Modern Cafe

  Just had lunch at the Modern Cafe in the Northside of Pittsburgh, and ate one of the best sandwiches ever. Modern Cafe has won best sandwich at the Northside Sandwich Week festival two years in a row, and now I know why.

The Spartan $7.50

   I give you THE SPARTAN. Steak, gyro meat, provolone, feta, onions, tomato, seasoning, and taziki sauce, all on a 6" hoagie roll. Holy crap was this thing good. Why bother getting a gyro somewhere, when you can get this.
 So get off your butt and get down to Modern Cafe pronto. You do not want to miss this sandwich.

Modern Cafe Spartan Sandwich   10/10

Dave & Busters

 So me and my hot girlfriend are down at the Homestead Waterfront to see a movie on a Saturday evening. We decided to head over to the Rock Bottom Brewery for a before movie dinner. Problem was the wait was almost an hour long. So we headed across the street to Dave & Busters. We were seated almost immediately, and we found out quickly, why Rock Bottom had an hour wait, and Dave & Busters had none.

 Dave & Busters is known as a giant fun spot for adults. A place to play arcade games, watch sports, eat, etc.  The place is loud and big ass TVs are all over the place.

 First off the service was lacking. We sat many a minute waiting for drink refills, for our bill , etc. Even my glass of water had salad dressing on it, when it was served.

Poppin Potatoes

 Poppin Potatoes. The menu describes them as: Fried and crispy on the outside, light on the inside, these bite-sized potato puffs are tossed with garlic butter and Parmesan cheese.
 These were the highlight of the meal. Just as described, they were nice and crispy on the outside, with a creamy potato filling. The garlic butter and parm were subtle. The accompanying spicy ketchup tasted very similar to Heinz Chili Sauce.

Bar Burgers and Wings Platter

 4 little cheeseburgers served along with wings and a helping of fries. The accompanying ranch dressing was from a bottle...blah. The  burgers had a nice chargrilled flavor to them, yet were not hot enough. The wings  were mediocre at best. The sauce tasted like pure Franks Red Hot with no additional seasoning. The fries were crispy and decent.

Island Grilled Trifecta

 The Island Grilled Trifecta sounds like you won something big, but actually there were no winners here. Just dissapointed taste buds.
 The Island Grilled Trifecta is described as: Skewers of honey-teriyaki-glazed sirloin steak, seasoned chicken breast and tender shrimp, grilled and served on a bed of spicy rice medley. Served with pineapple pico de gallo, teriyaki BBQ sauce, and mango citrus sauce for dipping.
 The chicken was dry and flavorless. The shrimp were overcooked, dry,and gummy. The steak was bathed in an oriental sauce that was overpowered with Chinese 5 spice. Honestly if I wouldn't have swallowed the piece of steak, I might still be chewing it. Just a horrible cut of beef. 

 So the meal was ultimately disappointing.  Crappy service, combined with at best, mediocre food. Our experience might have improved if we had some time to enjoy the entertainment offered. But I can't recommend this place as a dinner destination. If you find yourself at Dave & Busters, stick with sandwiches or fried foods. Its harder to screw them up.

 The movie that we saw after the meal, "Her" starring Joaquin Phoenix. Was very good, and I recommend it highly.


DAVE & BUSTERS
RATING: 4/10 

North Hills Food Truck Roundup 2.0

 A great thing happened in the North Hills over the past weekend. Some of the best food trucks in Pittsburgh all gathered in the parking lot of Coffee Buddha  on RT 19 in Perrysville. So let me share some pictures and tastes from the gathering.


Click on pics for high resolution goodness.

 Fukuda truck was selling Japanese treats.

  The Polish food truck was serving combinations of Haluski (noodles & cabbage), stuffed cabbage, and pierogies. They also had frozen pierogies to go.
 The platter I ordered had 2 stuffed cabbage and three potato and cheese pierogies. The stuffed cabbage was filled with your typical meat and rice filling, but had a nice mild spice to it. The pierogies were tender, and the filling was not at all bland, but had a nice potato and cheese flavor.

 Bakery Treats

 Ice Cream

 BRGR out of East Liberty selling burgers and stuff. Check out my review of their restaurant in East Liberty HERE.

 Franktuary selling hot dogs.

 Oh My Grill selling gourmet grilled cheese with dipping sauces.

 Me and my eating partner ordered the "Number One", the Grilled Cuban, and an order of Parmesan Spinach Balls.

 The Parm Spinach balls were little fritters filled with spinach, parmesan cheese, and lots of flavor. The spicy mayo on top was an excellent finishing touch.

 The "Number One" came with smoked gouda, cheddar cheese,  bacon, and grilled onions. It was accompanied with a potato soup dipper.
 Great sandwich. The cheddar cheese gave a nice bite to the overall savoriness of this sandwich. The potato soup for dipping did not add much, but the sandwich was so damn good, it really did not need it. Honestly I could have ate 4 of these. However they are a little pricy at $7.00.

