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
056 Shelly Danko+Day Talks Food Evolution
(01:02) What transforms our relationship with food? For Shelly Danko+Day, host of "With Bowl and Spoon" podcast, the answer lies in those pivotal moments that shape our "personal food evolution" - the turning points that fundamentally change how we approach eating, cooking, and sharing meals.
(06:52) Shelly's own journey embodies this evolution perfectly. From keeping chickens in Pittsburgh before it was legally sanctioned to working for nearly a decade in urban food policy, she eventually found her calling documenting others' transformative food experiences. "Everybody has a food story," she explains, whether they're award-winning chefs or everyday people who've experienced that perfect bite that changed everything.
(20:15) Our conversation reveals how deeply intertwined food is with our identities and histories. Shelly shares touching memories of her grandmother Morley's simple yet profound influence through home-canned tomatoes, which became the foundation for her ultimate comfort food. Her Polish grandmother Helen's homemade pizza business - started after becoming a widow - demonstrates how food becomes not just sustenance but survival and connection.
We all experience these food evolutions throughout our lives. Whether it's developing a taste for spicy cuisine (as Shelly did through her husband's influence) or rediscovering a childhood recipe, these moments connect us to culture, community, and our own histories in profound ways.
(33:30) Later in the show, Rick Sebak recommends Showcase Barbeque for that perfectly smoked feast, and Pam Luu shares a cheat-code recipe for her mom's Bánh Cuôn, beloved Vietamese rice rolls.
Listen to discover the foods that have shaped your own evolution and the stories behind the dishes that might change how you eat forever.
Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Have you ever experienced a moment of personal food evolution, such as a taste or a meal that changed your perspective? We talk with local podcaster Shelly Danko Day to learn more. Are you on the hunt for perfectly smoked barbecue? Rick Sebak recommends a favorite. And what family recipe would draw you home, even if it's over two hours away by car? For Pam Luu, it's her mom's banh cuon. We get a cheat code recipe on how to make this beloved Vietnamese dish at home. All that ahead. Stay tuned. The Pittsburgh Dish is supported by Chef Alekka LLC. Take an on-site cooking class with her at the Mount Oliver Hilltop Shared Kitchen or your own home. Learn more at her website, chefalekkacom. Now on to the show. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on right now in the world of food?
Shelly:Hi, I'm Shelly Danko-Day. I am the host and producer and editor of With Bowl and Spoon podcast.
Doug:All the things.
Shelly:All the things. Yeah, wish I could afford to have somebody else do some of the stuff, but that's okay. So my podcast is about people's personal food evolution. So everyone has a past history of food, whether it's from your culture or your parents or something else, and then we have little things that influence us throughout our lives, that change the way we think about food and the way we changes our relationship with food, yeah, and so that's what I'm calling our personal food evolution.
Doug:I love that and I also like the angle of where you go. I appreciate that a lot of times you're finding folks that are maybe at a farmer's market or they have maybe a little shop, so they're definitely going through some kind of food journey or food story. Where did this idea of the podcast get started? I love the theme of the food evolution, but how did it all get going or where did this idea sort of spring from?
Shelly:Well, I guess it was because I was tired of hearing myself talk about food policy and laws and restrictions on urban agriculture and stuff within the city, because I worked for the city of Pittsburgh for almost 10 years.
Doug:Did you do some of that stuff there or were you involved in some of those things? Yes, did you do some of that stuff there or were you involved in some of those things?
Shelly:Yes, yes, I ran the Adopt-A-Lot program and I helped to update the Urban Ag Zoning Code, which included rules about how you can have chickens and bees and goats and you know different. So it was about raising and it was about food sovereignty.
Shelly:Yeah, I think it's fascinating and so we made it so that it was possible to raise your own food and so um. But people would have me come and talk about that and some of that was exciting and some of that was fun, but most of the time people wanted to know, like, what are the rules? And blah, blah, blah and what's? What's the government doing? And that's really not that interesting, I mean, unless you're unless you're doing it for a period of time. As I was mentioning on my podcast, I did it for almost 10 years and I saw a lot of projects through. And that's when you realize why we have the bureaucracy that we do. If you're there for any shorter period of time, you really don't understand, like why. That was the thing that I said. All the time is like why can't we? Why can't we? Because I didn't know why we had things set up the way they were.
