Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant located next to the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History, right in the heart of Oakland. I went to Conflict Kitchen on February 4, and we were the only patrons waiting, as it was very cold that day. The outside of the kitchen was very colorful and easy-to-spot. There was seating outside along the park next to the kitchen for patrons to sit and wait for their order, or to eat their food. I, however, did not eat outside because it was cold, so I ate in my car instead. However, during the summer, going to Conflict Kitchen would be a great idea to grab a quick bite to eat.
Conflict Kitchen is located right next to a park. The outside was colorful and designed with patterns of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
I arrived at Conflict Kitchen at noon, and there were no other patrons when we got there because there is no indoor seating and it was very cold that day. However, someone did stop while we were there to grab something to drink. For my mother and me being the only patrons there, the service felt slow and from the time we placed our order to the time we got it, it had been about 15 minutes, which felt even longer because we were standing in the cold. However, our attitudes quickly turned around when we got out food.
The food was great, and I have very few complaints about it. The ability needed to master and make dishes from different cultures every few months is admirable. Conflict Kitchen, when we went, was serving food from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which is made up of Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. On the menu, there were multiple options for gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan diets. All of the menu options were either fitting to one of those diets or multiple, which is great for those who want to try new foods but are limited in their dietary needs. To drink, my mother got the Okdeahgi’, which is a hot root tea. I tasted it and the flavor of the tea reminded me of chai tea because it had a hint of spices. It was something I had never tried before, but I would order it. I had the Oya:gi’ to drink, which is a chilled wild fruit drink. It was very sweet and fruity; the overall taste was raspberry and it was very refreshing. I had also never had this, but the taste reminded me of raspberry lemonade. Overall, both were very good and I would get both again.
For a small plate, I got the Wadesai’dö:ndak, which was sweet maple baked beans with salt pork. The maple flavor really came through and was not overpowering. However, the salt pork was hard to find in the dish and there could have been more of it. The portion size was generous, however, and I was unable to finish it in one sitting. My mother got the Onädatgos, which was a salad of wild greens with cranberries that was lightly dressed with a blueberry vinaigrette. My mother and I were both anticipating a sweet salad, but, to our surprise, the salad was sour because of the cranberries. After we got over our initial shock that the salad was not sweet, we enjoyed the different flavors of the cranberry and blueberry. However, in the dressing, it was hard to get a lot of blueberry flavor as the sour of the cranberries overpowered the dressing. We also got the Ganya’hji’da’, which was a small plate of corn tamales stuffed with mushrooms and corn truffle. The corn had a very sweet flavor in the tamales and the taste was great. I had never had this style of tamales and I’m happy I have tried it. The tamales were a little hard to eat as they fell apart easily, but their great taste was too hard to ignore.
For the main dishes, I got the Onyöhsowa:nes, which was a pumpkin and Iroquois white corn chili. The serving size of the chili was very generous and the ingredients made the dish very filling. The taste was great and had some spices added to it that enhanced the flavor of the pumpkin and corn. The overall appeal of the dish was warm and hearty. It also came with a traditional fry bread that reminded me of funnel cake because of its texture. My mother got the Oshöwe:’ for her main dish. It consisted of a crispy Iroquois white corn mush cake with a root vegetable hash. This was one of our favorite dishes from Conflict Kitchen. The root vegetables had an almost sweet taste and the white corn mush cake was soft but not too soft that it wasn’t good to eat. The taste was great and the dish was very colorful. The portion of this dish was big and my mother could not eat it all in one sitting.
The service at Conflict Kitchen was good. Even though the food took a while, the people taking our order were very kind and helped us pronounce the names of the dishes. Conflict Kitchen is located in Oakland, which is a great spot for visiting and sightseeing in Pittsburgh. The restaurant itself was not far from the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History. The idea behind Conflict Kitchen is to serve food from places the United States is in conflict with. They also style the kitchen with designs from those places and play music from the cultures, too. We also got a sheet of interviews from people from the confederacy that had problems with the United States to read as we waited for our food. This new idea turns out perfectly at Conflict Kitchen because of the great food and atmosphere.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Location: 221 Schenley Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Telephone: (412) 802-8417
Hours: 11am – 6pm (Mon-Sat)
Accepts: Credit cards, cash
Parking: Street
Pricing: $
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