I made a quick visit to Pittsburgh recently and found it to be a little hidden jewel bound for a boom in growth, a nice variety of food (though maybe not in the sushi department), tons of sports fans(tons!), big hills, many bars, a few great museums, and an eclectic crowd of students though they seemed to stay on the campus side of the city. The cost of living is low, and many developments seemed to be popping up. I originally thought the industrial town would be smoggy, but not much smog was to be seen. The locals were friendly, though I have this weird feeling if you did not watch football (Steelers) they would give you a grin.

The town is filled with fleets of commercial businesses in the health care, financial, and retail departments, and a spoof of tech companies crawling in. My journey was short, but a nice glimpse of a town I’d never known about besides the many movies that take place there. One local I spoke to said there were 3 things to do in Pittsburgh: Eat, Drink, and watch Sports. I have my own thoughts but I’ll just post up a few pics after the jump…

I was greeted at the airport by this huge T-Rex…hmm….sure sets me up for my thoughts of Pittsburgh.

My first lunch in town was the Carson St Deli, which a friend of mine from CMU told me to hit up(thanks mel). It was awesome!!!! This Reuben sandwich rocked! Maybe I was just hungry and tired, but it was amazzzzing!

Next up, was the Andy Warhol Museum, filled with an amazing amount of work by the icon himself ranging from prints, paintings, scripts, movies, wigs, clothing, and installations.

Big prints!

Silver Clouds: Metalized, polyester film with helium. This room was filled with some serious fun! The fans would throw these helium filled bags around in mysterious patterns making any person gaze in excitement before they started to pound on the bags themselves and become kids again. I was just like that little girl in the picture jumping in joy, but only when no one else was looking.

Dinner at Abay. The pictures I took are stuck on my camera phone, but this picture from their site says it all. Very good, tasty, and fun to eat(using your hands). The bread was good, but man does it expand. It’s kinda of like a tapas place, but you eat everything with the provided soft crepe like bread.

Dinner at NineOnNine. Grilled Quail: cheese grits, fried sage, country ham in a blackberry sauce. The wine infused raspberries on the side were very tasty.

Grilled halibut over spinach, lamb slices, and some kind of puree sauce. This was good.

Sorbet: I gotsta have my sorbet.

This was around the CMU campus….I was driving by, and it’s one of those things you just pull your camera out for. It’s a large pole extruding some 30-45 feet out with statues walking up towards the sky.

Ok, so EVERYONE I asked about eating in Pittsburgh mentioned the Primanti Brothers. I’d seen images of this french fry infused coleslaw infested sandwich on the food channel before, but oh my my was I not prepared.

Bahm! This thing is huge! probably 5-6 inches tall before you smash it down to eat. It’s got your basic meat, bread, cheese, and vegetables, but along with it is a handful of coleslaw, and a dizzying array of French Fries mashed right in there. I threw in some hot sauce which some locals suggested and it was very good, though, I’m not sure If I could come here often. It was a definite experience, but not an everyday delight. This was my last meal before heading to the airport, which surprisingly had me craving for more food before I jetted off.

Here’s a shot from the inside of this monster after I smashed it down( like the server told me to do)… gives you a nice view of the drizzling fries piled up high inside with a mound of cole slaw and specs of the hot sauce that I used. I finished it, and have another image of probably 20-30 napkins while enjoying this feast in a sandwich.

One thing that I reallllly wanted to check out was Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright. I almost made it over there, but was short on time. If any of you visit Pittsburgh, I’d highly suggest checking this out.