Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Lucas Shaffer serves an espresso drink at Cafe Intermezzo's stand in the lobby of the Frick Building, Downtown. The Synesso Cyncra machine behind him can be set to brew espresso after espresso at the precise temperature, or "sweet spot," that's best for a particular blend. Click photo for larger image.

Caffe Intermezzo -- a small emporium on Smallman Street in the Strip District serving espresso, coffee, tea, panini, salads, smoothies and pastries -- has opened a second shop in the lobby of the Frick Building at 437 Grant St., Downtown.

Tinier than the Strip location, the Downtown shop can't serve lunch items, but owners Alexis and Luke Shaffer and D.J. Demangone (Alexis' brother), all from Latrobe, are proud to feature Pennsylvania's first Synesso Cyncra. It's "possibly the finest piece of espresso machinery ever created," according to Luke. And what brand of coffee do you use in such a fine-tuned and expensive ($10,000 with installation) machine?

"We use Intelligentsia ... which is the best roast coffee I have ever tasted," he said. "It was selected the '2007 Roaster of the Year,' and the company pays above-fair-trade prices to farmers for quality beans." The shop's hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Bruster's benefits children

Bruster's Real Ice Cream will donate 25 cents from April sales of its newest treat, Parfait Perfection, to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Perfect for spring, the light parfaits are made with vanilla ice cream and real fruit sorbet and come in four flavors -- peach, strawberry, black raspberry and mango (flavors vary by day and location). Bruster's goal is to raise more than $100,000 for the charity.

First Food Network awards

Tune in at 9 p.m. Sunday for the first Food Network Awards, the culinary answer to the Oscars, featuring Emeril as the emcee and Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Paula Deen and others as presenters.

Among the offbeat categories are Most Delicious Destination, Not Your Grandmother's Food-of-the-Month Club and Funniest Food Festivals. The show was taped at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival in February.

Meanwhile, Food Network's Dave Lieberman will show how to make meals using fresh, simple ingredients. He appears at 10 a.m. Saturday at Giant Eagle Market District, Shadyside, and at 2 p.m. that day at Giant Eagle Market District, Bethel Park.

Sanchez and salsa

Pittsburgh Pirate Freddy Sanchez will unveil his black-bean-and-corn salsa at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Carnegie Science Center's Kitchen Theater. Mr. Sanchez says that, with chef Jose Lemun and a group of kids, he will create Pittsburgh's largest burrito for sampling, along with other Mexican fare.

Food processing examined ...

The Regent Square Theater, Edgewood, will show the film "Our Daily Bread," an examination of industrial food production and high-tech farming, at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Highlighted are sterile rooms where chicks hatch; a fjord where a huge hose extracts salmon, and conveyer systems where chickens, pigs and cows move a step closer to your plate. Details: www.pghfilmmakers.org.

The Sierra Club has made an animated DVD called "The True Cost of Food" to raise consumer awareness of the energy and costs expended in industrial food production. The DVD is free at www.truecostoffood.org.

It will be shown continuously between 6 and 10 p.m. April 21 at Phipps' Conservatory's Botany Hall in Oakland, along with other films centering on issues such as genetically modified foods. Details: 412-362-8451.

... and excellence rewarded

If you think your favorite restaurant, caterer, grocery store, convenience store, nursing home or school cafeteria makes outstanding efforts in food safety, the Allegheny County Health Department would like to know for its 16th annual Excellence in Food Protection Awards.

To make a nomination, call 412-687-ACHD or online at www.achd.net. Deadline is May 1. Food facilities may apply for the awards online only.

The last word

"Recipe cooking is to real cooking as painting by number is to real painting: just pretend. " John Thorne, American food writer and historian.