Pittsburgh pizza and Chicago beer

You know about New York style pizza, of course, and you're probably familiar with Chicago style and even California style. But what about Pittsburgh style?

According to Steel City transplants Greg and Kevin Navolio, who recently opened Pittsburgh Pizza & Wing Factory (13200-167 Falls of Neuse Road; 562-7441) in North Raleigh, Pittsburgh-style pizza features a crust that's thicker than New York style. It's less filling, though, partly because the dough (made from a recipe handed down from the Navolio brothers' grandmother, who emigrated from Italy to Pittsburgh in 1927) contains no oil. The Pittsburgh pie is sauced with marinara rather than traditional pizza sauce, and it absolutely must be baked on a stone. The brothers are more flexible when it comes to toppings, offering 18 options as well as an assortment of specialty pies ranging from BBQ chicken to Pittsburgh Polka (with -- what else? -- kielbasa). Pittsburgh Pizza offers takeout/delivery only, unless you're fortunate enough to snag one of the handful of sidewalk tables on a sunny day.

As the restaurant's name implies, wings -- deep-fried, with your choice of eight sauce options including the best-selling Three Rivers and the lip-scorching Blast Furnace -- are another specialty. You might want to hold off another month or so before ordering the Blast Furnace sauce, though. Then you could just scoot up the road to Wake Forest, where Old Chicago (2108 S. Main St.; www.oldchicago.com) is slated to open near the end of June. The first Triangle location of a rapidly expanding chain whose restaurants are mostly in the Midwest, Old Chicago's claim to fame is its eye-popping selection of 110 different varieties of beer. That ought to come in handy when the Blast Furnace burn sets in.

California-based Mimi's Cafe (6320 Plantation Center Drive; 878-8448; www.mimiscafe.com), another fast-growing restaurant chain specializing in American fare, set up its first Triangle outpost in late March at Plantation Point, across Capital Boulevard from Triangle Town Center. The menu covers the spectrum from entree salads to comfort food fare such as pot roast, meatloaf and chicken pot pie, with dozens of appetizers, sandwiches and the usual steak-seafood-pasta suspects in between. Mimi's also offers low-fat and carb-conscious options, as well as a kids' menu.

Locally owned Kenny's Classics (10410 Moncreiffe Road; 313-1381) isn't a chain, but it's about to become one -- at least unofficially. Kenny Lloyd opened the first Kenny's Classics in early April in North Raleigh's Brierdale Shopping Center, and a second location is already in the works. The restaurant lives up to its name with an offering of American and American regional classics - chili (made from Lloyd's own prized recipe), meatloaf, jambalaya, turkey and gravy, and beef tips over rice, to name a few. For lighter appetites, the offering includes burgers, dogs, and an assortment of salads and sandwiches. The second location is slated to open in Haddon Hall Shopping Center in Apex -- in time for this year's Fourth of July.

Meanwhile in Cary, Yankee Doodle Deli (682 Cary Towne Blvd.; 465-7340) is offering its own modest take on patriotic fare. The shop, which opened last week in the old Imp Grill spot, offers a traditional assortment of burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and subs, and some nostalgic surprises: sliders (mini burgers with sauteed onions and cheese on a potato roll) and fried baloney sandwich. The restaurant is open Monday-Saturday from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and serves breakfast sandwiches until 10 a.m.

Savor seafood

Summer is still a couple of weeks away, but there's no reason to wait for a taste of it. Thanks to the varied and bountiful catch of seafood restaurants the Triangle has landed in recent years, you can indulge a case of the maritime munchies. Coast on over to blogs.newsobserver.com/epicurean for Greg's Hot List.