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THE REQUEST OF “VERY SPICY” WAS WELL MET BY THE KITCHEN
TOWN FRYER {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL} Don’t pass by Quik It Chicken too rapidly. This North Side eatery, which incongruously shares a building with a Valero gas station/convenience store and a wig-and-beauty shop, might look unimpressive. But inside there’s good food and a good story, too. Owner Eugene Thomas, a Manchester native, launched Quik It as a Federal Street storefront in the 1980s. Forced out by redevelopment, in 1996 he built his current headquarters, and until recently ran the gas station himself. (The wig store came later.) In the early 2000s, he ran seven Quik It outlets, as distant as Zelienople and Penn Hills — and as near as PNC Park’s Chicken on the Hill stall. Thomas says he lost the PNC contract two years ago. Meanwhile, financial troubles forced him to scale back to one location, though he’s looking to expand again. For now, the cheerful fellow with long braids serves his homemade soul-food fare 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. seven days a week, with eat-in options. (He caters, too.) The fried chicken is lightly breaded, firm and juicy, and a threepiece serving ($4.69) and a side of spicy collard greens ($2.39) makes a nice lunch. Thomas’ newly revamped menu adds chicken strips, fish sandwiches and salads to his smoked ribs and sides like mac-and-cheese, potato salad, coleslaw, and red beans and rice. Blink and you might miss Quik It Chicken. But try not to. DRISCOLL@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
820 Pennsylvania Ave., North Side. 412-321-1535
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So many green tubes coming out of the garden! If you can’t bear to eat another cucumber, consider drinking one. Simply fill a pitcher with water, and add sliced cucumber. (Seeds and skin are fine, though give the skin a scrub first.) Let sit in the fridge for a couple hours, then enjoy the refreshing, cool cucumberinfused water.
TRIED AND TRUE {PHOTOS BY HEATHER MULL}
{BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}
A
LL THE YEARS we’ve been eating
out in Pittsburgh have taught us to view certain streets as dining destinations. Corridors like Craig Street, in Oakland, East Carson Street on the South Side, and the nexus of Forbes and Murray Avenues, in Squirrel Hill, are places you might go to window-shop for your supper; they can be counted upon to offer new restaurants alongside the old favorites that have flourished in these locales for years. Butler Street is emerging in this regard, as is Brookline Boulevard. But, curiously, “flourishing commercial thoroughfare” does not necessarily equal “rife with restaurants,” at least of the non-take-out variety. Such is the case along Fifth Avenue in Oakland, though it strikes through the heart of the University of Pittsburgh and the sprawling UPMC complex. Maybe this is because even the sit-down places seemed more geared toward students and personnel in
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a hurry; maybe it’s just because you can’t park on Fifth. Thai Hana seeks to buck the trend on Fifth with a combination of Thai and Japanese standards in an attractive, full-service setting. Walls painted deep red, leaf green and spice orange beckon diners to settle in and get com-
THAI HANA 3608 Fifth Ave., Oakland. 412-621-1100 HOURS: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. PRICES: Soups, salads and appetizers $2.50-10, entrees $12-14 LIQUOR: BYOB
fortable, while signage and menu graphics suggest ambitions greater than serviceable food for people on the go. “Hana” means “flower” in Japanese, and at least half the menu is dedicated to Japanese food. We can vouch for the chicken teri-
yaki, which transcended the clichés of this oft-abused dish. Thai Hana’s featured extraordinarily tender morsels of slightly smoky chicken in a translucent sauce that was light and well balanced, a far cry from the typical sugary soy glaze. The usual suspects of stirfry vegetables — paper-thin slices of mushroom, broccoli, carrots, green pepper and baby corn — were present, but took a back seat to the succulence of the chicken. The same vegetables, minus the broccoli, reappeared in a Thai “spicy basil” noodle stir-fry, which was not particularly spicy or basil-flavored. The sauce tasted mostly like soy-inflected brown sauce, and the generic vegetable medley didn’t help overcome this impression. However, the tofu Angelique opted as her protein was excellent, lightly crisped on the outside and creamy inside. In the “curry corner” of the menu, at least, vegetables were assigned for CONTINUES ON PG. 24
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