Last night, I had what has to be the "true Pittsburgh dining experience"; I went to the Linden Grove resturant on Library Rd. (Take 51 to Library Road, follow library rd until the restruant appears accross the tracks to the L.) The building is a historical building; apparently it has been a resturant/dance hall since 1872. The decor is pure Pittsburgh, an agreeable mixture of kitch (from pictures of Grover in several spots proclaiming "Buy a Linden Grover!" to the disco ball over the dance floor to the spot in the parking lot reserved for the 50's era sky-blue Roadster), and low lighting (the place is largely an old fashion dance hall). The building is gazebo style, dining on several sides of an octogon, with the bar, the DJ and the dance floor along the middle. (under the gazebo). They apparently do a fair dance/bar business amongst the late middle age crowd. The place was fairly empty when we arrived, but more folks trickled in (and no one left) during the time we were there. We were also the only couple not dancing. One tip, if you want dinner, go early. We arrived around 9:30, and received an "after-dinner" menu (Appetizer's. However, when we said that we'd been expecting dinner, the waitress (A true Pittsburgher "So, do yuns want food, or just drinks?" when bringing the original menus) checked with the chef who said "Sure, no problem". The service was excellent, not overly "there", but good, friendly, and well timed. The menu is typically Pittsburgh (at least one battered and fried item in each category), with a small but reasonable selection of chicken, beef, veal, pork, and fish dishes. One very pleasant suprise: EVERYTHING!! tasted homemade. We started with a fried platter--mushrooms, onion rings, zuchini strips, provolone sticks with marinara sauce-- The frying was done perfectly, the zucchini was hot but still firm, and the marinara sauce (usually the one thing I refuse to touch on these platters) was superb! In fact, my guess is that the marinara sauce is homemade item #1. For dinner, Himself ordered broiled chicken breasts, and I got red snapper in a cream/brandy/pecan sauce--both with baked potato and salad with homemade blue cheese dressing (massive hunks of blue cheese therein). Another plus--they give you sour cream and butter to fix your own potatoe. If you don't like such things, you aren't stuck with them. The dinners were great. From the tomoto/worchestershire dunking sauce for the chicken, to the perfectly done snapper (the serving, by the way, was the size of your typical "biggest fish sandwich in Pittsburgh" pittsburgh bar sandwich)--mouths were purring all through dinner. Topped it off with homemade apple pie for desert. Pie is full of apples, with the apples throughly cooked but still firm to the teeth. We weren't sure whether the crust was made with brown sugar or brandy, but the crust was as good as the filling. Total for appetizer, 2 dinners, and 1 dessert (no drinks, he had to work and I had to drive) was $32--$23 after we used the entertainment card (which the waitress asked if we had--a new first for me.) So, while your milege may vary, I greatly enjoyed this place and plan to return. toodles, gretchen
Pittsburgh, PA