Food & Wine Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Food & Wine Travel

2024 Fall Worth the Drive

Pass the Pasta

by Barbara Eichenlaub

As the hot days of summer wane and we get out our sweaters and jackets, our meals also transition from lighter fare and grilled foods to heartier, cozier options — including pasta.Rebecca Romagnoli has a passion for pasta, so much so that she makes it available to her customers at a variety of “involvement” levels …

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American Spirit Food & Wine

Quest for Cake

A birthday celebration calls for a birthday cake and gifts. As far as I’m concerned, forget about the gifts, but keep the cake. My love affair with birthday cakes began when I was four. Each morning on his way to work, my Uncle Eddie drove his two aunts and my mom to their jobs and …

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Cliff Forrest’s New Pittsburgh Brewing

Glory Daze, the region’s annual extravaganza of vintage and custom motorcycles, is moving. This year’s show will take place Sept. 21, and it will be hosted by Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Wait, what? An event that draws up to 10,000 people is occurring at a brewery? Where they make Iron City and I.C. Light? Strange as …

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Recipe for a Cookbook

I’ve loved cookbooks for as long I can remember, long before I ever fried an egg or roasted a chicken. I would take one off the shelf at my house while growing up, and leaf through it, absorbing the stories, places and foods, many of them foreign to me. One of the first cookbooks I remember …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle

Launch Party in the Strip

Join Pittsburgh-native food writer Lidey Heuck on March 13 for a launch party to celebrate the publication of her first cookbook, “Cooking in Real Life.” Lidey is the former assistant to The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, and is a recipe developer for the New York Times who also produces her own blog, lideylikes.com The event is in partnership …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle Pittsburgh Immigration Pittsburgh Tomorrow

Bringing Spice to Pittsburgh

by Aakanksha Agarwal

In the heart of pittsburgh, amidst its rivers and bridges, a culinary revolution is taking place. It is a revolution of flavors and aromas, carried on the shoulders of immigrants who have brought their cherished recipes from distant lands. What do burritos, General Tso’s chicken and pizza have in common? They are all delectable creations …

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Warm the Cockles of Your Heart with Chestnut Soup

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” — it’s an image that instantly evokes crackling logs and the warmth and cheer of the holidays. But how often are chestnuts actually on the menu? In Italy, where many of the chestnuts sold in the U.S. are grown, they’re popular in the fall and early winter, roasted by …

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Fall in the Apple Orchard

Apple orchards have always been a part of my family’s life. My dad grew up on an apple orchard in Cincinnati, helping to pick bushel baskets of apples each fall. My grandfather used an old cider press to make gallons of fresh cider, and my grandmother baked apples into pies and other treats. I never …

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A Simple Summer Treat

Farm fresh cherry tomatoes are one of summer’s most special and fleeting treats. It’s tough to beat eating them straight from the vine, but when I want to dress them up for company, I make these roasted tomato crostini, with creamy fresh ricotta cheese and a hint of heat from calabrian chili oil. While these …

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The Great Chocolate Eating Contest of Kathmandu

Rhododendrons blazed scarlet on the trail to Mt. Everest Base Camp, and the snow-capped Himalayas pierced the sky like Bowie blades. I was hiking in Nepal with my friend David Edgerton of Erie in the time before Covid. On such adventures, my guides and I often open our souls. On this occasion I found that …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle

Hyeholde

by Barbara McKenna

Being almost 88 and having spent three-quarters of my life at Hyeholde, writing the story of the restaurant my parents created is a piece of cake for me, and a delicious piece at that. In 1931, my parents bought six acres of farmland and, with income from working three months each year at a lovely …

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Food & Wine Home & Lifestyle

A Fresh Take on a French Classic

Salade Niçoise, that most famous of French salads, has become ubiquitous far beyond the reaches of the French Riviera. It is both a humble and elegant dish: a collection of everyday ingredients — tomatoes, olives, hard-boiled eggs, and often anchovy fillets or canned tuna — arranged beautifully and simply. Variations abound, and for good …

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How About a Delicious Peach Cobbler (and more)?

by Barbara Eichenlaub

There is something about comfort food that evokes a feeling of old-fashioned delight. And when it comes to dessert, there’s nothing like fruit cobbler, bread pudding, gobs or banana pudding to transport you to a time when calories didn’t count and a big scoop of dessert made everything better. Today, not everyone has time to …

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Holiday Temptations

As the festive spirit creeps slowly back into our lives, there’s a new appreciation for the simple pleasures of dining out. Take out was great during the pandemic, or at least it offered some variety and relief to homebound cooks. But not all foods travel well and some of Pittsburgh’s better restaurants chose not to …

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A Festive Sidekick

Hearty, comforting dishes might be the backbone of winter home cooking, but every stew or roast needs a trusty sidekick to balance and complete the menu. This salad fits the bill perfectly. Full of color, crunch and zing, it’s a breath of fresh air and flavor on even the coldest winter night. Brussels sprouts make …

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Buckle Up!

Pie, crisp, cobbler, crumble, betty or buckle, the most beloved summer desserts are the ones that highlight ripe summer fruit, with a little bit of butter, sugar and flour to bring everything together. (And most, if not at all, are made even better with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.) Versions of …

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Pusadee’s Garden of Delights

by Marylynn Uricchio

Pusadee’s Garden closed even before the virus shuttered restaurants across the globe, and like a butterfly leaving its cocoon, it has emerged from hibernation with a resplendent new look. It took close to four years for the transformation, but the popular Lawrenceville Thai restaurant that once boasted a pretty garden and a small indoor space …

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Spring Greenery

After a long winter, the arrival of early spring, however damp and cool, is always welcome. This year especially so, as warmer weather on the horizon promises a reprieve after another pandemic winter. What better way to celebrate the cheerfulness of spring than with a pasta bursting with the bright, crisp flavors of spring’s early …

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A Passion for Cheese

by Barbara Eichenlaub

Frequently in life, the people who are most successful are those who have a passion for what they do. When you cross the threshold of Chantal’s, the tiny cheese shop across the street from Children’s Hospital in Lawrenceville, the passion is palpable. These are people who love cheese! Anaïs Saint-André Loughran was born and raised …

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A Cozy Winter Dinner

It’s been the year of cooking at home. When COVID hit, there was a mad dash for canned items and other pantry goods. We cooked and cooked and cooked, then went out and restocked, and cooked some more. Sourdough, banana bread, homemade pizza, the list goes on. And yet after so many months and so …

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A Hearty Fall Favorite

The arrival of autumn means cooler nights, shorter days and the return of warm, comforting dinners. Few dishes fit the bill better than risotto, especially when made with a favorite fall vegetable: butternut squash. Traditional Italian risotto is made by slowly cooking the rice, adding broth as the rice absorbs it, and stirring frequently. When …

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Here’s to a Summer Night

The long, rainy spring is finally gone, the sun is shining and summer’s here. It’s still unclear how much we’ll be able to socialize this summer, but rather than dwell on all the things we may not be able to do in the coming months, I’m reminding myself of the summer traditions we can still …

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