Pittsburgh is poppin’! And I’m not talking about the latest dance move by Hines Ward.  Pittsburgh Popcorn Factory moves to its own beat, popping out the tasty kernels that will have our taste buds doing the tango.

Here’s a warning though,  the fun flavors can quickly become an obsession: Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese, Crunchy Caramel, Sweet ‘n Salty Kettle, Chunky Chocolate Caramel, Smacker Jacks, and many more.

On what should have been a relaxing day in the Strip, I was on a mission. I headed straight for Pittsburgh Popcorn Factory.  When we arrived my mouth watered as I watched an employee drizzle warm chocolate over the freshly popped corn.   I asked for the two fastest-selling flavors of the day– as long as one included some of that chocolate!   It turned out the best sellers both included chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Carmel.  But when I got home I had two bags of Chocolate Carmel by mistake. Looks like I just found my excuse to make a return visit!

The store is owned by Rob and Genalle Day, a husband-and-wife team who met while working in NYC at a popcorn store.  Their love affair with popcorn has exploded into three locations:  Downtown on Liberty Avenue, the Strip District on 21st Street, and a brand new one in Oakland on 5th.  But if you can’t make it, you can always order online –  an especially wonderful taste of Pittsburgh for homesick college students.

Find them on the web here.

Store hours:

Oakland Monday through Saturday 11 – 8

Sunday 12 – 5

Strip District Monday – Friday 10 – 4:30

Saturday: 9 -5

Sunday 10- 2:30

Downtown:  Monday – Friday 11 -  7

Saturday 11 – 6

Sunday: closed

In 1910 at the age of 16, my grandfather immigrated to America from a Sicilian village outside of Palermo. By the 1920’s, he started a wholesale produce business with his father and brothers in the part of town my family always called “the produce yards” or simply “the yards,” better known as the Strip District. While my grandfather made his living selling fresh fruits and vegetables, it wasn’t until he retired that he had the free time to grow in his backyard many of the things he once sold.

Some of my best memories of my grandfather are of the times spent with him tending to his tomato plants, peppers, basil, swiss chard and the many other vegetables he grew in his backyard. I would get lost in the maze of plants tied to sticks with torn rags. And I would stare in wonder at the wooden trellis he built to grow the most unusual squash I’d ever seen called cucuzza that would grow two or three feet in length and sway in the breeze as they hung like baseball bats from the trellis. He’d give me advice that I’ve since forgotten on how to grow the different plants, and he’d tell me about life in the “old country.”

My grandfather died years ago and I can’t relive those moments in his garden with him, but I can keep alive the Italian-American tradition that he started in my family with the help of one Pittsburgher, Mary Menniti.

Also the grandchild of an Italian immigrant, Mary started the Italian Garden Project in an effort to document the knowledge of maintaining an Italian garden and to help preserve the tradition. The mission of The Italian Garden Project is to “celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable garden, preserving this heritage and demonstrating its relevance for reconnecting to our food, our families, and the earth.”

When Mary moved to Sewickley in 2004, she found herself spending a lot of time in her neighbors’ Italian gardens. The gardens brought back memories of working in her grandfather’s Italian garden as a child, and she found herself wanting to share these gardens with friends. “Lost and precious works of art” as she describes them.

She and her sister-in-law began to host a Sewickley Italian Garden tour in 2009 and soon found themselves conducting several tours each year. These tours became so popular that Mary began to explore other Pittsburgh communities, and an Italian Garden tour was held this past July in Morningside. (Read about the Morningside tour here.)

Mary Menniti also conducts talks on Italian gardens and related topics from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the last Saturday of the month at the Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District. Upcoming talks include Traditional Wine Making on September 24, and Salsiccia and Sopresatta on October 29 covering the tradition of making homemade fresh and dried sausages.

You can find more information and a schedule of Mary’s talks at the Pittsburgh Public Market at theitaliangardenproject.com.

And just for fun…

If angels were to grab a snack in the clouds, they would surely find something like a Pittsburgh Marshmallow Factory creation.  These heavenly treats are delightful and on a recent weekend strolling  around a very crowded Strip District, I bought some of the fluffy white confections for the first time.  

There are many flavors from which to chose– almost 20 — but I settled on the three the employee described as the most popular: Coconut, Vanilla, and Cookies-N-Cream. Each one sells for $1.00 at the Public Market (although the website has prices from $1.50 to $3.00) . They’re large and oddly square but delightful.  I especially enjoyed the Coconut.  I’ve heard they’re fantastic melted on top of pancakes but I didn’t want to wait for that!

