Alex Eats Too Much January 2026 Activities Roundup

I kicked off 2026 with my birthday, a lot of fun activities, and an escape from the frigid and snowy Pittsburgh winter. I’m using this month’s Alex Eats Too Much roundup to change the format of this monthly post. I’m going to focus on my favorite things I did, and then other highlights in the month. I’m also no longer going to mention every single thing I ate or split things into Pittsburgh and everywhere else. Since I started full time, and as I’m starting to do more things away from Pittsburgh, it has become difficult to highlight everything or split it out.

Favorite Meal in Pittsburgh: Casbah

Almost every year, I use my Big Burrito birthday certificate at Casbah in Shadyside. It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh. I will often get the Double Cut Pork Chop as my entrée and the Bread Pudding as my dessert. I love how the pork chop is tender and covered in a delicious sage jus. I also highly recommend signing up for Big Burrito emails to get all their rewards.

Favorite Meal Outside of Pittsburgh: L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Miami

This edged out as my favorite meal while traveling in January for a few reasons. I spent an entire week eating indulgently. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon was the first big meal of that week. I picked this for a few reasons. The first being it’s a Michelin 2 Star restaurant that features a tasting menu with many exciting plates. The second reason was that the restaurant receives a Chase Sapphire dining credit. The third reason was to treat myself to a restaurant that would be truly an experience. There will be a video coming soon. This dinner was eight courses. Their winter menu featured a lot of vanilla accents in many dishes. My favorite courses were the Foie Gras amuse bouche, Olive Oil Poached Halibut, and the Le Boeuf Wagyu.

Favorite Activity in Pittsburgh: The Bocce House

I spent an evening at The Bocce House in RDIC Park learning how to play bocce and eat some great food. As a full disclosure, I am doing an ongoing paid partnership with The Bocce House to show how fun it is to play bocce and their food. I’ve somehow never played bocce before, so I had to learn the rules, scoring and received tips on how to play. I was terrible, but I had a lot of fun. Learning how to properly throw the bocce ball and score points was actually exciting. After playing, we tried a bunch of their food. I was most impressed by their housemade pizzas.

Favorite Birthday Activity: Beers and Barcuterie Board with Friends at Grist House Command

Typically, for my birthday, I get a lot of people together for drinks, ruining Dry January for everyone. This year, I picked Grist House Command, a new space for my favorite brewery in Pittsburgh that I’ve grown to enjoy. We used one of their private event spaces which is still in progress of being designed. So far, it has tables, a TV, a pool table, and private beer taps and restrooms. Soon, it will have pinball and video games too. Grist House now has a Barcuterie Board available for private parties, which features different sausages, cheeses and pickled veggies. The presentation was fantastic and everything was delicious.

Favorite Political Rally: Gov Josh Shapiro Reelection Campaign Announcement

Our fantastic Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro picked Pittsburgh as the place in Pennsylvania to announce his bid for reelection in 2026. I was one of the few local content creators who could attend. His administration has helped bring big projects to Pittsburgh, like the Downtown revitalization, the Esplanade, and the NFL Draft. You’ll likely see a lot of content from me in 2026 endorsing Josh Shapiro for another term as Pennsylvania Governor.

Favorite Way to Escape the Biggest Winter Storm to Hit Pittsburgh in 15 Years: Virgin Voyages Cruise

So I might have planned this long before we knew it would happen at the same time as Snowmageddon 2.0. I have never been on a cruise, and during Black Friday I was looking to book an escape from winter for my birthday. I found what I thought was a great deal in a Virgin Voyages cruise on the Scarlet Lady out of Miami to Cozumel, Mexico and Bimini, Bahamas. I had heard such great things about Virgin Voyages with great food and activities, and it was adults only. It was a great experience. I ate so much good food. Most of the ship’s signature eateries were fantastic. They have a lot of other food and drinks on board too. I even got to enjoy eating some things multiple times. I would consider another cruise soon just to keep eating as much as I did. I returned very relaxed and satisfied with my trip. I’ll be sharing a lot more about this experience soon.

Other Highlights:

I started the new year at Cinderlands Warehouse in the Strip District for their Hair of the Hog pig roast. This has become a yearly tradition for me to eat several plates of southern style BBQ.

I love all you can eat places and I was invited to try Let’s Sushi in Wexford. This was a fantastic AYCE sushi that also offers hibachi and other items. I would definitely return.

I was invited to try Okane Sushi Bar in Downtown. They are currently offering sushi tacos and rolls and will soon have omakase.

I made my parents take me out to breakfast at Wise County Biscuits. I’ve been eating Wise County Biscuits since they were regulars at farmers markets. Still the best biscuits in town.

I finally got to eat at HK Dim Sum in Oakland thanks to Fantuan Delivery. Dim Sum is another one of my favorite meals. My favorites are always shu mai and pork bao. I also really enjoyed the ho fun beef.

I was invited by the Pittsburgh Curling Club in McKees Rocks to do their Curling Experience. It is a brief session teaching the basics of curling while getting to try it out. This was a lot of fun, even though I was so bad.

I went to happy hour at Eleven downtown. I got their burger, which is definitely one of the best in the city.

Club Café in Southside hosted a cabaret brunch. Pittsburgh Sandwich Society made the food and Smokin’ Betties did the show. Club Café plans to do more brunch events. Club Café also has coffee on weekday mornings and they are going to have coffee latte flights soon.

We did family dinner at Chinatown Inn Downtown. It’s my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh.

I had lunch at Kyuramen in East Liberty. I just wanted ramen and I was over there. They have a lunch special that also includes an appetizer and a drink.