Daily Lunch Service Begins Promptly at 11:31 AM
PATIO Now Open!
--------- TUESDAY ---------
HALF OFF
all BOTTLES of WINE
{BY AMYJO BROWN}
PUSADEE’S GARDEN. 5321 Butler St., Lawrenceville. 412781-8724. Traditional Thai sauces and curries from scratch are among the reasons to stop by this charming eatery, which boasts an outdoor patio. Don’t miss the latke-like shrimp cakes, the classically prepared tom yum gai soup, perfectly prepared tilapia or the spicy duck noodles. KF
GETTING CARDED Local farmers’ markets again accepting food stamps AT LEAST TWO of Pittsburgh’s Citiparks farmers’ mar-
THE QUIET STORM COFFEEHOUSE AND RESTAURANT. 5430 Penn Ave., Friendship. 412-661-9355. Bike punks, young families and knowledge-workers can all use a cup of joe, lunch or some homemade pastry. The Quiet Storm’s laid-back, familiar vibe welcomes all to chill. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunches cater to vegetarians and vegans. JF
Don’t be late.
Shiloh GrilL
123 Shiloh Street, Mt. Washington
412.431.4000
theShilohGrill.com
the
Wooden Nickel R e s t a u r a n t
&
L o u n g e
Enjoy! 2 Outdoor Patios Live Music Every Fri & Sat Night!
DAILY DRINK
SPECIALS
MARTINI MONDAYS DRAFTS TUESDAYS WINE WEDNESDAYS THIRSTY THURSDAYS
LATE NIGHT BITES
½ Off Lounge Menu from 9-10pm 4006 Berger Lane - Monroeville 412-372-9750 TheWoodenNickelRestaurant.com 20
offMenu
mango curry. The flavors here are best described as intense, yet without overwhelming the fresh ingredients. KF
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 06.05/06.12.2013
900 Western Ave. NORTH SIDE Open Daily at 11 am 412-224-2163
BenjaminsPgh.com
ROOT 174. 1113 S. Braddock Ave., Regent Square. 412-243-4348. The foundation of the menu is also a basic formula: fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. To this, add an adventurous selection of meat products, such as bonemarrow brûlée and smoked salmon sausage. Dishes have lengthy ingredient lists, but it all comes together in satisfying and surprising ways. LF SALT OF THE EARTH. 5523 Penn Ave., Garfield. 412-4417258. Salt embodies a singular vision for not just eating, but fully experiencing food. The ever-changing but compact menu reflects chef Kevin Sousa’s hybrid style, combining cuttingedge techniques with traditional ingredients to create unique flavor and texture combinations. Salt erases distinctions — between fine and casual dining, between familiar and exotic ingredients, between your party and adjacent diners. LE TOMATO PIE CAFÉ. 885 East Ingomar Road, Allison Park. 412-364-6622. Located on the verdant edge of North Park, Tomato Pie is more than a pizzeria. It offers other simple Italian specialties including pasta and sandwiches, and the chef uses plenty of fresh herbs grown on the premises. FJ TWISTED THISTLE. 127 Market St., Leechburg. 724-236-0450. This cozy restaurant, set in a restored 1902 hotel, offers above-average fare, reasonably priced. Alongside the contemporary American flavors are numerous Asianinspired dishes, such as soup made from kabocha pumpkin. From po’boy oyster appetizers to crab cakes and over-sized short ribs, each dish is carefully conceived and prepared. EK
North Side farmers’ market {PHOTO BY AMYJO BROWN}
LET’S DO LUNCH
DINING OUT, CONTINUED FROM PG. 19
kets — the East Liberty and North Side locations — will accept food stamps this season. “It’s a win-win for poor people, affluent people, farmers and the communities,” says Ken Regal, executive director of Just Harvest, a local nonprofit that helped acquire several free Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) terminals for the city from the state. The markets stopped being able to accept food stamps in 1994, when the EBT cards replaced the paper coupons. Since then, markets have struggled to find a way to make it work. “The technology was unreliable, and that was a big barrier. It’s also expensive,” says Emily Schmidlapp, manager of the Farmers@Firehouse market in the Strip District. The terminals, she says, cost about $1,000 each. In addition to making the market accessible to those using food stamps, the terminals also accept credit and debit cards, allowing all customers to benefit. The Strip District market, which is outside the seven city-run farmers’ markets, received a free terminal from the state last year. Because it focuses on organic foods, the prices can still be a deterrent to food-stamp recipients. The market sold about $350 worth of market goods through the food-stamp program, compared to $6,000 in credit-card transactions. Schmidlapp says she hopes to offset that difference this year through a “double-value program,” in which someone using $10 worth of food stamps would be issued $20 in tokens to spend. Schmidlapp, who also works for Just Harvest, says the benefits of extending food stamps to markets “go in every direction.” As of April, there were 161,787 people issued food stamps in Allegheny County, totaling more than $20.94 million in benefits, according to Regal. “That’s a huge amount of business for small family farmers,” Schmidlapp says. Regal says the goal is to get terminals in the other markets “as quickly as we are logistically able to do that.” “There has been this false stereotype of food-stamp users as people who waste their money on food that isn’t good for you, even though there is no data to support that,” Regal says. But “if we want people to use their food stamps to get the best, most nutritious food for that dollar, farmers’ markets are one of the best ways of doing that.” A B ROW N @ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM