What to Eat in Pittsburgh

Blog fans, it’s been awhile. Sometimes, we hit a drought. Since we only blog positively, when we eat at a bunch of places in a row that we don’t love, we hang back.

But when it rains, it pours. In the last two weeks we’ve eaten at so many fabulous places that I’m making lists for my lists to keep track. Expect a flurry of blog posts.

This means we had to decide which place to post about first. For me, this decision was easy. Since we moved here a year ago, we’ve been on the hunt for an outstanding authentic Mexican restaurant. And for us, the bar is set high. For the past 6 years, we had lived in Birmingham, AL, a city with a thriving Mexican-American community. We were lucky to live near one of the best taco trucks in the US, not to mention some incredible Mexican restaurants attached to Mexican grocery stores. We’ve been spoiled by Mexican home-cooking: hand-pressed fresh tortillas, juicy, well-flavored meats, and rich spicy sauces. Birmingham was also the first place we encountered an authentic paleteria, or Mexican popsicle shop. Lichita’s, and it’s owner Eloy, were near and dear to our hearts, eventually becoming part of our Pitzitz Food Hall project highlighting the best food from around the city. Since then, we’ve made it a point to try paletas and homeamde Mexican ice cream when we travel, and Lichita’s is always our benchmark.

We’ve probably tried a dozen places in our year in Pittsburgh. Sadly, we hadn’t found one that compared to what we were used to. (Let us know if you think we missed something – we’re always looking for tips.)  This is not to bash the food scene here – we hit it out of the park in so many ways, just not when it comes to Mexican food.

But, like a good blogger does, I check my sources daily for leads.  Cue mysterious music – but really, I actually just use Yelp like everyone else.  One day a few weeks ago, something incredible popped up – a paleteria that had just opened! I couldn’t believe it. There were pictures of Mexican popsicles that looked like Lichtita’s, and the reviews indicated that they also served dinner.

That weekend, we made the short drive to Beechview, a cheerful residential community that is the center of Pittsburgh’s Hispanic community, with our kiddos, friend-of-the-blog Lane, and his daughter. Here’s what the place looks like on the outside. Colorful and welcoming. Our foodie hearts were racing. This looked promising. Note: street parking is available right in front.

This adorable logo also appears in the window.

 

The inside is warm and homey. There are ice cream cases in the front, and a menu posted on the wall behind. Of course, we forgot to get a good shot of the menu, but rest assured, we ordered nearly everything.

We immediately noticed that the menu was small, which we always take as a good sign of focusing on a limited number of quality dishes. The woman who took our order told us her parents own and run the restaurant and are going to expand their offerings over time.

To drink, we ordered horchata, a drink of sweetened rice milk and cinnamon. Some of the best we’ve had. Very sweet, which is a good complement to the rest of what we were about to eat.

 

First, we ordered the elote. Corn on the cob, smothered in mayo and cheese. This version was particularly stellar – lots of bright lime flavor in every bite. It’s not easy to share elote, even with a good friend like Lane. Poor guy had to watch us devour it.

After that, everything came out in fits and spurts. We were enjoying our conversation,  and the people-watching as long lines intermittently formed for ice cream then dispersed. At one point, the woman who took our order, who was also our server and our cashier, apologized that the food wasn’t coming out more quickly — “my mom is making everything in the back.”  Everything was being made from scratch, to order, and it showed. This food was definitely worth the (still relatively short) wait.

Next up, the enchiladas. We opted for chicken. Served with verde sauce, covered in perfectly ripe avocados, cheese, crema, and liberal amounts of cilantro, served with rice and beans. The chicken was extremely tender and well-seasoned. All the flavors came together for a perfect mix of tangy and creamy. The rice and beans stood out in their own right.

 

Next, the quesadillas. I confirmed that the tortilla was homemade – a rarity in Pittsburgh. It tasted like the best possible example of a homemade tortilla, slightly thicker than the store-bought kind with lots of textural irregularities that tell you someone made this with their hands. Inside, that same chicken filling we loved in the enchilada, along with a liberal dousing of melted cheese.  Served with avocados, rice, and beans. Absolutely fantastic.

