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
068 Chef Michael Harding of Family Table
Ever feel too exhausted to cook a proper family meal after a long day? Or wish you could help a loved one going through a difficult time without showing up with another lasagna? The latest episode of The Pittsburgh Dish explores how one local Chef and his family are solving these exact challenges.
We begin with Bonny Diver's inspiring journey from breast cancer survivor to founder of Hair Peace Charities. Her annual fundraiser, Recipe for Hope, now in its 20th year, brings together local media personalities and chefs to create delicious dishes for a night of food, drinks, and giving. The August 22nd event at Mayernik Center promises 15 food stations, celebrity bartenders, auctions, and the chance to support women during their cancer journey.
Chef Michael Harding of Family Table shares how his meal delivery service is reconnecting families around the dinner table. Drawing from his experience as a private chef and his childhood memories of family meals, Chef Michael creates heat-and-serve comfort foods that arrive family-style, encouraging conversation and togetherness. "We sell time as much as we sell food," he explains, highlighting how Family Table eliminates shopping, prepping, and cooking so families can focus on what matters. His "mom-inspired, chef-prepared" meals serve not only busy households but also elderly parents and those needing a thoughtful gift during life transitions.
The episode wraps with Karen Hoang's insider tip about Mola in East Liberty. Beyond their regular menu lies a secret omakase experience—a multi-course chef's choice feast featuring dramatic torch-flamed salmon belly and exquisite desserts like black sesame Mont Blanc cake. Available by reservation only, it's the kind of hidden gem that makes Pittsburgh's food scene so special.
And a bonus... Ready to experience Family Table for yourself? Use code DISH20 for 20% off your first order at familytablepgh.com. Whether you're seeking meaningful ways to support your community, solutions for family mealtime, or exceptional dining experiences, Pittsburgh's food innovators have you covered.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman, love the idea of getting back to the family dinner table, but with less of the time and effort it takes to get there. Chef Michael Harding and his family may have just the solution for you with Family Table, looking for those underrated dining out experiences that are still super impressive. Karen Hoang stops by to shine a light on Mola. But first up, if you appreciate tasty bites and sips for a good cause, all served up by local Pittsburgh celebrities, then you need to know about Recipe for Hope. So, hey, everybody, we're talking with Bonny Diver. You might know her from the local radio, but I know her from another great event Recipe for Hope. Bonny, thanks so much for joining us on The Pittsburgh Dish.
Bonny:Hey, thanks for calling. This is great, Doug.
Doug:Yeah, we have kind of a big event coming up. It's one of your Kind of a big wait, wait, wait what do you mean?
Bonny:kind of a big, kind of a big. It is a big event. The biggest event of the year.
Doug:It is we should probably clue some of our listeners in who might be a little in the dark, Bonny. So you have this charity called Hair Peace Charities, a piece spelled P-E-A-C-E. Can you tell our listeners a little bit why you helped establish that charity?
Bonny:Sure I had. I came down with breast cancer 22 years ago when I was 46, found it quite by surprise. I had mammograms every year, never showed up. I was like, wait, what is this lump? And then they confirmed it. Went through all my treatments and because I'm on the radio and people generally know my name, my doctors, you know, are like requesting songs every time I came in for a treatment. It was hilarious, but but it is cute, you know. But they said you know, hey, people know who you are. We need somebody to help get funding for people to buy wigs when they're going through chemotherapy.
Bonny:And cancer is expensive, you know. You have to pay for co-pays, time off of work, deductibles, all that kind of stuff. It's very expensive. And then to be able to pay your rent and to go out and buy a wig can be very difficult and it feels so much kind of selfish and superficial but that you got to wipe that out of your head and say, no, it is very important to regain something that cancer tries to take away. So that's how it started.
Bonny:My doctor said, well, you need to do this. And I said, well, if not me, then who? And so that's how Hair Peace started then 21 years ago, and we've been helping women and girls with all types of cancer in western Pennsylvania, with hair loss from chemotherapy and thousands and thousands along the way. Last year, 500 women that I talked to and we'll have even more this year that will call requesting the funding and we'll help them out. So not only do we help with the funding to pay for the wig, but we also have support, and sometimes those phone calls that I have with the ladies are things they don't necessarily are comfortable with talking to with their family, and because I'm a survivor, I get it and I've been doing this for such a long time. I can help them to navigate, get grounded, think of some good questions for their doctors and some things to think about to encourage them. That's always my goal.
