Coca Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA

Dan and I just returned from a long weekend in Pittsburgh, where we jaunted all over the city- visiting family; exploring breweries; eating delicious pirogies, kolski, and gumbo; visiting the Andy Warhol Museum; and we even squeezed in a little consignment store shopping.  It was such a great trip that I wanted to share with you all some of the wonderful places that we visited.  

First up is Coca Cafe, in the Lawrenceville section of the city.  Dan spotted this little gem amongst the many other cafes in the neighborhood.  We started with a simple latte.  While drinking this latte, it occurred to me that I could not remember the last time I sat at a cafe and enjoyed a deliciously, frothy latte straight out of a mug rather than in a cardboard cup racing around the city.  It was a sad realization and I've vowed to myself to make some room for more quite cafe time with a good book or good company.  Also, that latte was delicious.  

For lunch, we each ordered a sandwich.  Dan got the Club Panini - Turkey, ham, turkey bacon, cheddar, Jarlsberg & tomato grilled on country white bread - with a side of black beans and rice.  He said it was delicious and he gobbled it all up.  Even the rice and beans.  I snuck a bit of those and can attest that they too, were delicious.  (Please excuse the excessive use of the word "delicious".)

After much deliberating between the Spinach & Artichoke Tart-  Feta, parmesan and pine nuts baked in crispy phyllo served with mixed greens salad , the Grilled Chicken & Brie Sandwich-  Fig jam and granny smith apples, served on grilled challah bread, or the Curry Chicken Salad, I settled upon the chicken salad.   

Made with mango chutney, apples, golden raisins and pecans, I'd like to proclaim that Coca Cafe's Curried Chicken Salad is the best chicken salad I have ever experienced in my entire life.  It was simply amazing.  What did it for me was the mango chutney- little bits of sweet mango scattered through out the salad took it from really great curried chicken salad to damn-near sublime.  It didn't hurt that the salad was mellow and creamy and served on a perfectly flaky, buttery, crispy croissant with a side salad of mixed greens and sweet grape tomatoes.  *le sigh* 

We stepped out of Coca Cafe with perfectly full tummies and a bit on cloud nine.  Well- me anyways. :) I highly recommend it.  Also, so many people recommended it to us later on through out the weekend.  We were proud to announce that we had already visited!

So, if you ever find yourself in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh and in search of good food, try Coca Cafe.  But be warned, from what I've read and witnessed, it gets pretty packed on the weekends.  We lucked out and got a table immediately on a Friday afternoon.

Coca Cafe - 3811 Butler Street - Pittsburgh, PA- 412.621.3171