finally--success!

We finally found a Mexican place worth going to: Azul Bar y Cantina. The problem: it's in Leetsdale.

Azul would not be remarkable on the West Coast or in the Southwest--it'd probably go out of business, frankly--but it is by far the best Mexican food in this area. The owners came here long ago from San Diego, and just last year opened their place in Leetsdale (which, we learned, is out past Sewickley, and twenty-five miles from the East End of Pittsburgh, where we live). The building is pleasant, the margaritas just fine, the food more than respectable, and the service--the service!!--great.

As my wife can attest, I've NEVER been the kind of person who cares about service in restaurants or stores, but since coming here I've had my fill of the particularly Pittsburgh combination of 1) sullen and 2) incompetent. I lived in NYC and generally wasn't bothered by gruffness. I used to patronize Rocket Video on La Brea in L.A. when we lived there, and the obnoxious superciliousness of the film-school dropouts who worked there didn't get to me, BECAUSE THEY COULD FULFILL THE MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR JOB. Here? You can never count on anything.

Anyway, I recommend Azul for any former Westerners or Southwesterners who crave fajitas or enchiladas or the like. It's hard to say that it's worth the drive, because at least from the east side it really is quite a drive, but I'd give it a push.