This story is part of a package celebrating the food and culture of Appalachia. We asked each contributor to build a road trip itinerary sharing the best ways to get to know Appalachian food, culture, and history as they see it today. Here author Mike Scalise—a born-and-raised Yinzer (a.k.a. proud Pittsburgher)—shares his dream road trip highlighting Steel City’s Appalachian roots.
I never thought my hometown had a food culture (beyond the glorious french-fry-laden Pittsburgh salad). Our cuisine, like the city itself, is unique and strange, influenced by its proximity to West Virginia and its industrialized past. Here’s a route through my favorite of those influences that doubles as a tour of Appalachia’s largest city.
The first stop is Jim’s Famous Sauce (2600 Skyline Drive, West Mifflin), a fixture in the Mon Valley—once a cradle of the US steel industry. After years of running a soda stand, Greek immigrant Jim Damianos opened this drive-up joint in 1948, and devotees have been idling in front of its iconic brick facade and lit marquee ever since. The place still carries that sturdy postwar vibe. At the counter, order a cheese dog with sauce and you’ll get back a broiled bun of melty, peppery transcendence.
Jim’s Famous Sauce.Photograph by Caroline Tompkins
That will tide you over for the 20-minute drive to Squirrel Hill, once Mister Rogers’ actual neighborhood. Murray Avenue Kosher (1916 Murray Ave) has been a pillar of this Jewish community since 1967, but lately Squirrel Hill has seen a profusion of outstanding East Asian restaurants, with Taiwanese Bistro Café 33 (1711 Shady Ave) among its best. It’s a no-frills space with warm service, popular with the nearby college students at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon. The xiao long bao is juicy; the Taiwanese sausage fried rice is slightly sweet; and co-owner Jenny Tao may even stop to chat up your table while you enjoy your meal.
The spread at Taiwanese Bistro Café 33.Photograph by Caroline Tompkins
Next, head 15 minutes north to Lawrenceville’s Butler Street, past the Brooklyn-esque shops and restaurants to Rolling Pepperoni (6140 Butler St), where Katt Shuler sells her take on the pepperoni roll—a coal miners’ lunchtime classic. Try the Hometown (peps, provolone) or the vegan and Greek riffs. When Schuler isn’t baking, the West Virginia native works with programs like the STAY project, which helps foster young leaders in Appalachia.
Then make your way down to the Hill District, where many Southern and Black families settled during the Great Migration. The Hill’s most enduring institutions might be August Wilson, who set his Pittsburgh cycle of plays here, and Grandma B’s diner (2537 Wylie Ave), which serves up dirty grits and loaded fries with a tangy house-made “Big Al” sauce that I think about a few times a week. As the sign behind the counter says: “if you don’t like the food, ya tongue lied :)”
Rolling Pepperoni.Photograph by Caroline Tompkins
Behind the counter at Grandma B’s.Photograph by Caroline Tompkins
Now may be a good time to do something besides eating, which is where 2,500 acres of trails at McConnells Mill (1761 McConnells Mill Rd) figure in. Riverside walks, secret waterfalls, and the lush green of the secluded Slippery Rock gorge are all less than an hour’s drive from the city.
McConnells Mill State Park.Photograph by Caroline Tompkins
Wrap up in the Strip District. Like much of Pittsburgh, the Strip has transformed in recent years—new restaurants, high rises. But the city’s immigrant story is still preserved there in the hand-painted signs, vendors, truckloads of produce, and old standbys like Robert Wholey & Co. seafood market (1711 Penn Ave), Mediterranean and Asian grocers Salem’s (2923 Penn Ave) and Lotus Food Co. (1649 Penn Ave), S&D Polish Deli (2204 Penn Ave), and the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company or “Penn Mac” (2010-2012 Penn Ave), where as a teen I made pecorino and prosciutto runs for my family of hungry Italians. You can’t hit the Strip without a stop at the OG Primanti Bros. (46 18th St), renowned since 1930 for its fries-and-slaw sandwiches, first made to keep truckers fed on their southbound routes. My regular order is the Pitts-Burger and Cheese; add a fried egg and that’s a piece of sandwich art.