 
  The Grilled Cuban came with ham, turkey ,swiss, diced pickle and accompanied with a Mojo dipping sauce. This sandwich was just as awesome as "The Number One". The Mojo dipping sauce is what really pushed this sandwich over the top. It was very complex with flavors of lime, garlic, and herbs. Once agian I felt  the sandwiches price of  $8.00 was a little pricey for its size, but the damn thing was so good I would not hesitate to get it again.

 The Pittsburgh Taco Truck I actually had visited a few days before when it was parked up at the Coffee Buddha. Im glad I did because it was easily the most popular food truck at the roundup and the line was long and not moving all that fast. On their behalf, they do make all the tacos to order which explains the long wait time.

View from the Taco Truck

  This was the menu the day I went.You might think 4-5 dollars for a taco is a little pricey, but trust me they really do use good ingredients and the tacos are loaded to the brim.

 The Korean Flank Steak with Kimchi taco was impressive. The steak was cooked a perfect medium as I had ordered it. The steak had a nice soy/sweet flavor as well. The kimchee added saltiness to the savory steak, The grilled soft corn tortillas struggled to hold all the awesomeness

 The Jerk Chicken Taco with Avocado Cream was my personal favorite. The chicken had been marinaded and seasoned perfectly with jerk seasoning which imparted flavors of allspice, shallots, and peppers. It was spicy hot, but not to the point of setting your mouth on fire.The avocado cream added a mellow coolness to the spicy jerk chicken.

 The 1/3 pound angus beef taco with cheddar and truck salsa was the least inspired of their taco varieties. The ground beef  was a tad greasy and I thought the salsa had a bit too much cilantro. This pretty much tasted like a Mexican hamburger.
 All in all though I was quite pleased with the Pittsburgh Taco Truck and will definitely stop by again soon.

  Fellow food blogger, and very cute taco, Becky was at the roundup as well. Check out her blog at Sabor PGH. It is an excellent blog about the Pittsburgh food scene that you should be reading.

North Hills Food Truck Roundup 3.0 will be happening on April 27, 12:00, at the Coffee Buddha in the North Hills next month. So make plans now for one of the most awesome and tasty happenings in Pittsburgh.

Hal's Bar & Grill

Hal's Bar & Grill is located on Babcock Blvd in the North Hills. Having driven by the place every day for the past few years I always had planned on trying out Hal's, but never seemed to get around to it. Word of mouth has been mixed about Hal's. From what I learned it really seemed to be hit or miss depending on what you ordered. One of the warnings told me to avoid the hoagies because of the minuscule amount of toppings. As you will read, I should have heeded that advice.

 Upon entering Hal's we were quickly seated. Hal's is separated into a dining section and a bar which has a few big screen TVs and an impressive display of alcohol choices. The beer selection is very impressive and is one of the best you will find at a bar in the North Hills. The prices were very reasonable as well, even for imports such as Pilsner Urquell and Hoegarden which came in around $4.00 a bottle. My eating companions and I put in our order which included Salt and Pepper Calamari, Mushroom and Brie Bisque, Walnut Chicken Salad, Fish Sandwich, and the Kielbasa Grinder.

Salt and Pepper Calamari $9.00

   The Salt and Pepper Calamari came out lightly coated and fried perfectly as to still be tender. The dipping sauce however was just plain Kikkoman Teriyaki which was just to salty. A little more inspiration in the dipping sauce such as a sweet Thai chili sauce or a garlic aioli would have helped out this dish. Fried calamari is a pretty neutral flavored dish and so much depends on it having a good dipping sauce to add flavor.

Mushroom and Brie Bisque $4.00

  The Mushroom and Brie was the highlight of my meal. The soup had tasty chunks of mushrooms and the creamy broth was tangy with a taste of brie in the background. One of the better soups I have had and a pleasant surprise.

Walnut Chicken Salad $10.00

 The Walnut Chicken Salad came with sliced chicken on a bed of greens including sliced apple and grapes. A nice layer of blue cheese and walnuts was also included. Nothing bad to say about this salad. The chicken was perfectly cooked and everything was fresh.

Fried Cod Sandwich $8.00

  The Fried Cod sandwich was in the typical Pittsburgh fashion of being so big that it overflowed off the bun. The fish was fried in a nice panko style breading and had a pleasant crunch. The Sweet potato fries that accompanied the sandwich were crispy with a touch of sweetness. This was a pretty good fish sandwich, and I found it to be of better quality then the popular fish sandwich served at the North Park Lounge.

Kielbasa Grinder $8.00

 Well the best thing about this sandwich was the onion rings that accompanied it. The rings were lightly battered and fried to perfection. The sandwich was a disgrace. The kielbasa wound up being a thin sliced layer of something that resembled cooked salami. There was a big heap of sauerkraut with a thousand island style dressing on top. Biting into the sandwich was like biting into a sauerkraut hoagie. You could not even taste the so called kielbasa as there was barely any on the sandwich. The hoagie roll was not fresh either. This is easily the worst sandwich I have had in recent memory.