The company was founded by Chris Momberger and Debbie Steinberg. At first, they made them to show off at parties or give as gifts. They were always such a big hit, they decided to open a business.  They hand-craft varieties including a maple- flavored covered in real bacon bits and one that includes ghost chili — the world’s hottest pepper ( I’ll pass on that one!) There is also an Orange Creamsicle, Peanut Butter, Root Beer, Caramel Coffee, Pistachio, and Bananas Foster.

Although mashmallows are best known as campfire treats for kids…. these gourmet delicacies are best suited for adults. You can find them on weekends at the Pittsburgh Public Market (on Smallman between 16th and 17th) and they’re also taking online orders.
I love these new treats and I love it even more that they’re concocted in Pittsburgh … quite possibly the home of a new marshmallow revolution.

It’s not uncommon to visit a home in Pittsburgh and see sports memorabilia of some sort on display—an autographed Penguins jersey, a Terrible Towel or even a framed photo of a historical moment like Maz’ 1960 World Series homerun or Santonio Holmes’ Superbowl XLIII catch. If you’re one of those Pittsburghers who are always looking for something unique to add to your home’s shrine to the Black ‘n Gold, you’ll probably be interested in the work of Larry “Klu” Klukaszewski.

For the last three years, Larry Klukaszewski has been creating one of a kind works of art by painting the likenesses of some of Pittsburgh’s most beloved sports heroes on pieces of memorabilia such as footballs, helmets, baseballs and hockey sticks. He’s even painted on the sacred Terrible Towel!

School teacher by day and self-taught artist by night, Klu has received accolades from and meetings with some of Pittsburgh’s biggest sports figures. His first attempt at his unique style of art was painting Willie Parker’s likeness on a football which upon seeing it, Fast Willie wrote a personal note to Klu complimenting his work. In a few short years, interest in Klu’s work reached to the highest level of Pittsburgh sports royalty culminating in a personal meeting with Dan Rooney, an event that Klu describes as one of the proudest moments of his life.

Klu presenting Hines Ward with an original piece at the Hines Ward Show

In 2008, Klu appeared on the Hines Ward Show and presented the former Super Bowl MVP with a hand painted Steelers helmet. From this appearance, Klu met James Farrior which has led to Klu regularly contributing his work to help raise money for Farrior’s foundation. In 2009, Klu was featured in one of WQED’s “On Q” segments. (You can watch it here.) .  Later in 2009, Klu became the official artist of the largest Steelers fan club in the world, The Steel City Mafia, and was named an “honorary boss” as a thank you for the many artistic donations he has made on their behalf for charitable purposes.

One of Klu's proudest moments, meeting Mr. Rooney

This past summer, Klu received his highest honor to date from one of the largest sports museums in the country, the National Art Museum of Sport in Indianapolis, the host city of this season’s Super Bowl. Klu is one of only 25 artists in the United States invited to submit a piece to this year’s Football Invitational display which will run through February 2012 for which Klu is submitting an original painting of Terry Bradshaw.

In a short period of time, Larry “Klu” Klukaszewski has exhibited MVP talent and enjoyed success comparable to that of the sports legends that he captures with paint and brush. And his commitment to sharing his talent for charitable purposes is as admirable as anything he paints on a football jersey or hockey stick. Klu’s talent is a uniquely Pittsburgh thing.

Keep up to date with Klu’s works and accomplishments at larryklu.com.

Gyros, baklava and feta cheese. Oh, and stuffed grape leaves. That’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Greek cuisine. After a couple visits to Mediterrano, a Greek restaurant on Babcock Boulevard in the North Hills, I can’t say that my knowledge of Greek food has expanded all that much but I have learned that Mediterrano serves up some delicious food.

Mediterrano describes itself as rustic Greek Mediterranean cuisine. The expansive menu features more than a dozen small plate appetizers, salads, skewered meats and a lot of lamb and fish entrees. It’s a small restaurant; I’m guessing it has seating for only about 24 to 30 guests. While this limited seating may increase the likelihood of waiting for a table on busy nights, it makes for an intimate dining experience. When you walk in, you immediately notice the large wood-burning oven. Terra cotta colored walls, rustic tiled floors and tasteful directional lighting add to the warm and inviting atmosphere.

