TastyBurgher

People’s Indian Restaurant
5147 Penn Ave
Garfield (East End), 15224
412-661-3160
M-Sun: 11am-10pm

Holy Cannoli! It is Week 9! Because it was the day of the Super-Snow, we decided to go local and pick People’s Indian, on Penn. People’s used to be the hipster-favorite about 5 years ago. Since then, the new hipster Indian scene is at Taste of India (also on Penn). I’ve been wondering about the reasons for this shift for a while. Is it because People’s went downhill? Is it just a manifestation of the hipster attention span? Maybe it is because Taste of India is that much closer to the BrilloBox, current hipster bar. We’ll eventually get to TOI to test it as well, but after eating at People’s this week I think we can safely knock out hypothesis #1. People’s was, in fact, better than I remembered it ever being before. It isn’t the best of the best in Pittsburgh, but it had a nice homey feel to it and certain dishes were really quite good. The service was top-notch, and the mood was just right. All in all, People’s surprised me, and it might you too. (more…)

Orchids
4519 Centre Ave
North Oakland, 15213
412-688-8383
M-F: 11-2:30, 5-10; Sat-Sun: 11:30-3, 5-10 (buffet only at lunchtime)

Just when I thought we had a long road of sub-genius restaurants ahead of us, in Week 8 we found a surprise in the relatively brand new restaurant, Orchids. Orchids moved into the old location of India Palace (which moved Downtown), and offers a bizarre set of dishes. The menu is entirely vegetarian, with entrées from around the world. Though it has Mexican, Chinese, and Italian dishes, the focus is primarily Indian. You can tell because the burritos have rajmah inside, and the spaghetti is topped with nut balls (a la Malai Kofta). Such an international menu makes one worry about the overall quality of a restaurant (especially after last week’s dinner at Namaste India), but the food here was surprisingly nice, with some dishes from the test list rivaling the best we’ve had yet. They had an extensive Southern Indian menu, with fairly decent dosai (better than others we have had so far) and fantastic upma. Will it beat Udipi? We won’t know for a couple weeks yet, but Orchids is definitely worth going back to again and again. (more…)

Taco Loco
2700 Jane St
South Side, PA 15203
(412) 488-8858
Tu-Th: 11-10; F&Sat: 11am-Midnight; Sun: 12-9

I think I may have mentioned Taco Loco in a previous review where I was raving about Mexico City (the restaurant), but I have been up late every night since worrying that it came off as if I didn’t think Taco Loco was worthwhile.  I hope no one got that impression, because Taco Loco is worth its weight in gold in the Pittsburgh Mexican restaurant scene.  Taco Loco and Mexico City are both taquerias, yes, but they are quite different from each other, and their hours and location make each ideal for separate reasons.  Taco Loco is a more-than-delicious alternative to the Crapcake Factories in the nearby South Side Works, and it maintains an authentic Mexican menu plus some meat alternatives for the vegetarians to enjoy.  Yep, Taco Loco has achieved ‘regular’ status in my book, and if you aren’t sure, the Enchiladas Suizas alone should convince you. (more…)

Namaste India
3101 Banksville Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15216
(412) 563-1901
M: 5-10; Tues-Fri: 11:30-2:30, 5-10; Sat-Sun: Noon-3, 5-10

As we get through Week 7 of the Indian Food-A-Thon, I’d like to reiterate how lucky I feel we are in Pittsburgh to have such a large number of Indian restaurants at our disposal. Unfortunately, not all of them are good, but characterizing restaurants as such is part of the purpose of our review. What we are finding so far is a three-tier split among the restaurants. It isn’t quite The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but maybe more like The Shiznit, The Aight, and The Fugly. There are some that stand out, like Bombay Grill and Taj Mahal: they are The Shiznit. The Fugly are most definitely Prince and Star of India. They were just nasty almost across the entire list of test dishes. The rest – well, they are somewhere in the middle. The Aight category of restaurants is markedly inconsistent in the quality of their offerings, as we find that some dishes are especially good, while others are forgettable. Namaste India falls pretty squarely into this Aight category. Really, a couple of things were quite nice, but it just didn’t quite make it over the hump of mediocrity. (more…)