50%).  In this beer happy hour guide, we wanted to take a similar approach and only share the locations that have a good selection of Pittsburgh breweries with discounts to match.

So while we may not share everywhere you can go to find a $2 Yuengling or Bud Light, we do want to give you the best places to check out when you want some of the local brewers' finest creations!

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Kennywood – A Visit to Pittsburgh’s Closest Amusement Park

As far as day trips from Pittsburgh are concerned, perhaps the most popular of all is visiting our regional theme park: Kennywood!

When the folks at Kennywood invited us out for a visit during the 2016 season, we jumped on the opportunity. I am a roller coaster enthusiast who loves the most extreme experiences imaginable and Angie, well, she agreed to join me with the promise of potato patch fries- something she has been craving since her last visit several years prior. So on a gorgeous July day we made the trip out of the city to take in as many flips, dips, spins, and fries as possible.

But why should you make the trip out to this park? We share our favorite reasons below.

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A Brief Hike on the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel

One of the things we absolutely love about Pittsburgh is that you can pick any direction you want to go, drive 10-15 minutes on a highway, and end up out in the middle of nature.

This lends itself to the incredible opportunity of finding hiking trails and nature preserves, well, just about anywhere.

During our exploration of Fox Chapel, we decided to make a small detour to the Trillium Trail that is featured in the book 60 Hikes in 60 Miles (Pittsburgh Edition). This small nature preserve may not seem like much on the surface, but is one of those unique features you expect to find in a nature-oriented city like this one.

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Exploring Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Fox Chapel

Beechwood Farms in Fox Chapel, with its 5 miles of trails and varied habitats, provides a good spot for a short walk or a leisurely picnic.

This nature reserve serves as the headquarters for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, and as such, there are also many events at this location ranging from naturalist-led hikes and birdwatching events to summer camps and educational opportunities for kids.

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Bayernhof Museum – A Pittsburgh House With Many Secrets

One of the things I love about our goal of visiting every attraction in Pittsburgh is uncovering a hidden gem that most who live in the city may not even know about. The Bayernhof Museum in O'Hara Township certainly fell on that list for us, and after visiting it is now one of the many places in the city we have come to regret not visiting sooner.

The reason for this is because when we first heard about the Bayernhof it was described to us as a house of musical instruments. Okay, we love music, but that wasn't really the greatest of sales pitches that would inspire us to get out the door. In fact, we probably would not have visited at all if it wasn't for our goal of doing everything Pittsburgh has to throw at us.

After visiting, however, we came up with a better way to describe the Bayernhof. It is a gorgeous home-turned-museum housing one of the world's largest collections of self-playing musical instruments, nearly all in working order, that you can actually hear during a visit.

Excited yet? You should be.

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Bird Watching at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh’s North Side

Pittsburgh's National Aviary in the North Side is a unique place to visit, there is no doubt about that. It is the country's largest Aviary and is also the only one to be recognized by Congress.

With over 600 animals from roughly 200 species, this one has something for everyone. Throw in the public feedings that take place throughout the day and you have one spot worth coming back to time and time again.

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Andy Warhol Museum – Home to Way More than Pop Art

If you've ever wanted to dive into the world of pop art, the Andy Warhol Museum on Pittsburgh's North Shore is the absolute best place to do it.

More than 1,000 prints, 4,000 photographs, and 900 paintings in the collection help make it the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist.

But there is so much more to this museum than just pop art: the seven floors of this museum display many other types of Warhol's works you've likely never seen before, as well as rotating exhibits from other artists.

Although there are enough unique exhibits in this museum to keep us busy writing an incredibly detailed review, today we wanted to share some of our very favorites to give you a taste about what to expect when visiting!

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