Doug:And I mean this might not be interesting. This is what I talked about, I know, but what you're saying is like things take so long sometimes, and we don't know why. Why do they take so long to get something through?
Shelly:And this might be a part of the reason like just me sharing this information with you. I found it fascinating, but it was also like not as exciting as other things that I could possibly talk about, but when you get into the minutia of government work that people wanted to hear about, like that got really boring, and so I was boring myself talking and I thought like why won't someone ask me to speak about more exciting things? And then I was like I don't need anyone to ask me, I'm going to, I'm going to do my own, it's perfect.
Shelly:Yeah. So I decided to do a podcast and the idea was that everybody has a food story and because I was looking at food policy and I was looking at ways that we could improve people's health and wellbeing and state by the food choices they make, but not like going in and saying like this is what you should do, like that doesn't, that doesn't go over anywhere and it actually is detrimental in a lot of situations because we don't know what we don't know.
Shelly:So you go into a situation you don't know what people are up against. So so I thought if there was a way that we could sort of collect those points of influence that caused people to change their habits, and then collect all of those in one place and sort of create a program around that. And I was like, how do I do that? I have to talk to people. I have to talk to people and I have to find out what was their pivot point, what was their aha moment, what was the turning point in their food evolution? And so that's where the idea for the podcast was born, and also because I wanted to talk to people about food and anytime I like.
Shelly:When I first had the idea it was probably about 2017, 2018, I had the idea for a podcast. And I would say to people I'm going to do a podcast about people's personal food evolution. And people will be like oh, that's great, let me tell you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so we'd have this whole conversation and I didn't have it recorded. I had nothing, and so, and I didn't even know what sort of recording device I was going to use, and so I think, like I ended up using my phone and sort of doing the recordings in places where I meet people, like coffee shops or sometimes the library or whatever, but I'm like more on the go. That's how our podcasts are very different.
Doug:Well, this is what I appreciate about yours You're capturing that human story that you want to get the juicy stuff, the stuff that is going to be influencing, and you're doing it sort of on the street or in the moment. So I've also heard you record at the farmer's market. I heard you, like, walk through all the stalls with Rick Sebak talking about these different foods and stuff. So I do love that. The style is different and it's it's just very real. You're just, you're just right in there with the person. You're getting a story that is going to cause that aha spark in somebody else. Yeah, I did have a side question. Okay, in your whole policy thing, did you? You had chickens at some point yourself, right?
Shelly:Oh, I did. Yeah, in 2007, I worked for Grow Pittsburgh, which was out of Penn State, the extension agency.
Rick:And they had the little.
Shelly:they would send the eggs into classrooms and then they'd hatch them and then they'd give them back, and then they'd have literally a box of chicks, like a hundred peeps, right. And so one weekend I had to watch them. It was over Easter weekend and my nieces and nephews were around and I got to show them these peeps and hang out with these peeps before they took them to a farm, and then I ended up bringing five of them home. Oh my gosh.
Doug:So you had these chickens yourself, raising them before or during this whole food policy journey, working for government. Well, this was 2007. So it was way before.
Shelly:And that was a yeah, that was a thing. That was before there was any legislation. Because I worked for Grow Pittsburgh, my boss made me get in writing from the mayor's office that I was allowed to have chickens. Okay, and they sent me the ordinance for dogs and cats.
Doug:So you were a trailblazer in some ways here, I guess I guess I guess pioneer is what I call it.
Shelly:Yeah, but I was just sort of like figuring it out as I went. So it was in the early days yeah, early days of chicken ownership and also an influence for other people, like Jodi Noble Choder at Choderwood. She's certifiably a crazy chicken lady, I think we can say, but she does give us eggs still, which is great. We haven't had chickens for a few years because we just decided to take a little break from having chickens, but it's still. It's a great idea and they're really great to have.
Doug:And I mean now with the eggs Right now as we're recording in 2025. But I love this story too, because it connects dots for me, that here you're doing these sort of, as you say, pioneering things in food and sovereignty in your food, and then you have policymaking which is not a hundred percent your heart song.
Shelly:Oh, let me tell you, though, in 2007 and after that, subsequent, when I became part of the chicken group because there was an underground chicken group in the city of Pittsburgh. I became part of the chicken group because there was an underground chicken group in the city of Pittsburgh. I became part of that, and then they proposed legislation, I think in 2010, 2009, 10. So they were legislating chickens and, you know, you had to get a permit and there was all this stuff. It was like $350. And I was like I don't want anything to do with this, Nothing.