On a recent visit to Mediterrano on a Saturday night, my girlfriend and I were promptly seated and greeted by a friendly waiter. He brought a basket of warm pita and a delicious hummus spread containing garlic and kalamata olives. I think we would have been content to nosh on that all night, but of course we didn’t. While explaining the evening’s specials, our waiter stressed the freshness of the specials several times, explaining that they had all been purchased that morning. Three seafood specials were offered that evening—red snapper, tilapia and wild black bass. Each fish was offered as a single filet or a whole fish for a few dollars more. One non-seafood special was also offered, a veal chop.

My girlfriend ordered the red snapper, coated in fresh herbs and garlic, cast iron seared and served over spinach and rice pilaf. She doesn’t like a dead fish staring at her from the plate, so the waiter had the chef prepare just the two filets from the fish sans the head, tail and pesky bones. I ordered the veal chop special which was seasoned with rosemary and garlic with a cremini mushroom sauce. The veal special came with my choice of two sides, and I opted for the spinach and rice pilaf as well.

Veal chop with cremini mushrooms

Cast iron seared red snapper

Our entrees arrived and were delicious. The red snapper was moist and flaky and seasoned nicely. My veal chop was excellent. Served bone-in, this thick chop had a nice crust on the outside and was tender and juicy on the inside. The veal chop was so good that we observed one patron eating his veal chop like a chicken leg with his hands, gripping it by the bone a lá Fred Flintstone. The deft preparation of the veal chop showed me that Mediterrano isn’t just a one trick pony. There’s more than family recipes behind the traditional Greek fare being served; there’s real culinary skill in Mediteranno’s kitchen.

The decadent Choclava

Although we were both rather full after finishing our entrees, we couldn’t pass up trying one of the many Greek sweets on the dessert menu. We decided to share a choclava, layers of phyllo with walnuts, almond filling, honey, and cinnamon with a layer of milk chocolate. All I can say about it is damn, it was good.

If you’re looking for a unique dining experience, check out Mediteranno. I don’t know of any restaurant in Pittsburgh serving traditional Greek food like this. And if you go, save room for dessert.

Mediterrano is BYOB.

Find Mediterrano on the web here.

The shop’s garage doors were wide open and welcoming to Glenn Greene’s Stained Glass Studio and the sun was dancing on the beautiful stained glass.  But the beauty of the glass sparkling brilliant colors of royal blue, misty amber, and emerald green, drew me inside for a closer look at the Regent Square shop.

The shop dog, Otis, calmly walked over to check us out as we began to browse in the doorway. He’s been greeting customers here for 12 years now.  Glenn Greene appeared a bit disheveled on this early Saturday morning as he was creating a piece but when we walked in, he stopped working and enthusiastically invited us to take our time a look around.

Greene lives right next door and spends his time in his backyard garage-turned-studio creating everything from cathedral masterpieces to inspire the faithful to tiny blocks of color to cheer up windows in homes.  I especially enjoyed his original pieces of art which include individual elements of glass that vary in texture and shape.

There are hundreds of framed pieces about 8 X 10 and cost about $50.00 and the larger pieces can run into the thousands of dollars.  He does both original pieces, commissioned work and restorations. Some are designed to be a window and others are intended to hang from the ceiling or windowsill. In one of my favorite commissioned works a couple gave him a photo of them together on a beach.  He turned a section of the photo into a memory frozen in glass.

For the piece shown on the right, Greene explained his inspiration on his Facebook page, “I created this piece in February of 2007. I was feeling a bit depressed about what was going on in the news at that time. So I decided to create something that would be a positive response. The figurative representation in the center is an androgynous spirit that represents the good and hopeful spirit of humanity.”

Greene’s hours are hit-and-miss but if you’re in the neighborhood it’s worth a drive by 635 South Braddock Avenue to see if the artist of fragile color and light is inside.

Keep up with his work here on his Facebook page.

What is the recipe for becoming a Pittsburgh underground cult legend?  A splash of music, an ounce of impersonations, a sprinkle of magic, with a heaping spoonful of puppets on the side. Oh, and make sure dessert includes playing a horn that sounds more like a kazoo!  Frankie Capri serves it all up in performances that are both bizarre and breathtaking.  He is a one man Las Vegas showcase.

When I watched him perform live at the Uniontown Italian Heritage Festival in August 2011, he played the guitar, a drum, and horn while he impersonated Frank Sinatra, and I had to learn more about him.  Frankie was kind enough to grant Pittsburgh Things a telephone interview recently, and what we learned about him only adds to his mystique and legend.

