General Pinburgh Tips

I thought a thread for tips on navigating Pinburgh other than the tournament itself might be fun. Good hotels? Bad hotels? Best bars and restaurants? Fun things to do after the tournament?

Food I enjoyed:

Condado Tacos - Just up the street from the convention center. Relatively inexpensive, quality tacos. Slightly untraditional fillings. Fill out a form with your preferences, get tacos. I think they offer happy hour taco specials as well.

Sammy’s Corned Beef - No frills corned beef, pastrami, and ham sandwiches. Up like two blocks and over like two blocks. One of the few downtown places with a six pack license to sell beer to go.

https://m.facebook.com/pages/Sammys-Famous-Corned-Beef/111742862194695

Emporio: A Meatball Joint - Good meatballs served a million ways. I think they sell other stuff, but it literally has meatballs in the name. Get the meatballs. Sienna Mercado is actually the same restaurant, but upstairs. A block away from the convention center.

Meh:

Sharp Edge Bistro - It wasn’t completely terrible, but the wait times were insanely long for lunch on two separate years I attended. They clearly were understaffed. Being so close to the Convention Center you’d think they’d check the calendar. Two different people ordered the hummus and complained it was too garlicky, and both love garlic. Like it was half garlic by volume. People not eating fried food were served quicker than people eating the Buffalo Chicken Bites, which is their specialty. And not amazing. Excellent beer selection though.

Bars I enjoyed:

Hambones - Not near the convention center, but a decent place to grab a drink in a dive bar. Three or four pins in the back. Very laid back. Often has live music or comedy.

https://m.facebook.com/HambonesPittsburgh/ also has a website but it’s down currently.

Tiki Lounge - A tiki joint on the Southside. Not near the convention center. I have a “thing” for tiki kitsch, but a good bar by any standard. One pin, but broken last year.

http://www.tikiloungepgh.com

Trixie’s Bar - Another Southside place. Five pins. Kind of decked out like a hunting lodge. I didn’t completely fall in love with this place, but… five pins.

Church Brew Works - The most beautiful place I have ever been or close to it. Set in a former church, retaining all the stained glass. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Kind of expensive, and the beer was good but it’s on the list mostly for atmosphere.

Other places I enjoyed:

Kickback Cafe - Not a bar. More sandwiches and coffee, but you can bring in beer for an additional charge. Liquor too I believe. Rules might be different for Pinburgh. 18 or so pins in good shape. Likely to be crowded. All ages. Probably not the best place to get completely hammered, as it is all ages and more of a coffee shop vibe.

https://www.kickbackpgh.com

Alcohol laws: EDIT: Apparently it’s no longer as bad as I made it out to be.

Among the weirdest in the nation. No convenience store sales. Almost no supermarket sales, though some have an attached ‘restaurant’ that sells beer and wine in limited quantities. Beer can be purchased cheaply only at ‘beer distributors’ and only 24 cans at a time. Some bar / restaurants are allowed to sell 6 or 12 packs, but it’s expensive and not all of them do it. They also need to serve food for this type of license. Hard liquor is only sold at state owned stores. They close early and many aren’t open or are open limited hours on Sunday. Bars close at 2 AM, except private clubs which can stay open until 3 AM.

Weed:

Illegal, but ask around and you’ll find it.

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Historical reading.

Also, is GPA still a hush hush secret that get’s you banned from the IFPA for talking about?

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Yes.

Mods, delete that post and my response to it. :wink:

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This may have changed semi-recently. I bought a six pack at a distributor down the road from PAPA last year.

Could be. I grew up in Erie PA about two hours north of Pittsburgh so I’m in the state for 2-3 weeks a year, but I’m not a local. I keep hearing about them trying to modernize the liquor laws, but nothing really came of it to my knowledge.

I’ll second the taco and meatball places. Basically ate that the whole time last year.

The Speakeasy at the bottom of the Omni William Penn is a fantastic place to spend a lot of money for classic prohibition-era cocktails. Seriously, they are good, just expensive.

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There is a Gyro shop directly across from the Westin that has decent food. There is a small coffee shop in the Westin ground floor that has b’fast items like yogurt, cereal, bananas, etc. There is another taco place just down from the Meatball Emporium. Keep going down the same street and there is a Ben & Jerry’s.

Alihan’s Mediterranean: Not cheap, but damn if that isn’t one of the best chicken kabobs I’ve ever had.

Anyone know if Cobbler World is open this year? (A mere stone’s throw away from the Convention Center.) They were closed all summer in 2017. :frowning_face:

Maybe this is well known, but to an international traveller like myself it was a nice surprise - the subway is entirely free for local stops. You can get as far as the casino on the north shore, and Station Square on the south shore.

Well worth taking advantage of to explore.

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Oh yeah, I got these new adidas “solar boost” shoes (the name is pinbotty) and they are so very cushy. Bring on the convention center.

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Yes, the beer situation is greatly improved. Supermarkets now have separate sections that sell beer by the bottle or six-pack (but not wine or liquor). You have to pay at that register, and I think there’s a limit to how much one person can buy at once (like, maybe one bottle less than a case is the max?). Many GetGo convenience stores also sell beer but I’m not sure about others. Distributors now can sell less than a case also.

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One of which is a few blocks from the convention center and newly remodeled if I remember correctly! WOOOOOOOOO!

Beer, Lime, and Sunshine is walking distance and sells cold beer and booze cheaper than the bars. https://www.facebook.com/Beerlimesunshine/

Anyone have recommendations on folding chairs? I might be giving that a shot this year.

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A friend had one of these for camping. They weigh two pounds and are cheap enough that it wouldn’t be a huge deal if it disappears. You could probably just chuck it in a corner somewhere at the end of the day.

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/6238943016156322783?lsf=seller:1221574,store:14014099157399252682&prds=oid:7176716469741491869&q=folding+stool&hl=en&ei=92ZBW-GEKJew0PEP8KG1qAc&lsft=ref:212,loc:1&lsft=gclid:Cj0KCQjwyYHaBRDvARIsAHkAXctjHGw5a2tZgkurqQpJWH_OE9nvSz9o8OACLa0Z9rAio_E2dTo3fGoaAjB3EALw_wcB

As for myself, I’m just going to sit on the ground, oblivious to the disapproving stares of the more sophisticated attendees.

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I just bought one of these and it’s fantastic.

http://www.walkstool.com/comfort

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I use this. It’s awesome.

GCI Outdoor Quik-E-Seat, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JPQU8K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_a.GqBb61BYC2B


When I was really suffering with my hip and knees I used to use a shooting stick, just replace the spike with a rubber ferrule. It doubles up a s both a seat and walking stick.

Alternatively, this:

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I was even able to take the tripod stool I bought a couple years ago as carry-on for my flights to Pinburgh. I did have to spend a bit more time at security waiting for TSA to take a second look at it on the conveyor belt. YMMV.
And for only $10, maybe it’s best just to not deal with the TSA hassle. haha

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