Doug:Wow, such incredible work, Bonny. Thank you so much for all of that. And then, along with the charity, you established some fundraisers and the one that we're talking about, Recipe for Hope. Am I correct that this is the 20th year for Recipe for Hope? Yeah, this is yeah, 20 years.
Bonny:Recipe for Hope. I know it's hard to provide and make sure that it's successful and He'll let me know when I'm done. So it's been a great fundraiser. People come, have a great time, support it and that's how we raise our money to help out. And so every year we keep on going until it's time to say no, but it's like it's going.
Doug:It's working out. I have to say and I you know I'm so um, I feel so fortunate. You asked me three years ago to be part of it and to let our folks in on it If they haven't seen you. You've reached out to all of your friends in the radio and TV landscape here in Pittsburgh. They all come in you. You pair them up with a local chef or home cook. I have been with Ron Smiley from KDKA, our local weatherman, and we serve a tasty that worked out pretty good for you guys it did.
Doug:We did pretty well, and then it's not just food, but it's also some drinks. I think we've had local wineries or meateries, and so folks that attend they get to walk around, meet all of these local celebrities, personalities. They get all these great bites and sips. So, Bonny, just out of curiosity I know me and Ron are there how many stations are there for folks?
Bonny:Yeah, we have 15 tables of food, which includes appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and then we judge on that. We have judges that come in from Pittsburgh Magazine and others and it is on presentation, hospitality, taste and then the grand prize. So we have the perfect plate awards for it. So everybody really ups their game on great food and it's a lot of fun.
Doug:So good, I'm taking notes. Keep me honest. There's raffles and other things throughout the night, right?
Bonny:Yeah, yeah. So once you buy your ticket, for the ticket for the event it takes, it covers the food, it covers your drinks. We have an open bar. We have the celebrity bartender. They compete for the top tips, so they're trying to do different things to get tips and then they get an award. And David Highfield has really been involved in that in the past. This year you know we'll see how it goes. They're really up in their game.
Bonny:But you walk around and get the different, you know bites of food and and it's nice because the celebrities are right there that you see on TV or here on the radio and you get a chance to say hello to them, talk to them for a few minutes and they serve you the food. And everybody's wearing their aprons and just down to earth having fun and again competing for the perfect plate award which you have acquired because we're so fantastic. Ron Smiley, I mean I just paired you guys together because I always say like, who needs, who wants to come? Who needs a chef? And then I kind of put these things together and so I paired you guys up and it worked out pretty well. So I keep putting you back every year together, you guys have a good time, but we're good with it, yeah.
Bonny:Ron's a pescatarian, which is not a Presbyterian but a Presbyterian, you know. So, yeah, he's a pescatarian, and so you accommodate to that, and so it's. If you're a pescatarian, great. If you're not, it's still really good. Now can you tell us about the food that you're making this year, because I saw it and I'm like dying.
Doug:Yeah, I'll give you a little primer. And then, I think we're also on KDKA next week and I'll show a little bit more. But I'm kind of channeling a lobster mac and cheese, but kind of in a more German twist.
Bonny:So I'll leave it at that. Yeah, all good stuff. I'm just, my eyes are rolling in the back of my head I can't wait. And so it's funny because someone said to me you know it's so fun to come and try all these different foods because they're things I've never tried before. But you guys up your game because you know you want to present your best and that's what we have some of the best food.
Doug:We really do and it's really some of the best folks. I mean I consider myself a home cook, but there are chefs there. I mean I've seen Bill Fuller and other folks from the area, so you are up against some competition and it just makes for a really fun evening. Let me just recap a little bit for our listeners to Bonnie we're talking about recipe for hope, your big event.
Doug:It happens on Friday, August 22nd, at the Mayernik Center right off of Camp Horn Road. It's really close and folks can still find tickets on your website, which is hairpeace. org Again, piece being P-E-A-C-E and it's under events.
Bonny:Yeah, they are, and the other thing we're doing is we put together a cookbook from some of the recipes from the past 20 years. So you can go on the website when you buy your ticket for the event. There's a place to also order a cookbook and we'll have them there at the event for you to pick up. $20 for the book. There's 150 recipes.
Doug:I love this. I had no idea I'm going to probably get a book, for sure.
Bonny:Yeah, so it's fun. And then we have the auction. You know the auction is great. We have a live auction, which is really cool with trips and vacations and one of a kind things, and then, uh, we have the silent auction and then the raffle, where you can, you know, just put your little tags and into the bags and get some cool things. That way you know all the standard stuff like that the 50-50 and everything.
Bonny:Yeah, like I said, once you buy your ticket, you don't have to buy your drinks, you don't have to pay for anything else. Just bring your credit card so you can do the auction.
Doug:Yeah, well, we love it. Bonny, again, we're looking forward to it. I know I will be there for sure Friday August 22nd at the Mayernik Center. This is Recipe for Hope. It benefits Hair Peace Charities and Bonny Diver. Thank you again. So much for all you do and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.
Bonny:Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it.
Doug:Up next. If you like the idea of getting the family back to the dinner table, our next guest has the solution. Chef Michael Harding, along with his family, including his son, daughter, wife, even the in-laws, all work to take the time and toil out of a great family meal experience. Let's learn a little bit more about Family Table. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Appreciate being here, Thank you. Would you take a moment to introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on right now in the world of food.
Mike:Yeah, my name is Mike Harding. I'm the chef and owner of Family Table. We're a meal delivery service, serve the whole greater Pittsburgh area and basically we try to recreate what mom would do back in the day for my brother and I. Yes, and just to put simple, healthy, wholesome meals in front of families and just have them sit and enjoy each other's company over a good meal. I think it's a lost art that people just are so busy anymore that they don't get around just to sit and enjoy a meal with each other. That's right, and I think that's when all the good conversations, you know, tend to happen. And so you know that's that's what we want to recreate, and and just get families back to the dinner table.
Doug:I love that this is the overarching goal of what you're doing right, yeah, that's, that's the thing.
Mike:We just want to get families reconnected and, uh, it's the best time to do it. You know you're not going to have as the same conversations you would if you're out at a restaurant, right. So we call them the horror statistics. You know, those things drop drastically when, when families eat together, specifically at home, and uh, so we want to eliminate that shopping, prepping, cooking and cleaning up part. You know, pop it in the oven and everything's family style. So we don't want people to sit down to like a TV dinner, so we want to have everybody, you know, serving out of the stuff that's on the table. So yeah.
Doug:So, mike, if someone hasn't ordered from you all yet or seen your website, tell us a little bit more about the dishes and how they arrive. Am I, am I cooking anything, or is it kind of like heat and serve?
Mike:yeah, heat and serve, oh wow. Yeah, there's a couple items we have that are like a take and bake, yes, but um other than that, it's a heat and serve. Takes about a half hour to have a full dinner on your table, and, but I'm not cutting I'm not prepping none of it and I like your idea.
Doug:I'm not shopping, which is kind of what we get with some of like the delivery services that give you a meal kit, right, but I'm not making that meal, you know from scratch and, and the best part is, if you pop it in the oven and your house is going to smell like you, like you cooked all day right, right.
Mike:So that's part of it too, that we we try to put a lot of thought into the, the whole thing and um, having not only the flavor and the time saver but the. You know the smells, the. You know this is mom's cooking. This is mom's cooking, even if mom didn't cook this way and a lot of the recipes are based on our family recipes and things like that. Even like some things, like we do bulgogi and you wouldn't think like okay, but like my brother and I and my dad took taekwondo. Yes, long story short, the guy that owned the taekwondo studio would have these little cookouts.
Mike:And that's how we got introduced to bulgogi, so there's a story behind everything that we, you know so.
Doug:Thank you for that. Yeah, a story behind everything that we, you know. So thank you for that. Yeah, so if I'm looking at the menu, why don't you tell our listeners what are some dishes, maybe the top sellers, or some things that you have brought from your family?
Mike:yeah, just classic comfort food, um meatloaf, gravy, mashed potatoes can't go wrong. Pot roast, our, our Italian stuff always goes well, we're Asian.
Doug:You have stuffed shells on your menu.
Mike:Yeah, we have stuffed shells coming up and we do lasagna and chicken, parm and a lot of the marsalas and picadas and things like that. That. They're all winners for us.
Doug:Oh my gosh yes.
Mike:But yeah, we just. The first ingredient in everything is always love, though, so that's the thing I want to really come through is you know, I want people to know that we're cooking with our heart and feel like they're part of the family.
Doug:Yeah, and it's not too hard to put it together to the final table then.
Mike:No, you really are just kind of heating a few things, explaining a few things.
