The Fresh Hospitality group is responsible for all the new restaurants on campus, including EiO & The Hive. This new restaurant is located in The Market at Health Sciences Center, so I went up recently to check it out.

The Market is a pretty cool space - very modern with lots of little nooks to take up and get some work done. There's also outdoor seating. It has Little Donkey Tacos and Hugh Baby's BBQ that are also present in Evansdale Crossing.


LOCAL FOOD, GLOBAL FLAVORS

The menu features teas, wheatgrass shots, juices, smoothies and coffees on the drink end. On the food side of things, we have chia pudding, avocado toast, salads, bowls and some sandwiches. However, the meat options are pretty limited.

I ordered the only sandwich that had meat on it: Chicken Little. Harissa rubbed chicken salad, sourdough, cheese and side of root veggies. Tony got a "bowl," which ended up being a piece of chicken with two sides, and Dave got that lovely coffee.


This sandwich was OK. In the description it said chicken salad, but this was more like small bits of warm, darker meat chicken. The cheese had Mexican seasoning, and there was also lettuce and tomato. It was pretty basic - not a ton of flavor. I think everything needed more seasoning or some sort of sauce. I even looked around for ketchup, but found none. The side of root veggies were the same.

I think they're committed to a healthier lifestyle, which I know is free from some of those fattier sauces that are rich and slathered on other restaurant sandwiches. But I think this dish could've easily been transformed with a little love. I'll be on the look out to see how they evolve as they go!

Piccadilly is a well-known road in City of Westminster, London ... which you may know because of the OneRepublic song "Good Life," where he sings "Woke up in London yesterday, found myself in the city near Piccadilly..."

But, if you're in Pittsburgh, you may be more familiar with the organic artisan yogurt shop Piccadilly.

REAL FOOD
We love real food, that is why we do not use additives, preservatives, coloring, pesticides or any other chemical when making yogurt bases – only local, organic ingredients. 

ABOUT
We are a self serve yogurt shop on Washington Road in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We serve organic dairy and organic vegan frozen yogurt that is made fresh at our partner farm.

This place really focuses on organic, locally made yogurt without antibiotics or hormones. I'm sure this is a real draw for a certain group of folks; I can't say that I'm one of them. Sure, it's a nice benefit, but it's not a deciding factor on which froyo shop I'm going to.

The inside is adorable, with the self-serving yogurt and toppings to the left and a nice, cool cheery lounge feel throughout the rest of the shop.

I kept it pretty simple with the organic sea salt caramel yogurt and I placed some caramel turtles, hot caramel and brownie pieces on top. There was a nice mix of ingredients - some I don't usually see - so that was nice.

The yogurt itself was fine, but the toppings weren't nearly as rich as I anticipated - maybe because of the nature of the shop. But the best part was the hot caramel on top. That really made it for me. Cute place overall; a bunch of preteens were hanging out so we didn't stay too long, but it's charming in a sense and had some decent froyo.

Grade: B 

Random Saturday afternoons are for trips to Trader Joe's, chocolates from Sarris Candies and a boozy dinner just outside of town so it feels like you're ~getting away~. A quick search found Bistro 19 as one of the top rated restaurants in the area, so I called to see if they had any openings for dinner and lucked out.

We'd found parking a few blocks away from the building, which was cute, modern, and bustling. Inside, every table was taken up, candles flickered and the lighting was dim.

Heather and I were seated in a corner near the window of the restaurant, and I immediately ordered a red wine (Argentinian Malbec). Very good. A few features, like venison, were available. The menu has Chilean sea bass, pork tenderloin, crab cakes, filet mignon, sea scallops, duck breast, shrimp, almond chicken, salmon, a burger, lobster tail gnocchi (which I almost ordered), and orecchiette pasta (which I did order).

These are standard options, so I went for the one that was the most different. While the lobster tail gnocchi sounded good, orecchiette pasta with veal meatballs, bacon, wild mushrooms, spring peas and herb butter was a combo I've not had before.

But first, a small bread basket - both very good, and that butter was to die for. Whipped and herbed and sweet and delish.

The entree was also very, very good. Even though it was a pasta dish, it felt light with the herb butter and peas and mushrooms. The veal meatballs were very well-seasoned, and it all worked well together. The server told us that this dish will be coming off the menu soon, so get it while you can.

Overall, it was quite a good dinner. The service was a bit slow, but that was just more time to leisurely drink my wine and enjoy the meal. A nice little getaway from Morgantown resulted in a pretty good meal - one that I remembered the next day with leftovers!

