Lidia’s Hosts Annual Five-Course Tomato Diner; Howl at the Moon offers Downtown Fun (Wed., 8/30/17)

The namesake of Lidia’s Pittsburgh, Lidia Bastianich, and executive chef, Daniel Walker. photo: Rick Handler.

1) Emmy Award-winning TV chef, author, and restauranteur Lidia Bastianich shined a bight food and dining spotlight on Pittsburgh when she opened a Lidia’s restaurant here in 2001. The comfortable, contemporary designed restaurant has survived and thrived by serving fresh, seasonal, time-honored Italian classics with Bastinaich’s distinctive touch. Menu highlights include Lidia’s Pasta Tasting Trio, lemon chicken, zuppa di pesce, and osso bucca.

Lidia’s has also welcomed a new executive chef with the arrival of Daniel Walker. He worked at several renowned restaurants and luxury hotels before becoming sous chef at Lidia’s flagship restaurant in New York City. Felidia’s. Walker then worked in the same position in his hometown at Lidia’s Kansas City. Growing up there he credits his grandmother for sparking his interest in food and cooking. He looks forward to applying his culinary knowledge, under Bastianich’s guidance, to the menu at Lidia’s Pittsburgh.

Now Walker is presenting Lidia’s Annual Tomato Dinner tonight at Lidia’s Pittsburgh. This is a much anticipated event among the restaurant’s patrons and gives glory to the illustrious tomato. The dinner will feature a five-course prix fixe menu of special Lidia’s creations all utilizing the tomato, a quintessential element in Italian cooking. The five courses include the antipasti, insalata, pasta, secondi, and dolci offerings of the special menu. The menu features: spinach flan with tomato coulis; Panzanella-Tuscan bread salad, black and white tagliatalle with sea urchin and fresh tomato; battutina of heritage pork loin, wax bean, tomato, fig, chanterelles, corn, and balsamic; green tomato crostata,with sweet corn ice cream and candied basil. Sounds like a delcious stroll through the tomato patch!  Each course is paired up with a wine selection. For more info visit Lidia’s Pittsburgh. 1400 Smallman St., Strip District.

2) Most nightclubs rely on DJs for music. Not Howl at the Moon, where an in-house band covers your favorite hits. And what hits they are, running the gamut of ‘80s pop to today’s hip hop to even some classic rock in between. Howl at the Moon began in 1990 just down the Ohio River in Cincinnati and has since spread to 18 locations and the Norwegian Cruise Line. Aside from the live music, the establishment is also known for its 86 oz mixed drink buckets. The venue is available to rent Sunday through Tuesday for different events, like bachelorette and birthday parties. Friday and Saturday, both table reservations and Jump the Line packages are available, allowing patrons to get a great view of the band. Howl 2-Go offers a dynamic and unique event experience with dueling piano entertainers brought to your next event. They offer several customizable dueling piano packages for Howl 2-Go.  Regular hours are Wednesday through Friday, 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. – 2 a.m. 125 7th St., Downtown. (CM)

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