Pittsburgh Foodies Thread (Indiana, Denver, Liberty: store, trendy, designer)

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by sskink

Thankfully none of the commenters to that insanity agreed with it. That really was pathetic on Zagat's part.

Zagat doesn't put any effort into Pittsburgh restaurant ratings. All restaurant except the chains are member added, and as only those six chains have official Zagat ratings, they are listed first on the website.

Zagat is useless to use in Pittsburgh, which is why I haven't even thought of it since I moved here.

[pman]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

Zagat doesn't put any effort into Pittsburgh restaurant ratings. All restaurant except the chains are member added, and as only those six chains have official Zagat ratings, they are listed first on the website.

Zagat is useless to use in Pittsburgh, which is why I haven't even thought of it since I moved here.

Beer advocate is useful most placea but the pittsburgh beer drinking community is curiously quiet

[BrianTH]

Some interesting notes here:

Little Bites: Local restaurant news - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Adding ramen to Station Street's menu is very welcome, and I will be interested to see if its "transition to Station Street Food, with an emphasis on the street-food genre" involves more additions in the future.

[fleetiebelle]

The All-Clad factory sale is this weekend: Heads up for the All-Clad factory sale

[Evergrey]

That Zagat Pittsburgh list really wasn't a list put out there by Zagat. The Pittsburgh Business Times compiled a list of Zagat-reviewed national chains that are located in Pittsburgh and misleadingly presented it in advance of the announcement yesterday that Zagat is coming to Pittsburgh soon to review our restaurant scene. Very amateurish move by the PBT that generated a lot of unnecessary negativity toward Zagat.

Zagat rankings coming to Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Business Times

Zagat rankings coming to Pittsburgh

In early 2013, local restaurants will get the chance to see how they stack up against the signature Zagat 30-point rating scale when the company releases its rankings for the top restaurants in the Pittsburgh region.

Nicholas Sampogna, spokesperson for Zagat, said the company is currently surveying about 500 restaurants in the city proper and in surrounding areas. And that's good news, said one local restaurateur.

...

Here's the website for Zagat Pittsburgh

http://www.zagat.com/survey/4072937

And here's an update from Diana Nelson Jones... who like many... prematurely blasted Zagat in the wake of the PBT "ranking"

Update on Zagat survey

A member of Zagat's communications team e-mailed to clear up a misunderstanding. The Zagat Survey of Pittsburgh Restaurants that named only chains is the National Chain Restaurants Survey. He said Zagat is conducting its first-ever full survey of Pittsburgh restaurants

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

Did someone post about El Burro Comedor? I thought so, but I couldn't find it in my cursory glance through the last few pages.

There was some tacos/burritos discussion pages back. I checked out El Burro recently, and it was awesome. It's just a little take out place, so nothing fancy, but the food is authentic and the ingredients are quality and fresh. It was fairly busy too, so it looks like they are off to a good start.

If you're looking for a tasty taco/burrito, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

They need to stay open later... 7PM is ridiculous and reinforces negative stereotypes about the area (much like Crazy Mocha's 7PM closing time at that location). These burritos would make a great "late night" food and the place should be open 9PM minimum (possibly 11PM or so on weekends). This place would crush it at night.

I highly doubt when summer comes... and daylight lingers close to 9PM... that El Burro will be able to close at 7.

[Evergrey]

In other foodie news... my hero Anthony Bourdain returns to Pittsburgh in May.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

They need to stay open later... 7PM is ridiculous and reinforces negative stereotypes about the area (much like Crazy Mocha's 7PM closing time at that location). These burritos would make a great "late night" food and the place should be open 9PM minimum (possibly 11PM or so on weekends). This place would crush it at night.

I highly doubt when summer comes... and daylight lingers close to 9PM... that El Burro will be able to close at 7.

Funny you should say that, Evergrey. I had a friend staying at my house who arrived at around 7:30 pm and wanted to get some food. I immediately suggested El Burro since it's new, really good and right up the street. I googled it to confirm their hours and had to say never mind because they were already closed.

If only there was a more popular bar in the War Streets, El Burro would have huge crowds of would-be late night taco consumers.

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

That Zagat Pittsburgh list really wasn't a list put out there by Zagat. The Pittsburgh Business Times compiled a list of Zagat-reviewed national chains that are located in Pittsburgh and misleadingly presented it in advance of the announcement yesterday that Zagat is coming to Pittsburgh soon to review our restaurant scene. Very amateurish move by the PBT that generated a lot of unnecessary negativity toward Zagat.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm pleased that Zagat has now deemed Pittsburgh worthy of attention!

[FreightTrainRunning]

I don't know, Zagat's Pittsburgh page still only has those six chains listed in their official Zagat reviews with others listed as "member reviews". Anyone looking at that page would think that those six restaurants were what they thought were the best in Pittsburgh. If they they haven't actually started rating places, then they shouldn't have put the page out on the internet. If anyone is acting amateurishly, it's Zagat, not the PBT.