Doug:Perfect. I wanted to ask a little bit more about the business. Since it is a delivery service, can you just give us the high level, how that works? Do I have to subscribe? Do I have to buy a full meal If somebody's interested?
Mike:Everything's on our website. There's not a subscription right now, just keep ordering. We've not a subscription right now. Okay it's if, just keep ordering. But we've had a lot of customers say hey, we're just so busy that we forget, or we just want food to show up, they want to sign up, they want to sign up.
Doug:Oh, that's great.
Mike:We're in the process of putting that together. We hope to have that by this fall. Um, so that's coming.
Doug:And is it a rotating menu? Do you change it a little bit then?
Mike:week over week, yeah, so the two days to remember with us are Monday and Thursday. I think we're the only meal delivery that does twice a week, okay, so Monday and Thursday are the days to remember. Every Monday we change our menu. The first thing you'll see is our family favorites. Those change every Monday. Then we always have lean proteins and things of that nature and those alternate a little bit like our beefs and pork. We'll rotate those, always have like a baked salmon, always have grilled chicken, and then you can a la carte. There's all kinds of different sides that get rotated out and yeah.
Mike:I mean, we always have dessert, some sort of dessert, and we always have salads and breakfast sandwiches.
Doug:I was gonna say, didn't I see a breakfast sandwich or something, so it's really any meal.
Mike:Yeah, it could be breakfast, lunch, dinner for sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, we focus on dinner, but we have options for everything so, mike, when we're talking about like sort of your audience, you know we're thinking families at the table.
Doug:I mean, is that your target audience, sort of like the working family, or do you find any other sort of situations that folks are ordering and you're like, oh, that wasn't necessarily the demographic I initially thought?
Mike:Yeah, we have a lot of busy professionals. We have a lot of adult children who purchase meals for their senior parents because they don't want them to have to do the heavy lifting of cooking and such anymore and they just want them to have good, nourishing meals without going through all the work.
Doug:So that's a big demographic for us and I guess if you have an aging parent you don't want them to be turning on all of the burners and stuff. This might make it all a little easier.
Mike:It's definitely a little safer and, like I said, it takes away that heavy work for them.
Doug:Right All the shopping.
Mike:Right and shopping, and you know so if they're maybe not as mobile and such that it's a good way to make sure they they're eating properly and getting what they need.
Doug:You know it's so interesting I really wouldn't have thought about buying or gifting meals for, like, an aging parent.
Mike:Yeah, there's a ton of reasons to gift meals. New babies, birthday gifts oh, you do this. Yeah, we do this. We get a lot of business this way One-offs people buy meals for somebody for their birthday. Sympathy, a lot of sympathy gifts. There's countless reasons.
Doug:Michael, you're blowing my mind To gift meals.
Mike:So, yeah, it's a gift that, like I said, it's going to save them time.
Doug:It's going to nourish them.
Mike:They're going to feel the love from you and from us.
Doug:You do this right now. We do it now so somebody could go on the website and order a meal, but send it to somebody else.
Mike:Absolutely All right. Yeah, we get people from all over the country that will Google us and then, you know, send a meal to whoever's in the area.
Doug:Yeah, maybe they don't live here anymore. Right, right, okay, right, but their loved ones or friends, do.
Mike:Yeah, how interesting. And it's the modern way to take that casserole to the grieving family member, or friend or neighbor and not have to do that. You know cooking and such. It's just ordered from us. We'll even put a note on the bag or card in the bag for you.
Doug:And, yeah, you don't even have to do anything but order it. I think that this, to me, is so much better than sending flowers. I agree, all right. And how long has family table been in production? When did it all get?
Mike:started, so I incorporated in 2018. I was with a I can't say names, but a high-end Pittsburgh family as a private chef and when they passed away, this was the long-term plan. So initially I started out just as a personal chef service until we found a kitchen that we wanted to get in and then finally found Fulton Commons when they were up and ready. And then 21, we started Operating down in Fulton Commons.
Doug:Yeah, Fulton Commons, and we've had some folks on this show that also operate out of there. If folks don't know, they're over on the north side. I think technically it's Manchester and it's a beautiful facility, kind of kosher space up top for just working, but then the whole bottom floor is this really lovely industrial kitchen and you have a space and you have storage and all those things and it's a great start for for all of us.