Never revealing his age to add an air of mystery about him, Frankie told me even after thousands of performances he still gets a thrill every time he performs.  He describes his talent as a pizza and likens himself to a pizza delivery boy.  He explains, “God makes the pizza, people want the pizza, and I just deliver it.”

He loves to dress up and impersonate the old standards:  Elvis, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.   As for all the puppets and lights, he says, “Atmosphere is everything. When I first started doing shows I was a one-man-band. I was up there all by myself and the puppets were good company.”

For 15 years in the ’80s and ’90s his fans enjoyed his show at the Lava Lounge (formerly the Liberty Belle Lounge.)  Every Friday night for $3.00 you could go into the back room and watch a performance like nothing else in town. The animatronic animals just added to the scene.   Although no longer performing there he is still going strong.  He is a staple at festivals but also plays malls, private parties and fireballs.  In addition to Pennsylvania, he’s also played in Ohio, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey.

Absorbing Sicilian traditions while living in Sicily as a teenager, Frankie loves doing magic tricks, playing the accordion, and setting up mechanical puppets.  When he returned to the United States, he worked as a barber for a while and in the McKeesport Steel Mills, but when the mills closed Frankie answered his calling and started performing full-time. A forced career change that left a mark on Pittsburgh.

With all of the elements Frankie offers I knew at some point in his long career he must have some great show business stories.  I asked what was the worst thing that happened during a show.  Laughing throughout his recollection he told me, “I was playing in a banquet hall in front of a giant red curtain.  After one of my sets I went to lean back on the wall behind the curtain but there was no wall. I fell 10 feet off the stage right into a giant trash can full of potato peels.  Turned out, the giant curtain separated the kitchen from the ballroom. Those potato peels saved my life.  Everyone got a big laugh and the show went on!”

You can catch Frankie’s show “Frankie Capri – Back by Popular Demand” on Friday, September 9, 2011 from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM at Century III Mall in West Mifflin.

Here is a taste of Frankie preforming at this year’s Uniontown Italian Heritage Festival.

And here’s a taste of Frankie in his prime in 1986.

This Pittsburgh poet is gracing stages around the country and turning her moving written words into a performance art. Kelli Stevens Kane brings her words to life in captivating shows. She loses herself as her words float through the audience before settling down and sinking in.

Inspired by the honesty of children, Kelli Stevens Kane started writing poetry in 1996 when she was a preschool teacher. She remembers, “Listening to young children speak–their honesty combined with their naturally inventive use of language–was the amniotic fluid in which I became a poet.” 

That “amniotic fluid” developed into more than readings, Kane transforms herself on stage to transcend language.  In one  poem she becomes a ballet dancer.  ”I wanted to give myself and everyone else permission to share whatever we’ve got,” she says. “So often we shrink ourselves by trying to fit in.  I believe that poetry is closer to wilderness than it is to trimmed hedges and manicured lawns. If we’re able to fully surrender to that wilderness in the work and in performance, it liberates everyone. It feels more supernatural than natural actually.”

Sometimes she struggles with words and feels she’s lost on an unending journey and then something magical happens. A breakthrough.

Here’s an excerpt of her work:

And two wooden birds watched me with their right eyes

and a wooden man beat his drum beside me

and a wooden cat kept watch on the other side

and I was held in place by wooden floors

and I was tucked in by wooden doors

and daylight was framed by a wooden window

and if I could see a bit of glory I would

and if I could talk about it any more I would.

I asked her which poet she most admires. Her response is a beautiful poem itself,  ”The one who, with or without awards or recognition; with or without support or understanding from peers and family; and in spite of everything it takes emotionally, financially, and spiritually to make the life of a poet work, even for one day, on any level; returns to the blank page with no map, and tries again to write a poem because there’s no other path.”

Kelli Stevens Kane’s poetry appears in numerous journals including The Mom Egg, Kweli Journal, and Mythium Literary Journal. She’s a Cave Canem Fellow, a Flight School Fellow, an alum of the Callaloo, VONA, and Hurston/Wright poetry workshops, and of a Norman Mailer Center playwrighting workshop. She’s the author of a poetry manuscript, and an oral history manuscript about Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

Find her here on the web.

When my girlfriend suggested that a hair product developed by a Pittsburgh “beauty industry innovator” would change my hair as I know it…..  I was skeptical but I had to try it.  So I drove down to McMurray to get some of the magic in a bottle concocted by Geno Levi.

