In the spirit of the Waffle Shop, which is both a place to eat waffles and the set of a reality TV show, we now have Kubideh Kitchen: more than just a place to get a delicious Iranian sandwich.

Kubideh Kitchen is the first in a series of Conflict Kitchen features. Every 4 months, Conflict Kitchen will feature food from a different country with which the U.S. is in conflict. It is attached to the Waffle Shop and runs out of the same kitchen, serving up to-go kubideh sandwiches with freshly-made barbari bread, spiced ground beef, and fresh mint, basil, and onion.

The Tehran/Pittsburgh YouTube Mix

On Saturday, July 10th, Conflict Kitchen (in Pittsburgh) and Sazmanab Project (in Tehran) will present a live screening of videos curated directly from YouTube posts shot both in Tehran and Pittsburgh. A back and forth format will utilize the vast and idiosyncratic resources of YouTube to present first-person video accounts that reflect on the daily life of each city. The forty-minute screening will be followed by a live Skype conversation between attendees in Pittsburgh and Tehran.  The event will take place next door at the Waffle Shop, 124 S. Highland Ave., at 11:30 a.m. (EDT).

KUBIDEH KITCHEN is open every day from 11am-2pm and on Friday and Saturday nights from 11pm-3am.

Check out their blog at www.ConflictKitchen.com.  Kubideh Kitchen has also been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Kokolatte’s Coffee Tea & Eatery is becoming a favorite East Liberty café. Located in the Medical Center East, the café specializes in balancing its culinary offerings between healthy fare and heartier favorites.

The focus at Kokolatte’s is fresh food and personalized service. All of the food is made to order. The café offers breakfast sandwiches, salads, cold sandwiches, paninis, wraps, snack foods and more.  Kokolatte’s is not afraid to take a risk adding something new and exciting to the menu. For this reason, Kokolatte is currently offering delicious barbeque from their patio grill. Customers love the beef hot dogs, Kielbasa, burgers and especially the jumbo wings!

The café also offers sweet treats, like jumbo chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, pumpkin roll and banana-walnut bread (cold or grilled with vanilla ice cream and a caramel drizzle).

The café wouldn’t be a fan favorite without its signature drinks! They serve locally roasted coffee, espresso, cappuccino, lattes, fruit smoothies, iced coffee drinks and blended crèmes. Once customers come off the beaten path and try Kokolatte’s, they come back again and again.

Some seven years in the making, the city and developer Mosites Co. have closed on the financing for Target’s proposed East Liberty store, virtually guaranteeing its construction.

The retailer is expected to break ground on the 143,000-square-foot store — one of only a few Targets in the country with two levels — next month.

Construction will take about a year, with the opening scheduled for July 2011. A formal announcement is expected today.

Target will join Home Depot and Whole Foods Market as anchors in a bustling East Liberty commercial corridor that not too long ago was a poster child for inner city blight. Together, they “will change the shopping patterns of many city residents,” said Steven Mosites Jr., Mosites Co. president.

Rob Stephany, city Urban Redevelopment Authority executive director, sees the development as part of the “re-regionalizing” of East Liberty, once one of the largest commercial centers in the state.

“Home Depot, Whole Foods, the restaurants, they are already regional attractors and I think Target will amplify that posture even more,” he said.

Key components of the financing for the $46.8 million project include a $20 million loan from M&T Bank and $12.6 million equity investment by PNC facilitated by new markets tax credits.

Mark Minnerly, Mosites’ director of real estate development and a partner in the project, described the PNC investment as a “gap filler” that enabled the store to proceed.

The URA supplied $14.1 million for site development, including a $10 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development loan and a $2 million HUD grant.

Under the arrangement with Target, Mosites was responsible for securing the financing for the store. Target will be liable for the repayments through a 29-year lease.

The fact the developer was able to secure financing for a retail store in a challenging credit environment is a tribute both to Target and East Liberty, Mr. Mosites said. “All in all, I think [lenders] felt really good about Target’s credit and the location,” he said.

Completion of the financing marks a milestone in a journey that began 10 years ago when a master plan designated the five-acre site bordering Penn Avenue, Penn Circle and Broad Street for a department store.

Target became the “focus” of those efforts about seven years ago, Mr. Mosites said. He described the courting as “herculean” given the recession and the decision by Target to re-evaluate all new store openings.

“Getting Target to invest in East Liberty was an intense strategic effort that could not have happened without so many valuable partners who believe in the economic transformation of our city and of East Liberty,” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a statement.

For the rest of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Article click on the link:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10166/1065616-53.stm#ixzz0r3GDmCX7

Safety practices were essential on the job site of the last East Liberty highrise, imploded on May 17th, 2009.

On Tuesday, July 7th at East Liberty Presybterian Church, the Section 3 Job Training Initiative through East Liberty Development, Inc and the Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty, in partnership with the Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center hosted an OSHA training session for 15 local residents and construction workers.

Participants received trainingand certification for the following areas: general safety, “haz com“, materials handling and storage, tools, electrical, excavation, fire protection and prevention, floor openings, stairs, ladders and scaffolding, personal protective clothing & lifesaving equipment.

This course reduces job-site accidents, provides proof of Construction Safety & Health Training and assists employers with meeting OSHA and worksite safety and compliance.

The training was funded through Weed & Seed, a partnership of Mayor Luke Ravenstal, the U.S. Attorney for W. PA and community stakeholders of Larimer, Garfield and East Liberty. The OSHA Construction Safety & Health training hosted on July 07 at the Kingsley Center was provided by the Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center and the East Liberty Job Training % Referral Initiative, a partnership between ELDI and Coalition of Organized Residents of East Liberty towards preparing residents to work among East Liberty’s development projects.

For additional information on opportunities among the building trades in East Liberty contact:

Kevin Mickens, MSW

COR/ELDI Section 3 Coordinator

East Liberty Section 3 Job Training & Referral Initiative

211 N. Whitfield Street, Suite 210

Pittsburgh, PA 15206

p. 412.661.2600

f. 412.661.2602

www.eastlibertypost.com

kevin.mickens@eastliberty.org

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Magic Cleaners, a long-time business of East Liberty, has moved their space from the commercial building next to the former Penn Circle highrise sight to 6101 Broad Street, at the corner of Broad and Sheridan.

As part of the excitement from their move, they are offering this coupon. Click th highlighted word “coupon” and print this out for savings at a quality dry cleaners.

Visionary Performing Arts Academy celebrates their 10th year with a performance of “Never Would Have Made It!” on Saturday, June 20th at 6 pm at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street Downtown. The celebration includes youth ages 2 to 18 years old performing tap, jazz, lyrical and other dance styles.

Ticket are $15.50 or 25.20. For more ticketing information, go to the Cultrual Trust website or call 412.441.1907.

East Liberty has its newest addition to the fast growing restaurant district. Paris 66 is a quaint little bistro on Centre Avenue serving authentic French crepes. With a made-to-order menu of sweet and savory crepes, this would be a great treat for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

Along with their crepes, they have a nice list of sandwiches, soups, salads, desserts and beverages. The establishments is also BYOB, ($5 for bottle of wine, $1 per person for beer.)

Read the Paris 66 review in the Post Gazette.

Stop in the new spot for a pleasant, “Bonjour!” and a tasty crepe.

6018 Centre Avenue, 412.404.8166

Hours of Business:

Tuesday & Wednesday, 8:30 A to 4 P

Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 8:30 A to 10:30 P

Sunday 8:30 A to 2 P