Friday, July 17, 2009

Happy Summertime everybody!

NEW SUMMER MENU
Chef Jim here @ Gypsy Café and summer, to me, means produce. Sweet smelling tomatoes and even sweeter basil with an almost licorice aftertaste, plump meaty eggplant, and a whole rainbow of fresh peppers from sweet to atomic--this for me is the best part of summer. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that I am presenting to you, via our new Summer Menu, all these flavors and tastes that speak so well of the season. Not only have we brought back some summer favorites our customers have been asking about since last summer, like our layered Eggplant Caprese and our Pomegranate Barbecue Pulled Lamb “Gyro”, but we have also rolled out some new dishes for your enjoyment as well, including Sous Chef Brian Conan Doyle’s pillowy and delicious Roasted Garlic Gnocchi served in a plum tomato cream sauce and Gypsy Chicken, featuring fresh red, green, and Hungarian wax peppers in a smoked Paprika sauce over creamy polenta. To see the full menu, visit www.gypsycafe.net and click the “Dinner” tab, or better yet, just come on in for dinner. You are bound to find something to your liking.

PITTSBURGH GHOST TOUR
Another new thing we are trying this summer are a series of dinners with the Haunted Pittsburgh Ghost Tour. Storytellers will spin Pittsburgh’s best ghost stories while we serve a 3-course prix fixe menu for an all-inclusive price of $30 in advance or $35 @ the door (Bar beverages are extra). Sometimes the best way to cool off is with shivers down your spine and even if you ain’t afraid of no ghost (Bustin’ makes me feel good!) the history behind each of the stories told is fascinating in and of itself. The July dates for the Haunted Pittsburgh Ghost Tour dinners are Wed. July 15th and Wed. July 29th , with more dates to be announced. Both events start at 7:30 pm and we do recommend reservations. BOO!

DON KNOWS COLE
If your tastes run a little more to the jazzier side of he street, then check out our very own Main Man of Saxophony, the legendary Don Aliquo as he appears July 25th @ Gypsy in a special show featuring the works of the equally legendary Cole Porter. So if its “Too Darn Hot” to stay home come on down to a “De-Lovely” night of jazz with Don, Mark Perna, and his hepcat friends. The show starts @ 8 or so and if you don’t want to be considered L7 and make the scene then I would suggest making some reservations, you dig? Nuff said.

SHE KNOWS WHEN SHE NEEDS A BREAK…
Finally, one quick note to mention that our intuitive Tarot reader Rebecca has been taking the opportunity to take a few days off here and there. She will not be in this Friday July 17th, but will be back and available next week, well rested and ready to read.

DUDES CELEBRATE 50
And finally finally, if you are a fan of our Geek Brunches then you might want to check out my podcast, The Legion of Dudes, every Thursday @ www.legionofdudes.com. On August 2nd @ 9PM EST we will be celebrating our 50th show with a live Stickam feed (live.legionofdudes.com) and giving away all kinds of prizes live during the show. If you are geeky and you like free stuff check it out. It will be ridiculously easy to win something cool.

That’s all from Muppet Labs…I mean the Gypsy Kitchen this week. Get out there and enjoy that weather people! See you at the Flea Market; I’ll be the big guy in black flipping through the comic books!


Chef Jim

PS. Follow Gypsy Café on the Twitter at GypsyCafe and watch us unveil the new summer menu a dish a day via our tweets. Technology is our friend!

PPS: Now playing at City Theatre (www.citytheatrecompany.org) --the amazing Kim Richards returns in “Late Night Catechism 3: Till Death do us Part” and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (www.pnme.org) returns with brand new works for a brand new season!