The Pittsburgh Dish
Do you really know the food scene of Pittsburgh?! The Pittsburgh Dish introduces you to the people, places, and recipes that make our regional cuisine so special. By sharing personal stories, weekly recommendations, and community recipes, we aim to inspire you to connect with local taste makers and experience the unique flavors that shape our city.
The Pittsburgh Dish
019 Kristy Graver's Culinary Stories
(00:54) Ever wondered how a food editor curates a list of the top 25 restaurants in a bustling city? Get an insider's perspective with Kristy Graver, food editor at Pittsburgh Magazine, as she shares her unique journey into food journalism, including the magical moment she received her job offer at her grandparents' grave. From the high-end elegance of LeMont to the cozy charm of Lawrenceville’s sandwich shops, Kristy provides a guided tour of Pittsburgh's diverse and vibrant culinary landscape.
(12:24) In this episode, we dive deep into Kristy's daily life, uncovering how she balances personal storytelling with larger feature pieces like the "burger bracket," which saw her sampling an impressive 32 cheese burgers. Learn about her discoveries, from beloved local institutions like Frankie's Extra Long to the artisanal delights of the Pittsburgh Pickle Company. As a Pittsburgh native, Kristy’s connection to the local food scene lends authenticity to her reviews and articles, further evidenced by her dedication to producing fresh weekly content for the Pittsburgh Eats newsletter.
(25:08) We also explore some of Pittsburgh's hidden culinary gems, including a Brookline bar known for its exceptional chicken fingers and the best Reuben she found at Marshall Cigar, a surprising gas station treasure.
(38:41) The episode wraps up with a sparkling summer wine guide from Catherine Montest, aka Your Fairy Wine Mother, and an enticing history of Mapo Tofu presented by listener Mae Chandran. Come along for a feast of flavors.
Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, doug Heilman. Do you want a job that makes you eat 32 cheeseburgers from all across the city? This week's guest gives us the inside look of being a local food editor. Want to add some sparkle to your summer wine season? Our friend Catherine is back with her bubbly personality and a few wine picks. Catherine is back with her bubbly personality and a few wine picks. And what's the origin story behind this week's recipe for Mapo Tofu? We'll give a call to the West Coast to find out All that ahead. Stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Pittsburgh Dish. Don't forget to hit that follow button in whatever app you use to listen to podcasts. We'd love it if you would share an episode or two with a friend and, if you have the time, leave us a review. It really helps us out. Thank you so much for coming on to the show. I'm so excited to talk with you.
Kristy:Yeah it's my pleasure.
Doug:Would you introduce yourself and what you have going on right now in the food world?
Kristy:My name is K Kristy Graver and I am the food editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and right now, actually, our new issue is out, the June issue, and it is my best restaurants list.
Doug:Yes.
Kristy:Our 25 tasty picks. So it runs the gamut from like Lamont, which I went to Lamont for the first time and it's great being treated like a queen I'm sorry, I mean I wore a Creepshow t-shirt, whatever, but you know and it's really really high end. But then there's like a sandwich shop on here Long story short in Lawrenceville and it's great sandwiches and a great vibe, and it's great sandwiches and a great vibe and it's nostalgic and you know I'm 45 and it fits right in my wheelhouse. So that's the best restaurant to me. It's whatever goes the extra mile and brings me back and has good food and has a good vibe, and that's you know. And then there's also a guy who makes soup. He has a little soup kiosk. Right now it's at Fremont Brewing, but he's going to be taking summer off because he's going to Norway to research recipes and stuff. But yeah, he's going to be back in his little red shack and it's the best soup you've ever tasted.
Doug:I need to go there. Yeah, I love this. I'm so excited to have you and talk about all these things. I just saw this list and I have to say what you're saying is like that diversity of the sense of place, the different cuisines, the way it's presented. That's I think that's what I appreciate most about where you're going. Is it just runs the gamut?
Kristy:yes, thank you, and I was, you know it like we were saying like everything's so expensive now and like not everyone could afford to go out to eat especially the way I eat right and I feel very fortunate to be able to do that. But there's gotta be. It's not all like white linen tablecloths and everything. It could be just like a fun, funky place where you could get a beer too and just kick back.
Doug:Absolutely, and that's not even what everyone wants. I don't think everyone wants high dining. I mean, it's nice once in a while. So again, just kudos, and I do secretly think you might have the best job ever.
Kristy:I absolutely do I do.
Doug:So let's just take a little step back. How long have you been the food editor at Pittsburgh Magazine?
Kristy:Coming up on two years that you told me. So it's hard to believe because, I mean, I've been so many places and it's just. I can't believe it's only been two years. It feels like 10.
Kristy:I've been a journalist for 20 years but um uh, the food thing has really just in the last maybe five, five years about it's really taken off with the food, just because that was what was opening and that's what I was reporting on, just for the trip for um next Pittsburgh. So I just kind of fell into it. And then Pittsburgh magazine offered me this amazing job, this amazing opportunity and like I was literally at my grandparents' grave Christ, our Redeemer, and Westview, and that's when I got the call that I got the job, wow, and it was just a really magical moment and that's not even a lie.
Doug:Like I have pictures of it.
Kristy:I just was so thankful and my grandma G raver could not cook.
Doug:So, my goodness, I think I read this article. Is she the one that knew how to use a can opener?
Kristy:Yes, spaghettios, that's all we ever had.
Doug:But you still had a lot of good laughs around SpaghettiOs.
Kristy:Totally. And you know I have a last supper portrait in my office and like, just like she had hanging up in her house, and so you know um, there's like little nods to my grandparents. My grant.
