March 23, 2025 • 35 mins
(01:02) Dive into the delicious world of '77 Club, Pittsburgh's rising wood-fired sensation transforming the city's food scene with Italian street food and community spirit. Founders Brittani and Dustin Boutilier share the journey that brought them from California to Pittsburgh by way of Brazil, driven by their passion for authentic cuisine and bringing people together through food.
The star of their mobile kitchen? The panuozzo – a pizza sandwich originating from Campagna, Italy that delivers all the flavor of pizza in a portable, quick-service format perfect for brewery pop-ups. Each sandwich pays homage to songs they love, from the "I Am Blue" with its surprisingly addictive mustard cream to the "Blockhead" featuring crispy potatoes and caramelized onions.
(09:40) What makes '77 Club particularly special is the vibe they've created. Named after 1977 – the iconic year that birthed punk rock – their business embodies that DIY ethos while inviting everyone to feel part of something special. Their regular residencies at local breweries like Four Points, Leaning Cask, and Eleventh Hour have built a devoted following, with catering services expanding their reach.
Their partnership with Bunker Projects highlights their commitment to supporting Pittsburgh's arts community, including an upcoming block party in June 2025. Whether you're a foodie seeking authentic Italian street food or simply looking for your next favorite local business to support, '77 Club delivers quality, creativity, and community on every plate. Find them on Instagram at @77club_pgh to discover where they'll pop up next!
(26:49) Later in the show, we take a trip 'dahntawn' with Autumn Pawelec to experience the chic looks and equally stunning bites of Ritual House. And if your staying in, we have a home-cooked chicken recipe from Meghan Pohl of Batch that will please the whole family. Hope you're hungry!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Doug (00:01):
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Do you want to be a member of aclub that specializes in eating
pizza sandwiches?
Well, count us in with thisweek's guests.
What downtown spot is bringingtop-notch taste with chic
Instagram looks, Autumn Pawelecclues us in and, searching for
(00:27):
another weeknight meal that's ahit with the whole family,
Meghan Pohl offers up a one-potchicken dish that's sure to
please All that ahead.
Stay tuned Thanks to Chip andKale Plant-Based Meals for their
ongoing support of thePittsburgh Dish and, as warmer
months approach, check out theirtrue side hustle Side Hustle
(00:49):
Pizza popping up in friendlyneighborhood spots.
You can find more informationon their Instagram handle at
Side Hustle Pizza PGH.
Now on to the show.
Thank you, guys, both forcoming over and for being on the
show.
Would you introduce yourselvesand what you have going on right
(01:10):
now in the world of food.
Brittani (01:13):
Yeah, I'm Brittani Boutilier.
I'm working a full-time jobwhile also doing pop-ups with
Dustin for 77 Club.
We have a lot going on.
We have a full year booked witha lot of fun stuff.
Dustin (01:27):
Yeah, I'm Dustin Boutilier.
I am not working a full-timejob, I'm full-time 77 Club and
we're just getting through thewintertime excited for spring.
We have a lot of stuff going on.
Doug (01:38):
I would love to define for our listeners, if they haven't
discovered you yet, Dustin, whatis 77 club?
Dustin (01:46):
yeah, so 77 club is a wood fire kitchen, I guess we
could say um, in the grand grandscheme of what a kitchen is and
what we put out, we put outfood.
So, yeah, I mean we're, we'refully mobile.
We come with wood fire ovens.
We pop up at breweries.
You know, yeah, we catering.
Our main thing is definitelybreweries and art galleries and
(02:09):
you know these sorts of things.
You know community engagementand good pizza and Italian food.
Doug (02:15):
Yes, yeah, I definitely have some questions.
So well, number one just out ofcuriosity what kind of wood
fire oven are you using?
Brittani (02:24):
right now we are using a gozney dome it's the big one
yes um, and we use that to fireour panuozzos.
This is our interim oven forright now.
Um, right now we're planning onpurchasing a large oven through
breadstone breadstone ovensBrittani.
Doug (02:43):
there's other things that you guys do Like.
The day I saw you, you had madesome bread ahead of time.
Is that a focaccia?
Tell me again, what was that?
Brittani (02:52):
Yeah, we do a focaccia Focaccia sandwiches.
Working with wood fire can be alittle challenging at times, so
we definitely had to figure outways to make a pivot.
Dustin's mastered focaccia um,some of the best and we get this
all the time some of the bestfocaccia that people have tasted
.
Doug (03:12):
Um, so we had to make a make pivots in order to, if it's
a cold day or you just can'tfire that oven up on site, right
?
Brittani (03:19):
yeah, if it's too windy, it's raining, um, it's a
little too cold to be outside,so we're able to make these
pivots, to make these deliciousfocaccia sandwiches and you did
say something earlier.
Doug (03:29):
I also want to define for folks what is the pizza sandwich
called?
It's called a panuozzo is thissomething that exists already,
that I just never heard the word?
Or is this something you guysare creating and should be
trademarking?
Dustin (03:45):
uh, no, we we're not creating our own.
Um, funny italian words.
Some people do so, you know.
That's good to know.
Maybe in the future we'll dothat and um it'll be a fun game.
Brittani (03:58):
So yeah, they're from uh, they're from Campagna.
Dustin (03:59):
Okay, yeah, I don't think they're on a lot of menus
that I've seen in Pittsburghanyway.
Doug (04:01):
yeah, I, I'm not sure.
I mean, you know, everything'son the internet, everything's on
, okay, yeah, I don't thinkthey're on a lot of menus that
I've seen in Pittsburgh anyway.
Dustin (04:05):
Yeah, I'm not sure.
I mean, you know everything'son the internet, everything's on
Instagram and you know we madethe pivot originally.
You know we were selling pizzaout of our house and the quality
suffers.
It's time and quality.
You know you go to a pop-up andsomeone orders a pizza and then
that pizza in these small ovenstakes so long you have five
(04:27):
pizzas on back that fifth pizzais going to be 40 minutes.
The quality is not there.
So we're like let's pivot.
So these little pizzasandwiches work perfectly for us
.
Doug (04:35):
Yes, are they like literally like a pizza crust
folded over?
Is that what we're talkingabout too?
Dustin (04:42):
Yeah.
Doug (04:42):
Because the day I was there it was a little cold and
you didn't have the wood fire,so we had the focaccia, all
right.
So people need to go and findyou and grab one of these for
sure, because I don't see anyoneelse in the city doing what
you're doing.
Brittani (04:54):
No, we're the only ones in Pittsburgh doing a
panuozzo.
They're so much fun to eat, andDustin's really came up with
some really unique and deliciouscreations.
Doug (05:03):
I want to get into that.
Let's talk about some of thenames of the sandwiches, or the
big hitters, so to speak.
Brittani (05:09):
So the names of the sandwiches when we were working
out of our house doing thepizzas.
We really wanted to focus onour love for music and all the
names we've came up with arenames of songs that we love and
we actually have a wholeplaylist that's on our link tree
that you can click off of ourInstagram.
That shows everyone the songs.
(05:29):
But, we have a lot of staplesand again, all of the names of
them are after songs that welove.
Doug (05:35):
Okay, well, let's go through a couple of these.
So let's start with I Am Blue.
What's on the I Am Blue?
Brittani (05:44):
Yeah, that's, I think, one of my favorite and one that
people are surprised how muchthey love I Am Blue is Fontina
local ham, local smoked ham.
We do a mustard cream andthat's what makes it special is
the mustard cream.
We've heard from many peoplewell, I don't like mustard.
(06:06):
And I often tell them, like youknow, please try it.
It's really delicious and Itried to get them to try it and
when they try it, they're like Idon't like mustard, but this is
so good.
Doug (06:21):
Yes.
Brittani (06:23):
And then it's topped with thyme and fresh cracked
pepper, and then all of ourpanuozzos are topped with
Parmesan.
Dustin (06:31):
So good it's a mountain of.
American Grana, I do.
Doug (06:35):
Oh, so good.
Grana Padana is one of myfavorites.
That's what you're doing.
You're speaking my language too.
I think I had the Luana.
Brittani (06:43):
Yes, you did.
Doug (06:45):
And who's that named after ?
If you don't mind, we can cutit if you don't want to know
that that's named after ourdaughter she is 20 months old.
Brittani (06:52):
She's so sweet.
Congratulations she's um, youknow, a classic everyone loves
her.
So you know everyone loves amargarita.
So we figured that would be aperfect one to be a staple, to
be a staple for us.
I.
Doug (07:04):
I loved it.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
That's the one I ordered theday that I saw you guys.
Brittani (07:09):
Yeah.
Dustin (07:10):
Just to clarify the I Am Blue that's named after a
Grover song.
Grover, from an old SesameStreet sings the blues vinyl.
He sings this tragic songcalled I Am Blue.
I think I actually have thatvinyl.
By the way, dude, you reallyhave that vinyl.
I mean, I'm a 1974 club personhere, so I think I have that
vinyl.
It's a beautiful song.