Mike:Um, and you can, there's room to grow and expand there as well. So that's kind of where I'm at at this point is. I've picked up a little more space down there, but ultimately, you know, we want to be in our own space at some point yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Doug:I? I'm just thinking about some other friends of the show. So we met Artie Pitt of Artie's Hot Sauce and he operates, or he did operate, down there, and then Healthy Heartbeets. That's Julian and Hong Ching.
Mike:So you have some of my friends you're seeing, probably in your space All the time. Yeah, Dustin and Brittany. Oh, that's right. Oh, 77 Club.
Doug:Yeah, 77 Club's there. I think when they were on the show they were not. Maybe I'm not sure I don't know if they were in Fulton yet I don't think they were a little bit before. Well, that's great, it's such again sort of back to the Pittsburgh feel. It's such a great space and then it's such a great networking opportunity for all of you the community it's.
Mike:It's a great community and you just learn from each other. We're all in a similar boat, so it's it's good to bounce ideas off each other and pick up new things you know, whenever you can to help your business.
Doug:I do wonder, you know, since you started in 2018 and then you moved to Fulton and maybe expanded a little bit more or differently, any big lessons or new things that you've kind of brought into your business?
Mike:Always learning. You know there's always little things I'm big on just try to get 1% better every day, yeah, so a lot of times it's just little new strategies or little tricks that you know what I mean. It's not even culinary.
Doug:A lot of times it's more business related for me, Well, there's all those things that we don't think about when we open a business, and because we like to cook or we like the food part, that's the easy part, so it's everything else that I have to sharpen up on.
Mike:Oh my gosh, Even here, me too the podcast all of it.
Doug:Right, you're always learning. Yeah Well, you had hinted at this earlier. I would love to talk a little bit more about your culinary career before Family Table and I know you don't want to drop names culinary career before Family Table and I know you don't want to drop names, that's yeah A lot of time in the private sector?
Mike:Yeah, a family that has their name all over the city, you know. So I'll just say that. But I would travel with them and it was just great, phenomenal family all the way around.
Doug:Did you go to culinary school? I did, I went to Pennsylvania, culinary you did.
Mike:Ended up, I was personal chef for the founders of the culinary school. Oh my goodness, yeah, Great people too. I mean I just love them to death. But yeah, it was with them for quite a while.
Doug:Okay, so from the culinary school, let me just track this. So you went to PA Culinary and then when did you then connect with your family that you worked for Like six?
Mike:months after I graduated, right after you got out Like 98, yeah.
Doug:And can I just ask a little bit about the type of work you were asked to do? Was it private, like family cooking? Yeah, exactly. Did you ever do big events? Yeah, we'd have parties or something. Yeah, we would do. Yeah, oh my gosh Was it just you, or did you have a staff then, or?
Mike:not a lot of times. Bring my son yeah, um, he would be my helper there, oh my gosh, and he helps me. He's probably my biggest helper with the business now, my son tyler, um, but he does a lot of you know, not in the kitchen a ton with me. It's all the other stuff, you know, website stuff, uh-huh, just my person I can bounce ideas off of and I know I'm going to get an honest, honest answer from the kids yeah, right right, and he's 27 now, so yeah, Well, that's great, and to have someone in your back pocket for technology is always a good.
Doug:Yeah, absolutely. I was looking at the website was great too, and I know that your social handle has been pretty solid. So, whatever he's doing or maybe you're doing it now yourself- it's a team effort.
Mike:It's really working out.
Doug:So, after culinary school and working for your private family, were there any other experiences that really shaped what you're doing today?
Mike:I was the exec chef at Children's Hospital for a company called Morrison Management. Okay, so ultimately you're still serving families, and so I think it's something that's always come full circle in my career is just the serving of a family, um. So, whether it was sick kids and their families there, or you know, an individual family, or bouncing around from each family one day a week, it just always comes back to wanting people to have that, that comfort and the ease of having a good meal with little effort. So good, hi, this is Chef Michael Harding with Family Table and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:Based on even the name Family Table. Do you have a large family or did you come from a large family?
Mike:My immediate family when I was a kid was just my brother and I and my mom and dad. But even when we were busy with going to baseball games or whatever it was activity that we were in at that time, it was always dinner on the table before we went, and sometimes it might have been hot dogs and baked beans, but my mom always made sure that dinner was there for us. And it's just something I've seen as I've gotten older, and it was a problem for my wife and I when our kids were younger. Was that going to soccer or this, that I was working 10, 12 plus hours a day and by the time I got home it's like, oh, what are we doing for dinner?
