What to Visit and Enjoy in Pittsburgh by Fran Joyce

July 3, 2022 Frances Joyce

If you have never been to Pittsburgh, you may not know about its many museums, art galleries, and theatres. You may have heard of our sports teams, but you might not know the significance of Pittsburgh to the development of sports in the United States. Pittsburgh is also a great city for food. Much of its cuisine is reflective of Pittsburgh’s history and the diverse people who call this city and the Pittsburgh metropolitan area home.

Arts and Culture in Pittsburgh:

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts

Benedum Center – home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Opera, the River City Brass band, and the Pittsburgh Young Symphony Orchestra.

PICT - The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre

Quantum Theatre

The Renaissance and Baroque Society of Pittsburgh

The Andy Warhol Museum

The Carnegie Museum of Art

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The Carnegie Science Center – SportsWorks is a permanent exhibit with at the Science Center with over 30 interactive experiences.

The Clemente Museum

The Frick Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

The ToonSeum

The Mattress Factory

The Senator John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum

Fort Pitt Museum – an indoor-outdoor museum surrounded by Point State Park

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum – military exhibits form the Civil War to present day

The Cathedral of Learning’s Nationality Rooms

American Jewish Museum

Miller Art Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University

University Art Gallery at the University of Pittsburgh

Wood Street Galleries

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

The Bayernhof Music Museum

The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium

The National Aviary

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Colleges and Universities in Downtown Pittsburgh

Carnegie Mellon University

The University of Pittsburgh

Duquesne University

Carlow University

Chatham University

Point Park University

The Community College of Allegheny County

The Pittsburgh metropolitan area is home to 88 colleges and universities.

Pittsburgh Sports:

Pittsburgh hosted the first professional football game and the first World Series.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won 6 NFL Super Bowls

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won 5 NHL Stanley Cups

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won 5 MLB World Series

The University of Pittsburgh Panthers Football Program has won 9 National titles.

The University of Pittsburgh Panthers Basketball Program has made 25 NCAA tournament appearances.

Pittsburgh Food:

Primanti Brothers Sandwiches

Primanti Brothers opened their first restaurant in 1933 in the Strip District. Their now famous sandwich which makes French fries and coleslaw part of the sandwich was created for a practical reason. Drivers making deliveries in the strip were often too busy to take a lunch break, so they needed something they could eat with one hand while driving – meat, French fries, Coleslaw on a bun. I had my first ever Primanti Brothers sandwich in their original location. Even late at night, it was packed and loud and Pittsburgh proud! FYI, my sandwich was piled high with so much food It would have never fit in one of my hands!

The Pittsburgh Salad

If you see a “Pittsburgh Salad” on the menu, it will also be topped with French fries. Translation – we like our fries in Pittsburgh and we will find creative ways to incorporate them into a meal.

Pierogi

Let me clarify something first. Pierogi are filled dumplings. A single dumpling is a pieróg; multiple dumplings are pierogi. We can thank Eastern European immigrants for bringing us this delicious, filled dumpling. Fillings typically include mashed potatoes, fried onions, cheese, quark (a curd cheese like cottage cheese), sauerkraut, ground meat, mushrooms, or fruit. Ukrainians call them varenyky. Pirogi can be ordered from food trucks, in diners , and even high-end restaurants in Pittsburgh.

Kennywood’s Potato Patch Fries

Continuing Pittsburgh’s love affair with the fried potato, no visit to Kennywood Amusement Park would be complete without Kennywood’s Potato Patch Fries (and maybe a funnel cake or two). What are they? They are a massive order of French fries topped with cheese and bacon bits.

Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte

Pittsburgh’s favorite local pastry is the Burnt Almond Torte from Prantl’s bakery. The torte is a white cake covered in icing and topped with ridiculous amounts of toasted almond slivers. The backstory of this pastry begins with a trip Henry Prantl took to California. It was a bumper year for almond production, so prices were low. Henry Prantl wanted to find a way to use almonds back in Pittsburgh, so he created the recipe. It was an immediate hit! Pittsburghers still line up for it by the slice, and it is now a popular flavor of wedding cake in Pennsylvania and other states. www.prantlsbakery.com

Sarris Candy

While people link Pennsylvania with the Hershey name for chocolate, Pittsburghers will choose Sarris Candy, based in Canonsburg, just south of the city. Sarris Candy opened in 1960 and is now available in thousands of locations throughout Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Known for their chocolates and many varieties of chocolate-covered pretzels, they also make candies and ice cream.

Other Foods Associated with Pittsburgh:

Eat’n Park Smiley Cookies – introduced in 1986, these cookies were a hit and remain a Pittsburgh favorite.

Heinz Ketchup – Native Pittsburghers know if you try to give them another brand. I’m surprised Giant Eagle bothers to stock anything else.

Pepperoni rolls – Pepperoni rolls were first eaten by West Virginia and Pennsylvania coal miners in the early 1900s who needed something filling to eat that would fit in one hand, so they could work and eat at the same time. Technically, West Virginia gets credit for creating pepperoni rolls, but a quick trip to the strip district will show your tastebuds who perfected them.

Kielbasa – This polish sausage is incredibly popular in Pittsburgh. It’s often served with a horseradish and Chili sauce mixture for dipping or on a bun with mustard. In Polish areas of Pittsburgh, the uncured varieties are more popular than the smoked sausages.

Scrapple – is a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, and spices. It’s a popular breakfast meat in many Pittsburgh homes.

Isaly’s Chipped Chopped Ham – this creation originated in Ohio but became so popular in Pittsburgh that we are the largest consumers of chipped chopped ham. Chipped chopped ham is made by blending ham pieces, ham trimmings, and seasonings and shaping them into a loaf which is then shaved into super-thin slices. It’s used to make sandwiches with lots of Heinz Yellow mustard and ham barbeque.

Klondike Bars – Invented by Isaly’s in Ohio and quickly appropriated as a Pittsburgh favorite.

The Banana Split – The first banana split, scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream placed between a split banana and topped with chopped nuts, whipped cream, your favorite sauce, and a maraschino cherry was first created in Latrobe, PA, at Tassel Pharmacy in 1904. This claim was disputed by a store in Ohio, but the National Ice Cream Retailers Association certified Latrobe as the birthplace of the banana split.

Photos:

Images of Phipps Conservatory:

By Dllu - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44448359

By Dllu - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44448352

By Dllu - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44448364

By Dllu - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44450783

Image of Sidney Crosby with the Stanley Cup:

By daveynin from United States - Hello, Sid!, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59330042

Image of pierogi:

By Siffka - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65983520

Image of Primanti Brothers sandwich:

By Adam Stone from Fort Worth, TX, USA - Pittsburger1, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4747833