The Pittsburgh Dish
Do you really know the food scene of Pittsburgh?! The Pittsburgh Dish introduces you to the people, places, and recipes that make our regional cuisine so special. By sharing personal stories, weekly recommendations, and community recipes, we aim to inspire you to connect with local taste makers and experience the unique flavors that shape our city.
The Pittsburgh Dish
085 A Full Plate Of Wins, A Low ABV Resolution, And A Weeknight Winner
We're starting the year with a full plate of wins, a smarter way to drink, and a dinner you can make before the water boils. We look back at 2025 with clear eyes and real numbers, from forty new episodes to an 88 percent completion rate that tells us you’re staying to the last bite.
From there, we shift to drinking with intention. The low and no alcohol movement is reshaping shelves, but skipping spirits doesn’t mean skipping flavor. We walk through a practical middle path: wine-based cocktails that keep ABV low and satisfaction high. Whether you’re aiming for Dry January or just a gentler social ritual, these ideas help you sip smarter without losing the fun.
To finish with a tasty bite, we share a weeknight classic from the team at Hey Babe: Shrimp linguini with spinach for color, and Pecorino Romano to finish. It’s quick, bright, and totally doable.
If you enjoy these stories and tips, help us grow by sharing the show with a friend who loves food.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. This is our first episode for 2026. So, how about a year in review of 2025? We'll be sharing some stats and accomplishments from the past 12 months. Have you set some New Year's resolutions? Maybe drinking less or going dry in January? Catherine Montest has an idea to help you along. And how about an easy weeknight recipe that's chef worthy? Danielle Kane and Rob Hirst of Hey Babe share one of their go-to dinners. All that ahead, stay tuned. Hi, I'm Joseph Costanzo Jr.
Dani:And I'm Maria C. Palmer. This is Megan. And this is Jessica from Batch LLC. This is Chef Roxanne Easley.
Rob:This is Chef Homer.
Dani:This is Jen Flanagan. This is Pamela Luu. And you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:Aw, I love going back and listening to those voices from the beginning of 2025. Those were just a few of the folks from our 40 new episodes that we added all last year. I want to take a moment to thank everyone that's come on the show and to everyone that's really helped to promote the show, from our advertisers like Chip and Kale, Flour Power Kids Cooking School, and Chef Alekka, to my friends at KDKA's Pittsburgh Today Live who always give a nice shout out to promote the show. And of course, to everyone here listening to us right now. We'd love to take a look back to see how the show has grown or changed. And for that, I thought we'd first start out with some background information from Podcast Inc. and Podcaststatistics.com. There are currently over 4 million podcasts, and audiences are constantly growing. But interestingly, only 400,000 of those podcasts are posting actively and regularly. Oftentimes, podcast creators get burnt out with the process, and I felt that a little bit firsthand, which is why we take breaks not only over the holidays, but just when we need one. So what are some of the numbers to let us know that the show is performing well? Statistics are very different than other forms of social media. You're asking listeners to really commit to a long-form conversation. Good listening numbers are anywhere from hundreds to simply dozens, not thousands or millions. For some context, a podcast episode that gets about 30 listens or downloads in its first week is already in the top 50% of all podcasts. Those hitting around 110 downloads in their first week are in the top 25%. And if a podcast episode receives 450 downloads in its first seven days, it's in the top 10% of all podcasts. I'm happy to say that the Pittsburgh Dish is solidly in that top 25% category. Our episodes are easily getting 120 or more downloads in their first seven days. But I'd love us to take it to that top 10%. Just saying. Completion rate of an episode is another big factor for many podcasters. Most podcasters are hoping that you listen to at least 70% of an episode. Well, you guys are blowing it out of the water because our average completion rate is 88% from our listeners. Thank you guys so much for hanging out to the very end. So how and where are people listening? Well, 80% of you are listening on mobile devices, and the majority of listeners are in the United States in our local region. But just after that, we're most popular in Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In fact, we've been streamed across 63 countries. How cool! And thanks, Germany. And across our social platforms of Instagram, Facebook, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, we've gained an additional 1,450 followers to our community. Welcome if you're new here. And if you follow our Instagram account at the Pittsburgh Dish, you know that we've charted multiple times on Apple's daily top 250 US food podcasts. The highest I did see was number 78, but in April, when we were number 83, I was kind of tickled because we were right between Bobby Flay and the Pioneer Woman. And I like that kind of company for this show. One more fun fact from Raphonic.com if you are local to the Pittsburgh region and you're listening to us, you're also probably listening to our friends at Citycast Pittsburgh. I love that. And once again, your interest in listening to these stories of local chefs, makers, small businesses, and restaurateurs truly helps to strengthen our community. Thank you so much. Up next, have you made a resolution or a commitment to drinking a little less in the new year? Our resident wine expert, Catherine, has an idea to help. Catherine, welcome back. How are you doing? I'm doing great, Doug. How are you? I'm doing really well. We are crossing into a new year. And I was wondering if you have any fresh recommendations or ideas as people start into 2026.
