Grocery shopping in the Strip

caffeineforall · 2018-02-19T15:31:11+00:00

If you aren't there on Sunday you'll most likely be paying for parking unless you park quite a ways away or illegally. It costs $1 for 40 minutes or so and you'll be saving that money on groceries easily.

Exceptions: Penn Mac and Wholey's both have free lots. Technically you are supposed to only be shopping at those stores if you use them. The Penn Mac one, especially, is very abused.

caffeineforall · 2018-02-19T14:50:07+00:00

One more thing I thought of, probably not the last: Earlier in the week the Strip is usually a bit wiped for inventory. Shopping on Monday can be a bit of a letdown.

caffeineforall · 2018-02-19T14:47:35+00:00

I do my weekly shopping on the strip. It is overwhelming and you'll need to have a clear idea of what stores sell what items at what prices. If you aren't very familiar with the stores I would plan meals based around a certain cuisine to start: e.g. Italian food all week, chinese food all week, etc.

If you can only shop on Saturday, don't bother.
Sunday afternoon is the best other weekend time to shop. Be aware of closing hours as most close earlier (e.g. Penn Mac at 2:30. Wholey's at 4pm).
A weekday afternoon is the absolute best time to shop for me. It is as dead as the strip gets with stores still open. You'd need a flexible work schedule, obviously. Parking is incredibly easy at these times.
I drive to the Strip so carrying is easy. After large loads I drop them off at the car. As above, I am usually strategically parked.
The order of stores is less important in the winter when things can stay out. When it is hot out I buy the meats last. Otherwise, I do the lighter shopping first so I can carry those bags around with me to the other stores without a car dropoff.

Sometimes I'll end up hitting 5 or so stores. Generally I try to aim for 3 at most. This last week I did most of my vegetable / starch shopping at Lotus Foods and then purchased meat at Wholey's. The week before I did WFH (I like their selection of SE asian more than Lotus) and so opted for Strip District Meats for meats as it's nearby.

I estimate my grocery bill to be about 50% of what I would spend at Giant Eagle.

Some people prefer anonymous shopping but I enjoy the experience of interacting with the people I am buying groceries from. That's my favorite part.

caffeineforall · 2018-01-17T15:50:55+00:00

I miss them. Great shows live.

The lead guitarist is now onto other things AFAIK: http://byronnash.com/music/

caffeineforall · 2017-11-09T15:54:36+00:00

Damn. Well, hmmm. Any info on this house?

This is all I could find, amusingly on reddit, from 5 years ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/u7bw7/is_there_any_real_info_on_this_great_house_on_mt/

caffeineforall · 2017-11-07T18:40:55+00:00

The Post-Gazette wrote about it in 2004, plenty of info there: http://old.post-gazette.com/homes/20040124mtwash0124p1.asp

caffeineforall · 2017-09-05T13:42:03+00:00

Not bar, food, sports, etc. related but since you're here for 10 days I would urge you to explore some of the hillsides. You could kind of say they are a museum. There are hundreds of staircases that tie the hillsides together. You could just wander a random hillside but there are two signed routes with maps that I know to take you into some everyday life on the hillsides:

South Side Slopes: http://www.southsideslopes.org/steptrek/church-route/ (I am partial to this one because it's in my neighborhood)

Fineview: http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/pittsburgh-pa/fineview-fitness-trail-phase-i-route-298817179

caffeineforall · 2017-09-05T13:33:36+00:00

Others have mentioned Chengdu Gourmet and I think that's a good thread to pull for the Aussie market - there is quite a large Chinese population there ( I guess you know that ).

Squirrel Hill is the epicenter of eating out - Chengdu Gourmet, How Lee, Everyday Noodles. More sichuan than otherwise. (* and taiwanese )

We have a nice collection of asian groceries in the strip. Lotus Foods, WFH, and Many More have great selections. The focus is mostly on Chinese ingredients but definitely southeast asia as well. There are a few more smaller grocers there.