Shelly:And in 2010, I went to Chatham University for their food studies master's program and they had a policy track there and I, nope, nope, avoided that like the plague, didn't want anything to do with policy because it was boring and dull, and, yeah, avoided that. And then what do I end up doing? I end up working for the city of Pittsburgh Food policy, doing urban agriculture and food policy. Yeah, avoided that. And then what do I end up doing? I end up working for the city of Pittsburgh Food policy, doing urban agriculture, and food policy.
Doug:Yeah Well, let's jump back to the podcast now. So you move forward through that policymaking, you figure out what you love doing and what you don't love doing, and now you're talking to people about their love and their passions. When you think about your show with Bowl and Spoon, are there any stories that are really sort of top of mind? People you've met that have like an incredible story that you're like wow.
Shelly:Well, that's really hard to say. I have 78 episodes out so far. Oh my gosh, I know, I was just looking at it the other day Cause I was like I have I think like 65 and I'm like whoa Okay.
Doug:And they probably all feel special in their own way.
Shelly:Well, they do, and that's the thing, like in 2023, so season two yeah, season two Sorry so.
Doug:I'm just doing the math here. Are you officially on like your fourth season? Yeah, all right. And let me ask you, as a podcaster, what do you consider? A season, a year, one year, not a particular amount of episodes.
Shelly:I think everybody has their own sort of feel about that, and so yeah. So my group of podcasters. I just do a year.
Rick:I love it.
Shelly:And then I can have the year in review in December and start afresh.
Doug:You started this podcast in 2021.
Shelly:Yes, all right. Well, like I was saying in season two when I was I, I did 26 episodes in like three months wow, that's a lot I, I, it was a therapy for me, um, and I was talking to people and I was just, it was like it wasn't necessarily anyone who had a business or a particular interest in food. I was just like, hey, be on my podcast, let's talk about food and everybody has a food story. So it's really fascinating. And that was kind of the proof in the pudding.
Shelly:And then I started being like, oh, that's a person that I want to know better, that's a person I want to know more information about. And so I started being like, oh, that's a person that I want to know better, that's a person I want to know more information about. And so I think some of the standouts are like I interviewed T Lyle from Frankfurt Farms and just to hear the history of his business and of the organic movement in southwestern Pennsylvania, organic movement in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and just you know to have that history and be like, wow, we really owe a debt of gratitude to T Lyle and his wife and his, you know, friends and that whole group of people Like that was that was a lot to go through and a lot to sort of dredge the trail for all of the rest of us. So thank you. And also like Mick Luber that I interviewed episode one this year and he was, just, you know, trailblazer.
Doug:And remind our listeners who he is.
Shelly:Mick Luber is the owner of Bluebird Farms in Ohio and he has been growing organics organically and interested in organics for interested in organics since the 60s. So he also was very pivotal in the organic movement in Ohio and bought a farm and yeah, it's a really interesting story. But then you know, there's farmers that I talk to and their stories are interesting. How does one get into the farming business? How does one commit one's life to really kind of secluded life?
Rick:Yeah.
Shelly:Except for the farmer's market or except for when you go to sell your product. It's a beautiful life. It's a wonderful life, but it is somehow more secluded or sequestered to their own communities. Yeah.
Doug:Yeah, that's my family. I mean we have a farm up in Armstrong County and I have to say my family socializes most with family, because that's just how it is.
Shelly:Yeah, what does your family grow?
Doug:Angus beef certified Angus beef. Wow yeah, we've had a farm my entire life. It's been a beef cattle farm, but it originally was a dairy. My grandfather, Paul, named it Maple Grove Dairy Farm, and he would actually deliver your milk door to door, and so whenever sort of the generational passing of the torch happened. Milking in the morning and milking at night doesn't really allow you to do much else in life, and they wanted to do other things, so they converted to beef cattle.
Shelly:That's a really different sort of mindset, because with one you're caring for the animals long-term and the other you're not.
Doug:Yeah, and even dependent on. Are you keeping them in the herd to grow the herd? Then you might have a different feeling for a certain percentage of your animals versus the others, which you know are the product that are going to be harvested at some point.
Shelly:Yeah, so interesting yeah, oh, wow, okay.
Doug:So are we having a food evolution right now? Yeah Well, this is a friend evolution, we're learning about each other, which is really fun.
Doug:I so appreciate what you're doing too, because I don't think I have necessarily thought that everyone goes through these events in life that changes their food perspective, but they really do, and I can think about that even for myself going into adulthood or cooking more for myself at home or cooking for myself the first time I went to college and meeting other people and how they cook, and then just the simple act of going with a new friend to try a new, different restaurant or cuisine, that in itself could just be the beginning of a completely new food evolution, right.
Shelly:Oh yeah, yeah, that's always fun. Discovering food together is always a fun thing to do.
Doug:It is. I did want to ask. I have noticed on some of your episodes you bring in your husband Brett, so are you guys going on food adventures together?
Shelly:Oh yeah, absolutely. I proposed to him and it was a food moment we were in a grocery store I think it was probably like July or August, it was hot and we were going to buy some ice cream and I said should we get mint chocolate chip or chocolate peanut butter? And he said, why don't we get both? I was like marry me and we knew each other like five months at the time.
Doug:And how many years ago is that?
Shelly:We just celebrated our 30th anniversary. So, yeah, congratulations, oh, thanks. And to your point, like he's on my podcast, he's been like we've been sort of entwined in each other's lives, and not in a negative way, like we do have our own separate. We still have separate checking accounts.
Doug:Well, this is probably why things work. This is why things work.
Shelly:Yeah, but we hang out all the time we like to hang out, like we hang out every night.
Doug:What did you share with me? At one point too, was Brett somebody that introduced you to sort of a wider cuisine.
Shelly:He did. Yeah, we've had a really good influence on each other. But, yeah, when we first met, I didn't like spicy food, and so it was. It took a long time to develop the palate because Brett's English and he grew up eating spicy food. Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot of flavor in English food and there's the spicy influence of the Indian cuisine and so, yeah, that's how I learned. How to eat. Spicy food is by, you know, going to an Indian restaurant and tasting for the flavors, because I think a lot of what I had had in the past had been like just like hot sauce, which was hot for hot sake, and this is like so many other flavors besides the hot spicy it was. It just took time and building up a tolerance and I was willing to go through the pain and suffering of eating all that spicy food and now I love spicy food.
Doug:I was going to say. We just had lunch before this and I saw you putting sriracha on your dish today.
Shelly:It was a little not hot enough.
Doug:I'm saying, and there were jalapenos in the sauce too.
Shelly:And that usually gives the kick. But yeah Anyway.
Doug:I think one of my favorite things about your podcast is that you don't necessarily stick just to the Pittsburgh area and sometimes you and Brett hop in the car and go somewhere and you give us sort of the play-by-play and especially include the food adventure part of a trip that you go to Canada or something like that.
Shelly:Yeah, we try to do that. It's kind of hard to record on the. I mean, I guess I've been a little shy about like pulling out my phone and starting to record and then we're kind of, at first you're talking to the phone and then you forget about it and then you just have a conversation about it. So it's tricky sometimes, so I don't always do it, but when I do, it's fun and we like to talk about food and I think we have interesting conversations and I think people would be interested in hearing it. So, yeah, that's a fun thing to do. There's a lot that we have missed out on presenting, so I don't know.
Shelly:Hopefully we'll go back and do some of that.
Doug:Try and capture it or you do sort of a highlight monologue after the trip is over.
Shelly:Missed out on a great opportunity when we went to Mexico for two weeks. Oh, I mean, sometimes the phone doesn't need to come out though, but I bet there was some great food there. Oh so everything's so fresh.
Doug:Yeah, what part of Mexico.
Shelly:We went to a little town just outside of Puerto Vallarta called Yalapa.
Doug:Yalapa.
Shelly:And you can only get there by water taxi by boat and it's yeah, it's this little village and it's. They don't allow land to be sold to developers Like it's. The community has full sovereignty over their land and the development and so it's. They take care of each other there and it's just a really special community. And so it was, and we might want to tell some of those stories because there was some amazing stuff. And then we did a taco tour in Puerto Vallarta which was really really fun yeah.
Doug:Yeah, so what people are going to hear on your podcast is not just local folks or folks around the region, but sometimes truly a food adventure, that that takes you outside of your normal neighborhood.
Shelly:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, sometimes it's not necessarily well, it all has some sort of angle on food, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. It's whatever has influenced or inspired somebody to change the way they think about food. And you know, sometimes that is food directly and sometimes it's not. Hi, this is Shelly Danko Day host of With Bowl and Spoon podcast, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:You have me thinking too, about earlier life. So you've had these food evolutions, it sounds like in adulthood. But what was food like growing up? Did you cook from a young age? Did folks cook for you?
