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
045 A Batch of Success with Jessica and Meghan
(00:55) Imagine walking into a kitchen filled with the irresistible aromas of homemade soups, breads, and jams, where the warmth of the environment makes you feel right at home. That's exactly the experience Jessica and Meghan have created at Batch LLC in Saxonburg, a haven for small-batch food enthusiasts.
(14:57) With a strong focus on community over competition, these dynamic entrepreneurs have not only delighted taste buds but also fostered a vibrant local scene by supporting fellow makers. You'll hear about their fascinating journey, from their initial meeting over shared passions to building a successful business that epitomizes Saxonburg's entrepreneurial spirit.
(31:01) This episode also takes you to the inviting atmosphere of Umami in Lawrenceville, for a special occasion meal, to the average Tuesday, it's sure to satisfy your culinary cravings. And finally, we do some batch cooking at home, with listener Jeff B's hearty beef stew.
Join us as we celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, community, and, above all, the love of food that brings us together.
Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman, craving grandma's cooking with a bit of a modern twist. We learn about the familiar and new flavors at Batch LLC. Looking for a restaurant recommendation that's perfect for a special event, birthday or just a Tuesday? Rebecca Hansborough of The 4-1 Chew takes us to Umami and if you're still seeking some cold weather comfort, listener Jeff B serves up a big batch of beef stew. All that ahead, stay tuned. We want to thank Chip and Kale Plant-Based Meals for their ongoing support of The Pittsburgh Dish. Visit their website at www. chipandkale. com to see their weekly menu rotation. Now on to the show. Thank you both so much for coming over and for being on the show.
Jessica:Absolutely.
Doug:Would you introduce yourselves?
Jessica:I'm Jessica part owner of Batch.
Meghan:I'm Meghan the other part owner.
Doug:And what is Batch LLC?
Meghan:Well, we make food in small batches, and it started with jams and jellies and we do soups and breads and biscuits, salads, all kinds of things, and Jess is like the chef.
Doug:Oh, I love that. Now I think I read I was going through your website a little bit. Have you all been open for like 10 years now?
Meghan:Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, this past fall it was 10 years. Congratulations, thank you.
Doug:So if we have listeners out there that have not been to Batch or up to Saxenburg, we should probably tell our folks where you guys are located, right? Yeah, you're on the main street in Saxonburg.
Meghan:Yeah, and Saxonburg is like a historical quaint little town, mm-hmm, and probably most of the people listening have not been there, I would bet.
Doug:We're going to give them a compelling reason to go right.
Jessica:We always say it's 20 minutes from everywhere.
Doug:Yeah.
Jessica:So, anywhere you're at, it's like well, I'll be there in 20 minutes. Yeah, not a problem.
Doug:Okay, so I have been to your location, but if we were to walk into Batch, why don't you tell somebody that's maybe going to visit for the first time what they're going to see or experience in the shop?
Jessica:We always wanted it to feel like when you walk in there, you're walking into somewhere you've always known everybody, like whether it be grandma's house or whatever, and we say that that's how we always wanted it to be, because people walk in and go oh, it smells so good in here.
Jessica:I mean, I think we sit here that it does like 25 times a day minimum, just because we cook things the way that we always ate growing up and you know we try to keep it pretty wholesome and you know, from scratch. So you're always smelling those onions cooking or the bread in the oven. Or sometimes when I'm making jam people are like what is that? I'm like, oh, that's like a gold, you know.
Doug:What I love is when you walk into the front door. If you just look off to the right, you see the kitchen. There's nothing to hide here. You see you all and your crew working in there, and so I think that's what I love is seeing like the jars out if you're canning or or whatever's being prepared for that day.
Jessica:Yeah, and I'm that's kind of my fault, Cause I don't like to ever be like in a corner or like I talk a lot. So I don't ever want to be like okay, I'm all here by myself, you know, not knowing what to do, so we open that up so that people can sit and talk or just, like you said, see what's going on and there's no secrets.
Meghan:I mean, yeah, hopefully no one's picking their nose. Yeah, we cut the hole in the wall there, and we cut the hole in the wall as you walk up to the register too, cause, like it was just, it's an old. It's a 200 year old plus building.
Doug:So I think that's. The other thing I like about your shop is that is sort of these meandering sections. So that front room you could maybe sit, have a little table or something, and then there is the register, but that's also where you have, like, the soups and whatever you're doing.
Jessica:Yeah, the grab and go coolers. Yeah, typically everything's grab and go, but we're more than happy to heat up food, or if we're making it at the time and it's done, I will gladly put it in a bowl or on a plate for you to eat.
Doug:And then you have that room that goes towards sort of the back or the other door, and that's where you have your batches of I want to say jellies, but sometimes they're sauces, right.
