Food & Drink category, Page 107
OpenTable reveals Pittsburgh area’s top-rated restaurants
OpenTable announced their highest-rated restaurants in the Pittsburgh region for the month. These are the eateries that fall under their Diner’s Choice category and are scored by diners who use the OpenTable reservation system. “Eating somewhere new can feel like a risk, but these places have been vetted by our...
Pa. Farm Show wine winners are best of the best
Growing European grape varieties in Pennsylvania has always been a big challenge. Beginning with pioneering efforts in the late 1960s, Pennsylvania wine producers endured years of frustrating trials in the face of frigid subzero winters, late spring frosts and damp summers to ripen varieties such as sauvignon blanc, grüner veltliner...
Hempfield couple takes the cake on ‘Bake It Like Buddy’
A Hempfield couple dove into a baking contest on national TV — and walked away with the top prize. Gabrielle “Gigi” and Randy Thomas won Discovery Family Channel’s “Bake It Like Buddy” on Saturday. They competed against another married couple from Chester, Pa. The show is judged by television’s Cake...
Cheers to National Drink Wine Day
It may be just another dreary Monday, but there’s a little something special about today. It’s National Drink Wine Day. Sure, it’s just another made-up pseudo holiday … but hey, there’s wine. Don’t worry, even though it’s President’s Day, Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores that are normally open on...
Customers flocked to opening of Allegheny Township chicken jointVideo
There’s a new chicken joint in Allegheny Township. Big Shot Bob’s House of Wings opened last Monday, Feb. 11 in Kiski Park Plaza. Customers were lined out the door, according to co-owner Kara Jo Brank. Brank and her husband, Frank, left the corporate world for the culinary scene. After downsizing...
Students, artists craft bowls for regional Empty Bowls fundraisersVideo
On a recent rainy, chilly morning, Hempfield Area High School art students fashion ceramic bowls to fill with warming soup to benefit the area’s hungry. Students in instructors Ed Lasko and Hillary Haponski’s art classes are once again preparing vessels for an upcoming Empty Bowls event. Held annually by food...
For more streamlined chicken enchiladas, use a slow cooker
Chicken enchiladas offer a rich and complex combination of flavors and textures, but traditional cooking methods can be tedious. We wanted a more streamlined recipe for chicken enchiladas—one that utilized our slow cooker to make the filling and that enabled the enchiladas to be quickly assembled and finished in the...
6 ways to make kitchen prep work easier and tidier
When you spend as much time in the kitchen as I do, you pick up a few tricks along the way. Some are designed to simplify recipe prep work. Others help make cleanup easier, which means I can instead use those precious minutes to enjoy what I cooked — or...
Beer from 1886 shipwreck may yield new brew
COBLESKILL, N.Y. — Ahoy, beer lovers: A bottle from a 133-year-old shipwreck may yield yeast for a new brew in upstate New York. Biotechnology students at the State University of New York at Cobleskill uncorked a bottle from the shipwrecked SS Oregon on Thursday. Serious Brewing Company of Howes Cave...
Prantl’s offering free Burnt Almond Torte for a year
Get ready for two phrases that taste great together: “Free year’s supply of” and “Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte.” In celebration of National Almond Day, the famed Pittsburgh-based bakery is offering patrons a shot at the sweet prize. That’s right, the very same cake that Food Network named best cake in...
Four area restaurants retain AAA Diamond luster
Four Southwestern Pennsylvania restaurants have retained coveted annual AAA Diamond awards in this year’s listing of elite eateries released this week by the motoring and travel organization. Two of the high-rated restaurants are at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Fayette County. Lautrec, which features French cuisine, holds AAA’s top...
Homemade cake pops, cookies perfect for Valentine’s DayVideo
Add some pop to the menu this Valentine’s Day. Homemade cake pops make the perfect gift for your significant other. Nechama Huber of Greenfield, owner of The Pop Cakery, a company with a certified kosher kitchen, makes and sells customized chocolate treats, including cake pops (round and heart shaped), chocolate-dipped...
What’s Brewing? Is there really chocolate in your beer?
There are some pretty chocolaty tasting porters and stouts out there. After trying a sample for yourself, even you would be certain there is chocolate in the beer. But is the beer brewed with actual chocolate, or is it something else that is producing that taste? It might surprise you...