Doug:My italian grandma could cook, but german one well, so let's take a little step back first and talk about family. You're a lifelong pittsburgh, yes, and, as you just said, like you've got roots on your mom's side. Those were the cooking, the sort of deeper italian roots, is that right?
Kristy:italian roots. My great-grandparents from were from calabria, um and at one point I was not alive at this point, but um my great-grandparents had a restaurant called pixies oh somewhere in mckee's rock I don't know anything about it like it's very sketchy. You would think that someone was taking pictures, like kept a menu, something like. There's just no record of this place.
Doug:It was called Pixies Pixies and it was in McKees.
Kristy:Rocks, I believe so, or like Stowe somewhere around. That's where that part of the family is from, but my grandma lived above Jenny Lee Bakery.
Doug:Yes, so you would go over and you'd probably be smelling the cinnamon swirl bread.
Kristy:Yes, and I got to interview people at Jenny Lee and got a tour and it was I mean, that was the best Full circle.
Catherine:Totally full circle.
Kristy:And Mancini's too, was a big, was always a big part of my life. And now, like you know, we're buddies, like I mean I love that family. So I think my mom even like dated one of their brothers or something who knows. But I mean, so Pittsburgh is just so like that. But to get to go to the places that I grew up, these institutions, iron City Beer, that is thrilling for me and it's a high honor. I don't take it lightly, I love it.
Doug:So deserving, so great, and I do want to take a step around the Robin of where you have done journalism. So, uh, tell me where you went to school. I went to the university of pittsburgh, and so did you work for the pit? I worked for the pit news, that's right.
Kristy:That was sort of your first sort of that was my well, I was on, like you know, the plum highlights in high school.
Kristy:I went to plum high school okay I'm gonna actually just spoke at their career day a couple maybe, like a month ago, and how horrifying, because to be back in high school and I was a huge nerd and like there was like two kids that were like semi interested in what I had to say but whatever. So I started with the school newspaper and cause I was never popular and I was very shy, but I was never shy with my writing.
Doug:With your words.
Kristy:I felt like I could like kind of hide behind those words, hide, don't hide behind them, but I could say what I wanted to say without this is how you could come out and be yourself and express your thoughts Totally. And I've been doing that ever since my best friend Katie. She was a co-editor with me and she is loud, boisterous, has this magnetic personality. She was the one, like you know, and she's still that way, um, but I like to like hang back and just observe, okay, so?
Doug:and so after high school and college at pitt and writing for the pitt news as well, then you sort of made your rounds to a lot of the local publications. What was food playing a role before Pittsburgh Magazine? Were you doing some food journalism then?
Kristy:When I graduated from college, I could not find a job in journalism and I was very, very frustrated.
Kristy:So I applied to a newspaper in Ocean City, maryland, and I got it and I think the first food story I ever did was I saw the Wienermobile parked outside of a hotel in Ocean City and I just went to the front desk I'm like, can I talk to these people? And they're like, yeah, sure, so I did you know we they, they were taking a busload of nuns to like an Orioles game in the Wienermobile, Like I thought that was like the best thing ever.
Doug:This is the best story ever.
Kristy:Right and they were like so cool and it was just fascinating Like what a fun job for the summer, like I mean I would love to do that.
Doug:They're still doing it.
Kristy:They're still doing it and there's. I think they changed the name to the Frankmobile, I don't know if that's stuck.
Doug:I don't know. I think it's, I thought it's the Wienermobile, but no one's ever going no, it's just not going to happen.
Kristy:Like no, you know, but I love the Wienermobile and I just saw it, you know, a couple of months ago, down by the Sheraton and anytime I see it I have to stop and just I love it. But that was my first food story.
Doug:And, yeah, when were you able to make your way back to Pittsburgh and do journalism here?
Kristy:It was after about two years. I just miss Pittsburgh so much Like there's a lot of Steelers bars down in Ocean. City, maryland, there's one called Buxy Salty Dog Saloon. It's owned by a Pittsburgher and I actually I met like Rocky Blyer there. It's really weird Like all the Pittsburgers go there. I saw like Ben Roethlisberger, like I'm not a big, huge sports fan, but at the time Tommy Maddox got knocked out, Ben Roethlisberger came in and it was like a start of a new Steelers era.
Kristy:And I was at the salty dog for that. But I miss Pittsburgh so much and I moved back and I got a job with the Trib. They had purchased Gateway newspapers so I work for like these little neighborhood papers which are still going strong and it was so fun I mean I just had I covered like. First I covered Bridgeville, pine Creek Journal and I covered like.
Doug:first I covered Bridgeville Pine Creek Journal and I covered school districts and I did a lot of municipal government meetings.
Kristy:Riveting I mean, oh my gosh, but it taught me a lot. Yeah About setback requirements, and so now, like when people are opening a business, they have to deal with all this crap that I'm like yeah.
Doug:You understand, like this, jurisdictional municipality requirements of a new restaurant. You don't just open up a McDonald's, like you can't.
Kristy:Just it's not that easy and I think you know so. I feel like anyone that wants to be in the restaurant industry right now has really passionate about it, because it is a lot.
Doug:It's a lot of hurdles. Yes, I like I don't think I could do it. Isn't it interesting that your other reporting fed you to the things you're doing now, or helps, gives you even a better understanding? Literally yeah it always sort of comes back to how do we apply our skills to the next step?
Kristy:Right, I had no clue. I wasn't like purposefully going to write about food and it just kind of gradually happened that way and over 20 years. So it's not people like you know the best job in the world and I'm like I do, but I didn't always. I was really a starving artist and doing freelance sucks.
Doug:It's you, really it's really hard to maintain a life, but there's nothing else I could do. Yeah, you reminded me of a couple of things. I'm going to take a step back and then step forward to the food editor. When you were growing up, did you have any food aversions or were you a pretty open eater Like you know? Was it everything goes, or I?