Shelly:I guess folks cooked for me. I don't remember actually. Well, I guess I do remember like making a cake or making brownies, and I remember my grandma Morley, my mom's mom would always grow her own tomatoes and she grew enough that she could can them. So she would put up a lot of tomatoes at the end of the year and she just all she would do is skin the tomatoes, crush them up, bring them to a boil and put them in cans, put them in jars.
Rick:Yeah.
Shelly:And that it was just that simple. And that's the same way I do it today, because then in the middle of winter, when you want that flavor of summer, you just can pull out a jar of tomatoes and you could it's. You could do so much with a jar of tomatoes yeah absolutely, but she used to make me one of my. My favorite things was macaroni and tomatoes. Oh just elbow macaroni, okay, and a jar of tomatoes.
Doug:Her canned tomatoes.
Shelly:Yeah, and she. When I was little I didn't like the seeds, so that must've been like two that that I was eating that. So she would do a batch without the seeds just for me, just for you, I was the first grandkids, so I guess you didn't realize that kids didn't like those seeds, but anyway, I remember I would put way too much salt and way too much butter. So it's a four-ingredient meal and it's the best thing. It's totally my comfort food still.
Doug:I think I want to try this meal. So just a curiosity have you ever tried to recreate this childhood dish in adulthood?
Shelly:Oh yeah, oh yeah, I make it all the time, Do you really? Oh yeah, I make it all the time. It's one of my comfort foods.
Doug:Absolutely. Just roll it through with me. It's elbow macaroni garden canned tomatoes without the skins and a little salt and butter.
Shelly:That's it. Well, little might be a copious amount. I mean it's, yeah, you put it into taste, but yeah, and my grandma, I think, used to put a little sugar in her canned tomatoes.
Doug:Just a pinch in there. Yeah, and I don't do that.
Shelly:So, uh, I mean I've I've heard the theories about why you should, or why people do or don't, whatever, but it's just the sweet secrets of grandmas that they don't really tell you the why.
Shelly:And then, you know, tomatoes was a big thing in in my family because my other grandma so my, my grandma, morally was english, maybe french, we're not really sure. She was adopted okay, but my grandma, Danko, was Polish and her husband was, uh, Slovak, so I had that whole part of my heritage as well. But she would always grow a big garden as well, and when my grandpa died he was a coal miner and she was a young, relatively young widow and she had to figure out how she was going to pay the bills and so she started making pizza at home Polish pizza.
Doug:Yep, yep.
Shelly:And she had the whole setup in her kitchen. Maybe it was, I want to say, it was just on the weekends at first, and so we would go over there on a Saturday and be put to work grating cheese and she used I'm trying to remember the recipe now.
Shelly:She would get the dough from a bakery already made into dough okay so she would spread it out on the trays and then she would like cook the shells but lots of oil, so it was really crunchy and, I think, herbs on there and then the tomatoes. We'd have to crush up the tomatoes like, yeah, if anybody had pizza from Helen Danko back in the 70s, so many children's hands were in that pizza.
Doug:Shelly, where did you grow up and where was this pizza place?
Shelly:Oh, this was in a place called Pittston, Pennsylvania, between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
Doug:Okay, is that where you grew up? Uh-huh.
Shelly:Until I was 10, that's where I grew up.
Doug:And this is where the Polish pizza hails from.
Shelly:Yeah, Helen Danko's Polish pizza. Yeah, it was really popular. I mean, it was out of her house. She did have a pizza oven, but I don't think she was ever really permitted by the health department or whatever. But it was cooked. It was cooked really well.
Doug:I mean, if we even had those anything hazardous? Yeah, these cottage industries that you know used to just do their thing.
Shelly:Yeah, yeah, that's amazing yep and my grandma morley that I was talking about earlier. Not only did she like influence me with the tomatoes and the gardening and the growing and you know the she loved her birds and it was just a really lovely nature kind of space over there, but she also worked at the Tops Bubble Gum Factory.
Doug:Oh.
Shelly:Back in the 70s and 80s yeah, oh, that's pretty crazy. So we always got all kinds of like what were those garbage pail kids cards and all kinds of bubble gum and she was allowed they were allowed to bring so much home and it smelled so sugary in there. It was wild. That's a great story.
