YouTuber detours into deep dive on Pittsburgh food

George Washington is best known for crossing the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Christmas in 1776, but an earlier river crossing elsewhere in Pennsylvania almost killed him and altered the course of American history forever. What river was it? 

Inspired by YouTuber Dean Bog’s viral series on Pittsburgh neighborhoods, I headed to an out-of-the-way nabe called The Run last summer for a diabolically large calzone featured in an early episode.

In the span of an hour, I saw a child no older than 10 maneuver a Ford Taurus down a main thoroughfare, tackled the largest calzone I will ever tackle, retreated with a leftovers box reinforced with electrical tape, and saw the same child apparently changing a flat. It was a memorable morning.

Needless to say, I’m excited that Dean — labeled a younger, grungier Rick Sebak by people like me — is back behind the camera for a new show that’s exclusively about Pittsburgh food. It premieres next month.

I talked to Dean about the show, the perils of politeness, his recovery from a serious rock-climbing injury, and the sometimes debilitating pressure of sophomore success. 

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. 

PA Local: Hi Dean. Tell me about the new show. 

Dean Bog: It’s called What’s on the Menu and it starts streaming on Very Local Pittsburgh’s streaming channel in April. Each episode has a theme. For the vegan one we went to Apteka, Onion Maiden, Reed & Co., and ShadoBeni and did five-to-seven minute profiles of each and then put those together into a bigger episode. There are six full episodes in total, I think. I worked on three of them.

PA Local: How will this differ from your Neighborhoods series? 

Dean Bog: You won’t see me on camera. I may do a voiceover for the intros, but aside from my voice, I will not be in it. 

PA Local: You have a serious food allergy. Was that a complication at all?

Dean Bog: Not with the nut allergy. Most restaurants are very mindful. But I don’t eat meat and I found myself nibbling on meat because someone makes this amazing dish for the camera and they’re like "You should try it"… I think it would be rude to say no.

PA Local: You didn’t do food to this extent before. Was there a learning curve? 

Dean Bog: I’ve always been more fascinated by people, and so at first the rough cuts I was sending in [to Very Local Pittsburgh] were six-minute stories about the chefs that had nothing to do with the food. 

Like, Ulric [Joseph] from ShadoBeni is this brilliant painter and the first cut I sent them was five minutes about his paintings before it even mentioned the food. I went back and made it more about the food.

PA Local: Do you plan to do your own work again? 

Dean Bog: Yes. I don’t know exactly what yet. The ankle injury made Neighborhoods too hard to do. And I want to experiment but I was kind of afraid to experiment after Neighborhoods because all of a sudden I had all these eyes on me. 

PA Local: Like a Neighborhoods hangover?

Dean Bog: I think that’s a good way to put it. But there’s a million factors, really. 

There’s this quote from [author] Julia Cameron that says it’s impossible to get better and look good at the same time. I probably need to have a bunch of crap things in between and I’ve been afraid to, like, bite the bullet and just start making stuff.

—Colin Deppen, Spotlight PA

» One thing we learned this week: Centralia's Graffiti Highway was covered with dirt in 2020 and will be reborn as a forest.

» One more thing we learned this week: A Pennsylvania librarian named Harriet Klausner penned a record-setting 31,000 book reviews on Amazon.com, but the achievement was not without controversy.

» One thing worth watching: The Andy Warhol Diaries uses AI technology to bring the late pop artist and Pa. native's voice to life. 

» One thing to know: Down to its last dollars, Philadelphia's only remaining Civil War museum auctioned off a rare battle flag carried by a regiment of United States Colored Troops. It sold for $200,000.

» One place to visit: The Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton for its exhibit on Luzerne County coal sculptor Charles Edgar Patience.

There are no potatoes in Irish Potato Candy.

Here's what you'll need instead, via Unpeeled Journal: 

• 1 8-ounce package regular Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 32 ounces powdered sugar
• 7 ounces sweetened flake coconut
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons (more or less) ground cinnamon

Here's what you'll do: 

• Combine all ingredients except the cinnamon in a mixer. Mix on the lowest setting until the powdered sugar looks just incorporated. Scrape the bowl and mix on low until completely smooth and fully emulsified. Cover and chill for one hour.
• Use a teaspoon or small cookie scoop to scoop and roll small, tablespoon-sized rounds of coconut "dough." Roll in cinnamon and tap off the excess. You may not use all the cinnamon but you need extra enough to roll the buttercream balls.
• Serve chilled or at very cool room temperature.

Let us know how yours turn out. Photographic evidence is welcome here.