It’s a chance for people from the city, suburbs, and surrounding areas to eat out at some great local restaurants even if they’re on a budget. OpenTable has teamed up with Pittsburgh Restaurant Week to make your dinner plans even easier by letting you make reservations online for select restaurants.

The following is a list of restaurants that we are hoping to check out next week, the full list can be found here.

• Alma Pan-Latin Kitchen Regent Square $25 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal
• Bite Bistro Bellevue $15 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal
• Bocktown Beer and Grill Monaca and Robinson $20.12 Tapas-style Meal with Beer Pairings
• Braddock`s American Brasserie Downtown Pittsburgh $25 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal
• BRiX Northside $30 for Four-Course Dinner for Two
• Meat & Potatoes Downtown Pittsburgh $30 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal
• Mediterrano Millvale $30 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal
• Pino’s Contemporary Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar Point Breeze $30 Fixed-price Three Course Meal
• The Porch at Schenley Oakland $30 Fixed-price Three/Four-Course Meal
• Toast! kitchen & wine bar Bloomfield $30 Fixed-price Four-Course Meal
• Verde Mexican Kitchen & Cantina Garfield $25 Fixed-price Three-Course Meal

2012 is already looking like another great year for the Pittsburgh food scene as well.  Here are a few openings to look forward to…

Station Street Hot Dogs
Salt of the Earth’s Kevin Sousa and partners are reopening the hot dog shop that is located behind the new Target in East Liberty. Pittsburgh food blogger Cooking For My Dad has been tweeting with Station Street about their new menu.

Union Pig and Chicken
Kevin Sousa is also working on opening a BBQ place on Highland Ave in East Liberty. Discount gift cards are available online here.

Winghart’s Burger and Whiskey Bar to Open South Side Location
While we haven’t had a chance to visit the Market Square Location, we have been hearing rave reviews of this place.  The Post-Gazette’s Bill Toland is tweeting that they will be opening a South Side location soon.

Wild Purveyors to Open a Market in Lawrenceville
Brothers Tom and Cavan Patterson have been selling their Certified Organic and/or sustainable farm fresh produce, and meats at the public market and directly to restaurants since 2009.  With the help of a very successful Kickstarter campaign they will be opening their own storefront in Lawrenceville in the next month or so.

Walnut Grill to Open in Mt. Lebanon?
The Post-Gazette reported that Molly Brannigans in Mt. Lebanon closed in early December.  The building has been purchased by the owners of the Walnut Grill.

We have just learned from the Yelp Pittsburgh message board that Restaurant Impossible is taking over Del’s in Bloomfield today and tomorrow.  Del’s is a third generation Pittsburgh institution that we have long been a fan of, but honestly haven’t dined there in a few yeas.   But from the looks of the recent reviews of Del’s on Urbanspoon it seems things are struggling a bit at Del’s. Hopefully a visit from the Food Network will mean good things for this Bloomfield Establishment.

Here is a clip of Restaurant Impossible:

Also interesting is that a local chef and author of the blog Pittsburgh Hot Plate will be assisting with the Restaurant Impossible makeover.  The Forest Hills Patch is reporting that Chef Chuck Kerber  will be part of the show.  The Food Network contacted Kerber because of his not so great review of Del’s.  Kerber will be featured on the show and will write a new review after Del’s re-opens.

Related articles

• Restaurant Impossible (ourdinnertable.wordpress.com)
• ‘Restaurant: Impossible’ Gives a Mexican Sports Bar a Makeover (VIDEO) (aoltv.com)
• Restaurant? – Impossible? (k8edid.wordpress.com)

The Union Project is located at the corner of Stanton and Negly Avenues in East Liberty.  It is a great place to meet for a lunch or coffee meeting because there is a bus stop right out front and plenty of street parking.

Image by 18brumaire via Flickr

You can read more about the cafe on the Post-Gazette’s Walkabout blog here.

Cafe Ola Appetite Hours:

• Monday-Friday 8am-3pm
• Saturday 8am-5pm

Image via Wikipedia

“The waffles are that good” was a line from the email sent to me by my friend Lesley – she stopped into Waffalonia for a quick dinner and was delighted with the entire experience.  I suggested she write a little review of Waffalonia – here is her rave review of the place.

