[hackpgh-discuss] Re: Iron Hacker Chef

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 9:43 PM, j. eric townsend <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 10/27/10 21:06, Mandy wrote:
>>
>> FWIW, April Gruver did the cupcakes for our wedding... Vanilla has the
>> best cupcake in town if you ask me.  Plus she's uber-cool and friendly.
>
> April's a hardcore pastry chef and I think that's why her cupcakes are so
> much better than Dozen's.  I normally don't eat wheat, but I've tried
> cupcakes from Dozen and Vanilla and April has both the cake and the toppings
> nailed.

Dozen's cake is horribly dry.  They've gotten a lot better at it, so
it's well, better.  They used to not cover the cupcakes at their
Squirrel Hill location, and I'd only get 'em at 7 or 8 pm... and they
sucked.

Vanilla has *awesome* icing, and *awesome* cake, and is the best cake
I've ever had.  I need to get married to have them make the cake.
Plan Without Drawbacks.


>> Haven't been to Salt of the Earth but I hear so much goodness.
>
> Kevin is an extremely nerdy chef, into both high-tech cooking and
> local/seasonal ingredients.  It's not cheap but it's a really fun experience
> if you're willing to have an open mind about what you're eating.   On the
> other hand, he's super busy right now.  We've been trying to get him to
> speak at dorkbot for a year or so, but opening Salt has him in the weeds.

If you haven't been to Salt, *go*.  Please, God, let this business
succeed.  I keep pushing coworkers to go there, as it's awesome, and
deserves to succeed in spades.  And the drinks are spectacular as
well; the only mixed drink place I've seen compete is Embury, in the
Strip, which does pre-prohibition cocktails with a early-1900s hipster
kind of flair.  (In a good way!)

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