(07:30):
Grover, you got me, oh my gosh,that is so great.
Doug (07:34):
What a story.
Okay then, what about Blockhead?
Where's that from Devo?
Okay, yeah, and what's on theblockhead?
Dustin (07:42):
So the blockhead is cream frieze with some crisp
potato yes, oven crisp potato,good deep caramelized onions,
thyme and some more deliciousgrana.
Doug (07:54):
Oh, so good.
I've seen that crispy potato.
I'm like I think I need to havethat.
You don't get that on asandwich very often, so why not
Better than putting the potatochips on my lunchtime sandwich?
Brittani (08:04):
in school or something .
I mean that's good too.
It's not bad.
Doug (08:06):
All right, the one more that I wanted to hit if you guys
don't mind entertaining me isTV party yeah.
Dustin (08:15):
TV party is a black flag song, uh-huh yeah.
So we thought it was fitting tojust kind of have the classic
pepperoni jalapeno.
Doug (08:22):
A little hot a little spicy.
Dustin (08:26):
So kind of have the classic pepperoni jalapeno a
little hot a little spicy, sogood, yeah, we use, and that's
with um mozzarella for thecheese.
Doug (08:31):
Mozz from Caputo brothers I can't tell you from like, from
my perspective, the vibe thatyou guys are putting out, not
only on your instagram, whichinstantly captured me, and then
these names with your productand the songs, and even the
songs you pick and some of theshort videos you do.
It's amazing.
(08:51):
I think you were just we wereclose to around Valentine's day
when we're recording this andyou were handing each other what
was a bouquet, but it wasn't abouquet.
What was on the bouquet?
Brittani (09:02):
This was such a fun video to do for us um it's a
bouquet and it has paper flowersthat I made, and then it has
two panuozzos in it.
Yes, um, and then, in the end,Dustin's topping the Panuozzos
with grana padano it is raining,it's raining down and I'm just
looking, so in love don't stop,and I'm like Dustin's, like say
(09:24):
when, and I'm like never Peoplehave to check it out.
Doug (09:29):
There's the other one where, Dustin, you put a little
olive oil in your hair to startthe day, or something I love
that one too.
I'm like the creativity isthere and I think that's—.
Dustin (09:37):
I woke up late, it's so good.
Doug (09:39):
I think what's capturing Me is that overall vibe that
you've been able to create inkind of a short time.
When did you guys start doing77 Club?
Dustin (09:48):
October 14th was when we sold.
Doug (09:54):
October 14th 2023 was the first pizza we sold at our house
, so you're just in this over ayear now, yeah, and you've made
a lot of good connections at thebreweries.
Where are some of the placesthat you often are popping up
right now?
Brittani (10:05):
Yeah, we have quite a few residencies currently.
Doug (10:09):
Brittani is just pulling up her Rolodex on the phone of
all of their partnerships.
Go for it.
Let's hear like the top threeto five, right?
Brittani (10:16):
So we have first Sundays we're at Leaning Cask.
Second and fourth Sundays we'reat Four Points Brewery.
Doug (10:29):
We are on second Wednesdays at 11 11th hour.
That's where I saw you all.
Brittani (10:30):
Yes, third and fourth thursdays we're at l'olive, uh.
Second fridays we're at Coven.
And fourth Saturdays we're atJackworth ginger beer so we have
those guys too yeah, we're atquite a few places all around
town.
These residencies are great andwe love our partnerships.
Doug (10:48):
I love that you have these residencies, because it gives
you just more of a consistencytoo.
I'm like, hey, we're doing this, we know we're doing that.
You're not sort of strugglingto find a place and you can
probably at this point gauge howmuch traffic you're getting,
since you've done it a few times.
Is that right?
Dustin (11:05):
Yeah, projections are, are, you know tricky things?
I'm sure especially in thistime of year yeah, but a little
colder months yeah, yeah it's.
It's more about defininghopefully like a floor yeah
exactly, I don't know if we knowthe ceiling yet, but we're
always, you know, every time weget pushed, you know we try to
change up how we do our setupand make things more efficient.
But I also wanted to note thatum, we're also partnering with
(11:29):
bunker projects oh, I think Isaw something recently with
bunker projects, right?
so we're part of their bunkercommons program okay, yeah, tell
me more.
Doug (11:38):
What does this mean?
Dustin (11:39):
well, we're just.
You know we're going to bedoing some events with them this
year.
Okay, and um, some of theirmembers of their Bunker Commons
program get to get a littlediscount from us at our pop-ups.
Brittani (11:50):
So just to add further about the Bunker Commons Bunker
Projects is actually a reallygreat art gallery in Garfield.
They provide a space forartists to come from all over
the country, and Bunker Commonsis a program where people can
donate a certain amount of moneyto them to allow them to pay
(12:11):
their artists to be residents intheir space.
With the Bunker Commons program, you get different discounts to
many different companies aroundthe city, including us.
We give $3 off of your firstpurchase.
Then you also get 10%.
your first catering, and then10% off of your first catering
(12:33):
with us.
Doug (12:34):
I've been following Bunker Projects for a while, but I
don't think I've fullyunderstood what's going on there
, so I love that.
Thanks for enlightening us alittle bit more.
Brittani (12:42):
Yeah, really great organization to donate to.
They really focus on women,people of color and people of
LGBTQIA plus community.
Doug (12:50):
Love it.
Before we move too far awayfrom the food, I did want to ask
a little bit more about thecatering that you do.
So you do offer like sandwichesand salads, and do you do the
panuzzos Like tell us howcatering works for you guys.
Dustin (13:04):
Yeah.
So I mean, we offer on-site aswell as off-site catering.
So for the off-sites, that isgoing to be like the focaccia
sandwich drops you know thingslike that veggie platters, yes.
And for the on-sites, we do allthat as well, but we, you know,
we light up our ovens.
Autumn (13:18):
You know we're out there smoking.
Doug (13:20):
We'll be at your house, at your business, wherever so fun,
especially as we get into somespring and warmer months.
I would love to have you out inmy business parking lot like
cooking up things for my crew.
Dustin (13:30):
Yeah, we did one this morning, you did.
Doug (13:32):
Yeah, an off-site.
Oh my gosh.
Dustin (13:34):
And it's like 34 degrees outside.
That was an off-site, it was upin Sewickley.
Brittani (13:38):
Okay, yeah, wow, I'm Brittani.
Dustin (13:43):
And I'm Dustin of 77 Club.
Brittani (13:45):
And you're listening to The Pittsburgh.
Doug (13:47):
Dish.
Well, I did want to take a bitof a pivot and just learn a
little bit more about the bothof you We've talked before.
When we first met, when did youmove back to Pittsburgh?
I know, brittany, you said youwere born here, but you didn't
live here your whole life.
Give me a little bit of thattimeline.
Brittani (14:05):
Yeah, so I was born in Sharon, which is north of
Pittsburgh.
I lived there until I was 13,and then my parents and I moved
to California.
I lived in California for 17years.
That's where I met Dustin.
I met Dustin actually in highschool.
In high school, in high school,yeah, and from there we moved
back here about three years ago,and from there we moved back
here about three years ago, okay.
Doug (14:28):
And Dustin, you were like Orange County native Is that
right?
Or LA native?
Dustin (14:33):
Yeah, so I'm originally from.
I was born in Pasadena.
Doug (14:36):
Okay, it's so lovely.
Pasadena is such a great town.
Dustin (14:40):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty wild coming from there and
growing up in Los Angeles.
And then, yeah, I did pivot toOrange County in high school.
Yeah, I mean, we got marriedand we're like what are we doing
in California?
So we actually lived in Rio deJaneiro for our honeymoon we had
plans to move to Chile andactually open up a restaurant
(15:02):
out there, but that was allduring COVID.
So Brittani is a Chileancitizen.
And is that your mom, Brittani?
yeah, my mom yeah, she has dualcitizenship, I do not.
So there was some affidavit,some government paper that I did
not sign correctly and I wasbarred from the country, and
that's what prompted us notgoing further deeper into South.
Doug (15:25):
America.
Dustin (15:26):
Brought us back up to the States, brought us to
Pittsburgh.
Doug (15:28):
Wow.
Dustin (15:29):
And such a big pivot, but it's been amazing since then
.
I mean such a community outhere.
Well, I'm so glad you're here.
Doug (15:36):
I hope folks continue to discover you.
How long did you spend in Rio?
Brittani (15:41):
We were there for nearly three months, okay, yeah,
and we did it besides Rio.
We were there for nearly threemonths Okay, yeah, and we did it
besides Rio.
We were in a state called Bahiaand most of our time we were
spent in Búzios.
Okay, we had like a littlebungalow right by the beach in
Búzios, so we were mostly thereand then went to Rio.
We were in Rio about a month.
Doug (16:04):
I have to ask what did you all think about the food
experiences in Brazil?
Dustin (16:08):
It's wild, it's much different.
I mean the meat's awesome.
You can get burnt out from themeat.