Catherine:I do have a thought. And it kind of goes along with, you know, everyone doing dry January. Not quite dry January, according to me, but we'll get into that. And, you know, the New Year's resolutions to drink less, to consume less, to have, you know, go on diets or what have you. So I'm coming at you today with low and no alcohol.
Doug:Oh, but it's a trend.
Catherine:It is a strong trend. Yeah. And it's really driving where the beverage industry is going. Of course. So so much so that like some of the beverage giants who own most of the brands, like LVMH, Diaggio, and Perneau Ricard, um, they're investing like billions of dollars into NA wines and spirits.
Doug:Wow. How interesting. You know, I have thought about, you know, NA cocktails, but I haven't really considered an NA bottle of wine. They're out there. Wow. Yeah. And so what are you learning? What are you coming across?
Catherine:Well, I think that the the technology for removing the alcohol from the wine, while it's improving, I in my opinion, it still has a way to go. Okay. And what I'm gravitating more toward is, you know, again, low alcohol and using wine as an ingredient in a cocktail. Oh, yeah, that's that works for me. It works really great for me too. So if you think about a traditional cocktail, if you're talking about um whiskey, rum, vodka, any of those guys, you're going anywhere from 35% ABV to 75% ABV. Yeah, very high. Yeah. And so that's some pretty heavy stuff. Well, you're immediately downshifting gears just by moving to wine, because it typically comes in between, you know, 5.5% to 15% alcohol by value. Way less, less than half, and sometimes even even more.
Doug:This is reminding me of how I've switched from coffee to tea in the afternoon.
Catherine:See, I'm sensing a theme here, Doug. Yes. So um, one of the most famous, most popular cocktails in the world is a wine cocktail, the mimosa.
Doug:The mimosa. It's our friend. You know, I wonder how many folks actually put that in their mind as a wine category, because I have to tell you, I know it's champagne. Yeah.
Catherine:Or prosecco or cava or whatever.
Doug:Just don't always think of that as being a wine.
Catherine:I I was talking to someone else over the weekend and they're like, wait, champagne's a wine. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The sky is blue.
Doug:The sky is blue.
Catherine:Yeah, champagne is just wine that had more yeast thrown at it, so they could make their fun little bubbles.
Doug:Yeah. And what you're saying is any kind of mixed cocktail that leans into a prosecco or champagne as a cocktail, you're already in that category of a lower alcohol by volume drink.
Catherine:You absolutely are. And by taking a sparkling wine, and most of the sparkling wines come in around 12, 13% alcohol by volume, and then you're cutting that in half typically by adding your orange juice for a classic mimosa. But mimosas today are any flavor that tickles your fancy.
Doug:Yeah, they're kind of all over the board now.
Catherine:If you've got a fruit juice that you absolutely love, pour it in a glass, top it with a little sparkling wine, and enjoy yourself. And it's a very low ABV beverage to consume.
Doug:I think that's lovely. I'm already envisioning like a pomegranate swap instead of my OJ, or maybe in addition to.
Catherine:Absolutely. And you can kind of think about pairing it with whatever foods you're having. Like for a fall thing, maybe you pair it with some apple juice or cider. That would be fun. Yes. Fun to fizz up your cider. Um, and if you're entertaining, you can take a couple of bottles of your bubbly wine and maybe a handful of different fruit juices. And people can make their own.
Doug:Yes.
Catherine:And what's nice about that too is if people don't want to drink that much, you just put a little splash in. Yeah.
Doug:Just a little bit.
Catherine:You get the essence of it, and that's enough. And then for people who are a little more committed to their alcohol, they put more prosecco or what have you in and a splash of the fruit juice.
Doug:Yeah, it's choose your own adventure.
Catherine:It really is.
Doug:Catherine, are there any mixed drinks that you've come across that that don't use that category of the sparkling wines, but maybe it's like a red wine mixed with things beyond uh when we've talked about mall wine or sangria?
Catherine:Yes. In fact, over the weekend, I was at Cadence up by North Park. Yes. And um a friend's band was playing there, and we had a really great time. And that is a fun, fun place. If you haven't been there, give them a shout out.
