After months of research, PITTSBURGH magazine's Restaurant Review Panel selected the best dining spots in our wonderfully diverse region. Panel members are experts in wine, fine dining and culinary arts. The long and difficult process has yielded an extraordinary list. But, first, we bring you the stars of Pittsburgh's dining scene. Each year, our Restaurant Review Panel bestows five special awards in the following categories: Best New Restaurant, Chef of the Year, Rising Star Chef, Delicious Design and Community Contribution. And the winners are . . .

BEST NEW RESTAURANT
Sonoma Grille
947 Penn Avenue
Downtown
412/697-1336
BY Kate Chynoweth
Photos by Laura Petrilla

Sonoma Grille's wine list offers 100 by-the-glass options and more than 300 choices by the bottle.

Sonoma Grille is a hot spot in town for uncorking something delicious -- and we're not just talking about which vino you'll select from the vast wine list: 100 by-the-glass options and more than 300 choices by the bottle. We're talking about a fun evening out. At this spacious, comfortable restaurant that opened in the Cultural District last fall, owner and executive chef Yves Carreau and managing partner and wine expert Uriel Marcovitz have created a food-and-wine destination that feels eclectic yet grown-up. Adjacent to Courtyard Marriott near the Convention Center, Sonoma Grille is a large restaurant that nonetheless conveys an intimate mood with terra-cotta walls, sage-green fabric accents and warm wood tables lit by lovely teardrop-shaped hanging lamps of amber glass. A wall of wine, vineyard murals and three-dimensional window boxes further enhance the coziness. Near the wall of windows that fronts Penn Avenue is the handsome bar, complete with a seating area furnished with leather sofas, where lively after-work groups gather on weeknights. The innovative menu is well-suited to the creatively designed space. Carreau, who previously owned Asiago at One Oxford Centre, hails from France. But he credits much of his culinary aesthetic to the decades he spent in California getting well-acquainted with all kinds of cuisines, from Asian to Latin and everything in between.

The result is what he calls a "melting pot" menu of dishes that are as likely to incorporate Thai green curry and North African harissa as French goat cheese. Because Carreau also loves tapas-style eating, many of the plates are designed for sharing, with portions sized between an appetizer and an entree. "I wanted to create a menu in which people could enjoy three different tastes in one meal," says Carreau. "It's the opposite of paying for a big steak where that's the one thing you'll have for dinner." The Sonoma Mixed Grille, the most popular item on the menu, exemplifies this idea. It allows diners to custom-design dishes by choosing from a selection of 10 different proteins such as char-grilled salmon or spicy pork medallions and six tasty sauces such as tamarind-ginger glaze and harissa and cumin mayonnaise. The smaller servings and reasonable prices invite people to order several plates and enjoy the selection. The restaurant's signature tapas platter keeps the concept going by offering a creative, flavorful selection of small bites such as delicious ahi tartare with wasabi mayonnaise and fried lotus root, sesame-crusted fried calamari and smoked duck ravioli. Duck crops up elsewhere, too -- it's Carreau's favorite food. In keeping with his passion for variety, it's presented three ways in the Study of Duck dish, which features seared duck breast, a duck-sausage Monte Cristo sandwich and chilled cantaloupe soup with house-cured duck proscuitto. For dessert, in-house pastry chef Kelly James creates not-to-be-missed homemade sorbets, fruit tarts and the tapas dulce, an array of five little gemlike sweets. In the mood for dessert wine? Done.

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