But then there's seafood.
Brittani (16:14):
It's great we had honestly, probably some of the
best sushi I've ever had in mylife in.
Rio de Janeiro.
I mean it's right by the ocean,it was so fresh.
They had traditional, and thenthey had some that was a little
bit different, one roll that hadtruffle in it, but it was so
(16:35):
good, wow, yeah.
Doug (16:38):
Well, I love, I always love hearing, like food,
experiences and influences andstories.
I kind of want to come back tothe, the panooza, I say in that
way Pan the the.
Panuzzo.
I want to come back to thePanuzzo and everything else
you're doing.
Tell me where this idea of apop-up and the Panuzzo and the
Italian sort of vibe comes inhere.
Dustin (17:00):
Yeah, so I've worked in wood fire ovens for years.
You know, I've been working inkitchens like 14, 15 years.
I love wood fire pizza ovens.
I just want it to be back inthat.
So our daughter was born andwe're like how can we spend more
time together which is a funnything because I mean we're so
busy now, but we are together.
(17:21):
So we just bought the ovens andjust said let's just go for
this.
And then that led to a secondoven, which led to the upgrade
oven, and now we're going toupgrade again.
Doug (17:30):
Wow, what about food in your formative years?
So, dustin, you're saying youwere working in wood-fired ovens
.
I guess in other jobs, right,but what about at home?
Were there influences thatreally propelled you into like
passion of food from an earlierage?
Dustin (17:48):
Yeah, I'm half Mexican, so, yeah, like my grandma would
make tamales and stuff like that.
So I just grew up eating reallydelicious foods and hanging
around the kitchen.
I was a kid that was in thekitchen like all the time.
Doug (17:58):
Yes, I love that.
I love this whole like mix ofinfluence, like bringing you
forward.
And what about you, brittany?
What was food like in yourhouse or growing up?
Brittani (18:08):
I think similarly, like I think a lot of people get
this from family.
But my grandma on my mom's sidewas a, was a cook and you know
I just remember watching hercook all day after she retired
and she would just literallystew meat, not in a crock pot,
just stew meat all day.
The house would just be filledwith love and the best sense
(18:29):
ever.
Dustin (18:30):
Cutting onions in her hand, yeah.
Brittani (18:32):
Dustin used to cook with my grandma when she was
alive.
They had a lot of great timescooking together and I'm so glad
that they were able to spendtime together, but she would
cook all day literally 12 hourscooking a meal.
And that was a part of my life,all my life.
Doug (18:48):
Wow, it's just the way it is, you know, and it's a passion
or love, all the things.
Brittani (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, food is love.
Doug (18:53):
And the slow food.
So help me trace the steps.
What brought you back toPittsburgh?
Brittani (19:02):
Well, you know, when we came back from Brazil,
Dustin's parents were actuallyin Tucson.
Doug (19:11):
Okay.
Brittani (19:11):
And so we actually lived there for about six months
and Tucson's beautiful greathiking, but it didn't really
feel like the spot for us.
Autumn (19:20):
It didn't feel like home .
Brittani (19:23):
And you know I actually have cousins that live
in Pittsburgh and I've alwaysloved coming to Pittsburgh and I
would visit just to see mycousins.
Didn't feel like home.
And you know I actually havecousins that live in pittsburgh
and I've always loved coming topittsburgh and I would visit
just to see my cousins.
And you know, from there I waslike, hey, dustin, like why
don't we try going to pittsburgh?
You know it's affordable, youknow great city and um I said
okay yeah, he said okay have youever been, dustin?
(19:44):
never okay he came blindly.
He was just like, okay, let'sgo, and we have found a
beautiful, beautiful communityhere.
I love this.
Dustin (19:52):
I tell you what driving in not knowing what Pittsburgh
looks like, with a 16-footU-Haul hauling your car behind
it on those tight streets, I waslike oh, this is Pittsburgh.
Brittani (20:03):
Dustin called it his rig the whole way here from.
Dustin (20:06):
Tucson.
We moved into the South Hillsand I was like this rig is big
for these streets.
Doug (20:12):
That was crazy, but you, Brittany, you hit it.
Check, check, check, Affordablegreat communities and I just
have to say I think it's a greatplace to raise kids.
Brittani (20:23):
It is, and I actually have like an amazing mom's group
here that I'm so thankful for,and we all feel connected and
feel like we're going to raiseour kids in a good community.
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (20:36):
I love it.
All right, I have one morequestion before it gets away
from me.
Tell me the origin story of thename 77 Club.
Dustin (20:49):
Yeah, so we were coming up with a lot of different names
but none of them sounded rightand I just kind of blurted that
out.
Yeah, I mean, 1977 is just aniconic year in art music fashion
.
That was the birth of punk.
And just growing up being askater punker kid, I just really
identify with that DIY spiritand it really just spoke to us
(21:11):
and we're like that's the name.
Brittani (21:13):
Yeah, that.
And then, like the club, wetalk about how we want people to
feel like they're part ofsomething with us, and having
the club thing is like well,you're part of our club, now
You're part of our family.
So yeah, I'm bought in.
Doug (21:28):
As soon as I saw you guys hitting on Instagram, I'm like
what?
Brittani (21:31):
is this.
Doug (21:33):
What is this club?
I must understand and, like,the food is just amazing, and so
you've hooked me, and I hopeyou keep hooking everybody else
to join into that community.
I want to ask, dustin I thinkyou sort of hinted at it You've
been at this for a little bitmore than a year now what's
ahead for the both of you?
(21:54):
You've got these residencies atall of the breweries that we
listed earlier and that'll go onthrough the entire year.
Is that right?
Brittani (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, the whole year.
Doug (22:02):
Other goals, other things you want to be doing or
expanding to.
Dustin (22:08):
Yeah, I mean.
Doug (22:11):
I don't mean to get you choked up.
Dustin (22:16):
Yeah, I mean, we want to expand our catering.
Okay, you know we want to.
You know one day.
Have you know a small group ofwell-paid assassins?
You know that we can have youknow our co-conspirators in this
club.
And you know, obviously we'dlove a brick and mortar space,
at least our own space.
Even if we're just prepping outthere, we're still doing the
(22:37):
catering.
You know, it's just a place tocall home, I think, more than
anything.
Doug (22:41):
Did you hint at you want a bigger oven?
Dustin (22:43):
Yeah, okay.
Doug (22:45):
Maybe two, all right, so this is like the birthday
holiday.
These are my presents, please.
Brittani (22:50):
I think that the first oven we got was literally like
a birthday gift to ourselves,because our birthdays are six
days apart.
Dustin (22:58):
Oh, she's older.
She's two years older.
I'm two years older.
Brittani (23:02):
But yeah, we got our first oven as like a gift to
ourselves for our birthdays twoyears ago.
We were like, let's just dothis thing.
Doug (23:08):
If you listen back, I talked to John and Zita and they
do side hustle pizza and shebought him a Gozney and he
created side hustle pizza.
Dustin (23:17):
Yeah, it's infectious.
Yeah, it is infectious.
You can find him over in theMount Lebo area a lot.
But yeah, we'll have a fullsize size kind of mid-size, not
full size with our pizza trailerin late april, early may and
that's from breadstone ovens outof dallas wow, yeah, I can't
wait to see that.
Doug (23:37):
Hope it shows up on some instagram stories yeah, we'll
have a whole thing, I'm sure inaddition to growing the catering
and getting a bigger oven, umany other big events on the
horizon, anything happening likemaybe later in the spring or
summer?
Dustin (23:54):
yeah, so we'll actually be co-hosting a block party with
bunker projects that's going tobe featuring a lot of you know
great vendors.
You know maybe some records,maybe some food, some booze
vendors and you guys will beserving up your stuff there.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, we're gonnahave some other uh pizza friends
there as well, so where is theblock party up in garfield?
Brittani (24:16):
yeah, it's gonna be on garfield um gonna be right
behind bunker projects, umbehind an avenue okay I love.
Doug (24:25):
Well, since we've been talking a bit about you, and if
folks are not following you,where can they find and follow
you in terms of your socialmedia or anything else you have
out there?
Brittani (24:36):
We are on Instagram and you can find us at 77 club
underscore PGH.
Doug (24:42):
All right, dustin Brittany , it's been such a pleasure
getting to know you more.
I do have one more question foryou, both today, and you can
answer together or separately.
The name of the show is thePittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you'veeaten this past week?
Dustin (25:04):
Probably a pizza we got from our friends at Black Cat
Pizza.
Oh yes, yeah, they're delicious.
Brittani (25:10):
Yeah, it was delicious .
Yeah, we paid them a visit atFour Points Brewery.
Doug (25:14):
What did you have?
Tell us more?
Dustin's pulling out his phone.
He's like did I take a picture?
Dustin (25:19):
What was on the?
Doug (25:20):
menu.
Dustin (25:23):
They gave us two, so one was like a margarita and one
was.
You know, these are like thegrandma slice.
I'm not sure what they callthem.
