Photo: Chris Michaud

There’s really only one downside to choosing Pittsburgh for a getaway, and that’s the tedium that sets in somewhere around the 11th time you hear “Why?!?”

But the once-gritty steel town that was formerly an easy punch line for lazy comics’ riffs has reinvented itself, stoking its hip quotient to the point of serving as home to the sex-addled, appearance-conscious, partying denizens of Queer as Folk. After all, the Places Rated Almanac named it America’s most livable city—just this year. Sometimes publications do get it right.

With major carriers running round-trip fares under $100, most anyone with a passing interest in modernist aesthetics will find a visit worth the trip. On the 20-mile drive from the airport, verdant, hillside neighborhoods give way to vistas opening to the city’s renowned three rivers: Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio. The landscape evokes Paris, Seattle maybe, or even Stockholm.

Check in at the Renaissance Hotel (107 6th St at Fort Duquesne Blvd, 412-562-1200; from $179), on the banks of the Allegheny, and request a high floor for the nighttime light show. The stunningly restored hotel belies its Marriott affiliation with an opulent lobby, handsomely appointed rooms, upscale amenities, and a bevy of bars and restaurants.

Photo: Chris Michaud

Next, hit downtown. The Andy Warhol Museum (117 Sandusky St at Isabella St, 412-237-8300) plunked the institution devoted to the life and works of the pop culture chronicler in Warhol’s hometown instead of the seemingly obvious choice of Manhattan. Heartfelt get-well cards Edie Sedgwick wrote to Warhol as he recovered from being shot and a slew of his wigs are highlights, while a fun gift shop beckons.

Your cultural criteria fulfilled, it’s time to attend to more fundamental needs, like nourishment—although the term might be a stretch at the original Primanti Brothers (46 18th St at Mulberry Way, 412-263-2142). Here you’ll find Pittsburgh’s answer to New England’s lobster rolls. Ignore the trash on the floor, revel in the whiffs of scandalous cigarette smoke and dig into the local hero—a filling of meat, cheese or fish heaped onto Italian bread and “finished” with a bizarre convergence of tomatoes, vinegar slaw and french fries. It shouldn’t work, but it does—it’s as satisfying as it is unlikely.

The nameless staple of this chainlet was born of overnight truckers’ need for an entire meal in a sandwich during breaks from unloading cargo. Now its laden, or maybe leaden, heft satisfies night owls of a different sort—clubgoers who trawl the warehouse area known as the Strip, Pittsburgh’s oddly appealing amalgam of Soho, Arthur Avenue and the Meatpacking District.

Cross Smallman Street to ogle the huge, glass, crinkle-cut fries, just one component of the “Blue Plate Special” sculpture at the Society for Contemporary Craft (2100 Smallman St at 21st St, 412-261-7003). In addition, you’ll find exhibits like the recent Fiberart International 2007 triennial, featuring the Bridezilla gown emblazoned with bitchy one-liners.

Photo from the collection of the Andy Warhol Museum

Join the after-work crowd making the scene at Caribbean-inflected Kaya (2000 Smallman St at 20th St, 412-261-6565), where a couple of the barman’s mango mojitos will have you swooning. Stick around to sample some innovative dishes like tofu cracklins, and spicy lentil beignets.

Should you need some fresh air, take a stroll down the riverbank to PNC Park (115 Federal St at Isabella St), one of MLB’s most intimate. Savvy town fathers had the foresight to stoke the city’s rehabilitation by placing the stadium downtown, on the North Shore across from the so-called Golden Triangle, where the Allegheny and Monongahela join forces to form the Ohio River. Barry Bonds’s historic home-run ball may have been claimed, but locals still fish souvenir fly balls from the river.

You could tipple your way down the South Bank’s East Carson Street to check out the head shops and music stores. But you’re a tourist, so why not act like one? Take the Duquesne Incline (1220 Grandview Ave, 412-381-1665) to the top of Mt. Washington in one of the restored wooden cars, half the price of San Francisco’s version. At the top, pair a great meal with an even better view, at The Monterey Bay Fish Grotto (412-481-4414) on its unlikely perch atop an apartment house. Opt for the lounge, where you’ll get the same view without a reservation.

The next morning, get out of town. Nestled in the woods in Mill Run, 75 miles outside of town, Fallingwater (Route 381, 724-329-8501) demands a half day, especially for design mavens, who will find the two-hour tour—reservations are required—well worth the steep $55 tab. Our knowledgeable guide, an affable architecture professor, soft-pedaled that blow considerably—contributions are needed to maintain the most famous private house in the country, complete with its cantilevered platforms, glass corner windows and the river that runs through it. Frank Lloyd Wright’s endangered masterpiece, is easily the zenith of his notoriously quixotic, but equally brilliant career.

The short flight home provides just enough time to ponder the things you missed: Kennywood amusement park. The National Aviary. The Carnegie Science Center. All ways to finesse that damn “Why?!?”

Been somewhere great recently? Tell us where to go at travel@timeoutny.com.

THE TAB

(two people, two nights)
Flight $200
Hotel 500
Rental car 120
(with gas)
+ Meals 200
TOTAL: $1,020

TRAVEL TIME 1hr