The South Side is is full of beer and burger joints and nice restaurants, but some feel that the white tablecloth and linen napkins places are becoming a thing of the past in this section of the city. The closing of Allegro and Bruchetta's lends some support to that theory. There are plenty of customers on the streets, but most seem to be college age and may not be willing or able to spent the kind of money for those establishments.
Yo Rita's is a small bistro style restaurant. The menu consists of tacos. Yup, just tacos (and a few appetizers). Before you quit reading I want to say that this is absolutely the best quality and most innovative food for the least price I have ever seen or heard of! Stacy and I tried two different tacos starting with the Ahi Tuna. It was perfect tuna with gingered slaw, avocado, sliced jalapenos and fresh cialatro. As one of the pricier items it was $7.00. Tremendous. We then ordered the Flank Steak which had chunks of potato, poblano pepper, pickled red onion, mushroom, chimichurri, and cilantro, all for $6.00. The flank steak (see London Broil recipe) was as tender as I've ever tasted. Other selections that sounded tempting included a Mushroom taco with poblano pepper, white onion, green chile sauce, manchego for $4, and a Chorizo with manchego, sweet peppers, pickled red onion, aji amarillo for $5.
While I love a great sandwich and burger place like Fatheads, Yo Rita's has taken relatively lower priced foods and prepares and serves them with the skill and expertise of a great restaurant. How could this be?
Kevin Sousa, that's how.
Kevin has been building quite a reputation around Pittsburgh. He has been the chef at Soba, Kaya, Alchemy, and the Red Room. This is some of the finest food that can be found in the city. I guess he is doing some consulting work at YoRita while he is in the process of preparing to open his own restaurant to be named Salt of the Earth.
The menu at Yo Rita is really fantastic and a great way for those of us that can't always drop $100+ on a meal to experience truly excellent food at bargain prices.
Yo Rita's is a small bistro style restaurant. The menu consists of tacos. Yup, just tacos (and a few appetizers). Before you quit reading I want to say that this is absolutely the best quality and most innovative food for the least price I have ever seen or heard of! Stacy and I tried two different tacos starting with the Ahi Tuna. It was perfect tuna with gingered slaw, avocado, sliced jalapenos and fresh cialatro. As one of the pricier items it was $7.00. Tremendous. We then ordered the Flank Steak which had chunks of potato, poblano pepper, pickled red onion, mushroom, chimichurri, and cilantro, all for $6.00. The flank steak (see London Broil recipe) was as tender as I've ever tasted. Other selections that sounded tempting included a Mushroom taco with poblano pepper, white onion, green chile sauce, manchego for $4, and a Chorizo with manchego, sweet peppers, pickled red onion, aji amarillo for $5.
While I love a great sandwich and burger place like Fatheads, Yo Rita's has taken relatively lower priced foods and prepares and serves them with the skill and expertise of a great restaurant. How could this be?
Kevin Sousa, that's how.
Kevin has been building quite a reputation around Pittsburgh. He has been the chef at Soba, Kaya, Alchemy, and the Red Room. This is some of the finest food that can be found in the city. I guess he is doing some consulting work at YoRita while he is in the process of preparing to open his own restaurant to be named Salt of the Earth.
The menu at Yo Rita is really fantastic and a great way for those of us that can't always drop $100+ on a meal to experience truly excellent food at bargain prices.
3 comments:
A group of 4 could drop $100 (including tip). Did it last week with an order of 7 tacos (2 walleye, flank steak, mushroom, chicken, eel - all superb), the escabeche (mussels), 5 beers and a couple of Cokes.
That said, if YoRita was in a foodie city, there would be lines out the door. Two tacos is enough for just about anyone (price is $4-$7 each). The specials are usually extra-amazing for the ingredients - when you see beef marrow with tongue on the blackboard, go for it. He's also done triple, lamb fries and some other offal selections that are pretty common in Mexico but never seen in Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately, Kevin will only be there until start of November at which point he'll be concentrating on his own new resto. Hopefully whatever chef fills his shoes will be up to the task.
I just saw your post on Yo Rita's on Chow.
Darling Nephew, who is from the
Philly area like me, just started at Duquesne. The family loves to eat, so I've forwarded your blog to them as a valuable reference.
Any recommendations for cheap-o college students would be greatly appreciated, as well as recommendations for where visiting relatives with an open wallet can take a starving kid & his roommate.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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