dining – Ruth E. Hendricks

Cucina Vitale Dinner on the South Side

We finally made it for Saturday night dinner on the South Side. We’d been meaning to go eat at Cucina Vitale ever since Vincie discovered this dining gem in a Post-Gazette article by Dan Gigler in late January.

Cucina Vitale

White tablecloths, cut red roses in glass vases, excellent service, delicious food cooked to perfection and served expertly.

Our Antipasti started with black and green olives, Roasted red pepper hummus-like spread and garlic infused olive oil in which to dip the crusty bread. Every bite was delicious. A dish of Greens and creamy Beans was shared. There are no words! What other descriptor can I use besides DELICIOUS?

Followed by the soup of the day which was Tomato Bisque with Basil (Traditional Wedding Soup is always on the menu)

The specials were Chilean Sea Bass and Lump Crabmeat with a Lemon Caper Compound Butter with sides of Broccoli Rabe and Roasted New Potatoes.

And I ordered the Cheese Ravioli topped with Medallions in Gorgonzola Sauce with a drizzle of Balsamic.

Tempting house made desserts of Cannoli, Lemon Cheesecake, Chocolate Cake, Burnt Almond Torte or Tiramisu were offered but we hadn’t left enough room.There are a few things to know if you plan to go-

Reservations are essential. BYOB if you desire and it’s Cash Only.

GREENS & BEANS Escarole, Northern Beans, Garlic, Shallots, White Wine, & Parmesan

The Chilean Sea Bass with Lump Crabmeat and Lemon Caper Compound Butter

The Tomato Basil Soup with a touch of Parmesan

Chef Frank Vitale learned to cook from his Grandmother, in the photo on the restaurant wall.

Shot from across the street as we got into the car.

May 19, 2019 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: Carson Street, Chilean Sea Bass, Cucina Vitale, dining, eating, food, Greens and Beans, Italian restaurant, photography, Pittsburgh PA, Pittsburgh Photography, postaday, ravioli, south side 5 Comments

A “New” Table from the Neighbors

Thanks to P and J we now have a “new” table for the front porch. Thank you for the upgrade from our little plastic circle.

Steve took this photo on my phone of our Spaghetti Arugula and tricolor corn supper.

July 5, 2017 by Ruth Categories: Guest Blog, PhotographyTags: dining, front porch, neighbors, photography, postaday, Spaghetti Arugula, summer, supper, table 8 Comments

Delicious Dinner With Friends and a Crazy Surprise Ending

*Plan for the New Year 2017– contact friends you haven’t seen in awhile and make time to get together

I met two friends/former colleagues from Greenfield School Tuesday evening.

The first photo is my view as I waited for them to park after battling rush hour.

Forrest was our attentive and knowledgeable waiter who guided us in our selections.

Piccolo Forno in Lawrenceville

Bruschette butternut squash and greens with mint chevre, cannellini bean spread with basil pesto, and red pepper tapenade

Polpete Toscane baked meatballs of beef and pork with a fresh herb green sauce

Gratinato di Cavolfiore cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach and leek gratin with toasted breadcrumbs

The appetizers and the BYOB bottle of dry red wine that Lara and Joz brought to share

Joz and I ordered the same thing-Ravioli con Burro e Salvia

Cappuccino Gelato Panna Cotta and a wild brownie with Cayenne Pepper in it- zing!

Thanks Joz for taking our photo with the nice young man Jeffrey who brought out the Greenfield Shirt I’d left on my chair in the restaurant.

Turns out the he was our former student at Greenfield School in 1997
(cool that he could still recognize us)

I taught him art and Ms Evans was his third grade teacher.

January 17, 2017January 17, 2017 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: art room, dining, dinner, friends, friendship, Lawrenceville PA, photography, Piccolo Forno, postaday, student 17 Comments

Train Ride to Denali

Mary and I got a cab to the Anchorage Railroad Depot, checked in our tagged bags, drank a delicious coffee and waited to board the glass roofed train to Denali.

At the start of the train ride there were just nine of us and then 58 joined us at Talkeetna. It’s now the end of the season that started in May.

We decided to get breakfast after an early start

Mary ordered the reindeer/ egg scrambler skillet.

Chef Malachi cooked our breakfasts to perfection! Delicious.

Jerrica tended the bar at the front of the car

Our conductor A.J. He has to get off the train to manually switch the tracks so we could wait on the side as another train passed, going south.

Matthew our excellent server on the left and Crystal our knowledgeable tour guide.

