New Girl in Town: On Favorite Food (Thus Far)

Getting nowhere fast in my quest for authentic Mexican and Chinese food, (see note below), I decide to shift gears and stick with what Pittsburgh does best.  Whether we live in a culinary mecca is an oft-debated topic but I've already found some gems and the town has the sweetest way of surprising me.

With Egg
At JoJo's in the Strip district, truckers muscle up next to Steelers fans at a long counter while families squeeze into pint-sized orange booths.  The JoJo's Omelette is the star, an only-in-Pittsburgh confection of vegetables, meat and potatoes folded into a three-egg patty.  Suffice it to say the stuff never fits.  My husband, Fen, always orders this, making him quite the Pittsburgher.  I take a different approach and order the silver-dollar pancakes, five buttery yet light-as-air spheres that transport me to breakfast heaven.  It took several visits before the waitress allowed me to order only two of these pancakes, which is plenty in light of the diabetic crisis in our city.

More serious eating takes place at Primanti Bros. in the Strip, where a colorful mural relies heavily on black and gold and features Clemente and Stargell, Bradshaw and Mario (no last name required).  A sandwich board affords a smorgasbord of possibilities, among them knockwurst and cheese, kolbassi and cheese, jumbo baloney and cheese, deluxe double egg and cheese...Fen tells me that capicola and cheese WITH EGG is the real winner so I always order that, deluxe egg notwithstanding.  The sandwich is huge and further stuffed with fries and a slaw that's blissfully devoid of mayo.  The whole blessed mess is presented on two sheets of wax paper and if you're like me, you shoot a puddle of ketchup onto one end of the paper – how else to get the red stuff on your fries?

Less of a mess is manufactured at Wholey, also in the Strip district.  My seven-year-old, Steven, and I always order the cod fish and chips, which is fried in “PURE CORN OIL that is cholesterol-free and polyunsaturated” – a sign over the fryers tells us so.  A heap o'fries acts as a pillow for our half-pound hunk o'fish and we bathe it in malt vinegar.  Trust me, the clam shacks in New England don't make it this good.  A pleasant-looking man with a name tag that says “ERNIE” is usually near the front door and while he's never said a word to me, I love seeing him there.  Across from ERNIE is Andy's Sushi Bar, where a skinny, wisecracking Vietnamese guy named Andy has been making beautiful sushi for eleven years.  It's an embarrassment of riches at this red-and-white seafood emporium.

Brown is the color du jour at Mon Aimee Chocolat at the corner of 21st and Penn and yes, I do spend a lot of time in the Strip district.  Owner Amy Rosenfield hails from Fox Chapel and her parents, Phyllis and Mark, are fixtures in the store and began their Pittsburgh journey in Squirrel Hill.  All manner of chocolate is sold here, everything from the Art Bar (art reproduction inside!) to the Askinosie chocolate bar, an itty bitty bar billed as a “U.S. Morale Booster” with a pic of a scantilly-clad soldierette doing its bidding.  Surrounded by all this finery, Phyllis still remembers the town's roots.

“I remember when it was men only at the Steelers games, they never brought their wives but they did buy an extra seat for their food!” she says.

Never missing a beat, Phyllis presents me with a  cup of her hot chocolate, served most days at the Chocolate Bar in the rear of the store.  It is the real deal with melted chocolate: milky, creamy, syrupy...perfect.

“College kids coming home for the weekend will call me and order it for Monday,” she continues.  I totally get it.

Six Penn Kitchen
Not much past college age is Keith Fuller, executive chef at Six Penn Kitchen in the Cultural District.  This tattooed hunk o'man LOVES food and brings an irrepressible energy to his modern American bistro.

“We smoke our own meats here,” he says, toe tapping.  “We've got a garden on the roof and we compost everything with help from Agricycle.  And we work with Grow Pittsburgh, which teaches young kids how to become farmers.  I've even got a garden growing on my deck on Polish Hill!”

That make-it-from-scratch sensibility shines in dishes like the house-smoked pork chop served alongside house-made kim chee fried rice.  The Jamison Farm lamb bolognese is a menu staple and oozes love while the lobster mac and cheese works equally well for parents and kids.

“Pittsburgh palates have changed a lot,” says Fuller, which is why you may find a dollop of salmon caviar next time you order that mac and cheese.

Fuller's neighbor on Polish Hill is Kevin Sousa, who until recently dazzled locals with his Alchemy dinner at Bigelow Grille.  The kitchen chemistry on Sousa's plates is as eye-popping as his colorful tats and, um, maybe there's a trend here.  A native of McKees Rocks who calls his mom “hunkie” (as in Hungarian), Sousa is currently refining his technique at Nine on Nine as he readies his new restaurant, Salt of the Earth, for a mid-summer opening.

“Salt of the Earth will be no-frills, unpretentious fine dining,” Sousa explains.  “A foodie's restaurant.  I'll always be interested in the avant-garde side of food because I like using familiar flavors in unfamiliar ways.  But everything on the menu will be under twenty-five dollars.”

If anyone can pull this off, Sousa can.  Feet firmly planted on the ground, he fondly recalls the fried bologna and cheese sandwiches of his youth and takes inspiration from Pittsburgh foods like pierogies and haluski.  His goal, however, is much more expansive.

“We're still Midwestern at heart,” he tells me, “but we have our eye on being a food destination.  We've survived the steel era and things like the Steelers will bring much more recognition to our town.  Hopefully, restaurants can get on board.”

When in Rome...

P.S. My thanks to you, oh benevolent Pop City readers, for inundating me with recommendations for Mexican and Chinese cuisine.  I’m on the hunt!  Stay tuned. To contact Elaine click here.

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Elaine Labalme moved to Pittsburgh from San Francisco after an 18-month search for the best city in which to live. She is now exploring her adopted city with a passion reserved for transplants.

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Captions:  Elaine LaBalme with chefs Keith Fuller and Kevin Sousa; JoJo's; with Phyllis Rosenfield at Mon Aimee Chocolat; Wholey's.

Photographs copyright Brian Cohen