Food & Drink category, Page 64
Downtown Pittsburgh restaurant Pork & Beans closes
After four years in Downtown Pittsburgh, the barbecue restaurant Pork & Beans is closing. “We’ve made the difficult decision to retire Pork & Beans, but all the wonderful friends and memories will last a lifetime,” the restaurant posted on Instagram. “Thank you so much for everything.” View this post on...
Subway bread isn’t bread, Irish court says
Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled that bread sold by the fast food chain Subway contains so much sugar that it cannot be legally defined as bread. The ruling came in a tax dispute brought by Bookfinders Ltd., an Irish Subway franchisee, which argued that some of its takeaway products -...
Pittsburgh-area restaurant owners get creative to extend patio season as temps drop
When chef and restaurateur Brian Pekarcik contemplated how his two BRGR restaurants should approach this fall and winter, he thought of the restaurants’ perennial favorites: the Gobble Gobble turkey burger, a spiked pumpkin milkshake and a warmly spiced rum cocktail, among others. He also thought about covid-19 dining restrictions, many...
TribLive Taste Test: McDonald’s Spicy Chicken McNuggetsVideo
As the weather got cooler, McDonald’s started heating up with the announcement that it would serve a spicy version of longstanding favorite Chicken McNuggets, along with a special “Mighty Hot Sauce,” for a limited time. TribLive Taste Test correspondent Patrick Varine is working out of “The Dungeon,” aka his basement...
Laurel Highlands Pour Tour relaunches with added locations
Thanks to interest in the region’s thriving craft beverage industry, the Laurel Highlands Pour Tour is returning for a second year. Since the tour launched in the fall of 2019, numerous new craft beverage locations have opened in the region, allowing version 2.0 to expand from about 30 to 45...
Cold weather means new challenges for struggling restaurants
U.S. restaurants are moving warily into fall, hoping their slow recovery persists despite the new challenge of chilly weather and a pandemic that’s expected to claim even more lives. New York opens indoor dining on Wednesday, restricting capacity to 25%. San Francisco may do the same as early as this...
Coca-Cola, Molson Coors teaming up on hard seltzer
SILVER SPRING, Md. — With the help of Molson Coors, Coca-Cola will start selling the “hard stuff” — hard seltzer, that is. The companies said the new alcoholic beverage will come in the form of Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, which they hope to have on store shelves in the first...
Celeb chef Guy Fieri to open restaurant at Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield
This sounds like a winning combination at Live! Casino Pittsburgh — a restaurant owned by Guy Fieri. An Emmy-award winning chef, restaurateur, New York Times best-selling author and television personality, Fieri is opening American Kitchen + Bar sometime this year, as was first reported by the Tribune-Review. “There is nothing...
Cool beans! Get some free perks on National Coffee DayVideo
Grab your cold press, your K-cup, your cafetiere — or hit your neighborhood cafe — it’s National Coffee Day. It’s a great time to be a coffee drinker, with the recent proliferation of coffee shops and at-home coffee- brewing equipment offering something for even the most discerning coffee palate. “Coffee...
Barstool’s Dave Portnoy takes a Pittsburgh bite out of Primanti’sVideo
Did Dave Portnoy just get tired of eating pizza? The Boston-based pizza reviewer and Barstool Sports founder has been bouncing between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia promoting his new sports betting app — and sampling as much pizza as he can stomach. Maybe Portnoy, who calls himself El Presidente, just needed a...
Western Pa. restaurants recognized for diverse wine selections
Pour a glass of wine and raise a toast. There are 17 Western Pennsylvania restaurants within a 50-mile radius of Pittsburgh that have been recognized — some for the first time — in Wine Spectator’s 2020 restaurant awards. Wine Spectator is a wine magazine that honors the world’s best wine...
Pittsburgh coffee van seeks musicians to create original, heavy metal jingle
The pure joy felt by children as they race toward an ice cream truck has few, if any, adult parallels. Perhaps it would be different if the truck sold coffee instead of ice cream and played heavy metal instead of a played-out nursery rhyme. It’s about to become a reality...
Mr. Smalls in Millvale switches focus to food, outdoor concerts
The scent of grilled burgers and Mexican street corn will fill Butler Street in Millvale on weekends as Mr. Smalls Cafe takes over the road for socially distanced food, friendship and live music. It is the latest move by the music venue to stay afloat after being hard hit by...
