Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Double Wide, Pittsburg, PA

The Double Wide is a comfort food place that caters to an omni crowd.  There is a whole page on the menu devoted to "Vegetarian and Vegan" dishes.  It's where I go to when I am in Pittsburgh and have to cater to the needs of my coworkers who are unwilling to have a meat free meal.  This is my second visit there and both times I was happy and my associates were definitely pleased with their fare.

The Double Wide is a converted gas station.  The menu says since 1939 but I don't know if that's true or part of the "story."

I started the meal with the Seitan wings, (can you tell I'm a sucker for anything calling itself a wing and vegan?), with a cajun spice dusting and a side, ($0.49 extra of course), of BBQ sauce.  I think you should just add $0.49 to ever dish and not nickel and dime but that's another topic for another time.
It's a scrawny looking plate but I'm not a food stylist, just think a bed of kale or something would spruce the place up a bit.

You can see the cornmeal crust and some of the red dusting.  There definitely was a hint of cayenne but it didn't scream "cajun".  That's just fine, the seitan was moist and tender on the inside and the crust was a nice contrast.  I happen to like just about all sauces and this was a KC sweet molassesy type sauce which was a really nice dip.  I always look at a plate like this, think of how much I order both because I'm hungry and ... well, I'm writin' a damn blog for crissake, and mentally divide the plate, half to eat and half to take home.  The take home half never made it.  Finished the whole thing by myself.  My copilot couldn't be tempted into trying even one.

I need to get a better camera, I know but you can see some of the texture of the seitan and one of the ingredients, pearl barley.

I usually don't order tofu as I think it's just a substitute for animal protein and would much rather sample something that is made inhouse but wanted to try the coconut rum sauce and the dish sounded good.

It was a wonderful combination of sweets, the tofu had a nice crust and although it looked like my first cut into the first tofu cube yielded oil like it was coming out of a soaked sponge it was just the moisture from the tofu.  It was excellent.  The rice was also unexpectedly sweet and although advertised as having cilantro I didn't get that.  It had a bit of spice though and worked out well since on occasion I do like an indulgent sweet main dish.  The peppers and onions and carrots in the coconut sauce added a nice touch of savory flavor and texture.  The squash side was delicious and tasted buttery.  It was vegetable oil and some garlic.

View from the ramp at AGC airport, (Allegheny County, PA).  Not the plane I fly, btw.

A great meal and a great sunset before firing up and heading home.

2 comments:

Abby's Dad said...

I remember eating here with you, definitely a cool place. I also remember the mighty iPhone not being able to find its way back to the airport. good times. Solid blog Marty!!!

Marty said...

Thanks. I've whipped that iPhone a time or two and it's much better at directions, although now my TomTom is so compact it travels almost better than the phone.