Grade: A

During my time in Morgantown, I've come to know two parties when it comes to Tex-Mex: There are the Los loyalists and the Rio loyalists. I belong to a small not-a-huge-fan-of-Mexican-food contingent. But, when I recently learned that Rio Grande III changed to Rio Verde, I was tasked with checking it out.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if the menu is different, because I had only been here previously like once. So, it could just be a change in name - or it could be owners or a whole overhaul. I'm not sure. Someone who was a Rio Grande devotee, lemme know.

The interior was a bit sparse, but it looked to have a cool mural on the far wall. Basic, quick service with no devoted server - just whoever was free to top off drinks or fill our chip basket. But, a fairly steady stream of people coming in for lunch.

So, my best bet for satisfaction at a Tex-Mex restaurant is queso. It's my saving grace. So, after the initial chips and salsa came out, I immediately put in a request for queso. And, it was fine. It seemed kind of ... condensed? I dunno; I've had better.

All of the lunch options are essentially some combination of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, or chalupas. I've had tacos and burritos more times than I can count, so I went with Special Lunch #16, which had a chalupa and chicken enchilada with rice.

• Burrito: Flour tortilla folded and filled with meat or beans, topped with cheese and covered with our special burrito salsa.
• Chalupa: Flat crisp corn tortilla with beans, lettuce and guacamole on top.
• Chile Relleno: Poblano pepper stuffed with cheese and potatoes, served with cheese notop & covered with a special egg batter with gravy salsa on top (mild, hot)
• Enchiladas: Corn tortilla folded round and filled with your choice of meats or cheese or beans, cheese on top and gravy salsa.
• Tostaguac: Flat, crisp tortilla with beans, beef, lettuce, guacamole and tomatoes on top.
• Taquitos: A corn tortilla filled with beef or chicken and rolled, fried golden brown, nice & crispy.
• Tamales: Corn husks wrapped around a layer of corn mealwith chicken inside. Served with cheese & special gravy salsa on top.
• Quesadilla: A Mexican version of turnover or a grilled cheese sandwich made by folding a flour tortilla in half and cooked with cheese inside over low heat.
• Chimichanga: Crisp and flaky, deep-fried burritos, served with nacho cheese on top and available in chicken or beef.
• Mole: A highly flavored gravy made with chiles, spices, chicken broth and secret array of herbs. Rich and flavorful.
• Mole Poblano: Made like mole but with extra flavors of chocolate and nuts. Very good and flavorful.
• Chorizo: A mildly spiced Mexican style sausage.

So, it's fine. Everything is this sort of same mushy texture, and it all just tastes a bit bland to me. I don't get the appeal, and I'm not sure I ever will. The enchilada was decent - but I think some fresh veggies inside would've made it something I'd appreciate. The chalupa was soggy, and that's just not my jam.

I think some variance in texture or flavor would help make this more well-rounded for me. Maybe I just choose the wrong things. I don't know. I am already preparing for the backlash from this review, so, yes, I know I'm the worst for not loving Tex-Mex.



Grade: C
 

The interior of Naticakes is very shabby chic, with lots of mismatched chairs, upcycled doors as tables and this sort of Victorian theme. The shop offers quiche, French pastries, sandwiches, salads, soups, coffee, cupcakes and gelato.

I ordered a classic almond chicken salad croissant with a side of tomato bisque. Then, I found a seat and awaited my lunch.

They came out on these sort of paper bowls and plates, which I was surprised to see. This coming from the place thats only water option is Fiji.

The sandwich was OK - a little bland. I was a big fan of the soup, though. It's sweet and rich, but not totally convinced it was homemade. But, for a (fairly) quick and light meal, it wasn't bad.

The other thing about this shop is that it was founded for good reason:

When you support our bakery & crème café, you are helping children through The Natalie Wynn Carter Foundation, in memory of a sweet little girl we affectionately called, “Naticakes.” You are providing spaces for children to play, and bringing smiles to little faces locally, and globally. Thank you for partnering with us, in “making life a little sweeter,” for children!

Before we left, we got five macarons (for $10!). A bit expensive, but there are so few places that actually offer them, I wanted to try.

The flavors available were orange-lemonade, chocolate, passionfruit, coffee - cafe au lait and pistachio. I think the orange-lemonade and pistachio were the best. But, they all have a pretty light flavor.

Overall, they've definitely done a good job of transitioning from a froyo shop to a bakery and cafe. I'll be curious to see if they end up adding more items or experiment with some of the recipes they have. I still think their strong point is their sweets, and I would definitely like to try some more of those.


Grade: B