Loving Hut (Robinson)

R. and I stopped by Loving Hut Saturday night for a quick dinner on our way from the airport to the south side area.  Actually, I was the one who needed a some solid food in my stomach in preparation for some St. Paddy's Day alcohol consumption.  Anyway, Loving Hut is a vegan restaurant that just opened in December and had been on my wish list for a little while.  What I didn't realize until recently is that it is actually an international chain, with locations in Brazil, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain, Mongolia, and many other countries, just to give you a sense of its global reach.  What's interesting, however, is that every restaurant has its own unique menu.  Just for fun (and because I didn't quite buy the "unique menu" spiel at first), I checked out the menus at their Palo Alto location, their Russia location, one of the Toronto locations, and two of the locations in Hong Kong.  And I can verify that the menus are indeed completely different - yes, even the two in Hong Kong are different from one another.  So, while Loving Hut is run by an international group, I don't think of it as a chain at all.

Loving Hut Special Rolls ($4.95)
I had heard good things about the Loving Hut Special Rolls from the Binge! Eating in Pittsburgh blog so I had to try it.  And I'd have to agree with Jake who authors the Binge! blog.  These rolls, made with vermicelli, mint, and tofu with a soybean, pineapple, and peanut dipping sauce, were really well done.  I tend to think that one important aspect of a good roll is the texture.  These rolls have a nice, creative combination of flavors with the right amount of crunchiness.  Everything tasted fresh.

As for my main dish, I was going to order something else until I spotted the Guru Curry on the specials menu, which came with a choice of soy protein, potatoes, or taro.  Taro?!  YES, PLEASE!  But when I placed my order, the waitress informed me that they did not have taro.  I was probably a little more visibly and vocally disappointed than I meant to be - well, taro was the only reason I wanted the Guru Curry after all - but guess what?  The waitress said she'd check with the kitchen and - surprise, surprise! - taro magically appeared.  OK, I don't mean to be cynical, but anytime a restaurant tells me they're out of something, I tend to be a bit skeptical (maybe it's because I've read this recently - see #4).

Guru Curry ($9.95)
They ended up putting both taro and potatoes into the Guru Curry for me.  I have a feeling they gave me 1/2 taro and 1/2 potatoes rather than a full serving of each, but whatever, I didn't question it.  I was hungry! The Guru Curry did make up for its limited taro with its tastiness.  R., who didn't order anything for himself but nibbled at my food (that's OK, I gave him permission), said he thought the special rolls were great until he tried the Guru Curry.  He couldn't stop eating it!  As a side note, the Palo Alto location also serves an item called the Guru Curry, but it costs $1 less and is made with a different combination of ingredients.

Loving Hut was fantastic, and I'm really glad to see a healthy, vegan option in a city known for its not-so-healthy options, in a part of town that's heavily populated with the usual chain restaurants.  Their website for the Pittsburgh location identifies it as "pittsburgh_01," and I hope this means they're planning for locations 02, 03, etc., in da Burgh!  (A girl can dream, can't she?) ;)

Random: I know I've been writing a lot more than I mean to lately.  Now that work has picked up again, and with many upcoming dining out opportunities, I may have to scale back on the amount of text I write in each post and put the focus back on the photos, like I originally intended.  Thanks for reading!


Restaurant info:
Loving Hut Pittsburgh
5474 Campbells Run Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15205
(412) 787-2727
Website: http://lovinghut.us/pittsburgh_01/

Aarti Sequeira Cooking Demo at the Giant Eagle Market District

My weekend started out with a bang at the Giant Eagle Market District at Robinson.  Fellow foodie friend FoodBurgh Mike invited me to a blogger event (thanks, Mike!) featuring Aarti Sequeira who was the Season 6 winner of The Next Food Network Star and host of Aarti Party on the Food Network.  The "VIP breakfast" featured two of Aarti's recipes, the Pumpkin Oatmeal and Indian Omelet.  Both were yummy!

Because my body is egg yolk-unfriendly, the fabulous chef at Market District went waaaaay out of her way to make a special omelet for me with egg whites.  That was so nice of them, and it looks ridiculously good to boot!  I'd like to give Market District a special shout-out for their amazing hospitality!

After a brief chat with Aarti herself and some photo ops, we went to see her cooking demo.  In honor of St Paddy's Day, she made the Hair of the Dog Hash: Corned Beef Has with Ginger, Garam Masala and Whiskey, which is like an Indian-Irish marriage - well, Aarti is married to an Irishman after all - and a more traditional Indian dish, Aloo Gobi.  Aarti infuses her demo with not only helpful tips (such as how Indian spices should be purchased whole, heated to get the flavor out, then ground) but also fun stories about her show and from her days on The Next Food Network Star.  I can't say that I was familiar with Aarti before I went to this event - not because I'm anti-Food Network or anything; I just don't watch much TV in general - but she really sold me on her bubbly, personable, and down-to-earth personality.  Her recipes are also creative - in addition to traditional Indian dishes, she is known for putting an Indian spin on American meals.  I have already scoured her recipes online and hope to try a few soon...well, just as soon as I figure out where to find some of the traditional Indian ingredients!

