But Doesn't "Ma La" MEAN Spicy And Numbing?

Due to a personal commitment, I needed to travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to meet up with some new acquaintances. We decided that the small, core group of us would meet up for lunch first and then depending on how that went, expand the group to include others for dinner as well. When it somehow came up that I was a food blogger (honestly, I wasn't the one to spill the beans this time), it became clear that picking a spot would fall squarely on my shoulders. Given that both myself and the people I would be meeting were staying on the west side of Pittsburgh near the airport, I decided to focus my search there. I also needed to take into consideration that my hotel room, in the worst case scenario, might not be ready until 3 PM so I needed to make sure I had something to do in case lunch was done early.

Enter IKEA. It's on the west side of Pittsburgh over by the airport and it has been ages since I've been able to swing a trip. I figured I'd find a nice local place to eat that was close to the mega-store and in the event I was done early, "Bazinga!" (as Sheldon Cooper would say), I could kill two birds with one stone. What I didn't realize as I began to localize my search to that part of town was that it was essentially filled to the brim with every national chain restaurant I could name. Of the few local places I stumbled upon, feedback on the web was consistently bad. I've learned by now that the reviews people leave that are either all in capital letters or in the extreme (positive or negative) are usually not all that helpful. It's the well-thought out reviews that seem to have been written by a calm and reasonable human being that I find the most helpful.

And so it was that I stumbled upon Ya Fei, Incorporated. Feedback seemed a little mixed, but overall it was fairly positive. Knowing that most people like both Chinese and Italian food, I took a chance and suggested it to my dining companions. They agreed and we met up for lunch at noon on a Saturday. As it turned out, Ya Fei was literally right across the street from IKEA, so it couldn't have been a more perfect spot. Specifically, the restaurant was located at 1980 Park Manor Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15205 in the Robinson Towne Centre. They can be reached at 412-788-9388. Parking was in the massive lot outside the strip mall.

Here was a shot of the front of the store:


As we arrived a bit early for lunch today, I had a chance to check out the interior of the small lobby inside the front door. To my left was a dry erase board with today's specials:


What caught my eye was the dish listed on the top right hand side of the board, "Ma-La Delight." I struck up a conversation with the woman standing behind the hostess stand who I think might have actually been the owner as she seemed quite knowledgeable. I asked her if the "Ma-La" actually referred to the spicy and numbing sensation created in the mouth when using real Szechaun peppercorns. She said that indeed they were and stated that only a few years ago, because of an FDA regulation, these peppercorns weren't even available in the United States. I asked her if they used the peppercorns in another Szechuan favorite of mine, Ma Pa Dofu (aka Ma Pa Tofu). She stated that they didn't and only saved the Szechaun peppercorns for special dishes like the one on the menu today. She finished the conversation by complimenting me on my knowledge of Chinese food and I graciously thanked her for the compliment.

While the price of this lunch dish seemed a bit high compared to the rest of the menu ($16 versus $7-$9), the chance to try these zesty little pods kind of stuck with me. After our entire group finally arrived, we sat down at our table and were handed the menu to peruse:






Honestly, while I did give the menu a cursory glance, I was still thinking about the special menu item and how good it would be to eat a dish made with authentic Szechuan peppercorns. I considered adding a side dish, perhaps an egg roll or a spring roll. As it turned out, my dining companion decided to order a combination platter that came with an egg roll which she didn't want. When it came to placing our order, the rest of the crowd ordered what I would consider to be more Americanized Chinese fare. The interesting item to note at Ya Fei was that for many of the dishes, you can have either a brown sauce or a white sauce, spicy or not spicy. In fact, our server asked each individual person those questions.

When it came time for me to place my order, I asked for the Ma-La Delight. When she didn't ask me if I wanted it spicy or not, it didn't seem out of place because I had just been talking with the woman at the hostess stand about this very topic. Why would you order such a dish if you didn't already expect it to come out of the kitchen prepared with a minimal amount of heat and spice? I bet, gentle reader, you can already guess where this is heading.

Our lunch order now placed, we settled back in for tea and beverage service:


The tea was hot and delicious and quickly after dropping off our beverages, my egg roll with standard American sauces arrived:


Here you have a fried pork and cabbage egg roll with small pools of sweet and hot mustard sauce. Here was a shot of the interior of the egg roll:


This was a pretty tasty egg roll. It was nicely fried and wasn't too greasy. The vegetables inside the roll were crispy and hot, but were softened just slightly from the pre-cooking of the filling. The sauces were pretty standard and I have to at least be thankful that the "sweet" sauce wasn't of the bright neon red variety. I could taste the actually fruit flavor in the sauce.

