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1 week ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
“Am I happy? Are you kidding? I’m making beer!” says Mike “Scarfo” Scarlatelli as he heaves a 50-pound bag of malted grain onto his shoulder. I mean, I had to ask the question — just days ago he announced that The Smiling Moose, the punk rock bar he founded in 2003 on the South Side, would close by the end of May. Many longtime customers (myself included), spent hours sharing photos and chatting online about the Carson Street venue that was one of Pittsburgh’s first craft beer destinations.
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1 week ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Satisfy your wanderlust with a tour of ethnic bakeries. Bloomfield: 4310 Main St.Get Bulgarian baked goods in Pittsburgh’s Little Italy!Zhelyazko “Jak” Latinov, who ran a popular bakery in his homeland, brought his bread-making skills to Bloomfield. Jak’s Bakery is located in the building next to Trace Brewing, making this one of the best blocks in town for carbo-loading.
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1 week ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Ruckus Cafe expands, West View Brew opens and Commonplace Coffee's soon-to-open location is one for the books. I feel lucky to live north of the city, where (aside from McKnightmare Road) traffic flows and so do the caffeinated beverages. In the past six months, Lemon Tree moved to a bigger space in Millvale, Kinder Being Cafe landed on the North Side and Wexford-based Cafe Conmigo opened a second location in Cranberry.
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1 week ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Kyle’s Cakes N’at on North Avenue specializes in the dense dessert. Picture it, Millvale, 2020 — Lisa and Kyle Rozycki, a mother-and-son team from Berks County, PA, launch a cheesecake company in Millvale during a global pandemic, and it takes off like the jumbo jet in the title sequence of “The Golden Girls”!“I worked 87 hours last week and it’s not even busy season yet,” says Kyle, who was born a decade after my favorite NBC sitcom debuted in 1985.
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2 weeks ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier will host the six-story tall inflatable this summer. Western Pennsylvania will once again welcome The World’s Largest Rubber Duck when it waddles into Idlewild & SoakZone this summer for a weekend of wet and wild waterfowl fun!No, weally!The six-story-tall inflatable will be on display at the Ligonier amusement park from June 27-29.
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2 weeks ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
A lot of yinzers have Pittsburgh-centric collections to showcase their black-and-gold pride, but no one can beat the Heinz History Center’s stockpile of Steel City swag. On Saturday, April 26, the Strip District museum will unveil Pittsburgh’s Hidden History, an exhibition filled with artifacts from the facility’s archives. It’s on view through Oct. 5, 2025. “We love history, we love Pittsburgh and we love what we do,” says Jeff Brodie, vice president for museums.
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3 weeks ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Lolev Brewing is moving up — to Butler County. On Friday, April 25, the Lawrenceville-based business — named after the lower level of the house where brothers Ted and Scott Slesinski began homebrewing — will open a second location in Zelienople. The building at 111 S. Main St. is no stranger to suds. Constructed in 1903, it served as a Barq’s root beer bottling facility for many years.
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3 weeks ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
I thought I had the coolest job title until I met Anaïs Saint-André Loughran, an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional!A native of Lyon, France, Loughran was an expert on the subject long before earning the official designation. One of her earliest memories involves covertly eating half a wheel of Tomme de Savoie while on a family road trip through the Alps. That makes her a certified cheese legend in my book.
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4 weeks ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Want to dine inside a fairy tale? Visit Hyeholde Restaurant. William Kryskill built the castle-like retreat for his wife, Clara, on a wooded, 4-acre property in Moon. The couple began serving gourmet food there in 1937 and continued to do so for nearly four decades. That’s so romantic! It’s no wonder Hyeholde hosts at least 25 weddings annually. If you’re more of a movie lover, here’s a fun fact for you: Hyeholde’s exterior appears in George A.
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1 month ago | 
pittsburghmagazine.com | Kristy Graver
Dolores “Dee” Carioto, 93, has been designing cemetery monuments since 1949. Aside from the tombstones in the front yard, the house looks like any other suburban home. The Paul Gropelli Memorial Co. operates out of the building on Cemetery Lane in Ross. That’s where you’ll find 93-year-old Dolores “Dee” Carioto, who’s been hand-designing monuments for her grandfather’s business since 1949. Her life was set in stone at birth.
