The Best Restaurant Party... ever.

Imagine the very best restaurants in Pittsburgh. Now imagine them all in the same room, all giving away as much free food as you want. That was my Monday night.

Every year, WQED and Pittsburgh Magazine (which also happens to be where my dad works) throws the Best Restaurant Party. It's an event that features the 25 best eatery's in the Burgh, over a thousand party-goers, and a $80-a-person entry fee. But of course, because I am such a slick dude, me and my cohort Nick were able to get in for free. All we had to do was some volunteer work!

Nick and I were supposed to be up at the David L Lawrence Convention Center (the site of this year's party) at 4:30 for training. Word on the street was that the two of us were going to be working at the elevators. Our original hopes were that we were each going to get an elevator to operate, hitting buttons and dispensing advice for all who asked of our services. Well our hopes were soon squashed when we found out that we just had to stand outside of the Convention Center and tell people to ride the elevators to the third floor. A job that a simple sign could have done way better than us. But who cares? We only had to do that for an hour and then we were able to eat as much as we wanted!

Once we had finished our meaningless jobs, we hurried up to the third floor ballroom where the party was happening. The room was a spacious, dimly lit, heaven stuffed with crab and ice cream. Booths for the 25 restaurants lined the walls, the center of the room was filled with auction items, and the rest of the room was taken up by the dressed-up Pittsburgh elite. Like two kids in some weird, ritzy candy shop, we went to town. We started from the first booth, next to the door, and just worked our way around the room.

Here's a summary of what we ate:
-Nick, being the vegetarian that he is, was unable to eat as much as I... on the other hand, he ate alot of stuff that I wouldn't even touch. He had things like green paste, egg plant, peppers, and more green slimy stuff.
-The first place we hit up was the Jenny Lee Bakery. They were giving away these amazing circular pieces of french toast. At the end of the night, they gave me and Nick both a loaf to take home with us!
-Handel's was giving away all kinds of free ice cream. I took advantage of the Tiramasu (a personal favorite of mine)
-Ruth Chris' Steak House was giving away these little rare steak sandwiches (the meat was rare... the sandwiches were NOT hard to find) of which I had three. Delicious!
-There was alot of fancy seafood there... neither of us eat seafood, so we passed on a good bit of the tables.
-Surprisingly enough there were two restaurant chains there: Vocelli's and Eat n' Park. And let me tell you... both were WAY better than the Beaver County versions of those establishments. Vocelli's had some great gourmet pizza.
-Eat n' Park was giving away these little plates with sticky buns al a mode... My God they were heavenly! I ended up eating six plates of them by the end of the night. We were also allowed to take as many Smiley Cookies as we wanted.
-We ate some weird stuff too... I tried this weird French peach gelatin crap and some orange duck. Nick had some crazy meatless stuff, don't ask me.
-We got lots of free waters, free coffee, and we could have had free Pepsi Edge (but that's for Philistines and whores, in my opinion).

To top off our evening, we met a celebrity/childhood icon: Mr. McFeely. By today's standards one might think he was a porn star or a child molester. On the contrary! He is the "speedy" delivery man for Mr. Rogers! And he was there, signing autographs in his mail carrier costume.

Mike: Hey, there's Mr. McFeely.
Nick: Cool... wait! Mr. McFeely?! Let's get his autograph!
Mike: Let's get a picture with him.
McF: Hello boys, would you like a Pittsburgh Magazine?
Mike: No thanks, my dad works for them. I get em all the time.
McF: Who's your dad?
Mike: Mike Rubino
McF: Oh yeah! That's your dad! (interesting... does he know him or was I just lied to by a faux-member of the postal service)
Nick: I would like one!

And so we took a picture with him (see below)

And we got some autographs, and headed out of there. The party ended around 8:30pm, and my parents went to some secret VIP party in the room next to the ballroom. Nick and I weren't invited, of course, so we left the Convention Center. On the way out, however, Nick managed to take both a pink rose (for a lady friend) and a cardboard sign. (see below)

Nick and I plan on returning next year as volunteers again.

Posted by MikeRubino at June 15, 2004 10:33 PM