South Side Soup Contest guarantees to warm your belly
The popular South Side Soup Contest that brings more than 1,200 participants into the Pittsburgh neighborhood for an afternoon of soup sampling is taking a cue from Disney World with the modification of its VIP ticket to include a FastPass feature. “This year’s VIP FastPass ticket will allow ticket-holders to...
Shake things up with these Valentine’s Day cocktails
It doesn’t matter if it’s surf and turf, a heart-shaped pizza or death by chocolate, Valentine’s Day meals should be chased with a special libation or two. Soft drinks and tap water just won’t do. If you are looking to capture your loved one’s, or your intended’s eye, along with...
Heart-shaped pies turn pizza into romantic Valentine’s Day fareVideo
Making dinner reservations or preparing a home-cooked meal for Valentine’s Day can be stressful. No worries. Numerous area pizzerias will play Cupid for you, rolling out a heart-shaped pie that you can share with your sweetheart. And as Feb. 14 approaches, their phones start ringing. Holiday pizzas popular Area pizzerias’...
Check out these Valentine dining deals
From romantic meals to schussing with your sweetheart, celebrating with your gal pals or putting your romantic thoughts on paper, regional Valentine’s Day deals abound. Breakfast in bed Spoil your sleepy sweetie on Valentine’s Day with the hot or cold beverage of their choice and a heart-shaped bagel from Bruegger’s...
Rethinking Chicken Florentine with clearer, brighter flavors
Chicken Florentine is a buffet-line favorite featuring chicken breast and spinach in a mild cream-and-Parmesan sauce — sometimes stuffed inside, sometimes stacked on top. All of these components are good, but this dish can often be stodgy or fussy (involving dredging chicken in flour and sauteeing). We wanted a simplified recipe...
Can this Hempfield couple ‘Bake It Like Buddy?’ Tune in and find outVideo
Some husbands and wives might throw in the (dish) towel if asked to enter a test kitchen and make a technically difficult cake from scratch in four hours. While being filmed. And while competing against another couple. And being judged by television’s Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro. Hempfield’s Gabrielle “Gigi,” 57,...
Couch Brewery’s Known Cheater beer honors local Super Bowl controversy
A Pittsburgh brewery poked fun at a local Super Bowl controversy with a beer called Known Cheater in honor of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and the former KDKA producer who took a now-infamous jab at him. Couch Brewery co-owner Darren Gailey said he was surprised to see the joke take...
Valentine’s chocolate bars may hold ‘golden tickets’ for Westmoreland Cultural Trust partyVideo
The Westmoreland Cultural Trust and McFeely’s Gourmet Chocolate in Greensburg are partnering for a Valentine’s sweet treat, offering milk and dark chocolate replicas of the Palace Theatre’s marquee. The bars’ edible gold dusting emulates the downtown Greensburg theater’s glowing lights. Bars are priced at $6, with $2 from each purchase...
Monterey Bay, Altius among Open Table’s most romantic spots for Valentine’s Day dinner
If you were hoping to snag a table at one of Pittsburgh’s most romantic restaurants for Valentine’s Day, you might have to pick another day. Altius and Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, both located on Mt. Washington, were just named among the 100 Most Romantic Restaurants by Open Table, the popular...
Collaboration gives Valentine’s Day truffles a Pittsburgh flavor
A collaboration between Good Food Pittsburgh and Millvale’s a519 Chocolate makes for a “hometown” Valentine’s Day chocolate box of truffles featuring some flavorful Pittsburgh businesses. The 15-piece edition includes the following flavors, among what might best be described as decadent: • Burnt Almond Torte, inspired by Pittsburgh’s (and Greensburg’s) Prantl’s...
Don your dancing shoes for Community Kitchen Pittsburgh benefit
Get a head start on Valentine’s Day and support Community Kitchen Pittsburgh’s mission at “Dance With Me” from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at Pittsburgh’s Graeme House. The evening of dancing, dining, and cocktails will help support Community Kitchen Pittsburgh programs and students. The nonprofit’s website states it supports the region’s...
Kids cooking up mid-century treats in Heinz History Center
Kids in Mariruth Leftwich’s upcoming “Cooking Up History: Mid-Century Treats” class at Senator John Heinz History Center weren’t born yet when foods like Spam and Swanson’s frozen TV dinners first appeared on supermarket shelves. They missed the heyday of mom’s tuna noodle casserole, the peak of popularity of Strawberry Jello...
