Back in 2009, when we lived in Bloomfield, we challenged ourselves to eat at every restaurant on Liberty Avenue. Last year, since we’d moved to Squirrel Hill, we conquered every restaurant on Murray Ave. And this year, since we aren’t moving anywhere at all, we decided to focus on an area where we used to live.
Oakland is Pittsburgh’s college town, where the University of Pittsburgh sprawls, and a handful of other local colleges live just on the outskirts. Because of this, some of the most diverse and cheap food in the city can be found on its streets. And for 2011, we have decided to take on 15 of these restaurants (because an ‘every’ kind of Achievement would have made our pants sizes go up as our bank account went down).
Today, in honor of the upcoming AFC Championship game, we decided to have brunch at what is probably our favorite spot in the city, Fuel & Fuddle. Fuel & Fuddle is a bar and restaurant that centers its food around its amazing brick fire ovens. And best of all, every night after 11pm, most of the food is half price!
So yes, we did this quite a bit when we were in college, and quite a bit more once we turned 21 and realized that you could come in and snag a table before the crowds were allowed in at 11, savor your drink for a bit, and then still take advantage of the deals. They are clever, wonderful people there!
And, it’s a well-known Pittsburgh fact that establishing a Place of Brunch for Important Steeler Games is crucial to securing Steelers wins. Fuel & Fuddle has been our place for as long as I can remember (and oh, how we missed it when we lived in LA!). Today, to keep the fortunes on our side, we threw on our jerseys and headed into Oakland for breakfast.
This is the atmosphere at Fuel & Fuddle. That’s the great brick oven in the back, and on the exposed brick wall you can see some of the beers they offer. If you’re a beer drinker, this is the place for you. They even have those neat contests to try 100s of different beers, and some guy is actually up over 1000!
When we go for brunch, we generally get two different meals and split them, so we can sample more than one flavor. The meals are cheap: your breakfast, plus your coffee will cost you less than $7.
One of our typical dishes is the ‘humpty dumpty,’ which is a yummy breakfast pizza with egg, bacon, and cheese. Fuel & Fuddle makes really great pizzas, all six little slices that you can share with a friend or eat all on your own. Yum!
And dish #2 is this amazing gem, the ‘sausage eggstacy sandwich.’ It’s two giant sausage patties, egg, and cheese, served on a dreamy Breadworks bun, complete with a side of breakfast potatoes. This can keep you full for the whole afternoon!
We love Fuel & Fuddle, and while we will definitely be back again during the year, we wanted to share our playoff good-luck brunch with you! Here’s to great dining in Oakland, and here’s to our Pittsburgh Steelers! The Terrible Towel is poised to strike – HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!!