  So the trip to Hals's was a mixed bag. Some of the offerings such as the soup and fish were very good, while the hoagie was just plain terrible. The beer prices at Hal's are very reasonable and the selection was impressive. Oh, and they make their own Ranch Dressing which is always important.
 Would I go back to Hal's? Sure, especially if just to have some beers or drinks. Just remember to stay away from most of their sandwiches and you will be alright.


Hal's Bar & Grill

Salt and Pepper Calamari: 6.5/10

Mushroom and Brie Bisque: 9/10


Walnut Chicken Salad:  7/10

Fried Cod Sandwich: 7/10

Kielbasa Grinder: 1/10 (Onion rings brought it up to a 1)


Overall: 7/10

Burgatory

 Burgatory is one of the zillion new burger restaurants popping up in Western Pennsylvania. Burgatory is located in Waterworks Mall in Aspinwall. Word of mouth has been pretty positive about this joint, and in my quest to visit every burger restaurant in Pittsburgh, I decided to check it out.
  So on a Tuesday at about 4:00 pm my eating companion and I arrived. We were quickly seated by our hostess, but then sat and waited for over 10 minutes before our server waited on us. This is while the manager and a group of other waitresses chit chatted at the corner of the bar right next to us. Also there were only 3 seated tables so it was anything but busy.

PB&J Shake $5.50

  So to start off I ordered a PB&J Shake. Burgatory has a bunch of different flavors of shakes including shakes spiked with liquor. This shake was kick ass. Tasting of peanut butter with notes of berry it was about as good a shake as you can get. Be careful though, the shake is very filling and you can get full before your meal even arrives.


Pale Ale Onion RIngs $6.50

   The onion rings were thick cut onions fried in a beer batter. To me good onion rings should be thin and airy, these were the exact opposite. The batter had a nice beer flavor to it but was way to greasy. The onion as you bit into the ring just slid out from the crunchy coating. An overall pretty crappy onion ring. The accompanying dipping sauces were both unique in flavor and would have been better if you had an onion ring worth a damn to dip in them. One sauce was a peppercorn cream whith a nice peppery yet mellow flavor. The other sauce was a chipotle horseradish dipping sauce which had a nice smoky and tangy flavor.

Fire Kissed Sriracha Wings $9.00

 The wings were pretty decent. The sauce on the wings to me tasted like just plain sweet Thai chilli sauce with soy. If there was actual Sriracha sauce on the wings it was hardly noticeable. The sauce was actually very mild as far as spicy heat goes.The wings were well cooked being moist yet crispy.

Farmer Brown Burger $9.50

 The Farmer Brown burger was ordered medium and comes topped with an over easy egg, maple cured ham, farmhouse cheddar, lettuce and mayo.

Action side view of Farmer Brown Burger

  First off all the burgers come accompanied with "a handful of sweet and russet potato chips". Whoever is in charge of the chips should be fired. The russet potato chips were soggy and had no crunch whatsoever, but they were terrific compared to the sweet potato chips that were inedible. It was like biting into a piece of chewy cardboard.
 The burger itself came out being more medium well than medium. Of all the burger joints I have been, I must say I think Burgatory might have the juiciest, most flavorful burger of them all. The patty was not only juicy but also had a great meaty flavor. Burgatory claims that their beef is all natural and hormone free as well.  The buns they use were nice and airy yet retained their form so the burger did not become a big mess. The toppings all were fresh and of high quality. The combination of ham and egg reminded me of a good breakfast.  The cheddar added nice flavor as well.

Mortys Steakhouse Burger $10.00

 The Mortys Steakhouse burger was cooked a perfect medium just as I had ordered.

Mortys Steakhouse Burger Action Shot

 The Morty Steakhouse burger comes topped with haystack onions(crispy onion straws), cabernet sauce, horseradish cheddar, and the burger itself is crusted in black peppercorns. Just like the other burger the actual beef patty was awesome. The addition of the peppercorn added even more flavor to an already excellent burger. The cabernet sauce tasted of wine and demi glace, and mixed in well with the onions and horseradish cheddar. Nit picking a little, but they could have cut down on the number of onions which was a tad excessive. This burger came with the same crappy chips as well.

 Burgatory, while having the actual best burger I have tried yet, failed in some other key aspects of my visit. The service needs to be improved. The chips are almost comically bad, especially since they come with such a terrific burger. The appetizer menu could be expanded and improved upon. Prices are a little on the high side .
 But the fact is if you want a great burger head to burgatory. Despite some of its other shortcomings it is still worth going for the burgers alone.

RATING
PB&J Shake 9/10
Pale Ale Onion Rings 4/10
Fire Kissed Sriracha Wings 7/10

Farmer Brown Burger 8/10
Mortys Steakhouse Burger 9/10

Overall: 7/10