Doug:Yes.
Catherine:Um, and they had a drink that was called a, I think what they called it was a fall rita.
Rob:Oh.
Catherine:And it was red wine, and they enhanced it with a bunch of um fruit, and um, I think they put a little splash of a very fancy gin in it just to kind of take it to someplace new. I gotta confess, it tasted like I had to have a second. Oh they did a really nice job with that.
Doug:And and all along, you're having a good time, but you are consuming in that category of lower alcohol for the whole night.
Catherine:For the whole evening, yeah. And um, I don't know if you caught Tom Hanks on the Colbert show earlier in uh 2025. He came on and Colbert asked him, Hey, I heard about this drink that you've been drinking. I can't believe that it's actually any good. And Tom Hanks was like, Well, you gotta try it. So they pulled out two tall glasses filled with ice. The first thing they poured in was about a half a glass of Diet Coke. Okay, and then the other half of the glass was filled with champagne.
Doug:Oh.
Catherine:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, I was watching that, I was going, oh, you can't, you gotta be kidding. No, no, just no. No, just no. And it turns out it's kind of delicious.
Doug:Did you try it at home?
Catherine:I did. And again, again, you're going with, you know, a low ABV and a fun, different flavor profile. Um, I think he'd said that he was first introduced to that when he was in Europe. Uh and in Spain, particularly around Barcelona, uh, they've got a drink that's called, I hope I pronounced this right, calimoto. That's where they're taking red wine and mixing it with whatever soda that they happen to have a hanker in for. Wow, how interesting. So you can take your red wine and you can mix it with Mountain Dew. You can mix it with, you know, anything and come up with all kinds of crazy flavor profiles and really experiment and have some fun with it. And this is a trend that's just kind of taking root in Spain specifically. Wow. And I think it sounds like a lot of fun, and it's one I'm going to be exploring a little bit more.
Doug:Well, you'll have to report back of any new combinations you come up with.
Catherine:I'm looking forward to uh doing the hard work to experiment for you.
Doug:You always do, Catherine. So if you have a New Year's resolution to maybe back down the amount of alcohol, but maybe not eliminate it totally, think about wine cocktails. Yeah. Always bringing us something new to consider. Thanks again, Catherine. My pleasure, Doug. You can find out more about Catherine on her website, your fairywinemother.com. Looking for a dish that's chef worthy but easy enough to make any night at home. Danielle Kane and Rob Hirst of Hey Babe share one of their go-to recipes. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Danielle Kane and Rob Hirst, the owners of Hey Babe and East Liberty. Danielle, Rob, when you both were here last, we talked about all of the delicious dishes and custom cocktails and all the great things that are going on at Hey Babe. I'm always wondering when you have that one day off, what are you making at home? Do you have a dish that's a go-to?
Dani:I think the biggest go-to dish is because it's easy, is pasta, shrimp, lemon zest, lemon juice, ton of chili flakes, handful of spinach. That sounds perfect. A little pecorina romano and be done with it. And it's delicious and it's quick. We make it a lot.
Doug:I love that you put a little spinach in there just to make it feel like smashy. Yes. Yeah. Oh, a little green. Yeah, gotta have a little green. Any favorite sort of pasta shape? Do you do a linguini or is this whatever's in the I'd like the linguini.
Dani:Yeah. Rob likes the cavatappii, but I don't think it really goes. It doesn't really go with the shrimp.
Rob:That's my favorite pasta. His f avorite shape. Rob, is this your favorite? Uh the cavatappi is my favorite pasta shape. Argument. Okay. But I do love that dish.
Dani:Yes. And Rob makes some dishes, some things at home, and they're all world famous. He makes five things, and every single one is true.
Doug:Oh, well, we need to hear one of these. Rob, what is one with your favorite that I make? Danny, what's your favorite world? He makes a lamb lasagna.
Dani:He makes a potato leak soup.
Doug:Wow. And that may be it. And that might be. My gosh. All right. Well, this is like uh a shrimp with linguini. I love the little bit of like garlic and spinach, right?
Dani:So much garlic, so much spinach. Have to. And some spice.
Doug:Do you use olive oil or butter or a little combo?
Dani:Just use olive oil at home.
Doug:Okay. I love that. For a lot of butter. This is what the restaurant tours are making on the dayline. Thank you both so much. Wishing you all continued success with Hey Babe. And thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having us. Once again, I just want to say thank you. I'm so grateful that you're here listening to the show. And if you know anyone else that just loves food and food stories, please turn them on to the show as well. I think there's a lot of folks that are part of our food community and they just don't know about us yet. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.