Kristy:ate everything and, like my mom will attest to this, I mean I was like, and I was just like a really good obedient child. I always like I look forward to eating and I had my own little kitchen play set and um't cook. But my brother was a very picky one. He ate nothing, but I ate everything.
Doug:You and I are parallels. I would eat everything. My sister was very picky.
Kristy:I just didn't understand. My mom always had dinner on the table and just was really good that way.
Mae:And our whole family.
Kristy:We just were always having picnics and just everyone brings a dish, and so I just food has always been like for a lot of people, just like a bonding thing, and that's how we bonded as as a family, and still doing that now, yeah but it sounded like to me that you don't really do a ton of cooking but you do go out to eat a lot for your job.
Kristy:Yeah, I mean if I cook at home, it's very rare and I'm not a great cook. So I mean my daughter will attest that she would much rather go out to a restaurant and eat my food and she'll tell me straight out she does not mince words, but I would rather let the experts do the cooking and feed me.
Doug:I agree, why not? And then you also don't have to clean up the kitchen, right, yeah, so let's. Let's then now jump back forward. You did all this journalism in your formative years. You get this job at Pittsburgh magazine in the last couple of years as a food editor I think number one. You're the first food editor for a magazine I've had on the show. Can we talk about the life of a food editor For our listeners out there? Maybe walk us through like a week or a month, like what goes on in terms of you visiting and finding places to then creating a story. I don't even know what comes first.
Kristy:Yeah, there's lots of movies about editors not necessarily food editors, but like we're sex in the city, like we're just living this fabulous life and making all this money. It's not very lucrative but you make up for it in other ways. So for me, for a story, I write about what I'm interested in and if I have an interest in. Like you know, there's a story and this issue about Frankie's Extra Long. It's a hot dog shop in Lawrenceville. It's been there for 75 years and it sticks out like a sore thumb in Lawrenceville because all these trendy places are popping up and it has not changed in that long, like even the countertop. They were replacing it but they kept it and they hung the old one on the wall because all the people were like you can't get rid of that.
Doug:I feel like when you go to Frankie's, don't they still like if you order, like extra ketchup, they're like that's going to be five cents, yeah Right, I mean it's just it's, but it's so fun and nothing has changed.
Kristy:I love that, yeah. I mean I think a lot of restaurants just the smell of it smells like onions. It's just a cool vibe and not everyone is into that but I am. So I was interested. I stopped by one day. I'm like, can I do a story? And they're like, sure, yeah, and they were actually in Pittsburgh Magazine in 1990 and I didn't know. But it's hanging on the wall at Frankie's if you just look by the bar.
Doug:It's been 30 years. It's time for them to be back on.
Kristy:I cannot believe like 30 years, it seems like. So yeah, I just did a story. I interviewed the people at the Pittsburgh Pickle Company for Picklesburgh coming up and what cool dudes. And they actually I worked at a video store when I was in high school in Oakmont called Video Hits and like they remembered me from there.
Kristy:Oh my goodness, like they were kids and they would come in and rent like a Super Nintendo and I'm like. So I mean, I think being a native here it gives me credibility, but I think people are willing to talk to me because they know I love it. Yes, I'm not just doing it to I don't know, to sell magazines. I mean that's important. I want people to read it. But I want people to know about it because I find it interesting and I think other people will too.
Doug:Right. So it sounds like some of the stories are just because you love it, yes. And then there are some, I would just say, bigger features, like I'm thinking about your current list in this month's issue, or the burger bracket yeah, that's like a longer feature.
Kristy:That's over several months. And like Pittsburgh, like the best restaurants. It's just like I go places throughout the year and, you know, just keeping a mental Rolodex of all these places there's so many places. Like I say in my story, like you can't possibly get to all of them and you know what's best anyway.
Doug:Right.
Kristy:But, um, these are my best, what I like this year. It's hard deciding where to go because there are so many places, but um, for a story like the burger bracket. I just started eating burgers and, and like I ate every single one of those, I didn't take a bite. And then, you know cause, our photographer did all the artwork, like after the fact, I ate every single one of those and I gained 10 pounds.
Doug:I was going to say, Kristy, like where's the cholesterol level? Right, I haven't.
Kristy:I haven't really checked that out. I probably need to be just like taking lipid tour, or something but um I definitely gained 10 pounds and uh I mean, but it was delicious yeah but for a number of years I had just like this constitution where I could eat things and not affect me, but now I'm 45 and it suddenly came to a screeching halt oh and I cannot do that, but I love food and I like going out and I like beer and um you know, there's a lot of breweries here, Um, I'm.
Kristy:I just wrote about like like three new ones that are opening up. It's like there's so much happening and I really can't resist it.
Mae:I can't stop it.
Kristy:I can't and I like being there and I like talking about it and I like reporting on it. So I don't know what I would do otherwise. I don't know, I don't know I maybe we need to get together and like talk about well, how are you taking care of yourself? What?
Mae:are you doing?
Kristy:Because I don't really know the answer other than walking. I walk in Allegheny cemetery. It's my favorite place in Pittsburgh and it's 350 acres, so I mean I walk but this is your exercise. This is my exercise, yeah.
Doug:I love hearing this and I do want to ask some sort of detail questions. So, with the magazine and even the online, do you have a certain amount of articles that you're you're going for or tasked with in a month's time, or something like that?
Kristy:We have a newsletter. I have the Pittsburgh E Heats newsletter that comes out every Thursday and we have three stories in that and I like to have three fresh stories in that I mean we could like regurgitate other ones older ones, or something but things change so often. There's so much food, there's so much in Pittsburgh, so even if I wrote something like two months ago, the chef might be gone, or they might not have that beer?
