...Smoke BBQ & Taqueria Menu Additions

Convenience is key.

Of course, people are more adept to going to chains - they're everywhere!  Here in Pittsburgh, no matter which shopping area you go to - Monroeville, Robinson, Century III, The Waterfront, Waterworks - you are likely to find a TGI Friday's, or Eat 'N Park, or Wendy's...

Convenient, yes, no matter where you are.

Sometimes, though, it is so much better to ditch convenience and go with somewhere local and independent.  Try something unconventional.  Inconvenient, yet worth the adventure.

Luckily, I don't have to be inconvenienced to go to Smoke Barbeque Taqueria - even if it would be worth it.

It's less than 10 minutes away.  Probably the most inconvenient part is the on-street, metered parking.  However, James is often willing to play delivery boy to avoid any inconvenience.

He's so awesome.

The day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday - Smoke unveiled some additions to their menu, all of which I was thrilled about because A.) I had pretty much tried everything on the old menu already, and I was losing the sense of adventure, and B.) I knew they could come up with really creative tacos, just based on that Chicken Apple Taco that I was lucky enough to try once as a special.  Over the course of a few trips, both take-out and dine-in, I tried the vast majority of the new menu.

New Menu, Page 1

New Menu, Page 2

I was most elated to see that the Chicken Apple Taco had made its way onto the new menu.  It is now my #1 taco choice any time I go - usually, I get that one, another taco (either a new one from the menu that I haven't tried, or an old favorite like the Veggie Taco), and a side on each visit.  The sauce on the taco is what makes it - a smoked jalapeno mayo, which is not super-spicy, but very flavorful.

Chicken Apple Taco - my #1

Another new addition to the menu is the Philly Taco - which is just as you would imagine: beef, onions, peppers, and cheese.  However, they use their best types of each: beef BRISKET, SAUTEED onions, HOT peppers, and AGED SHARP WHITE CHEDDAR cheese.  I took 9 other members of my family to Smoke right before Christmas, including my dad - the picky, set-in-his-ways eater that I mentioned in my Mallorca post.  He asked what I thought he would like, and I suggested the Philly Taco, since he likes a similar hoagie from Pido's Pub so much.  I was right.  I liked it, too, when I tried it on one of James' delivery trips, more so than any Philly cheesesteak I've ever had.

Philly Taco

James tried the BLT taco before I had the chance to, and he described it as probably one of the "healthier" options, due to the fact that it has more veggies on it than the other tacos. 

Bacon?  Healthy?  I don't know about that. 

It has the classic BLT ingredients - bacon, lettuce, and tomato - but it also had a smoked pepper mayo that made the flavor pop.  I love, love, LOVE the smoked bacon that they make in-house, and any time I get the mac 'n cheese, I get it with the bacon.  To me, this taco was delicious, given my love for their bacon, but the mayo and fresh veggies made it all the more fabulous.  I chose this as my second taco on a trip to Smoke with one of my regular dining partners, Food Collage, and her fiancee, R.  Food Collage got her mac 'n cheese with bacon, and it's safe to say that our dining group (James included) is enamored with Smoke's bacon.

BLT Taco

On that recent fateful trip with my family, I finally tried the Chorizo Taco.  Chorizo is definitely my favorite type of sausage, and I have had theirs on the Breakfast Migas Taco before as my meat option.  The sausage itself is spicy and full of flavor, as any great chorizo should be.  The taco also includes pinto beans, crispy potatoes (like on the migas), and a smoked pepper pico de gallo.  My aunt from near Philadelphia, who was with us on this outing, got the chorizo on her mac 'n cheese and loved it.

Chorizo Taco

There are also some new side and snack options on the new menu.  James had tried the chili on his first trip and insisted that I needed to try it.  Also, they have chili mac, which is just the chili poured over macaroni noodles.  Either way, the chili is fantastic - no ground meat, only their smoked beef brisket.  Spicy, but not overly spicy, and as great as any chili should be.

Chili, Chili Mac, and an old favorite - Red Potato Salad (with bacon) - and how about that placemat? ;-)

Two "snack" options have been added to the menu as well, one of which is Frito Pie: Fritos Scoops, covered in their new brisket chili, cheese, and avocado cream.  The best way that I can describe it is an upscale, classier "Walking Taco" (although I wouldn't try to walk and eat this!).  I tried this and shared it with Food Collage and R., although he didn't try much.  Food Collage helped a little, but I ate the majority of it and took some home.

Just a note - share with at least 4 people, and don't have leftovers.  Scoops get super soggy (but I still ate the leftovers, it was that good!)

