570910 Sun Nov 09 22:25:55 -0800 2008 12 15 Pennsylvania 0 4161028 Hiya Hounds! I am flying out of Pittsburgh airport [15231] this coming Friday morning. I will probably get to Pittsburgh between 4am and 5am. Can you recommend anything? Here are the 24/7 restaurants I found: Eat 'n Park, 9515 University Blvd, Coraopolis 15108, (412) 264-7201 http://www.eatnpark.com/ Primanti Brothers, 46 18th Street 15222, 412-263-2142 http://www.primantibrothers.com/ Tom's Diner, 1719 E. Carson Street 15203, 412-488-0900 http://www.eatattomsdiner.com/ Ritters Diner, 5221 Baum Blvd 15224, 412-682-4852 http://pittsburgh.citysearch.com/profile/8622545 Eat 'n Park is the closest to the airport, so I will probably go there. Anyone recommend something from their menu? Does not need to be breakfasty. Also, I will be flying back on Sunday, getting in at noon. Any suggestions? I don't get to Pittsburgh very often, so I would like to try something I can ONLY get in Pittsburgh, and preferably not expensive. Any genre is fine. The only restaurant I have ever eaten at in Pittsburgh is Wilson's BBQ, which was great, but they are not open Sundays. Thanks! ~Matthew matthew.david@mac.com Sun Nov 09 22:25:55 -0800 2008 31697 MatthewDavid 1 4161031 People who live there may say they're now too popular for their own good, but don't let that stop you. A capicola sandwich with fries and slaw (on the inside) from Primanti brothers is edible heaven. It's a MUST if you don't get there often. I don't live there anymore so I'm jealous. Enjoy! :) ps. I'd skip Eat n Park, it's pretty much like any other chain breakfast place: Perkins, IHop, etc. Sun Nov 09 22:31:15 -0800 2008 4161028 115794 artistephanie 1 4163329 Heh. So are you coming through or near the city on the way to the airport? Otherwise most of those are rather out of the way. Eat n Park (the one at the old HQ office, 100 Park Manor Drive near Robinson Town Center, would probably be more convenient) is solid for a chain breakfast, but that's about it. The Strip will probably actually have activity at that time of day. Hey, isn't JoJos open that early? That might be an experience, although so would Primanti's, where you can, after all, get a an egg on your sammitch. ;-) Ritter's would be interesting as well, just to see who is in there at that time of day, but it might be helpful to know what area you are coming from so you can choose by location a bit rather than solely by restaurant. They would all be a bit of an interesting experience, perhaps more for things other than the food. I dunno, I think I might go for JoJo's if it's not too far out of the way. Everything I've seen suggests they are open reverse hours, open about midnight or 11pm and close at 1pm or thereabouts, heh. Here's a writeup from Michael Stern: http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=403&RefID=403 Sunday in mid-afternoon, take your pick. Note: Steelers are at home, at 4:15 start. So maybe just go hang out with the tailgaters. ;-) Or perhaps a bar with good beers if you like that sort of thing, although again it might help to know your driving route a bit to pinpoint more convenient locations. Mon Nov 10 18:28:43 -0800 2008 4161028 40162 CrazyOne 1 4164269 Jo Jo's hours are: M-F 5a-2p, Sa 6a-1p, Su 7a-1p I will be coming from Williamsport. Mapquest has me on 220 South to 22 West to 60 North. I will be tight on time, so if I get there before 5am I may need to do Primanti on Friday and something else on Sunday, Jo Jo's if I can get there on time, if not...? Tue Nov 11 07:43:45 -0800 2008 4161028 31697 MatthewDavid 2 4164644 Hm, the routing surprised me, but it says it's 17 minutes shorter than 80 to 79. Assuming most of the I-99 in the 220 corridor is done, I guess that's fine. It does take you right through downtown so stopping in the Strip is fairly convenient, and would be probably more convenient than, say, Ritters. If those are the correct JoJo's hours, I guess it's Primanti's for you. I saw other hours for Jo Jo's online, but they may be old. Too bad. Sunday you can do whatever. If you're looking for breakfast at that point, Pamela's would be open. (It's just a couple blocks from Primanti's.) (I wouldn't hit Jo Jo's necessarily, that only came up because I thought they'd be open at the 4:00 time for Friday.) But if you have the rest of Sunday afternoon you may want to go somewhere else, like the South Side. As I said, Steelers home game, there may be some traffic coming through downtown and there will be lots of fans out and about in the bars, a festive atmosphere. ;-) If you're not into football, you should probably keep going. ;-) Tue Nov 11 09:41:37 -0800 2008 4164269 40162 CrazyOne 3 4165556 Getting to and from the strip on Sunday afternoon with a Steeler game would put him in downtown right in the middle of the traffic. That makes the south side more attractive. Anyone for Fat Head's? He could also just bypass the whole problem and stop at Clem's for chicken. http://clemscafe.com/index.html Tue Nov 11 15:10:18 -0800 2008 4164644 10743 yayadave 4 4166217 Even the