The Strip District

This past weekend, my floor planned a trip to the highly talked about Strip District. Although the description I was given beforehand was kind of vague, ("It's kind of a bazaar slash farmer's market...with vendors kind of like the ones on the streets of New York City") I was so excited. I had no idea what exactly I was going to find (and now that I've been there I can say that it is rather difficult to describe), but I already knew I was going to eat my way through the whole day. (I mean, why else would I be going?)

After some bus troubles (as in, just the usual confusion surrounding riding the bus in Pittsburgh), we arrived, ready to experience whatever exactly there was to experience.

One of the very first things that caught my eye when we arrived was a beautiful table of baked goods!!

Honestly, could there have been a more wonderful way to start our day than with the sugary confections before us? 

It was all sooo tempting, and sooo pretty. I wanted it all. But somehow I managed to restrain myself and made some very difficult decisions. 

The first item I had to try was the sticky bun. 

Can we just oogle at its perfection for a moment? The dough of this sticky bun was the most delectable, tender (yet just a little chewy), sweet and delicious dough I have ever had the privilege to taste. My friend and I split one, in awe of the magnificent sweet, sticky-ness of the entire thing. The nuts on top added the perfect little crunch, too. I could seriously eat one right now. It was so good I had to buy one to take back to my dorm. Trust me. It will make you....speechless.

I am still really hung up over those sticky buns, but that was only the first snack of the day! 

I would definitely be doing you a disservice if I stopped here. So, onto the next treat: Sfogliatelle. 

I've had Sfogliatelle only once before, at a little Italian place called Daniela's near my school. (See a previous post for more about those...) So when I saw these little guys, I could hear them calling out my name!! I bought two (can you ever have too many pastries?) and was quite content.

While I think the dough of Daniela's Sfogliatelle is a little more tender and flaky, these were still very good. I so appreciated the opportunity to have a little taste of home while walking through Pittsburgh. 

Just a little ways down the street, we spotted a rather demanding sign outside of a biscotti shop. 

How could we resist?

We entered the tiny shop to find it bustling and full of people. A little equation I find to be true goes as follows: Lots of people + tempting food = a good choice. I was ready to be amazed. 

Stacks and stacks of biscotti were piled before our eyes. It was quite an experience! 

In the end, we decided upon a black forest biscotti. It was okay. I found the consistency to be a little too chalky and not crisp and crumbly as I would have expected. Granted, the place was very busy, so I suppose some people really like chalky biscotti. But the day was still young, and I wasn't going to force anything that was just...mediocre.

It's a very good thing that I did that, too, because just down the street we stumbled upon a Polish deli!!!

I don't think you understand how excited I was. I have literally been looking for authentic Polish food since I've gotten here, and have not had good results. When I spotted this deli, it was like the heavens opened and little Polish muses were singing "Halleluiah!" in the sky.

Okay. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was exciting! I had to go inside. 

Welcome! (And welcomed I was...)

The interior was nothing special. The front was the deli area and the back was the packaged foods section. (With real authentic pierogies...not those "authentic" ones from the Italian company that I saw in Whole Foods the other day...) But it didn't need to be fancy. It was Polish and that was good enough for me. 

My friends and I ended up sharing potato and cheese pierogies, topped with butter and fried onions, of course. (No caramelized onions here, but I wasn't complaining.) 

You've heard me say this before, and you'll hear me say it again, but no pierogie is as good as Nina's. That said, these were much better than any other pierogie I've had in Pittsburgh thus far. The only thing that made them kind of weird for me was that the dough was almost mushy. If you poked it with your fork there was absolutely no resistance and the filling kind of spilled out as you ate it. But it was so glorious to eat a palatable pierogie! The day could not taste any better. Or could it?

Just when I thought I had seen all there was, we passed a vegetable area where people were selling veggies and other homemade products.

The bread immediately caught my friend's eye, and we made our way over there.

Can you even believe that this stuff is real? It just looks too good to be true! The woman behind the counter gladly told us about the differences between the breads. But why pick one? I would have taken them all! But alas, carrying six loaves of bread back to my dorm probably wouldn't have been the best idea... My sensible friend bought one. We were pleased. 

As we wound our way down the other side of the street, we came to a quaint little chocolate shop. 

I don't know how you could pass up a store full of chocolate. We certainly couldn't, and so we made our way inside as quickly as we could. 

The smell of the store hit me in the face as soon as I stepped through the front door. I only remember this because it was not the smell I was expecting. There was something strangely floral and musty about it- not exactly what I thought I'd be smelling in a room holding more chocolate than most. But I quickly put the unusual smell behind me and made a bee-line to the candies. 

There were so many to choose from. Again, I had the urge to stuff myself with one of each. But common sense prevailed (unfortunately) and I settled on one particularly tasty-looking chocolate covered S'more.

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this choice. I do love a good S'more. It's graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate...how could you not be in love? And just look at how awesomely layered it was...

I was so happy. My day really could have been complete. But why stop when you're ahead? To use one of my favorite expressions, why not just throw yourself all the way down the stairs? It was lunch time, after all. So that's exactly what I did. 

As our final hurrah in the Strip District, my friends and I found a busy pizza place (still working with the busy = good theory) and sat down. 

There was so much to choose from. As we'd been grazing all day, you'd think we would have been tired of making choices regarding what we were going to eat...but can you ever really get tired of that? Probably not. I will let you know if that ever happens. 

