June 29th, 2011 
Jen
I love Pittsburgh.
I tell EVERYONE who will listen about how Pittsburgh is a beautiful city. Its clean with tons of character, history and a great skyline and now I can tell about the best dinner I ever ate…in Pittsburgh!
It was just last year (at my behest) that Ralph and I celebrated our 11th “Steel Anniversary” last year in the City of Steel.
Ummm… for those of you NOT versed in traditional anniversary gift lore, steel is the recommended gift for the 11th anniversary…just Google it if you don’t believe me!
Well we found ourselves in Pittsburgh again as I had a customer meeting there and we wanted our boys to see a city we enjoyed so much.
Add the Red Sox playing the Pirates this weekend in town and all this just happened to occur during our anniversary weekend…
Beautiful PNC Park
This anniversary year for us is #12 and the recommended traditional gift is silk and the recommended modern gift is pearl or a trip to Asia.
Hmmmm……for this #12 anniversary present and given our full time RV trek across the USA, I’m thinking that Hawaii would be a good extension of our trip.
For one thing, Pearl ( get it?) Harbor is in Hawaii and that would be like going to Asia. I mean, can’t Hawaiians “see Asia out their back window?”
(I HAD to write that!!!)
Anyway, I digress…
We celebrated our 12th anniversary with my parents and the boys at a fabulous restaurant called Elements in downtown Pittsburgh, recommended by our friend, neighbor and most importantly restaurant picking genius, Tim LaCasse. Thank you Tim!!!!!
I will always remember this anniversary night at Elements Cuisine where I truly had the best meal of my life.
Alex drinking tea at Elements
It was such a fantastic meal that I was hard pressed to let Ralph have a bite. I had the Ricotta Gnocchi with Lamb Bolognese, absolutely amazing…and to top off the meal we all ordered dessert.
Alex and I had the tempura chocolate cherries…Alex was moaning over how good it was and for a full two days after that dinner, although we had to get back on the road on our RV full time journey, both our boys begged to go back to Elements Cusine to eat again. It is amazing that Elements is also the place where both of our children actually ate cows tongue and liked it.
Now that is a memorable on its own merit never mind that hismis the very first restaurant where they have begged to return.
Elements whetted my children’s appetite for excellent food and encouraged them to try new foods. We talked about different flavors all night long and the next day too.
Although you wouldn’t think a really nice night out to dinner could be a learning experience for kids, it was. It was a great education in “fine food”, thoughtful conversation and a huge treat too.
So if we don’t get to Pearl Harbor…
…at least we did celebrate at the best restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Hats off to Justin and his crew of food wizards at Elements for the best meal I have ever had! Cheers!
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I’m seeing a theme here. It’s FOOD! As it we discovered during your visit, were were in Pittsburg the same weekend that you celebrated your 11th Anniversary. Next time we go back we will be making reservations at Elements BUT I don’t think I’ll be having TONGUE! WAY TO GO ALEX AND ELI!!
Believe it or not the tongue was the best tasting meat we had there! I hate to say it, but it “melted on your tongue”.
We will surely be eating our way across the US and Canada. BTW, we love the “Canuck” tshirts (I wont tell any of my Vancouver buds I won money off in the series that Im wearing it though). Take good care.
Thank you for including me in your original e-mail. The staff at Campers Inn of Raynham has enjoyed following your adventure. My daughter actually is a junior at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and I love the city. We will have to try Elements in August but I do not think tongue is in the cards.
It looks like Ralph is not a novice tow-er anymore.
Keep the blog going , and if you need anything in your travels, please call.
We all wish you a safe jourey and a great time.
Thanks to the able coaching from your guys at Campers Inn (gratuitous link to your site for RVs for sale 😉
We will be doing a review of you guys soon as well as the buying experience (even though it was all Jen) was great. Give a big hello to Stephanie as well.
Will do on calling – although the best way to learn stuff is just doing it, so far so good. Thanks again.
Tempura chocolate cherries? Hello!!! Bring some of those home!
Hi Tasha, could the chipolte chocolate cherries be a new empanada dish for you to try?! I’ll bet you could figure that out.
Alex says hi to his buddy Andrew and Go Yankees! :). Big hug and Happy 4th Jen
Hello!
This is Jennifer, your server from Elements! It was such a pleasure to wait on you for your anniversary, and I’m honored that you wrote such a glowing review of the restaurant. You were some of the best customers I’ve ever had (in any restaurant), and I think your RV idea is absolutely brilliant! I’ll definitely be following along to read about all your adventures, and I hope you’ll eat with us again the next time you’re in town. I’ll have a fresh cocktail and a glass of Mollydooker waiting! 🙂
Thanks Jennifer! We will certainly be back very soon. Please keep the Mollydooker in the decanter for us…as well as a few deep fried chocolate cherries as well.