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| - Smoke is the go-to date night for my wife and me - if your're trying to get a feel for Lawrenceville and the Pittsburgh food scene, this is the place. Hipster restaurant in every way at its finest; we're talking exposed brick, hole-in-the-wall type exposed lighting, unique mixed drinks, interesting/exotic additions to each dish, and of course tattooed servers.
Speaking of the drinks, the agua fresca drinks are a great way to start. Each day they rotate the fresh fruit juice base and mix it with your choice of gin or vodka to spice it up.. Whenever the mango is an option, I will bypass ordering a beer and go for one of these every time.
Appetizers are great here too. When I'm with friends, they insist on the queso which is top-notch nachos (leave it to the hipsters to make simple nachos amazing). Just a thick floury cheese with a bit of a kick and some quality pitas. This isn't your classic plate of store-bought chips drizzled with cheese and jalapenos on a checkered paper in a basket, this is art.
When it is just my wife and me however, we go for the burnt ends which may be my favorite dish here. Somehow they manage to get the juiciest pulled pork but perfectly crisp each strand's end so that its as soft as butter but as crispy as potato chips simultaneously. If I had to recommend one dish - this is the one.
For the main course I have tried all the tacos and keep coming back to the pork as the taco of choice. The chicken apple bacon is a crowd please but is a little less exciting than the pork, gringo or brisket. So if you are feeling safe and want a delicious taco, go for the CAB, but if you want something with a kick and chock-full of flavor, try these other ones. Amazing sauces in each one and honestly not a taco you'll find anywhere else.
Wish the place wasn't cash only, and as others have mentioned, there are no reservations so the line/wait can take some time if you don't get it right. But hey, they're hipsters, what else would you expect?
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