JRPfeff: Here's the itinerary I had in mind for a bus tour of folks who were new to Pittsburgh:
Saturday morning: start in the Strip, because no self-respecting food tour in Pittsburgh could bypass the Strip. But the restaurants in the Strip are too small to handle a busload, so my plan was to split into smaller groups to explore the Strip and stay in touch with GroupMe, which allows multiway text messages.
Special events in the Strip could include a meeting with Larry of Enrico Biscotti and a tour of Parma Sausage.
Early afternoon: to Oakland to visit the Original. If we got a large enough busload, I was entertaining ideas of ordering a large fry, just to behold the sheer enormity.
From the O, it would be a short walk to Dave and Andy's for ice cream.
Then for dinner, a trip down to Hazelwood for a multi course Hungarian dinner at Josza's Corner.
Saturday:
Breakfast at Pamela's in Millvale, whose thin pancakes have been praised by Barack Obama.
From there to Isaly's in West View. The Isaly's chain has declined to just a few stores, but it's still one of the best places to meet the Pittsburgh tradition of chipped ham.
From there to a church in Ambridge for pierogies and haluski. I learned this year that there is a group of old ladies in red head scarves who go from church to church in Ambridge doing all the pierogi-pinching. I had aspirations of getting one of these roaming pierogi-pinchers to talk to us about the pierogi tradition and how it gets carried out today.
Next stop: Jim's Drive-In West Mifflin. Their dark spicy hot dog sauce was the target of an attempted purchase by Heinz, but the rumors that the price was a million dollars are untrue.
I thought that this might take enough time that people would need to plan to fly home. But for a last stop, I'd considered Rib Cage BBQ in Ambridge. I've only learned in the last few years that the Monongahela valley has its own barbecue tradition, and I think Roadfooders would be interested in learning more.
This itinerary has obvious omissions, because I was planning for a busload. So my plans for a busload included a document of places we recommend, including places that we promised not to go. So, for example, you could come in on Friday night and go to Tessaro's, confident in the knowledge that you wouldn't be duplicating one of the tour stops.
This itinerary will adjust to the tour group, of course, so I do not promise that exact itinerary. But I think that this does demonstrate that there are interesting Roadfood times to be had in Pittsburgh.