Eat'n Park

Saturday we were headed up to New York to see family and decided it was finally time to hit Eat'n Park for breakfast. It's a family restaurant based in Pittsburgh. The franchise began in the South Hills in 1949, with the business model that customers could drive their car and park at the restaurant, while being waited on by waitresses on roller skates. Today, the franchise has nearly 100 locations, and has become an indoor-dining family restaurant with some locations open 24 hours a day. The franchise's mascot is "Smiley", a walking smiley face, and Eat'n Park is well-known for its trademark Smiley Cookies, which are frosted sugar cookies with smiley faces drawn on them in icing. Because it was Super Bowl weekend for the Steelers, we bought the Steeler themed cookies to take to family.

Max and Erma's on Walnut

Saturday we tried Max and Erma's on Walnut Street in Shadyside. It is definitely an "American Food" kind of venue but is nicer inside than an Applebees or a TGI Friday's. The Tortilla Soup was good, but the best part of the evening was the six chocolate chip cookies that you can order freshly baked. They bring them out to you on a tray right out of the oven, still hot. It is on the list for a return visit.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

We used our "My Museums" pass today to go to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on forbes avenue near CMU. It sits on the site of the Art Musuem but we focused on the History Museum. There are a lot of dinosaur skeletons there right now making it a good place for kids, but we enjoyed it too. There were 3 main floors and what looked like a downstairs area for kids to interact with science. The museum had large display of rocks, minerals, gems and jewelery. It also had a large dinosaur exhibit along with animal / botanical exhibits from North America, Africa, Asia, etc. There were also rooms devoted to birds and butterflys, artic explorations, Native Americans, and Egypt (fun to see since we were in Egypt a few months ago). The museum is very nice, we had a good time and will probably revisit later in the year with our museums pass.

Willow

We went to Willow today, an upscale / trendy restaurant in the north hills. It lists as "Contemporary American" and it nestled in a fairly wooded area on Camp Horne Road. The venue, appetizers, food, dessert and drink were all awesome and we will definitely be making a return visit. I had the Ahi Tuna and Jennie had the salmon. We also had the calimari. We have heard that the duck and the Crab Cakes are also highly recommended (along with almost everything else on the menu!)

Welcome to Pittsburgh Items

We needed to do a few things to get us acquainted with a new city. The first thing we did was to get hooked up with a small company called "About Pittsburgh". They took us around the city and showed us some sights as well as potential neighborhoods to live in.

The second thing we did was to subscribe to Pittsburgh Magazine, which comes with 12 annual issues containing events, restaurants, and business profiles around town. It also has a yearly City Guide with business and restaurant listing (a thing to have around).

The third thing we did was to become a member of the Carnegie Museums for 2009. This includes the Art, Science, Natural History, and Andy Warhol Museums. We can go as much as we like in 2009, and also to hundreds of member museums around the country (more posts to come on this one).

We also have been been using Moon's guide to Pittsburgh, which has been also been very helpful in finding our way around.

Shadyside

Shadyside is a younger neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, and is where we decided to take up residence to start off our time in Pittsburgh. The name Shadyside is drawn from the 19th century Pennsylvania Railroad station in the area, named for its unique shady lanes. There are a lot of college students and younger professionals living in the neighborhood as it is a fun area near Pitt and CMU. Renting is difficult depending on the season and the houses are older. Parking is also not easy, but in general worth living in Shadyside for the location.

Stores are located in two corridors; one centers on Ellsworth Avenue, the other on Walnut Street. Walnut is densly populated with stores and restaurants. Some of the stores along Walnut Street, including Williams-Sonoma, White House Black Market, Gap, Apple, J.Crew, American Apparel, Chico's, Victoria's Secret, Banana Republic, Talbots. Ellsworth is more arty and has several one of a kind stores and Crazy Mocha coffee shop. Resaurants that we have tried in the area that we like include Walnut Grill, Sushi Too, La Casa, Thai Place, Docs, Cappys, Harris Grill and Buffalo Blues.

For groceries, Giant Eagle Market District, Trader Joes, and Whole Foods. The Shadyside Market is also very nice, owned by the Dupuis family of Baton Rouge, LA for more than 50 years, features fresh produce, an on-site butcher, and a deli which is frequently packed by locals.