Bloomfield’s Little Italy Days rescheduled again
Bloomfield’s Little Italy Days festival has been moved to 2021. The four-day Italian festival was originally to be held in August. It was then moved to Oct. 8-11 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The event will, hopefully, go on in 2021, producer Sal Richetti said Wednesday. Dates are tentatively set...
Hilda’s Soul Food Kitchen in Homestead serves Southern fare
The plaque below the photo of Hilda Auburn reads: “Do small things with great love.” “My mother inspired me, because everything she did she did with love,” said her daughter Avis Williams, who opened Hilda’s Soul Food Kitchen in July in Homestead to honor her late mother. “I want this...
Square Café completes relocation to East Liberty
The Square Café plans to open Oct. 1 at its new East Liberty location. “It feels so good to have a date,” owner Sherree Goldstein said. “I am super excited. We’ve been doing some staff training, and we will be ready to go. East Liberty has been so welcoming and...
The Gobblerito giant meal returns to Mad Mex
At least one thing in 2020 hasn’t changed: The Gobblerito dish returns to Mad Mex restaurants today. Covid comfort, indeed. It will be available through Thanksgiving Eve. The popular combination of Thanksgiving dinner staples wrapped in a tortilla includes house-roasted turkey, black bean mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn. Oh, and...
Caribbean-themed brewpub Mastic Trail opens in ShalerVideo
Reach the beach without leaving the Pittsburgh area at Mastic Trail Brewing. The newly opened Caribbean-themed brewpub and restaurant, at 1044 Saxonburg Blvd. in Shaler, is the creation of island aficionado and Robinson Township native Ben Williams. “My favorite island is Grand Cayman and the Mastic Trail is a three-hour...
Tony’s Pizza Cafe renovates, expands menu during covid-19 closuresVideo
Not even a pandemic could hinder Andrea “Tony” Coppola’s passion for his restaurant. Coppola owns Tony’s Pizza Cafe in Buffalo Township. The restaurant offers an assortment of house-made gourmet pizzas, including Hawaiian, Greek, buffalo chicken and Philly cheesesteak. “We are a very gourmet pizza style,” Coppola said. The fan favorite,...
Pandemic canning demand leads to shortage of lids, jars
Angelo Pugliano and his family regularly can between 300 and 400 jars of fresh-grown tomatoes every season. This year, they had to settle for less. When they went to buy new lids, none could be found, after the coronavirus pandemic tossed a wrench into the country’s manufacturing and retail works....
Throw cauliflower on the grill for a meaty meatless dish
Whole roasted cauliflower impresses as a vegan centerpiece or fills you up as a one-dish meal. The vegetable can play the same role in outdoor cooking, but needs to be cut up first. If you haven’t tried grilled cauliflower, you’ll want to: It caramelizes beautifully on the outside and develops...
Maine blueberry industry reels from drought, frost, virus
PORTLAND, Maine — A late spring frost, a devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for the wild blueberry producers who harvest the fruit in the nation’s northeastern corner. America’s producers of wild blueberries are largely located in Maine, where...
Gov. Wolf’s on-site alcohol sales order extended an hour to 11 p.m.
Alcohol sales at bars and restaurants won’t have to end until 11 p.m. starting Monday, according to orders for on-site alcohol consumption from Gov. Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Wolf had earlier said that alcohol sales would be required to end at 10 p.m. Alcoholic beverages must...
Big Burrito Restaurant Group has plan to gradually reopen, expand indoor dining
Big Burrito Restaurant Group president Bill Fuller has decided to open more of his eating establishments now that Gov. Tom Wolf announced indoor dining capacity in Pennsylvania restaurants can increase to 50% starting Monday. The openings will be gradual, Fuller said Friday. The plan begins with Kaya opening its Strip...
Barstool’s Dave Portnoy hits 3 Pittsburgh-area pizzerias, tries Turner’s tea
Famed Boston-based pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy descended upon Pittsburgh recently to review three pizza places, Beto’s Pizza and Fiori’s Pizzaria in Pittsburgh and Juliano’s in Robinson. He came away impressed by all three. Portnoy is well known as the celebrity founder of the sports and pop culture website Barstool Sports...
