 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Third generation still serving up good value at Sky Vue
Wednesday, February 28, 2001 By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
Bill Green's, the Ankara, the Vogue Terrace, Twin Coaches, Sky Vue. Do the names bring back memories?
They were popular nightclubs at one time in the Pleasant Hills, Route 51 South and McKeesport area. Don Metz Jr. remembers them. He was a small boy when his dad and grandfather built Sky Vue across the road from the Allegheny County Airport in 1938.
The big ballroom at Sky Vue was pretty impressive to a youngster (and to lots of the customers, too). The ceiling was painted blue to represent the sky, and at each end of the ballroom, a model of an airplane, each with a bride and bridegroom, hung from the ceiling.
Don Metz Sr. brought in a couple of musicians from Connellsville, Jerry and Harold Betters, before they moved on to the big time in Pittsburgh. Walt Harper, who would become a Pittsburgh jazz legend, played the Sky Vue, too.
"I think it was the '40s and early '50s," Metz says. "Then in the early '50s, my dad changed the Sky Vue into a restaurant."
The other nightclubs disappeared, too, some becoming other businesses, others -- the Vogue Terrace and Twin Coaches -- destroyed by fire.
Before that, though, servicemen stationed in the area during World War II often were fed at Sky Vue. Don Metz Jr., now the owner, remembers men from the Army Air Forces and military police, sent to the area to guard the mills and bridges, eating at his dad's restaurant.
For many years, Allegheny County Airport was the major airport in the area. Politicians, government officials and movie stars headed for Pittsburgh landed there, and some found their way across Lebanon Church Road to Sky Vue.
"We were known for good home cooking," Metz says.
Now, with the restaurant in its 63rd year, the third generation of the family works at Sky Vue. Carolyn Metz, Don's daughter-in-law, is the manager. Don Metz III was the manager for 15 years. Carolyn's husband, Brian, worked at the restaurant for a time. Daughter Linda Gorsic is the daytime bartender.
Sky Vue looks a little scruffy in the front now. But appearances can be deceiving. His Honor and I had never been in the restaurant until one recent lunch hour when we noticed the parking lot in front was full, and business types were coming out and getting into their cars. We pulled into one of those parking spaces and went in.
A big bar and lounge are in the front room. We walked on through to the dining room and were surprised at the size of it. (This used to be the ballroom, I learned later.) Groups of office workers, big men whom I would guess to be construction workers, and lots of senior citizen couples were eating. At the far end of the room, two tables of gray-haired women were playing cards.
"We get a lot of local people, a lot of clubs," Carolyn Metz told me later. "They have their meetings here."
Square dancers, still in their colorful costumes, come in every other week after their lessons.
We order two glasses of chardonnay, and it arrives in champagne glasses.
Everything seems clean. Tables are covered with white vinyl tablecloths, which are covered with clear plastic table covers. Green paper placements are on top. "No laundry problem here," H.H. observed.
Seafood, prime rib, chicken linguini and lots of Italian specialties are Sky Vue's drawing cards. After a quick look at the lunch specials on the menu, I think low prices are part of the appeal, too.
A taco salad goes for $4.50 for lunch, boneless chicken breast with pasta and salad for $5.95 and five ounces of prime rib with thick steak fries and coleslaw for $6.50. Prime rib sounds a little decadent for lunch, but H.H. goes for it and likes it. That small cut is just right for lunch. My taco salad is more spectacular in appearance -- chili, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and pepperoncini on a bed of iceberg lettuce in a fried flour shell with sour cream and taco sauce. It's pretty, but the fried flour shell tastes of old grease.
Typical sandwich specials are a cup of homemade soup and a ham club sandwich for $5.20, and the Godfather combo, a deep-fried chicken fillet topped with salami, provolone cheese, shredded lettuce and dressing on a toasted bun, served with fries and coleslaw, $5. It's a lot of food.
Eleanor "Honey" Wilson has been the head cook for many years. Second in command is Charlene Dilts. She makes the homemade soups and sauces, including the good, old-fashioned-tasting beef, barley and mushroom soup we had.
The menu is wide ranging, but each day there is also a sheet of lunch and dinner specials.
Today that includes a chicken pot pie, an early-bird special served from 4 to 6 p.m., along with a garden salad, for $5.85.
Bigger cuts of prime rib, along with potato and salad, are $12.25 and $14.25 at dinner. Beer-battered fish and chips, roast turkey dinner, chopped steak and Monterey chicken dinners range from $6.95 to $7.75.
The best-selling linguine Italiano, featuring pasta tossed with marinara sauce and sliced hot sausage, topped with mozzarella and served with a garden salad and garlic bread, is $8.25.
It's not fancy food, but nobody goes home hungry, either.
Sky Vue Family Restaurant, 3230 Lebanon Church Road, West Mifflin, 412-466-8068. Hours: 11 a.m.- 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday; 3-9 p.m. Sunday.
Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette dining critic, can be reached by e-mail at wmerriman@post-gazette.com or by regular mail at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222.
|
||||||||