Frito Pie

Frito con Queso is the other new "snack" option - Fritos Scoops served with a pico de gallo queso.  My aunt, uncle, cousins, and mom shared this on the family outing, and the cheese sauce was very tasty - definitely shareable with a group of at least 4 people, too!

Frito con Queso

I need a beverage each time that I eat there, and it is always a debate between the Agua Fresca and Horchata.  I love the Horchata, but if the Agua Fresca flavor sounds good, I'll get that.  I've tried many types of Agua Fresca over the course of my visits:

Blackberry Vanilla

Raspberry & Blueberry (mixed)

Horchata

Watermelon

Compared to the old menu, the prices have gone up slightly, but so have the portion sizes.  It appears that the tacos have more filling, and the sizes of the sides has definitely increased, so you still get your money's worth (and thensome!).

Smoke Barbeque Taqueria has been the subject of 5 of my posts now, and I cannot tell you how awesome this restaurant is.  Just today, China Millman from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in her article, "Smoke Barbeque Taqueria in Homestead was probably the most universally beloved new restaurant of 2011."  So true.  Every article and post that I have read from local reporters, food bloggers, and tweeters that I follow have been nothing short of positive, congratulatory, and even grateful (for the restaurant's existence).

In addition, it is where James and I met for the first time.  Smoke will forever hold a special place in my heart.

At this point, all I can say is that if you haven't gone yet - go.  Just not on a Monday - they're closed.

Smoke Barbeque Taqueria

225 East Eighth Avenue

Homestead, PA 15120

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smoke-BBQ-Taqueria/124718980943732?ref=ts&sk=wall

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/smokebbqtacos

My Previous Posts on Smoke Barbeque Taqueria:

http://srtacibulkasavors.blogspot.com/2011/08/where-theres-smoke-theres-epiphany.html

http://srtacibulkasavors.blogspot.com/2011/08/smoke-again.html

http://srtacibulkasavors.blogspot.com/2011/10/smoke-taqueria-yet-again.html

http://srtacibulkasavors.blogspot.com/2011/11/smoke-taqueria-with-burgh-gourmand-food.html

…Alma Pan-Latin Kitchen

Don’t talk to strangers. 

That line is engrained in our brains as small children. With all of the creeps out there, it’s just too hard to tell who is a child predator, and who is just a nice person. For a child with a poor sense of judgment, it’s better to tell them not to talk to strangers. Period.

As we get older, though, our judgment improves, and it becomes more and more necessary to talk to “strangers”, or people that we have never encountered before. New people enroll in our school, recruiters want to talk about options after high school, interviewers want to see if we’re good candidates for a job – it’s almost impossible to not talk to “strangers”.

I have always had a problem talking to people that I don’t know – I guess I’m shy, but it’s more like I’m shy, until you get to know me – and then you would never imagine that I was ever shy at all.

Even going to gatherings where I don’t know anyone causes a certain amount of panic inside of me. I tend to cling to the people that I know, and I rarely meet and interact with new people, unless they spend time with the other people that I know.

I’m a wallflower.

Going to meet Clara for our experience at Ají Picante was a big step for me – I had never met her in person before, and it was just going to be the two of us dining at the restaurant to try their food. Luckily, we got along great, and it wasn’t awkward. I suppose that finally at the age of 31, I am starting to overcome some of my “shyness”.

During our conversation, Clara had mentioned a website called “Meetup”, where people join different groups, based on their interests, and go on these “meetups” to interact about their interests. This is how she met people when she first came to Pittsburgh, and my first thought was, “No way could I just show up somewhere, not knowing anyone, and be functional.” She joined the FoodBurgh Meetup Group, which is a group that tries out different local restaurants every few weeks. Some people are food bloggers, some are “foodies”, and others are just people who like to go out and try new restaurants.

Huh. My interest was now piqued.

A week after Ají Picante, Clara tweeted at me to say that the next FoodBurgh Meetup was going to be at Alma Pan-Latin Kitchen in Regent Square – a place that I had been dying to go to because it was featured in the China Millman article (that sparked my epiphany) and I had sampled and loved their Shrimp Ceviche at Savor Pittsburgh. She invited me to come, and I immediately registered with meetup.com to become a part of this group.

Disclaimer: I am not encouraging any high school (or even younger) students to join and become a part of meetup.com. The advertisement of this site is for informational purposes only. Perhaps this is something that you can become a part of when you’re out of high school, but I do not recommend it to you now.