Doug:What about today? We talked earlier that you had had chickens at one point. Do you keep a garden? Do you do canning?
Shelly:Do you do any preserving of that nature? Oh yeah, I do all kinds of fiddly stuff in the kitchen for sure. What's the one of the recent ones? We're getting out our seeds that we had saved from last year, but I've been doing a lot of fermentation stuff. I did olives. I heard the olives episode yes, Thank you so much for listening to my podcast.
Doug:It's great, I listened to it. Yes, you had to brine them for a really long time, and I think what I heard is you could crush them right away and get oil, but you actually have to put them in this very salty brine before you even, can you know, ingest them in a good way, cause they're super bitter, right.
Shelly:I would say, you could ingest them if you wanted to. Yeah, they're not pleasant.
Doug:Not pleasurable? No, and who was your friend that knew how to do all this?
Shelly:Marcel Newman. She's the assistant director of the department of public works at the city. We met when I worked for the city and, yeah, she's awesome. She is a big foodie friend of mine, for sure. Yeah, I love good time.
Doug:I love these kinds of food adventures that you just create for yourself, didn't you guys?
Shelly:order the olives from California or something. Yeah, yeah.
Doug:And you just had to do this thing.
Shelly:Yeah.
Doug:What other things do you have going on, you know, beyond the cracking of olives right now?
Shelly:Yeah, the olives. That was kind of an experiment because I've done fermented stuff a lot in the past. One of the things we have in our yard is garlic chives.
Doug:Oh yeah.
Shelly:If you ever have any garlic chives and they can just take over. And so we started for some reason, I don't know where we got the idea, but we're like let's just dry it. And so last year we were cutting a bunch of it because, you know, trying to trim it back and keep it in control, and we dried it and then we ground it in a little hand mill grinder thing.
Doug:It's like a powder.
Shelly:Yeah, so it's a powder. So now it's like, you know, garlic powder. So we have this like garlic chive powder. We've been using it like all winter long and it's so good. We we make croutons the other day, which is why it came up, but we put it on on potatoes and all kinds of roasted vegetables and it's just really, really great. It's something that like can be an invasive thing in the garden, but we're like, let's use it and it it takes the place.
Doug:Well, use it and it it takes the place. Well, it doesn't take the place of garlic, but it can be used as a flavor. Uh-huh, shelly, no one else is doing this. You have created your own cottage industry. If you and brett want to go sell garlic chive, powder.
Shelly:No, start doing it. Yeah, that's the thing when you, when you take something that's a a fun little fun little aside thing and then you try to make a business come on, no better. Um, let's see what. What else do we have going on?
Shelly:I'm mentally looking around my kitchen right now Sourdough I've got one of those going yeah, no, we cook a lot at home and, like I was telling you earlier, we will make up like a batch of macaroni and cheese when I'm down to just the little ends of some of the cheeses. Yes, and people are like, oh my gosh, I need the recipe. I'm like go find a random fridge with cheese ends and put it all together.
Doug:Well, this is the must go type of meals and you're thinking for yourself. You have sort of a what I like to call a recipe framework. We know what mac and cheese is, but we don't know what we have in the fridge that needs to go. But you have cheese that needs to go and it probably changes every time. Yeah, absolutely.
Shelly:One thing I used this time was a smoked paprika, which just it's good for you and it's it adds that smoky flavor. So that was really good. And then I made a big batch of like a I can't remember what culture is, but a carrot salad you know, with the raisins and the nuts and then just have that in there.
Shelly:So then when you, when you're hungry, you just go and you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. So it's really hard for us to get to a point where like, oh, let's go out to eat, cause we're just like, well, we have that in the fridge.
Doug:You're always doing something. All right, shelly, so I do want to move us forward. Okay, we've. Are there any new things you're up to or guests you're trying to get, or any goals for this year?
Shelly:Well, I am offering sponsorships for my podcast now. I just decided that I will do that. So if anyone's interested in sponsoring with Bowl and Spoon, just give me a call.
Rick:There you go yeah.
Shelly:Reach out. I want to get back to more of I've. I've taken a turn where I've I started interviewing more people who do food businesses, so farmers and restaurants and caterers and that sort of thing, which is really interesting and I love those folks so much. But I think the heart of my podcast was like talking to every person.
Doug:Yeah, yeah.
