Pittsburgh Weekend

I lived in Pennsylvania for 10 years but never visited Pittsburgh. This past weekend, Andrew and I took a road trip out there to find out what goes on in western PA. We soaked in a lot of culture and soaked up some local beers with hearty local foods, including pierogi pizza (delicious), which I’ll explain later.

First stop on the road trip was Duke Farms, a huge, bucolic New Jersey estate formerly owned by J.B. Duke, and then his daughter, Doris Duke. The orchid conservatory is Enchanting, capital E.

Hours later, we got to Pittsburgh. Here are a few of the highlights!

Andy Warhol Museum: I always find it fascinating to see artists’ work “before they were famous” and see if I can imagine little hints in the earlier works of what was to come later. It happened to be teen night when we visited, and the organizers asked if we were there for the youth invasion, bless their hearts.

Fried brussels sprouts, mac and cheese with pulled pork, and local beer at Meat and Potatoes.

I found my wedding band at the Marlene Harris Collection! No pictures yet, but I’m pretty excited about it.

The Mattress Factory is one of my favorite museums I’ve been to, ever, and it was Andrew’s favorite part of the trip. It features contemporary art and site-specific installations. We loved Dennis Maher’s “A Second Home,” which the artist statement calls “a mysterious wonderland.” It was.

The Yayoi Kusama infinity rooms were pretty fun as well.

Later, I jumped out of the car in some intense pouring rain to pick up shawarma, imtabbal ari’ (butternut squash dip with garlic and chili pepper), and baba ghanoush at Conflict Kitchen, a window-serve restaurant that serves food only from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict. Their current focus is the food of Palestine.

This we ate in the car on our way to Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house built on top of a waterfall. The tour was fascinating!

Back in Pittsburgh we met up with a composer friend for beers at the local East End Brewing Company. We sat at a picnic table behind the brewery—in front of the brewery is the elementary school where Mary Lou Williams (famous jazz pianist) studied!

Later was pierogi pizza at Aiello’s Pizza! Pierogi pizza is crust + white sauce + mashed potatoes + cheese + onions. Whoa, yum.

A pre-breakfast snack of a cinnamon bun and blueberry muffin from the famed Oakmont Bakery sustained us until we made it through the line for crispy pancakes and lyonnaise potatoes at Pamela’s.

This hearty breakfast fueled us for the looooonnng drive back to New Jersey (where the rental cars are much cheaper) and then train ride back to Brooklyn from there. Salad is for dinner tonight!