Here are some Pittsburgh-area breakfast spots to try - TribLIVE

More people than ever are spending their work days at home during the covid-19 pandemic. Whether it’s a quest for comfort food, a search for convenience or the freedom of a more flexible schedule, weekend breakfast spots are now any-day breakfast spots.

Here is a list of five breakfast-offering, neighborhood restaurants (and must-try menu items) to keep you, and your dollars, close to home.

Brother Tom’s Bakery, Restaurant and Deli, Sharpsburg

Must try: Polish Farmer’s Breakfast

When early-morning hunger pangs are accompanied by a lust for nostalgia, consider Brother Tom’s on Main Street in Sharpsburg.

A cooler holds pierogies in a few flavors. Sliding-door upright coolers contain more varieties of soup in to-go containers than one can count at a glance. A small assortment of deli meats and cheeses cap one end of the checkout counter while the remainder is a well-lit case filled with fresh breads and pastries.

Each pastry, loaf of bread, pierogi, soup and dine-in menu item has been crafted by Brother Tom Hartman, who gets his title from the Ukrainian Catholic order of the Brother Servants of the Holy Spirit. Raised by a family full of home cooks and a few professional bakers, Brother Tom makes many of the items with his own hands or with the assistance of his few trusted employees, some of whom are family.

“Homemade” often, and understandably, comes with a hefty price, but not here.

Weighty fruit turnovers, large enough to fill both hands, for $2.50. The Breakfast Platter — two eggs, home fries and toasted homemade bread — for $6. A gooey, generous brownie square (to take home for “later”) priced at $1.25.

One of the most sought-after breakfast items is also the most quintessentially Pittsburgh. The Polish Farmer’s Breakfast — $10.25 — contains 2 eggs, 3 potato and cheese pierogi in butter and onions, grilled kielbasa and toasted homemade bread.

The rounded-off prices aren’t just a coin-reserving, covid adaptation: They’re always that way, and they’re always posted.

“Too many times you go into a bakery, and it only tells you what it is but not the cost and sometimes you’re floored by the cost,” said Brother Tom. “If you only have $10 in your pocket, you can look at my case and know what you can spend it on.”

808 Main St., Sharpsburg, 15215

Gab & Eat Restaurant, Scott Township

Must try: Mixed Grill

If there was a checklist to define the most classic breakfast spots, Gab & Eat would tick every box.

It’s open before sun-up to serve the blue-collar crowd. An unintentionally retro countertop faces the griddle, placing the act of cooking on full display. A collection of bumper stickers adorns the range hood. Pitt and Penn State placards decorate the walls. And, an impossible-to-miss Steelers banner is draped over the kitchen’s entryway.

The breakfast menu offers unpretentious, hearty and wallet-pleasing meals. Many of the offerings mix tried-and-true breakfast components in almost every combination one could imagine, including their biggest crowd-pleaser, the Mixed Grill.

“I think we’re one of the first places to have it, though I can’t really claim that because everyone and their mother has it now,” said part-owner Karie Goedert.

Green peppers, onion, sausage and home fries sizzle together on the flat-top grill while eggs are cooked separately in a skillet. When the sausage is cooked, the vegetables are tender and the eggs are softly scrambled, the ingredients are folded together in a monstrous portion and served with griddle-toasted BreadWorks bread.

The neighborhood diner has been in business for 34 years, though it was purchased by Goedert’s late husband, Joe, and current co-owner, Sue Smith, 21 years ago. When Joe passed away suddenly in 2005, Karie left her job managing a dental office and picked up a spatula. She loves everything about it now, but you’ll never catch a Mixed Grill on her plate.

“It’s kind of funny because I don’t eat all my food mixed together. I’ve never eaten one.”

1073 Washington Ave., Scott, 15106

California Coffee Bar, Brighton Heights

Must try: Green Machine smoothie

Breakfast food cravings are synonymous with greasy spoon imagery for many but certainly not for all. That’s why Sarah Mendak, owner of Brighton Heights’ California Coffee Bar, includes a list of fresh, whole-food smoothies and juice shot options on the menu of her California Avenue cafe.

“We try to have a healthier focus because that’s what we personally demand,” said Mendak. “I would wait in ridiculous lines going to a coffee shop that has these kinds of offerings. So, these are things people want.”

Protein powder, almond milk, cinnamon, flax, oats, banana and spinach make up the hunger-busting, 16-ounce Green Machine smoothie. Other offerings include fresh berries, coconut and even Red Bull energy drink.

Mendak and her partner, Susie Lobdell, also own Flower Pots Nursery, a landscaping design company. The physically grinding work of landscaping has left Lobdell with a few aches and pains, which inspired the juice shot menu.

Lobdell swears by the combination of ginger and turmeric for her purposes, which can be found in the menu’s Spice of Life juice shot. Cayenne, turmeric, lemon and ginger make up the refreshment, which promises an energy boost from the piquant flavors alone.

The cafe’s menu comes in part from the test kitchen-like environment Mendak provides for her employees.

Despite advice to the contrary, she insists on feeding employees while they’re on the clock.

