Anthony Bourdain kind of disses the Burgh a little (Pittsburgh: real estate, restaurant)

[Mr. Humble]

Originally Posted by Copanut

The best part of Pgh is the LOCALLY owned restaurants and dives. I rarely eat at a chain joint.

Yeah, without a doubt! I'm in L.A., chain food central, and I still don't do it. I lived off of Potomac for a while and I saw that Dor-stop episode. It wasn't there when I lived there, but it looked good. Dinner time in L.A.

[Rodeno]

He did a Cleveland show alone. Cleveland is a great food town with some great restaurants and great chefs. Pittsburgh has some great things to offer, but a food scene is not one of them. It kind of shocks me considering the two really good culinary schools in Pittsburgh.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

I've been coming to Pittsburgh since I was little. I've lived here since 2004.

I've eaten at exactly two locally owned places - the diner in Oakdale and that little sandwich shop in Robinson at the top of Bayer Road. (Guess what tech school I used to go to, win a prize.)

Maybe I should get around to going out more.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Rodeno

Pittsburgh has some great things to offer, but a food scene is not one of them. It kind of shocks me considering the two really good culinary schools in Pittsburgh.

What defines a "food scene"?

As of today, I could write down a list of at least two or three dozen places I would personally recommend, spanning a wide variety of cuisines. There are dozens more places I have heard good things about, but haven't tried yet. And new places are opening on a regular basis.

Now I recognize that in some other cities, instead of counting in dozens we might be counting in hundreds, or even thousands. But from an individual perspective, does that actually matter? Past a certain point it may be a matter of civic pride, but it isn't going to have much relevance to what you actually eat.

Incidentally, the food scene, or whatever you want to call it, in Pittsburgh has gotten infinitely better from when I first arrived here (1993). Back then, there really weren't many places worth recommending, and many of what were considered the "better" restaurants were just serving old standards that were decent at best (and not always that). But things definitely started changing for the better in the late 1990s, and now it is like night and day.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

"food scene" = trendy place for people who call themselves foodies to recommend to each other then tip their nose in the air because the "non-foodies" don't "get" the food there like they do.

[DaBurgh]

Great....

So we have no sunshine and no food scene.......

[BrianTH]

To our great shame, eggs have never been fried on Pittsburgh sidewalks.

[Rodeno]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

What defines a "food scene"?

As of today, I could write down a list of at least two or three dozen places I would personally recommend, spanning a wide variety of cuisines. There are dozens more places I have heard good things about, but haven't tried yet. And new places are opening on a regular basis.

Now I recognize that in some other cities, instead of counting in dozens we might be counting in hundreds, or even thousands. But from an individual perspective, does that actually matter? Past a certain point it may be a matter of civic pride, but it isn't going to have much relevance to what you actually eat.

Incidentally, the food scene, or whatever you want to call it, in Pittsburgh has gotten infinitely better from when I first arrived here (1993). Back then, there really weren't many places worth recommending, and many of what were considered the "better" restaurants were just serving old standards that were decent at best (and not always that). But things definitely started changing for the better in the late 1990s, and now it is like night and day.

Pittsburgh is getting better in terms of good restaurants, but it just isn't "there" yet. Really Cleveland has exploded with food, because it has claimed national attention with Michael Symon having his flagship restaurant in Cleveland (along with a couple others). There are also many other restaurants run/owned by many famous chefs, for example Farenheit in Cleveland Tremont neighborhood is owned by Rocco who is a Wolfgang Puck disciple. So sure Pittsburgh may have some good restaurant, but no one has recognized them. Zagat just finished their new ratings for 2011 and 20 Cleveland restaurants scored extraordinary, and for a city of its size that is pretty impressive. If I remember correctly the only restaurant in Pittsburgh that even received a Zagat rating was Morton's Steak House. I have had some very good meals in Pittsburgh, its not like everything tastes like crap there. I ate at Mallorca recently and had a very good meal, but wasn't out of this world, and so many people told me it is a GREAT restaurant.

[Copanut]

Amazingly, I eat every day in this town and have not starved. Food is food. Do we have many 5 star restaurants, probably not. Who freakin' cares?

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Amazingly, I eat every day in this town and have not starved. Food is food. Do we have many 5 star restaurants, probably not. Who freakin' cares?

We might not have many great high-end places, but we have some of the best damn junk food in the world!