What they're calling them, it'sa Sicilian, a grandma slice.
Whatever Square pie, whateverSquare slices.
Doug (25:33):
Yeah yeah.
Dustin (25:34):
Delicious squares.
Brittani (25:43):
And yeah, I mean they had the burrata hot honey.
Doug (25:44):
They had the margarita with the peso.
It was delicious and that doughis awesome it's amazing.
Brittani (25:46):
Yeah, is this your best bite as well, Brittani, I
would.
I would say so too.
Doug (25:48):
Okay, yeah all right, Black Cat Pizza, Black Cat Pizza
, and you can find them aroundtown.
Kind of like you guys.
I sort of love the story thatyou're doing a thing, they're
doing a thing, and there's stillin this community there's
always camaraderie overcompetition and I love that.
Oh yeah.
Brittani (26:03):
Very true, yeah, we try to it's.
It's very tough but we try towhen we can to support other
pop-ups.
It's a little tough, but we dotry as much as we can.
Doug (26:13):
I know if you're doing them, it's hard to get there,
but I love pop-ups too, andthere's so many that I actually
have on my list I'm like I thinkI want to talk to them and I
think I want to talk to them,and it's just hard to get to
everybody.
Yeah, Brittani Dustin, thankyou both so much for being on
The Pittsburgh Dish.
Brittani (26:29):
Yeah, thank you.
Dustin (26:31):
Thanks for having us, Doug.
Welcome to the club.
Thank you.
Doug (26:36):
We can't wait to grab another Panuozzo from 77 Club
and if you're interested in thatblock party that Dustin and
Brittani were talking about withBunker Projects, it's currently
slated for June 2025.
Up next, looking for a chicdining spot downtown that tastes
as good as it looks.
We check in with Autumn Pawelec.
(26:57):
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Autumn Pawelec, a
model and content creator.
Autumn, I know you've beendoing a lot more with restaurant
spots on your feed.
I was wondering, when you goout, say downtown in Pittsburgh,
is there a spot that's reallysomething on your radar right
now that you love?
Autumn (27:19):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Ritual House.
It's my go-to.
If you want to go downtown geta little fancy schmancy, ritual
House is my spot.
I literally am there, maybelike twice a month.
Doug (27:30):
Yes, and it's in the Union Trust building, which also has
the Speckled Egg, yeah, and DelFrisco's.
That's right.
So there's a few things inthere.
I know I haven't had a chanceto visit ritual house yet, but
it looks beautiful inside, oh mygosh, it's stunning.
Autumn (27:46):
When I tell you it is like a bougie Instagrammable
spot.
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
If you walk in and then you goup to the bar, there are just
tons of chandeliers hanging fromthe ceiling with this like
awesome, funky wallpaper it is,it's just a vibe.
(28:06):
That's all.
Doug (28:07):
I can say it is just a vibe.
It's so pretty.
Well, it does have thosemultiple levels and layers, so
to speak, but the food itselfalso doesn't disappoint, oh my
gosh, Everything there is so, sogood.
Autumn (28:20):
Shout out to Chef Ed and his awesome wife Amanda.
She's a manager there at theRitual House and Chef Ed is the
head chef and they do anincredible job there.
Doug (28:31):
Let's talk about a couple of the bites that you've enjoyed
, or maybe some of your friendshave enjoyed, while you were
there.
Autumn (28:36):
So every time I go there I have to get the bruleed
oranges, and whenever, yeah,it's really good.
Whenever I first saw the menuand I was like brulee oranges,
like I don't know, we'll see.
No, I have to get that dishevery single time.
It's slices of oranges with alittle bit of that crystallized
(28:58):
brulee topping on it with goatcheese and a little bit of micro
greens.
Oh my gosh, I could literallyeat the whole dish myself.
Doug (29:06):
All right, so you took me for a turn.
At first I thought you weregoing to talk about it as a
dessert, but it's more of like astarter.
It's an appetizer.
Yes, it's an appetizer.
Autumn (29:14):
It's so good.
Like a goat cheese yeah, goatcheese, and like those burnt
sugar, micro greens, so so good.
Another appetizer that Iabsolutely love is their shrimp
and crab cocktail, and theyserve it in like a martini glass
.
So you get the lemon wedge,squirt it over.
And it's, it's like it's socool because you feel really
(29:35):
cool eating the shrimp and crabcocktail out of it, cause it's
like in a martini glass, so thatone's really good too.
It's real light.
Doug (29:42):
If you don't want anything heavy, you know, before your
dinner this is next gen shrimpcocktail that we used to serve,
you know, in martini glassesmany moons ago but it's, they
have it in like a special wayand it's just, oh, it's so good
yeah and their fried burrata too, is incredible.
Autumn (30:00):
Oh, it's so good.
They have it like they have twoballs and then when you spread
it open, it kind of just likethe cheese oozes out into like
this olive oil, kind of saucy,like it's.
It's just so good, it soundsdelicious, it's so good.
Doug (30:16):
Now it's fried first, so is it.
Is it breaded in any way?
It's breaded, yes.
Autumn (30:20):
So when you're cracking, it and then when you crack it
open the cheese and like thisolive oil, kind of like red
vodka sauce mix it.
Just all seeps into it and it'sso freaking good.
Doug (30:33):
It's so good, I'll have that right now.
Autumn (30:35):
Yeah, me too.
Doug (30:37):
Is there any like main dish that you've had?
That really stood out.
Autumn (30:39):
Their short rib dish is so good it literally melts in
your mouth.
It's a big, big, nice, juicypiece of short rib on top of I
want to say it's like a polentamash.
Doug (30:52):
Oh that's nice.
Autumn (30:53):
And then these pearl onions on top with this, like
demi glaise sauce.
It is so good, it's one of mygo-to dishes every single time.
Doug (31:02):
Again, this is like a grandma's Sunday day roast, but
on steroids.
Yes, yes.
Autumn (31:06):
It's so good I love that .
I'm trying to think of anotherdish.
There's so many on the menuthat I absolutely love.
They have a fabulous steakthere as well.
Doug (31:15):
And you're a steak girl.
Autumn (31:16):
I am a steak girl.
Yeah, I usually get that Oscarstyle Very, very good.
But yeah, I mean you can't gowrong with any sort of dish at
all.
Doug (31:26):
I think the thing that I've noticed most when folks
have gone there are some of thedesserts.
Meghan (31:30):
Oh, the desserts are so fun and they're super, super
tasty.
One of my favorites is it'scalled Not your Grandma's
Pretzel Salad and it's almostlike coated strawberries, but
they're not strawberries, youkind of like whack them to to
have them open up?
Yeah, and it's like this, likereally jelly mousse texture, but
(31:54):
it comes with a sparkler.
So whenever it is presented toyour table, there is a sparkler
going off on one side of theboard and then you get a giant
stem of cotton candy on theother side, so it's kind of like
.
you get a little bit like twodesserts in one.
It's so good and thepresentation there is just
(32:14):
phenomenal.
Doug (32:15):
This is performance art.
Autumn (32:16):
Yes, Like I said, it's very Instagrammable, for sure.
Doug (32:20):
But still delicious, yes, and has those flavors that we're
so used to of strawberry jellopretzel salad.
Autumn (32:25):
Yes.
Doug (32:26):
But so not.
Autumn (32:27):
Yeah, it's truly a work of art.
Doug (32:29):
Yes, All right, Ritual House right downtown, yes, in
the Union Trust building.
Yep Autumn.
Thanks so much and thanks forbeing on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Autumn (32:38):
Thank you for having me.
Doug (32:40):
You can follow Autumn on Instagram at Autumn Pawelec.
If weeknight recipes aresometimes a struggle, we've got
you covered with a new one fromour friend Meghan Pohl of Batch
LLC.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Meghan Pohl, one of
the owners of Batch LLC.
Meghan, when we were here lasttime, we were talking about all
(33:00):
of the good stuff that you canfind at your shop batch up in
Saxonburg, but I was wonderingif you have a recipe or a dish
that you're making outside ofthe shop that you could share
with our listeners?
Meghan (33:13):
Yeah, so as much as my daughter complains about how
much chicken we eat, it is aversatile food, so I make it a
lot, but one of my favoritethings is I love chicken thighs
and I'll do like a dark mustard,maple syrup, brown sugar
marinade on it and I'll do likea lot of cracked pepper in there
too.
I'll marinate it for, like youknow, an hour or so, brown it
(33:36):
off.
I have like the big Dutch oven,like cast iron Dutch oven,
brown it off in there, take itout and then add onions and
garlic and carrots, simmer thosefor a minute, put the chicken
back in and let it all kind ofcook and add a little bit
chicken broth, and then I'll addrice in.
So it's almost like yeah, like aone pot yeah, like a one pot
thing and it just braises thechicken and it all gets like
caramely from the syrup and themustard and it's just like one
(33:59):
of my favorite like comfortfoods oh my gosh, it sounds so
delicious.
