Cool Shot of Our Courtyard

If early summer does nothing else, it lights our Priory Hotel courtyard up!  Thanks to our great gardener Sherry Wood of Pedal Pushers, and her husband Jeff, who do a lot of work to keep our gardens looking great!

Best Bars in Pittsburgh As I.D.'d by Thrilllist

Thrilllist has announced its list of the ten best bars in Pittsburgh.  This is always a matter of taste, but they do manage to capture some of the hot spots right now, including Industry Public House in Lawrenceville and Il Tetto, the rooftop bar at Sienna Mercato restaurant downtown.  See Thrilllist's top ten here.

A few suggestions from a local perspective here on the North Side:

The Park House - Deutschtown:  One of the oldest bars in Pittsburgh, you can throw peanut shells on the floor and listen to bluegrass music on Wednesdays with the hipster crowd.  A fun place with lots of microbrews.

The Modern Cafe - Allegheny West:  A Cheers type place with a distinctive art deco facade and sign.  Mandy the bartender is as friendly a person as you will meet, and there's a wide variety of microbrews available.

The Monterey Pub - A neat neighborhood place tucked among the townhouses of a residential side street, the Monterey is crowded and fun, and offers some great food -- particularly the burgers.

36 Hours in Pittsburgh Per the New York Times

The New York Times did an interesting article on a weekend trip to Pittsburgh, concentrating on 36 hours in some offbeat spots including our own North Side gem City of Asylum, which offers a home as well as performance space for artists and writers persecuted in their own countries, as well as some of the new happening spots in Lawrenceville.  

You can see the article here.  

Pittsburgh: Baseball Team Rocks Plus a Top 10 Foodie City

The first part of that title was irrelevant.  I'm just bragging.  The second part is indicative of the remarkable culinary revolution that's gone on here in Pittsburgh in the last 10 years, with many young dynamic chefs plying their trade and inspiring local audiences to follow them.  Livability.com has pronounced Pittsburgh one of the Top 10 Foodie Cities in the country, with great new places like Cure and Butcher & the Rye.  Pittsburgh placed third, by the way.

Here's a Post-Gazette report on the Livability article.

Here's the Livability article.

Pirates Redux - Forbes Field

Forbes Field in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh was the home of the now red hot Pirates for just over six decades.  It was the site of many memorable moments, including Babe Ruth's last home run (for the Boston Braves!) and the iconic Bill Mazeroski home run to win the 1960 World Series over the Yankees.  Here's an interesting homage to Forbes Field, the site of which is now occupied by a variety of University of Pittsburgh buildings.  The outfield wall, where Maz hit his homer, is still there though, and is well worth a trip!

You can see the homage. here.