Pittsburgh Memories of the 2,000,000 who moved

Oh and sorry, I thought Lemon Blennd was much better before Heinz took it over and they made it lemon orange.

I know that it wasn't The Pleasure Bar - - even when I was a kid, that name would have stuck in my head.... It was a long skinny bar - - entrance on the main drag - - bar in front with some booths and a dining area behind the bar... There was also a party room upstairs - - went to a wedding reception there one time... The street on the side of the bar led back to the Bloomfield swimming pool.... An old boyfriend of mine made the newspaper when he fell from the high board to the deck.... He was a diver and my swim coach used to tell me that divers were always a bit nuts....

Now I am trying to remember a couple of German restaurants that we used to go to in the North Side... I took accordion lessons on East Ohio Street, and we would go to two different places to eat... I was in my 'grilled cheese sandwich and fries' stage, but I used to beg for bits of schnitzel from my mom's plate.... One was near East Ohio and East Street, and the other was in a big old house closer to Allegheny General - - the first floor had been converted to a restaurant...

Mandels Bakery in Belleview was one of our favorites - - The owners were friends and they used to drop off surplus baked goods on Saturday nights.... It was always a special treat to find a 'supreme' - - their whipped cream cake.... They made real almond macaroons and a chocolate coffee cake that I have tried to clone for years.... Really good stuff.....

Del's or something like that? I went to some family thing there with one of my friends families.

I think that's it - - Del's sounds right..... I would have been trying to think of it all day, and would have probably sat up in the middle of the night remembering it... Thanks.... Now, I even have a mental picture of the neon sign!!!!

Badseed..The Chinese Roast Pork Sandwich on garlic bread was a big seller. Not my idea. It was popular in many Brooklyn Diners at that time. Sounds like a crazy combo and it also includes duck sauce But, everyone loved it.

The thing I was actually most proud of was my idea of how to get a fresh grilled chicken sandwich done in 2 -3 minutes and get it to the customer. Everything we served was cooked to order except the hot dog..We had them on the griddle and finshed them off on the char broiler.

I came up with this idea (this was 20 years ago now)that we'd remove the tenderloins, butterfly the chicken breasts, pound them paper thin, marinate them in olive oil, seasonings and garlic and throw it on the char broiler.

The suckers would flame up right away...A real show for the customers. Nobody else had this paper thin chicken sandwich with lettuce and mayo in the City at that time. It was the second most popular thing on the menu.

We used the tenderloins for fresh chicken salad. We butchered our own wings and took the tips, froze them and then made made soup stock. We wasted nothing. Everyday, we had a fresh soup. Our food cost was incredibly good..It was the only thing that kept us in business for a long time!

Hey, I hope some of you are interested in this stuff. Or, I apologize to the rest of you for reehashing this. I mean I could go on and on and explain how the entire restaurant was planned, the planning behind the menu, etc There was a specific well thought out plan for everything...Including things like a built in ramp down from the back alley to receive the 50 lb bags of potatoes for the prep kitchen in the basement. We had a potato peeler, a special automatic french fry cutter, sinks, etc.

I pretty much thought of everything (it was my business)except how to market the place Hey, I was a management person....
Management and sales usually don't blend well. In the corporate environment, many fights are between the management staff and the sales force...But in your own small business, you better be everything!

quote:

Originally posted by Baah Ben



Our food cost was incredibly good..It was the only thing that kept us in business for a long time!

The food costs are what killed my restaurant, they were 13% over where they should have been. As I averaged an annual gross of $1.15MM that "little 13%" meant that $150,000/yr. was "walking out the door" in one form or another. My Korean buyers knew that and they knew how to put a stop to it; they thought they "stole" the place for 43 cents on the dollar for one year's sales.

BTW: after a few stabs at solving my food cost hemorrhage, the franchisor sent in their "top" manager. After closing on a Sunday, she and I did a complete inventory right down to weighing the sugar. She stayed in that store bell to bell for two solid weeks; she got labor costs down 2%, but the food cost remained 13% over. Her conclusion was that the local public schools must offer vocational training in theft!

I put the place up for sale immediately and six weeks later I had my happiest day ever in the restaurant business!

Re: your thought - "But in your own small business, you better be everything!" "No S., Sherlock"!

Jim - Like I said, you did just fine...Most do not get out alive...