Doug (34:03):
Yeah, you can't go wrong with chicken thighs, because you
can, like, almost hardlyovercook them anyway.
Right, when you make thatmarinade, are you taking the
thighs out of the marinade andleaving some behind, or are you
using the marinade?
Meghan (34:15):
I just dump it all in.
The whole thing goes, yeah,from marinade into the pot the
chicken gets like caramelly.
When I braise it like that, youknow so it's.
It has like the little bites oflike that flavor on there.
Doug (34:27):
Oh, my gosh, it sounds delicious.
Yeah, it's my favorite.
Meghan (34:30):
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Doug (34:31):
And thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Meghan (34:33):
I love it.
On the Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug (34:37):
Meghan Pohl, along with Jessica Brewster, are the
co-owners of Batch, located inSaxonburg.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
(34:57):
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors, and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Do you want to be a member of aclub that specializes in eating
pizza sandwiches?
Well, count us in with thisweek's guests.
What downtown spot is bringingtop-notch taste with chic
Instagram looks, Autumn Pawelecclues us in and, searching for
(00:27):
another weeknight meal that's ahit with the whole family,
Meghan Pohl offers up a one-potchicken dish that's sure to
please All that ahead.
Stay tuned Thanks to Chip andKale Plant-Based Meals for their
ongoing support of thePittsburgh Dish and, as warmer
months approach, check out theirtrue side hustle Side Hustle
(00:49):
Pizza popping up in friendlyneighborhood spots.
You can find more informationon their Instagram handle at
Side Hustle Pizza PGH.
Now on to the show.
Thank you, guys, both forcoming over and for being on the
show.
Would you introduce yourselvesand what you have going on right
(01:10):
now in the world of food.
Brittani (01:13):
Yeah, I'm Brittani Boutilier.
I'm working a full-time jobwhile also doing pop-ups with
Dustin for 77 Club.
We have a lot going on.
We have a full year booked witha lot of fun stuff.
Dustin (01:27):
Yeah, I'm Dustin Boutilier.
I am not working a full-timejob, I'm full-time 77 Club and
we're just getting through thewintertime excited for spring.
We have a lot of stuff going on.
Doug (01:38):
I would love to define for our listeners, if they haven't
discovered you yet, Dustin, whatis 77 club?
Dustin (01:46):
yeah, so 77 club is a wood fire kitchen, I guess we
could say um, in the grand grandscheme of what a kitchen is and
what we put out, we put outfood.
So, yeah, I mean we're, we'refully mobile.
We come with wood fire ovens.
We pop up at breweries.
You know, yeah, we catering.
Our main thing is definitelybreweries and art galleries and
(02:09):
you know these sorts of things.
You know community engagementand good pizza and Italian food.
Doug (02:15):
Yes, yeah, I definitely have some questions.
So well, number one just out ofcuriosity what kind of wood
fire oven are you using?
Brittani (02:24):
right now we are using a gozney dome it's the big one
yes um, and we use that to fireour panuozzos.
This is our interim oven forright now.
Um, right now we're planning onpurchasing a large oven through
breadstone breadstone ovensBrittani.
Doug (02:43):
there's other things that you guys do Like.
The day I saw you, you had madesome bread ahead of time.
Is that a focaccia?
Tell me again, what was that?
Brittani (02:52):
Yeah, we do a focaccia Focaccia sandwiches.
Working with wood fire can be alittle challenging at times, so
we definitely had to figure outways to make a pivot.
Dustin's mastered focaccia um,some of the best and we get this
all the time some of the bestfocaccia that people have tasted
.
Doug (03:12):
Um, so we had to make a make pivots in order to, if it's
a cold day or you just can'tfire that oven up on site, right
?
Brittani (03:19):
yeah, if it's too windy, it's raining, um, it's a
little too cold to be outside,so we're able to make these
pivots, to make these deliciousfocaccia sandwiches and you did
say something earlier.
Doug (03:29):
I also want to define for folks what is the pizza sandwich
called?
It's called a panuozzo is thissomething that exists already,
that I just never heard the word?
Or is this something you guysare creating and should be
trademarking?
Dustin (03:45):
uh, no, we we're not creating our own.
Um, funny italian words.
Some people do so, you know.
That's good to know.
Maybe in the future we'll dothat and um it'll be a fun game.
Brittani (03:58):
So yeah, they're from uh, they're from Campagna.
Dustin (03:59):
Okay, yeah, I don't think they're on a lot of menus
that I've seen in Pittsburghanyway.
Doug (04:01):
yeah, I, I'm not sure.
I mean, you know, everything'son the internet, everything's on
, okay, yeah, I don't thinkthey're on a lot of menus that
I've seen in Pittsburgh anyway.
Dustin (04:05):
Yeah, I'm not sure.
I mean, you know everything'son the internet, everything's on
Instagram and you know we madethe pivot originally.
You know we were selling pizzaout of our house and the quality
suffers.
It's time and quality.
You know you go to a pop-up andsomeone orders a pizza and then
that pizza in these small ovenstakes so long you have five
(04:27):
pizzas on back that fifth pizzais going to be 40 minutes.
The quality is not there.
So we're like let's pivot.
So these little pizzasandwiches work perfectly for us
.
Doug (04:35):
Yes, are they like literally like a pizza crust
folded over?
Is that what we're talkingabout too?
Dustin (04:42):
Yeah.
Doug (04:42):
Because the day I was there it was a little cold and
you didn't have the wood fire,so we had the focaccia, all
right.
So people need to go and findyou and grab one of these for
sure, because I don't see anyoneelse in the city doing what
you're doing.
Brittani (04:54):
No, we're the only ones in Pittsburgh doing a
panuozzo.
They're so much fun to eat, andDustin's really came up with
some really unique and deliciouscreations.
Doug (05:03):
I want to get into that.
Let's talk about some of thenames of the sandwiches, or the
big hitters, so to speak.
Brittani (05:09):
So the names of the sandwiches when we were working
out of our house doing thepizzas.
We really wanted to focus onour love for music and all the
names we've came up with arenames of songs that we love and
we actually have a wholeplaylist that's on our link tree
that you can click off of ourInstagram.
That shows everyone the songs.
(05:29):
But, we have a lot of staplesand again, all of the names of
them are after songs that welove.
Doug (05:35):
Okay, well, let's go through a couple of these.
So let's start with I Am Blue.
What's on the I Am Blue?
Brittani (05:44):
Yeah, that's, I think, one of my favorite and one that
people are surprised how muchthey love I Am Blue is Fontina
local ham, local smoked ham.
We do a mustard cream andthat's what makes it special is
the mustard cream.
We've heard from many peoplewell, I don't like mustard.
(06:06):
And I often tell them, like youknow, please try it.
It's really delicious and Itried to get them to try it and
when they try it, they're like Idon't like mustard, but this is
so good.
Doug (06:21):
Yes.
Brittani (06:23):
And then it's topped with thyme and fresh cracked
pepper, and then all of ourpanuozzos are topped with
Parmesan.
Dustin (06:31):
So good it's a mountain of.
American Grana, I do.
Doug (06:35):
Oh, so good.
Grana Padana is one of myfavorites.
That's what you're doing.
You're speaking my language too.
I think I had the Luana.
Brittani (06:43):
Yes, you did.
Doug (06:45):
And who's that named after ?
If you don't mind, we can cutit if you don't want to know
that that's named after ourdaughter she is 20 months old.
Brittani (06:52):
She's so sweet.
Congratulations she's um, youknow, a classic everyone loves
her.
So you know everyone loves amargarita.
So we figured that would be aperfect one to be a staple, to
be a staple for us.
I.
Doug (07:04):
I loved it.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
That's the one I ordered theday that I saw you guys.
Brittani (07:09):
Yeah.
Dustin (07:10):
Just to clarify the I Am Blue that's named after a
Grover song.
Grover, from an old SesameStreet sings the blues vinyl.
He sings this tragic songcalled I Am Blue.
I think I actually have thatvinyl.
By the way, dude, you reallyhave that vinyl.
I mean, I'm a 1974 club personhere, so I think I have that
vinyl.
It's a beautiful song.
(07:30):
Grover, you got me, oh my gosh,that is so great.
Doug (07:34):
What a story.
Okay then, what about Blockhead?
Where's that from Devo?
Okay, yeah, and what's on theblockhead?
Dustin (07:42):
So the blockhead is cream frieze with some crisp
potato yes, oven crisp potato,good deep caramelized onions,
thyme and some more deliciousgrana.
Doug (07:54):
Oh, so good.
I've seen that crispy potato.
I'm like I think I need to havethat.
You don't get that on asandwich very often, so why not
Better than putting the potatochips on my lunchtime sandwich?
Brittani (08:04):
in school or something .
I mean that's good too.
It's not bad.
Doug (08:06):
All right, the one more that I wanted to hit if you guys
don't mind entertaining me isTV party yeah.
Dustin (08:15):
TV party is a black flag song, uh-huh yeah.
