The Pub Chip Shop - Southside

Scotch Pie

The Pub Chip Shop menu is really extraordinary when compared to the typical late night fare you generally expect in the Southside. Prepare to choose from deep fried fish, baked savory pies, pastys, boxtys, baps and other varieties of foods you may not be familiar with. (I'm not even really sure I even said most of those things correctly.)

Doc's Scotch pie was filled with lamb and served with a side of delicious lamb stock gravy. I only had a bite, but it was really quite good. Crusty with thick chunks of lamb and a salty finish. A nice alternative to the many deep fried items on the Pub Chip Shop menu.

When I go back I'll probably try the chicken mushroom pie or the steak and oyster pie. Although the pies may look intimidating, they are on the small side but still appropriate as an entire meal for most reasonable people. They also work as an appetizer for someone like me who only wants to live to see 45.

I'm in love with the chipper.

This chicken mess consisted of fried chicken with onion rings and french fries thrown in a box and covered in bbq sauce. The cole slaw was extra, but I felt it was necessary considering the amount of grease I was about to consume. The presentation was better on the Pub Chip Shop twitter feed (@thepubchipshop) because they garnished the box with some green onions and cheddar cheese. Although it may look like a mess, it was a box of heaven. Despite the slathering of bbq sauce, all of the ingredients were perfectly crisp and well seasoned.

Some of my friends have complained that the fried options from the Pub Chip Shop were a little heavy for their tastes. Have you people ever had fried food before? It is supposed to be greasy as hell! That's why you eat it after an evening of getting loose at the bar, you dingus.

Cambod-Ican Kitchen

"There's vodka and then there's Platinum 7X" - Mark Bucklaw

Special thanks to our first host of Pittsburgh Happy Hour BYOB Month, Platinum 7X. Platinum 7X graciously donated these mini bottles of vodka for our consumption. I'm no vodka connoisseur, but I feel like clear spirits pair well with just about anything. Especially when you want to get drunk. Our goal was to do a blind taste test of Platinum 7X and the local Boyd and Blair potato vodka, but we had to settle for just the Platinum 7X. Again, I know nothing about vodka, but Platinum 7X was entirely smooth and palatable with a reasonable price tag. Thanks for sponsoring our event!


Cambod-Ican Kitchen is one of the few places in Pittsburgh where I knew that showing up with a sack of mini vodka bottles would not present an issue. I was first introduced to the restaurant eons ago as a young man drinking his way to certain stardom. Although they are open for dinner, Cambod-Ican really shines between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. when they are the only non-pizza late night food option in town.

Fried tofu and mixed veggies with crispy noodles.

Most late night dinner guests partake in dishes such as "cat on a stick", egg rolls or the famous seafood wantons with moon sauce. But for the eight dollars left in my pocket after a night of heavy drinking I prefer the fried tofu with crispy noodles. The tofu is done perfectly and the crispy noodles are the height of perfection. Dark and crispy, but not overly chewy with a nice sweet finishing sauce. Kind of like how the crispy noodles used to be at Lu Lu's Noodle House in Oakland before that restaurant went terribly downhill and made me want to end my life. Something dark and unspeakable happened to the quality of the food at Lu Lu's and now I'd rather eat at Panda Express. 

Kielbasa

There's a certain pleasure to dining at Cambod-Ican specifically because it is not a fine dining establishment. Rather, this is a restaurant with locks on the bathroom doors, surly drunk customers, an extremely colorful owner and a non-traditional menu. Take for example the kielbasa kabob pictured above. What could possibly be more yinzer-oriented? Where do you go for non-pizza late night food options Pittsburgh?