Kristy:They definitely don't have that dish. It's really hard to keep up with something, especially when it's like published. But with the web, um yeah, I try to get, like you know, three stories a week. Like you know, this week I talk about Jeff Bertrand. He's an artist and he collects, like McDonald's toys and he had the whole room in his house and it was something different. It's food related, but I didn't actually have to consume anything. I didn't have to eat McDonald's. I just, you know, things like that are fun for me. Or doing a story on like the snowman like it's a snowman shaped ice cream stand up in Porter'sville. I love that stuff. So I try to have three fresh stories. I'm a procrastinator, but when I need to get something done, I get it done.
Kristy:So, it's all about just figuring out schedules, like I'm trying to work out a schedule right now to talk to Scott from East End Brewing, because he's there opening up the Roundabout Beer Garden, which is really cool, and Scott's been in this business 20 years this year, so there's so much to talk about. And where do I start?
Doug:I was going to say, although you have the title food editor, you're really doing food and drink. Definitely. I think there could be a whole podcast on local breweries. Yes, and there's just not enough time in the day to get to them.
Catherine:There isn't.
Doug:You have this huge swath of things to pull from.
Kristy:Yeah, a lot of times I do roundups. I don't really like lists. Yes, and with very tiny little details about things. I really don't like doing that because, it's not very creative. I mean, you just pick something off their Instagram page or something. I would rather talk to a person and get a full story out of it, but sometimes there's so much information that's what I have to do.
Kristy:I can't write separate stories on all of these, but for my part, that's why I like the magazine style of writing. It allows me to put myself in it. So I'm not like a just-the-facts kind of reporter. I like to tell a story and again, like Rick Seaback, like my hero, I like to tell stories, other people's stories, and if my story kind of relates to that, like in the facts you know the Iron City beer my dad had an Iron City beer truck and combining that into the story about Iron City beer, I'll do it.
Doug:Okay, let me just sidestep. Your dad had an Iron City beer truck.
Kristy:He did. It was like an old international harvester in 1947. And he found it in a junkyard and he it used to work deliver beer for Vincenis. He fixed it up, he painted it bright yellow and put Iron City beer logos on it. He actually did a commercial for Iron City beer back in the late eighties. They had a contest.
Doug:Oh cool.
Kristy:If you could do your own beer commercial and the guy that won it was like a beer truck coming around like an ice cream truck in the neighborhood but all the husbands would run out, ask their wives for beer money and run out.
Doug:I feel like I likely remember this. It's on YouTube.
Kristy:And my dad's sadly failed but that and I told Iron City Todd from Iron City Beer about that and, like you know it's so it's part of me and I can't help that. You know I become friends with people that you know, I write about because, or I meet people because of the things.
Doug:I write. Well, I mean, this is how Pittsburgh is anyway, like, I think, the food and drink community. There's bonds and networking, but also you're just people. Yes, you're going to get to know each other and like each other and you want everyone to succeed.
Kristy:I absolutely do and it's important to me and I love seeing something go from just a small pop-up to a brick and mortar and how exciting and I love to be part of that. I love to keep helping people and I'm not unapproachable. If you have a story idea, email me. Hi, this is Kristy Graver. I'm the food editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and this is The Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:So, just to summarize, you're doing a lot of weekly reporting for the web-based newsletter. You have probably stories always kind of churning in your head and you know over a month or a year's time, like, I'm sure, with the burger bracket, like you said, you had to work on that. You don't have a staff of like 10 people eating burgers for you. No, you don't have a staff of like 10 people eating burgers for you? No, you're doing it all.
Kristy:Yes.
Doug:It gets me thinking too. With this journalism, this reporting that you're doing the power in that, Do you see the impact that you make by writing or including a restaurant?
Kristy:I do and I know it's important. I know how much like the people that were like on the burger bracket I mean it was like the restaurants taking ownership of it and like hey vote for us in this burger bracket, Like it.
Kristy:really, it kind of got lost in the shuffle of it because it was about the restaurants, which it always should, but but it is a big deal. And if you are featured I should, but it is a big deal and if you are featured I know what the impact I have. I know the audience that I reach and how it could really affect a business and I never want to affect people negatively. Like I know, tessaro's lost the burger bracket.
Kristy:I wouldn't say lost, but I mean sentimentally, they're my favorite burger in Pittsburgh and probably in the world. So I stopped by Tessero's a couple weeks ago. I had another burger and I just asked them everyone on the staff to sign my copy of the magazine, just because I really, really love them and I've been going there for 30 years and what an institution and I hope it never, ever goes away.
Doug:If anyone didn't see this latest article, who came out on top? Moonlit?
Kristy:Yeah, that's right, this latest article, who?
Doug:came out on top Moonlit. Yeah, that's right Up in Dormont and they also have the Patty Wagon.
Kristy:The Patty Wagon. They have a place at Duquesne.
Doug:Okay.
Kristy:And they're opening up a restaurant in Sewickley.
Doug:I didn't know this.
Kristy:Yeah, they're really really cool guys and they've been chefs for like 20 years and it's just a really good burger and it's a really cool vibe there. I think I said best restaurant for kids. Well, I'm a big kid and I just like the feel. It made me feel like the hardy days of my youth. You know, I just really like what they're doing and I like how much they've grown from a pop-up pandemic, pop-up.
Doug:Yeah.
Kristy:A major chain.
Doug:I was going to say, like Tessaro's is old school, yes, it's always good. Moonlit is sort of a new school for me. I'm just going to say the commoner has a darn good burger, really good burger.
Kristy:It was delicious. Everything at the commoner is really good, and I mean, it's no lie. I loved these burgers.