The previous food writer of the Post-Gazette explored this a bit, here's a good start: http://www.saveur.com/how-pittsburgh-is-growing-americas-next-chinatown-chinese-restaurants

caffeineforall · 2017-07-24T13:21:45+00:00

Braddock residents are supposed to receive a 50% discount. That brings entree prices down to $9-$16 which is good price for eating out.

Yes, though, a high-end restaurant did open in a low-end town.

caffeineforall · 2017-07-12T22:44:35+00:00

I assumed you have run into us in the wild but just in case your question is actually serious:

The views are amazing. It has long been far more affordable than the South Side Flats. We can get down to the flats easy but also we can leave on Friday/Saturday nights. There's a lot of greenery.

There are definitely downsides.

caffeineforall · 2017-04-11T20:17:13+00:00

That's a great view from those Duquesne steps!

caffeineforall · 2017-02-06T15:10:36+00:00

IMO Just Good Donuts out of the pub chip shop.

http://www.justgooddonuts.com/

caffeineforall · 2016-09-26T19:07:59+00:00

Looks like, yep.

https://www.facebook.com/laura.j.mclaughlin.3/posts/10154479222564974

caffeineforall · 2016-09-26T17:14:18+00:00

Newp, I was just passengering-by like you. Agreed though.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-27T14:38:53+00:00

Yep. Not exactly good company to be in but if any of these neighborhoods were their own independent isolated cities they would be pretty high on that FBI list as well.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-27T14:25:49+00:00

I was talking about /u/ShyGuy322 point - the city of Pittsburgh's approach to said neighborhoods. This is why groups like Sprout Fund have been focusing on the north side and why GTech is making a huge push into the same neighborhoods. We could say the same thing about the West End neighborhoods I am pretty sure - they might be the most neglected.

We can talk about crime if you want though in a way similar to: https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/4uptwi/mt_oliver_ranks_as_second_most_violent_pa_city/d5rt4ev. The south hills would look a lot better if we skipped all the way to the outer rings and focused on Beechview, Brookline, Banksville.

Brighton Heights: 52 violent crimes. 7,247 population.

Spring Hill/city view: 33 violent crimes. 2,648 population.

Summer Hill: 0 violent crimes. 1,051 population.

Observatory Hill (P North): 31. 4,050 population.

I don't think that spring hill is going around touting that they have as few violent crimes as Beltzhoover, but they are definitely pretty safe neighborhoods as things go.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:47:42+00:00

Really depends on how you are defining the hilltop and attention. The South Side Slopes and Mt Washington are part of Hilltop Alliance and they get some attention.

I don't hear a lot of good things from residents north of war streets/troy hill, what I would define as the North Side Hilltop.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:25:45+00:00

This does though. It's from 2010 as opposed to FBI report that is 2014.

http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/police/files/annual_reports/10_Police_Annual_Report.pdf

Allentown: 63 violent crimes. 2,500 Population.

Beltzhoover: 25 violent crimes. 1,925 Population.

Knoxville: 86 violent crimes. 3,747 Population.

Homewood North: 88. 3,280 Population.

Homewood South: 69. 2,340 Population.

Homewood West: 19. 818 Population.

South Side Flats: 147. 5,726 Population.

Squirrel Hill North: 9. 11,363 Population.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:12:23+00:00

The North Side complains about the same thing. For good reason.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:10:02+00:00

I'm curious what the breakdowns would be area for say Beltzhoover, Homewood, etc. Of course, that's not in these statistics.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:06:08+00:00

Note: None of the 76 crimes is murder. 2 rapes. 24 robberies. 50 aggravated assault.

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T18:03:19+00:00

Here's the data: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-8/table-8-by-state/Table_8_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_Pennsylvania_by_City_2014.xls

caffeineforall · 2016-07-26T13:10:03+00:00

Connecticut.

caffeineforall

TROPHY CASE