If you like Italian cookies, scones, or coconut macaroons, or strawberry balsamic vinegar tortes, or chewy focaccias still warm from the oven, or artisan pizzas topped with sausage from the local Parma sausage company, you will love Enrico Biscotti Company. This storefront bakery, which Larry Lagattuta opened in 1995 as “stress relief” from his corporate job, has become a foodies’ Mecca in the food-focused Pittsburgh neighborhood known as The Strip.
Through the bakery’s screen doors wafts a come-hither smell of plum-filled crumb cake or cornmeal biscotti getting cut for its second bake. Step inside and confront an array of jars that contain a few dozen different kinds of extra-large, hand-cut biscotti, including classic anise-almond and black pepper walnut as well as white chocolate with macadamia nuts. If ever you walk in and Larry’s macaroons are still warm from the oven, buy some and eat them instantly! Macaroons are a regular part of the repertoire, sometimes dipped in chocolate; but they are not always available. When warm, they are food of the gods.
Behind the bakery, via a short sidewalk, there is a second part of Enrico Biscotti, a European-style café where Larry makes individual-size pizzas in his brick oven and great Italian meals. Here too is the espresso machine, as well as a handful of tables both inside and outdoors in a sort of makeshift patio along the sidewalk. We know of no nicer place to start the day with strong coffee and biscotti, or to have a leisurely lunch of expertly-made true-Italian food.
Sunday | 9am - 4pm |
Monday | 8am - 4pm |
Tuesday | 8am - 4pm |
Wednesday | 8am - 4pm |
Thursday | 8am - 4pm |
Friday | 8am - 4pm |
Saturday | 8am - 4pm |
Other Nearby Restaurants
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Bakn
Carnegie, PennsylvaniaBetween bacon Bloody Marys and Bacon-Bourbon Ice Cream, Pittsburgh’s Bakn serves pound-of-bacon BLTs, bacon flatbread, and bacon flights of 4 different kinds.
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Gab & Eat Restaurant
Carnegie, PennsylvaniaThere is nowhere in Pittsburgh better for an early morning meal than at a counter seat at the Gab & Eat, a blue collar urban hash house just west of downtown.
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Beto’s
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaUnique regional pizza. Each bite is 1/2 baked crust & gooey cheese, 1/2 room-temp toppings & unmelted cheese. Beto’s weird juxtaposition verges on addictive.
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Giannamore’s Pizza
Wintersville, OhioGiannamore’s serves the local regional specialty pizza, on which toppings are added only after it comes out of the oven.
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Union Grill
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaThe Devonshire, a sandwich unique to Pittsburgh, is great at the Union Grill, where heavy slices of freshly roasted turkey are always the foundation.
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Oram’s Donut Shop
Beaver Falls, PennsylvaniaRaised and glazed cake donuts and cream puffs are best bets at Oram’s. Must eat: the hugely satisfying cinnamon roll.