This Saturday Lunch starts with the Coffee Passport. No, we did not have just coffee for lunch, but the purchase of the Coffee Passport led us to our lunch destination. When we lived in rural Northwestern PA, our coffee options were limited to a local coffee shop and McDonalds (which has decent coffee for the price); for a long time, our closest Starbucks was 40 miles away. So, when we moved back to the city, finding good coffee became a priority for us. We were in the midst of searching for a different local coffee shop to visit each weekend when we discovered the Coffee Passport at deFer. The Passport was the perfect vehicle for us to discover new coffee shops – drinks at 10 different local shops for only $20.

That’s how we found ourselves at Curbside Coffee in Blawnox on a recent Saturday. We hadn’t spent much time in that area of Pittsburgh since we were in graduate school. In those days, we had a standing Wednesday-night grocery-shopping date in Aspinwall. Why Aspinwall? The grocery store there was nicer and had a larger variety of items than the one closer to where we lived.

Curbside Coffee has great coffee. But, more to the point of Saturday Lunch: Curbside Coffee offers wonderful food for lunch (breakfast, too). We ordered the smoked salmon on greens with scrambled eggs, feta, and veggies and a roast beef sandwich with greens, pickle, and mayonnaise. The smoked salmon and egg platter was beautifully presented; the salmon was tender, salty, a perfect balance to the feta cheese, the eggs were cooked perfectly, and the vegetables were fresh and flavorful. The sandwich was simply prepared and the richness of the roast beef was well-complemented by the saltiness of the pickles. The food was truly delicious. 

Our conversation at lunch centered around those days in the 80s when Aspinwall was our go-to destination for grocery shopping, and how things have changed since then. Today, Aspinwall has become our go-to destination for great coffee and lunch at Curbside Coffee, even on days other than Saturdays.