Shelly:And so I want to get back to that and I'm not sure exactly how to do that, and maybe going out in public and just being like gal on the street kind of interviews.
Doug:That might be a thing that I can do, I think that would be super fun, Weren't you telling me you got a great story from a. Was it a chiropractor or someone? Oh, dermatologist.
Shelly:Dermatologist yes, yeah.
Doug:I mean, I think, someone that you don't necessarily think is connected to food but yet has a cool story, and that she was because the way she was maybe even diagnosing some ailments you know had to do with food, right. Yep, I think that could be a cool angle as well. But I love all that. Keep your on-the-street angle with whoever, and if you see Shelly, go talk to her.
Shelly:Make sure my phone's turned on though.
Doug:Oh, that's right. All right, Shelly, if people do want to find and follow you, why don't we give the social handles or the plug?
Shelly:Where can people find you and your podcast? Oh, I'm on Facebook and Instagram at With Bowl and Spoon, and I do have a website. It's wwwwithbowlandspooncom. Yes, now can people contact you on that website? Honestly, I'm not sure how all of that works, okay.
Doug:DM her on Instagram. I don't know whatever the best thing is.
Shelly:You know what? It's really funny because I'm so glad that we met, that I have you as another fellow podcaster to be able to bounce ideas off of and ask questions of, because I was just doing this on my own and looking for meetups and not finding any, and I had a friend who was like yeah, let's do this, and then they're like, nah, so it's really good to know you and to have a place to bounce ideas. Have somebody to bounce ideas off of.
Shelly:And yeah, so let's do that more. We should do some things together.
Shelly:We should do something together. I mean, I love that we're both. There are a lot of podcasts out there, but there aren't a ton of podcasts that are doing something with food. So, locally, it was so nice to find you as well.
Shelly:Let's do that pop-up toast event.
Doug:Okay, let's do it.
Shelly:I love that.
Doug:Okay, Shelly, I always have one final question for our guests. The name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've eaten this past week?
Shelly:Oh, I know what it was. So Brett has gotten into a labneh kick. Labneh which is like a Lebanese yogurt-y kind of little thicker than yogurt, thinner than cream cheese. And so he's been making these sandwiches with that and pita bread, so he made some ground beef with harissa spices.
Doug:Oh.
Shelly:And that was just in the fridge, and so he'd bring that out and he'd warm that up a little bit, put the labneh on there, some of that, and then all the cut up vegetables.
Doug:Mm.
Shelly:Yeah.
Doug:Delicious.
Shelly:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's something that we had at home, which was just really really good.
Doug:That sounds like a best bite this week.
Shelly:It was really good.
Doug:Shelly Danko Day. Thank you so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.
Shelly:No problem, Doug. Thanks so much for inviting me.
Doug:Up next. Where does Rick Sebak go when he's craving the taste of smoky barbecue? It's so good. You'll see it from the street. Hey, everybody, we're joined today with Rick Seback of WQED. Rick, when we were here last, we talked about your career of documenting great eateries and places across town. We talked about a lot you've been going to recently, but I just wondered is there any new place that's caught your eye or any place that you wanted to recommend that you think deserves a little love in the city?
Rick:Well, actually, you know, I was going to say maybe in I don't know how many years ago I did a show called Meat Pittsburgh and at that time I really learned a lot about Showcase Barbecue in Homewood, which is right on Frankstown Road and it's run by a guy named Drew Allen and they have these smokers right there on the sidewalk, outside the restaurant eatery. It's really all takeout, yes, but they're right on the street. They're right on the street. I mean, there's a couple of tables outside, out front, but I think most people just go in and get it to go and he makes incredible great ribs, which he calls bones, and also great wings, all of them smoked outside on the sidewalk and uh, I think, uh, they're called turkey backs, I think.
Rick:So if you, if you don't want to have pork or chicken, you can get turkey, uh, and you know he does all these things and it's just, you know, know, a wonderful thing. And I love their sides too. I always get greens and beans and rice, and so you know, it's soul food from Homewood and it's really good. And remind us the name again it's called Showcase Barbecue. All right, Rick thanks so much.
