But honestly I never meet any bookish people. My head is always buried in a book and everyone else seems to be blogging on their laptops. Several of my friends I suspect of being illiterate. I see them constantly sounding out words. Deep in concentration their mouths move silently/slowly, their brows furrow, their forheads sweat–It’s sad, really.

In the steel city known as PITTSBURGH (likely known for some time as “recent Superbowl-winning” after tomorrow night, woo!) there are some pretty neat-o bars and restaurants known to attract a fetisher or two. And his bookish …prey. Eesh, I made that creepy.

First and foremost:

The Library! Yes, we have beautiful Andrew Carnegie funded book-filled libraries. But I’m talking about food and booze here, and there’s no better place for fans of le Desk Set than, The Library. The current website is weirdly under construction, so read this:
(http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_513546.html)
While there are books everywhere, decor and …spirit-wise, my favorite is having donated used books serve as menus. And not just, hollowed out books. These are BOOKS. So, on an immediately bad date, you can choose your menu item on the first page, and then have the sweet, sweet escape of learning all about birds indigenous to South America, until it arrives. Also the dessert menu is the library check-out card!!! It’s so freaking charming I can barely write about it.

The food and drinks are fantastic. And it’s reasonably priced for the quality of food that it is. And I assume drinks are 200% cheaper than any in NYC.

I’ll throw in a runner-up favorite of a self-described “bookish” type in the ‘Burgh: Brillobox. (http://www.brillobox.net/) The sign is designed with typewriter letters for god’s sake. They have deliciously pretentious trivia on Wednesday nights. There’s not a single person in there without plastic square frame glasses. The menu is all vegetarian at this point I think, half vegan. The bartenders are foxy, but usually too busy to wait on the server-less tables.

Any friend of the Desk Set is a friend of Pittsburgh–someone wanting a more complete list for a visit here should make his/her request known. And it shall be done!

Right next to Pacific Standard (mentioned above) is the NYC AIDS Housing Network, which hosts Books Through Bars, a group that sends books to prisoners and numbers several librarians and library school students in its ranks. (No, not a dining or drinking establishment, but we often have bodega beer and takeout noodles fueling our packing sessions.)

And, of course, ABC No Rio (the arts/activism community center on Rivington St, LES) is where you can almost always find a bunch of librarians on the third Friday night of the month at NYC Radical Reference meetings. We usually get a drink and nosh afterwards, too, most recently at Kate’s on Ave B.