Doug:Yeah, so like the last person you're taking care of, right, right.
Mike:And it was just one of those things that if I'm having issues, I'm sure others are. So that was the thought of family table was in the back of our minds for probably 20 years now, and it was just timing we finally my kids are older and I didn't have as many restraints, and so it was like, okay, let's do this.
Doug:I mean, I'm thinking about this as you're talking and we also sat down as a family all the time and it really was no matter if you're having hot dogs and baked beans or steak and lobster, I don't know. It is that time to commune and check in and there's something about that convivial over food conversation. You tend to open up more for some reason, especially with your kids or whatever.
Mike:It's just such a special time, yeah, and it's time, you'll never get back, and that's something I tell young parents, like don't blink you know, so if we can help families get that, it's truly a treasure and it's, I'd like to say, we sell time as much as we sell food, so, and that's way more valuable, super valuable. You know, that's the most valuable thing we have.
Mike:And if you don't have to do the planning and shopping and you can have that type of a quality meal in front of you without doing the heavy lifting, I think it's a win.
Doug:I love it. As we're talking here, I am thinking a little bit about the food. Have you had anyone approach you because they want, like meal prepping or like you know a little bit more, a sportier diet or a vegetarian diet? Do you have some options like that, or has that happened yet?
Mike:So we do have options pretty much to fit every diet. We are in the process. It's going to be called FT Fit, so it's going to be a lighter line streamlined to healthier options coming out as well, too, real soon. How we market that is we make meal planning a little more simple. Yeah, so if you buy a la carte, six chicken breasts or whatever and some sides yeah, it's an easy, divvy it up yourself.
Mike:We don't actually package them up right now you're not doing it like that yet, not yet. Um, it's something we're looking into doing. Some lunches and individual lunches, you know, come uh, fall. It's always an evolution and it's ultimately what the customers want.
Doug:If you ask, I'll do my best to make it happen. So you are amenable to hearing out some requests and seeing what you can do to accommodate those Absolutely.
Mike:I always take requests, so good, just had somebody say hey, can you do yogurt parfaits? Sure.
Mike:I'm sure they'll pop up sooner than you think and they probably travel well, right? So, yeah, I mean whatever, I just want to solve problems, and having a nourishing, healthy dinner or meals in general on the go is so valuable, because most of the time you don't think about, oh, I'm hungry, and then you're going to make bad decisions at the drive-through or we all do it, right. So this just simplifies things. It takes one item out of your bucket of things you have to do on the day.
Mike:And it just like I said, it gives you time to do something else that you'd rather do.
Doug:I always say I have a certain amount of capacity in my brain and the energy for the day, and by 6 or 7 pm it's pretty low.
Mike:Right.
Doug:I do want to jump around a little bit to when you were coming up in your culinary career and then moved into private chefing for a family. Did you have any speciality or any dishes that you really loved to make.
Mike:So, yeah, all the comfort food is what really speaks to me, what you were drawn to, right, right, a great plate of you know, pot roast and mashed potatoes and veggies, and you know what I mean. It's comforting, that's what I want, yeah.
Doug:I mean, you could put a good meatloaf in front of me every night of the week and I'd probably be okay.
Mike:And that's what I've found is like you know, the wealthy people I've cooked for I mean, they don't always want to sit down to surf and turf type of deal they want a good meatloaf, or you know things like that. They they yearn for the comfort food. So that was something that spoke to me as well, was it's not, it's for everyone you don't have to go over the top, you don't have.
Mike:yeah, you just do it right and put like a lot of love into it, and that's going to come through every time. Everything is done well yeah exactly.
Doug:It also makes me want to jump back to family. You mentioned that getting to the table was important. What was food and cooking like growing up?
Mike:Yeah, I mean I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, you did, helping my mom or my dad cooked a lot too, and my grandmother and aunt, you know, always trying to help out and pick up little things, and I saw the love they put into it you know whether it was something that was, you know, a family recipe or something that was a quick throw together. It was. It was intended to nourish and show love, and I think it's just a. It's a love language. It really is, of course.
Doug:And how old do you think you were when you started helping out?
Mike:Seven, eight I think I wanted to be a chef around nine. You did. Yeah, If I couldn't be a pro baseball player that was my fallback. I'd watch cooking shows and such. I'd watch cartoons. It's just something I was always drawn to.
Doug:You're so lucky to have something that you knew early on. So many people don't, I don't know what?
