For my 32nd birthday, I went to Lidia’s Italy: Pittsburgh edition. For $22, this is what you get at Lidia’s for brunch:

• a bloody mary or mimosa (we all ordered mimosas. I ordered two.)
• an amazing array of bread like cranberry scones and rosemary foccacia with three different kinds of butter (apricot jam butter, strawberry jam butter, crunchy sugar butter)
• an antipasti table to write home to your Auntie about. cured meats, cheeses, olives, some sort of stewed cabbage dish, canellini bean/tuna salad, i can’t even remember what else. insanity.
• an entree big enough to feed 3 or 4, no lie. we ordered crepes stuffed with butternut squash and goat cheese, manicotti, and frico. i’ve never had frico before. it’s a melty Monasio cheese envelope filled with potatoes, leeks, and different fillings (we ordered both “bacon and eggs” and “rosemary and mushroom”.) were you ever twisted enough to find out what it tastes like if you just melt and fry some cheese in a hot, buttered skillet? i am that twisted, friends, and thank god for it– now i know what to tell you “frico” resembles. and that’s not a bad thing at all.
• a dessert table: tiramisu, raspberry torte, flourless chocolate cake, lemon drop cookies, paper-thin chocolate and apricot cookies, etc…
• some damned fine coffee. i forgot to ask where they get their coffee from, but i fully plan on returning to find out.

It was the first time I’ve been to Lidia’s. I’ve heard mediocre things about the dinners there lately (as well as the service) and I almost bailed and went to Point Brugge last minute, but Lidia’s brunch was top-notch as far as I’m concerned. I will certainly return, and inevitably (involuntarily, even) I will gorge.

(Note: If I were someone awful and annoying, someone like Dane Cook, perhaps, this is where I would make a really un-funny observation about wide-girthed folks and their proclivity towards all-you-can-eat brunches such as these. Lucky for you, I am not Dane Cook, so it doesn’t need to be said.)

So, yes: stop by Lidia’s for brunch, if nothing else, and head on over to Zerrer’s Antiques in the Strip. The prices are reasonable, the owners are awesome, and you just might find a treasure!

FYI: If you are a fan of Lidia Bastianich (I don’t pay attention if it don’t rhyme with “Schmourdain”), she will be signing copies of her cookbook Lidia’s Italy at the Shadyside Williams-Sonoma on Sunday.

Lidia will personalize her new cookbook Lidia’s Italy and also sign her other titles. (Proof of Williams-Sonoma purchase is required.)

Be sure to bring your m-effin’ wallets, kids.

Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

You’ll need:

• 2 cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes (if you’re into tomatoes, or not if you’re not.)
• 1 can pumpkin puree (or in this case, a small heap of freshly pureed pumpkin)
• 1-2 onions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ c cooking sherry
• ½ stick soy margarine
• 4 c vegetable broth
• 1 t salt
• ½ t black pepper
• 2-3 t cumin
• 3-4 T balsamic vinegar

Instructions, photos, and biscuit recipe below!

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African Peanut Soup

In a large sauce pan, heat up:

• a dribble of olive oil
• a good-sized yellow onion, chopped
• two cloves of garlic, chopped
• a knuckle of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• pinch of cinnamon
• bigger pinch of cumin
• smaller pinch of cayenne – or a squirt of sriracha sauce, or a small spoon of chili garlic sauce

More photos and the rest of the recipe below!
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