TastyBurgher

Ritter’s Diner
5221 Baum Blvd
(412) 682-4852
24 hours

Oh Ritter’s. You are so….  Ritter’s!  This place has so much individuality, it is practically its own person.  And more than any other place I know in Pittsburgh, everyone I’ve talked to is completely polarized about it.  They either got burned by or are totally in love with the gritty, bitter bitch that is Ritter’s. There’s a lot to like honestly: cheap, open all the time, you can go there totally plastered (totally), foods not TOO crappy, it is located kind of close to the universities, and it provides the most fabulous people watching.  The main complaint people have is the service, which I’ll just call ’saucy’ for now, but this just makes it quintessentially Ritter’s.  Apparently other people than me actually love the whole feel of it, because there exists a chain theme restaurant called Ed Debevic’s that tries to replicate the environment by training their wait staff to be subtly abusive.  But we don’t need any chains here because we’ve got our very own, real life version of such a place in Ritter’s, and let me tell you — Ed’s got nothin on her. (more…)

Eat Unique
305 South Craig St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-683-9993
M-F, 7:30am-8pm; Sat, 10am-5:30pm

In Pittsburgh we have no shortage of delicious, locally owned restaurants, as you can see from the loads of reviews posted here.  But, these are mostly sit-down with entrées and service, best for dinner.  When it comes to lunchtime, ‘burghers are often at the mercy of national chains like Subway, Quizno’s, McDonald’s, Qdoba, Chipotle, etc.  Don’t get me wrong, those chains have a place and a time (maybe), but I want more from my lunch.  Where’s all the delis in this town anyway?  I’m on the hunt, and my first stops are naturally emanating outwards from my location of actual employment (no, I do not get paid one iota for this website, whatever an iota is).  First stop, for no other reason reason, is Eat Unique.  It may not be fast, or particularly cheap, but their sandwiches are eponymously creative, and when they are good they are eminently satisfying.

(more…)