Heart in Hand

Yesterday, we ventured down to the South Side Works for the McCormick and Schmick Happy Hour and a movie. Little did we know that neither would come to be. Apparently everyone else in Pittsburgh had also descended on this small section of town with similar ideas. We found a parking spot and because we had a few minutes ( so we thought), we went into the book store to look around. Once again I got sucked into the cookbooks, while Ian looked at what was in science and math writing. After the relaxing trip to the book store we entered McCormick and Schmick hungry for a 2 dollar burger and quickly realized that there was no way we could get served in the bar area before happy hour ended. Not sure where we should head next we considered our options. I decided that to continue to the bar food theme , Claddaugh's would be our best option. We get there and there is a line, but it is not as crowded as M&S.

I ordered Guiness and fish and chips. The fish was crisp and typical cod. The table had the requisite malt vinegar. The plate came with a very vinegary tartar sauce that was called "irish tarter".... I had hoped that this would be the pleasingly pink concoction sometimes called Rose Marie.... but no luck there. I think the chips may have been sitting a bit and had some sort of unnecessary coating on them. I would suggest that Fish and Chips fans stick to Piper's pub, but in a pinch these were ok.

DH chose a turtle sandwich which had turkey, irish rasher, hard boiled eggs, lettuce, tomato, mayo. It certainly looked appetizing and was well liked. I am happy to report that our Guiness and Harp were very tasty. Unfortunately service was not very responsive and did not bring everything that was requested. In fact compared to a recent excellent experience at Red Robin ( and I usually avoid chains) the service was downright crummy.

We did try to go to the movies but the place was a zoo and we didn't think we would get good seats, so instead we walked around a bit and I spied a new coffee place. Big Dog. I wasn't in the mood for an espresso so we just went over to see whether they had any dessert and what the ambiance was like. The place had a lot of character, colorful walls, comfortable seating, and a fun selection of sweets. I picked out a bakery made version of a HoHo.... it was really really good. So consider this a qualified review of Big Dog.... the sweets are good... the atmosphere is nice, but I can make no comment on the coffee quality.