Aarti's expressive personality shines through during the cooking demo.  We each got a bite of the two dishes she made and both were AMAZING.

Thank YOU so much for coming!

Links of interest:

Aarti Party Show on Food Network

Aarti's Blog 
Aarti's Twitter Feed
Giant Eagle Market District at Robinson

Recipe links:

Pumpkin Oatmeal

Indian Omelet

Hair of the Dog

Aloo Gobi

Fuji Sushi (McKees Rocks/Robinson)

I had plans to have dinner with a friend in the Robinson area and then head to IKEA afterwards to pick up some organizational items for the house.  Well, dinner plans got canceled, but I was going to head out to IKEA anyway, so I decided to knock off a Robinson-area restaurant on my wishlist.  The choice came down to Loving Hut or Fuji Sushi, and because I sorely needed a sushi fix, I decided to go with Fuji Sushi.  Loving Hut will have to wait another day.

I'd have to say, Fuji Sushi looks extremely unassuming on the outside, off the beaten path about a mile off the main drag of Robinson, in a tiny strip mall on Steubenville Pike next to a Midas service center.  I mean, if you were to judge a restaurant by its facade, you wouldn't think this place was any good.  But the avid reader of my blog (yes, all two of you!) would know that I only blog about what I like, so clearly, I enjoyed this place a lot.

Here are some pictures of my meal, accompanied by quite a bit more text than I normally write.  Yes, this is going to be one of my longer blog posts, and it even includes a discussion of the terms "teppanyaki" vs. "hibachi" (read on for more).  Are you ready for the ride? :)

Chef's Choice
I ordered the Chef's Choice ($23), which comes with a specialty roll of my choice plus seven pieces of sushi of the chef's choice.

For my specialty roll, I went with the "O" Roll, which consists of tempura shrimp, spicy crab meat, and seared tuna and salmon on top.  I liked it quite a bit.

The owner/chef, Tommy, brought me my meal personally, and pointed out two special fish he had that night.  This one is a flying fish fresh from Japan.  Tommy explains that these fish actually do fly above water.  I had never heard of flying fish before let alone eat them, so being the nerd that I am, I had to look it up when I got home.  They do seem like a pretty cool breed of fish.  Delicious, too!

The other straight-from-Japan fish is this one right here, for which there was no name given, but I was told it belongs to the grouper family.  Tommy claims to be the only show in town that offers fresh fish from Japan.  All I can say is I've never had such unique sushi before!

It's too bad I didn't get a picture of the salmon (although you can see it quite well in the first photo above).  I will fully admit that I base my judgment of a sushi restaurant heavily on the quality of the salmon.  Salmon is my favorite fish, and 9 times out of 10 when I have sushi I save it for last.  There is nothing more disappointing than bland salmon; it makes me a little angry when I waste that last bite that is meant to be savored on a piece of tasteless orangey blob.  Not the case at Fuji Sushi!  It was one of the more tasty salmons I've ever had thanks to its freshness.  I always appreciate a meal that ends on such a high note as this one did.

Aside from the food, my meal at Fuji Sushi was made particularly enjoyable thanks to the awesome staff, Sook (the waitress) and Tommy (the owner/chef).  Tommy, in particular, is a total hoot.  He noticed I was taking pictures of my food, and struck up a conversation about photography, and even had me fix a problem with his camera.  Then he showed me pictures he had taken with some Steelers players who had visited his restaurant, as well as a picture of a large, intact flying fish.  We also bonded over our mutual preference for the term "teppanyaki" over "hibachi." According to Tommy, "teppanyaki" is the correct term because "teppan" means iron board and "yaki" means cooking, and so it accurately describes the style of cooking that is done on a metal griddle. (Ahhh...you learn something every day.)  So what's "hibachi," you ask?  To quote Tommy, "You know on 4th of July the kids play with sparklers?  THAT'S 'hibachi.'"  (FWIW, I went nerdy again and did a search on Wikipedia, which does at least corroborate the notion that "teppanyaki" is the proper term.)  Anyway, I can tell from my very long conversation with Tommy that he's passionate about his business and his customers.  I've never had any restaurant owner show this much interest in me.  Granted, on this very rainy night I was nearly his only customer, but he sounds like the type of guy who strives to make your visit a pleasant one no matter how busy his restaurant gets.  There is just something about his sincerity and goofiness that makes it impossible to dislike him.

From my conversation with Tommy, it was also clear to me that he wants to distinguish his restaurant from others by doing things differently.  (This can also be seen from his serving of Japanese fish and unique rolls that you can't get anywhere else.)  Speaking of being unique, one thing I would love to try is the Oh My God! Roll that apparently comes lit on fire!  Kinda bummed I missed out on this one this time around.

What looks like a specials menu but all items on here are available at all times and will eventually make it to the regular menu.

And just when you think Fuji Sushi couldn't possibly BE any more awesome, I was putting on my jacket and getting ready to leave when Sook came out with a dessert for me, on the house:

Mango Mochi
OK, I'm officially a fan.