Both of them made it a fun and memorable adventure. The train ride is about eight hours. We didn’t knit or nap, didn’t want to miss a single second.

(Good sports to let me photograph them, thanks!)

We saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans who mate for life.

Their young ones were swimming on their own

After the lunch crowd left the dining car and went back upstairs, I enjoyed a Forest pie with rhubarb, apple, blackberry and strawberries topped with vanilla ice cream. Matt asked if I wanted a lot of whipped cream or a little. 🙂

Everyone was so nice, the scenery so incredible. Andy took a photo of us at the table too, which was great for the memory book, but unfortunately I did not take his pic.

We highly recommend the train tour.

September 8, 2016 by Ruth Categories: Photography, TravelTags: Alaska, Alaska Railroad, Denali, dining, food, Forest Pie, Gray Line, Holland American, people at work, photography, postaday, railroad, train, train travel, travel, trestle bridge, Trumpeter Swans 20 Comments

Coppelia Diner in Chelsea

Coppelia Cuban Diner open 24-7 where chefs dine after work

14th Street between 7th &

8th Ave

Cafe Con Leche

Freshly baked pastries and cheese rolls

Dos Huevos (over) Cuban Toast Chimicurri Home Fries

After breakfast we walked along the Highline where we saw this

Artist Tony Matelli’s sculpture Sleepwalker Sleepwalker sculpture wakes you up article

August 28, 2016 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: breakfast, brunch, Chelsea, Coppelia, Cuban diner, diner, dining, eating and drinking, food, New York City, postaday, sculpture, Tony Matelli, travel 8 Comments

Night Diner

9th Street South Philly

March 5, 2014March 6, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: counter, diner, dining, eating, iPhone photography, kitchen, night photography, Philadelphia PA, photography, postaday, travel 14 Comments

Thai Cuisine on Liberty Ave at Pearl Street in Bloomfield

When I got home from school, Steve asked me if I wanted to go eat at the Thai Cuisine Restaurant in Bloomfield. Bloomfield is considered the Italian section of the city and I have blogged the Italian Festival and scenes from the Bloomfield Bridge.

On Liberty Ave at Pearl Street, across from the Bloomfield Laundromat,there’s delicious Thai food in this wonderfully Italian neighborhood.

I was so tired when Steve suggested going out to eat, I thought about lying down and taking a rest instead.

Fortunately, I decided to take him up on his offer and am I ever glad I did. He’d brought home take-out from this restaurant before but had never dined in. He told me how nice they were to him and always remembered his name.

It’s BYOB. They have a vegetarian menu,too. The service -friendly and nice, the food fresh and perfectly prepared. Very tasty. The decor and ambience clean and comfortable. Love the cloth napkins.

We enjoyed our dinner tremendously.

We ordered two dishes to share and the brown rice. There are curries and appetizers, soups and salads and desserts. Spicy Basil Fried Rice seems to be a favorite in the reviews. The YELP reviews = overall four out of five stars. The Urbanspoon seemed quite favorable and highly recommended by the City Paper Critic, too

Ginger Roots Onions, Black Mushrooms, Broccoli, Carrots, Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Snow Peas, with Chicken

Classic Shrimp Pad Thai

The view from my seat in the front window booth.

And the high gloss lacquered table reflecting formerly St. Joseph’s Church

Our server rolled all the silverware in wonderful cloth napkins- stacked and ready to go

And Steve took a shortcut down the alley to get us home. Love being a passenger so I can photograph with the good old iPhone camera. Did not take my regular camera to dinner.

May 15, 2013May 15, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: Bloomfield, dining, eating, food, Ginger Roots, neighborhood, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, reflection, Shrimp Pad Thai, St. Joseph's Church, Thai Cuisine, Urbanspoon, YELP 9 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime

Lunchtime lately has been from the students’ cooking at the Carrick Cafe. You’ll see a couple of orders in takeout boxes and containers below. I thought this week’s challenge a fun one to create.

WordPress is hoping for some “offbeat interpretations, mouthwatering photos”. The photos are supposed to be taken with a phone. I got that about half right. Once I started searching I had to just stop as there were too too many images of meals consumed at lunchtime!

I think of lunchtime as a short time, dictated by bells. Here is a lunchtime medley from the archives. Some shots I probably would not have blogged before.

