Best dishes and drinks in Pittsburgh right now
For the Culture 2.0 at East End Brewing Co., Strip District
Here, found and devoured by our intrepid staffers across the city and the region, are the week’s best dishes and drinks.
The Wild Scotsman Burger, Piper’s Pub, South Side
Although you wouldn’t know it to look at me, I’ve made a genuine and concerted effort to be mindful about what I’m eating in 2019: less red meat, more fresh fruit and vegetables, avocados out the wazoo, more fish and scaling way back on my pizza/wings/ice cream vices.
And, in a truly remarkable development, it took until the 135th day of this year for me to eat a hamburger.
Understand that at one time in my recent past, I was pretty close to a burger-a-week kind of guy. Rock stars have drug dealers on speed dial. I had Tessaro’s, Burgh’ers, Carmella’s and the Butterjoint on mine. But that habit has waned from frequent to few and far between to hardly at all.
But, man, there is nothing like a really good one, and this was worth the wait. The Wild Scotsman: a sharp whole-grain mustard sauce, a sweet and smokey house whiskey-bacon-onion jam and creamy melted brie on a halfpound of ground steak, all between wonderfully fluffy housebaked “bap” buns. It was simple and delicious. A near-perfect burger, better still paired with a pint of crisp Roundabout Kolsch.
It took all my willpower to not have it with Piper’s signature (and incredible) Britishstyle chips, so I opted for a side of grilled asparagus. That’s true dedication to moderation. 1828 E. Carson St., South Side.
Pittsburgh can be proud to be home to Fresh Fest. The nation’s first black beer festival started last August and, if not until the last minute, truly popped as an event that celebrated brews and people of all colors. One of its many creative collaborations was between fest cofounder Mike Potter of Black Brew Culture and Larimer’s East End Brewing Co., who brewed up a brut (dry) India pale ale called For the Culture. I drank a 16-ounce can after covering Fresh Fest last August. This weekend, I slow-sipped a can of For the Culture 2.0, which dropped Friday at a silent disco event in East Liberty.
This year’s early version — a harbinger of this year’s Aug. 10 Fresh Fest — is an “imperial” one, with the hops and the malt and thus the alcohol turned up to just past 9%. It’s more like a brute of an IPA — bitter but not without some malt sweetness and some winey characteristics. It’s very nice and available on draft at beer bars and on draft and in cans (for $18 a four-pack) at both East End taprooms. I got mine at 102 19th St., Strip District.