My friend told me about a yogurt shop that popped up in Squirrel Hill next to Rita’s by the name of Tutti-Frutti. It’s been years since I’ve had the stuff, so I stopped by on my way home from dinner in Shadyside. It had been a hot day, so I expected to see a crowd when I entered the store. There were only two other people in front of me… not a good sign.

I arrived a few minutes early, and was taken to a seat by the window. The décor at Dinette might be described as modern, with the polished stainless steel tables and contemporary-styled orange chairs. It’s not a large establishment, and probably seats approximately 50 people; 15 or so extra in the summer with the outside tables. Large windows provide a view of Penn Circle.

Cibo, in Regent Square is the owned by Dino DeFlaviao. If you live in the east end, and don’t know who Dino is, you must not know the areas as well as you think. Prior to being Cibo, DeFlavio’s Pizza occupied the space that is now the new Italian restaurant. Cibo has only been open a few days, but so far the food has been received well by the East End crowd.

Well, kids, summer is almost here, and along with it comes my appetite for strong margaritas and chips and salsa! So, when the sun peeked through one of the 4,716 thunderstorms of the month, I grabbed my guy and headed out to Mad Mex!

In Italian, stagioni means “season”, which is an adorable coincidence since it has already taken me two of them to write this article.

I recently had the opportunity to dine at the hard Rock Café in Station Square with a friend. The large restaurant had pictures of famous musicians were all over the place- old faded leather jackets from famous rockers, electric guitars, and other musical instruments hung on the wall. Music was blaring over the loud speakers (80’s tunes!) but my dinner companion and I had no problems having a conversation.

Burgatory was great! It is much better than Brgr, which I also tried recently. We went yesterday evening – I know it’s popular right now and I wanted to avoid the wait, we still waited about 35 minutes and it was PACKED.

One day you may find yourself slightly tipsy, yet trying to avoid drowning in the greasy quagmire that is typical South Side fare. Fear not, for there’s an escape located at 1107 E Carson St. If you don’t stumble by the unassuming storefront, you’ll find Chef Paul Krawiec preparing rustic French cuisine with the kind of care and confidence that compels one to make their next reservation on the way out.

There’s a small restaurant above Pamela’s in Shadyside, by the name of La Feria. Climb a small set of stairs, walk past the Latin American souvenirs, and you’ll come up a small dining room with chairs. The odd placement of La Feria makes it almost unrecognizable as a full-service restaurant.

Katie and I were spent; too much going on in our lives- we needed a few drinks to help us unwind. It was a typical Thursday night in Regent Square; pedestrians were out picking up their dry-cleaning (trying not to get hit by cars as they crossed Braddock Avenue), having dinner, and running errands. We weren’t interested in doing anything productive- we needed cold beer and talk-therapy. Neither of us had been to The Loft, so we decided to give it a try.