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THE STEAK WAS MARINATED IN MELTED BUTTER, THEN SEARED ON A “WHITE HOT” SKILLET
TEA TIME {BY ANDY MULKERIN} At first glance, Nate Pantalone, owner of Dobrá Tea House in Squirrel Hill, doesn’t cut the profile you’d expect. The tea room is comfy, with Eastern influences in its décor and music. But Pantalone is a softspoken, clean-cut 24-year-old who went to school for … chemical engineering. “I got out of school and didn’t find a job at first, and I decided that this was what I wanted to do,” says Pantalone. Dobrá is a growing brand, with four other locations throughout the country; the first was in Burlington, Vt., and Pantalone came across a Dobrá shop in Madison, Wis., where he went to college. He opened the Pittsburgh shop in mid-March. Dobrá, the story goes, was founded in Prague, by men who were tea smugglers before the fall of communism. In 2003, the Burlington shop opened. All of the U.S. locations stock only Dobrá teas, supplied by the Prague company. Right now, Dobrá doesn’t serve tea to go — one of the distinctions Pantalone draws between his shop and the nearby Te Café — and the shop generally caters to the stop-and-stay-awhile crowd. Tea is served in small pots appropriate to the type of tea (everything from green and black to yerba maté and herbal tisanes). In the early weeks of Dobrá, Pantalone says there’s not a specific bestseller. “It depends on the weather,” he says. “The other day, it was cold and gray, and that was a black-tea day.” AMULKERIN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
1937 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill. 412-449-9833 or www.dobrateapgh.com
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Among Pittsburgh’s unique ue signs of spring: the Pedall Pale Ale Keg Ride. Registration is now open for or this beer-and-bike vernal celebration, on Sat., April 27, 7, in which fresh beer is towed d bike to a by bik mystery location myste cation and enjoyed a njoyed there. Ride begins at East End Brewing’s new facilities at n 147 Julius St., in Larimer. Full details and sign-up: www. eastendbrewing.com/2013KegRide.
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ALL ABOARD {PHOTOS BY HEATHER MULL}
{BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}
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T CAN BE difficult to tease apart the
appeal of food and atmosphere. Of course, we go to restaurants to eat, but also to enjoy an experience that is different from that of cooking and dining at home. Thus, our interest in JG’s Tarentum Station Grille had as much to do with its location — the historic train station of this old Allegheny River town — as with its old-school continental menu. We found the exterior of the station immaculately restored, with a new little building beside it, presumably to handle some kitchen duties. The bar end of the building ended at a pleasant patio with seating, while we scored an intimate table in a tiny sun porch tucked beneath the eaves on one side of the building. It lacked a rail-front view, but afforded the opportunity to study an elaborate mural that traced the area through time, from Native Americans tracking in Penn’s Woods through early settlement, to the town’s heyday and its current Gatto Cycle glory. Its encyclopedic attention to local history was fascinating.
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 04.10/04.17.2013
Chicken Louisiana
Inside, the menu was dominated by traditional fine-dining fare, mostly with an Italian pedigree. But the 21st century made itself known through occasional American ingredients such as habañero and poblano peppers. There were also a few dishes that,
JG’S TARENTUM STATION GRILLE 101 Station Drive, Tarentum. 724-226-3301 HOURS: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sat. 4-10 p.m. PRICES: Soups, salads and appetizers $4-10; entrees $18-30 LIQUOR: Full bar
CP APPROVED if not up-to-the-minute, at least expanded on the choices we would have had a generation ago. For example, coconut shrimp is hardly a trendsetter, but who could complain about shellfish this plump and juicy, or the fiery habañero-pineapple jelly that set off its briny sweetness? The soup du jour, a crab-corn chowder,
wasn’t precisely seasonal, but was chockfull of sweet crabmeat and corn as well as plenty of other vegetables. It was tender-crisp in a broth whose glossy sheen suggested cornstarch thickener, but was neither too pasty nor too heavy for the morsels it held. A New York strip steak done Pittsburgh rare was an opportunity for a little cultural history. We knew the story about millworkers cooking steaks on the searing-hot surfaces of steel furnaces, but harbored some doubt about the veracity of the tale. Jason’s uncle had joined us and confirmed that yes, in his mill days, workers did indeed heat meals using both equipment and freshly rolled steel. Score one for folk history. JG’s kitchen marinated the steak in melted butter before searing on a “white hot” skillet, and we applauded the results: The crust was crackling without too much bitter char, and the near-raw interior was tender and flavorful, with excellent seasoning throughout. Jason’s dad, also visiting, noted that it was better and far cheaper than the steak he’d had a