Jessica:Yeah, keep me honest. Jams, jellies, sauces spreads. Yeah, yeah, keep me honest.
Meghan:Jams jellies sauces spreads.
Doug:Yeah yeah, We'll have to talk about a couple of like the cool flavors you have going on.
Meghan:Yeah, we brought you some today, oh so excited.
Doug:You also have some other stuff in your location that's makers that are doing other things, right? Yeah, tell me a little bit about what else we would find there.
Meghan:Well, and that was part of our vision. You know it began with and jellies, doing the farmer's market, with the goal of having a storefront and there's, you know, pittsburgh area. So many small batch makers, and so we highlight I mean everything from honey to soap, other pickled products, olive oils, olive oils yeah, Olive and Marlo someone. Um, it's a woman based. She's been around since before us. We've supported her from the get-go and her product's just awesome. It's amazing. It's kind of a small community of small batch makers. It's really cool.
Doug:I love how you're supporting other people and getting that sort of synergy going on in your own shop. Yes, I did notice the day I was there it was a weekend until you had quiche. But do you have sort of a rhythm of the things you make every day?
Jessica:Yeah, we do a weekly rotation but, it's the same kinds of things on each day. So we do soups on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays we do stuffed breads and other you know baked goods and stuff. And then Friday we do a meal of some sort. It's already made, you just take it home and whether you heat up pasta to go with the meatballs and sauce that we made, or this Friday is pork, carnitas and slaw, so you can do whatever you want with that. And then Saturdays we do quiches. We do three different kinds each week that we not only sell in the store but then we also sell to local coffee shops and whoever wants to take them on as a wholesale product.
Doug:So I love that and whoever wants to take them on as a wholesale product, so I love that. Yeah, let's talk about some of like the big hitters. When you think about some of the soups that everyone loves, what are some of the top?
Meghan:Wedding soup.
Doug:Wedding soup, is it yeah?
Meghan:Wedding soup is by far. We call it beef in despair because it just we make kind of those tiny meatballs.
Doug:You make them yeah.
Meghan:We make everything other than the pasta oh wow, and it just somehow always turns into an all-day process we just have to make because we make a lot of wedding soup, yeah and that, and like Soup or soup. Yeah, soup or soup, like garden veggie, like just something simple. But people want that.
Jessica:Kind of like what Jess was saying, like something that you ate your whole life. You know something that seems familiar. Yeah we do a thai shrimp soup, yeah that's coconut milk and roasted red peppers and red curry and lime and people just go crazy over it I think what you're reminding me of is it is grandma's cooking, but then it's not yeah, like it's, it's our.
Meghan:It's batch cooking, it's a modern twist on. Is what we say yeah, yeah next generation.
Doug:It's the things you've experienced. So you are still doing all that at home. Feel, yeah, but with flavors that maybe we didn't grow up with. Right, and expanding everybody's palate I love that.
Jessica:Yeah.
Doug:When you think about, like the stuffed breads or focaccia or whatever else you're making. What are some of those like big hitters? A flavor or two there.
Jessica:Pepperoni, for sure, and we do pepperoni every week. Of course, we do pepperoni rolls for other special events, like the Mingle on Main, which happens once a month summertime. How many did we make last year For each Mingle?
Meghan:Yeah, 150, 160. Yeah, up to 180,. I think was the most we made. Oh, my goodness, yeah, plus everything else that we do.
Doug:Yeah, yeah, but the pepperoni rolls for sure, and then tomato basil, like mozzarella focaccia, that's you know, that sells every time I think that's what I got the day I was there mozzarella focaccia probably but people like the different focaccia.
Meghan:I mean they, we do like a the blueberry and white cheddar we did today. We do like an apple we I'll put the apple cinnamon jelly on it that we make fresh apple um white cheddar and then thyme like people like that herb and fruit and cheese combination too. That's the one I had is that the one you had, the one I, yeah, yeah, it was delicious, it's really really. Yeah, I love sweet and savory.
Doug:Same, same same same, yeah and uh, even some of your spreads, let's talk about that so they're different. Can we just hit a couple of the different flavor combinations?
Jessica:Yeah, so when we started I always made jam and jelly with my mom, like that's how I learned I've been making it. I was like seven. I always wanted, when we started this, to make things that you couldn't get anywhere else. We have a few that people absolutely love, like our raspberry almond. It's raspberries and amaretto and a little bit of almond extract.
Jessica:So it has this like warm feeling to it, even though it's like a obviously a hard not hard, but like a gelled cold product you know, our garlic and hot pepper, so it's kind of like a pepper jelly, but then we add garlic to it just to give it that little bit of a different flavor, so that you can use it for cooking or whatever.
Jeff:Strawberry time we brought with us has thyme and champagne so that it.
