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OT :OT: Favorite local restaurants no longer around...…..

Lots of good ones mentioned. Recruits, nice call on Montemurro.

A few more
Tivoli - Penn Hills - great Italian food
Georgetown Inn - Mt Washington - wife liked going there
Eastwood Inn - Verona/East Hills - Old school mob Italian
There was another good Italian restaurant in the same timeframe as Tivolis in the Penn Hills/Monroeville area.

Just can’t remember the name.

Just remembered it - Tiganos?
 
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Ooh...yes... White Tower in Oakland - great memeories I have of me and my dad when I was a kid, sitting at the counter and eating a few yummy little burgers with fried onions - the lady would even toast the buns right on the flat top grill. Miss that place for sure.
 
Bloomfield Bridge Tavern
My wife took me there for my birthday when we were dating. She got me balloons, and tied them to the back of my chair. By the end of the evening, they had detached and were progressively getting wrapped around the ceiling fan and it was going very slow and making a horrible sound. We decided that was a good time to leave LOL.
 
these hipster places don't seem to last too long unfortunately, although that was a good one. Speaking of hipster, looks like Superior Motors already bit the dust after much hype & fanfare
Yeah. I am not sure the pandemic helped. But here is the thing about hipsters (aka "progs") they constantly want change. They have short attention spans and they consistently move on from something to something new. They think this is being dynamic, but it is immature and boring.
 
Winners in the basement. Can't believe how much I miss that hole-in-the-ground. Best combination of price & quality for Pittsburgh Korean.
I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t say Winners!!

Starting around 1986, that was the place where our crew met up before hoop games, mostly because they didn’t card anyone for alcohol. Before one games, it was our friends who filled every spot in the booths. Nothing like Beef Bulgogi and slightly flat draft Strohs beer.

We kept up this tradition under the early 90’s when it turned in a Chinese place.
 
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Piccolo Piccolo is a good call—- was really good (went downhill a bit at the end IMO — but just fantastic otherwise)
Hot Licks - any East ender of the 80s/early 90s spent a lot of time there.
Froggy’s Downtown — surprised I didn’t see it on anyone else’s list - in addition to legendary be seen place in its day — was a great steakhouse.

Coffee Plus - Random one from deep in my childhood- was at the corner of Highland and Alder (Pizza Perfecta there today). Was an amazing family owned old world cafe (really nice Italian family) had the best pizza, subs, traditional Italian pastries , espresso (at least per my parents) ... just loved it. Would get our subs there before grabbing the 71b to PItt stadium. Awesome memories.
 
I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t say Winners!!

Starting around 1986, that was the place where our crew met up before hoop games, mostly because they didn’t card anyone for alcohol. Before one games, it was our friends who filled every spot in the booths. Nothing like Beef Bulgogi and slightly flat draft Strohs beer.

We kept up this tradition under the early 90’s when it turned in a Chinese place.

Yeah it didn't go Chinese until well into the the Aughties. Good times.
 
Fun topic
Piccolo Piccolo is a good call—- was really good (went downhill a bit at the end IMO — but just fantastic otherwise)
Hot Licks - any East ender of the 80s/early 90s spent a lot of time there.
Froggy’s Downtown — surprised I didn’t see it on anyone else’s list - in addition to legendary be seen place in its day — was a great steakhouse.

Coffee Plus - Random one from deep in my childhood- was at the corner of Highland and Alder (Pizza Perfecta there today). Was an amazing family owned old world cafe (really nice Italian family) had the best pizza, subs, traditional Italian pastries , espresso (at least per my parents) ... just loved it. Would get our subs there before grabbing the 71b to PItt stadium. Awesome memories.
Thumbs up on your Froggys
 
Fun topic
Piccolo Piccolo is a good call—- was really good (went downhill a bit at the end IMO — but just fantastic otherwise)
Hot Licks - any East ender of the 80s/early 90s spent a lot of time there.
Froggy’s Downtown — surprised I didn’t see it on anyone else’s list - in addition to legendary be seen place in its day — was a great steakhouse.

Coffee Plus - Random one from deep in my childhood- was at the corner of Highland and Alder (Pizza Perfecta there today). Was an amazing family owned old world cafe (really nice Italian family) had the best pizza, subs, traditional Italian pastries , espresso (at least per my parents) ... just loved it. Would get our subs there before grabbing the 71b to PItt stadium. Awesome memories.

Don't think I ever ate in Froggy's, lol. Plenty of happy hour though. No casual Fridays then so most people crowded in their suits, although when good weather they had a nice patio. Spent a lot on dry cleaning as many spilt beers on the suit jacket.

Hotlicks, one of the original rib/BBQ places in Pittsburgh. And speaking of defunct BBQ, Bobby Rubino's in Station Square. Also in Station Square the Cheese Cellar.
 
Yeah. I am not sure the pandemic helped. But here is the thing about hipsters (aka "progs") they constantly want change. They have short attention spans and they consistently move on from something to something new. They think this is being dynamic, but it is immature and boring.

True, but I think Superior Motors had issues even before they opened with much fanfare. Speaking of hipster, need to include Salt of the Earth on the list which incidentally was started by the same person as Superior Motors. So his track record for stick-tuitive-ness isn't great.
 
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True, but I think Superior Motors had issues even before they opened with much fanfare. Speaking of hipster, need to include Salt of the Earth on the list which incidentally was started by the same person as Superior Motors. So his track record for stick-tuitive-ness isn't great.
Yeah. And he was at Bigelow Grill before that. He's a talented chef but a bad businessman and honestly, a bit of a shyster from everything I have heard.
 
There was another good Italian restaurant in the same timeframe as Tivolis in the Penn Hills/Monroeville area.

Just can’t remember the name.

Just remembered it - Tiganos?
Yes, another good old school Italian place. It's now a Walgreens or CVS. So many of the good old school Italian places are gone.
 
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very nice list. Top of the Triangle is now Jeff Romoff's office, lol. Brown Derby, classic east end place. Monteray Bay on Rodi got the Hawley franchise rolling, one of the better restaurant groups in the area. I remember Minutello's in Shadyside, great red sauce joint, not sure if related to the one on Cochran road?
Rodi Grill was a very good restaurant. The change to Monterey Bay at the Jonnet Building made it better.

My first visit to the Monroeville Mall was fine as well.

Somewhere along the way things went terribly wrong. My first guess was it was due to new ownership. Everything, and I mean everything, became ala Carter and terribly over priced. Portion size AND quality took deep dives.

I tried the HaWiley restaurant in Fox Chapel/Warrendale? Off the Hook? To see if that restaurant was true to the old concepts, sadly it was not.

Too little for too much money. I can’t see it lasting (if it has).
 
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Superior Motors? I didn't think they were around even that long. Had issues getting opened (I think big budget overuns); I think at one point was questionable whether it would even open.
Yes. But there was some hype about it. I like to eat but I’m not a foodie. If there wasn’t a little hype I doubt I’d have event even known it existed. Pittsburgh seems up to LOVE that chef whose name escapes me. And maybe he’s that good generally. But Superior Motors didn’t demonstrate it.
 
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