In Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine options abound, from Everyday Noodles and Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33’s more subtle and lighter Taiwanese options.
More games, more books, more noodles and lots more tea: welcome to a changing Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is one of the great urban neighborhoods in America, and has been for a long time. It was literally Mister Rogers’ neighborhood, where the television host the ultimate good neighbor lived.
Squirrel Hill was the first place in Pittsburgh well, anywhere that felt like home to me. For more than 20 years, I’ve lived in and around it (now in next-door Greenfield), and I’ve come to revel in its timeless rhythms from the Orthodox families walking slowly to shul each Shabbat, to the shrieks of joy of kids skidding down the hill at Blue Slide Park on flattened cardboard boxes, to the thrill of the hunt in the dusty stacks at Jerry’s Records, perhaps the greatest used record store in the universe.
Jian’s Kitchen
Pittsburgh’s newest Chinese restaurant, Jian’s Kitchen, is located in the subterranean Squirrel Hill space formerly occupied by Northeastern Kitchen.
There’s a lot to celebrate with this opening, and foremost is the depth of its menu. You Shan Pei, the former head chef of Northeastern Kitchen, remains on staff, and he’s joined by Michael Chew, a Taiwanese chef with 40 years of experience; Chew first cooked in Pittsburgh 30 years ago when he was the chef of Chef Chow in Fox Chapel.
Rather than focus solely on the lesser-known (though utterly delicious) cuisine of Heilongjiang province, as was the case at Northeastern Kitchen, the two chefs are collaborating on a pan-Chinese menu. Those dishes go beyond the typical Chinese restaurant menu to celebrate the nation’s culinary intricacies, and they’re also exploring the depths of regional cuisine.