Industry Public House

House Nachos

These were my nachos from Industry Public House, I actually thought they were pretty good, but the waitress thought they were even better. She proudly exclaimed that all nacho ingredients were prepared fresh in-house. As far as I can tell, this just means that they made the guacamole and sliced their own jalapenos. They certainly didn't prepare the olives and I highly doubt that they made their own cheese or sour cream. I have to give Industry bonus points as the nachos at the bottom of the pile weren't a soggy pile of trash like nachos from TGI Fridays.

I suppose I'm being overly critical, the nachos were very tasty, I just get annoyed when waitresses make nonsensical claims..... we get it lady, the jalapenos aren't pickled. I believe the employee mentality of Industry is best described by Industry's own plug on Urbanspoon, "IPH is the best thing that happen to Laweranceville." LIES I SAY! Everyone knows that the best thing to happen to Lawrenceville (also they misspelled Lawrenceville) is skinny jeans, thick rimmed glasses and tattoo parlors.

Industry is a very strange place. My friend from Unlock Pittsburgh described it as, "a Pittsburgh bar trying really hard to be a Brooklyn bar." The location is a giant square shaped bar surrounded by several dining tables. The house beer was actually very decent and appropriately priced for happy hour at $3. However, the trendy albeit misguided people of Lawrenceville have decided that this is the best possible bar to bring their babies. And I'm not talking about some babies having a casual dinner, I'm talking about babies showing up to watch an 8:30 Thursday night football game in a loud bar.

I don't go to bars to drink with babies. This may seem insensitive, but I don't care. If I wanted to drink with babies I'd go visit Chris Clark or Andrew Coleman, at least their babies are not adorned in Greenbay Packers gear. Also, one of the babies clearly had way too much to drink as he had to be carried out of the bar by his grandpa!

Bucket of Gross

The Thursday happy hour food list consisted of sliders, pizza and the nachos. I regret not trying the sliders as I heard they were very good. However, this chorizo pizza was terrible. The chorizo was heaped on in a haphazard manner and the goat cheese did a poor job of complimenting. I don't think I'd try another pizza from Industry, but I'd go back for the sliders. Also, leave the leather chaps and mid-riff dresses at home. We need to set a good example for the babies of Lawrenceville. 

Heinz Field - What is your favorite stadium food?

GO STEELERS

When I was a young child with the tastes of a young child, I simply adored stadium food. There was something about the variety, fat content and excitement of the big game that just made the entire process invigorating. I thought that stadium food was the best food in the world and that everything I had while watching a sporting match was the utmost pinnacle of modern culinary skill - I think I also felt this way about McDonald's.

Somewhere along the way, the dream died. Rather than look forward to stadium food I became nervous about what I should eat before going to any type of event so I could avoid paying $16 for cardboard nachos and a smelly cheeseburger. I think this phenomenon was best described by Graham Linehan who said, "Every time you have McDonalds as a kid, it's a victory. Every time you have it as an adult, it's a defeat."

I might have liked these stadium tacos as a child. As an adult, they tasted as bland as a discount frozen burrito and extremely rubbery. Somehow, even the normally pungent cilantro was totally lacking in flavor. I'm pretty sure the chicken was the kind that comes in a liquid solution so that it can simply be slopped into a lousy tortilla shell on game day.

My point isn't that all offerings at Heinz Field are terrible, it is just that they are all worse than their real world counterparts. The Quaker Steak and Lube wings we tried had clearly been sitting out all night. They were worse than the wings you'd get from a normal Quaker Steak and Lube. The terrible cheeseburgers were worse than the terrible cheeseburgers at a fast food restaurant and more expensive. Cheap domestic beer costs upwards of $8. Etc, etc, etc.

Please let me know: is there any food at Heinz Field you actually like? Is there any food available at the stadium that you'd go out of your way to get somewhere else that is just as good at the stadium? I NEED TO KNOW, for science. 

Unlock Pittsburgh

Check out this great interview in Unlock Pittsburgh. A special thanks to Mark Turic and Grace Miller for not making fun of my obsession with white wine and shrimp.

Unlock Pittsburgh Interview

Also, you've got to love this great Pittsburgh food special chart they put together! Cheap Eats!