Doug:It's just fun to eat you know, yeah, it is like a next level something. Yes, it's so strange in a great way, like this pairing of homemade, and I don't want to say bougie, but upscaled a little bit yeah, right right, you know that's what people will ask at market, like, do you have plain strawberry or plain grape?
Meghan:and it's like, no, I, I really don't you know it's like it's just a little bit different because it's good with like, like she was saying, like the garlic and pepper we cook with all the time, or just I eat a lot of cheese. They're all really good with cheese and I know you had um Megan on here, the Cheese Queen herself, and that's what they. You know she uses our stuff. Yes.
Doug:That was actually, I think, one of my first introductions to you. When I visited The Cheese Queen up in Mount Oliver, I saw some of your spreads there, and then we all bumped into each other at the KDKA kitchen.
Jessica:Yeah.
Doug:Yeah, we should talk about where else folks can find you. Like I said, I saw your products at The Cheese Queen, but you also you do some markets and you do some wholesale elsewhere. I think I saw some stuff at Local Provisions.
Meghan:Yep, yeah.
Doug:Where else can folks find you?
Meghan:Stamoolis is a big one In the Strip. In the Strip Pen Mac carries our stuff too, but, Stamoolis, they really grow like with other small businesses because I know they actually will ship our stuff out on their cheese boards. Um. So they've been a big supporter and it's really cool to work with a family-owned company that's been there like ever since I can remember, you know, and the sisters that run it are the daughters that grew up there and that's right, connie, and katina yeah they helped me with cheese once.
Doug:That's why I know they do cheese.
Meghan:They have great cheese yeah, I'm trying to think what other butler farm market is a big supporter of us up by us um harvest moon. Oh yeah, Harvest Moon, which is another really cool, she makes um chocolate um and she carries La Prima coffee. Um, she's in Tarentum and Natrona Heights, okay. And then we do the Market Square Farmer's Market, starting in the summertime. That's our home, away from home, that's the first place we ever sold anything. And then we do a lot of like the I Made it Market, the pop-up markets with Kerry. Always a great great exposure there.
Doug:So we're establishing that folks don't need to travel as far as Saxonburg to find you Right, but let's give them a reason to do that.
Jessica:Yes, right.
Doug:So I grew up that direction and I would go up Route 28 and kind of like cut through to get over, but also from like the Butler area and Route 8, Cranberry you'd come over on 228.
Jessica:Yeah.
Doug:Why should folks come to Saxonburg and experience your shop and everything else? What's going on there?
Meghan:I mean, it's small town America at its best and it really shows the strength of small businesses. When we opened, it was a lot of empty storefronts and we opened the bake shop Main Street street bake shop and the coffee shop opened all within like the same five, six month period and we've seen a lot of ups and downs in town and I feel like we've kind of hit a stride, it's all. I mean.
Meghan:it's 97 percent woman owned, which I know I keep saying that I don't mean to push it, but it's's cool, it's very cool. And it shows just the strength of working together, because we all have to work together to get people to come into town. You know, we have to create these small events and help each other out and it kind of goes back to like our baseline of small you know, the people we carry in the store and the people that carry us. We all really help each other grow for this many years.
Doug:This entrepreneurial community is very tight knit and I think to your point it's necessary. You guys all feed off of one another. You walk outside of your front door and there's a coffee shop right across the street.
Jessica:I steal a line from another small batch jam maker down in St Petersburg, florida, and she's no longer in business. I don't think. But her whole thing was community, not competition. Petersburg, florida, and she's no longer in business. I don't think, but her whole thing was community, not competition. That's right. We have lived by that since we started, because it is true. I mean, sometimes you're like, ah, that person's doing what we're doing, but then you're like, okay, well, we've been here for 10 years and if that's the thing, that is the nail in the coffin, then we weren't meant to be doing this. But at the same time, okay, well, imitation is the best form of flattery, I guess you know. So you just keep kind of plugging along and okay, well, you need this. Okay, we'll help you out. Like, okay, and we need that. You're here to help us with that.
Meghan:Yeah, and we definitely. Like you said, you walk out our door and like we, and I think all the other shop owners do it too like how you got to go? You got to go down and check, you know rustic roost. Or you got to go down and check you know red door antiques, so we kind of direct people to spend the day there, you know, and there's cute places on the way to and from pittsburgh too. You know, the growth is happening and there's more and more people with that entrepreneurial spirit, I think.
Doug:I couldn't, couldn't, agree more. I, you know, like I said, I grew up uh, up in Kittanning, so I know sort of the route 28 corridor before I get off at three, 56 and even along there. Now we've got a lot of stuff happening in New Ken and Curbside on the Run which is a little closer to Fox chapel, Jillian's and Evanly bakes and all that that's going on in New Ken. And then, you know, you go up a little further and in Tarentum there's some really cool things happening, like I just went to Gus Franco's pizza for the first time I've heard about that.
