mjg

On the recommendation of this thread, I infused some vodka with a couple habeneros from my garden. I finally got up the courage to shoot a bit of it down and it is glorious. I'd placed two halved habeneros in a small mason jar with some (don't skewer me too much for this) Grey Goose I had in the freezer, and left it out for about three or four weeks. The fruit, something I'd never picked up before in really hot peppers, is intense in the nose. The taste is strikingly fruity with a long, mellow burn. The experiment was a rousing success. I started a jar of cranberry vodka on Thanksgiving. I'll report back any similar successes.

Excellent review. I was previously excited to go and now I am moreso than before. Bikki has officially jumped to the top of the list of places to go for dinner.

A couple of the local "heavy hitters" are opening new restaurants here in Pittsburgh over the next couple months. Toni Pais, owner of and mastermind behind Baum Vivant and Cafe Zinho: Cafe Zao Chris Frangiadis, formerly of Isabela on Grandview: Bikki

Does Quaker Steak have a Pittsburgh are location? That could be worth a detour... Quaker Steak has a location in Robinson Township along with all the other urban sprawl that has sprawled out there. Good chance if you ask "Does Pittsburgh have a [insert restaurant here]?" it can be answered with "Yep, there's one in Robinson." I'm pretty sure you can get Lube wings at PNC Park these days too.

Since you are staying in Carnegie, you could head down to Sullivan's Pour House right on the main street in Carnegie. Little Irish pub serving, well, pub grub. They pour a great pint and their food is quite tasty. Not far from Carnegie you have an excellent Indian restaurant called Namaste. I highly recommend that. Or if you want some Thai food, take a look at Angkor in Green Tree. Also close, and one of my favorites (especially if you can get a seat outside) is Il Pizzaiolo. Those are all just South Hills places that you should be able to get to within 5-10 minutes of Carnegie.

First time posting on this thread, but I figure I'll represent for the 'burgh (Pittsburgh, that is) farmer's markets. Yesterday: Cherry pie from a sweet oldish lady Sweet corn A sack of crimini mushrooms Something called kermit eggplant....even though I hate eggplant. I'm a sucker for something I've never seen before Yellow cherry tomatoes I was happy to see some new faces at the local market yesterday including some organic or grass-fed or some variation thereof beef farmer. Do you "farm" beef? Well, you get what I'm saying.

I went to Soba for the first and only time the day before it burned down. Guess I should head back there one of these days. I'm quite happy to hear you can get a good mole at Fajita Grill. That is something that I see on TV all the time and figured I couldn't find in Pittsburgh.

Excellent review. I'm hoping to get to Baum Vivant sometime soon. Tony Pais's other restaurant, Cafe Zinho, is one of my favorite restaurants in town. I helped Tony out with a cooking class once and he is just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet. How much was the 7-course tasting with wine pairings? I'm getting married in October and my fiance and I aren't going on our honeymoon until two weeks afterwards. We are planning on doing a tour of Pittsburgh restaurants that weekend as a mini-honeymoon here at home and Baum Vivant will most likely be on that list.

My meal at Isabela was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Had the pleasure of helping the chef with a class at a local cooking school/specialty cookware store. Immediately my now fiance and I saved up some cash to visit his restaurant and it was well worth it. Quite pricey by Pittsburgh standards (I think the prix fixe was $65 per person when I went), but they do a lot of stuff that nobody else in town is really doing. I guess this leads into a discussion about favorite Pittsburgh restaurants. So, anyone want to toss any names out? Some on my list: Girasole, Cafe Zinho, Il Pizzaiolo, Namaste

Down in Canonsburg you should check out Sarris Candies. Excellent chocolate and some pretty tasty ice cream too. Sarris Candies Not a whole lot else down that way from what I know of. Unfortunately I won't be able to go down to the Strip this weekend. However, I will be enjoying many too many microbrews at the State College Microbrewery Festival. Heading back to the alma mater to relive the college experience for one night...only classed up quite considerably from the warm cans of Natty Light we used to drink to excess.

Strip District You'll have to pick up a National Geographic for the whole article. Nice to see the Strip getting some national exposure.

Great synopsis of the Strip, hndapwrman. Lately I've been going to the Strip every Saturday morning. In addition to all of the ethnic markets, they've recently started hosting a farmers market down there on Saturday mornings with some excellent local organic (and otherwise) farmers represented. For breakfast I prefer to grab a biscotti at Enrico Biscotti (side note: if you haven't seen the movie "The Bread, My Sweet" you ought to check it out; filmed in Pittsburgh and written, I think, by the wife of the owner of Enrico Biscotti. It's a great foodie type movie starring, of all people, Scott Baio.) I'm really just starting to learn about all of the variety available down there. Walking into a Mexican or Asian market is like Christmas morning for me. And now I know what everyone on this site means when they say you can get great deals at Asian markets. At a place like Whole Foods you can get a couple little pieces of lemongrass for $5. At one of the Asian markets down in the Strip, two huge stalks cost 50 cents. Anyway, the Strip is really the heart of the food world here in Pittsburgh. Glad to have it.

I have been lurking for an awful long time but have really not posted. I live in Pittsburgh. Anything in particular you'd like to discuss about the 'burgh?

I've eagerly read around through this post and didn't find any info on infusing vodka with herbs. How might that work? I'm envisioning a basil vodka with the backlog of basil I have from my garden. Not sure exactly what I would do with it, but a penne with basil vodka sauce is on my mind. Any thoughts on this?