I find the restaurant thread to be interesting and a bit educational. One of my friends is considering the purchase of a restaurant and we will be helping out if she does buy it. It's on a very busy road near to lots of other things plus has good tourist traffic. This not a new thing for her.

I do a version of chinese roast pork but I serve it more like peking duck, on mu shoo pancakes or more often flour tortillas with hoisen, scallions, and cucumber. Chili garlic paste or chicken hot sauce on the side.

One German place on the northside was Max's Allegany tavern, great food and beer, although I'm an Iron City drinker when I'm in western PA.

I remember Max's, but the one place that I am thinking of had a German family name.... It was east of the park - - maybe two blocks in from the road that bordered the park and one block toward the river from the street that Allegheny General hospital is on..... I believe that it was on a corner, and it might have started with a "W" - - Wiegands or something like that.... I am sure that it has been closed for years......

I have shared the posts on opening a restaurant with my daughter in Wisconsin.... She graduated from the U. of Hawaii school of travel industry management with a specialty in restaurant management.... She and her hubby are thinking about opening a restaurant in a few years..... They have the concept, but are looking for the proper venue..... She has managed a few places, and has a cake decorating and party planning sideline, but knows what doing it all on your own entails.... There is lots of great info here.... Thanks for being so candid with your experiences....

Max's Allegheny Tavern Website
http://www.maxsalleghenytavern.com/

Max's Map Location
http://foodpage.us/MaxsAllegheny?showmap=1&toz=

Thanks for the links - - in reading the first one, I discovered that Max's used to be Niederst's and that is what I was remembering..... I had many good meals there when I was a kid...... I knew it was a good old German name.... Wow!!!!

Mamaduck43, I can't rememeber the name of the German restaurant near East and East Ohio Street, but remember eating there three or four times after it was reviewed favorably by Geoffrey Tomb http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05237/559413-46.stm and shortly before it was demolished to make way for I-279 construction.

I remember having excellent schnitzel and kidney stew on a couple of my visits.

How about...

Delallo's, on Rt 51 in Pleasant Hills/Whitehall,

and

McGinnis Sisters, on Rt 51 in Brentwood?

Another great restaurant was Anna Keo's in Blawnox - - little brick building, might have been a house at one time... Small dining room and Chinese food to die for... This was vintage '70's - - lots of specialty items.... I still make some of her recipes when I feel like doing a 'production number' type dinner.... My favorite was a ground pork and bamboo shoot soup - - served in sections of bamboo stalks as bowls....

quote:

Originally posted by mamaduck43

Another great restaurant was Anna Keo's in Blawnox - - little brick building, might have been a house at one time... Small dining room and Chinese food to die for... This was vintage '70's - - lots of specialty items.... I still make some of her recipes when I feel like doing a 'production number' type dinner.... My favorite was a ground pork and bamboo shoot soup - - served in sections of bamboo stalks as bowls....

Mamaduck43,
You need to move back to P-Burgh! You have too many good memories of the place!

There is no town for eating like Pittsburgh - - but I have the same type of memories of all the other places that I had lived for 25 years of 'home is where the AirForce needs us', followed by a bunch of years in Hawaii... I can graze my way across the US and parts of Europe souvenir eating all the way.... During his career, we managed to spend almost 4 years in the Burgh - - so even though many of my memories are from way back, I do have more recent ones... Plus, when we lived close enough, we arranged our visits around places to eat....
I would like to get back there for a Steelers Game - - I have managed to go to Lambeau Field and Mile High Stadium to away games, and of course, I attended the Pro Bowl in Hawaii every year, but my last home game was in Three Rivers - - now there is a memory!!!! My first Steelers game was at Forbes Field, and I attended quite a few at Pitt Stadium and Three Rivers..... But, before I die, I will get to a game at Heinz Field.... I do have plans to go to the HOF when Bettis gets inducted, and will probably try to at least get to a pre-season game on that same trip....
I guess, too, as I get older, the old time memories are sometimes stronger than where I left my keys 10 minutes ago.... Funny, how that happens, isn't it......

Mamaduck43 - My sister, who lives in Pittsburgh, mentioned Anna Keo's! She loved it. She is always complaining there are no good Chinese restaruants in Pittsburgh. I always thought the one in Shadyside was decent.

quote:

Originally posted by mamaduck43

Another great restaurant was Anna Keo's in Blawnox - - little brick building, might have been a house at one time... Small dining room and Chinese food to die for...