I was amazed when I discovered my friend was right!  One application and I am hooked.  Levi launched his hair care line in December 2010 with products that contain cells from the stem of green apples. While it boggles my mind that someone would actually be able to figure that out…. just know this, it works! 

The Enormous Volume Shampoo gives my hair body like I’ve never had, the Enormous Volume Setting Spray styles my hair with ease. But it’s the Intensive Balance Masque that is most impressive.  I leave it on for five minutes in the shower and my hair is truly transformed.  The cost is $20-$25 per product and 2% of the proceeds go to benefit the Beauty Restores Foundation and the Light of Life Rescue Mission.

Levi’s 25 year resume is impressive. He served as the National Artistic Director for ABBA and the National Artistic Team Leader for Pureology and won countless awards.

The salon itself if gorgeous.  It’s simple and fresh.  There is no heavy smell of color treatments in progress.  Plus, it’s surprisingly quiet inside. The phones flash rather than ring and the muted flat-panel televisions display closed-captions.

His cutting technique uses convex and concave methods to compliment the unique shape of each face.   I’m looking forward to booking an appointment asap because if his cutting technique is anything as good as his products, my hair will be spectacular.

Find it here on the web.

There's a huge wine inventory behind those glass doors.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I am always looking for a good Italian restaurant.  On a recent evening, my female friend and I found ourselves hungry and in the eastern suburbs. I pulled up Urbanspoon on my phone to see what restaurants were close by, and D’Imperio’s was on the list. “Perfect,” I thought. “The name doesn’t include the words ‘olive’ or ‘garden’, nor does it end in an exclamation point.”

D’Imperio’s is located on William Penn Highway, somewhat oddly placed in a large parking lot  behind a Wendy’s and a Popeye’s Chicken. All that is visible from the road is an arrow-shaped D’Imperio’s sign atop a very high pole pointing towards the place. As my female friend and I walked towards the front door from my car, the sounds of opera music hit my ears and I knew this was going to be my kind of place.

D’Imperio’s menu doesn’t offer a huge number of entrees which is a plus in my book. I counted only eleven entrees but found the choices to be sufficient. When a restaurant has 100 entrees from which to choose, I’m afraid I might order the worst seller whose main ingredient has probably been sitting in a cooler for a week or two. With a smaller menu, they’re probably selling a good amount of each dish and therefore the ingredients are more likely to be fresh. The menu features a few seafood dishes, a couple pasta and steak dishes, veal and rack of lamb. Prices range from $15.95 for Spaghettini Al Pesto to $29.00 for filet mignon. There were two specials the Monday night we were there, a veal chop and orange roughy romano.

My lovely date ordered the Cheese Ravioli Tomato Basil ($16.95), and I settled on something with perhaps the longest name ever, Pappardelle Joe Cocco, Seafood and Mushrooms in light tomato cream ($26.00).  Each entrée comes with a cup of soup or a salad, and a vegetable for the non-pasta entrees.

Cheese Ravioli Tomato Basil

Pappardelle Joe Cocco

After taking our orders, our waitress brought a basket of crusty Italian bread and a soup cup full of seasoned olive oil to dip our bread. My companion commented that she wished they had given us grated cheese for the oil like other places do, but I was fine with just olive oil. We both ordered the house dressing with our salads. Our salads were a nice helping of fresh, leafy greens with grape tomatoes, celery and red bell pepper. Oddly, the house dressing was almost void of flavor. It tasted like olive oil and not much else. It was bland but by the time I finished, I found that I enjoyed being able to taste the greens and the other vegetables in the salad.

Our entrees arrived looking and smelling delicious. The waitress then offered to sprinkle grated cheese on our entrees for us. I don’t think anyone

has sprinkled grated cheese on my pasta since my mom did it for me when I was a kid, but it was a nice touch. My Pappardelle Joe Cocco looked incredible. It included a couple scallops, a couple large shrimp, a sizable portion of orange roughy, a splash of fresh crab meat and the fettuccine covered in a pink tomato cream sauce. It was fabulous. The sauce was a blend of savory and sweet, and the seafood was cooked well. The orange roughy was flaky and moist, and the crab meat added a nice touch of richness.

The outdoor dining area

My female friend graciously offered a whole ravioli to me, and it, too, was delicious. The ricotta filling was light and fluffy, and the basil tomato sauce was almost as good as mom’s.

I’ll definitely return to D’Imperio’s when I’m out that way. The food and service were both very good.

Find D’Imperio’s on the web at dimperiosrestaurant.com.