Category Archives: Food & Drink

Taqueria Mi Mexico

Ed. note: We’ve had reports from a couple of sources that Taqueria Mi Mexico has closed! Anyone have any details?! 🙁

Today for lunch we headed from Oakland into Squirrel Hill to Taqueria Mi Mexico. It’s a small, unassuming place on Murray Avenue that is sparsely decorated, but you’re here to eat the authentic Mexican food. Our server brought us a small tray of homemade tortillas for starters. The tortillas were accompanied by 2 salsas and a bowl of jalapeno peppers. I especially loved the green salsa.

I ordered the carne torta. The torta is like a sandwich, with the bread being flat and round. The sandwich was overflowing with pork, jalapeno, avocado, lettuce and tomato. My friend ordered some tacos which caught her by surprise of how they were served. These aren’t Taco Bell tacos! These tacos are very small, served on double soft tortillas with your choice of fillings. The presentation of the tacos was very nice, with wedges of lime and cilantro. One of my friends also had an Jarritos, which I suppose is the flavorful equivelant of American sodas, except with a fruity twist.
I should also mention how inexpensive the food is here. My torta was $5.95 and the tacos were a $1.50 each. None of us left this place hungry either. I am very glad to see another authentic ethnic restaurant open it’s doors in Pittsburgh. I should also mention that also serve Mexican breakfast items and I’ll be sure to try that next time I’m there!
Taqueria Mi Mexico is open 11am to 9pm daily, and is located at 2109 Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

Big Jim’s in the Run

This morning, Natalia called Lindsay for a brunch date.

Natalia, dealing with a pathetic addiction to bubble tea, suggested Lulu’s or the Rose Tea Cafe.

“But I choke on those damn things!” Lindsay replied. “How about … Big Jim’s in the Run?”

Okay … so screw the bubble tea! Not quite Greenfield, not quite Hazelwood, the Run is a neighborhood unto itself. To the unanointed, you’ve probably driven past the Four Mile Run neighborhood many times driving on the Junction Hollow Bridge on 376 East:

big jim's

Make the sharp turn on Saline Street from the Greenfield Ave. Second Ave & Hazelwood Ave. intersections. That red building – it looks like Big Jim’s, located at 201 Saline St.

We arrived at 11:45am. “Um … I kind of want a beer right now,” Lindsay said. I liked that idea, so we promptly ordered a Yeungling and Rolling Rock and REALLY BIG YUMMY veggie and chargrilled chicken sandwiches. Rumour is that the fish sandwich and italian sausage are excellent as well.

We love BIG JIM’S because it’s pretty much embodies all that we love about the ‘burgh. Amazing food, low price, good service, interesting characters and surprising location. A stroll around the block run reveals a playground, headquarters of a local labor union, a beautiful old church and a patchwork of houses and apartments. There’s another bar – Chaser’s in the Run. We have plans to go back.

insidejims

Call Big Jim at (412) 421-0532. Hours are Mon-Thu 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat 11am-12am; Sun 10am-11pm.

Cinco De Mayo is coming soon

I am not sure why it did not occur to me to me write a post about Mad Mex before. Mad Mex is like a home away from home for me, so I guess I assumed that everyone knows about it and eats there as often as I do. I don’t have time to give a full ode to Mad Mex – I am sitting here at Mad Mex finishing my excellent lunch special and I have to hurry so I can get back to work.
But I did want to take a moment to give everyone a head up about Cinco de Mayo celebrations at Mad Mex. I just gave my lovely server Sarah one of the I Heart PGH baby buttons and some of the other servers have already stopped by to see if I have more. I heart Mad Mex and the staff loves this website.

Anyhow, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that I think should be celebrated – so save the date on your calendar and head over to Mad Mex for
$1 off Mexican Bottles
Breakfast Burritos starting at 9am
$5 big azz margaritas
and
A Chance to win free mad mex for a year (which is about the best thing I would ever want to win ever)
Mad Mex Menu

Where is this place? The original Mad Mex is hidden in Oakland. Great location (just be warned it is usually loud there.) Plus there are some other Mad Mex locations in ‘gasp’ the suburbs. Which is another reason I heart Mad Mex because they provide a safe and healthy place for me to dine on those rare ocassions I have to stray from the city.
Click here for a list of Mad Mex locations.

Bloomfield Bridge Tavern

Friday evening I visited the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern with some friends. This was my first time there, and I took some ribbing from people who said “and you’re from Pittsburgh?!” The place was very easy to find coming from Oakland. I don’t think I would have found the parking lot for the place though, as you need to pass the Tavern and then turn through a neighborhood street.

So onto the review. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the place was empty when we arrived around 5PM. It was a warm day so they had the entire front of the Tavern opened up to the outside. It made for a very nice light and airy atmosphere. The beer selection was pretty impressive, from a large selection of bottles to drafts. I sampled some Polish beers and found them quite unique (unfortunately I don’t recall the names, as I could barely pronounce them anyways!)

But the reason I wanted to visit this place is the Polish food. I played it brave and ordered the Czarnina for starters. Czarnina is duck blood soup. I overlooked the color and aroma of the soup when it arrived. Needless to say the flavor of the soup is obviously an acquired taste because I couldn’t bring myself to finish it! Next I ordered the sampler platter which included kielbasa, pierogies, haluska and golabkis. I was very impressed by the food, and let’s just say that these pierogies were not the frozen Mrs. T’s!! They literally melted in my mouth. The food was also served piping hot. I will definitely go back again. Lastly, the service was outstanding and our server was very friendly and prompt, and had no objections to breaking the bill apart for everyone.

The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern is open from 11am to 2am and is located at 4412 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield.

Beleza Community Coffee House

This story was in the Post-Gazette this weekend. The brand-spanking new coffee house is located at 1501 Buena Vista St. on the North Side and, according to Pittsburgh Dish, the business hours are:
6 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F;
8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Saturdays;
and 8a.m.-4 p.m. on Sundays.

Looks like the North Side is blowing up! (In the best way.) We wish the Beleza Seven the best … and we hope this inspires others to start businesses in their own neighborhoods. Everyone will love you.

Saturday Diary: Beleza Community Coffeehouse — changing the world, one cup at a time

Saturday, April 01, 2006
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

belezaMy neighbors file into the Beleza Community Coffeehouse every morning, each of us still marveling that we have such a place. It’s small, just slightly funky enough and run by seven people who must be lauded by someone, so it’s going to be me.

And I swear I do and always will pay for my coffee there.

Beleza — which means “beautiful” in Portuguese — opened a little over a month ago, in a storefront building at the corner of Jacksonia and Buena Vista in the Mexican War Streets. People were standing outside at 7 a.m., an hour early.

“We didn’t advertise,” said Joanna Deming, one of the owners, grinning in amazement. “We wanted to ease into it, so we just e-mailed some friends. I expected to know everyone when we opened, but I didn’t know about 70 percent of them.

“They all knew each other, and everyone rotated around, talking. I thought, ‘This is so cool.’ Then it just started being full all day.”

What Beleza means to our neighborhood is estimable, but the Beleza Seven’s potential is a gift to the entire city of Pittsburgh, profoundly inestimable. The more I learn about them, their values and devotion, I think of what the anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”
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