Pittsburgh food SUCKS

 Ahem. I apologize in advance to anyone offended by the tone of my reply,
 but I'm tired of yet -another- juvenile ranting, and feel some kind of
 perverse need to lower myself.

 Now, then:
 Excerpts from pgh.food: 4-Aug-94 Pittsburgh food SUCKS Jay L
 [email removed]. (1994)

 > How many agree with the above?

 Not I.

 > Maybe I'm spoiled, and maybe I'm
 > pretending to be worldly or something, but growing up in the D.C. area,
 > going to school near Boston & having friends in New York has definitely
 > left me with a bad case of East Coast snobbism.

 Perhaps you should do yourself a favor and go back east, then.  I've
 eaten in some of the best restaurants in NYC and Boston, and I, and
 others, feel there are some excellent places here.   I somehow doubt
 you're even giving places a chance if you're going to go in with the
 assumption that "pittsburgh food sucks."  Take your stuck up nose out of
 your behind and attempt to have an open mind.

 > There are really NO
 > restaurants in this town worth the price.

 Nonsense.  Have you actually tried some of the places that have been
 recommended here?  Not only that, but you are going to have to make some
 allowances for the locale. For example, you cannot compare the price of,
 say, a lobster dinner in Pittsburgh with the price of a lobster dinner
 in Boston.  Or any other seafood, as (in case you haven't noticed) we're
 inland.  However, I've never found produce as fresh in NY as it is here
 (except, when I was very young, and LI had big farms of fresh, sweet
 corn...).

 Pittsburgh, just like any other city, has it's share of bad, not so
 good, and so-so restaurants, but there are very good places.  However,
 you must remember that Pittsburgh is not a huge city the size of Boston
 and NYC.

 Places I suggest trying:
   The Rodi Grille House (in Penn Hills). Their fish is on the expensive
 side, but very fresh and well done, as is everytyhing that comes with
 the meal.  Worth the price.
    Miniutello's (which is undoubtedly misspelled, but in Shadyside) used
 to have wonderful pizza and italian food.  Can someone say if it still
 does?
    Sushi Kim (in the Strip) has great sushi and Korean food.  I think
 it's the best Sushi in town, but others will have their own opinions.
    Sunday brunch at the Grand Concourse is an experience.  It's between
 $15-$20/person with tables and tables of delicacies and wonderful food,
 including pancakes and omlets made by request.
     Mediterranean Grill (in Squill) has fairly cheap and very good
 middle-eastern food, quite a bit of it vegetarian.
     Silk Pagoda (in Greenfield), I feel, is even better for Chinese food
 than Dumpling House (which I like as well).

 I'm sure others will suggest other places as well.

 Jay G. wrote:
 >
 > Subject: Re: Pittsburgh food SUCKS
 >
 > How many agree with the above?

 I do, for the most part.
 As a rule, Pittsburgh food sucks, but there are exceptions, thank god.

 Why does the food suck here so bad, you might ask? Here's my theory:

 Pittsburgh, though it was a very vibrant city early in the century,
 had a massive economic slump for the past 30 years or so, and so a
 lot of the younger customers and entrepreneurial restauranteurs have
 probably packed up and moved elsewhere.  This leaves Pittsburgh with an
 older, less adventurous clientele than most cities its size.  Decades
 ago it must have been a very exciting melting-pot of European
 immigrants, with good restaurants, I would imagine, but now it is
 quite sleepy.  Pittsburgh has more natives, and less worldly natives,
 than many American cities, so many of its residents aren't discriminating
 restaurant-goers.  In short, a large fraction of Pittsburghers don't
 know good foreign food because they've never had it!  Take such people
 to Chi-Chi's and they'll think it's good Mexican food!  If the city had
 had more discriminating customers, then we'd probably still have
 Laforet, which was one of Pittsburgh's best restaurants, and Paradise
 on Craig, one of its few semi-vegetarian restaurants (both closed
 within the past year or so).  I would expect things to improve over the
 next few decades, though, as the cheap housing and rent attracts young
 immigrants from other parts of the US or from foreign countries, more
 gentrification takes place, a few more upscale restaurants open, and
 the food business becomes more competetive.

 [there, that should divert some of the invective, Jay!]

 I've lived in Pittsburgh for two years, and I don't go out frequently,
 now that I have a kid, but I've done a fair amount of restaurant sampling
 around town.  Prior to moving here, I lived in San Jose CA, Boston, Long
 Island, San Rafael CA, Berkeley, and the Netherlands.
 (The food here is better than in most of the Netherlands, if that's any
 consolation.  But you go to almost ANY Mexican, Chinese, Thai, or Vegetarian
 restaurant in the San Francisco area, and you'll have better food than some
 of "the best" of Pittsburgh's restaurants.)

 Jay, to make the most of what Pittsburgh's got, here are my recommendations:

 nouvelle/california cuisine: Cafe Allegro on the South side -- probably the
     best restaurant in Pittsburgh
 chinese: none are NY or SF-class, but China Palace in Shadyside is quite good.
 thai: Siamese Kitchen on Forbes in Squirrel Hill is quite good.
     try green curried chicken
 indian: Pittsburgh has surprisingly good Indian food!
     Taste of India on Penn Ave and India Garden on Atwood are very good.
     Darbar is pretty good too.
 italian: Davio's on Broadway in Oceanview (South Hills) is quite good (but busy)
 mexican: Big disappointment.  No great mexican food in Pittsburgh.
     Try Mad Mex on Attwood in Oakland, however, for pseudo-nouvelle?mexican.
 vegetarian: zip!  grow and cook your own, I guess!
 pizza: none are great.  Vincent's in Forest Hills is ok.

 And stay away from: Jimmy Tsang's and Chi-Chi's!

 Another good thing for us all to do is keep pgh.food alive, tell our friends
 about good & bad restaurants, so that our "good taste" [ :-) ] will propagate,
 call up Ann Haigh's restaurant talk show with Phil Musik (sp?) on WTAE
 (AM 1250) Monday evenings (9pm?) and voice our opinions.  I'd love to
 hear somebody call up that show (Jay?) and say "Pittsburgh Restaurants Suck!".

 -Paul

 PS: The fish and produce at Pittsburgh grocery stores SUCKS too,
 for the most part.  Would Pittsburghers know a ripe peach, a good avocado,
 or a good trout if it smacked them in the face?