Powder Witch & Company

So I moved back to Pittsburgh recently, after being away for the better part of two years, and (despite being February) the weather cooperated enough for me to make a run downtown. I almost missed my bus out. The only line that runs by my house always shows up a bit early, but it runs nearly every half hour, so I wouldn't have stood in the cold for too long if I had.

I'd picked up a bus card when I was living here before, and come back for the arts festival in the years I lived elsewhere, so I knew my card was still active just not how much was on it. Apparently there was 5.25, bus fair is 2.75. So I had to make a stop at one of the train stations to top up my card before I did anything else.

The smart thing to do (since my bus let out near PPG plaza) would be to go up to wood street station (since the card machines at gateway often didn't work well), but my mom and I had been talking and she was of the opinion that the machines in steel plaza were better. So I walked to steel plaza.

Steel plaza (the station not the actual plaza) has a cool rainbow backlight on the glass brick in its walls, it's also a bit hard to find overland if you haven't been out that way in two years and didn't look it up before hand. So I topped off my card and hopped the train back to wood street. It's worth mentioning that train rides, at least running through downtown, are completely free. And I knew that, and just didn't for some reason.

There's a few buses that run out to the strip from the above-ground section of wood street, but be prepared to sit for a bit. Practically every third bus that rolls up to that stop is 28x, the airport flyer, but this time I was lucky and only had to wait about 5 minutes.

The strip is a classic row of storefronts, some over a century old. Though now its backed by a strip mall converted from an old train yard and condos. Rows and rows of condos. It's worth noting that there are very few bathrooms open to the public (both owned by Wholey's fish) and next to no public seating. But if you're only there for one thing, its manageable. I was not there for only one thing.

Regardless, I finished my errands and decided it was time for lunch.

Salem's market and grill first caught my eye through my mom's pictures. Every time she's in town she'll stop to take photos of murals and architecture, and whatever else catches her eye. Including the mural that covers the front of the building at Salem's. It's a bit of a hike from the main part of the strip, sitting between 29th and 30th, but well worth the walk.

The market was closed when I arrived, (not surprising since Monday is always slow on the strip) but the grill was open, so in I went. It's very spacious and bright inside, more than I'd expected even for how big the building is. I must have either beat the lunch rush or just missed it when I showed up, because while there was a crowd, it wasn't packed to the gills.

I went in with plans to grab a falafel wrap (because it had hit me a few days earlier that I'd never had one) and some samosas, but they have so much more than that. Next to where you order there's a massive soup bar full of curry's and stewed meat and vegetables, that you can mix and match to your heart's content (literally, the woman ahead of me was asking for a little of this, and a spoonful of that, and just one or two pieces of meat from another pot) all over a serving of rice. Wait times after ordering were reasonable too, under ten minutes for mine. Though expect this to increase with bigger orders.

Their falafel wrap is a cold sandwich stuffed full of falafel (obvi), red onion, lettuce, and sauce. It had to be wrapped in foil it's so full. The falafel is warm and fresh in the wrap and a nice smooth texture. However it's also made with cilantro, and (unfortunately for me) I got the soap gene.

At first I didn't notice, or chalked it up to the tanginess of the sauce. But as time went on and the falafel got colder, the soapiness became overwhelming. I still ate most of it, and I suspect that if I'd had the falafel on it's own I would have finished without noticing.

Really I'm more disappointed in myself, I really drew the short straw on inheriting food problems from my parents. Ah well, lessons for next time.

So, for obvious reasons, the samosas were the star of my meal. Salem's offers three varieties, beef, chicken, and vegetarian. I was in the mood for chicken. When I first bit into it, the filling had a crumbly texture but it was wonderfully juicy and well seasoned. I only picked up two, and that just wasn't enough.

I plan to go back at some point. I want to try their beef samosas, and try and work my way through their soups and kebabs. But maybe next time I'll stay on the bus, instead of walking up.

Of course that wasn't the end of the day for me. I got lucky in catching a bus back from the strip, as (despite there being three of them) the buses come infrequently. And there was plenty of time to get to my bus home, I got there with twenty minutes to spare. But then I discovered that there are two variants to my bus home.

One variant runs right by my house, the other stops a ten minute drive away in front of a grocery store. A grocery store several steep hills, 3 miles of narrow roads, and no sidewalks away from my house. The next bus, which would run by home, wasn't due for around half an hour. So I called my sibling for a ride the rest of the way home.

Apparently the dual set up is only for weekdays, but this is still the evil twin to the phenomena of having tons of buses in the morning and evening but practically none in the middle of the day. Which was already pretty evil.