Pump Boys & Dinettes at CLO Cabaret; Kavsar Restaurant Serves Uzbek Halal Cuisine (Sun., 1/29/17)

1) Return with us now to those long-ago days of the early 1980s when V-8 Pontiacs prowled the roads, when a Macintosh was just an apple you could eat, and when country music and small-town country characters were still amusing novelties to us sophisticated Northern urbanites. It was during those days, in the unlikely bowels of New York City, that a cabaret musical titled Pump Boys and Dinettes was born. The plot? Shucks, who needs one? This is a singin’, pickin’, and stompin’ revue-type of show with a bunch of sketch-comedy bits worked in. And the composers? Why, a bunch of nightclub performers called none other than Pump Boys and Dinettes themselves. The setting is a place down in North Carolina where a gas station and a diner sit side-by-side. And wouldn’t you know, Pump Boys and Dinettes took off so well that the show made it to Broadway … and then across to London, England … and it remains in the repertoire today. 2 p.m. Performances continue through April 15.  The living evidence awaits at CLO Cabaret, 655 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

2) Shiloh Street is one of Pittsburgh’s hidden gems. There’re bars, ice cream, even a barber/tattoo shop. But if you go to the end of Shiloh (away from that great view from Mt. Washington) and turn right, you’ll find the first Uzbek halal restaurant in Pittsburgh, called Kavsar. Halal means that the restaurant uses foods that observant Muslims may eat under Islamic law. The Uzbek cuisine includes palov, a dish that was traditionally cooked by men. It’s made of beef, carrots and rice. The restaurant serves not only Uzbek but also Russian foods, such as borscht. Kavsar, like the new Nepali restaurants in the region, is helping to turn Pittsburgh into a United Nations of culinary delights. 16 Southern Ave., Mt. Washington. (CM)

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