After only a few more minutes, the kitchen was able to quickly turn out our lunch dishes and they arrived at the table, two at a time. While everyone else's lunch came with rice on the plate, mine came with rice in its own bowl:


It was at this point that I realized that the $16 dish I had ordered was more of an entrée than a lunch combination. No problem, I thought, if it tastes great and provides a nice Szechuan peppercorn heat, it'll be worth the extra price. Here was a shot of my Ma-La Delight:


Comprised of scallops, shrimp, broccoli, baby corn, mushrooms, and red peppers in a tangy sauce, I searched the plate for any indication of the Szechuan peppercorns. Hmmm ... there didn't seem to be any visible sign of them, but maybe they got ground up before being thrown into the wok. I plated myself up some of the rice and several spoonfuls of the entrée


and dug in. On the positive side, the flavor was quite delicious. The sauce had a nice balance between sweet and sour and the vegetables were cooked nicely, just a bit tender while still maintaining the crispy edge. The scallops were luscious and soft and sweet and complimented the sauce quite nicely. The shrimp, while not quite as sweet as the scallops, were on the verge of being overcooked having a just slightly rubbery quality to them. But even that little quibble wasn't enough for me to say the dish didn't live up to its full potential.

What did, however, was the utter lack of any spice, in the form of numbness or spicy heat. I took bite after bite, assuming that it would build up, but absolutely nothing happened. I would've sent it back to have them re-fire it except that by the time I made the realization, I was already half-way through my lunch and didn't particularly want to hassle with it. After I finished my meal and we paid the check, I approached the woman with whom I had first talked about today's special. I told her that while it was tasty, there was absolutely no fire at all to the dish.

She looked at me with an obviousness in her gaze and said that unless specially requested, the Ma-La Delight is always made mild. At this point, I actually thought to myself, "Then why do you call it Ma-La Delight? Why not call it Sweet and Tangy Delight? Or Seafood Delight?" When I asked her how to order it properly the next time I (or more likely you, gentle reader) come back, she said that I should ask for it, "extra spicy."

What struck me as odd was that when my companions ordered non-Ma-La dishes off the menu, they were each asked how they wished it to be prepared. I, ordering a dish that by it's very name suggested that it should contain lots of spice and heat, was never asked that question. I sighed as I pondered the logic behind this new bit of information. I understand that most Americans wouldn't want it super spicy with mouth numbing properties. But at least give me the chance when I order it to make that decision for myself.

All that being said, each of my other dining companions today said that they really enjoyed their meals. I enjoyed mine, too, but not at the level I know I expected. If the true Szechuan peppercorn experience is what you are after at this local Pittsburgh restaurant, make sure you speak up when you are ordering and never assume that just because it's in the name of the dish, that is what you will actually get.

My Yearly Visit To Primanti Brothers

So what does one do when he finds himself closing out the Dave and Buster's location at 1:00 AM in the Waterfront district of Pittsburgh and craving a late night snack on a Saturday night? A better question might even be, where does one go at 2:00 AM to find the most colorful nighttime characters that Pittsburgh has to offer? The answer is quite simple, Primanti Brothers ... but not just any Primanti Brothers. The Primanti Brothers location of choice is the original storefront down in The Strip district just off of downtown. If this entry seems vaguely familiar to my longtime readers, that's because I was here over a year ago to sample this unique and tasty sandwich. If you take a moment to look at my pictures from last year, you'll realize how bad they were because I only had my cellphone with me which lacks a flash. This time around, however, I was smart enough to bring a camera with a flash.

The original Primanti Brothers location was at 46 18th Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222 and can be reached at 412-263-2142. As they did last year, they still have a website here. While there are now many satellite locations around Pittsburgh to experience this sandwich, the original location seems to have the best vibe and energy to it.

Here was the same tell-tale sign on the side of the building that I saw the last time I stopped in for a sandwich:


This time around, however, I managed to get two shots of the wall menu from which you order:



In case you've never had the opportunity to order a Primanti Brothers sandwich before, here are a few tips for you. At The Strip location, you walk in to the grill side of the restaurant first. On this side you can order a sandwich and a drink, but no sides. This was different from the last visit where we also ordered a side of French fries. This time my friend Ryan had to walk around to the bar side of the restaurant to actually order fries. The second tip is that all the sandwiches come with fries and cole slaw in the actual sandwich. I imagine they might leave one or the other off the sandwich, but I wouldn't tell them to put them on the side. The third tip is that you can actually seat yourself in the bar area without ordering anything from the grill side and the bartender will actually take your order (including a side of fries) and bring it to you when it is ready.