So we thought it was fitting tojust kind of have the classic
pepperoni jalapeno.
Doug (08:22):
A little hot a little spicy.
Dustin (08:26):
So kind of have the classic pepperoni jalapeno a
little hot a little spicy, sogood, yeah, we use, and that's
with um mozzarella for thecheese.
Doug (08:31):
Mozz from Caputo brothers I can't tell you from like, from
my perspective, the vibe thatyou guys are putting out, not
only on your instagram, whichinstantly captured me, and then
these names with your productand the songs, and even the
songs you pick and some of theshort videos you do.
It's amazing.
(08:51):
I think you were just we wereclose to around Valentine's day
when we're recording this andyou were handing each other what
was a bouquet, but it wasn't abouquet.
What was on the bouquet?
Brittani (09:02):
This was such a fun video to do for us um it's a
bouquet and it has paper flowersthat I made, and then it has
two panuozzos in it.
Yes, um, and then, in the end,Dustin's topping the Panuozzos
with grana padano it is raining,it's raining down and I'm just
looking, so in love don't stop,and I'm like Dustin's, like say
(09:24):
when, and I'm like never Peoplehave to check it out.
Doug (09:29):
There's the other one where, Dustin, you put a little
olive oil in your hair to startthe day, or something I love
that one too.
I'm like the creativity isthere and I think that's—.
Dustin (09:37):
I woke up late, it's so good.
Doug (09:39):
I think what's capturing Me is that overall vibe that
you've been able to create inkind of a short time.
When did you guys start doing77 Club?
Dustin (09:48):
October 14th was when we sold.
Doug (09:54):
October 14th 2023 was the first pizza we sold at our house
, so you're just in this over ayear now, yeah, and you've made
a lot of good connections at thebreweries.
Where are some of the placesthat you often are popping up
right now?
Brittani (10:05):
Yeah, we have quite a few residencies currently.
Doug (10:09):
Brittani is just pulling up her Rolodex on the phone of
all of their partnerships.
Go for it.
Let's hear like the top threeto five, right?
Brittani (10:16):
So we have first Sundays we're at Leaning Cask.
Second and fourth Sundays we'reat Four Points Brewery.
Doug (10:29):
We are on second Wednesdays at 11 11th hour.
That's where I saw you all.
Brittani (10:30):
Yes, third and fourth thursdays we're at l'olive, uh.
Second fridays we're at Coven.
And fourth Saturdays we're atJackworth ginger beer so we have
those guys too yeah, we're atquite a few places all around
town.
These residencies are great andwe love our partnerships.
Doug (10:48):
I love that you have these residencies, because it gives
you just more of a consistencytoo.
I'm like, hey, we're doing this, we know we're doing that.
You're not sort of strugglingto find a place and you can
probably at this point gauge howmuch traffic you're getting,
since you've done it a few times.
Is that right?
Dustin (11:05):
Yeah, projections are, are, you know tricky things?
I'm sure especially in thistime of year yeah, but a little
colder months yeah, yeah it's.
It's more about defininghopefully like a floor yeah
exactly, I don't know if we knowthe ceiling yet, but we're
always, you know, every time weget pushed, you know we try to
change up how we do our setupand make things more efficient.
But I also wanted to note thatum, we're also partnering with
(11:29):
bunker projects oh, I think Isaw something recently with
bunker projects, right?
so we're part of their bunkercommons program okay, yeah, tell
me more.
Doug (11:38):
What does this mean?
Dustin (11:39):
well, we're just.
You know we're going to bedoing some events with them this
year.
Okay, and um, some of theirmembers of their Bunker Commons
program get to get a littlediscount from us at our pop-ups.
Brittani (11:50):
So just to add further about the Bunker Commons Bunker
Projects is actually a reallygreat art gallery in Garfield.
They provide a space forartists to come from all over
the country, and Bunker Commonsis a program where people can
donate a certain amount of moneyto them to allow them to pay
(12:11):
their artists to be residents intheir space.
With the Bunker Commons program, you get different discounts to
many different companies aroundthe city, including us.
We give $3 off of your firstpurchase.
Then you also get 10%.
your first catering, and then10% off of your first catering
(12:33):
with us.
Doug (12:34):
I've been following Bunker Projects for a while, but I
don't think I've fullyunderstood what's going on there
, so I love that.
Thanks for enlightening us alittle bit more.
Brittani (12:42):
Yeah, really great organization to donate to.
They really focus on women,people of color and people of
LGBTQIA plus community.
Doug (12:50):
Love it.
Before we move too far awayfrom the food, I did want to ask
a little bit more about thecatering that you do.
So you do offer like sandwichesand salads, and do you do the
panuzzos Like tell us howcatering works for you guys.
Dustin (13:04):
Yeah.
So I mean, we offer on-site aswell as off-site catering.
So for the off-sites, that isgoing to be like the focaccia
sandwich drops you know thingslike that veggie platters, yes.
And for the on-sites, we do allthat as well, but we, you know,
we light up our ovens.
Autumn (13:18):
You know we're out there smoking.
Doug (13:20):
We'll be at your house, at your business, wherever so fun,
especially as we get into somespring and warmer months.
I would love to have you out inmy business parking lot like
cooking up things for my crew.
Dustin (13:30):
Yeah, we did one this morning, you did.
Doug (13:32):
Yeah, an off-site.
Oh my gosh.
Dustin (13:34):
And it's like 34 degrees outside.
That was an off-site, it was upin Sewickley.
Brittani (13:38):
Okay, yeah, wow, I'm Brittani.
Dustin (13:43):
And I'm Dustin of 77 Club.
Brittani (13:45):
And you're listening to The Pittsburgh.
Doug (13:47):
Dish.
Well, I did want to take a bitof a pivot and just learn a
little bit more about the bothof you We've talked before.
When we first met, when did youmove back to Pittsburgh?
I know, brittany, you said youwere born here, but you didn't
live here your whole life.
Give me a little bit of thattimeline.
Brittani (14:05):
Yeah, so I was born in Sharon, which is north of
Pittsburgh.
I lived there until I was 13,and then my parents and I moved
to California.
I lived in California for 17years.
That's where I met Dustin.
I met Dustin actually in highschool.
In high school, in high school,yeah, and from there we moved
back here about three years ago,and from there we moved back
here about three years ago, okay.
Doug (14:28):
And Dustin, you were like Orange County native Is that
right?
Or LA native?
Dustin (14:33):
Yeah, so I'm originally from.
I was born in Pasadena.
Doug (14:36):
Okay, it's so lovely.
Pasadena is such a great town.
Dustin (14:40):
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty wild coming from there and
growing up in Los Angeles.
And then, yeah, I did pivot toOrange County in high school.
Yeah, I mean, we got marriedand we're like what are we doing
in California?
So we actually lived in Rio deJaneiro for our honeymoon we had
plans to move to Chile andactually open up a restaurant
(15:02):
out there, but that was allduring COVID.
So Brittani is a Chileancitizen.
And is that your mom, Brittani?
yeah, my mom yeah, she has dualcitizenship, I do not.
So there was some affidavit,some government paper that I did
not sign correctly and I wasbarred from the country, and
that's what prompted us notgoing further deeper into South.
Doug (15:25):
America.
Dustin (15:26):
Brought us back up to the States, brought us to
Pittsburgh.
Doug (15:28):
Wow.
Dustin (15:29):
And such a big pivot, but it's been amazing since then
.
I mean such a community outhere.
Well, I'm so glad you're here.
Doug (15:36):
I hope folks continue to discover you.
How long did you spend in Rio?
Brittani (15:41):
We were there for nearly three months, okay, yeah,
and we did it besides Rio.
We were there for nearly threemonths Okay, yeah, and we did it
besides Rio.
We were in a state called Bahiaand most of our time we were
spent in Búzios.
Okay, we had like a littlebungalow right by the beach in
Búzios, so we were mostly thereand then went to Rio.
We were in Rio about a month.
Doug (16:04):
I have to ask what did you all think about the food
experiences in Brazil?
Dustin (16:08):
It's wild, it's much different.
I mean the meat's awesome.
You can get burnt out from themeat.
But then there's seafood.
Brittani (16:14):
It's great we had honestly, probably some of the
best sushi I've ever had in mylife in.
Rio de Janeiro.
I mean it's right by the ocean,it was so fresh.
They had traditional, and thenthey had some that was a little
bit different, one roll that hadtruffle in it, but it was so
(16:35):
good, wow, yeah.
Doug (16:38):
Well, I love, I always love hearing, like food,
experiences and influences andstories.
I kind of want to come back tothe, the panooza, I say in that
way Pan the the.
Panuzzo.
I want to come back to thePanuzzo and everything else
you're doing.
Tell me where this idea of apop-up and the Panuzzo and the
Italian sort of vibe comes inhere.
Dustin (17:00):
Yeah, so I've worked in wood fire ovens for years.
You know, I've been working inkitchens like 14, 15 years.
I love wood fire pizza ovens.
