first food post pt. 1

I did promise a few posts back that I would start to post a bit more about food. Cooking and learning about (and eating of course) food are pretty big parts of my life in terms of interests. It developed a lot from being in a family/extended family that values food a lot as well and because of that, I watched a lot of food-related shows during high school/college (which brought about the interest in learning about food from different cultures and the basics of cooking techniques). Even now, although I don’t watch many shows related to food, there are a lot of YouTubers I watch and some books that I enjoy reading.

That all in mind, I happen to consider myself to be quite the connoisseur of restaurants in Pittsburgh (well a connoisseur of all the college student budget-friendly places in Pittsburgh at least); a proxy of how much time I spent in the city and the one summer I spent there basically alone. Pittsburgh is interesting because each of the neighborhoods are clearly culturally distinctive (much like NYC and very much unlike Dallas) but it’s not as big as other big American cities. The summer I spent in Pittsburgh alone I made it a personal goal to explore a different neighborhood each weekend and I have some recommendations of things to do and places to eat at in each neighborhood that I wanted to share. I will say that there are a few neighborhoods that I didn’t include but that’s either most likely because I didn’t spend that much time there or because there isn’t anything that comes to mind to take note of.

• Shadyside: I lived here my senior year and had a really nice routine each weekend where I would work/read in a coffee shop and then take a nice walk to get groceries. I still visited this area a lot throughout my four years in Pittsburgh regardless and I’ve basically eaten at every place here.
  • Coffee Shop: Jitters Cafe is a must. This is where I got into my weekend coffee, croissant, and a book/journal routine.
  • Bakery: Georgie’s Corner Cafe is a little on the higher end for a bakery in Pittsburgh for a college student, but it definitely merits multiple visits since each one of their baked goods and breakfast items is so good.
  • Restaurant: This is a bit hard to choose from since Walnut St. is such an iconic place for restaurants in Pittsburgh and I’ve been to many of them many times but at the end of the day I have to highlight Café Moulin and Mercurio’s as my personal favorites.
• North Oakland: I spent basically 2.5 years in North Oakland so this is the place I know the best. That being said, especially senior year once the effects of the pandemic lifted off a bit more, it feels like the turnover of restaurants coming and going is pretty high here.
  • Cafe/Bakery: Sidecar (as it’s called now, it’s been through a lot of name changes) is the companion cafe of Butterjoint (a restaurant) which I actually don’t like as much as I do the cafe.
  • Restaurant: In my opinion, this area is really good for college students. Both EGE Mediterranean (the smell coming out of that place as you’re walking back after a tough day is impossible to resist) and TW Kitchen are really good quality. Most places in this area are small family-owned type places where people remember your face and I liked that a lot.

• CMU / Craig St.: I mostly added this section because I feel like Craig St. needed a section of its own. My friend group liked EatUnique a lot (to be honest, it’s only financially feasible as a freshman with a lot of flex money). There are a lot of other cool places but I think I’m doing a disservice if I don’t put Chipotle on here just because of how many times I went to that Chipotle (even if they do skimp on the chicken)

• Central Oakland: I’m grouping all of the UPitt area into this. I haven’t been to any cafes here but there are so many restaurants here its hard to keep track. This is a really lesser known place and is unfortunately closed now (its literally in a basement) but I think I have to give an honorable mention to Pie Express. The quality wasn’t really top notch or close to top notch but they had this $5 personal pizza deal during the pandemic that was amazing. Other than that Milkshake Factory and Roots are two Pittsburgh only places that I’ve visited many a times.

• Squirrel Hill: Like Central Oakland, this place is a big CMU hub because a lot of people live here. Squirrel Hill is most iconic for all the Asian restaurants here but also one thing to note is that I’m grouping in a vast swath of area without making a difference between North, Central/East, and South Squirel Hill.
  • Cafe: For drinks personal favorite is Dobra Tea. Its kind of bougie in its seating area but its a really cool vibe and they take their tea very seriously.
  • Bakery: I have never heard anyone at CMU even mention Five Points Bakery which is such a travesty because IMO its miles ahead of all the other bakery competition in Pittsburgh. There are so many unique and well-made items here that you have to visit multiple times.
  • Restaurant: I’m going to have to mention all Cafe 33, Sichuan Gourmet, and Kiin Lao. Kiin Lao and Sichuan Gourtet are the places that got me into liking Thai and Chinese cuisine respectively and are both places I’ve been to quite often.
• East Liberty: I feel like this neighborhood is known primarily among freshman for having a Target and it was the first area I visited just because of this reason.
  • Cafe: I feel like Margaux isn’t super well known among CMU students but man, do they have really cool desserts.
  • Restaurant: Noodlehead to me feels like an iconic Pittsburgh place. I have no idea why and when I ask other CMU students, the sentiment is rarely reciprocated. I think its mostly because it and Choolah were one of the first few places I ate out in Pittsburgh.

Next week we’ll cover each of the lesser well known places for CMU students.

• Strip District
• Downtown
• Lawrenceville
• Southside
• Northside
• Bloomfield
• Waterfront