Pittsburgh food trucks all over the map
There’s no cure for the common lunch quite like street food and in Pittsburgh, that means knowing where to find the right food truck. While they all move around — after all, that’s kind of the point — a number keep regular lunch hours at certain locations. While keeping up with them on Twitter is probably your best bet, Eat/Drink is happy to offer you this handy guide to food truck spotting.
The Pittsburgh Crepe Cart (@pghcrepes) sets up during the week at Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard in Oakland. Barring a special event, you’ll find it at Penn Avenue and 20th Street in the Strip District on weekends.
The Burgh Bites Cart (@BurghBitesCart) spends Wednesdays at 920 Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Thursdays in front of the Art Institute at 420 Boulevard of the Allies, and serves Friday lunches outside the Hampton Inn at 3315 Hamlet Street in Oakland. Friday and Saturday, the truck dishes out late-night bites in front of American Apparel on Walnut Street in Shadyside.
The 17th Street Café has a truck which specializes in barbecue (@southsidebbqco). On Tuesdays, it rolls up to 218 Braddock Avenue. On Thursdays, you’ll find it in the Strip at 14th Street and Penn Avenue. It alternates Fridays between Parkway Center in Green Tree and Carson Street at Terminal Way on the South Side.
BRGR (@BRGRpgh) slings burgers and shakes from its truck Wednesdays at Parkway Center at 875 Greentree Road from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 600 Waterfront Drive on Washington’s Landing and the same hours in Downtown on Fridays at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Grant Street.
The PGH Pierogi Truck does a lot of special events, but starting in June you’ll be able to find it every Monday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Whitehall Farmers Market.
The PGH Taco Truck (@PghTacoTruck) is generally all over the place, but makes monthly Wednesday dinner appearances at Biddle’s Escape in Regent Square. Luckily, it keeps a comprehensive schedule on its website.
Street Foods (@streetfoodspgh) serves lunch and dinner in Braddock every Tuesday and pops up for lunch in front of the Art Institute on the Boulevard of the Allies every other Thursday. The truck will also be in front of The Brew Gentlemen Beer Company in Braddock Friday and Saturday evenings when the brewery opens.
Biddle’s Escape hosts different food trucks every Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m., and Coffee Buddha on Perry Highway in the North Hills hosts food trucks many days, including the occasional multi-truck roundup.
The Brew Gentlemen will open on Wednesday
Since Matt Katase and Asa Foster graduated from Carnegie Mellon University three years ago, they’ve spent most of their waking hours building a brewery — not just the physical space, mind you. They’ve mapped out a business plan, secured loans and investors, rehabilitated an old electrical supply shop in Braddock to suit their needs and spent countless hours at TechShop personalizing everything from glassware to tap handles.
It was such an ambitious undertaking that for the last two years, they didn’t brew a single ounce of beer, leading some in the local craft brewing community to question whether The Brew Gentlemen’s wares would ever fill a pint glass. Now, Katase, Foster and head brewer Brandon Capps are ready to show the world that laying flooring and building walls out of pallets are the least of their talents when The Brew Gentlemen opens to the public for growler and pint service on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
After a series of small soft openings, The Brew Gentlemen hosted their biggest event so far on Saturday — a party with more than 100 invited guests featuring a full line of beers and Kevin Sousa cooking on-site. Katase choked back tears as he led a toast just before Braddock Mayor John Fetterman performed the ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
“It’s something we’ve put our hearts and souls into this the last four years,” Katase says. “To see people enjoying it and relating to what we’re trying to create is really special.”
From flagship beers like General Braddock’s IPA to White Sky — a chai-spiced American wheat beer which will doubtlessly be their most popular — it’s abundantly clear that these gents know what they’re doing. They’ll open up to the public on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for pint and growler service, offering up an impressive array of nine beers (four flagships, four specials and one collaboration brew). Eat/Drink highly recommends a visit and a tasting.
Roundabout Brewery now serving pints
Roundabout, the Lawrenceville microbrewery from Steve and Dyana Sloan, is now selling beer by the pint out of its facility at 4901 Butler Street. In celebration of its new brewpub status, Roundabout has added two new beers to its tap list: a fresh batch of Pacific Ring IPA, made with domestic Cascade and New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops, giving it a fruity and sweet mouth feel with a dry and bitter finish, and a keg of dry stout made with brettanomyces fermentation which it will sell only by the glass.
Roundabout opened last summer and became an instant local favorite for its innovative variety of styles and near-flawless execution.
Casa Rasta coming to East Liberty
Casa Rasta, the popular, Caribbean-style Beechview taco spot, will open a second location at 130 S. Highland Avenue in East Liberty next month.
While the new location won’t have a liquor license at the outset, ownership is in the process of applying for one. The space has been vacant since Ethiopian eatery Abay closed last summer.
