Pittsburgh Public Market Makes the Most of a Bad Situation

Today it was announced that the Pittsburgh Public Market, now in the far end of the Produce Terminal in the Strip, would be moving to an all new space on Penn Avenue this summer.  This move is in response to the wrong-headed decision by Buncher Development to tear down part of the Produce Terminal in order to build an office park along the riverfront.

The new location is at the 2400 block of Penn Avenue and is a much larger space with more reliable heating and cooling than the present location.  The Produce Terminal on Smallman Street was a little bit of an awkward location, as the vast majority of foot traffic occurs on Penn Avenue.  But with this move to the 2400 block, the new Public Market is 2 blocks away from the "end" of the shopping zone (Penn Avenue Fish Company and the Polish Deli).  Will the foot traffic walk 2 blocks past Bar Marco/Firehouse Farmers' Market to get to the Public Market?

The heart of the Strip on the weekends, from Wholey's to the 2200 block of Penn Avenue, gets quite congested.  By lengthening the zone, will this make the situation better or worse?  If the pedestrian traffic continues to thicken, the day may come where Penn Avenue should be considered to be pedestrian-only in the shopping zone on the weekend mornings/afternoons.

It will be interesting to see if Bill Peduto is elected Mayor of Pittsburgh in May (no Republican stands a chance in November historically).  Peduto is very food truck friendly and it would make sense for food trucks to congregate in the Strip on the weekends.  It would be very realistic to shut down Penn and set up the trucks right on the street, making the Strip even more of a destination.

Crazy Vegetables and Rick Sebak

DB~ and I went downtown to the Strip today.  I've written plenty about the Strip District in the past, but let me once again say that the Strip on a Saturday (especially in pleasant weather) is a sight to behold.  There's just so much going on with all kinds of vendors on the street.

Today we wandered into the Farmers' Market at the Firehouse up the far end of Penn, past the Penn Avenue Fish Company.  There were lots of great craft and farmer stands, but one caught my eye right away. It was Mott Family Farm from Salesville, OH -- about 30 minutes west of Wheeling, according to the owner of the farm, Jeff Mott.

Sometimes, especially in the Strip, it's easy to get vegetable hypnosis.  Pretty much every stand has the same basic tomatoes, greens, eggplants, fruit, beans.  But at the sustainably and organically grown Mott Farm, he had all kinds of crazy variations on vegetables.  There were blue potatoes, all sorts of Asian eggplants, so many different types of sweet peppers, five types of garlic, a plethora of onion types, and on and on.  It also helped that Jeff Mott is probably one of the nicest guys you'll meet and eager to talk about produce with you and how to use it.

We ended getting a bunch of Japanese turnips (tasty raw, too), a head of red garlic, two Merlose red peppers, some blue potatoes, and a type of Taiwanese eggplant that was long and curly.  All that for just $8.

After that we left the Farmers' Market and headed back towards the main fray on Penn Avenue.  As soon as  we got on to Penn Avenue, DB~ said "This guy coming towards us looks like the guy from the Yinztagram app".  I knew she meant Rick Sebak, but forgot his name.  Sure enough, it was the actual Rick Sebak.  I said, "Hey, how are you doing, Rick!" and he stopped and talked with us for at least 10 minutes while holding bags of groceries.

If Jeff Mott is the nicest guy you'll meet, Rick Sebak is the 2nd nicest.  We asked him about what his new documentary was about (25 things he likes about Pittsburgh), how he likes being on Yinztagram (loves it), he told us about getting a signed program from Sir Laurence Olivier and waiting in line for autographs from London theaters, and a bunch of other stuff.

We got a picture of DB~ and Rick, with her face bright red.  He said to leave a space next to DB~ so that we could add the fake Rick Sebak into the picture.  He was a great guy and one of the more underrated Pittsburghers out there.

You never know what will happen in the Strip District.

Reyna's Taco Shack

After our trip to Regent Square for the Square Cafe, DB~ and I went to one of our favorite spots in the city, the Strip District. We didn't really have anything in particular that we wanted to shop for; we weren't playing on eating at home that Saturday night. It was just kind of a "wander around and see what strikes us" kind of day.

