NAC C, Pittsburgh

[jjefferies]

Has anyone cracked the combinations of price/location to get the extra good deals for hotel rooms in Pittsburgh?

Care to share info?

[eac]

No, but since I live there, and have found ways to not hate what I eat, I will give food recommendations, which are all a few miles east of downtown, where the convention center is.

- Eat Unique: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...q=eat%2Bunique

has good tuna melts and soup.

- Mineo's Pizza House: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has good pizza, but doesn't deliver.

- Te Cafe: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has free wifi and a couple hundred kinds of tea. Also often spectacular scones. Good way to spend several hours away from the convention center. Try a chai tea latte, and prepare to be dazzled with flavor.

- The Coffee Tree: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...HqH-zQS3kY23Ag

has gourmet coffee, and also very good espresso.

- the Smallman St. Deli: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...i%2Bpittsburgh

has good deli sandwiches, and beer. Try the reuben. The soups are usually good too.

- Dozen: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has a daily-changing fantastic menu of gourmet cupcakes.

- Taza 21: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has good lamb shwarma wraps and very charming people. The woman there is extremely reminiscent of Yente the matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof.

- La Cucina Flegrea: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has really very good Italian food, even by California standards. It's not Oliveto, but still. Also very friendly service. Try the lobster/crabmeat ravioli and the spinach-cheese ravioli. They're usually better than the specials, which are only sometimes fantastic.

- Point Brugge: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

has very good Belgian food. It's famous for its mussels and beer, but if you don't like either they're also very good at other things.

- Kaya: http://maps.google.com/places/us/pit...-st/2000/-kaya

is a fairly expensive vaguely Central/South-American place with good food and cocktails.

- Star of India: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?ci...ittsburgh%2Bpa

confuses me. I've been there once and had a very nice time, and so did my friend, but it has a reputation among students nearby for being very bad, and I don't know why. My suspicion is that it was once fantastically bad, but changed owners, bought the Ajanta cookbook and spice kit from California, and now is good.

- Deluca's: http://maps.google.com/places/us/pit...27s-restaurant

is really very good breakfast even by California standards. However, I have not found anywhere else that has edible breakfast.


Note also that there is a lot of really, really bad food in Pittsburgh. If you come upon a non-chain place and it's not a pizza joint, and you don't have a Pittsburghite WHOSE TASTE YOU TRUST vehemently vouching for its legitimacy, there is a good chance that the food will have been sitting in a warehouse for three months and be drowned in grease. For some reason, this is popular in Pittsburgh. Pamela's, for instance, is like this, or Primanti brothers. Prowling for food is risky business.

Also, buses are cheap, and will take you to many of these places: www.portauthority.org for schedules, maps.google.com for how to get from A to B.

[Guided by Wire]

I'm sure most of my additional recommendations won't meet the approval of eac and his refined Californian tastes. But we can't all be so epicurean. I know I'm not.

Brewpub: The Church Brew Works (Lawrenceville)
Indian: Taj Mahal in the North Hills (a few miles up McKnight Road)
Pho: Vietnam's Pho (Strip)
Croissants/desserts: Jean-Marc Chetallier's French Bakery (Millvale) - Pittsburgh's best French bakery by a country mile.
Burgers: Fat Heads or Max & Erma's
Sandwich shop: Peppi's in the Strip
Pizza: DiCarlo's*, just south of the Liberty tunnels on 51.
* But it's a different style than most people are used to, and to some, an acquired taste.

And if you're in the mood for a fish sandwich featuring a deep-fried slab of cod the size of your fencing glove, check out August Henry's, just a block from the convention center, on Penn Ave.

[brtech]

I think Pamela's has fabulous pancakes. The prez (of the US) happens to agree.

I actually like Primanti Bros, but not everyone does.

If you are close to the venue, and you want to blow a lot of money, I highly recommend Eleven.

Kaya is also very good.

Palomino is not as close, but very good.

A quintessential Pittsburgh experience is LaMonte. The food is good, not great, the setting is fabulous. Take a local along and have them show you how to take the Incline up to Mt. Washington.

I've always liked the Grand Concourse, which is also a great location

All of these are not cheap.

The Taj is great, but it's a long way from the venue. It is inexpensive. I like Star of India. It's in Oakland, which is a good 15 min car ride from the venue. Spice Island's Tea House is also good, and in the same area. But of course if you go to Oakland, and like grease, then you must to to the 'O (Original Hot Dog Shop) and order a SMALL fries with your hot dogs.

[jjefferies]

Sounds like I'm gonna eat well, but be sleeping in the snow. BTW, has it snowed yet?

[Stormbringer]

As of the time of this writing... not yet.

[eac]

But I did have to de-ice my windshield this morning.

[Fencing Mom]

Has anyone cracked the combinations of price/location to get the extra good deals for hotel rooms in Pittsburgh?

Care to share info?