Doug:If you're a food-centric person, it's worth just sort of making a travel and getting up to you guys, and even in Kittanning there's a few places that I'm really impressed.
Jessica:This is Meghan and this is Jessica from Batch LLC.
Doug:And you're listening to.
Jessica:The.
Meghan:Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:So I want to take a little bit of a pivot. We've talked about what you guys offer, what folks will experience in the store. I do want to talk a little bit more about how it all got going. You know you've been in business for 10 years. How did you two become business partners and decide on the vision that you have today?
Meghan:It's kind of weird because everyone assumes that we've known each other our whole lives or that we're related, but we just met through a mutual friend.
Jessica:We were acquaintances prior, like we had gone to birthday parties, or was it New Year's Kylie's house, new Year's, yeah and our one friend introduced us and we started talking and it was that was, you know, fast forward about a year and a friend it was the same friend was having a baby shower and we both showed up and I was doing like, all the signs, cause I I went to school for graphic design and I was doing all the signs and I was setting them out. And then Meghan was doing the flowers for the shower, cause that was her background, and we just I'm just milling around talking about how I really want to do my own thing, you know, and I think I'd like to do this and that.
Meghan:And she was just listening to me Cause, like I said, I talk a lot and then, uh, we and I was already taking I started taking entrepreneurial classes, um, like free ones, uh, the Katz program from. Pitt, and so I was driving down to Pitt once a week and taking these classes like trying to learn how to write a business plan. I wanted to do like a urban garden center gift shop and my brain was like I need food because that's what will have people come back like daily or weekly?
Meghan:Yeah, and then she started talking about food and like jams and jellies and I had always loved food. We both were like the kids in the kitchen all the time, like helping our parents. Yeah, I Facebook messaged her cause I didn't even have her phone number. Yeah, like that week, and I was like do you want to like sit down and talk about maybe doing something?
Jessica:She's like yeah, and we sat at Kelly's in Saxonburg for what Like two and a half hours. We both filled up notebooks with whatever notes we were going back and forth with or what we had already had, and I think it was like less than a month later we got a business idea yeah. And then it was March, like 14th I think we like Batch born, wow yeah.
Doug:I sort of love that, and it might secretly be good that you weren't relatives or didn't know each other.
Meghan:I think so.
Doug:But you had different ideas and sort of different trains of thought on how to accomplish what you've done. I mean, she's family now? Yeah, of course.
Meghan:And that is the point I think we grew together as Batch grew, because we have kind of different personalities but like it just it works kind of like a couple. She's my work wife.
Doug:You've already hinted at it, but you both grew up in the kitchen or with families that cooked. Jessica, could you tell me a little bit more about you know?
Jessica:where did you grow up and what was food life like for you always cooked, my dad always cooked. So when they got together and then they ended up moving, we lived outside of Evans City and Renfrew always just everything my mom always called it kitchen sink soup whatever was in the fridge went into a pot, and that's kind of how we cook now.
Rebecca:Yeah.
Jessica:I'll throw a little bit of this. They're like what's the recipe I don't have.
Doug:Right, it's think for yourself. Whatever must go. Kind of cooking, yeah, and.
Jessica:I've never been able to cook small, even at home, before we started batch, like I couldn't cook just like two pieces of chicken, like I cooked like the whole package, you know. So when we moved into doing this it was easy to pivot into that. But my mom always canned and she baked. We always make Sue's banana bread every Thursday because my mom would make the stuff and just give it away, cause she always said it makes people happy, you know. So she would make jelly and whatever and she'd be like, okay, bring me back the jars. So we implemented a return policy.
Jessica:So even you bring them back, you get a discount but, yeah, it's just, you know, you, you grow up with those memories of being at the counter or or coring the strawberries or shaving the peaches.
Doug:But uh, counter or coring the strawberries or shaving the peaches, but you take that and you make it into what you want. Yeah, I mean you had this great, rich food family, but then you said you went to school for graphic design, didn't think you'd own a food business.
Jessica:Never. I always worked in food. I worked in many restaurants. I did pretty much everything that you could ever do in a restaurant I cooked, I washed dishes, I served, I bartended, bartended, I managed, I did all the things. But I never wanted to have like a, what can I get you? I wanted to have something where I'm like okay, I made it and if you like it, here you go kind of thing, if not beat it yeah, exactly, well, no, beat it, but you know without compromises, yeah, without compromises, I cook how I like to cook and if you like it, fantastic.
Doug:I'm sorry. I think it's the key to the success of the shop.
Jessica:Yeah.