Doug:Thank you, be sure to give Showcase Barbecue a visit, and look for Rick on WQED Pittsburgh or at Rick Sebak on Instagram. What's a favorite family dish that will always bring you home? For Pam Lu, it's her mom's bong cuon. Let's learn a little bit more. Hey everybody, we're joined with Pamela Lu of CKP, or that's Community Kitchen Pittsburgh. She does the social media and more. And, pam, last time we talked, you started telling me about your family food, some Vietnamese food, and we talked about pork belly, which sounded so good. I was wondering if you have any other family-style recipes that you could share with us today.
Pam:Okay, so I can tell you about this one dish that would basically lure me home anytime. My mother would make it, even if I was mad at her. She's like I'm making this, like I'll be there in two and a half hours. So it's called bahn gun. It's a Vietnam, basically a Vietnamese crepe. Oh, the batter's a little tricky to work with, so I found a cheat version of it.
Pam:I love cheat so what you need is some rice paper. Okay, okay, that is going to be your little crepe part. So for the inside it's basically ground pork with some yellow onions, some garlic powder, a little dash of fish sauce. So you cook that all up. Oh, and mushrooms, like the dried mushrooms that you can find at the Vietnamese store. There's no real name, it usually just says dried fungus, fungus, yes, dried fungus.
Pam:So make sure you rehydrate that, chop that up, throw that in with the ground pork. All right, so you have your filling. And then you take your rice paper. You you're gonna have like a little dish, like a shallow dish, fill it with some warm water and you're going to soak that rice paper. You just throw in. I usually throw in six sheets of the rice paper and you can let that soak for like five minutes. It's not going to fall apart.
Pam:No, it's not going to. I know that's what you think it's going to do, but it's not going to. So while you're doing that, grab a big plate that will hold the rice paper, take a pastry brush or whatever and kind of take some oil to cover it, to coat it, because you don't want it to stick to that plate, gotcha, and have your other plate, your plating plate, covered with some oil too. So you're going to grab your rice paper out of the little water thing and then spread it on the plate. Take your filling, do about a tablespoon of that ground meat filling, ground pork filling, and then you're just going to roll it. I usually just take it and have it kind of like a tiny little you're doing a taco, but not yeah, but not.
Pam:And then you're gonna fold it again and fold it again and just transfer it over to the plate and then do they get cooked again no, no, you just keep doing that over and over. So you have as many as you want. Usually I have a big plate oh my gosh, yes and then you may want to just pop it in the microwave for like 10, 20 seconds, just to kind of almost like a steam it.
Doug:If you've worked on all of those.
Pam:Yeah, so that way, it's nice and warm and then, if you want, I like to have a fish sauce, not like just the regular bottle fish sauce, but the garlic fish sauce, the nuoc mam.
Doug:Oh yeah.
Pam:I always have a jar of that already made. That's like my dipping sauce, and then you can also have like your fried shallots to sprinkle on top if you want. Like they have them in the jars already made for you that you can just go to the store and pick up and buy and just sprinkle it on top. But yeah, that's my cheat version Sometimes you'll yeah, Sometimes you just find me shoving it into my face hole Cause it's literally probably no. No, it is my favorite Vietnamese dish.
Pam:It's and it's very hard to find. I don't think I have found a Vietnamese restaurant in Pittsburgh that makes it, because it is so time consuming to make, because typically you have the batter and there's the steam and all this involved and I've never gotten it right. So I just do the cheap version.
Doug:I did have a question for folks out there that want to try and make this Do you have a favorite store or market that you go to to buy some of these ingredients?
Pam:It has varied. We like to go to the Strip District and wander around. I need to check out the new. Many More, I heard that new location is phenomenal Is that?
Doug:the one in the North Hills.
Pam:No down in the Strip.
Doug:Oh, in the Strip, that's right.
Pam:Yeah, because I think they just moved down a little ways or whatever, so I want to check it out. Sometimes we go to that place on McKnight Road, I think that's the one I'm thinking about. Yes, yeah, and that's huge too. It's just trying to find the things that I want, so I haven't found like my favorite Asian market yet.
Doug:Okay, but if folks are adventurous, they're going to find these things. Oh yeah, definitely. You just need to search them out.
Pam:Definitely. Definitely Like, it's just funny with the dried mushrooms. You just look for dried fungus.
Doug:But I mean that's what it is. I love it. Pam Luu, thank you so much for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Pam:Thank you.
Doug:You can find Pam Luu working the social media events and more at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh and they just announced their newest guest chef event later in May with Simon Chough from Soju, who you might remember from episode 55. Find more information on their website at ckpghorg. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us? Just visit our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom 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.