And from the online etymology dictionary

lunch (n.) “mid-day repast,” 1786, shortened form of luncheon (q.v.). The verb meaning “to take to lunch” (said to be from the noun) also is attested from 1786:

But as late as 1817 the only definition of lunch in Webster’s is “a large piece of food.” OED says in 1820s the word “was regarded either as a vulgarism, or as a fashionable affectation.” Related: Lunched; lunching. Lunch money is attested from 1868; lunch-time (n.) is from 1821; lunch hour is from 1840. Slang phrase out to lunch “insane, stupid, clueless” first recorded 1955, on notion of being “not there.” Old English had nonmete “afternoon meal,” literally “noon-mea

The Deli Counter at La Groceria Italiana (shot on Friday March the 15th with an iPhone)

Fish Tacos with a fresh lime

Ohio State Fair Food Booth

Star Shaped Peanut Butter and Jelly onWhole Wheat Columbus Ohio

Food Truck Festival Columbus

Steak Salad at Silky’s in Sharpsburg PA

Another shot at the Food Truck Festival

Extra Pickles

Ahhh, Onion Rings

New York City Hot Dog Carts

Blackened Catfish, Rice and Beans and Cornbread Lunch from the Carrick Cafe

Maura has a lunchtime picnic at Grandma’s House

Lunch at the Museum of Modern Art New York City

Hmmmmm What’s for lunch? says Mar

Soup and Sandwich in Stamford , Connecticut

A Slice of Pizza

Thelma’s for lunch in Roanoke Virginia

Lined up for Fries at the Potato Patch, Kennywood

March 15, 2013May 28, 2019 by Ruth Categories: Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: Columbus OH, dining, family, food, food truck, iPhone photography, NewYork City Hot Dog Cart, Ohio State Fair Food Booth, phoneography, photography, pizza, postaday, Roanoke VA, sandwich, Thelma's Cafe, travel, Weekly Photo Chalenge:Lunchtime 30 Comments

Contemplating the Scraps Bowl Offerings

What will you eat today?

November 23, 2012November 23, 2012 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: animal, dining, eating, farm, food, photography, pig, postaday, thanksgiving, travel 8 Comments

Yes, That’s Crabmeat on the Asparagus- La Cucina Flegrea

V and I went La Cucina Flegrea on Murray Avenue for a decade and then it closed. We had missed going there for the Spaghetti Arugula and Rigatoni in Vodka Sauce. J and I took a cooking class there, you might remember that post click here

Well, Chef Anna is back and she was glad to see us. Our first visit to the new place. She opened last November but it was Laura’s wedding and all. It was my friend R who told me about this new location. Here is the website for the new one, complete with menu-La Cucina Flegrea to downtown’s Market Square. We were celebrating V’s birthday. Happy birthday V!

We started with the 5 Fagioli soup and then because we ordered the Baccalá with Sweet Onion and Shrimp Sauce, a Mozzarella Wagon with Fresh Tomato sauce came as an appetizer- 4 balls of mozzarella breaded and fried and accompanied by a delicious sauce. Here’s a shot of the Asparagus with all the lovely, succulent crab meat on it.

Dessert was Baba au Ruhm. Whipped cream and raspberries, a rum sugar sauce. And a cup of hot tea.

It was a happy birthday dinner and we were glad to eat at La Cucina Flegrea again. Everything was delicious.

La Cucina Flegrea in Market Square — The La Cucina FLegrea entrance is the Pumpkin colored awning

March 10, 2012March 9, 2012 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, Night Light in the City, Pittsburgh PhotosTags: asparagus, Chef Anna, city at night, dining, downtown, food, La Cucina Flegrea, Market Square, Pittsburgh, postaday, travel 15 Comments

Tag: dining

Cucina Vitale Dinner on the South Side

Like this:

A “New” Table from the Neighbors

Like this:

Delicious Dinner With Friends and a Crazy Surprise Ending

*Plan for the New Year 2017– contact friends you haven’t seen in awhile and make time to get together

Turns out the he was our former student at Greenfield School in 1997
(cool that he could still recognize us)

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Train Ride to Denali

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Coppelia Diner in Chelsea

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Night Diner

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Thai Cuisine on Liberty Ave at Pearl Street in Bloomfield

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime

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Contemplating the Scraps Bowl Offerings

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Yes, That’s Crabmeat on the Asparagus- La Cucina Flegrea

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*Plan for the New Year 2017– contact friends you haven’t seen in awhile and make time to get together

Turns out the he was our former student at Greenfield School in 1997 (cool that he could still recognize us)

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Turns out the he was our former student at Greenfield School in 1997
(cool that he could still recognize us)