Waffalonia is located on Murray avenue near Forbes in Sq. Hill – this is the space where Dozen cupcakes used to be located.

You may not have noticed, but Squirrel Hill is home to another delicious new eatery.  Tucked in between Coldstone Creamery and Razzy Fresh, you could easily miss Wafflonia, the recently opened Belgian waffle shop on Murray Avenue.  I strongly caution against this.  I lived in Belgium for two years.  Over there waffles are street food, made fresh, served in wax paper, and eaten while strolling around town.  They are considered more for snacks or dessert than breakfast.  Folks, Wafflonia is the real deal: delicious, cheap, and easy-going.  I visited Wafflonia recently at the end of a long work day.  The waffles are crunchy on the outside, warm and sugary on the inside.  I quickly devoured mine, then licked my fingers clean. My spirits brightened instantly.  With its understated décor and warm lighting, Wafflonia is the perfect place to duck into on a chilly late winter evening.  When the weather warms up, we will simply adapt by ordering the waffle-ice cream combo.  Or maybe the waffle with nutella and bananas. Wafflonia deserves to be a huge success.  Go there.  Go there now.

Check out Lesley’s photo blog Plum for the Road with lots of Pittsburgh photos.

Here are some other related and humorous posts about waffles

• Food is Fashionable: Waffle Pants (thegloss.com)
• Stuffed waffle balls! (changme.wordpress.com)
• It’s International Waffle Day! Celebrate with this recipe (thestar.com)
• Double Chocolate Coconut Belgian Protein Waffles (fisilis.wordpress.com)
• Happy International Waffle Day! (blogher.com)

There are some delicious things happening in the Pittsburgh dining scene…

E2 is now open for dinner. The folks from Enrico Biscotti opened E2 last spring.  Located on Bryan Avenue in Highland Park – E2 was just serving brunch. They have now expanded to offer dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.  E2 is BYOB.

A Better Bird – from the latest BigBurrito email newsletter – MadMex is bringing you better chicken -

In our mission to get better ingredients, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about chicken. We use tons of it. Most of you eat chicken.

When we looked more closely, we found that some chicken producers do things a little better than others. We found that birds that are fed an all vegetarian diet, are allowed to walk around and socialize, are minimally processed, and treated with decency and respect throughout taste better.

Imagine that. Chickens that are treated better eat better. Who’d of thought? We’re using this new source for all of our chicken, including wings. Come check it out and let us know what you think!

Happy Birthday Casbah – Casbah celebrates their 15th year.  Chef Bill Fuller offers a list of some memorable (and shocking) Casbah moments in this months BigBurrito newsletter here.

What’s New at the Waffle Shop- yes that fun looking place at the corner of Highland Ave and Baum Blvd really does serve waffles.  The Waffle Shop is a project of a Carnegie Mellon class – the hours are limited to Friday and Saturday late night and Saturday and Sunday brunch.

• The new featured waffle at the Waffle Shop is pumpkin with cream cheese icing
• Competitors WANTED – Food Fight! is a bracketed tournament where local eateries go head to head to win the coveted Waffle Shop Cup! Or at least it will be if we can find the right people! Food Fight is looking for staff, hosts, special guests and eateries willing to participate. Interested? Send an email to madmik3 at gmail.com

See Salt Pittsburgh’s newest establishment, Salt of the Earth, located on Penn Avenue, opened on September 13.  Salt of the Earth has been using their blog and twitter to post updates about the restaurant before it opened.  They have done a really nice job of using social media to tell the story of the restaurant. Check out this video of the kitchen from a seat at the bar.

Image via CrunchBase

Foodblogging the Burgh – Speaking of food and blogging…the First Pittsburgh Foodblogger Meet Up was  Thursday October 7, 2010 @ Bocktown Beer and Grill.   The blog Yum Yum has a post about the meet up here.   Mike from Foodburgh and Lauren from Burgilicious were there as well.  These bloggers have been doing an awesome job of writing about food and dining in Pittsburgh – we are looking forward to more great posts.  The next Foodblogger meet up has been scheduled for December 8, 2010 – location to be announced.  Additional details will be available on the MeetUp page here (you have to join the group to see the details).

Even More Elbow Room in Shadyside? – we saw a new liquor license application in the window and now word on the street is that the Elbow Room will be taking over the space that used to be Max and Erma’s on Walnut Street.

