I know we are so close to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day – but hold on to your green beers because we have to celebrate Mardi Gras first.  You need to eat some pancakes and king cake before you can get to the green beers.  Here is a run down of some mardi gras celebrations and scroll down for a list of bakeries where you can find king cakes.

Pittsburgh Public Market – Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Pittsburgh Public Market will celebrate Mardi Gras with authentic Zydeco music.

Hofbrauhaus Fasching Celebration – Tuesday, March 8, 2011 6:30-10:30pm
Celebrate It’s Mardi Gras, German-style! Join Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh for Fasching on Fat Tuesday. Fasching is the German version of Carnival. Guests are invited to dress up in costume and enter to compete to become the King & Queen of Fasching, with plenty of prizes provided by Hofbrauhaus! Live entertainment, contests, drink specials, beads, bier and more!

Penn Brewery Mardi Gras Celebration – Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Fat Tuesday celebration with the Boilermaker Jazz Band from 7-10pm

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Image via Wikipedia

Looking for a King Cake for your celebration? Our sources tell us the following Pittsburgh bakeries make king cakes.

• Bethel Bakery in Bethel Park has king cakes and other mardi gras treats which can be ordered online here
• Oakmont Bakery has king cake in multiple flavor choices and you can order online here
• Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery in Millvale
• Priory Fine Pastries on the North Side

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And if all else fails, you can stop by Le Mardi Gras in Shadyside – I can’t promise any sort of Mardi Gras celebration – but they have strong drinks, zydeco on the jukebox (it might be the most eclectic bar jukebox in town)  and some paintings of the french quarter that are rumored to have been painted by  a student in exchange for his bar tab. Le Mardi Gras is just a bar, no food, they don’t take credit cards (but there is an atm there) and surprisingly they have a website http://www.lemardigras.com/