Mike:they had a little detour you know, but, um, I found my way back. So did you grow up in the pittsburgh area? I grew up in craft and I actually live in the house I grew up in you do yeah, I'm born yinzer oh well, that's perfect.
Doug:We love that here. And a little bit more about family food. Was there, uh, like any cultural heritage, that kind of crept in there, like any particular dishes that you recall? I?
Mike:always remember, like my parents like doing stuffed cabbage rolls and things like that. My grandmother's roast beef yes, you know it was something that was a staple, for we go up for dinner and roast beef and love it, you know.
Doug:So, yeah, yeah, just simple things like that I can kind of tell you've carried some of that through to the current menu.
Mike:Oh for sure, yeah and I try to give credit with the names, like you know mom's mac and cheese, or you know graham's roast beef you're not just saying that no, it's important for folks to know if they look at your website, because you're saying you're bringing mom's meals to the table and you really are right. And on the back of our, our van it says mom inspired, chef prepared. Yes, yeah, that's what we really go for?
Doug:oh, I don't think that could be any better. Thanks, perfect, perfect. All right, michael, so you're bringing mom and grandma's dishes to people today. What's on the horizon? I know you hinted at a couple things, so do you have anything upcoming or any goals ahead for the business?
Mike:Yeah, like I said, we're going to roll out a subscription model and then the fit line, but ultimately, like I said, we want to continue to grow and I think this is an issue in every city in the country. Everywhere you go, people don't have time. So ultimately, we would like to perfect it here and try to get in other markets at some point as the long-term plan. We're not there yet and we're going to just continue to build on what we're doing and just try to get a little bit better every day.
Doug:You did remind me. You mentioned it earlier, but I just want to kind of hit the point again too. What is the delivery radius? You're operating out of Fulton, which is over on the north side, and you reside in the Crafton area, but where can folks have your food maybe?
Mike:like the farthest reaches. We get up to north. We get up to Freedom, okay, yeah. East to Ottoman Roeville, oh, wow, okay. West to Oakdale, yeah, and south. We get down to Cannonsburg, okay, and then everything that's a pretty wide swath yeah, if you want our food. We try to make sure we can get it to you.
Karen:Oh, my goodness.
Mike:And then we have pickups too, okay, and we're happy to strategically meet somewhere. If you're a little like I, have people that come in from Murrysville oh yeah, meals, and so I appreciate them coming in and driving all that way in.
Mike:Yes, so it probably still is such a time saver for them. Oh, and that's what they said. It's the. It's such a game changer. You know, their kids are real young and going in all these different directions and they just, yeah, don't have time to sit down, and it really is a game changer for them. I love it.
Doug:All right, if folks haven't found you yet, could you remind us of your website and your social handles, how folks can find and follow you?
Mike:Yeah, website is familytablepghcom. Okay, our handles for like Facebook, family table, pgh, and it's for Instagram and such.
Doug:So I've seen you on. I'm always on Instagram, so that's where I've seen you guys. But you guys do Instagram and Facebook right. We have Twitter too, okay, or?
Mike:X, yeah, yeah, whatever it is, whatever it is, today.
Doug:Oh my goodness. All right, Michael, I always have an ending question. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've eaten this past week?
Mike:Oh, hands down. Pizza Lupo. Oh yeah, in Lawrenceville, in Lawrenceville, unbelievable. Is that a go-to spot it has become. Yeah, yeah, they do it really well. It's just good quality ingredients. Even when I was standing there waiting for our order, I can relate to the love that they put in to the finishing touches of a pie A little fresh grated Parmesan.
Mike:Reggiano, a little sprinkle of oregano. Those little touches make all the difference and I can relate. We always try to add those little finishing touches to our dishes. So places that go above and beyond like that I can relate to and I can appreciate and I'll always be a customer. Yes.
Doug:Pizza Lupo best bite of the week Great, I've had it. It's delicious. They're kind of on my list. I mean, there's so many good pizza places.
Mike:They're getting better. Oh my gosh.
Doug:We had Ironborn and Gus Franco up in Natrona Heights, Again very different styles but very good, and they're pizza buddies, my son, we're always good for you, know, let's get a slice somewhere.
Mike:But very good, and they're pizza buddies, my son, we're always good for you know, let's get a slice somewhere.