We ate the quesadillas, and everything else, with the deliciously spicy complementary fresh salsa.

And then the gordita. Per our new friend, the masa is made in the back, and again, it shows. It’s soft with a crispy exterior. We ordered it topped with delicious chorizo, which had a kick to it. The pairing of the rich meat with the creamy cheese and avocado on top of that masa was a fantastic combination.

 

Next, a real treat: pozole. I’ve only had pozole once before, at a wonderful neighborhood Mexican restaurant in Birmingham. I understand there are many different variations on this dish. Both in Birmingham and here in Pittsburgh, the pozole was a red stew of hominy and meat. At Alquisiras’, it was a rich pork broth, served with ample fixin’s – two kinds of onions, chilis, radishes, and of course limes. We piled it all in there and, wow. This was an incredibly rich, comforting dish that would be the perfect way to warm up in the middle of a Pittsburgh winter.

Here’s the aerial view:

 

Check out those gorgeous fixin’s:

 

I can just smell that soup from looking at the photo.

 

Gorgeous kernels of hominy.

Of course, we had to have dessert. We’ve been craving Mexican ice cream like Lichita’s – lighter than American-style ice cream, but still creamy and with bright flavors.

Check out the ice cream and paleta cases:

So beautiful. She explained that their factory is actually on site. Her mom cooks, and her dad makes the ice cream and popsicles. He makes huge batches, including thousands of pops, every weekend. That means their biggest selection is available on Mondays. Sadly, by Saturday, they were out of our favorite flavor – rice, which is available in both ice cream and popsicle form (basically horchata with actual rice mixed in.

No worries, we went with our second, third, and fourth favorite flavors: mango, which was especially good because the mangos were especially ripe, our new friend told us; coconut; and pistachio.

We ooooohed and aaaaaahed over the ice cream. Exactly as we remembered it at Lichitas. Eating it was like re-living amazing memories.

After chatting briefly with our new friend, we vowed to come back as soon as possible and floated to our cars.

Two weeks later, we were back, this time with friend-of-the-blog Harry of Tana post fame. We were all starving, and proceeded to order the whole menu again, with a focus on newer items added since our last visit.

First, I will say that I had to order the enchiladas and quesadillas again. They were fantastic. Harry could not stop eating my enchiladas.

He ordered his own plate of a torta, sopa, and gordita. All as fantastic as last time (we tasted). Don’t they just look so snug and cozy next to each other?

Here’s the gordita we ordered. Very similar to the sopa – homemade masa completely surrounding the meat filling. Check out that filling peeking out. What could be better?

A new item: the taco. There were two options: lengua or bistec. We chose bistec – very thin slices of spiced beef served with soft corn tortillas (store bought but very soft and warm),  and a very generous portion of lime, radish, cilantro, and onions.

We added the complementary salsa verde (not pictured) – nice and spicy.

Tamlaes, red and green, chicken and pork. Homemade masa, doughy but not at all dry, with juicy meaty fillings, steamed in a corn husk. I think this might be the first time we’ve even had a tamale since movig here. Delish.

Again, we were ready for dessert. We sampled several flavors including dulce de lece and rompope (eggnog). They were still out of rice – we really need to go back on a Monday. But this time, we couldn’t resist ordering this gorgeous strawberry paleta:

 

Nice and creamy, not overwhelmingly sweet. A very refreshing end to the meal. And it looks like work of modern art.

Not that we were done, because we also tried this:

Fried plantains served with sweetened condensed milk and Hershey’s syrup (not pictured). Tastes the way it looks – deep fried and gluttonous.

As we floated out a second time, we noted how well this place would do if it opened up a second location Downtown, or in Oakland, or Southside. No doubt, it would serve lots of tourists and college kids, and be busy at all hours. But one of the things we love about Alquisiras is that it is a small neighbhorhood place. Judging from the authenticity of the food and pride in home cooking we observed, it clearly serves the community in which it is embedded.

Pittsburgh can feel really spread out sometimes, especially in traffic, and when a bridge and/or tunnel is involved. But living in a spread-out city also affords the opportunity for some hyper-local road-tripping. Even if you don’t live in Beechview or on the south side of the city, a drive to Alquisiras is still more than worth your time.