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| - Before a Friday evening event downtown at August Wilson Center we decided to go early enough to have dinner somewhere. Within a reasonable walking distance of the Center options were plenty, but not necessarily good. Sienna Mercado, expensive toy food. Bakersfield, to which we had been the previous week, excruciatingly loud, expensive, and toy food. Ten Penny, expensive and packed. Condado Taco, a line of young hipsters out the door. Sharp Edge, no thank you. Niki's Thai, packed.
Several years ago, my late best friend and I had gone once to August Henry's, and never returned, and I couldn't remember why. I remembered it being kind of 'basic' generic American fare.
Now I do...sort of. Or at the very least, experience number two wasn't impressive, so experience one must not have been either.
My better half ordered a 'Mac n Cheese Bowl', which was Mac n Cheese topped with some kind of meat and some other goop.
I decided to try the Reuben after asking how thick it was. I asked, and the server showed me 'about' how thick it was via thumb and pointer finger. It seemed potentially reasonable, so I went with it. I ordered an iced tea, and he a ginger ale.
As we sat and watched the people coming and going, also realizing that this place leaned toward extremely loud as well, I saw an order delivered to a table three tables away, and the older gentleman looked like he had gotten a Reuben. The bread was thick, but I actually couldn't tell if it was a Reuben or not. There were no visible 'guts', which made me uneasy.
When the server came past the next time, I asked her what the gentleman had gotten, and it turned out to be a Rachel, the turkey version of a Reuben. Well, I thought, turkey tends to be lighter.
The iced tea and ginger ale came, my tea with a lemon wedge, and I squeezed it in and took a gulp. There was a very odd fishy funk taste to it. Oh well, moving on.
The food came out. The Mac N Cheese looked decent, but after a few bites my better half said 'It's not like yours, but it's okay'.
Then came the Reuben...or more accurately, the Reubenesque attempt.
Thick and very hard marbled rye bread. What honestly looked like two slices of corned beef. More sauerkraut than beef, only enough Thousand Islands dressing to ooze through a hole poked in the bread, and not enough Swiss cheese to SEE, let alone taste. When it first arrived the server asked if it was okay, and I had to say 'No, not really, there's barely any meat on it', and she offered to take it back for 'double meat' for no charge. It was very kind of her, though after the sandwich returned, it didn't make that much of a difference.
The sandwich had NOT been buttered and grilled, but instead was apparently baked, which made the bread VERY hard and chewy. The corned beef was actually a bit rubbery and chewy as well, though it tasted mostly okay. Basically, hard chewy bread, hard chewy meat, and sauerkraut. And the BREAD was what made the sandwich thick...not the stuffing.
The staff was very helpful and attentive. But the food and the atmosphere were just not pleasant, or much worth the price. I prefer a restaurant with a bar, not a BAR restaurant.
But, with greed mongering landlords, and excessive taxes within the city, affordable and pleasant food places are becoming terribly scarce.
I am not a big fan of choking up over an hour of my wages...for a sandwich, unless it's at Katz Delicatessen (THAT Reuben was four inches thick!). But that's where Pittsburgh is taking us.
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