If you have a car, the closest, cheap place is Days Inn on Banksville Rd. It is 5 to 10 minutes from the convention center and it is $69 +tax per night. Now, there are a few issues you should be aware of. It is across a bridge ( as is everything in Pittsburgh) and thru a tunnel from the downtown area. That means if you have a morning close of registration you have to account for rush hour traffic. It also involves some ....interesting....lane changes. But, if anyone is staying there, I can tell you exactly how to do the necessary lane maneuvers - I do it every day.

I can't vouch for the accommodations - I've never been there. And I'm sure the food there won't meet California standards.

[jjefferies]

I can't vouch for the accommodations - I've never been there. And I'm sure the food there won't meet California standards.

I just had dinner in S.F. I can assure you that there are enough restaurants in California that don't meet California standards either. On the other hand the four or five block walk to get there was ....Uh EyE popping. Not that many people on the street but ... My companion assured me that she would protect me

[Fencing Mom]

I just had dinner in S.F. I can assure you that there are enough restaurants in California that don't meet California standards either. On the other hand the four or five block walk to get there was ....Uh EyE popping. Not that many people on the street but ... My companion assured me that she would protect me

By the way, this Days Inn is absolutely not walkable - you cannot walk thru the Fort Pitt Tunnel. But what you see on the downtown PIttsburgh end of the tunnel is "The View."

[Inquartata]

Hmm...define "walkable" for Pittsburgh in December. For me, I suspect that might be "anything within 500 feet or through an enclosed walkway", if my experience in Chicago was any indication.

I am in the Hilton, which is supposed to be "6 blocks away", but I am reading stuff about heavy construction in the area and looking at a freeway in between it and the venue, so all things considered I am almost certainly NOT going to be attempting the hike...

The Hilton, in case anyone is interested, can be had for $119 a night if you're government or military.

[Fencing Mom]

I am in the Hilton, which is supposed to be "6 blocks away", but I am reading stuff about heavy construction in the area and looking at a freeway in between it and the venue, so all things considered I am almost certainly NOT going to be attempting the hike...
.

The Hilton is walkable. 6 city blocks, you do not have to cross any freeway, but it is along the Allegheny River, so it could be brisk. I'm not sure why everyone thinks Pgh is so snowey. It's not at all comparable to Buffalo or Chicago.

[eac]

IIRC, the last Pittsburgh NAC happened to be during a worse-than-average snowstorm, which is probably where everybody's impressions came from.

[brtech]

It's walkable, but it's a pretty long hike. On the other hand, it's a nice hotel. The old grand dame in Pittsburgh is the William Penn. A very nice, but old, place. It's more walkable than the Hilton.

The Marriott is sort of between the Hilton and the William Penn. It's Marriott. Just what you expect a Marriott to be

The Doubletree is okay, and very convenient.

The Sheraton Station Square is not walkable, but in a nice redeveloped train station/warehouse place (the hotel is not in the older part, but is adjacent to it).

[jjefferies]

The Hilton looks nice but parking is $22/day which drives the price up. Fortunately it's only $5/a day at the venue over the weekend. $13/day during the week. So it looks like a bit of winter walking. Just the sort of thing that we Californians excel at. Natural born skateboarders Maybe I'll bring some ice gripons like we used on the glaciers.

[misha]

The Hilton, in case anyone is interested, can be had for $119 a night if you're government or military.

The Hilton can be had for $63 if you let Captain Kirk/Denny Crane do the talking



Priceline bid: 12/3-12/6, Downtown Pittsburgh, 3 stars


.

[jjefferies]

The Hilton can be had for $63 if you let Captain Kirk/Denny Crane do the talking

Priceline bid: 12/3-12/6, Downtown Pittsburgh, 3 stars
.

got that on 11/09/09 evening. Anyone getting anything better? Someone commented that it was 6 blocks to the venue. On Google it looks nore like 9. Buses? Long hiking socks?

[brtech]

Whatever. It's walkable, but it's a fairly long hike. A pleasant hike. I would go through Gateway Center, make a left at the corner, and go down to 10th street and turn right to walk by the river (that would be the Allegheny River at that point), which will take you right to the venue. The Hilton is a nice property, and is in a good location, right across from the "Point" which is where the three rivers and the glacial flow come together. Be aware that it's changing hands due to some financial problems with the current owners. That may cause some service issues, but I haven't heard anything bad yet.

[TBean]

got that on 11/09/09 evening. Anyone getting anything better? Someone commented that it was 6 blocks to the venue. On Google it looks nore like 9. Buses? Long hiking socks?

I cannot even get that, but I'm not arriving until 12/4 and leave 12/6. The best I've done is $105 at a small hotel/B&B in the downtown area with free parking. I considered myself lucky.

[jjefferies]

I cannot even get that, but I'm not arriving until 12/4 and leave 12/6. the best I've done is $105 at a small hotel/B&B in the downtown area with fre parking. I considered myself lucky.

Others have noted that the better deals are for the longer stays. Thank goodness. So two nights only probably is the determining factor.