TRAVELERS’ CHECKS

Get over the sports competition, Cleveland, and get to Pittsburgh.

Steelers city is a vibrant, happening place worthy of a weekend without the pigskin. Though the accents can make the city feel foreign, MapQuest says it is actually closer to Mentor than Columbus. By 25 miles.

You don’t need a passport, but you will have to learn a few things before you cross the river. For example, “yinz” is the plural form of “you.” It’s derived from “you’uns,” which is Western Pennsylvaniaspeak for “you all.” And you should know Pittsburgh is a city built of neighborhoods — about 90.

We spent two weekends exploring the Steel City this year. During the mostrecent visit — in mid-July — we crashed at the Ace Hotel in the slowly gentrifying East Liberty neighborhood. There, the century-old YMCA was reimagined as the Ace Hotel not quite two years ago.

A boutique hotel company, Ace is becoming known for its creative approach to creating community spaces that happen to be hotels. As with many hotels, Ace has a bar, restaurant, ballroom, but it also has the old YMCA gym, where guests can play ping-pong, corn hole, basketball or attend organized yoga or a dodgeball games. At seemingly any given time, at least one person is punching a laptop keyboard at the communal bar table.

Meanwhile, room décor is utilitarian dorm chicmeets-youth hostel in a smart black-and-white sort of way. A mattress atop a platform bed is wrapped in a striped Pendleton blanket, and the bathrobes are terry—lined jersey like a full-length hoodie only better. A hot pot, coffee mugs and such are deliberately displayed on a cafeteria tray, keeping with the concept. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t.

Employees sport man buns, ironic T-shirts and a friendly, professional attitude. If that’s not enough to set a hipster scene, the hotel employs a cultural engineer. His job is to create a sense of community through event programming.

Two events during our stay — the Fierce! International Queer Burlesque Festival on Saturday night and a Western Pennsylvania Lamb Cook Off on Sunday afternoon — kept the hotel lively. And they made people-watching an extreme sport.

On Saturday it was hard to not stare at guests with brightly colored hair, exaggerated swishes of eyeliner and shiny, suggestive garb. After all, burlesque implies “a caricature or parody,” as well as striptease, and show-goers had embraced the theme.

We sat at the bar drinking herbed cocktails and covertly observed a flirting couple. Then, we left our comfort zone and stepped into the crowded ballroom for the burlesque show. Body image was no issue for performers ranging from size 6 to 26 who dramatically disrobed to panties and pasties.

At intermission, we Ubered to Wigle Whiskey’s Barrelhouse & Whiskey Garden across the Allegheny River. The 6-yearold, organic distillery is named is named after late18th century distiller Phillip Wigle, who got into a tussle with a tax collector and unwittingly helped spark the Whiskey Rebellion Ace Hotel: 120 S. Whitfield St., Pittsburgh, 412-3613300, acehotel.com\pittsburgh. Wigle Distillery Tasting Room & Bottle Shop: 2401 Smallman St., Pittsburgh, 412-224-2827, wiglewhiskey.com. Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse and Whiskey Garden: 1055 Spring Garden Ave., Pittsburgh, 412- 2357796, wiglewhiskey.com/ barrelhouse.

more than 200 years ago.

Today’s Wigle Whiskey has two locations — a Distillery in The Strip District, where more than 25 products are created, and the Barrelhouse in Spring Garden, where products are aged in oak. An entertaining tour and tasting can be done on Saturdays. Reservations are recommended.

We enjoyed a rare peek into the innovation room, where an herb-and-spice shelf suggests broad experimentation. Innovation specialists are working to develop infused ciders among other products.

The next morning, after a handful of ibuprofen, we waited in lobby for coffee, eggs and toast. All signs of burlesque had vanished, and the crowd was mostly millennial and a few post50-somethings. Fortunately, we arrived early enough to get a table.

We had a few hours before the Lamb Cook Off, so we walked the East Liberty neighborhood then Ubered to Lawrenceville. The neighborhood’s small shops from coffee sellers to a glass artisan and a bead shop were a good distraction.

We chose Uber this time so we didn’t have to seek and pay for more parking. It was easy, and the city has enough drivers, so the wait is short. In fact, if you’re lucky, you’ll get one of the driver-less cars being tested by Uber. (Yes, someone still sits in the driver’s seat just in case the car makes a mistake.)

Back at the Ace, 31 chefs were warming grills under mostly white tent canopies. Their creations included sloppy Giuseppe, lamb meatballs, lamb tartare and more.

The table with a longest wait was the lamb slider with a secret sauce prepared by Whitfield Chef Bethany Zozula. Whitfield, ironically, is the restaurant inside Ace Hotel. Well-seasoned, with a hot (and secret) peach-and— honey spiked mayo, the sandwich tasted both familiar and new.

While this was the first event, the sponsors, which include Ace Hotel and Table magazine, plan to repeat it in 2018 and perhaps double ticket sales from 600 to 1,200.

In the meantime, Ace Hotel programming will continue to challenge and entertain guests from Northeast Ohio and elsewhere. Upcoming events include Sunday-afternoon disco on Sept. 17, the 2017 VIA Music and New Media Festival on Oct. 6 and 7 and a heavily curated indie holiday market on Dec. 10.

The weekend was just a sample of a hip foodand-entertainment vibe that can be found in Pittsburgh.

We’ll be back.