Doug:Well, that's all if you can't get to the table, right, yeah, one more little bonus question. So, when you're talking about Pizza Lupo doing the finishes and that's important to you when I get a family table meal and it might be like something I have to heat and plate up, do you give me any direction on how to plate or finish? Is that in there?
Mike:So we have a qr code on all of our labels that are like our heating instructions. Okay, so very detailed in that, um, but I try to. I try to make it as a finished product as possible?
Doug:you're not telling me to sprinkle parsley at the end. No, no, no, let's not do that.
Mike:It's done, okay, yeah, so you know, say we um have, uh, you know, flank steak you know go flank, or grilled petite tenderloin. I mean, I'm going to slice it for you. It's going to get finishing salt and some fresh cracked pepper and some fresh herbs over top. So I mean it'd be great without that, but that just takes it to the next level. It's that 1%.
Doug:So you're taking really as far to the table as you can with the preparation.
Mike:I don't want you to have to do much of anything other than put it on your plate and eat it. That sounds perfect.
Doug:Chef Michael Harding. Thank you so much for your time today and thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me here. I appreciate it. If you're interested in experiencing Family Table for yourself, chef Mike was generous enough to leave us a discount code for our Pittsburgh Dish listeners. Just visit their website at familytablepghcom and use code DISH20 to get 20% off your first order. That's code D-I-S-H 20. If you are looking for a dining out experience that feels almost like a secret, Karen Hoang sheds a light on the multi-course omakase tasting at Mola. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Karen Huang, a content creator and self-professed foodie of Pittsburgh. Karen, when you are going out to eat, is there ever a dish or a place? You go and you order something and you're like, oh my gosh, this is so good, but I feel like it's almost a secret. It's sort of underrated or under the radar. Any place come to mind.
Karen:Yeah, so I recently went to Mola and everyone knows about Mola, but in East Liberty yes, in East Liberty, yes that's correct, their OG location.
Karen:And what people don't realize about mola is that you can get omakase there. Um, it's not really advertised on their website but there is a very small sign picture. What have you on their menu in store that you look for um and you call. So what you do? You have to pick up the phone, you have to give them a call, you have to make a reservation and there's multiple tiers of omakase you can get.
Doug:Okay, and when we say this just for listeners that aren't familiar multi-course bites?
Karen:Yeah, basically in Japanese it means like it's like chef's choice almost. So the chef will make dishes based on their expertise and also what's seasonal and what's fresh and what's available. So you really never know what you're getting. But that's part of the fun.
Doug:Yes, so this is as you described it. It's almost like under the radar. Because you need to know it's there, you need to call ahead, you need to pick your level of experience and and tell us about a couple of the bites you had Like. Do you recall like what the chef brought out in your last visit?
Karen:Yeah. So we chose kind of like the starter, like least expensive tier, and it came with so much food like that's all you need and what it comes with is at least 13 courses plus apps, plus dessert, and you get the choice of either Wagyu or Uni for one of the courses. So we ended up with 16.
Karen:It was so funny because one of my friends, anand, was like in the middle. He's like, oh, I need to order more food, so you ordered like some bao buns for himself. And then later he's like I regret doing this.
Doug:This was so much food. Oh my gosh.
Karen:Yeah, so, um, one of the standouts for sure is a torch salmon belly, so it's so fun. If you go on my Instagram and look at the video, they'll actually torch all of them except for one. Bring it out and torch it in front of you wow yeah, it's super fun. Uh, it's like dinner and a show I love that.
Doug:This is like their version of flambe exactly.
Karen:And then we had this wagyu hand roll that we got towards the end. That was amazing oh and then one other thing I really really love. They had this black sesame mont blanc cake and I let my friend luke try it, because he never tried like black sesame before and he was like wait, this is so good. Can I have a second bite?
Doug:and say that again black sesame, mont blanc, it's so good if you like black sesame.
Karen:You will like that and you're calling it a cake. Is this a sweet?
Doug:it is a sweet yeah, it's a dessert, yeah everyone chose like.
Karen:I think everyone else chose like you know, like yuzu cheesecake or matcha cheesecake, which are delicious in their own rights yeah but I was like I don't know what this is. I'm adventurous, I'm gonna try it, and I regretted nothing all right.
Doug:So this is the omakase tasting at mola in east liberty that's's right. Highly recommended.
Karen:Definitely.
Doug:Karen, thank you so much for this recommendation and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me. You can follow Karen on Instagram at karen. hoang. 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 DougCooking. 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.