I just want it to be back inthat.
So our daughter was born andwe're like how can we spend more
time together which is a funnything because I mean we're so
busy now, but we are together.
(17:21):
So we just bought the ovens andjust said let's just go for
this.
And then that led to a secondoven, which led to the upgrade
oven, and now we're going toupgrade again.
Doug (17:30):
Wow, what about food in your formative years?
So, dustin, you're saying youwere working in wood-fired ovens
.
I guess in other jobs, right,but what about at home?
Were there influences thatreally propelled you into like
passion of food from an earlierage?
Dustin (17:48):
Yeah, I'm half Mexican, so, yeah, like my grandma would
make tamales and stuff like that.
So I just grew up eating reallydelicious foods and hanging
around the kitchen.
I was a kid that was in thekitchen like all the time.
Doug (17:58):
Yes, I love that.
I love this whole like mix ofinfluence, like bringing you
forward.
And what about you, brittany?
What was food like in yourhouse or growing up?
Brittani (18:08):
I think similarly, like I think a lot of people get
this from family.
But my grandma on my mom's sidewas a, was a cook and you know
I just remember watching hercook all day after she retired
and she would just literallystew meat, not in a crock pot,
just stew meat all day.
The house would just be filledwith love and the best sense
(18:29):
ever.
Dustin (18:30):
Cutting onions in her hand, yeah.
Brittani (18:32):
Dustin used to cook with my grandma when she was
alive.
They had a lot of great timescooking together and I'm so glad
that they were able to spendtime together, but she would
cook all day literally 12 hourscooking a meal.
And that was a part of my life,all my life.
Doug (18:48):
Wow, it's just the way it is, you know, and it's a passion
or love, all the things.
Brittani (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, food is love.
Doug (18:53):
And the slow food.
So help me trace the steps.
What brought you back toPittsburgh?
Brittani (19:02):
Well, you know, when we came back from Brazil,
Dustin's parents were actuallyin Tucson.
Doug (19:11):
Okay.
Brittani (19:11):
And so we actually lived there for about six months
and Tucson's beautiful greathiking, but it didn't really
feel like the spot for us.
Autumn (19:20):
It didn't feel like home .
Brittani (19:23):
And you know I actually have cousins that live
in Pittsburgh and I've alwaysloved coming to Pittsburgh and I
would visit just to see mycousins.
Didn't feel like home.
And you know I actually havecousins that live in pittsburgh
and I've always loved coming topittsburgh and I would visit
just to see my cousins.
And you know, from there I waslike, hey, dustin, like why
don't we try going to pittsburgh?
You know it's affordable, youknow great city and um I said
okay yeah, he said okay have youever been, dustin?
(19:44):
never okay he came blindly.
He was just like, okay, let'sgo, and we have found a
beautiful, beautiful communityhere.
I love this.
Dustin (19:52):
I tell you what driving in not knowing what Pittsburgh
looks like, with a 16-footU-Haul hauling your car behind
it on those tight streets, I waslike oh, this is Pittsburgh.
Brittani (20:03):
Dustin called it his rig the whole way here from.
Dustin (20:06):
Tucson.
We moved into the South Hillsand I was like this rig is big
for these streets.
Doug (20:12):
That was crazy, but you, Brittany, you hit it.
Check, check, check, Affordablegreat communities and I just
have to say I think it's a greatplace to raise kids.
Brittani (20:23):
It is, and I actually have like an amazing mom's group
here that I'm so thankful for,and we all feel connected and
feel like we're going to raiseour kids in a good community.
Yeah, yeah.
Doug (20:36):
I love it.
All right, I have one morequestion before it gets away
from me.
Tell me the origin story of thename 77 Club.
Dustin (20:49):
Yeah, so we were coming up with a lot of different names
but none of them sounded rightand I just kind of blurted that
out.
Yeah, I mean, 1977 is just aniconic year in art music fashion
.
That was the birth of punk.
And just growing up being askater punker kid, I just really
identify with that DIY spiritand it really just spoke to us
(21:11):
and we're like that's the name.
Brittani (21:13):
Yeah, that.
And then, like the club, wetalk about how we want people to
feel like they're part ofsomething with us, and having
the club thing is like well,you're part of our club, now
You're part of our family.
So yeah, I'm bought in.
Doug (21:28):
As soon as I saw you guys hitting on Instagram, I'm like
what?
Brittani (21:31):
is this.
Doug (21:33):
What is this club?
I must understand and, like,the food is just amazing, and so
you've hooked me, and I hopeyou keep hooking everybody else
to join into that community.
I want to ask, dustin I thinkyou sort of hinted at it You've
been at this for a little bitmore than a year now what's
ahead for the both of you?
(21:54):
You've got these residencies atall of the breweries that we
listed earlier and that'll go onthrough the entire year.
Is that right?
Brittani (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, the whole year.
Doug (22:02):
Other goals, other things you want to be doing or
expanding to.
Dustin (22:08):
Yeah, I mean.
Doug (22:11):
I don't mean to get you choked up.
Dustin (22:16):
Yeah, I mean, we want to expand our catering.
Okay, you know we want to.
You know one day.
Have you know a small group ofwell-paid assassins?
You know that we can have youknow our co-conspirators in this
club.
And you know, obviously we'dlove a brick and mortar space,
at least our own space.
Even if we're just prepping outthere, we're still doing the
(22:37):
catering.
You know, it's just a place tocall home, I think, more than
anything.
Doug (22:41):
Did you hint at you want a bigger oven?
Dustin (22:43):
Yeah, okay.
Doug (22:45):
Maybe two, all right, so this is like the birthday
holiday.
These are my presents, please.
Brittani (22:50):
I think that the first oven we got was literally like
a birthday gift to ourselves,because our birthdays are six
days apart.
Dustin (22:58):
Oh, she's older.
She's two years older.
I'm two years older.
Brittani (23:02):
But yeah, we got our first oven as like a gift to
ourselves for our birthdays twoyears ago.
We were like, let's just dothis thing.
Doug (23:08):
If you listen back, I talked to John and Zita and they
do side hustle pizza and shebought him a Gozney and he
created side hustle pizza.
Dustin (23:17):
Yeah, it's infectious.
Yeah, it is infectious.
You can find him over in theMount Lebo area a lot.
But yeah, we'll have a fullsize size kind of mid-size, not
full size with our pizza trailerin late april, early may and
that's from breadstone ovens outof dallas wow, yeah, I can't
wait to see that.
Doug (23:37):
Hope it shows up on some instagram stories yeah, we'll
have a whole thing, I'm sure inaddition to growing the catering
and getting a bigger oven, umany other big events on the
horizon, anything happening likemaybe later in the spring or
summer?
Dustin (23:54):
yeah, so we'll actually be co-hosting a block party with
bunker projects that's going tobe featuring a lot of you know
great vendors.
You know maybe some records,maybe some food, some booze
vendors and you guys will beserving up your stuff there.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, we're gonnahave some other uh pizza friends
there as well, so where is theblock party up in garfield?
Brittani (24:16):
yeah, it's gonna be on garfield um gonna be right
behind bunker projects, umbehind an avenue okay I love.
Doug (24:25):
Well, since we've been talking a bit about you, and if
folks are not following you,where can they find and follow
you in terms of your socialmedia or anything else you have
out there?
Brittani (24:36):
We are on Instagram and you can find us at 77 club
underscore PGH.
Doug (24:42):
All right, dustin Brittany , it's been such a pleasure
getting to know you more.
I do have one more question foryou, both today, and you can
answer together or separately.
The name of the show is thePittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you'veeaten this past week?
Dustin (25:04):
Probably a pizza we got from our friends at Black Cat
Pizza.
Oh yes, yeah, they're delicious.
Brittani (25:10):
Yeah, it was delicious .
Yeah, we paid them a visit atFour Points Brewery.
Doug (25:14):
What did you have?
Tell us more?
Dustin's pulling out his phone.
He's like did I take a picture?
Dustin (25:19):
What was on the?
Doug (25:20):
menu.
Dustin (25:23):
They gave us two, so one was like a margarita and one
was.
You know, these are like thegrandma slice.
I'm not sure what they callthem.
What they're calling them, it'sa Sicilian, a grandma slice.
Whatever Square pie, whateverSquare slices.
Doug (25:33):
Yeah yeah.
Dustin (25:34):
Delicious squares.
Brittani (25:43):
And yeah, I mean they had the burrata hot honey.
Doug (25:44):
They had the margarita with the peso.
It was delicious and that doughis awesome it's amazing.
Brittani (25:46):
Yeah, is this your best bite as well, Brittani, I
would.
I would say so too.
Doug (25:48):
Okay, yeah all right, Black Cat Pizza, Black Cat Pizza
, and you can find them aroundtown.
Kind of like you guys.
I sort of love the story thatyou're doing a thing, they're
doing a thing, and there's stillin this community there's
always camaraderie overcompetition and I love that.
Oh yeah.
Brittani (26:03):
Very true, yeah, we try to it's.