Doug:I think, getting back to this, the power in journalism. And this is why you want to eat every burger, because you want to know You're writing about these places, so you don't really want to rely on somebody else telling you no, and it's.
Kristy:I mean it's hard. I ate 32 burgers so you don't have to, but I mean you could take your time with it. Oh my gosh, so you don't have to, but I mean you could. You could take your time with it, um but um. Burgers are just such a. It's a really good way to gauge a restaurant. If you could do a burger well, you can do lots of things.
Catherine:Well, I mean um.
Kristy:So yeah, burgers, I'm still not sick of them. I am taking a break.
Doug:One a week is fine. One a week is fine.
Kristy:Yeah, sure, pizza's been my thing now.
Doug:I don't know why.
Kristy:I've just been eating a lot of pizza and I can't stop.
Doug:Oh my gosh, I could have pizza every day as well. Most of the journalism I see you doing is also it's positive.
Kristy:I've been to places and I'm like not too keen on it and like that's my personal taste. But if something's so not good enough, or if I don't have anything nice to say, I just won't say it.
Doug:Yeah, best to say nothing at all. Right.
Kristy:Right and I really live by that and I think there's more room for kindness and compassion and just being a good neighbor, like Mr Rogers taught us I was just going to say that we just had one for three days, so yes, Right, and I mean I get really emotional about Mr Rogers. I was just. I just watched the Tom Hanks movie. I'd never seen it, Um, and I was like weeping because I think Pittsburgh really is that good.
Doug:Yes, maybe not on the parkway, but I can agree with that one, all right. So while we're still in the, in the neighborhood of food, can you give us a couple of spots that you might consider hidden gems, like one or two places that you just wish people knew more about, or you discovered it and it was a big surprise to you?
Kristy:I think probably. Well, fuel and Fuddle closed last year. Fuel and Fuddle was my place, my college bar, and it's beyond that, and that's where I learned about good beer and all that stuff and I really didn't have, like you know, a third place for me after that closed. So I found Red's Good News in Brookline.
Doug:Yeah.
Kristy:Red's Good News is how do I explain it? It's like a cross between Pee Wee's Playhouse and every nineties bar slash coffee shop in any nineties movie. Like I keep waiting for Ethan Hawke to just like stroll in, you know I mean it just has this and I'm. You know I was a teenager in the nineties.
Kristy:This is your vintage, it's my vintage and it's just such a unique place it's really hard to describe. But so they're not like a full-scale restaurant, but they have excellent chicken fingers, they have great smash burgers, they have a really good chicken salad like a fried chicken salad. I mean it goes way beyond what you think, like this random bar in Brookline.
Doug:I was going to say, for anybody that doesn't know, it's up in Brookline, right on Brookline Boulevard, right, yes, and it's just a couple of doors down from Oak Hill Post Pita Land. Yes, it opens a little later in the day.
Kristy:It does Usually around four, but they have a little patio area up front and they can open up the windows and it's just they're always doing fun stuff. The owner, greg. He decorates the place himself and there's usually lots of themes. My girlfriend and I that was where we had our first date and it was our anniversary and they went all out for us. What they did was just, I mean, so sweet like special place setting and flowers and they got us like a ho-ho cake.
Kristy:I mean it was like they don't. I mean they know us, but they don't know us, know us.
Catherine:You can't beat it.
Kristy:And they also have my favorite Pittsburgh cocktail right now. It's called a Mayor's Cup, it's named after the owner's son and it is a. It's actually a Schneider's iced tea carton and it is parking chair vodka and lemon and grenadine.
Doug:And it's mayor's cup and they're just the best. Do they serve it in the schneiders? Serve it in the carton?
Kristy:I've seen this and it just kind of feels like you know elementary school lunch in a way. But you're getting drunk. I love it. Oh, it's just very whimsical. The whole place is just like really cool. So brookline in general is kind of like a sleeper foodie place. There's oko Hill Post, like you mentioned. I was just there on Sunday. Their creme brulee French toast is my favorite breakfast in Pittsburgh and I think it always will be. It is the best.
Doug:That is saying something I love it and I usually get biscuits.
Kristy:And last on Sunday I did not get a biscuit with my order because I'm like, well, do I need all those carbs? I'm like, well, do I need all those carbs? I'm really going to eat it and the owner was actually worried and he brought one out just in case, because you didn't get a biscuit, I didn't get a biscuit, and then I did eat it.
Doug:All right, let me just say, is there one more outside of Red's Good News? That's a sleeper hit for you. Sleeper hit for me is you had mentioned to me you and I met up when arty pitt of arty's hot sauce had a meetup in fulton commons. Yes, and while we were talking, I feel like you told me about a gas station that has a window that serves food of some sort well, there's a gas station.
Kristy:It doesn't have a window. It's um marshall cigar. Uh, it's in like spring hill, troy hill.
Doug:Okay, this is it.
Kristy:It was like down from, like Threadbare, and I had heard that they had the best Reuben in Pittsburgh. And I'm like it's a cigar shop, it's a gas station, like have you been? I have, and it Reuben is like. Sandwiches are my favorite thing, but Reubens are just right up there with and it is enormous and delicious, and that is my. When people say, well, can I get a good Reuben? You can get a good Reuben usually anywhere, but this is the best and say it. Yeah, say it again Marshall Cigar Okay.
Doug:In Spring Hill. In Spring Hill.
Kristy:You really can't miss it. It's a gas station. So you're just like what? So you walk in and it's not like it's like a restaurant they side of the restaurant. And so you go in there and it's just like real old school and just friendly and you're like, yeah, I'll have. Like they have other sandwiches too, but I was just obsessed with this Reuben that. I mean, it was as big as my head.