South Side is busy on Steelers day isn't it? ;-) But yeah, the Strip and downtown would have heavy game parking traffic right at that 1-2pm and on until game time. The approaches to downtown don't tend to be too bad, just the surface roads heading into the garages and such. But, some people might be drawn to that. What could be more of a Pittsburgh experience than Steelers tailgating? Just park and go over to the stadium parking lots. ;-) Barring that, Fat Head's or other bars will be full of fans not actually at the stadium. It's fun, but if that's not your idea of fun, then you want to steer clear altogether. I'm only half-heartedly recommending things for the morning, because honestly, my choice would be make sure I get to the airport first, then pick up whatever I can get there. :-) Or I'd just settle for Eat n Park. But neither of those are in any way out of the ordinary. I think I'd be more interested in trying Ritter's at 4am (I've never actually been), but it's rather inconvenient, although, really, at that time of day, it may not take a whole lot longer to get to vs Primanti's, which simply is what it is. It's open, and where else can you go into a bar and get a capicola and cheese (add an egg or two) with fries on your sammitch at that time of day? Breakfast of champions, LOL. I was in the place back in the summer, briefly, but I was tired and had a headache and couldn't stay. My dad was the one interested in eating there. I kept trying to talk him out of it. Tue Nov 11 19:32:55 -0800 2008 4165556 40162 CrazyOne 5 4166299 Some things everyone has to do for themselves at least once, like the time I ... never mind. Tue Nov 11 20:05:38 -0800 2008 4166217 10743 yayadave 6 4172674 Hah hah, enough said! We have filled in the blank. Thanks for the suggestions all! I am at the airport now. I did indeed make it to Primanti Bros at 4am, and it was very good. I had him do a charred salami sandwich for me---thank god there was no Mayo in the coleslaw, just the way I like it! The salami was good enough I could taste it through the mountain of white bread, slaw, tomatoes, provolone cheese, and hand cut fries. I also got the chili cheese fries on the side with bacon bits, which of course I could not finish. Service was solid, and I had the unique experience of dining at the counter with 3 off duty cops to my left and 2 on-duty cops to my right. =) On Sunday, I will stop by Clem's unless someone shouts out No go to:... I have been to the other Clem's in Port Matilda, which is the real thing, so I have a good feeling about it. Clem's is better than most of the Q I had when I lived in Alabama! In other trivia, among my top fave Q of all time is a place called Smoque in Chicago: http://www.smoquebbq.com/ Cheers! ~Matthew Fri Nov 14 03:25:59 -0800 2008 4166299 31697 MatthewDavid 7 4172869 Just out of curiosity, are the Clem's in Port Matilda and the Clem's in Blairsville related? Fri Nov 14 06:06:14 -0800 2008 4172674 10743 yayadave 8 4177438 I believe so, though I am not sure how similar they are in style. I think one is owned by Clem, and one by his wife (ex-wife?)... The font and style of the word "Clem's" is the same on the two websites: http://www.clemsfire.com/ (Port Matilda) http://www.clemscafe.com/about.html (Blairsville) I will try and find out for sure this afternoon! =) Sun Nov 16 06:53:23 -0800 2008 4172869 31697 MatthewDavid 9 4179015 IMHO the Port Matilda location wins in terms of taste. When I was at the PM location, I had brisket and pulled pork. Today in Blairsville I had pulled pork and boneless ribs. The sauce did not seem to be bursting with flavor like in PM, but was still solidly good. I also washed it down with a nice, cool bottle of Boylan's Birch Beer: http://www.boylanbottling.com/ The advantage of the Blairsville location is that they have indoor seating. PM has no seating at all; just a bunch of barrels you can eat off of, which is actually kind of fun, but not if you want a sit down place. The other advantage of Blairsville is Boylan's. There are two types of Birch Beer, and also Root Beer. As for the difference between the two, this is the best I can piece together. Clem and his wife started Clem's on 22. Then they got divorced, and I guess she maintained ownership in the divorce settlement. He then started the Port Matilda location. She then closed the original location and opened up the new location on 22, which they are still claiming is the "original" location. For more tune in tomorrow to the soap opera "As the skewer turns"! (j/k) I do not know if the above story is completely true, but it seems the most likely given what I have been told at both locations. Anyway, I recommend PM, but both are probably worth a visit. Cheers! Sun Nov 16 21:10:22 -0800 2008 4177438 31697 MatthewDavid 10 4179417 That birch beer and root beer might be the tipping point. And Blairsville is only an hour away. From your story, the Blairsville Clem's might be the original Clem's, but it doesn't have the original Clem. Mon Nov 17 05:45:42 -0800 2008 4179015 10743 yayadave