American food – it still bugs me...

One thing I find hard to accept is the poor quality of American food. Whenever I visit an American city, like Pittsburgh, where I am at the moment, the food never fails to disappoint. Last night (Tuesday) was a case in point. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the meatball joint I visited for dinner (Emporio) was, for me at any rate, the worst place I've ever experienced, not just here in Pittsburgh, but anywhere in the world. It was based on the notion of making your own meal, the deal was simple: you picked your style of meal (bowl, hoagie or whatever – there were clear choices) and then you chose the type of meatball (pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian) and then there were sauces and sides and what have you. I chose the hoagie, beef meatballs and a barbecue style sauce, the name of which I can't remember. Oh, I almost forgot the side of Brussels sprouts. What arrived later screamed God knows what, how about 'cardiac care unit, here we come'. It was simply awful. Three decidedly under par meatballs covered in a gloopy-looking sauce and accompanied by what can only be described as blackened, burnt-to-a-crisp Brussels sprouts. I tried a slice of one meatball, realised the whole thing was, in my opinion, a non-starter (let alone a main course) and simply gave up. I convinced myself that I wasn't that hungry anyway and just sat there waiting for somebody to take it away and leave me alone. The whole meal was made a little worse by an unnaturally chirpy waitress who bigged the whole thing up and made the arrival of the food a total anti-climax of the highest order. I will never, ever, visit the place again and as I left I felt like standing up and broadcasting to my fellow diners, saying something like "What are you doing here? Can't you see that what you're eating is not very good? Have you no pride in what you eat? Don't you care about your health?" But of course I said nothing of the sort, I let them carry on piling their meatballs and hoagies into their dumb mouths.

Pastrami and chip sandwich in Primanti Bros. Not even a plate!

But as with everything, there's always a silver lining and that came in the shape of Pizzaiolo Prima on Market Square. This, in my opinion, is one of the best restaurants in the city, it's small, it's intimate, it's very European in nature and I loved it. Earlier in the week I ordered salmon and today at lunchtime I had a chicken dish followed by bread pudding, which was pleasant, but the portion size was too much (two slices of bread pudding when one would have sufficed and far too much ice cream. If I was being particularly harsh I would say that they lost points for the size of the dessert, but no, I can't deduct any points because overall this is the sort of restaurant that Pittsburgh is crying out for and I know that if I come back to Pittsburgh, a city I love, then I'll certainly return.

Healthy hotel breakfast at Hilton Garden Downtown...

Tonight (Wednesday) my colleague and I were taken out to dinner. We visited a place called the Grand Concourse which, if I'm not mistaken, was once a railway station. It was a grand old building with high ceilings and decor to die for and we were given a table close to the river and, of course, the railroad track. The restaurant was located at Station Square. Avid readers will recall that in 2019 I stayed at the Sheraton Station Square. The whole area surrounding both the hotel and the Grand Concourse was village-like in nature and now they've added a Tupelo Honey restaurant, last seen by yours truly in Knoxville back in 2013 and probably worth checking out (perhaps tomorrow, who knows?). There's also a Hard Rock Cafe and a few other establishments. But let's get back to the Grand Concourse as this was a very grand establishment sporting white tablecloths, gleaming cutlery and a decent menu. The service was good too and so was the food. I ordered Dynamite Scallops as a starter and crab cakes for mains, both fantastic and washed down with a few Pellegrino sparkling mineral waters and an orange and spice tea from Bigelow. Not as good as their Constant Comment tea (a strange name) but pleasant nonetheless. I had two in the end, but didn't choose dessert as I'd had one at lunch time. 

Decent dinner at Pizzaiolo Prima on Market Sq, Pittsburgh

One thing is now for certain: I need to stop eating. I feel a diet coming on and it's about time, but there's little I can do this week as I'm here in Pittsburgh, I have a long flight ahead of me and I'll have to make a start once I reach home and have dealt with the jet lag. I need to get back on the bike and I need to cut out bread and sweets and cake and stop drinking cappuccino. In short, I have to pull myself together, but right now I need to hit the sack.

It's Thursday morning, I've been working all morning in my hotel room and I've damaged my right foot. Lateral foot pain, says the internet, and it's all to do with excessive walking and the wrong footwear, which sounds about right to me. I have difficulty walking. I've injured myself like this before, at the same event but in Philadelphia a few years ago. There's a CVS across the street and I might nip over there and buy some Nurofen or similar. But something says leave it, don't bother, grin and bear the pain and just hobble around for the next two days. Not sure, but either way lunch soon beckons and I think a light snack will be the order of the day as the food I've been eating this week (apart from in Pizzaiolo Prima and last night's excellent dinner at the Grand Concourse on Station Square) hasn't been that good.

Condado...better than expected...

On Thursday evening we went to Condado, a Mexican restaurant that specialises in Tacos. I had my suspicions. Other diners had messy tables, there was a lot of silver foil involved and I thought hey ho, here we go again. In truth, it wasn't that bad. I ordered a Plain Jane and was told that one taco is a snack, two qualifies as a meal so opted for the latter and it was fine, healthy is the word, lots of salad and some chicken that was it really. I ordered a couple of ginger beers, which were fine and then paid up and left. 

The hobble back to the hotel was fine, the sun was shining, it was warm and it was pleasant. The city was fairly quiet and the roads were empty, which you'll never get in London. Imagine roads with no cars on them, that's what a lot of American cities are like, they look almost deserted and I love it. There's something about the sun shining and the streets empty that warms my heart and makes me feel immortal.