In a neighborhood full of colleges and universities, you might not expect to find much more in the way of dining besides fast food and coffee shops.
However, there are several bright spots in the Oakland neighborhood serving up delicious, thoughtful cuisine- one being The Porch located in the beautiful Schenley Plaza in the heart of the neighborhood.
Note: Some of the Turkish pizzas and specialties mentioned below may no longer be offered at some Ephesus locations. At last check, the downtown Pittsburgh and Aspinwall location still offered some of the menu items discussed below but the Bellevue location did not.
When I first heard of Ephesus Pizza, I clung to the hope that they would actually serve some Turkish food and that the name wasn't just a pizza restaurant trying to sound exotic.
Specifically, I was hoping the restaurant would serve Turkish pide (basically a Turkish pizza), one of our favorite dishes from our travels in Turkey.
As I checked out the menu online I couldn't have been happier. Not only did they have our beloved pide complete with sujuk, a dry-cured meat sort of like pepperoni, but they also had lahmacun (another type of meat-topped flatbread), kebaps, and other gyro-esque wraps.
We just had to visit, and it only took us a few days in between hearing about this place and actually getting there. Since that first visit, we've found many reasons to return time and time again.
When a friend of ours told us to go try out Quik-It Chicken, a chicken restaurant located in the same building as a gas station in the North Side, we thought he was kidding. Â Gas station food is generally something we wouldn't consider good dining in any capacity. Â But knowing this friend, and his off-the-wall recommendations actually being amazing most of the time, we went for it and do not regret the decision in the slightest.
Like any major city in the USA, Pittsburgh is home to an incredible street food scene that is growing larger by the day. Between the dozens of food trucks, mobile carts, and dedicated stands, the one thing that holds true no matter where you go is that it takes quite the effort to find the best in a sea of mostly average establishments.
When it comes finding the best Pittsburgh food trucks we're up for the challenge, and to chronicle our journey this roundup was born.
This list is not a collection of every street food vendor we've tried in the city. Far from it. This list only features what we think are the very best of the ones we've visited to date (we're still working our way through many as well).
By the end we hope that you'll be hopping in your car to try something right away because each business featured deserves no less than your immediate attention and visit.
When we heard that Proper Brick Oven had a wood-fired oven for making their pizzas, we knew we had to check the place out. You pretty much can't go wrong with a pie baked in one of those.
On our recent visit the pizza didn't disappoint, but nearly everything else was uninspiring at best- even the service.
From the name alone, The Pub Chip Shop might not sound like anything other than a greasy fish and chips place for those who have imbibed a bit too much (after all, the restaurant is located in South Side).
However, the menu is rather extensive and offers some tasty surprises that are delicious even when perfectly sober, as we were on our recent visit.
Sometime in the last few years, Squirrel Hill has turned into the Little Asia of Pittsburgh. Korean, Thai, Chinese, ramen, teppanyaki, sushi, and even Asian style baked goods- all of these foods can be found in this bustling neighborhood.
At first glance this seems a little it odd- how many different Asian restaurants do you need in just a few blocks? But we've been visiting these restaurants one by one, and the cool thing is that each one has a pretty specialized menu with a distinct type of cuisine that they focus on.
Everyday Noodle is one such restaurant, where the emphasis is on, you guessed it: noodles.
After a somewhat disappointing visit to Spak Brothers in Garfield, we've been taking pizza recommendations in Pittsburgh with a grain of salt. It wasn't until we met up with a group of acquaintances who shared our opinion of Spak Brothers (and Pittsburgh pizza as a whole) that we started to get excited about another option they were raving about.
That pizza joint was Slice on Broadway in Beechview, and it wasn't but an hour later that we were in our car driving out to give it a shot.
When it comes to restaurants with multiple locations, it is fairly easy to write off other branches as duplicates of the same model with the same menu and offering. After all, this has been the model for chains and franchises for decades.
But for Park Bruges in Highland Park, sister restaurant of Point Brugge in Point Breeze, the subtle differences make this restaurant almost a unique entity in and of itself.
I'm going to guess that you've never had food from Uzbekistan. I know I hadn't until our visit to Kavsar on Mount Washington, and I consider myself to be quite well traveled.
In fact, if you would have asked me what Uzbeki food was prior to our visit, I probably would've fumbled in an attempt to make something up. Now that I have tried it for myself, I can try and give describing it a shot.