Pittsburgh Foodies Thread (Lawrenceville: vacations, best deal, cockroach)

[sskink]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

Beat me to it.


Little Caesar's Detroit style is a lot heavier and greasier than well-made Greek pizza (somewhat similar to NEPA's pan-fried Sicilian pies, which I happen to love). Similar idea, though.

I always found it surprising that Pittsburgh was lacking in Greek pizza. The Philly area is close to evenly divided between Italian and Greek style (some of which is quite excellent).

My concept of Greek pizza is strictly from CT (the New England Greek style mentioned). And those are heavy with cheese and pretty greasy (oily/buttery crust). It's an urge I get I maybe once every five years.

And like you, I'm surprised they don't exist here because they're so dense, gooey and loaded with bad calories :-)

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by sskink

My concept of Greek pizza is strictly from CT (the New England Greek style mentioned). And those are heavy with cheese and pretty greasy (oily/buttery crust). It's an urge I get I maybe once every five years.

And like you, I'm surprised they don't exist here because they're so dense, gooey and loaded with bad calories :-)

Philly Greek and New England Greek are the same thing. In fact, we used to order from a place called Boston Style. Greek pizza is one of those things that's usually terrible unless made well, in which case it's fantastic.

I find Greek pizza more oily than buttery, whereas Little Caesar's Detroit-style is vice versa (I distinguish between the two). Their Detroit-style is also much thicker and unlike Greek pizza, appeared to have just mozzarella, as opposed to a mozzarella-cheddar blend.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by sskink

Well, technically it's "Ohio (River) Valley", so it belongs to Western PA, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Kentucky as well. Sound like Beto's is a derivative of this style. In which case I agree with Evergrey.

It's also known as Steubenville-style... which is the home region for this abomination... though it has some outposts in the South Hills.

[ProFiction]

Well, I've decided never to go to Altius after this morning. About a week ago, I wanted to nail down Valentine's reservations and Altius was actually one of the first places I thought of. I went to their site to check it out and they have an OpenTable link right on there, but I noticed that you can't make reservations more than 30 days in advance. (It was the 8th, we'll say, and you could only pick up to Feb 7th.) I was slightly bummed about that because I didn't want to waste time and make sure I got a nice reservation, but I ended up deciding to set up a reminder on my phone for this morning (the 15th) so I could get in early and make a Feb 14 reservation. Well, I go on the site and try to make one and they've got nothing for the 14th... wow, I think, bunch of dedicated people, oh well! Then I click over to their 'Valentine's Day 2015' page, which did not exist a week ago (it was still New Years), and notice that, against all reason, they decided to open their Valentine's Day reservations yesterday instead of today. Well guess what? F*ck yourself. I hope everyone who randomly happened to get a reservation there enjoys their meal.

So now I've gotta scramble and figure out another place and hope it isn't full or only have crappy times left. Maybe if I had done this a week ago when I wanted to, I'd have more options. But NOPE thanks Altius!

/angry useless rant

[UKyank]

^for special days/occasions it's usually best to call a place as the normal online booking are often not the best way to go (same with hotels)

[ProFiction]

You're probably right. However, they shouldn't give the illusion that the online system will suffice when it will not.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by ProFiction

Well, I've decided never to go to Altius after this morning. About a week ago, I wanted to nail down Valentine's reservations and Altius was actually one of the first places I thought of. I went to their site to check it out and they have an OpenTable link right on there, but I noticed that you can't make reservations more than 30 days in advance. (It was the 8th, we'll say, and you could only pick up to Feb 7th.) I was slightly bummed about that because I didn't want to waste time and make sure I got a nice reservation, but I ended up deciding to set up a reminder on my phone for this morning (the 15th) so I could get in early and make a Feb 14 reservation. Well, I go on the site and try to make one and they've got nothing for the 14th... wow, I think, bunch of dedicated people, oh well! Then I click over to their 'Valentine's Day 2015' page, which did not exist a week ago (it was still New Years), and notice that, against all reason, they decided to open their Valentine's Day reservations yesterday instead of today. Well guess what? F*ck yourself. I hope everyone who randomly happened to get a reservation there enjoys their meal.

So now I've gotta scramble and figure out another place and hope it isn't full or only have crappy times left. Maybe if I had done this a week ago when I wanted to, I'd have more options. But NOPE thanks Altius!

/angry useless rant

A few years ago my wife and I mutually decided to celebrate V-Day on whatever day during the week of the 14th we could get exactly the reservations we wanted at exactly the restaurant we wanted. Much less stress about what's essentially an artificial holiday (but one which you can't totally ignore).

[ProFiction]

Originally Posted by sskink

A few years ago my wife and I mutually decided to celebrate V-Day on whatever day during the week of the 14th we could get exactly the reservations we wanted at exactly the restaurant we wanted. Much less stress about what's essentially an artificial holiday (but one which you can't totally ignore).

That's good thinking! I'll have to run that by the girlfriend.

[Evergrey]

Melissa McCart gives Tambellini's in Highland Park a favorable review... anyone here have any opinions? I'm usually hesitant to try restaurants like this... as I often find them to range between underwhelming and awful.

Tambellini in Highland Park offers diners a slice of old Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[phatty5011]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Melissa McCart gives Tambellini's in Highland Park a favorable review... anyone here have any opinions? I'm usually hesitant to try restaurants like this... as I often find them to range between underwhelming and awful.

Tambellini in Highland Park offers diners a slice of old Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is very good.