Thank goodness it’s February. Winter is officially half over! Lately, we have been thinking about the Steeler chant, “Here we go Steelers, here we go.” It occurred to us that it could just as easily be “Here we go Brookline, here we go.” We are within countdown of reconstruction. While the hardhat workers will be important, there is another group of individuals who are critical to this project—the residents of Brookline, specifically you, dear reader. You—we—are critical to the outcome we want. We want a new and improved Boulevard featuring our longtime favorite merchants. Pitaland started …

In early November, I took Sylvia McCoy’s Burgh Bits and Bites Food Tour (www.burghfoodtour.com) of Brookline. Does it seem strange for a Brookline resident to take a food tour of the Boulevard? Perhaps, but it turned out to be enlightening. I joined Renee & Brian Gilpatrick who recently moved to Pittsburgh from Boston. Corinne Bechtel was our guide for the two hour tour that began at Pitaland. Did you know that Joe Chahine taught French in Tripoli before coming to Brookline where he now supplies the tri-state area with pita bread? He showed us how the machine he ordered from Beirut punches …