However, we Pittsburghers are fortunate enough that we can cross over into two ethnic food worlds, as the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral runs its Greek Food Festival the first week of May, coinciding nicely with the holiday. And yesterday, I was one of those lucky Pittsburghers who got to experience both.
My husband and I decided to hit up St. Nick's for lunch, and we took advantage of the beautiful weather by walking from our house in Squirrel Hill through Schenley Park into Oakland. It was quite a hike, but the scenery was just unbeatable. Here are two pictures we took from the Panther Hollow Bridge in Schenley.
We had missed lunch by the time we got to St. Nick's, but the a-la carte menu runs straight through the day. We wound our way into the church basement (I could write a whole blog about how I love church basements and their random stages and feel of a Bingo game about to begin) and tenatively approached the food.
I am going to admit this right now: those big rotating meat-slab things at the Point during the Regatta have always made me a little terrified of gyros. Even though I lived within walking distance of the Greek Food Festival for six years, I had never been there, and really, the only Greek food I can think of that I've ever eaten was feta cheese and mini spanikopitas at someone's wedding reception. I was a little intimidated.
Lucky for us though, each food name had a description next to it on the order sheet, so I was able to see what sounded like things I'd like and pick those. After we paid and headed upstairs with our selection, I also had to try out the things they were advertising as 'Greek fries.' I don't know how authentic those were, but I was not going to pass up a chance to eat fries under the excuse of supporting a local Pittsburgh organization.
In the end, we decided on these choices:
The bottom left corner is the spanikopita (fillo pastry filled with feta cheese and spinach), above that is souzoukakia (meatballs in tomato wine sauce), next to that is a dolmathe (herbs and rice in a marinated grape leaf), and of course, those fantastic Greek fries (which were really just fries with feta cheese on top). Oh, and that's my carton of raspberry iced tea (I'm really a Marburger farms kind of girl, but so far, the only place in town I can find that serves those besides my old high school is Wholey's). If I'm going to celebrate, I'm *really* going to celebrate ;)
I really can't say enough good things about this food. That spanikopita was fantastic, and I'm really picky about meatballs, but this one was just melt-in-your-mouth good. The grape leaves were probably my least favorite, but even they were still tasty. And the fries? It was as if they had been snatched from the Potato Patch itself. Oh man.
Thankfully, we were a few miles from home with no car, so we got to walk off some of that meal and get ourselves prepped for Food Splurge #2 of the day.
Last night, we headed up Murray Avenue to Cuzamil, which is a tiny Mexican restaurant and bar that you would probably miss if you weren't walking right past it. And that's a shame, because now that La Fiesta is gone (bless its little soccer-game-supplying soul), this is probably the best Mexican restaurant in the city. The El Campesino on McKnight Road is a close second, but if you're staying within the city limits, Cuzamil is really fantastic.
They were packed (as expected), but the Buccos game was on, and we were feeling quite patient, so we ordered a pitcher of margaritas and set to work on the chips and salsa. The pitcher took a little while to arrive, but it was well worth the wait. The blend was light and delicious, a perfect balance of mix and tequila, so it wasn't overpoweringly sweet.
I had the chicken quesadilla, and my husband had the mahi mahi milanesa (I do not really know what 'milanesa' means, but I can only guess it means something like 'lightly breaded and fried in a batter made of amazing'). All the meals come on those huge plates with refried beans, rice, and salad topped with guac and sour cream, just like La Fiesta used to make. This is quite dangerous, as this place is literally less than half a mile from our house, and I no longer have the metabolism of my early twenties when I lived two blocks down from La Fiesta.
The best news of all? Somehow, our day's worth of gluttony spurred the Buccos to beat the Cubbies. I was going to make a comparison about the underdog Buccos being like the underdog Mexicans in the Battle of Puebla, and get all metaphorical to tie things together at the end here but... really, I'm still just working off that pitcher of margaritas ;)
Also, it's only 2.5 hours until the puck drops, and I've got to get my game face on! Let's Go Pens!!
No comments:
Post a Comment