Doug:Yeah, I love it. Well, those are great. Those are two great gems, yes. So, Kristy, we'll take you forward. You're doing the newsletter. Every week, three fresh articles. The magazine comes out both digital and in print, monthly.
Kristy:Yes so.
Doug:June is out right now. Yep, I don't know how to ask this for you. Do you have any goals or any big plans with what you're working on this year, or anything outside of the magazine?
Kristy:I like horror movies I would love to do. My dream would be to work for Fangoria magazine.
Kristy:I mean, that's what I read when.
Kristy:I was a kid and I would love to even do one article like, maybe about like Tom Savini. My coworker Laura, she's taking me on a photo shoot with Tom Savini. I have nothing to do with the story, but I'm just a big horror nerd and Pittsburgh is like such a huge place for the birthplace of zombie.
Doug:And yes.
Kristy:Um, so I'm a huge Romero note.
Doug:So I would like this is your, this is your own personal vibe. It doesn't have anything to do with food.
Kristy:And if somebody doesn't know who Tom Savini is, yes, tom, I just assume people just, uh, tom Savini has been a special effects, uh makeup artist for I mean decades. He's also an actor, but he did the makeup for Dawn of the Dead, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, and the only reason he didn't do Night of the Living Dead special effects is because he was in Vietnam and he was a combat photographer. So I mean, he saw stuff and when I talked to Tom Savine he's like you know more about me than me and that's my level of fandom and nerddom and I just I love, I love it.
Catherine:And George there's.
Kristy:There's more pictures of George Romero in my house than of, like, my family. So, um, I collect that stuff, but I would love to write something along the lines of Pittsburgh horror. But uh, as far as like food and drink, I would really like to do a story on like non-alcoholic movement.
Doug:Yes, the NA movement is big.
Kristy:It is. And it's like, you know, for me, I've always been a beer drinker. I've always been a drinker, that's just. You know. As I'm getting older, I can't really do it and I'm not enjoying it as much, not because it's not good, but it's just how it makes me feel.
Doug:Yeah, how we tolerate it as we get older.
Kristy:Right, even just like two beers. And so I would love to do a story on NA and like I know two phrase, brewery and Garfield, I mean they have they do like a Monday, like I'll call Monday nights, and stuff like that, and I just I'm, I'm, I'm interested Cause I know a lot of younger people, what I've heard, they aren't as big on drinking.
Doug:Exactly.
Kristy:Yeah, but it's like you go to a bar and you're just drinking mocktails Like what's that like?
Doug:Yeah, it still has to be good. I think I talked with um alex of alex eats too much about st claire social. They have a pretty good non-alcoholic menu, but they're still using spirits. Yes, that are distilled, but distilled to the point where they don't have alcohol, but they have all the flavor. Yes, and that's different than drinking like a pineapple juice and right spritzer, right, so it tastes like what you're yeah you're used to, but you don't get that and like are people drinking just for the buzz?
Kristy:or like because I mean, I don't even really like that feeling anymore um so it's, it's interesting to me and like just the culture, like I'm just interested in exploring that in like a real way and what it means for all these breweries that are distilleries, that are popping up, like if people people aren't drinking, well, what are they going to do? And like I love these places, I don't want them to go away.
Doug:So yeah, it's like the next way you evolve or diversify, so you're getting all the crowds and all of those people that still want to have experience.
Kristy:Yes.
Doug:And go and be included.
Kristy:Right, everyone wants the experience. Me too, I, I, I, I enjoy being out and about. I really do. I'm very rarely at home. I should be home just watching horror movies, but I don't have an attention span anymore so I really don't. I like, but I like just the idea. You, especially with horror, you can experience it without watching it. You could bask in the glory of, like your nerdy zombie figurine collection, like I do.
Doug:Okay, and I love this. And so for everyone, Kristy also today brought me I don't want to mispronounce this you also specialize in clothespin dolls. Yes, and you brought me a Guy Fieri whatever it is as a clothespin doll. I'm looking at it right now. He's got the little tuft of hair. Just really quick. Tell me, where did this get started?
Kristy:I love it the little tuft of hair. Just really quick, tell me, where did this get started? I love it.
Kristy:My best friend, katie, who I mentioned before, when her older brother was little, he made a clothespin Dracula at school and it was a Christmas ornament and so it's always been on their tree. I mean, for 30 years it's been on their tree and every time I would go over to her house around the Christmas time I would love it. I just would gravitate to this like very, you know it's like, and this was before nightmare, before Christmas. I just love Halloween so much and I just love seeing this cute little Dracula.
Kristy:So when she moved out of her parents' house, I made her a Dracula for her tree and now it has become like a full blown weirdo thing. I have hundreds and I could do any character and I used to sell them at you know different markets and stuff like that. But I would make, like you know, 10 Jason Voorhees clothespins in a row. Now I kind of just like doing one at a time and taking my time with it and, like you know, you were a fan of guy and I'm like I haven't done that, so let's let's try it.
Doug:You have a can explore.
Kristy:Yes, and so I I just I made one for um G gina at uh linea verde market and bloomfield, because she's the best person she just like has this she does. I want to interview her she is the best, I think. I was there for like four hours I mean she's this wonderful person and, like you, just need to be close pinned because you're just this magnetic wait.
Doug:So did you make a clothespin of her? Yes, oh, I love this so in the last issue.
Kristy:It's like on the front cover of her?
Doug:is she holding that section?
Kristy:she's holding.
Doug:That's it, that's right, I do remember that, no. So now this is a whole new line. You could be doing pittsburgh personality clothespins that's what I like to.
Kristy:I mean, I mailed one to rick seebeck years ago and he gets so much mail like he didn't find it for like a year. A year later he got back to me and he's like oh yeah, I found a little Rick. Um, I've made Andy Warhols and stuff like that, but I'd like I mean Mr Rogers, but I love.
