Cultural outgoings #1

So Tracey and Gwyn are basically Pittsburgh Natives. Gywn has lived here her whole life (except for college) and Tracey has been here for the majority of her life (I think her family moved here when she was in elementary school). (Gwyn and Tracey, If you ever read this, feel free to correct me, I know my facts might be off). Some time ago I was talking to them about the lack of mexican food in the city (yep, I talk about it a lot), they being true Pittsburghers, are very loyal and very proud. They were (and are) certain to show me all of the finest Pittsburgh places to eat.

So Saturday night I met up with Gwyn, Tracey, and Sam, and we headed out to stop #1: The Church Brew Works. Yep, this is the iconic Brew pub inside of a de-sanctified church. The story goes that after the church stripped the building of any art, and defaced all of the permanent wall paintings, a member of the clergy had to come and reverse bless it. We happened to come during the 14th anniversary. It was packed. It does have a unique atmosphere (obviously) but in the sense that it is one large room. In some restaurants, you have different dining rooms, that are segmented. Here it kind of reminded be of Oktoberfest style beer halls, high ceilings, large open seating, loud, with a very pungent smell of malt and hops. Yes, Mom and Dad when you are here we should go. One side of the establishment is an open seating bar area, and the other is traditional wait to be seated restaurant style. After being given an hour estimate for a table, Gwyn was able to secure a table in the open seating area in under 10 minutes. This brew pub is also known for its eccentric menu. For the anniversary they had a number of specials ranging from Wild Boar pizza (Wild Boar Sausage, real Boar, not just figurative) to Pittsburgh Style Salad (with French Fries) to Pierogie Pizza (a pizza with potato puree, onions, garlic and cheese). I knew that I was going to get pierogies of some sort, so I settled on their untraditional (I think they rotate this around) which was "Rattlesnake and Cactus" pierogies. It was awesome. Enough said.

Afterwards we headed to Shadyside to a renown Gelato shop. Sadly the shop was closed (like permanently closed). But good news to me! It is being replaced with a Taco shop! We had to settle on a Frozen Yogurt shop (yes, a Frozen Yogurt shop... say it right California). A very good desert, but nothing overly noteworthy.

That evening was Gwyn's sister's birthday party. So the four of us headed over to a bar where we found quite a gathering. Among them was some young adult people who I actually knew! After hanging out for a while, and a rather rousing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody we headed out.

A very enjoyable evening. The three of them are rather different and dynamic, making conversation highly amusing. They are all great people. I think the next outing might be a breakfast edition to Pamela's (I know Dad, I still have not been!)