Our grander international vaca. turned domestic with some work factors and my wife breaking her foot. So off we go to D.C and Pittsburgh.
Would appreciate any restaurant reccos. for either city. Do people byob in either of these cities?
I byo in DC all the time.
Etto and 2 Amy’s for small plate Italian style food (and pizza). $25 corkage at both but 2 Amy’s has a good “reserve” list (recently had a great and well-priced Valentini there).
Kinship for good American food (corkage not a good option here).
Tail Up Goat for good Mediterranean-ish food (no corkage allowed).
Izakaya Seki for good Japanese including sashimi (unless drinking beer or sake bring a wine for $25 corkage). Sushi Taro’s back counter is good but a PITA.
All those places take reservations.
If you are willing to line up, Bad Saint has killer Filipino food and Little Serow good Thai (Rose’s Luxury is popular but the owner’s attention is elsewhere).
Corduroy’s bar is a great value.
Ethiopian food here is pretty good, too.
Himitsu is popular and can be good.
Thip Kao is pretty good, serving Lao food.
This article has a bunch of newer popular places. Haven’t been to any except Fancy Radish, which I would not recommend, and Unconventional Diner, which wasn’t bad. The Best New Restaurants in D.C., June 2022 - Eater DC
John
It’s been years since I’ve been there, but always enjoyed this place, and you could definitely BYOB.
This is up on Mt Washington, in a less than desirable area, but a great place. I would consider Uber.
Alla Famiglia
804 East Warrington Ave
Pittsburgh (Allentown area)
412-488-1440
For PIT, I agree Dave’s reco of Alla Famiglia.
Altius on Mt. Washington is BYOB ($35) and has great views of downtown. Its a more trendy upscale place. I’d take a look at the Pirates schedule and see if you can time a late dinner at Altius with the game. It’s cool looking down on the stadium all lit up. If you are lucky, the game may be a “fireworks night”. It is a unique experience to look down on fireworks for a change.
Here is the BYO thread for Pittsburgh.
Minibar is worth every penny IMO. Had an excellent meal at Rasika also. Fiola comes very highly recommended.
George
We really enjoyed a recent meal at the Red Hen. Corkage per the web site is $20 but the list is 2x wine searcher ave so not bad markup considering. Food isn’t fancy but everything we had was well done and in balance. Place is a bit noisy and reservations can go quick.
Thanks all, keep’em coming.
I had a memorable meal at Cure in Pittsburgh. www.curepittsburgh.com/
It’s in an up and coming area of the city and good wine list as well.
My wife and I went to Obelisk a few months ago and it was wonderful, though the decor was tired. It is also BYOB.
The Blue Duck was very good for dinner and absolutely phenomenal for brunch.
I liked Cure quite a bit; the charcuterie platter is exceptional.
I also agree with Cure as a great restaurant. Piccolo Forno is also a great byob Italian restaurant in the stylish neighborhood of Lawrenceville. While they will be enjoyable, they will not be memorable. Head to a cliffside Mt. Washington restaurant for something memorable and unique with great food, views and byob.
My trip to Pittsburgh is my first back in four decades since I moved to Cali as a young teen. Checking out my childhood spots in Pitt / Bethel Park is a bucket list item for me. The Tin Angel was my parents’ special occasion spot. So if I can find something good on Mt. Washington, I am in. One night will be some sort of ballpark grub at PNC.
Monterey Bay Fish Grotto is a pretty good spot on Mt Washington
1411 Grandview Ave
I can’t remember if they allow BYOB
A lower scale, family atmosphere joint up there is
La Tavola (definitely BYOB)
1 Boggs Ave
412-481-6627
Did you score great seats for PNC? If you’d like, I can reach out to the folks I shared season tickets with to see if they will part with them when you are in town. Absolutely fantastic seats, 13 rows back (1st non-catered row), behind home plate just to the 1st base side. It is very easy to call balls and strikes.
Altius is the current best, Monterey Bay is a large fish restaurant with good, but variable views. Most places byob, I can’t think of any that don’t. Bring wine from home or DC, the state stores with good choices are few (east liberty, waterworks). There are some good restaurants downtown like Union Trust, Eleven.
When will you be here? I haven’t been to Alla Familiga but the praise is universal.
Regarding Monterey Bay, I went there a number of years ago, called earlier in the day, and explained I was a Pittsburgh native back visiting, and was bringing a special lady and wanted to show off Mt. Washington to her - they obliged me with the best view in the house.
Tom, isn’t the One Oxford Centre State Store a good one? I used to work in the building, and they got allocations of the top wines.
Alla Famiglia is kind of a hole in the wall in a shady section of Mt Washington, but the food and atmosphere is excellent.
I’ll be there in mid-May. Dave I bought some Pirate tickets on StubHub. Seat in the level closest to the field around the dugout were 1/3 the price of Dodgers seats. Can’t wait to see that ballpark. Thanks for the offer though. I am also going to try your “native son” angle to try and get a good table with a view.
I have two Willie Stargell autographed balls. The brother of my best friend from “the day” still lives in their family house across from mine in Bethel Park. I’m going to bring the ball to give to my old friend who I haven’t seen or heard from in the 40 years.
Oxford is one of the better stores, but lately it doesn’t have as much inventory or at least what inventory I would prefer. The other downtown stores are awful. Sewickley used to have a lot of good Italian wine but that has dropped off.
John, I don’t know where you’re staying but if downtown you can walk across the Roberto Clemente (6th Street) bridge to the ballpark.
Tom,
Back in the day, I developed relationships with the managers in the One Oxford Centre, Waterworks, McIntyre Square, and Rt 19 North Hills stores, as they got the better wines that rarely made it to the shelves.
I would occasionally hit the Sewickley store.
John- If you haven’t made reservations yet, the Renaissance is very close to the 6th Street (Roberto Clemente) Bridge, and is an easy walk to PNC - they close the bridge off to auto traffic on game nights, and lots of vendors, street musicians, etc. take over the bridge.
Brian - we have a reservation for May; did you find anything on the list that you would recommend?
John - our RH booking experience is tables in the 7-9 slot go quickly well in advance; May 20th just opened up today and already no 4-tops and only 9 pm available for 2’s. However, they do state they keep tables open for walk-ups if you don’t mind waiting. If you like Indian, we had a great meal at Rasika.