Doug:Meghan, what about for you? What was food life like growing up?
Meghan:Kind of similar. My mom worked a lot. She was like the head honcho and my dad was the one who did like our day-to-day meals. I can remember as a little kid like him he had like cookbooks, always cutting recipes out, and he was kind of like he worked on it and I always helped him. And then my mom was like the weekend warrior, so she was off on the weekends and she would make and she loved to entertain so she would have like the big pots, the spaghetti sauce and she's Irish, as Irish can be, but she was always trying different things and I was always like you know, I could still remember standing on the chair at the counter like helping her with all that. And we always had a garden growing up. We always, you know, froze things, canned things same thing Like my mom.
Meghan:Like our Christmas gifts were like the jellies that we made that year or the rum. She liked rum cake. She made a really good rum cake and we would do stuff like that. And it's still where I'm happy. You know, people are like I hate to cook, I love to have like a glass of wine in the kitchen and make food and I just have. It's just my daughter and my dad most of the time. So it's like it's a real tiny thing, but I love it. It makes me happy.
Doug:Yeah, you surrender yourself to the kitchen. Yeah, it's kind of like a a nice place to be.
Meghan:And I like to eat good food. I don't want to eat frozen chicken tenders and mac and cheese. I want to eat like something that's homemade, but Jess always amazes me Cause I'm like the opposite, like I cook like small and she cooks big and like the. But the way you can balance flavors and you know we make soup in a 60 quart pot. And so like if she's on vacation and stuff. We always joke because I'm in charge and I can?
Meghan:it tastes good. It tastes good, but it takes me a lot longer to get there Cause I'm like I just sprinkle a tiny bit at a time. You know the seasonings and the herbs and stuff, and she's like she just dumps it all in.
Doug:A teaspoon is not quite gonna go.
Meghan:No you've got the intuition, jessica? Yeah, she does. I, I honestly don't even I mean it's it just, I mean just watch out if she makes pasta salad in the summertime. That's why I always tease her about, because, like I've never seen so much pasta salad made at one time we have 30 quart bowls, wow and we'll do two at a time, wow but. But we sell out. We do sell a lot of pasta salad in the summer.
Jessica:It's insane. I'm like who likes pasta salad that much.
Meghan:No one wants to make that much pasta salad. Well, that's true.
Doug:Well, that's why you sell out, because you don't want to make it at home. Exactly. And what about you, Meghan you?
Meghan:did yeah, and never in a million years thought I'd still live in Saxonburg, but here I am. Grew up just seven miles down the road.
Doug:When we're young and feisty or whatever, we think we want to go elsewhere and we want to do all these other things. But as we age out we learn to appreciate all of that stuff that's around us and what really does make it special. I'm kind of feeling that myself nowadays.
Meghan:Yeah, and we do live in a special area, I think, and we always say, like 10 years, we would never have been there without our customers. I mean, we have the same customers and new ones are so fun, like we love when new people come in, but it's the people that have been coming to us for 10 years that make it. You know, we know, watch people grow up. Yeah, yeah, it's kids like that come in that are in college now, that couldn't look over the counter before. You know, and we know almost everyone's first name when they come in, which I just my husband calls it cheers. It's what makes it special.
Doug:It is what makes it special. I've talked to other guests on this show and I think you've tapped into exactly that. You are doing something unique in a special place, but you're also building a community of folks that feel loved or treated well, and that's why they want to come back to you guys.
Meghan:Yeah, and that was something. You know. We had kind of a slow year this year. This summer it was tough, it was kind of one of the slower years and we were brainstorming about it and you know why. Why was it slower? And it's like well, our food's to go, and people that know us, like it's a community, they get that feeling from it. But they're not a lot of people like they want an experience. Now you know COVID has been gone for a while. They want to go out, they want to have these experiences. So we were brainstorming and we started um batch after hours and the second one is in a couple of weeks, february 12th, but we only 12 tickets cause it's tiny in there. But Jess is showing her culinary I know she says she's not a chef, but like kind of just spreading her wings a little bit. So we're not just making soup but we're doing like a four course meal and it makes it special and it's people talk about it after the fact.
Doug:Yeah.
Meghan:And it's funny because some of the most of the people coming, especially for the first one, were people that have always come to see us and they want to see what else we do Like they want that experience with us, and so it's been, it's been kind of cool, something different.
Doug:I love that, before we get away from the business and how it started and all the things that you've experienced, are there any other big lessons that you've learned? If somebody out there is really getting inspired by the two of you that you would want to share with a budding entrepreneur, it's going to be fun.
Meghan:You can create and you can, but you still you're ruled by what the customer is telling you, what they want and what the day-to-day operation is. It's a grind and it's a hustle and you can make it fun. Surround yourself with people that make it fun. Yeah, that you want to work with and create that. Like we keep saying, like, create your own community, and I think people that have that are who makes it.