Of course, if you decide to order your food from the bar side, you'll miss out on the grill action:


Last time I went with a corned beef and provolone sandwich, so this time I decided on a pastrami and provolone with an optional fried egg. It was kind of fun to watch the line cook throw down the egg and meat on the grill, add the provolone cheese after the meat had been flipped, place the meat and cheese on top of the fried egg and then finally the entire contents scooped up and placed on the slices of Italian bread before being adorned with the infamous French fries, cole slaw, and fresh tomato. I paid for my sandwich and iced tea before moving over to the bar side to enjoy my spoils.

Here was a shot of my iced tea:


I am mentioning the iced tea not because of its flavor, but because of its sweetness. I like my iced tea barely sweetened or unsweetened and this is what I thought I would be receiving. I took one sip and about choked because it was so sweet. I asked my friend Ryan (who lives in Pittsburgh) if iced tea was normally served sweet unless requested otherwise and he indicated that tea was usually served unsweetened. I know that in certain parts of the country, sweet is always assumed; this sugar ladened liquid definitely caught me by surprise. Unfortunately, I was on the inside of the booth and the bar was quite crowded, so I just decided to live with it rather than try and make my way back to the ordering counter to fix it.

Legend has it that the reason for the French fries and cole slaw being placed between the two slices of bread was so that busy truckers could eat the sandwiches on the go. Anyone who has ever actually tried to EAT a Primanti Brothers sandwich knows that either the sandwich has evolved since they opened in 1933 or there is a bit of historical storytelling going on. Here was a shot of my pastrami, cheese, and fried egg sandwich tonight:


Even employing the "squeeze and shove" method to eat the sandwich, I still had a hard time getting my mouth around each bite without a cascading avalanche of fries and coleslaw falling back down to the waiting parchment paper below. Here was a side shot of my sandwich:


And how was the sandwich? I suppose at 2 AM after a night of drinking and partying, pretty much anything would've tasted good. Fortunately I had sobered up fairly decently on the trip over from Dave and Busters, so my memory and taste buds were firing on all their pistons. This was really, really good. I had thought the egg would be cooked so that the yolk was still runny (and maybe you can order it that way, I didn't ask). The version that I received was cooked through, however I could actually still taste the egg in each bite of the sandwich. The pastrami was warm and savory and while good, didn't seem all that different from the corned beef I had eaten a year prior. The fries were actually a little better for me this time around than last time, but the star of the sandwich was still the coleslaw. A vinegar-based slaw, it was both tart and sweet and really made the flavors of the sandwich sing in my mouth. My other friend Rick also agreed that it was the slaw that made the sandwich really work.

Along with our sandwiches, Ryan ordered a side of French fries for the three of us to split. Here was a shot of the fries:


The fries were better than I remember from my last visit. They were fresh cut fries and while not my favorite version of this fried carb, these weren't too bad. They were hot, not greasy and seasoned properly. For those who like fresh cut fries, these might be the epitome of a excellent French fry.

Having finished nearly all of my sandwich and one third of the fries, I finally had to stop. I seriously wanted to finish my sandwich, but I knew too much of a good thing would make the ensuing indigestion an unwelcome visitor. There were no trash cans, so customers simply left cups, napkins, and other trash on the table and the bartender came around occasionally and cleared away the trash. I should mention that in addition to getting a great sandwich at 2 AM in Pittsburgh, a visit to The Strip location at this time of night will give you a great opportunity to do a little people watching, too. It really was a diverse crowd tonight.

Once again, Primanti Brothers delivered a great sandwich. While the version served at Panini's in the Northeast Ohio area is close, there just isn't any substitute for the real deal. The next time you are in Pittsburgh, I highly suggest you hit up one of their myriad of locations for this classic Pittsburgh treat.

Weekend in Pittsburgh

This weekend I decided to brave the cold and snowy roads and spend some quality time with a good friend from college and his family. As it turned out, it happened to be his birthday, too. Not much discussion was needed to decide how to celebrate, however; it would be a visit to the ever cool Dave & Buster's down in the Waterfront district. My friend's brother also decided to drive in and join us.

