Dish Crawl!

There is this new..."happening" that's going on around the US.  Dish Crawls.  They are quite fun.  Pittsburgh has had 4 different ones in 3 different neighborhoods - Lawrenveville, 2 in Shadyside, and one downtown.  I was lucky enough to go on the downtown Dish Crawl.  We tried 4 different restaurants - and OODLES of food.  I had only been to one of the choice restaurants previously.

The start of our Dish Crawl was to the Sharp Edge.  The Sharp Edge is a beer emporium - they have HUNDREDS of different types of beer.  Myself, not being a beer drinker, chose to drink cider - Strongbow Cider.  If you are a fan of beer - definitely check out their Belgium beer collection.  There are many locations all over the city!  We got a sampling of their food - but it was definitely phenomenal!

Our trio of food we received from Chef Nate at Sharp Edge was:  Poblano Mac'n Cheese, a Rabbit slider with a pretzel bun, and a salad with goat cheese, cherries, pecans, sliced apple and a salad dressing made from Lindemans Framboise (that they have on tap!) Every morsel of food was great.

Our second stop was a short walk down to Six Penn.  I've been to Six Penn before, but I've never been overly impressed.  We had a sampling of an aged cheddar grilled cheese, a blue cheese popover and Pesto ricotta Gnocchi.  While it was all quite good - it was an OVERWHELMING amount of cheese.  I Love - LOVE - Love cheese.  I put cheese on just about everything.  Cheese makes everything better.  But this was alot.  Especially when it took, basically, pulling teeth to get a glass of water.  Our group of approx. 30 people were not a surprise showing.  They were aware we were coming, so supplying water should not have been an issue, especially with such rich food.

To continue the adventure we walked up to Market Square.  To the Italian restaurant La Cucina Flegrea.  By this time, I was SO - So full.  But Anna - the chef and owner - was so welcoming!  They had tables set up for us with water(!!).  I would like to go back - to re-try the food.  We had this great pasta dish with a tasting of what she serves - but to get ALL the plates ready at the same time, we had some under-cooked prawns.  But - I would defiantly like to go back and try it again.

Our final stop was in Market Square as well - to a restaurant affiliated with Nola, Sonoma, and Seviche, called Perle for dessert!  We were delighted with a Chocolate covered strawberry cake with strawberry mousse, a flourless chocolate cake and a peanutbutter/grape jelly cookie.  It was all - awesome.

Will I do a Dish Crawl again?  I haven't decided.  I think I would prefer to get a group of 4-6 friends together and try a few restaurants.  There were some GREAT favorites of mine downtown that we missed.  But they could not accommodate a group so large.  Where, if we got a small group together, we could venture to these restaurants.  Make reservations, and try more great foods.  Maybe Dish Crawl needs to limit the amount of folks to smaller groups - and have it more frequently or multiple times in a neighborhood.  It is a great price ($45) for those who want to try places and foods that they wouldn't normally venture to.

But, Thursday (Feb 27) I have reservations at my new favorite place - Grit and Grace.  And that...that makes me happy!  I hope/plan to try different foods than my first time - with the exception of the Dim Sum (unless they are different!)