Doug:I have insomnia.
Kristy:So that's what I do at night. When I can't sleep, I just go in my little. I have a little walk-in closet and that's where I keep all my black t-shirts and that's where I paint, and when someone has a special request, I just I love it and it's fun.
Doug:Kristy Graver food horror and clothespin dolls. Yeah, I think this is why I love you. Can you plug yourself and or the magazine for our listeners? If people want to get to know you a little bit better, follow your writing. Where can they find you and all of your good stuff?
Kristy:Well, pittsburgh magazine. com or you know, sign up for the. I mean the magazine's beautiful the, the, the photography especially is it makes my stories a thousand times better. I love Laura and Huck are our photographers and they're the best food. Photography is very hard and I have been on shoes with Laura for the hamburger one and we were there for like three hours Just. It was so fun to see what goes into it. So go to pittsburghmagazine. com or on Instagram, I'm undeadhead78. Or you could go to we are going to eat you. The letter U it's a reference to a zombie movie, like my whole life is, so you can go there. And if you want a clothespin, it's clothespinhead, like pinhead but clothespinhead. And Doug Bradley, he's pinhead from the Hellraiser movies. He lives in Pittsburgh and one of these days I mean I've made clothespinhead, but I would love to give him one personally.
Doug:So, if anyone, knows.
Kristy:Doug, let me know. Reach out to Kristy, Make it happen. All right, K Kristy. I have one final question for you. Maybe this is going to be a tough question because of your line of work. The name of our show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What has been the best dish you have eaten this week? This week I went to the new Dough Daddy Brewery in Gibsonia. It's the old Strange Roots Brewery, so it's a Caliente kind of like an offshoot. T I don't want to call it that. So Angie Bogaczs, she owns it and she's the wife of Nick who owns Caliente, but they started it together. Anyway, angie's really big into beer and so this place is really great. It just opened last Friday but they have this Sicilian style pizza, so we ordered like a bunch of them, but yesterday I just was running late and I just grab a piece of cold dough daddy pizza and it was so good it just made me really happy, simple. And it's big and it was like big and spongy and just delicious and you know I don't I have a lot of leftovers in my fridge all the time but so that was that was really good for me and it really worked. But I mean I eat so many places. I know I could think of a thousand other things. But this week it was Dough Daddy Beer's Sicilian pizza, cold, cold, and it was great warm, but I like cold pizza and it just really hit the spot when I had to go and that's what I kind of like. I ran on all day. Kristy Graver, thank you so much for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Kristy:Thank you, it was fun. Kristy
Doug:How can you add a little sparkle and bubble into your summer wine drinking? We check in with Catherine Montest of your Fairy Wine Mother to find out. Hey everybody, we're back with our wine expert, catherine Montest of your Fairy Wine Mother. Catherine, we are finally arriving into the warmer season of the year and I was wondering if you have some great wine picks for the summer.
Catherine:I think I do, and what I'm going to challenge folks to do is to ditch the beer but not ditch the bubbles. Okay, so what I'm recommending for the summer and it's going to be my go-to all summer long is either Cremant or Cava. Are you familiar with those?
Doug:I don't think I'm really familiar with either one. I feel like Cava I've heard of and it's a sparkling wine, absolutely Okay.
Catherine:Cremant not so much, okay. Well, they're very closely related to champagne, okay, and they cannot be called champagne even though they're made in exactly the same method, using exactly the same process. But over in Europe, especially the folks in Champagne, created some laws back in 1936. You can only call it Champagne if it's made in Champagne, in the region, in the region of Champagne.
Catherine:Okay, so, both Cremant, which is Champagne that not made in champagne in France, so you may have Cremant to Bourgogne or Cremant to whatever other region in France that they're in. They're using the method Champenois or traditional method and a lot of times you can get these at a massive discounted price compared to champagne. Champagnes are going to start around 50 bucks a bottle and go way up from there when Cremant because it's lesser known and the real estate in other parts of France are not as valuable as it is in champagne Interesting. So you're paying for the price of the real estate.
Doug:That is so fascinating. Yet you're still drinking a bubbly, effervescent white wine from France, absolutely At a steal.
Catherine:Completely. I love it, and Cava is Spain's version of Champagne as well.
Doug:Yes, Spanish Cava. I've heard of it Spanish.
Catherine:Cava. Yes, spanish Cava is one of the bottles that I use when I make sangria. Oh, how interesting. You can get Cremant and cava in white rosé and even, occasionally, reds.
Doug:Wait, that kind of blows my mind. I was going to ask you if they came in rosé, absolutely, but are you saying that there's red, sparkling, champagne-like wines?
Mae:Yes.
Doug:Never heard of that.
Mae:Have I just melted your brain?
Doug:A little bit. You've done this before and yet again.
Mae:Not a lot of winemakers make them but, they're absolutely out there.
Doug:Yeah, so a little bit more rare of a find, but we're always after the new experience, so you might be onto some trend for the coming year.
Catherine:I have yet to try a red champagne or cava or Cremant, but I'm looking forward to it. So now you've got me on the hunt for a bottle, you'll have to report back. I will absolutely do that.
Doug:Catherine, we're going to be drinking cava and Cremant all summer long. I sure hope so. Thank you so much. Enjoy the bubbles. You can follow Catherine at yourfairywinemothercom. This week's recipe comes from listener May Chandran, who resides not here in Pittsburgh but on the West Coast, and she submitted a recipe for mapo tofu. Let's give her a call and learn a little bit more about this dish. Let's give her a call and learn a little bit more about this dish.
Catherine:Hello Dad.
Doug:Hello May, how are you?
