Good eats in Pittsburgh

Who knew that Pittsburgh would be full of wonderful restaurants?

My new work project will have me in Pittsburgh most of the fall and winter. (Winter in Pittsburgh ... won’t that be fun?) The hotel is right across the street from PNC Park and a few blocks from Heinz Field, which should make for some interesting stays during football season.

I spent my first week in Pittsburgh at the end of August, with a few co-workers, as we kicked off the new project. One of my co-workers, Katie, had been to Pittsburgh before, so she had our dining options all lined up for the week. Although I found one place that she hadn’t been before ... I think that place will be one of my favorites.

Six Penn

http://www.sixpennkitchen.com/

I found this place by accident. What a happy accident it turned out to be.

I had a free Sunday in Pittsburgh, so I went to the Andy Warhol museum and then walked around downtown. It was past lunchtime and I was hungry. I saw Starbucks and figured I’d just get an iced chai and a sandwich. I looked across the street and saw two guys walk out of this place called Six Penn and decided to see what they had.

The restaurant was still serving brunch and something on the menu caught my eye — cheesecake-stuffed french toast with berry compote. How could I pass that up?

I’m sooooo glad I didn’t!

Brunch started with a breadbasket of pumpkin bread with cinnamon apple butter.

And then came the french toast.

OH. MY. GOSH.

The brioche made the french toast light, not dense and heavy like you get at many places. The cheesecake filling wasn’t too sweet. And the warm berry compote was perfect. I had ordered a side of homemade sausage patties, which were interestingly seasoned with caraway seeds.

We went back later in the week for dinner. I wasn’t very hungry that night, so I ordered homemade pretzels and an heirloom tomato salad. I can’t wait to go back and start ordering off the dinner menu.

This is going to be my “I don’t know where I want to eat so I’ll eat here” place in Pittsburgh. And it’s just over the river from the hotel, so it’s easy to get to.

Lidia’s Italy-Pittsburgh

http://www.lidias-pittsburgh.com/

According to the website, there’s a Lidia’s in Kansas City. But I’ve never heard of the place. This was another restaurant on Katie’s “must eat here” list.

The entryway of the restaurant was filled with Lidia’s many cookbooks, one of which mentioned her 52-part cooking series on PBS.

The menu was full of delicious looking Italian dishes. But we all opted for the house special — the Pasta Trio, with caesar salad and dessert.

I don’t remember the exact names of the pasta dishes, but two featured homemade pasta and one pasta imported from Italy. The pastas were served tableside from skillets. It was all you can eat, but one serving was more than enough.

I had to leave room for dessert!

Katie and I couldn’t decide which dessert we wanted -- the Nutella dark chocolate banana confection or the lemon-blueberry cake. So we each ordered one then shared.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Church Brew Works

http://www.churchbrew.com/

This brew pub was a favorite of my co-workers when my company had previously done work in Pittsburgh.

The pub used to be a Catholic church, becoming a brew pub in 1996.

It’s a little strange to see brew vats where the altar used to be in a church, but at least they’d removed the Stations of the Cross from the walls. If those were there, that would have just been weird. If you go to the website, you can read the history of the area and the church, including its transformation to brew pub.

I was hungry that night, so while others opted for the Pittsburgh-style salad (complete with french fries), I had a BBQ pork chop. It was thick and perfectly cooked, served with a side of crispy polenta and spicy slaw.

My new favorite pasta dinner

It's quick, it's easy.

When it comes to cooking, those are the two most important things for me.

And I hate lots of leftovers.

But it seems like the leftovers from my new favorite pasta dish — alfredo with chicken, spinach and tomatoes — don't last long enough.

Lightly saute 1/2 to 2/3 of a bag of spinach with a few cloves of fresh garlic. Use the whole bag if you really like spinach (or if you don't have chicken, like happened to me one night).

Dump in a jar of alfredo sauce. I've been using the Progresso brand because they make a good "light" version. (If you're a fancy cook, like Dorsey, you could make the alfredo sauce from scratch. I'm not that adventurous.) Depending on how much spinach I've used, sometimes I thin the sauce down with a bit of milk.

Turn the heat down to low.

Toss in chopped, cooked chicken. I had an extra chicken breast or two from another other dish I had made.

Add grape tomatoes that have been sliced in half. I liked the sweetness of the grape tomatoes with the other flavors. I'm sure any other kind of tomato would work.

Simmer the sauce over low long enough to heat everything up. The spinach will wilt more while the sauce is heating.

I've been serving this over whole wheat penne pasta with a touch of Parmesan cheese.

Sunday night at Jami and Dorsey's

Dorsey prepared Penne Alla Vodka, served with a romaine lettuce salad and Italian Country bread on Sunday.

Yummmmy! It's a recipe worth repeating for company. Dorsey thinks it could have used more salt and pepper, plus more sauce. I, on the other hand, thought the amount of sauce was perfect. Not too soupy, nor too thick. Dorsey says creamier would have been better; in other words, process the tomatoes longer.

Dorsey has a theory about our taste styles: If he can taste the Hot Spicy, then it's probably too hot for me.

So true. He tasted it. I thought it was hot. My mouth is still on fire. Nothing that a little rum can't fix, though. (Being married to Dorsey has radically changed how I approach food ... that's all I'm saying.) The recipe calls for crushed hot red pepper without giving an amount. Dorsey used about a teaspoon, but you can adjust depending on your tastes.

Try it! We think you might like it!

I drizzled some chocolate and topped it with
peanut butter and chocolate chips.

For dessert, we had Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie. This is a really good dessert. It's not too rich nor too heavy, although Dorsey said that the peanut butter flavor wasn't as intense as he would have liked it to be. The texture is reallly nice. The soft mousse is balanced by the firmer chocolate layer and graham-cracker crust beneath. The chocolate and peanut-butter chips on top, plus the chocolate drizzle, provide bursts of flavor to what is a surprisingly mild dessert.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a glass pie plate, so he made it in a spring-form pan, and the graham cracker crust didn't come up the sides of the pan as the recipe called for, but that didn't detract from the taste at all.

It's an easy dessert to make, and it presents well.



Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie (epicurious.com)

yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

active time: 35 minutes

total time: 2 hours

For a pretty presentation, drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Ingredients

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 7 whole graham crackers, coarsely broken
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons sugar, divided

• 1 1/3 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 ounces)
• 2/3 cup plus 1 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

• 6 ounces (1 cup) peanut butter chips
• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned style or freshly ground)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish with nonstick spray. Blend graham crackers, melted butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar in processor until moist clumps form. Press crumb mixture over bottom and up sides of prepared pie dish. Bake crust until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine chocolate chips, 2/3 cup cream, corn syrup, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium heat until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Whisk until melted and smooth. Spread chocolate mixture over bottom of crust. Freeze 10 minutes.

Microwave peanut butter chips and 3/4 cup cream in large microwave-safe bowl on medium heat at 15-second intervals just until chips soften, stirring often. Whisk in peanut butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool to barely lukewarm. Beat remaining 1 cup cream and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until very thick but not yet holding peaks; fold into peanut butter mixture in 3 additions. Spoon mousse over chocolate layer. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

What we thought:

Main Course: Penne alla Vodka (epicurious.com)

yield: Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• Salt
• One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with their liquid
• 1 pound penne
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• Crushed hot red pepper
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

Preparation

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

Served with Organic Italian Country Bread and a Romaine salad with Blue Cheese dressing.