This past weekend we had the opportunity to have a wonderful, but rare, date night. We had the opportunity to see the Pittsburgh stop of the “All Hail” tour of the podcast “Welcome to Night Vale.”
But before we took in the amazing show, we went out to eat.
Since I am a vegetarian, and Kev is most of the time (although he wasn’t this weekend), we had to find a place that was near the theater but also had a couple of veggie options.
I was surprised how little options the restaurants in the Cultural District had. A lot were closed on a Sunday evening, but a lot didn’t even have an option that didn’t contain any meat.
Luckily, we decided to head to The Strip District because it wasn’t that far away.
In the strip there was is a great restaurant named Kaya that features Caribbean cooking, and luckily for me a lot of great vegetarian options.
During the month of April Kaya highlighted the island of Cuba to feature their cuisine and drinks.
We decided to kick off our dinner with the Cuban themed beverage Kaya Libre, a combination of rum, lime and Mexican Coke.
I ordered the Trumpet Mushroom, Ramp & Asparagus Paella: squash, tomatoes, green beans, wild mushrooms, roasted red pepper, greens, pineapple. It was so delicious! The mushrooms had a great meaty texture and the asparagus really brightened the dish.
Kevin decided to continue his culinary tour of Cuba and decided to order two tasting plates: Ropa Vieja Jubilee Hilltop Ranch flank steak, sofrito, peppers, onions, green olives, rice and Mojo Pork Black beans, cilantro, jalapeño, pickled red onions.
He said that both dishes were really great and full of good flavor. He said he liked the Ropa Veija just a smidge more than the Mojo. He said the seasoning of the Ropa was a little more up front.
With the drinks and dinners, it was a wonderful meal full of flavor and I didn’t feel like I was being cheated because I am a vegetarian.
If you are ever in The Strip District you should check out Kaya. You won’t be disappointed.
Mousekatots 