After a number of beers and way too many games of Air Raid (holy cow, is that an addictive game -- and expense, too), we left Dave & Buster's only to discover that it had started to snow pretty hard. By this time, we had all pretty much sobered up and were in need of sustenance. I had originally wanted to come early on Saturday so that I could stop and have a local sandwich legend. Unfortunately, I hadn't left early enough and thought I had missed my opportunity. So, with great zeal I suggested we go and get a Primanti Brothers sandwich. Although there are several locations, we choose to go to the original one in The Strip (18th Street). Even though we arrived around 1 am, all the street parking was full up and there were tow trucks sitting waiting to tow anyone who parked illegally. Fortunately, Primanti Brothers has its own parking lot, which was mercifully empty. Here is the sign on the side of the restaurant:


The deal with a Primanti Brothers sandwich is that you can order whatever type of sandwich you want and they will top it with coleslaw and french fries and serve it to you on deli paper. There is nothing formal about this place. An extra order of fries? Served on another piece of deli paper. After paying for and picking up your finished order, you retire to an open table to enjoy your feast. I decided to go with a hot corned beef and provolone cheese sandwich. You'll have to excuse the lighting in the next two photos, the restaurant was dimly lit and since it was 1 am when we went, there wasn't any additional lighting available from the restaurant's front windows. First, a shot of my entire sandwich:


As you can tell from the picture, there is a LOT of bread on top of the sandwich. The bread is hand cut to order and this results in a more unique look. From the bottom up you have the bottom slice of bread, corned beef, cheese, coleslaw, french fries, and then the crown. There are really only two points to make here. First, as you can imagine, this is a challenging sandwich to eat. I had to basically employ the squish and bite method in order to fit it in my mouth. Second, this was a delicious sandwich. The vinegar and sugar that was in the coleslaw really balanced out the unctuous taste from the corned beef. It had that sweet, sour, umami combination that really went well together.

Here is a photo of half of my sandwich. You can see the layering of ingredients a little better.


The only thing I didn't really care for were the fries. I'm kind of picky about my fries and I like them crisp and not overly greasy. These were hot, yes, but a little on the limp and greasy side. They didn't really detract from the sandwich, but they also didn't really add anything either. My two comrades and I split an actual order of fries as well. Overall, this was also a pretty economical meal. Each of us had a sandwich, we split an order of fries, and two cokes totaled just around $20.

By the time we left Primanti Brothers, it was close to 2 am and we were all just itching to get back to my friend's house where we could crash. Unfortunately, the snowfall had been steady and getting progressively worse, so it took us close to an hour and a half just to get home. It was at that point we learned that my friend couldn't even get his car up to his driveway (steep hill) so we had to park at the bottom and walk the last bit. Thankfully the really cold weather had moved out of the area the night before.

Before I left Pittsburgh, I had decided to include another sandwich place in my weekend visit, only this time it would be an ethnic sandwich called banh mi. This is a Vietnamese specialty that uses a French-influenced roll filled with all sorts of meats and condiments. My Ngoc in The Strip (I had to drive right past Primanti Brothers to get here, funny, no?) is well known for their banh mi. I knew this would be the place I would be going to for lunch today.

I arrived around 1:30 pm today to find most of the lunch crowd had already gone. I was seated at a table by the window (my request) and started perusing the menu. I had assumed there would be an entire section just for the banh mi. Nope. There were two types available, chicken and beef, and both were listed in the appetizers section. Unfortunately when I asked about them, my server informed me that they weren't available. I thought about asking why they weren't available, but his English and my Vietnamese are both terrible, so I decided on a different path instead.

For my appetizer, I started out with a rather traditional Vietnamese specialty, the summer roll with shrimp and hoisin dipping sauce.


These had a nice fresh flavor to them but there was nothing really out of the ordinary in the summer rolls themselves. The real surprise was to find just the slightest bit of heat in the hoisin dipping sauce. While I certainly like my other dishes spiced with a generous serving of sriracha, it had never occurred to me to add a little spice to my summer rolls. It really worked well.

Following my summer rolls, I decided to have a version of their Pho with round steak instead of the beef ball (which comes with their standard Pho). It is closer to the Pho that I have gotten used to in Cleveland. Here is the Pho with accompanying plate of extras:


What you can partially see on the plate are bean sprouts, thai basil, and a lime wedge. You add whatever extras you like. Before adding anything to the Pho, I tasted the broth. Sublime. It was full of meaty flavor without being overly salty. I could've just eaten a bowl of this by itself. But after combining everything else with a bit of sriracha, I was in Pho heaven. It was absolutely delicious. I ate all of the broth and most of the other ingredients. I left with a warm belly to face my long drive back home to Ohio.

I look forward to trying the banh mi next time I'm back in Pittsburgh.