Conclusion:  Fuji Sushi rocks!

Restaurant Info:

Fuji Sushi
6091 Steubenville Pike
Pittsburgh, PA 15205

(412) 494-5544 

Website:  None for now, but possibly in the future  
N.B.: They're BYOB, no charge!

Stoke's Grill (Pittsburgh)

I've been meaning to try Stoke's Grill for a while now and a friend mentioned she needed to use her Groupon, so off to Stoke's we went!  Stoke's is a pretty casual place that serves such items as soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers (see link to website below for full menu).  The food was great and lived up to the hype I've been hearing.

Crab Bisque
I wasn't initially going to get soup, but then noticed the Crab Bisque on their daily soup menu just as I was about to place my order.  How could I pass that up??  And I'm so glad I didn't because it was delicious!

Monte Cristo
For my meal I decided to try something different and opted for the Monte Cristo, which I'd never had before, but from what I understand everyone makes it their own unique way which is why it's something good to try if you're looking for something different! 

Stoke's Grill's version has ham, turkey, and provolone cheese, dipped in an egg batter and fried.  The sauce is a red pepper aioli.  Boy, am I stuffed!

Restaurant Info:

Stoke's Grill

4771 McKnight Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

Phone: 412-369-5380

Website: http://stokesgrill.net
 

Seared Scallops with Cauliflower Puree

Yes, another seafood meal this week.  This recipe is from the March issue of Cooking Light (see below for the link to the recipe).  It took about half an hour to make and tastes fantastic!  I probably didn't sear the scallops quite as much as I should have, but my smoke detector kept going off from just heating the oil so I had to lower the heat somewhat. :-/

Here's a close-up.  For these pictures, I used a full-spectrum studio light (was too dark outside to take advantage of natural lighting) and placed the camera on a tripod with it set on a timer.  I think this really helped with the lighting and blur issues.  Apparently I cannot keep my tiny hands steady with an exposure time of 1/60 seconds (ISO 800), but the tripod/timer combo allowed this picture taken at a 1/15-second exposure and an ISO speed of 400 (no flash) to turn out much better.  Why I didn't think of doing this earlier, I don't know!  Now to get my remote control working again so I don't have to wait 10 seconds every time I try to take a picture!

Recipe courtesy of:

Cooking Light (get the recipe here)

Zuppa's Deli (Wexford)

Well, I'd have to say this is a first -- blogging live from the restaurant where I'm eating right now!  But Zuppa's low-key atmosphere and free wifi has made this possible.  I had driven by Zuppa's a few times in the past and had been curious, but never got around to venturing in until my friend FoodBurgh Mike wrote a raving review of the unassuming little deli in a tiny strip mall in Wexford, in the North Hills suburb of Pittsburgh.  I have since been here several times, and there's good reason it is one of my favorite spots in the area.

I'll admit, I've only ever had the Veggie Sammy here.  I ordered it on my first visit, and it was so freakishly delicious that I actually crave it every once in a while, so whenever I get around to visiting Zuppa's, I always get this same sandwich.  It really is a perfect marriage of portabella mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers, and spinach, topped with fresh mozzarella and a slightly spicy chipotlé aioli sauce.  One of these days I'd really like to try something different here, like the soup.  "Zuppa," after all, means "soup" in Italian!  They also serve a selection of yummy-sounding salads.  Until then, I leave you with a picture of tonight's dinner:

Veggie Sammy
Ahhh...that hit the spot!

Update 6/15/2011:  See new post here with thoughts and photos of other menu items I've since tried (and they're all delicious!).


Restaurant Info:
Zuppa's Delicatessen
10850 Perry Highway
Wexford, PA 15090
Phone: (724)934-4700
Website: http://www.zuppasdeli.com

Shrimp Arrabbiata

I really love this recipe.  I only discovered it three months ago and have made it at least five times.  Added bonus: It's super quick and easy to make!

Dinner is ready!

Recipe courtesy of:

Cooking Light (Get the recipe here)

Franklin Inn Mexican Restaurant (Pittsburgh)

I hit up Franklin Inn this past weekend as everyone who's been there has said good things about it.  I had wanted to check the place out even before they randomly sent me a "free entrée" coupon in the mail.  Score!!

Chicken Enchiladas with Poblano Molé
My free entrée (regularly $10.95) was deeeelicious!  The only gripe I have is that they gave me refried beans instead of the black beans and corn salad I had requested.  Refried beans are not the prettiest food to photograph, so it kinda ruined my picture. :(  Oh, and sorry about the lighting.  I really needed to work on that white balance.

Mango Flavored Mason Jar Margarita

They are apparently famous for this.  My waiter recommended either the traditional margarita or the mango, and I went for the mango.  It was really quite good.  This is the half order (16 oz.) for $8.41.

Restaurant Info:
Franklin Inn Mexican Restaurant
2313 Rochester Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237
(412)336-4140
Website: http://www.franklininn.net/ 



For a review of Franklin Inn, check out FoodBurgh.