“If I can’t afford to give my employees a sandwich, then I don’t deserve to be in business, in my opinion,” she said.

The cafe’s Western Breakfast Sandwich is a direct result of that altruism. A former employee would make herself that concoction on repeat, until Mendak took notice and added it to the menu.

In another menu expansion, California Coffee Bar will soon offer a weekend brunch menu. The service will add to the breakfast menu already in place and also include some lunch-like items such as fettuccini Alfredo and chicken parmesan.

“People are aching to get out. So, we thought that would be a super fun way to utilize the space a bit more and provide a fun event for the people in the neighborhood.”

619 California Ave., Pittsburgh, 15212

Pear and the Pickle, Troy Hill

Must try: Egg & Cheese Sandwich

The all-day breakfast menu at Troy Hill’s Pear and the Pickle is simple but it draws a crowd. Show up on a Saturday morning, and there’ll be a line of people waiting to pick up their orders, following the cafe’s takeout system during the pandemic.

Seated at the corner of Rialto and Tours street in a neighborhood that offers some of the best views in the city, Pear and the Pickle focuses on quality ingredients, many of which are made in-house.

“The integrity of the ingredients is really, really important to us, even though the menu might look simple,” said Alexis Tragos, who owns the establishment with chef Bobby Stockard, her husband.

Stockard earned his stripes at Brooklyn’s Superfine. He house-cures the Lox Bagel’s salmon and makes the sausage — an optional add-on to the Egg & Cheese Sandwich — per his own recipe.

According to Tragos, many in that Saturday morning line are there for the breakfast sandwiches, more specifically called Egg & Cheese Sandwiches.

In New York, “you could find them on almost any street corner,” said Tragos, who lived there for six years, working at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Not finding the baguette-style breakfast sandwiches in Pittsburgh, she’s filling the void.

The homemade theme extends to the drink menu as well. A celebrity on any fall menu, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is made from scratch from pumpkin puree, simple syrup, a propriety spice blend and plant-based milk.

What isn’t made in-house is made fresh and locally.

The bacon comes from Rollin’ BBQ, which also supplies Baby Loves Tacos (Millvale and Bloomfield). Mancini’s egg kaiser rolls are used on all of the sandwiches.

The couple’s dedication to quality ingredients is matched by a commitment to their community.

They know its value firsthand. Tragos grew up in her grandfather’s small-town general store in Derry, Westmoreland County. The Brooklyn restaurant where Stockard worked was celebrated for building deep links to its neighborhood, with evening potlucks, an art gallery and live music.

Since opening Pear and the Pickle in 2016, the pair has chosen to live a stone’s throw from their cafe, intentionally making friends and acquaintances out of customers.

“People from all over Pittsburgh drive in to get our breakfast sandwiches,” said Tragos. “But we really wanted to make sure it was a spot that our neighbors felt comfortable coming to, no matter what.”

1800 Rialto St., Pittsburgh, 15212

Arancini House, Mt. Lebanon

Must try: Brooklyn Bagel

Fans of New York-style bagels usually don’t accept anything less. Before abandoning hope, they should pay a visit to Mt. Lebanon’s Arancini House, where bagels imported from Brooklyn are on the menu.

Joe Reale and his father-in-law, Manny Lacommare, opened Arancini House six years ago. They built on Reale’s business and restaurant industry know-how and Lacommare’s Sicilian family recipes and bagel-industry experience.

Lacommare, a New York City native, opened an East Liberty pizza shop in the 1990s just after moving from his home city. Not the thriving neighborhood East Liberty is today, the shop failed in a year. He put his New Yorker bagel palate to work at Bruegger’s Bagels for the next 19 years working as the commissary manager.

When Bruegger’s reworked their business model, Lacommare was out of a job. Reale had always hoped to open a restaurant while he worked his way through restaurant jobs in college and retail managerial jobs at Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. Reale also faced a layoff, which brought the two together to create the Sicilian street food (and breakfast) spot in 2014.

“It was a sign from above that I’m not supposed to work for anyone else,” said Reale. “Every time I thought I was moving up the ladder and doing really well, there was a layoff or they closed the store entirely.”

Arancini — Sicilian fried rice balls — are still what draw most customers to the small shop located on the basement level of a Washington Road office building. But, the Brooklyn-made bagels — and breakfast sandwiches made with them — are only beginning to really catch on, despite having been on the menu for the past three years.

A recent social media post to a neighborhood page has changed the complexion of Reale and Lacommare’s breakfast business.

“The Saturday after that post, there were three people waiting outside when we opened, and the one lady said, ‘I hope you’re ready for this,’ ” said Reale, recalling the moment he learned of his newfound social media popularity.

While Reale tends to order 75 bagels per week, a second order was necessary just after the post, and he anticipates that will continue.

“It’s just so funny that these bagels bridged the gap,” said Reale. “If you don’t know what arancini are, that’s OK, but everyone loves bagels.”

615 Washington Rd., Pittsburgh, 15228

Abby Mackey is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. You can contact Abby at abbyrose.mackey@gmail.com or via Twitter.