Sienna Sulla Piazza - Market Square Downtown Pittsburgh

The food at Sienna Sulla is really very good. I would not recommend dropping by for happy hour with more than four guests unless you have a reservation. The bar is small, the bartenders don't like flash photography and being rowdy is generally discouraged.

The crowd tends to be a little older and the atmosphere isn't encouraging for slamming Miller Lites, but the food stands out. The mozzarella stuffed giant veal meatball pictured above is fantastic. Well seasoned, well textured, perfectly paired with toasted pine nuts and entirely delicious. I personally think that pine nuts are one of the most underutilized ingredients. Although the meatball is a rather simple creation, I find other restaurants have no problem finding some clever way to ruin it.

This was the absolute best thing ever.

Chicken liver mousse is always good, but Sienna prepared it flawlessly. Adorned with crushed pistachios and honey, I think I could enjoy this dish everyday for the rest of my life. It had a wonderful sticky texture and a delicate sweetness. Be careful though, I totally covered my tie in honey. (There must be some way to make this sexual. Please indulge in the comments below.)

The second best thing ever.

If you aren't going to order the veal stuffed meatball, I recommend going with the meatball flat bread. Sienna serves the sucker covered in fresh basil,  san marzano tomato sauce, provolone and one of the most perfect ricotta cheeses I've ever tried. I don't even like ricotta cheese, but whatever variety was heaped on this meatball flat bread was very good. They must have gotten it from the fancy Giant Eagle in Shadyside.

The quality of the food and the ingredients used at Sienna Sulla are easily some of the best you can get in Market Square.  Again though, don't try going here for happy hour with your sorority sisters. Although the drinks are reasonably priced, the bar frowns on shenanigans. The bartender wouldn't take a second picture of our happy hour crew because he said we were disturbing the other patrons. Slag off other patrons! No one tells us how to act after consuming most of the wine at the bar and half of the meatballs in the greater Pittsburgh area.

Pleasure Bar

Greens keep me regular.

My anglo grandmother always used to pronounce the word Italian "I-talian." She'd say things like, "a real I-talian lady made this pasta sauce, so you know it is going to be good." I don't know if that is a Pittsburgh thing or just something old-timers do.

Pleasure Bar is one of those old school I-talian institutions keenly ingrained in the psyche of Pittsburgh residents. It is kind of an odd spot for happy hour. The bar is well lit, clean and well staffed - there was no music playing in the background. The patrons consisted of old men reading newspapers, goombas in track suits eating various lasagnas and squirrelly looking women that probably used to do your cousin Vinny in the back seat of his Camero.

The happy hour isn't a great deal - fifty cents off every drink. However, the place was crowded so I guess they don't need to give large discounts. I always forget that some people like to go to nice places that don't smell like Satan's ashtray dumped in a urinal. 

I thought the food was slightly above average. I really enjoyed the fried Italian greens pictured above! It was a much larger dish than I was expecting for six dollars. Delicious greens sauteed in olive oil sprinkled with bits of prosciutto - I added hot sausage but you also have the choice of adding sweet sausage or beans.

These block me up.

These hand breaded provolone sticks weren't bad either. Provolone sticks are where it's at - mozzarella sticks are for paupers. The amount of sauce they gave me was kind of absurd. I hate wasting all of that sauce.  Everything else I tried was rather disappointing. The chicken parm just didn't pop. And the one item I was really excited for, the Italian eggroll, just didn't do it for me either. It was entirely lacking in texture and flavor. If I want I-talian in the dirty-burgh, I'm going to Stagioni or Storms. I'd like to add Alla Famiglia to that list, but no one will take me. (This is a Christmas hint to my girlfriend who doesn't read my blog.)