Doug:How many folks do you have on staff?
Jessica:There's nine of us, yeah.
Doug:And you like all those people Like love them.
Meghan:Yeah, they're like family. Yeah, you have to right.
Jessica:Our one employee has been with us almost 10 years, oh, and then we have another girl that's been with us since 2017. She was 16 years old when she got hired and she's now our manager. So, yeah, we, we, we really love our staff. They're just amazing. We wouldn't be able to do it without them. I mean, we'd all probably have taken the bridge at this point. But I'm saying, though, like after 10 years, if you don't have any people to kind of help you pick up that slack.
Doug:I mean, you have to have that support system, because if you didn't, you have to have a team that can, to your point, know what's going on when you need a day off or a day away.
Jessica:Yeah.
Doug:Because otherwise you are going to probably burn yourself out.
Meghan:Yeah, yeah, on the point of staying small, that's something we've definitely worked on, you know we've definitely worked on. You know we've never grown beyond our meat, which can be a struggle because you have these aspirations and dreams.
Jessica:But um, everything we've done has been pretty organic.
Meghan:Yes, From the beginning letting it flow, letting it to grow as as as you think it should, even though sometimes that could be hard. Yeah, like quality over quantity.
Doug:Right, Exactly All right. I do want to take us forward. So we're into 2025. You're in your 11th year. What is on the horizon for this year? Do you have anything new coming up? Events, goals, anything you'd want folks to know about?
Meghan:There is something on the horizon that we're hoping will help grow us. We're hoping to have ownership of our own building by the end of February. And so you know, as far as growth, we're always looking for like something new to make to excite the customer, but we do have a small space. So I think the batch after hours is probably the biggest new thing.
Doug:And the Batch after hours is probably going to be like a quarterly event very limited ticket, very exclusive.
Jessica:Yes, there are only 12 tickets. We tried any possible way to get more and we can't.
Doug:Okay, well then let's do this. Then, if folks are interested, let's remind them of your address. If folks want to come up and visit you live, what's the store location?
Meghan:230 West Main Street, all right, Saxonburg In Saxonburg.
Doug:And if folks want to follow you all on your social media or visit your website, what are those?
Meghan:It's Batch LLC on social media and our website is like long and ridiculous. But just type in Batch Saxonburg and it'll all pop right up, and we do sell our jams and jellies on the website Excellent.
Doug:All right, jessica? Yes, megan, it's been such a delight to talk with you. I always like to end our conversation with one last question. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've eaten this past week?
Meghan:It has to be this week.
Doug:Well, you could go a little further back.
Meghan:Because I have to say, my boyfriend and I went to this random place in Johnstown I can't remember the name, Laurel and Grouse. Anyway, it was this tiny little place and we saw it on Facebook and we went there after work on a Saturday. We drove an hour and a half to Johnstown and it was phenomenal and they had an octopus that was on like a roasted red pepper and chickpea oh yeah, it was. It was phenomenal, just really cool place octopus on.
Meghan:It was like a roasted yeah, roasted red pepper and chickpea like puree, with like a cilantro like drizzle. It was phenomenal, something you would never expect in johnstown yeah, just what did your boyfriend get? He got that. So that was just our appetizer. And then I got it was a salmon um on a butternut squash hummus, oh, which sounds weird, but it worked. And he got they had like a steak filet but it had had three trio of sauces like all homemade sauces. It was ridiculously good. That and a bottle of wine, it was perfect.
Doug:But the star was that octopus dish.
Meghan:Yeah, and what's it called again? Laurel and Grouse Laurel and Grouse in. Johnstown, yep.
Doug:Jessica, what was your favorite bite this past week?
Jessica:We went to Local Provisions on Saturday night, had dinner with my dad and if anybody's never been there they have to go, because it's a very unique setup. It's kind of like batch, like you walk up to the counter and order there and talk to them. But I had the yinzer salad, which has a homemade truffle ranch and it's so good. But then we also, you know, there's their steak, their steak free, or the french fries, like the frites that they have with the garlic aioli, was really, really good and I just want to remind listeners because we've talked about it on the show before local provisions is over in, like the fox chapel, o'hara township area yeah, it's like the waterworks mall plaza, but right across the street yeah, it's just around the corner from Alta Via.
Doug:Yeah, yeah, and they and the owners.
Meghan:I mean they're always in there working and the people that work there are always so helpful and it's a beautiful space and the food is just. It's so good.
Jessica:So elevated, yeah, and you can grab our jam while you're here too, I've seen it. But yeah, that salad with filet tips and, yeah, very good.