Hey, I remember eating at Anna Kao's when I was a kid. You are right, that was really Chinese food for Pittsburgh. But, I remember it being in Fox Chapel, across from the Waterworks shopping center. Was there more than one of them?

Another Chinese place my family frequented was the Bellevue Tea Gardens. Anyone remember the place?

I think you are right - - more in Fox Chapel - - next to, I think, a Real estate company - red brick with white trim.... The Waterworks shopping center wasn't there when we went....
When I was growing up, there weren't many Chinese Restaurants in the Burgh - - one in Oakland on Forbes - - Bamboo something or other, and Chinatown consisted of two old row houses under a bridge off of 2nd avenue, I think....
But, Anna's was a real treat - - the first time we went there, shortly after she opened, we ordered what we wanted, and she came out of the kitchen to see who we were - - she was quite impressed with what we had ordered!!!! She said that her usual customers were the Chop Suey and Egg Roll types, and she was surprised that we seemed to know what we were doing.... We sent a whole bunch of folks there after we tried it....
Now if I could only find a Chinese Restaurant here in Colorado Springs that I like..... I got real spoiled in Hawaii.....

mamaduck43-
The building Anna Kao's was in now houses one of my favorite area Thai restaurants. So, it is in good hands!

http://www.thaiplacepgh.com/foxchapel/

BB - It was in Fox Chapel. My sister said in its final year, the food declined. But, it was really good for quite a while. Hey, I think the place in Shadyside is decent..She doesn't.

MamaDuck - Colorado Springs..Chinese? Pretty funny. But hey, here in Daytona and Deland, there are two good ones that I can live with. So, anything is possible. Good luck. Incidently, there's two good ones in Denver next time you are in town. One is Imperial Seafood(?)that's very close to the downtown area...and one up on Colorado Blvd with an unusal name I just can't remember right now. I did mention them in several posts on Denver. Both are very good.

quote:

Originally posted by MetroplexJim

Remember Johnny Garneau's Golden Spike both downtown and on McKnight Road in the North Hills? That's probably where BuffetBuster got his name!

When I was a kid, we always got to pick where we wanted dinner for our birthday. I always chose Johnny Garneau's Golden Spike and had the fried shrimp. I definitely miss the place.

Another quirk about us Pittsburghers? We give directions based on what used to be there. For instance, we say, "Okay, make a left where Zayre's used to be......" Needless to say, this doesn't do much good for out of towners.

My goodness! Primanti Bros. has opened in Florida! http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=primanti+bros+ft+lauderdale&fb=1&view=text&latlng=7340060286224089153&dtab=2&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=result

And they are getting rave reviews for their pizza!

With 2 million less folks dining in Pittsburg, does this mean there are shorter lines or less choices?

ChiTown - Seriously..The exodus from Pittsburgh has been a big problem for many,many years. It's really perplexing, too. The city has made incredible strides and they literally have everything except decent weather. Yet, it has the highest population of older people and the highest rate of younger people leaving.

The City limits are very expensive to live in. The taxes are very high, but they are doing something about this. My sister explained they are giving tax credits if you live and send your kids to the public schools. I do not know the details but it seems to be working.

Maybe someone can explain the details...

We lived in Stanton Heights for a couple of years in the 70's - - kids went to Sunnyside School.... I was impressed with the school and still keep in touch with a couple of their teachers all these years later....
When we moved there, we took a map of the city and put big X's on my folks house in Harmerville, his folks house on Termon Ave in North side... Duquesne U., where he was working and Oakland and Squirrel Hill where I was going to work.... Then we connected the X's and told our realtor to find a house in the circle.... Stanton Avenue, it was.... Weird system, but it worked......
I was fortunate to be there when we won our first SB!!!!! Sure would be nice to add #6 to our record this year....

I am hoping someone remembers Fatigati's in Bridgeville. Help Mamaduck!

Blue Heaven-
I remember Fatigati's. It was a favorite of my dad's and my brother still talks about the place. It burned down, didn't it?

Oh thank goodness you remember BB I thought I was going crazy. It was one of those childhood memories and I loved their spaghetti sauce I remeber it had nutmeg and a little lemon zest. I wish I could get a recipe somehow. I don't know if it burned down or not it has been ages since I was there. It was in Bridgeville a white square kind of building right?? I remember the family that ran were really nice. I would always get a Shirley Temple cocktail.

I remember Fatigatis too, we had our work Xmas dinner party there in 1980 or so. It was quite hard to find but I was from the other end of town as well.