It's very tough but we try towhen we can to support other
pop-ups.
It's a little tough, but we dotry as much as we can.
Doug (26:13):
I know if you're doing them, it's hard to get there,
but I love pop-ups too, andthere's so many that I actually
have on my list I'm like I thinkI want to talk to them and I
think I want to talk to them,and it's just hard to get to
everybody.
Yeah, Brittani Dustin, thankyou both so much for being on
The Pittsburgh Dish.
Brittani (26:29):
Yeah, thank you.
Dustin (26:31):
Thanks for having us, Doug.
Welcome to the club.
Thank you.
Doug (26:36):
We can't wait to grab another Panuozzo from 77 Club
and if you're interested in thatblock party that Dustin and
Brittani were talking about withBunker Projects, it's currently
slated for June 2025.
Up next, looking for a chicdining spot downtown that tastes
as good as it looks.
We check in with Autumn Pawelec.
(26:57):
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Autumn Pawelec, a
model and content creator.
Autumn, I know you've beendoing a lot more with restaurant
spots on your feed.
I was wondering, when you goout, say downtown in Pittsburgh,
is there a spot that's reallysomething on your radar right
now that you love?
Autumn (27:19):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Ritual House.
It's my go-to.
If you want to go downtown geta little fancy schmancy, ritual
House is my spot.
I literally am there, maybelike twice a month.
Doug (27:30):
Yes, and it's in the Union Trust building, which also has
the Speckled Egg, yeah, and DelFrisco's.
That's right.
So there's a few things inthere.
I know I haven't had a chanceto visit ritual house yet, but
it looks beautiful inside, oh mygosh, it's stunning.
Autumn (27:46):
When I tell you it is like a bougie Instagrammable
spot.
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
If you walk in and then you goup to the bar, there are just
tons of chandeliers hanging fromthe ceiling with this like
awesome, funky wallpaper it is,it's just a vibe.
(28:06):
That's all.
Doug (28:07):
I can say it is just a vibe.
It's so pretty.
Well, it does have thosemultiple levels and layers, so
to speak, but the food itselfalso doesn't disappoint, oh my
gosh, Everything there is so, sogood.
Autumn (28:20):
Shout out to Chef Ed and his awesome wife Amanda.
She's a manager there at theRitual House and Chef Ed is the
head chef and they do anincredible job there.
Doug (28:31):
Let's talk about a couple of the bites that you've enjoyed
, or maybe some of your friendshave enjoyed, while you were
there.
Autumn (28:36):
So every time I go there I have to get the bruleed
oranges, and whenever, yeah,it's really good.
Whenever I first saw the menuand I was like brulee oranges,
like I don't know, we'll see.
No, I have to get that dishevery single time.
It's slices of oranges with alittle bit of that crystallized
(28:58):
brulee topping on it with goatcheese and a little bit of micro
greens.
Oh my gosh, I could literallyeat the whole dish myself.
Doug (29:06):
All right, so you took me for a turn.
At first I thought you weregoing to talk about it as a
dessert, but it's more of like astarter.
It's an appetizer.
Yes, it's an appetizer.
Autumn (29:14):
It's so good.
Like a goat cheese yeah, goatcheese, and like those burnt
sugar, micro greens, so so good.
Another appetizer that Iabsolutely love is their shrimp
and crab cocktail, and theyserve it in like a martini glass
.
So you get the lemon wedge,squirt it over.
And it's, it's like it's socool because you feel really
(29:35):
cool eating the shrimp and crabcocktail out of it, cause it's
like in a martini glass, so thatone's really good too.
It's real light.
Doug (29:42):
If you don't want anything heavy, you know, before your
dinner this is next gen shrimpcocktail that we used to serve,
you know, in martini glassesmany moons ago but it's, they
have it in like a special wayand it's just, oh, it's so good
yeah and their fried burrata too, is incredible.
Autumn (30:00):
Oh, it's so good.
They have it like they have twoballs and then when you spread
it open, it kind of just likethe cheese oozes out into like
this olive oil, kind of saucy,like it's.
It's just so good, it soundsdelicious, it's so good.
Doug (30:16):
Now it's fried first, so is it.
Is it breaded in any way?
It's breaded, yes.
Autumn (30:20):
So when you're cracking, it and then when you crack it
open the cheese and like thisolive oil, kind of like red
vodka sauce mix it.
Just all seeps into it and it'sso freaking good.
Doug (30:33):
It's so good, I'll have that right now.
Autumn (30:35):
Yeah, me too.
Doug (30:37):
Is there any like main dish that you've had?
That really stood out.
Autumn (30:39):
Their short rib dish is so good it literally melts in
your mouth.
It's a big, big, nice, juicypiece of short rib on top of I
want to say it's like a polentamash.
Doug (30:52):
Oh that's nice.
Autumn (30:53):
And then these pearl onions on top with this, like
demi glaise sauce.
It is so good, it's one of mygo-to dishes every single time.
Doug (31:02):
Again, this is like a grandma's Sunday day roast, but
on steroids.
Yes, yes.
Autumn (31:06):
It's so good I love that .
I'm trying to think of anotherdish.
There's so many on the menuthat I absolutely love.
They have a fabulous steakthere as well.
Doug (31:15):
And you're a steak girl.
Autumn (31:16):
I am a steak girl.
Yeah, I usually get that Oscarstyle Very, very good.
But yeah, I mean you can't gowrong with any sort of dish at
all.
Doug (31:26):
I think the thing that I've noticed most when folks
have gone there are some of thedesserts.
Meghan (31:30):
Oh, the desserts are so fun and they're super, super
tasty.
One of my favorites is it'scalled Not your Grandma's
Pretzel Salad and it's almostlike coated strawberries, but
they're not strawberries, youkind of like whack them to to
have them open up?
Yeah, and it's like this, likereally jelly mousse texture, but
(31:54):
it comes with a sparkler.
So whenever it is presented toyour table, there is a sparkler
going off on one side of theboard and then you get a giant
stem of cotton candy on theother side, so it's kind of like
.
you get a little bit like twodesserts in one.
It's so good and thepresentation there is just
(32:14):
phenomenal.
Doug (32:15):
This is performance art.
Autumn (32:16):
Yes, Like I said, it's very Instagrammable, for sure.
Doug (32:20):
But still delicious, yes, and has those flavors that we're
so used to of strawberry jellopretzel salad.
Autumn (32:25):
Yes.
Doug (32:26):
But so not.
Autumn (32:27):
Yeah, it's truly a work of art.
Doug (32:29):
Yes, All right, Ritual House right downtown, yes, in
the Union Trust building.
Yep Autumn.
Thanks so much and thanks forbeing on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Autumn (32:38):
Thank you for having me.
Doug (32:40):
You can follow Autumn on Instagram at Autumn Pawelec.
If weeknight recipes aresometimes a struggle, we've got
you covered with a new one fromour friend Meghan Pohl of Batch
LLC.
Hey everybody, we're joinedtoday with Meghan Pohl, one of
the owners of Batch LLC.
Meghan, when we were here lasttime, we were talking about all
(33:00):
of the good stuff that you canfind at your shop batch up in
Saxonburg, but I was wonderingif you have a recipe or a dish
that you're making outside ofthe shop that you could share
with our listeners?
Meghan (33:13):
Yeah, so as much as my daughter complains about how
much chicken we eat, it is aversatile food, so I make it a
lot, but one of my favoritethings is I love chicken thighs
and I'll do like a dark mustard,maple syrup, brown sugar
marinade on it and I'll do likea lot of cracked pepper in there
too.
I'll marinate it for, like youknow, an hour or so, brown it
(33:36):
off.
I have like the big Dutch oven,like cast iron Dutch oven,
brown it off in there, take itout and then add onions and
garlic and carrots, simmer thosefor a minute, put the chicken
back in and let it all kind ofcook and add a little bit
chicken broth, and then I'll addrice in.
So it's almost like yeah, like aone pot yeah, like a one pot
thing and it just braises thechicken and it all gets like
caramely from the syrup and themustard and it's just like one
(33:59):
of my favorite like comfortfoods oh my gosh, it sounds so
delicious.
Doug (34:03):
Yeah, you can't go wrong with chicken thighs, because you
can, like, almost hardlyovercook them anyway.
Right, when you make thatmarinade, are you taking the
thighs out of the marinade andleaving some behind, or are you
using the marinade?
Meghan (34:15):
I just dump it all in.
The whole thing goes, yeah,from marinade into the pot the
chicken gets like caramelly.
When I braise it like that, youknow so it's.
It has like the little bites oflike that flavor on there.
Doug (34:27):
Oh, my gosh, it sounds delicious.
Yeah, it's my favorite.
Meghan (34:30):
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Doug (34:31):
And thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Meghan (34:33):
I love it.
On the Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug (34:37):
Meghan Pohl, along with Jessica Brewster, are the
co-owners of Batch, located inSaxonburg.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
(34:57):
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors, and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
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