More Bacon Nights in Pittsburgh? – The Harris Grill will be expanding their offering when they reopen the old Shiloh inn on Mt. Washington as The Shiloh Grill this fall.  No word yet if that means that bacon night will be expanding to Mt. Washington as well.  Follow @shilohgrill on twitter for updates.

Even more coverage of Pittsburgh dining from outside of town…

• Eat’n Park to close its last Harrisburg-area restaurant (pennlive.com)
• Check In, Check Out: Hotel Review: The Fairmont Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh (travel.nytimes.com)
• Franktuary Gets Social, Goes Mobile (bueda.com)

Here are some delicious dining options if you are looking for a place to go out to eat for Easter brunch…

• Casbah – extended brunch hours for Easter 10am-4pm (Fixed price menu $22 for adults, $12 for children)
• Kaya – 11am-3pm
• E2 – The new dining space from Enrico’s biscotti, located on Bryant St. in Highland Park

The Big Buirrito newsletter also notes that Mad Mex, Soba and Umi are NOT open on Easter.  I guess the Easter Bunny doesn’t like margaritas.

All day, every Monday, movie tickets to just about any film is $5. This includes new releases, so make sure you buy your tickets early to ensure your showing doesn’t sell out. Some restrictions apply, for instance, Sony Pictures films are not eligible for Bargain Monday pricing for the first 14 days of the release.

If you’re hungry after the show and you’d like to stick with the theme of Bargain Monday, stroll on down to Fatheads (1805 E. Carson St.) for wing night. Wings are 20 cents and you can get as many as you want, and feel free to mix and match flavors. Wing night specials are also available on Wednesday. Seasonal beers including Troeg’s Mad Elf and Great Lakes Christmas Ale are on tap at Fatheads right now.

If you’re on the other side of the river, the AMC Loews Waterfront Theatre offers $5.00 showings all day, Monday through Thursday.

All this talk of movies making you hungry for popcorn? Make sure you print out your Popalot Card from Pittsburgh Popcorn Company for a free small bag of heavenly goodness after purchasing 9 bags of any size. Each week, both Pittsburgh Popcorn Company locations feature different flavors. One is usually seasonal and the other is a bit more non-traditional. Through December 3, 2009, the Strip District (209 21st St) store is featuring Gingerbread Cookie Corn and Spicy Southwest Cheddar. Through December 1, 2009, at the downtown (822 Liberty Ave) store, you can pick up Pumpkin Spice or Dill Pickle. If you feel like sharing the popcorn love, they ship nationwide!

Photo by Jennie Roth.

Photo Credit Dunand/AFP/GETTY via Rolling Stone

I was just sitting here talking with a friend who had just returned from Pamela’s for lunch about how the banana chocolate chip pancakes are amazing.  Then during the end of the White House Daily Briefing which was running on CNN one of the reporters asked White House Press secretary who President Obama will support in the super bowl.  Robert Gibbs replied that the best breakfast they had on the campaign was at a place in Pittsburgh that they visited with Dan Rooney.  You can’t here Gibbs say Pamela’s but a quick google search brings up this photo of the Obamas and Dan Rooney at the Pamela’s in the Strip District.

Photo from Daylife.

I have to agree – Pamela’s is pretty amazing.  As we were discussing the amazing hot cakes – I was remembering how my friends from Brooklyn who came to check out Pittsburgh last March described the chocolate-chip banana hotcakes – Mark took a bite and pointed at the plate “that is something special.”  I was visiting a good Pittsburgh friend in Brooklyn last weekend and we had a lovely brunch at Relish.  The brunch was good and Relish is a great place in a remodeled diner – but if you want an omelet or hotcakes I think Pamela’s is the best. The photo to the right is my friend from Brooklyn eating Pamela’s hotcakes.

Read some other blog reviews about Pamela’s

• Mandy has the pancakes for lunch
  
• Napoleon feels this was a delicious way to spend $10
  • I would like to give this blog post an award for showing so much love
• Pittsburgh Paula made a visit to Pamela’s during her 2nd week in Pittsburgh
• Jovon Evert who is on tour with Spamalot writes about his stop at Pamela’s during his visit to Pittsburgh
  • a great look at how to spend a few days in Pittsburgh