DeLuca's in Pittsburgh: Road Trip Breakfast

From the Streamliner Dinner on Bainbridge Island, to DeLuca's on the Strip in Pittsburgh: that's the story of my search for the best local breakfast during recent trips. We were told to go to DeLuca's because rumor had it that Obama had eaten there, but the truemor is that Obama was at breakfast rival Pamela's. (Get the full story here, at the very informative Obama Foodorama, A Daily Diary of The Obama Foodscape, One Bipartisan Byte At A Time.)

We thought the breakfast was terrific – and so was the ambience: bustling, friendly, evoking years of morning-meals-out-with-friends gone by. Here are just a few pictures.

I tracked down a piece called "The DeLuca Paradox" by Bob Steigerwald about why he thinks DeLuca's is a great place. The Feisty Foodie weighs in here. This review, by Regis Behe, says:

"the long, low counter, with accompanying swivel stools attached to the floor, allows diners to watch the kitchen staff whip up a variety of breakfast favorites. The booths are small but cozy, and a Greek-themed mural and an ancient clock on the front wall are relics from bygone eras. The service is friendly, efficient and quick. A first-time diner immediately feels welcome.

Of course, you get a lot of these comforts (not to mention some of the same ambience) at your Aunt Betty's house."

Yes, but who is lucky enough to have an Aunt Betty anymore? (If you have one, please let me know.) That comment reminds me of the CD by Bloomington musician Carrie Newcomer, Betty's Diner: I bet Carrie would appreciate DeLuca's.

Ingalls on the Road

It's been a while since I've been on a road trip, and the spring weather makes me feel a bit of wanderlust. But just by following the "Next Blog" button at the top of the page (near the "Search Blog" field) I found a website called Ingalls on the Road that allows a bit of vicarious adventure. It's a fun site with beautiful photos taken by all of those Ingalls; here are a few. Ciao bella and good luck to those traveling Ingalls: looks like they are having a fabulous time!

The Long and Rainy Road

We circled back home, through hours of rain. Heroic Andreas did the driving, while the rest of us read and slept. The energy inverter/adapter didn't work, so there was not a lot of computer use. We all fell behind on our facebook postings. Status update: Ellen is installing memories the old-fashioned way, happy to have a few hours to simply watch the falling rain and think. I continued to pour over the images in Garden and Cosmos, and was amused by how much some of them remind me of computer games (if computer games were beautiful).

So the month of November drew to a close. I read a bit of Rosmarie Waldrop's book of poetry, The Road is Everywhere, or Stop this Body, where I found these words:

I veer toward the endless
distractions of the
foreground
even while clamoring
for wholeness

Here is an image of the body from Garden and Cosmos, and there is that long gray road.

On the Road Again

We piled into the van at the break of dawn and hit the road to Kensington, Maryland, with four teenagers, back packs, numerous laptops and hand-held devices. About twelve hours later we arrived at the home of our friends Mike, Deb, Dylan and Liam.

We saw snow in Pennsylvania, and what looked like hard, gray times in West Virginia. At a gas station there, we picked up this groovy cowgirl hat, modeled here by Lenni.

It was fun to be on the road again, traveling in a van with teenagers...talking with Dylan in the dark, and watching Savannah text her friends. And it's great to see our old friends again, here a few miles outside the beltway!