The Strip District

As I briefly hinted at on my previous post about the Pittsburgh Strip District, it is a giant cultural melting pot with an overwhelming amount of things to see and places to visit. It was so overwhelming to me, in fact, that I did not even get a chance to visit all of the places I hoped to. However, I did manage to explore the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company and I briefly visited Enrico's Biscotti Café. I also embarked on a tour with Molly's Trolleys and rode on the Duquesne Incline as well: both were very interesting.

My first destination was the famous Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (colloquially known as "PennMac" by the locals). Being that it was my first time at the establishment, I was very surprised at how humble and countryside-like it was for being in the middle of a bustling metropolis. It seemed clear to me that this was the intended aesthetic of the place, a small family-run general store or restaurant in an old Italian village. This is majorly due to the recurrent color pattern of red, white, and green that was so pervasive in every section of the store. I think that what made it especially unique was that they had various sampling booths laid out for goods like olive oil (see pic on uppermost left)  cheese, and chestnuts. 

I had a chance to speak with one of the other customers that was surveying samples, an older Pittsburgh local named Dale. 

"Oh, I've been coming here since I was a teenager," Dale told me. He said that he comes to PennMac regularly to do his grocery shopping.

"It's always been very reliable, and a great variety, too" he added.

After I spoke with Dale, I had a chance to visit the deli counter that was just to the left side of the entrance when you come in. Here, they offer an incredible selection of meats and cheeses, and far more besides (see pic to the left). I think it might be fair to say that this particulat section of PennMac was more sophisticated in the way the service is provided. People wait in line to get their goods wrapped up and packaged in front of them by the employees behind the counter. 

Despite not being in line, I did have a chance to talk to one of the deli employees, a younger woman known as Angela. I was very attracted by the fact that she seemed a lot more cheerful than the other deli workers, and she was keen to elaborate on that.

"Oh, it's just fun to me, you know, I love working with food in general so when I came here looking for jobs applying here seemed like a no-brainer," she said.

I asked Angela how long she had been working at PennMac and she said it's only been about a year-and-a-half. 

"You know, I don't plan on being here forever, but it's a nice job for the moment while I figure things out: nice atmosphere, friendly people, and all that," she said.           

After I left the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company store, I was lucky enough to come across Enrico's Café. I was pleasantly suprised to see that it was just right down the street from PennMac. I gathered that it might have been intentional for two competing Italian food-shops to be placed within arms' reach of each other. However, it was also comforting in a sense because it added to the tightly knit sense of community of the Strip District. 

While maybe not as overtly Italian in appearance, Enrico's Biscotti offers immensely tempting authentic Italian cuisine: including pizza and pasta. However, what is perhaps even more alluring is their wide selection of baked goods, which includes things like freshly baked bread, pie, and (of course) biscotti. 

You are immediately hit with a mix of all these sweet aromas when you enter the restaurant, at least I certainly was. There is a genuine sense of homeliness in the way their food is prepared, as you can see bakers hard at work not too far behind the counter. Countless, overflowing jars of fresh biscotti are lined up along the top of the counter, and that's when one of the bakers noticed me ogling at the delicious selection. 

Her name is Michelle, and she is the one who is in charge of overseeing the making of the biscotti. I asked her how long she had been working for Enrico's.

"I've been here for almost 20 years," she said, "I work hands-on with our proprietor Larry very often, and I learned our biscotti recipe from him,"

I asked Michelle about the basic process that goes into the biscotti making.

"Well, I can't give out our secret recipe," she said, chuckling, "But I can say that the biscotti is made in a very old, traditional way, we use our hands a lot like the bakers in Italy have done for hundreds of years," 

Michelle enticed me to purchase some biscotti and taste them for myself. Although I was extremely tempted, I had to decline and explained to her that I was really pushed for time. In retrospect, I feel really grateful she was so personable since I felt a little bad that I took up so much of her time without buying anything. It was important that I left as soon as possible, though, for I could not afford to miss what was planned after that.

If you live within the Pittsburgh area but have never taken a tour with Molly's Trolleys, you are very much missing out. I realized this myself during my first time taking one of their trolley rides through the city. 

Despite the fact that I had lived so close to Pittsburgh all my life, I had never truly realized how largely steeped in history the city is. A great deal of this history directly relates to the development of the United States as a country. 

For instance, as our tour guide, a man named Don Mike, was giving a voiceover narrative of the many features of the city, he seemed especially excited to tell us about its three rivers: the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela. As we passed by the latter of the three, he pointed out at a gold plaque on the side of the road. He said it explained that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (often simply called 'Lewis and Clark') traveled on the Monongahela River as a part of their expedition following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. 

Another famous landmark that Don was eager to tell me and the other trolley-riders about was the Senator John Heinz History Center (see pic above). He did an astounding job of making the museum sound immensely appealing by offering us a little preview of what is inside. Don claimed that their exhibits included the real screen-used Neighborhood of Make-Believe set and puppets from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as well as a showcase behind the history of the renowned Heinz condiment company. He shared many interesting pieces of trivia related to Heinz. This included the fact that the "57" on their ketchup bottles is not representative of a number of years like people typcially believe. Rather, it is a combination of founder H.J. Heinz's and his wife's two favorite numbers, those being 5 and 7. He also mentioned that Heinz, as a company, began producing horse radish before they made any other condiment. I found it very funny and ironic that they made a name for themselves in the American food industry by making something people consider revolting these days. 

I felt very grateful and fortunate that Don Mike vouched for everyone on the trolley to take a free ride on the Duquesne Incline.  Naturally, since it is one of the oldest and most popular attractions in the city of Pittsburgh, we all had to wait for quite a while until our turn came.  While we waited, we had a chance to check out the "David H. Miller Working Museum" located under the actual waiting area of the incline station. The museum was dedicated to Miller and his efforts to have the incline restored and reopened in the early 1960s. It was very surreal to see all of the pulleys and wheels operating as we could see the incline descending down the hillside out of the window at the same time. 

As for my experience on riding the incline, itself, it was something that I appreciated very much. Perhaps because a lot of effort was put into trying to maintain the incline's old-worldish charm, it was an extremely immersive experience. In fact, had we all been dressed in Victorian era clothing, it woud have felt like I was truly transported back in time. 

The view was probably the best part of the experience, as the whole city was visible below us. Additionally, on the particular day I went there, the rivers were still frozen from the subzero winter weather that we had just endured. That really added to the sense that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event for me (other than the fact that I might not have the chance to ride the Duquesne Incline again).