So, I arrived at Alma after about a 15-minute drive, and had to find somewhere to park – this was the only downfall of the experience. On street parking…parallel parking. After two trips around the block, I decided to park on a side street in the residential area around Regent Square and walk up to S. Braddock Avenue, where Alma is located. I went in, asked for the FoodBurgh group, and was led to the table, where Clara and several other people were already seated.

I introduced myself to the people I was seated around, and we shared stories and talked about the menu items. 16 people were part of our group, and I was not able to interact with all of them, which was ok, since I’m better in smaller-group settings, anyway (remember – new people –still shy). For our small group, I was looked to for some expertise on the traditional Latino foods, and we had a difficult time deciding on menu items. Three of us – Jeff, Fernando, and myself, – decided to order three different entrees, and then share each dish with the others so that we could try more menu items, since we were being so indecisive.

We’re brilliant.

As we waited for our entrees, plantains and the famous Shrimp Ceviche from Savor Pittsburgh made their way down the table, and we sampled them – of course, the ceviche was fantastic, and I loved the plantains – not too greasy, and cooked to perfection. Jeff, Fernando, and I had also ordered the empanadas as an appetizer for ourselves, since there were 3 to a serving. Jeff thought that there was too much pastry, but I thought that they were pretty well balanced…

…I wasn’t kidding when I’ve said that they look like beef pierogies, was I, kids?

The entrees arrived. Oh, wow. Just the smells alone were drool-inducing. Jeff ordered the “Arepa de vegetales con plátanos maduros”, a Colombian arepa (a corn cake, like they serve at Conflict Kitchen – only they are Venezuelan, not Colombian, remember) with beets, avocado, cabbage, and cilantro, with a side of plantains. I’m not a fan of beets, but I made sure that when I tried it, I tried it with all of the ingredients, including the beets.

Still not a fan. The rest of the dish was great, though.

I ordered the “Camarones al caribe con ajo”, basically “garlicky shrimp”, which, according to the menu, is native to Cuba. I love garlic, and luckily so did Jeff and Fernando, because this dish was very garlicky. No complaints from any of us, although I will tell you that it took a lot of toothpaste, mouthwash, and gum to get the garlic taste out of my mouth (and off of my breath) for the next 24 hours. I also liked the fact that it was paired with the vegetables and rice so that the garlic flavor wasn’t masked or combined with other strong tastes.

Fernando ordered what would have been my #1 choice from the get-go – the “Bife steak chimichurri con gallo pinto” – an Argentinian skirt steak with chimichurri sauce (cilantro-based), black beans, and rice. The meat was falling apart (which means it was cooked perfectly!), and the chimichurri was a great complement to the meat, black, beans, and rice. 

After all of this food sampling, I was in heaven – so of course, when Clara suggested dessert, it wasn’t hard to cave. The platos principales were delicious, so dessert had to be delectable.

Uh, yeah. It was. To say the least.

I knew I couldn’t get flan, after all of my preaching in class about how flan is NOT the only dessert that people in Spanish-speaking countries eat (although you would think so from our textbook). I decided upon the “Biscochito de chocolate con dulce de leche y helado de canela” – warm chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream. Fernando ordered the same. 

Jeff went with the “Pastel de tres leches con fresas en dulce”, a traditional Latino white cake dessert made with three types of milk: sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk, then topped with a sweet glaze, berries, and whipped cream. 

I wish I knew what was beyond heaven, because of the platos principales put me in heaven, the desserts took me further. Simply delicious. I think that the Tres leches cake was even better than my chocolate cake, and I tend to prefer chocolate over white cake.

I was surprised at the end of the night how comfortable I had become with this tableful of strangers – people I had never interacted with before (with the exception of Clara), neither in person nor through Twitter – and I made it through without regret. How in the world did I manage?

The food. It did it.

I will definitely come back to Alma, perhaps with this group, perhaps with others, but I will always remember that it was a great means for me to come out of my shell, eat fantastic Pan-Latin foods, and interact with a great group of people.

Alma Pan-Latin Kitchen
7600 & 7606 S. Braddock Ave. (Regent Square)
Pittsburgh, PA 15221

Website: http://almapgh.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alma-Pan-Latin-Kitchen/172826542774927
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/almapgh





FoodBurgh Blog: http://www.foodburgh.com

Food Collage Blog (Clara's Blog): http://www.foodcollage.com

Meetup: http://www.meetup.com

"Latin American influence gaining momentum in Pittsburgh restaurant scene" by China Millman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11174/1155511-242-0.stm#ixzz1Ytt1DVd2