All-American eats

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 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 is slated to open around 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, another fast-growing restaurant chain specializing in American fare, set up its first Triangle outpost in late March at Plantation Point, across Capital Blvd. from Triangle Town Center. The extensive 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. Just to make sure all bases are covered, Mimi's also offers low-fat and carb-conscious options, as well as a kids' menu.

Locally owned Kenny's Classics isn't a chain, but it's about to become one -- at least officially. 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 -- fittingly, just 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 mostly traditional assortment of burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and subs, but also has a couple of nostalgic surprises in store in the form of sliders (mini burgers with sauteed onions and cheese on a potato roll) and fried baloney sandwich. The restaurant is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and serves breakfast sandwiches until 10 a.m.

Greg's Hot List: Seafood Savor

Summer is still a couple of weeks away, but there's no reason we should have 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 with anything from to wood-grilled scallops to pan-seared triggerfish with a macadamia crust. And you don't even have to drive to the coast.

42nd Street Oyster Bar, 508 West Jones St., Raleigh; 831-2811.

Blue Fin's Bistro, 3652 Rogers Road, in Heritage Station shopping center, Wake Forest: 562-1118.

Bonefish Grill, The Arboretum at Weston, 2060 Renaissance Park Place, Cary; 677-1347

Fins, 110 E. Davie St., in the Progress Energy Bldg., Raleigh; 834-6963

Flying Fish, 111 N. Churton St., Hillsborough; 245-0040.

Kemp's Seafood House, 115 Page Point Circle, Durham: 957-7155.

Nelsons, 521 Daniels St., in Cameron Village, Raleigh; 832-9815.

Skipper's Fish Fry & Market, 1001 E. Williams St., Apex; 303-2400.

Tony's Bourbon Street Oyster Bar, 107-129 Edinburgh South Dr., in MacGregor Village, Cary; 462-6226.