Doug:Meghan Jessica. Thank you both so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.
Jessica:Thanks for having us.
Doug:This was awesome. Up next, do you have a favorite spot for that special occasion, maybe a birthday or anniversary? We take a visit to Lawrenceville with the 4-1-Chew. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Rebecca Hansborough of the 4-1-Chew on Instagram.
Rebecca:Perfect, you got it right, did I? Oh, thank you. Yes, you did, you did.
Doug:Rebecca, welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. Thank you so much for stopping by and giving us some restaurant recommendations.
Rebecca:Absolutely so happy to be here.
Doug:Do you have a restaurant you like to go to for, say, a special occasion, birthday, anniversary, something like that?
Rebecca:Yeah, absolutely so. I just recently turned 31, last year, and we went to Umami.
Jeff:Over in Lawrenceville. Yes, yes, yes.
Rebecca:It's like this, really like aesthetically pleasing restaurant, it's like the lighting is just like red. Yeah, it's an experience, it's a vibe yeah, if someone hasn't been there.
Doug:It's actually in the same building as round corner cantina and it's on the second floor.
Rebecca:So you kind of enter on the side, you go up the steps and you hit that light right away, and as soon as you get up there you're just kind of like did I leave Pittsburgh? It feels very new york to me yeah, very trans, it feels very like. Yeah, yeah, I like, I liked it a lot yeah, you should.
Rebecca:You get transported somewhere else, absolutely but, yeah, we got a whole bunch of stuff. We got a sashimi plate. That was really good, um, and I think something that I tend to look for with sashimi is like freshness. Um, you know, you could definitely tell that it was just like extra fresh, top notch. Yes, it was so good. We got the goiza, which they serve traditional, like upside down, so they fry all of the dumplings together oh and so they and they turn it upside down and it has that like really thick crust and then it's green onion on top of it and you go to separated, are you okay?
Rebecca:oh?
Doug:yeah, like she's looking at me, I'm making like the most, like, oh, I want that right now.
Rebecca:Delicious so hungry after this. Um, yeah, and it has like this really thick crust and it's so good and I think it's just served with like soy sauce. And then we also had the mochi cake. Oh, like it was just like it kind of looked like a brownie yeah it was a chocolate mochi cake with berries on top and they put a little candle in it for me. Um, I'm trying to think of some other good bites that we had. The shoshu ramen was really good, had a very good, strong depth of flavor. It's just.
Doug:It's just a good place they've got the grill too, like yes, I'm not going to say right, they're like rabato grill. Yeah, whatever you're supposed to say whatever that word is.
Rebecca:Yes, they have that, the japanese grill um, and so you can get an array of skewers, and I think we just got maybe chicken and beef um kind of grilled, and then you can get some vegetables as well, some mushrooms, and then they have really good cocktails.
Doug:I was gonna say I've had a good cocktail there before very refreshing.
Rebecca:Um, I just think it's a 10 out of 10 place for sure, especially for special occasions or just a Tuesday. You know, tuesday is a special occasion.
Doug:right, it is Whenever you need a special occasion.
Rebecca:Absolutely, absolutely.
Doug:Yeah, this is one of Roger Li's concepts, and he also owns The Parlor Dim Sum and I think they just do a great job, and so we're talking about umami in Lawrenceville. Absolutely, thanks, Rebecca.
Rebecca:Thank you, Happy podcast-versary if that's the thing. Thank you so much.
Doug:You can follow Rebecca Hansborough on Instagram at the underscore 4, 1, underscore chew @the_41_chew. Still have a craving for cold weather comfort food as we plow through this chili season. Listener Jeff B submitted his big batch of beef stew. Let's give him a call and hear more about his recipe.
Jeff:Hey Doug, what's going on bud?
Doug:Hey, Jeff, how you doing.
Jeff:I'm doing well. How are you?
Doug:I'm doing really well as well. Thanks so much for the recipe for beef stew. This looks like it makes a lot right.
Jeff:Yes, it does.
Doug:Okay, so I had a couple questions. I saw the picture and I was wondering what size pot are you using? Do you think it's like a five-quart or seven-quart?
Jeff:Yeah, I think it's a five-quart or six-quart pot because like generally split it between myself and my parents and when I make it it's with the intent of feeding a lot of people. So yeah, that's a pretty big stock pot that I use.
Doug:Sounds perfect. I was reading through. You've got like a spice mixture with I think you mentioned beef powder. Is this like a beef bouillon that you're using?
Jeff:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a beef powder. If you beef bouillon is that you're using? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a beef powder. If you go to the the spice aisle, um, there's the bouillon cubes and they have the powder. That's right next to it with the chicken, but it's generally I don't know what the name is, the brand name is, but it's it's typically, uh, right next to the bouillon, where it's finely ground and it's easier to work with as opposed to just putting a bouillon cube in and letting it dissolve. So it's it a lot easier.
