New Places to Recommend in Pittsburgh

A weekend with family and friends, May 1-4

There's a lot to be said for a long weekend away visiting old friends and family. We had not been to Pittsburgh, where Ben is from and I lived for several years, in almost a year. Our friends Tom Czekai and John Fasanini probably were beginning to wonder if we were avoiding them; the family certainly looks forward to our visit and we enjoy seeing them. Considering we used to go monthly either on business or to take care of ailing parents, it seems we seldom trek up the Turnpike through the mountains watching the seasons change as we go higher.

This trip we tried two new restaurants and did a little shopping. My friend Tom and I also attended the dedication of a newly-restored 1917 Pittsburgh streetcar at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum on May 1.

First the restaurants: Both are in the East End of Pittsburgh. They show the continuing Renaissance of the city as it becomes a center of gerontological research and high tech universities. Squirrel Hill now abounds in restaurants and they are now spreading into nearby neighborhoods like Regent Square, part of which is in the City of Pittsburgh. Of course, we still maintain soft spots for our cousins' restaurants, 11, Soba Lounge and Casbah in the Strip District and Shadyside.

Our first venture out was to Legume on Braddock Avenue in Regent Square. It's a small place run by a young couple (30s) who moved back to Pittsburgh from Ohio after working in and around Cleveland. They had got interested in food when at Oberlin. We estimate the restaurant has about 18 tables inside and half a dozen on the sidewalk outside.

While it has no specific specialities as far as we could tell, the seafood was delicious, our friend John enjoyed his duck immensely and our friend Tom had a pork cutlet that looked and he said was very tasty. We started with mussels and fingerling potatoes, leek and goat cheese tarte, and bistro salads. The mussels were tiny and blended with the potato pieces in a light oil and vinegar dressing easily. They easily passed for a Spanish tapa. There were more mussels than potatoes by far. Ben's goat cheese tarte was light, a good variation on a quiche.

Our mains were scallops seared and then served with juliennes of Jerusalem artichokes and red capsicum peppers. John's duck was sauced with a fruit sauce and the pork cutlet was grilled nicely. We finished off with pannecotta with rhubarb or chocolate cake.

What makes this restaurant endearing, besides the excellent cooking, is its reservation and seating policy. If you call in advance you can't make a reservation for less than a table of six, but if you call leave your name you will get the next table when you arrive...it's sort of a maitre D's list, but more advanced. The restaurant does not have a wine list so we arrived with a 2004 Linden Vineyards Virginia Chardonnay and a 2005 French Rhone: a Chateau-neuf-du-pape. Expensive wines but not at restaurant prices.

Our next night with cousin Joyce Diamondstone was at Ma Provence, Murray Avenue, Squirrel Hill. Owned by a Provençale whose chef once cooked at the famous Le Bec Fin in Center City Philadelphia (a restaurant we visited more than 20 years ago but still going strong). Bec Fin has been long famous for its crab cakes. The chef at Ma Provence provides an exact copy! We pigged out on the creamy crab mixed with chopped shrimp in cakes two inches across and an inch high (5 cm and 2.5 cm for our metric readers). Additionally the fish, according to Ben was fine and the duckling for Joyce very good. I began with a full plate of charcuterie. The portions are substantial.

The wine list is fine. Our 2004 red burgundy was lovely. Interestingly the French now list the cépage on the label of wines they export. Our French friend Marcel Leclerc remarks on the internationalization of the French wineries. French people generally do not see it necessary to print the varietal on the label. The creme brulée for dessert is very good with its brittle sugary finish.

Two excellent choices.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, once known as the Arden Trolley Museum, continues to expand. My friend Jack Samuels, a board member, explains that the executive director has aggressively courted grants and governments to grow the place. It now has 25,000 visitors per year and runs trolleys most days on several miles of track during the Spring, Summer and Fall months.

We enjoyed the political speeches and hobnobbing with friends as the museum dedicated a 1917 Pittsburgh trolley, shown here with friend Tom. These cars were the mainstay of the Pittsburgh system from the 1920s to the 1940s. Two remain in existence, both at the museum.


What was interesting was running into old friend Bill Flanagan, a consumer reporter with KDKA-TV when I was covering business for WPXI-TV in the early 1980s. He still retains a place on local TV but is involved as executive vice president of the Allegheny Conference, a business development group for the region. He gave one of the keynote speeches--by far the most interesting--putting Pittsburgh's transportation into perspective as part of his role in promoting the 250th anniversary of the city's founding in 1758 after the British took over from the French at Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian Wars that preceded the Revolution.


The rest of our trip was a delight of visiting friends: Cousins Milton and Sarita Eisner, and Jodi and Ken Eisner, their daughters Jamie and Carley, as well as Ben's law school chum, Leone Paradise. We all had a good chunner.

Even Samantha, John and Tom's corgi joined in on their front porch.

John