Did Someone Say Pizza?

The Penn Murry is a bar and restaurant with a well-known predecessor, the Penn Monroe , in Monroeville which is just west of us on Route 22. Seven or eight years ago the Penn Monroe closed after 60+ years in business, and the long-time managers bought an existing restaurant building in Murrysville and opened the Penn Murry. The food is spectacular, and Chip and I love their fried clams (they're just as good as any I've ever had at the shore), their jumbo wings, and I'm a fan of the to-die-for Reuben. But somehow, we'd never had their pizza. So with a four-day weekend ahead of me and a hankering to try a new pie, we headed to the Penn Murry. The building has a small bar and kitchen on one side of the building, and a larger dining room on the other. Outside the dining room is a patio with outdoor seating, but it was a bit chilly so we opted to eat in the bar.   We decided to go all out and try three different kinds of pizza. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. I

Now that Lent is over, we're back on the hunt to try as many independent pizzerias in the county that we can. We found a goodie this week, y'all. I'll be honest - this review is going to be more about the vibe of the place than the pizza, because while the pizza was good, the spot was fantastic. And it really was a vibe. Hotel Loyal Pizza in Latrobe is housed in a building that was built in the late 1800s. And it apparently it catered to travelers for a long time - this photo on the wall of the tavern was of the hotel circa 1900. An article we found said it remained a hotel until the 1990s. The building is still in fantastic shape. There are elevated train tracks that run right next to it (while we were there we saw both an Amtrak train and a freight train go by) so you can imagine that the hotel was perfectly situated back in the day. The left entrance was for the dining room and the takeout counter, and the center entrance was for the tavern. We decided to eat in the tave

Life has been a little crazy lately (and my motivation has been flagging), so I'm three weeks behind on fish fry reviews. I'm going to glom them all together here in this post, so sit back - it's gonna be a long one. St. Bartholomew/Crabtree VFD, March 24, 2023 The small town of Crabtree does something kind of interesting: their local Catholic church and VFD collaborate on the fish fry and split the proceeds. Last year they held it at the VFD, and this year it was at the church. They hold it in the ground floor of their social hall called Marian Hall. Avery and Steph went with us. When we arrived around 5:35, there was a good crowd but several empty tables (by the time we left at 6:10 or so, the line was out the door). This was the only church fish fry we attended this year, so I had to get a picture of the requisite religious art on the walls. Menu options included fried fish and baked fish, pierogis, fries, slaw, haluski, and mac and cheese. We all ordered fried fish; Chi