Pittsburgh - Visiting for the 1st time...where to go? (Bloomfield: kitchen, best)

[Shenandoah]

Originally Posted by tscrilla

I love both worlds, the bustling city as well as the quiet country roads. I can only imagine that fall is absolutely breathtaking there due to the hilly landscape.

tscrilla

For the quiet country roads, I can recommend quite a few areas. And here, I'll try to stay within a one hour drive of Pittsburgh. There's quite a few more state parks outside of the one hour drive - save those for a nice long weekend trip.

Mingo Creek Park in Washington County - for the drive along the creek, and for the historic covered bridges (Covered Bridge Festival sometime in the fall). Just get onto rte 88, off of rte 51 south of Pittsburgh, and follow rte 88 thru some nice neighborhoods and on out into the countryside of Washington County. If you like antiques, continue on rte 88 into New Eagle and Monongahela for great antique shoppe shopping. Stop for lunch at the Trolley Stop Inn in Library on 88 before getting to the park.

McConnells Mills State Park in Butler County - quite a beautiful and breathtaking drive thru the house sized boulders, the beautiful rushing waters of the creek, as well as the informative tour of the old mill. Have lunch at Brown's Country Restaurant on (I think) 488 (just off of 19) in Portersville. To get there on a nice leisurely country drive, just get onto rte 19 from the Mars exit on I-79. You'll drive thru Zelienople (a nice day trip too), up to Portersville, and if you want to after visiting McConnell's Mills, continue on up rte 19 to Volant, then over to the Grove City Shoppes (outlet shopping), then back down I-79 South to Pittsburgh.

Have fun!

blessings, Shen

[PAMamma]

Originally Posted by Hopes

And I'm not sure Primanti Bros qualifies as great food. It's just Pittsburgh food because of how Primanti's made it's name. In the beginning, they were just in the strip district, serving food at all hours in hostile manner by not listening to the order and slapping anything together and handing it to people. Sort of like the soup nazi on Steinfeld. That's how Primanti's became so famous and created something known as Pittsburgh food. Now it's just unique because the french fries and slaw are all in the sandwich. I've been to the one in Southside and other locations. None of them compare to the origional location in the strip.

Now, I could be completely wrong but I always thought that the Primanti Bros. sandwich was created for the truck drivers who drove in the fresh produce and such to the strip, at 4:00 am. They could eat it for breakfast with one hand - the whole meal; sandwich, slaw & fries in 1 fist - while driving back home.

But I’ve never even had one!
So what would I know ?

[Shenandoah]

Primanti Brothers, best time to go is after midnite, and only go to the original, in the Strip District. A date took me there once, hard to find parking, even at that hour, as it's a popular place, but once in, it was well worth it. I could only eat 1/3 of my sandwich. My date ate all of his, and the rest of mine!! He could burn 1000 calories just by standing still.

blessings, Shen

[Shenandoah]

I've never gone shopping in the Strip on a Saturday morning, but heard that it's a great experience. One of these days, hubby promises he'll take me!

blessings, Shen

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Shenandoah

Primanti Brothers, best time to go is after midnite, and only go to the original, in the Strip District. A date took me there once, hard to find parking, even at that hour, as it's a popular place, but once in, it was well worth it. I could only eat 1/3 of my sandwich. My date ate all of his, and the rest of mine!! He could burn 1000 calories just by standing still.

I agree. Primanti's is for the experience more than the food. Only the one in the strip district provides the experience.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by PAMamma

Now, I could be completely wrong but I always thought that the Primanti Bros. sandwich was created for the truck drivers who drove in the fresh produce and such to the strip, at 4:00 am. They could eat it for breakfast with one hand - the whole meal; sandwich, slaw & fries in 1 fist - while driving back home.

But I’ve never even had one!
So what would I know ?

That's true! That's why they're open at all hours of the night/morning. They just slapped food together without much regard to what people ordered. There wasn't anything remotely resembling "customer service." It has become a popular place to go eat after the bars close for local Pittsburghers. Only the strip district restaurant offers the total Primanti's experience.

[PAMamma]

Whenever we have guests here in Pittsburgh for the first time, depending on the duration of their visit, we always try to at least do this route:

Drive down Shady Ave. & Beechwood Blvd. to look at all the pretty houses, old mansions, and Frick Park.

Then from Beechwood Blvd. we take the Hi-Level (Homestead-Grays) Bridge to say, “Look at all this development below - it used to be the US Steel Homestead Works, see the old stacks, (they usually see something down there, at the Waterfront, that they want/need to go to later.) You can also see the tippy parts of Kennywood to the left, from the bridge, and that will usually spark an interest for a trip there - time permitting.

Then we make a right onto 8th Ave. (Rt. 837) and drive along the river. You can see Sandcastle, the waterpark on your right. Take the exit for Carson Street and along “River Road” you can still see flaming stacks of some sort (oooh- ahhh -dirty ‘ol industry still here,) to your right along the Monongahela.

We continue along 837/Carson Street through the Southside to look at all the development and venues there. And continue heading towards Station Square. But before we get there we make a sharp left up Arlington Ave, take the immediate right onto East Sycamore St., then make a right (I think you have to) onto Wyoming St. and that puts you smack onto the beginning of Grandview Ave. to your left.

You can usually park for free on any side street down to the left and walk to the Mt. Washington “Mushrooms” to enjoy the view. Then go into the Mon Incline Station, tell them you want to go down and take the “T” to town and back up. You’ll get transfers for this - I think $1.75 total for the whole trip, (kids under 6 are free, I think.)

Enjoy your incline ride, (you can then do the Station Square thing if you wish -we usually skip it,) and cross the street - get on the “T” towards town, and get off at the last stop: Gateway Center. Go up and head towards your right, to the PPG building and courtyard fountain, cool off, check out downtown, then head back to down to the “T” to get back to Station Square. When you get off -ask them for another transfer to ride the Incline back up.

Once back up to Mt. Washington, if you're hungry, you can enjoy any of the restaurants up on Grandview Ave. Although recently, I was impressed with my 1st time visit to Red Beard’s on Shiloh St. The food was good for the prices and they had a nice outdoor patio with live music.

It’s a quick, fun and cheap excursion.

I have a whole different itinerary if guests have young children that of course, includes:

The Science Center & Sportsworks
The Zoo
The Carnegie Natural History and Art Museums
The Children's Museum
Kennywood
Etc.

[tscrilla]

Thank you everyone. This is GREAT info and the reason I come to this forum. I can't wait to come visit...only 2 more weeks!!!

If you have more to share please do so.

T-Scrilla

[guylocke]

Walnut Street shopping in Shadyside Was this said, already?

[PApisces]

Originally Posted by Drover

IMO one of the greatest Pittsburgh culinary experiences is Mad Mex, though they may have one in Columbus. (Just checked -- yes, they do.) Still, a trip to the flagship location in the Oakland neighborhood might be in order. And yes, Fat Head's is a religious experience if you're a burger aficionado. It's also a great stop if you're a beer aficionado.

Mad Mex will be my FIRST dining experience when I return. "Kristy's big Sister's red velvet qesadilla's"....mmmmm....Homer Simpson drooling..... mmmmm