[Pittsburgh Food?!?]

From the Carnegie Museum you can walk into Oakland and get fries and a dog at the Oakland Original. Don't order a large fries unless you are prepared to share it with about 43 other friends.

You could also walk to the Spice Island teahouse which is a nice, reasonable pan-Asian place (on Atwood as I recall).

If you want to see foodies in action, visit the Strip on a Saturday morning.

For fancy dancy food, I eat at home.

[Pittsburgh eats for traditional taste buds]

Very traditional? What about the "Oakland Original" -- hot dogs and fries. (and beer). Just don't go very late at night. Kids of all ages love it.

Something truly 'burgh-ish? What about Primanti's? They have the sandwich with the fries inside.

[Gefilte Fish]

Even here in the hinterlands, we can get classic fish (Joan Nathan rules) ground up at the fish emporium.

But today I got a shock! Pike roe! Wow, now what to do...

I should add pictures, but my wife is done with the cooking.

[La Côte Basque (Closed)]

LCB was the first fancy dancy restaurant I can recall; I remember they tried to foist off a Beaujolais Nouveau in March... I navigated to a Santenay that I was very pleased to consume. The food was excellently prepared and left me with a taste for dining that remains to this day...

[First time pasta maker]

Ravioli is a good one to start with --- it's amazingly better than anything you can buy. A few caveats: (1) Be sure to flour your surface well otherwise you'll be scraping your beaut works of art off and it'll cramp/crimp their style. (2) I use a little water to seal the edges (3) Cook 'em fast, they will be done in no time at all, so don't overcook them.

Also, no one seems to have mentioned this, but where are you going to put the pasta once it comes out of the machine? You might want to consider (1) getting a drying rack or (2) finding somewhere to store them where they won't stick. (the traditional grad student method is a broomstick with wax paper).

Have fun, you'll be amazed.

[A Grimes Retrospective]

As one who devours the restaurants reviews (esp. now that I am an expatriate, sob), I can say I will miss Grimes' reviews. Coming on the heels of Ruth Reichl,

(who I did not like), he was a considerable improvement. His emphasis on

the style, both in food and ambiance, was a welcome relief. I was tired of

reading about the other diners near Reichl's table. Maybe it was for comic

relief but I was tired of it.

That being said, my favorite reviewer still is Bryan Miller, who brought both

cooking expertise and a formidable tasting sense to his reviews. I still miss

his reviews.

Of course, I also like reading R.W. Apple, who tastes seem to be as grand as

his appetite for travel.

As for keeping the 4*s in line, I can only think of Ruth Reichl's disquise when

going into Le Cirque. I cherished every moment of it. Who, amongst us civilians

hasn't experienced this kind of treatment? It was great to read about it.

(n.b. I have just finished "The Fourth Star" and this preferential treatment

just makes me mad no, make that furious.

[Worst non-fat/low-fat meals you've ever had]

I will admit that under pressure from my wife, I bought Gue'rards's "Cuisine Minceur" and cooked a few meals out of it. It was BAD. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the recipes, but when the best thing you can say about the book was that it has an interesting salad dressing,then you know something is up.

My wife is still demanding that I get rid of the olive oil I use almost daily.

And steam all the vegetables ...

I couldn't imagine where Gue'rard got all this reputation until I also got the

"Cuisine Gourmande" and then I realized he'd been on the dark side as well.

n.b. Both of these books come from the defunct "Three Star Chefs of France"

series of Morrow and Company.