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Street FoodWhat is street food? Street food is good food that's not fancy. It's a great meal you can order quickly, yet without feeling like you're supposed to leave fast. It's food the locals usually know about--food that you don't feel strange eating by yourself, but are always glad to reveal to a special friend. Street food costs less than $10 per person. You order it at the counter, or at least pay for it there.
Breakfast At Dari-Villaby Eric MillerIn some ways it’s a perfect picture of Americana. Inside the Dari-Villa restaurant it could be 1958 or 1970 or 2002, you can’t really tell. There are lots of those square plastic jelly containers offering the time-honored varieties of grape, strawberry, orange, and mixed fruit. This alone is something truly American, as I understand grape jelly is simply not available in merry old England or many other places. The photos on the wall provide a glimpse at the town of Bellevue, which probably hasn’t changed as much as the Dari-Villa over the years. As the photos indicate, this area was part of depreciation lands awarded to soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War but who couldn’t adequately be paid. If you thought Bellevue was a misspelled city in Washington, you are wrong. Bellevue is a small town just west of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River. It’s a well-kept secret--even many Pittsburghers don't know it. The housing prices are reasonable, the neighborhood is well lighted and safe, and the commercial district rivals any other around. The streets are lined with attractive lampposts, and there’s a classic-looking city hall as well as a public library housed in a Victorian Mansion. Lincoln Avenue sports a theatre, several drug stores, florists, a hardware store, discount stores, barbers and salons, a number of churches, and even a green grocer. The best thing about Bellevue, however may just be the food.
The cooks wear their white coats, the patrons know the waitstaff, and some of the people at the counter look like they’ve been sitting there half of forever, smoking, reading newspapers, and enjoying things just as they always were. Walk past the Dari-Villa during the day and you may see ham steaks and pirogue on special. Get up earlier and you’ll find one of the best places for breakfast in the western half of the state. It’s just eggs and bacon, I know, but it’s the simplicity and the time-honored manner in which it’s prepared and served. From the vinyl booths to the soda fountain and Formica counter, this is a place made for breakfast in America. You can say there’s no way to mess up an egg, but breakfast connoisseurs will know there is. The bacon needs to be crisp and the eggs need to be free of skillet burn. At the Dari-Villa, they know how to make both to perfection.
Dari-Villa Restaurant
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The only thing you may notice that’s really different in the photos is the absence of a streetcar. The buildings look about the same, the numbers of pedestrians on the sidewalks are similar, and even many of the retail stores haven’t changed. On second glance, this phenomenon seems oh so un-American. For a Californian, there are two things that are eerily out of place when in Bellevue’s Dari-Villa Restaurant. First there are no cell phones ringing, and secondly a cloud of second-hand smoke hovers over the counter. Depending on your perspective, these variations can be good or bad. No matter where you’re from, though, you’ll find the food, people, and prices at the Dari-Villa satisfying, and the experience worthy of return.