Doug:Okay, yeah, that was just like a product I don't know if I've ever bought, so I'm going to take a look. But I definitely have gotten beef bullion and I like the kind that's a paste. They're usually in jars.
Jeff:Better than boullion is the brand that I pick up Pensey's actually makes a really good soup base. It's like that, like a real thick paste, right.
Doug:I also wanted to move on to the vegetables. You're using some of the standards, like celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and then you, later on, you add corn and tomatoes. Do you saute the carrot celery onion before you add that corn and can?
Jeff:of tomatoes or do you just throw it all in the stock pot? I just throw it all in the stock pot. So I was saying you're going to get that kind of consistency that's pot. You're going to get that kind of consistency that's softer because it's going to sit for two to three hours. So doing a saute is really just going to kind of char the outside and it's going to fall off in the stock if you were to do like a simple sear or saute. So I generally just throw it in the pot and let it sit and everything comes out the same consistency.
Doug:And speaking of saute, the other thing I thought that was unique on your recipe is that you do actually saute the stew meat, but you do that in a cast iron skillet. Is that right?
Jeff:Yes, that's correct. Cast iron generally retains the heat a lot better, and the aluminum and the steel pans will work just as well, but I'm very preferable to cast iron.
Doug:Yeah, I like cast iron too. And you throw in a little bit of olive oil, you throw in garlic, whatever the stew meat you're using, you've cubed it up. You get some brown on it first and then, after it's browned, you say that you sprinkle in a little bit of flour to coat the meat. Is that for ultimately thickening the stew a little bit more?
Jeff:That's dead on. That's exactly what it's for. I put two. I think I put two to three tablespoons. This recipe is very forgiving, so I just usually go by handful. I put a generous handful over the top, so everything's coated and you'll see, and it'll also take up that olive oil in the font that's on the bottom of the pan with it. So you're you're retaining that flavor with the meat when you put it in the stew. So it's kind of like a double whammy that you want to get that concentrated flavor in there as well as the thickening, and that's what the flour is there for your veggies and you put all your stuff back.
Doug:So you've dirtied another plate for the meat to rest and so you're just doing it in a different pan that you like better anyway, to get better browning. So I like that approach. One final question so you're throwing ultimately everything in the big stew pot, all of your spice mixture, all of those vegetables, all of this stew meat with the flour and as much as the brown deglazing that you can get in there, and then do you cover it to the surface with water?
Jeff:I would say almost to the top. I like to leave a little inch because everything bubbles up Right and because you're going to cover it and let it simmer for a little bit. And if you put it right to the surface it's going to start to bubble over and you're going to lose some of the stew and it's going to hit your burner. I don't care if it's gas or if it's electric, you'll hear the hiss and you're going to have to run out of the kitchen. So usually I leave about an inch to two inch little rim at the top, as you can see in the picture. Just to be safe.
Jeff:So yeah, exactly it's, it's you're, you're preventing it from running over and you end up, you know, damaging your cooktop or making the kitchen burn smell like a burnt smell. You really, if you're cooking it and if you're cooking it for a long time, you really want your house to smell like the spice mixture and the stew and the anticipation of eating.
Doug:I love that, and you bring it up to a bit of a boil but then lower it to simmer, so just like gentle bubbles, and you let it go. For how long?
Jeff:I like to go three hours.
Doug:And we really want everything, especially all of that connective tissue in your stew meat, as well as all of the tougher vegetables you just want them to like all slowly break down together.
Jeff:That fat offers a lot of flavor to your stew. Yeah so you want to render as much of that into the stew as possible.
Doug:Yeah, I agree completely. Sounds delicious, and any special way you like to serve this up.
Jeff:Yes, I do. Actually, in the recipe, I put cheddar cheese on the top because the cheese is going to melt and it's going to provide some kind of cool, a little bit of cooling for the stew, because it's going to be hot when you serve it. I like that, but I've also served it over rice, which is very good, or, if you don't have rice, italian bread, a really good Italian bread.
Doug:Perfect, I will give you one more, jeff. I just got in this habit recently of throwing pickled pepperoncinis on top of chilies and stew like this, and it gives it that little extra note of brightness or acidity.
Jeff:It sounds amazing. It's going to also add a little bit of a kick at the back end of it all with the pepperoncinis, or you can even probably. If you want things a little bit spicier, you could probably do pickled jalapeno.
Doug:Oh, I think we're both on the same wavelength there, jeff. It sounds delicious Beef stew for these colder months of the year. Thanks so much for the recipe. No problem. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us at www. pittsburghdish. com and look for our Share a Recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description, and if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.