Catherine:I'm fine. I hope you're well too.
Doug:Doing really well here. So, may, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit more about this dish? Mapo Tofu.
Catherine:Really, it's pretty interesting. This recipe and I found out it was invented originated in Chengdu which is the capital of Sichuan, which is in South Central China, and it was invented in the late 1800s. According to a story, customers asked Mrs Chen. That was her name. She was the grandmother figure.
Catherine:She ran a restaurant called Chen Mapo Tofu Restaurant and at that time, you know, somebody asked for this recipe before I guess she had that name and so she came up with this mapo tofu and because she has poke my uh, you know face from small pots, they just called it mapo tofu, which means old woman.
Doug:Uh, poke my old woman's bean curd oh my goodness, and that's where it comes from so if I'm saying right, poke ma means that you have a little bit of a pock complexion from having chicken pocks.
Catherine:Yeah, I guess pok ma, so pok ma old woman speaker. Old woman is pa. Pa means grandma, you know, it means old woman.
Doug:How interesting. Oh, it's so fascinating to find out where a dish comes from and actually, yes, that name.
Catherine:What a story to find out where a dish comes from. And actually, yes, that name, what a story. And you know, Sichuan is the same thing as Sichuan. Now they call it Sichuan. It's famous, it's one of the most famous cuisines in the world and they're known for their spiciness Okay, pungent and spicy. They have liberal use of the garlic chili paste as well as the Sichuan pepper.
Doug:Yes.
Catherine:So they're very famous. They're famous for their other dishes, like dan dan noodles. Also kung pao chicken. That's one of their most famous dishes, and twice-cooked pork among the Sichuan hot pot. So many dishes come from that area.
Doug:It's true, may, if you ever come visit me in Pittsburgh, I will need to either go to Chengdu Gourmet or Sichuan Spice here, because all of those dishes, you're kind of getting me hungry for all of that food.
Catherine:Oh, my God, I would love to. I'm telling you, you know, because I grew up eating Cantonese and, believe me, I had to come to California, to UCLA, when I went to college, to find out about all these other wonderful cuisine of China, and you know, china is so vast. We can talk endlessly, lifetime after lifetime, talking about this stuff. So yeah, because I grew up in the Cantonese and, as what you know, cantonese is so different. A lot of use of soy sauce, very light and delicate.
Doug:Yes, milder, Completely different Right right, completely different yeah. Okay, so we should move on and talk about your recipe then, because if listeners haven't seen the recipe card for Mapo tofu, you're using tofu. It has garlic and ginger scallions. The vegetables are peppers and onions. I did want to ask you about the tofu. You mentioned something about rinsing and draining it for half an hour, and this is medium firm tofu. How do you, when you say, drain the tofu, how do you do it?
Catherine:firm tofu. How do you, when you say drain?
Doug:the tofu. How do?
Catherine:you do it. Well, you do it in a colander, you know, and you know you set it up to maybe a container to drain all the liquid out, Because if you don't do that, it becomes too watery in my opinion.
Doug:Are you putting any weight on top of the tofu block? No, no, no, please don't do that. No, I don't believe in that.
Catherine:Naturally drain. Naturally drain. And then cut into half inch cubes.
Doug:All right. And so once you've prepped all of your vegetable and the tofu, you start off in. I hear you have this great old wok and you're starting off with the vegetables, sort of in round one, and then you remove them and you add the tofu and some of the seasonings and specifically tell me the wine and the bean sauce that you add.
Mae:Well, let me just tell you, after experimenting years I mean years, about seven, eight years to perfect this, I finally found out what the secret ingredient was, and that is the toban gin. Uh, it's a chili bean sauce.
Doug:That brand is by uh lee quam, whatever, anyway, I have a picture of it I'll put a picture of it on our social media feed so everyone knows that brand.
Catherine:Because I used to use other brands, other like garlic with chili paste and all that stuff. I did so many other things and it never came to the way I wanted. So when I found out this sauce, that is your secret ingredient If you want it to taste really great and authentic. This is what I suggest. One other thing you do not have to use the Chinese Shaoxing wine, which you can buy in any of the Asian groceries. However, I always use it for my cooking because it does add a little delicate taste, but it's optional. Most people can't tell the difference.
Doug:All right, but it is that, that other sauce, that's really quintessential.
Catherine:Oh yes, you must have it. That is essential, got you?
Doug:Yep May. Thank you so much for this recipe and the history lesson on its name and origin. If people want to find you to follow your cooking and more of your food stories, where can they find you, mae?
Mae:Well, they can find me on Instagram, mae Chandran. You know, that's my name, mae Chandran. M-a-e-c-h-a-n-d-r-a-n.
Doug:And the other place they can find you is on this season of the Great American Recipe on PBS, which is really how we met.
Mae:You know what? Oh my God, I almost forgot. Yes, yes, yes, of course I'm going to be cooking along with Doug and all my other great fellow friends and fellow contestants. That's right, that's going to be exciting, yeah, yeah.
Doug:And so people can find us on that show Monday nights this summer or streaming on pbs or the pbs app and I just want to mention something else.
Mae:June 10th I'll be on instagram live. It's an award-winning show, small bites interview with celebrity chef katie chin, so it's by half hour, so if you want to watch that, you know, I don't know what kind of questions you're going to throw at me, but it'll be interesting, I'm sure I love it, oh may.
Doug:Thank you so much for your recipe and for being on the pittsburgh dish it's been a pleasure talking to you. I was really looking forward to it oh thank you very much and we'll talk again soon.
Mae:Yes, thank you you too, okay, okay, bye-bye.
Doug:You can always share a recipe with us at our website, wwwpittsburghdishcom. That's our show for this week. We'd like to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Selecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.