As per our waitresses recommendation, we ordered a side of cheesy bread and pizza. (Yes, I realize that cheesy bread and pizza are essentially the same thing. But...but... it sounded sooo good!) 

The cheesy bread was divine. 

The bread itself was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, where it was positively blanketed with gooey, melty cheese. We devoured it in no time.

Next came the pizza, which was also very yummy. But I think the cheesy bread may have been my favorite of the two. Our pizza was a pesto pizza that was perfectly cheesy and greasy and delicious. We were so pleased with our choice. And so full.

I don't think I've eaten so many delicious foods in one day in a very long time (if ever). It was an edible extravaganza with one yummy item after another catching my eye and insisting that I eat it! And I just can't say no to good food. It's a heavy burden...but someone has to carry it. 

Pamela's (again!) and Abay

I feel like I've been a complete disappointment in the blog department, lately. I apologize for my lack of blogging from the very bottom of my heart. I haven't neglected all of you intentionally, it just takes a lot of time to write a good post and time is something I've been rather short of, so blogging hasn't been first on my to-do list. But alas, I have finally carved out a few moments to catch you guys up on my recent adventures in Pittsburgh. (And with the bus system here, they're definitely adventures.)

A few weekends ago, we made the treck back to Pamela's. (It's amazing how much walking we do here!) It was busy as usual, but our party of six was seated in no time.

Although the hotcakes are a favorite of mine, it was time for a change.

As the portions are so big, my friend and I decided to split the California French toast, topped with bananas, and a side of the potatoes.

The bananas were MIA, so we had to ask for them again

The french toast great! Can we just assume at this point that Pamela's does everything really well? I mean, French toast is really simple, yet theirs was so yummy. I definitely couldn't have eaten a whole order, either, so it was a good thing that Su and I split it.

Everyone left very happy and very full.

That evening, Su and I went out to dinner. We'd been planning to go to a place called Six Penn, but when our friend Jack recommended this little Ethiopian restaurant he'd just tried, called Abay (pronounced uh-by) we couldn't resist.

We took the bus down to the restaurant, eager to see what it would be like. Neither of us had ever tried Ethiopian cuisine and we weren't really sure what to expect.

The inside of the restaurant was decorated in warm, earthy colors. African paintings hung on the walls in wooden-twig-like frames. Hip-hop music played in the background (an unexpected choice for an Ethiopian restaurant) and from the kitchen, you could hear the faint sound of rap music. (Thanks to Su for remembering all of finer details!) 

A row of tiny chairs and tables caught my eye from across the room. You can see one in the picture above. They were adorable, but also somewhat confusing. For what purpose could you possibly use them? Turns out they're backless, handmade stools and mesobs- traditional basket-like tables. I would imagine that people can sit and eat there, but no one was taking advantage of that opportunity while we were there. Next time, though, I might like to give it a try. Nothing like being authentic, right? 

We were seated at a large wooden table and greeted by a friendly waitress who gladly took us through the menu, explaining about Ethiopian food as she went along. 

Apparently Ethiopian food is traditionally eaten off of bread called injera. The injera at Abay is made in Washington, D.C. (shout out to Maryland!!) and brought up daily. Seems like quite a process. But, hey, if that's what it takes to get some good injera, I'm definitely not complaining. 

Since neither of us had any clue as to what to choose, the combination platter seemed like the best bet. We chose four dishes that came served atop a huge pan of injera. 

It was bigger than my head!

The foods beginning at the top and moving clockwise were kale, collard greens, finely ground chickpeas, split peas, and lentils, and chicken breast in a stew sauce. 

Our waitress offered us utensils and plates, of which we only took the latter. I was getting the feeling that eating with your hands was going to be half of the fun... and it was. 

The process went something like this. You would rip off a piece of injera (initially from the rolled up one on the side, and then from the flat one after you'd used up the first) fold the injera around one of the  foods, pop it in your mouth and then voila! 

There's something very nostalgic about eating with your hands, especially when you're with friends. It brings you closer to the food, to each other, and makes the meal that much more delicious. I think the whole process also forces you to enjoy each bite of food even more. You're putting in so much effort, you really just have to stop and realize how wonderful everything tastes. 

For dessert, we went for the seasonal special, a Pumpkin Sambussa with Caramel Apple ice cream. Both Su and I agreed that the ice cream may have overshadowed the sambussa  a little bit, but it was all delicious! 

Sambussa are little pockets of phyllo dough with some sort of filling. In keeping with the season, ours was pumpkin, and it was actually very good! It almost tasted like a pumpkin pie remix. The dough functioned as a sort of crust, and the filling was faintly reminiscent of pie filling. 

The one problem I had was cutting into the Sambussa with my spoon. The dough was flaky, but just slightly too tough to cut through with the dull edge of a spoon. Nevertheless, we prevailed. I might recommend eating it with your fingers, though. It would just be more convenient. 

As a side note, if you're feeling adventurous, you can do what my friend Jack did when he visited. After his meal, he pulled out a plantain and asked the waiter if the chef could do something with it. Accepting the challenge, the chef produced an apparently very delicious fried plantain dish with ice cream. So, if you're feeling up to it, you might want to BYOP (bring your own plantain) and see what happens. 

At the end of the evening, we left Abay content, but not uncomfortably full, either. Su and I had a blast trying all of the new Ethiopian dishes. It was a little culinary adventure, and a welcome escape from the stress of college life.