Chris #2 (right) with friend Derek Zanetti at Pittsburgh’s Casa Reyna.
We asked Chris #2 Barker of Anti-Flag to guide us through Pittsburgh, PA’s food scene. We were surprised to find out that it’s a very vegan-friendly city that puts French fries on top of everything.
Barker: Here’s the thing: I love food. And, as a vegan, I love to find as many things that are new and exciting and vegan. So, let’s start with a great hot dog restaurant called Franktuary, like Sanctuary, but franks; they’re very clever. And Franktuary is not only a tremendous bar with some of the best cocktails in the world, they do vegan poutine, they do insane hot dogs inspired from around the world… so that’s a great spot. [Anti-Flag drummer] Pat [Thetic] is actually co-owner of a restaurant in town called Route 174 and the chef is the other owner, and he’s a genius, man. He’s not vegan-friendly himself. He likes to use all of the animal; he’s one of those guys. But he’s definitely an artist about it. But because Pat is vegan, he makes him have vegan dishes every week, so there’s always a new one, and the last one he did was a vegan meatball dish that blew my mind. So that’s another great spot.
I wouldn’t think that Pittsburgh would be much of a vegan destination. Are there a few places there that are vegan?
There are a few, yeah. We’re coming around. There was one great spot that got moved and closed down, and it’s kind of in transition, but it will open up again. It’s called Quiet Storm and that place is insane; it’s a vegan diner. There are two hot dog places, one is Franktuary, which I already mentioned, and the other being D’s Six Pack & Dogz that do vegan dogs that are really great. There’s a burger place called Burgatory; there’s a lot of religion puns in Pittsburgh, apparently. Yeah man, I could talk about food all day. [Laughs]
We all know about the Philly cheesesteak, but is there a certain dish that Pittsburgh is known for?
Yes. There’s the Primanti’s sandwich. And Primanti Bros. is wack. They do these crazy sandwiches and what goes on them… it doesn’t matter if you get a cheesesteak or whatever, you get a handful of coleslaw and a handful of French fries. French fries and coleslaw on your sandwich, and that’s the Pittsburgh way to eat it.
Wow. Sounds good.
Yeah, French fries on everything. Even a salad with French fries on it. If you want to know what Pittsburgh’s doing, we’re putting French fries on things. [Laughs]
So that’s really a thing? You just chuck the French fries on top of whatever you’re eating and just go for it?
Yup. That’s what they do. Most menus have right on there, like, “Steak sandwich with French fries on it.” It’s crazy. The other thing we have a lot of in Pittsburgh is perogies. Pittsburgh is a perogy town. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, during the seventh inning stretch, has this perogy race where it’s human beings in giant perogy costumes running around. One is Sauerkraut Sol, the other one is Jalapeno Hannah; it’s fucking ridiculous. [Laughs]
Are there good ethnic places there as well?
Yes, best Thai food in the city is Thai Gourmet in Bloomfield. Second place would be Nicky’s Thai Kitchen on the north side. There is a great Ethiopian restaurant called Tana in East Liberty. Gosh, what else is there? There’s a ton of great Mexican places, and especially for vegans, they can go to Round Corner Cantina, which has super awesome seitan tacos. My favourite spot to get a taco is Edgar Tacos, and I don’t know if it’s because of the language barrier, but Edgar forgot the apostrophe S on his stand, so you just go to Edgar Tacos, not Edgar’s Tacos. [Laughs] He’s got soy-sage or soy chorizo burritos and tacos that are amazing, and he’s very accommodating to vegans.
So it sounds like Pittsburgh is very vegan-friendly. That’s a bit of a shock, for some reason.
Yeah. Oh, and there’s Lucy’s and she’s a food cart. Edgar and Lucy are both carts and they are in what’s known as the Strip District of Pittsburgh. And Lucy makes Bahn mis and she does a vegan Bahn mi that is crazy good, and for some reason the jalapenos she has are the hottest in the world. Half the time I don’t get them on, because I don’t want my day to be ruined, but the other times I just go for it.
Has Pittsburgh always been so vegan-friendly, or is it just a recent thing?
I think everywhere is becoming more and more vegan-friendly, but it’s strange because Pittsburgh has had a resurgence over the last 10 years, so it’s difficult to see if the trends of food are just following the fact that there’s an influx of young people in Pittsburgh, or if it was happening all along and we just didn’t really know.
If someone comes into town and wants some food and you want to blow them away and recommend the best thing, what would you suggest?
Oh man, that’s so hard… That’s so hard. Because what are they hungry for? But, if you come to Pittsburgh, go to Spak Brothers. It’s in Garfield and they do meat and vegan options and I ate there yesterday and I’ll just tell you what I got, just so you’re aware. [Laughs] I got a vegan cheese pizza with sausage and green peppers. I got vegan seitan wings with barbecue and hot sauce on them. And I got curly fries. And I was a happy man.
That almost sounds like it could be used for another feature we do here at Rice and Bread called Death Row Dinner, where we ask people for their final meal request.
Oh, well, my final meal request probably breaks vegan edge and I’d just have Thanksgiving dinner. It was my favourite. And you can do a very great vegan Thanksgiving dinner, no doubt. I’m not cursing the idea of having a vegan Thanksgiving dinner. I make one myself and it’s to die for. You would love it. I’ll have you over some time. However, if I’m really going to be put to death, I want the real fucking thing. [Laughs]
-Jason Schreurs
Anti-Flag’s A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013 is out July 22 on Fat Wreck Chords.
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