We got there at 2 pm, way later than we usually arrive, but it still was pretty busy on the streets. I was lucky enough to find a parking spot right on Penn, mid-zone in the heart of all the action. We headed south towards the City and went into Mancini's to pick up some rolls for family dinner on Sunday night and got a loaf of tomato-basil bread for my parents.

Next we went to Wholey's and bought a 2 lb bag of mussels for us to eat on Tuesday night and 1-1/2 pounds of shrimp for Sunday's family dinner (I was making shrimp etoufee for 9 people). After sampling some of the sublime lobster bisque and bought some cinnamon rice cakes, we left Wholey's.

A stop at Penn Mac is a must, but at the cheese counter we only bought some fresh Mozzarella for salads. We got a few other small items here, too. After getting a street egg roll from my favorite Asian trailer, we got some popcorn at Pittsburgh Popcorn (kettle for DB~'s mom, peanut butter and chocolate for mine).

The skies were starting to cry tears upon the denizens of Pittsburgh frequenting the Strip District, so we had to accelerate our shopping experience. We breezed through DB~'s favorite stores, Hot Haute Hot and Roxanne's Dried Flowers, and started to head back to the car.

I had to get a street taco at Reyna's outside their store. Reyna's has 2 ladies operating a flat top griddle to heat the meats and warm the tortillas. The tacos are topped with a mix of onions, lettuce, and fresh cilantro, with each placed in their own individual paper cartons to eat. You have your choice of 4 different salsas -- verde, chipotle, adobo, mild -- to top your own taco.

The women speak little to no English, so a young girl is there to take your order and relay it to the cooks. I had the special lamb taco while DB~ had a chicken taco. Each taco is $3, with two tacos costing $5 (but the lamb wasn't subject to this discount).

What you see above is the remnants of the cartons after we got home. Due to the rain, we hurried back to the car and ate them in the car. However, someone wanted our parking spot, so I had to pull around the block and hurriedly eat mine before traffic got thick again. No time to take a picture pre-eat.

If you go to the Strip, save some room for this delectable little slice of Mexico. It's like you're in Tijuana, minus the drunken college girls from San Diego, prevalent gang violence, and donkey shows.

The Strip District - the stomach of Pittsburgh

Oakland may be the brains of Pittsburgh, with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University occupying real estate. The Golden Triangle may be the heart of Pittsburgh, with its mix of pulsating commerce pumping money and congested traffic clogging the roads like cholesterol in the arteries of our bodies.

But the Strip District is the stomach. The place where Pittsburgh gets the food that we eat in our homes and in restaurants all throughout the region. During the day, it is quite simply a foodie's dreamscape.

The area is evolving even further in recent years by taking on a more ethnic slant with new entries such as a Polish deli (S&D Deli), a Peruvian eatery (Chicken Latino), more Asian groceries with an emphasis on Vietnamese recently, and more Greek food stands outside.

DB~ and I took off last Friday to eat our way through the Strip District (well, she would watch me try, I guess...her appetite is small). Unfortunately, the best laid plans....have delicious ruinations at Pamela's for brunch. Even though I was too full to try something from each of the street side stands, we did agree to Eat Around The World for dinner.

We started with a Havarti from a Pennsylvania creamery, God's Country Creamery, that is repped locally by Pennsylvania Macaroni Company --- a must stop on any trip to the Strip. We then selected potato and cheese pierogies at the aforementioned S&D Deli, (we reheated the red pinto beans from the night before as a side), and then had two delicious Greek desserts. And the wine was from California!

The funniest line of the day was overheard by DB~. A man in his mid-20's, dressed in a Yankees jersey and a Yankees hat with a heavy Brooklyn accent (an aside - why do Yankee fans feel compelled to advertise their affiliations everywhere they go? We get it...you like to root for the Devil) was on the phone with someone back in the Filthy Apple. He said "Yeah, I'm in Pittsburgh for the weekend. I'm in this one part that's just like Queens...yeah, they have all kinds of s&*t out on the street for sale!" So there you go. New York approved.

If you are bringing people to Pittsburgh for the first time, especially if they are out of towners, the Strip is a must do on a Friday or Saturday morning/afternoon. It's an electric atmosphere that brings out your hunter/gatherer instincts.

Skip Primanti's...try more fun foods and they'll remember it for longer.