Headed to Pittsburgh with wife and friends for the first time ever this weekend. Looks like we’ll have no shortage of activity crammed into the two days, but if there’s any “can’t miss” activity that I’d be in danger of missing, I’d love to hear it.
We’re staying downtown in the Omni and will have cars.
Appears to be a great BYOW town, so very much looking forward to that. Currently have dinner reservations at Piccolo Forno and Grit and Grace.
If you’re still there on Monday, the Pirates host the Mets at 1:10pm. It’s a beautiful ballpark. I also recommend a stroll through the Strip District for lunch and shopping; and a ride on the Duquesne Incline on Mt. Washington. Have fun.
I was just at Grit & Grace a couple weeks ago. Nice place, good food. If you’re by the stadiums there’s a nice path along the river. +1 on riding one of the inclines; I took the Monongahela. I found Soergel’s Orchards a few miles north of downtown to be a worthwhile stop also.
Pirates are in NYC today, Memorial Day.
Piccolo Forno is byob only and highly recommended. Bring wine from Charlottesville or you can walk From your hotel to the Oxford Plcb store (closed on Sunday and not open beyond 7 pm during the week). The other downtown stores are worthless as is the store near picolo forno.
Grit and grace is good and one of our favorites. We favor dim sum and small plates versus the large plates. Tell them if you want slow pacing, left to their own the plates can come out pretty quickly. I don’t know about corkage but the sister restaurant, Spoon, allows it.
Byob is allowed pretty much everywhere except at station square. Corkage is usually $10 to $25 at licensed restaurants and nominal at byob only places.
Nice, everyone. Thank you.
Is Primanti Bros. worth it? I had kind of written if off as a tourist novelty. (I am, of course, a tourist).
At the risk of being flamed, no, it is not worth it unless you are in need of a bland carb overload. A pile of fries, a bit of slaw, and a few slices of meat squashed between two very thick slices of white bread.
I’ve eaten about a hundred of these on which I base this opinion. 
But it can be a fun diversion and they are good people.
If you’re looking to escape the heat, the Ft. Pitt museum is pretty cool if you like history and, of course, there’s the Warhol museum across the river.
Maybe not worth a detour but it would depend on your options. In Market Square for lunch its likely one of your best reasonably priced options with more expensive choices but there is il pizziaolo (pizza plus italian) or sienna for italian or nola for new orleans influenced food.
In the strip district, there is thin man sandwichs but no alcohol in a pretty basic space, bar marco for brunch in a former firehouse, Primanti bros, pamela’s ( an Obama fav), Eleven for an relativly expensive bruch at the end of the strip closest to your hotel, and Kaya (part of the Eleven Group, we haven’t been but its on our list and highly recommended).
Do not depend on cabs for a return to your hotel. There are hotels with good cab service: omni, westin, marriott, and fairmount but a return might be difficult unless arranged in advance.
Is NOLA reopened? It caught fire not too long ago.
Cure is my fav restaurant in town. Like $15 corkage. Eleven is also good on the higher end. You’d be shocked how many awesome places surround town. Low rent and young, exciting chefs.
Oops it’s still closed.
Like Michael says there are a lot of good choices. Cure would likely be a tough reservation a week out and requires driving.
The choices within walking distance downtown are more limited but Grit and Grace is within a few blocks of the Omni.
I’ve seen a lot of Meat & Potatoes on the Travel Channel lately, is that a decent option?
I haven’t been to meat & potatoes but a few times. We tend to make last minute reservations and it’s a crowd favorite for pretheater which dominates the area. We also don’t like the two top cafe tables arranged around the bar but it’s better seating for parties of 4. For 2 i think i would prefer the bar or outside.
The sister restaurant, butcher and rye, has similar food and has better two tops but is probably a more difficult reservation and it looks like reservations need to be made more than 5 weeks in advance.
A newcomer, Altius, is up on Mount Washington with a great view. I’ve only been for preopening appetizers but it looks very promising.
Pittsburgh magazine just published their restaurant issue but oddly did not mention Salt.
+1 (I’m a native Yinzer)
In East Liberty -
Salt of the Earthhttp://www.saltpgh.com/ - great food, so-so wine
Spoon http://www.spoonpgh.com/ - good food, as good of a wine list as you can get in Pgh by sommelier (and buddy of mine) John Wabeck, formerly of many great places in DC.
The changes that neighborhood has gone through in the last decade are amazing.
I had a nice meal this winter at Union Pig and Chicken, a barbecue place, though…as far as barbecue, it wasn’t that memorable. http://www.yelp.com/biz/union-pig-and-chicken-pittsburgh
Re: Primanti’s…I finally got there on that visit. I thought the best thing about the place was the coleslaw. I had a roast beef sandwich…and felt like I was eating bad french fries and coleslaw on puffy white bread…with a slight flavoring of beef (which was maybe a good thing?)…I will write Primanti’s off as a tourist novelty, yuins. Not worth the effort…though my 20 year old son kinda likes the place, FWIW. (Even he likes the novelty most of all, though.)
Skip Primanti…not worth the effort.
Don’t forget the Warhol Museum.
Send me a PM if you want to know some of the local scoop as I live here.
Thanks everyone for the tips. Bob, sorry I did not connect with you beforehand.
We had a great time. Really had a good impression of the city. Perfect weather didn’t hurt, either.
Good to great meals at: Thin Man Sandwiches, Piccolo Forno, Pamela’s, Noodlehead and Grit & Grace.
Also had a really enjoyable time at the Maggie’s Farm Rum Distillery. I’m not a big rum guy, but they are making a seriously tasty product. Their spiced rum made me forget all about the Captain Morgan’s I keep trying to forget from my college days.
Just bumping this thread in case any one has new recommendations for restaurants!
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