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25 Best Restaurants
By Kate Chynoweth
Photography by Laura Petrilla
<< Umi's blackened cod with miso, a special at the restaurant and often part of the omakase.
It's been an exciting year for the region's restaurant world. New arrivals in the form of chef-driven restaurants, from downtown's Nine on Nine to Iovino's Café in Mount Lebanon, have been a welcome trend. Meanwhile, our well-established kitchens have continued to impress and improve. In looking at this year's diverse list of 25 Best Restaurants, chosen by Pittsburgh magazine's Restaurant Review Panel, there is no specific type of food that ties the disparate dining rooms together. The menus range from Southern-style comfort food and pan-Asian to Mediterranean and traditional French. What these dining destinations do share are chefs and owners with integrity. Behind each set of swinging kitchen doors are individuals driven by culinary passions, whether for sourcing ever more exciting seasonal ingredients or reinventing the recipes that inspire them. Of course, a great restaurant is about more than the menu: It's also about the surroundings, the service and the ambience. In these qualities, too, our 25 restaurants stand out. Above all, you get the ephemeral feeling that you're in good hands when you walk through the door of each one. And that, fortunately, makes us all winners.
Restaurants serve alcohol unless BYOB is noted. The price range indicated under each restaurant
listing is based on the average price of entree as follows:
$ - $10-$15
$$ - $15-$25
$$$ - $25-$35
$$$$ - $35 and up
 >> Acanthus' whimsical white-chocolate mousse is served with shaved strawberries, crème anglaise, raspberry sauce and a sweet swan perched in a spun-sugar nest.
ACANTHUS
(at the Inn on the Mexican War Streets)
Executive Chef Doug Ferraro
604 W. North Ave., North Side
412/231-6544, acanthus.biz
Prix-fixe menu, $65; a la carte entrees, $$$
Set in a historic renovated carriage house behind the Inn on the Mexican War Streets, this recently opened, formal 48-seat restaurant offers a menu inspired by seasonal ingredients and classical French techniques. Before dinner, drop by for a martini at the intimate R.H. Boggs Library Bar, located inside the majestic North Side mansion. Warm weather will bring the option of outdoor tented dining in the romantic courtyard. Dinner is Thursday through Saturday only; call for expanded summer hours.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Filet of beef with wild-mushroom bread pudding and wild-mushroom stew.
BONA TERRA
Executive Chef and Owner Douglass Dick
908 Main St., Sharpsburg
412/781-8210
$$$, BYOB
The best local ingredients - and diners with discerning palates - get the special attention they deserve at this chef-driven restaurant. Douglass Dick, who won in our Chef of the Year slot for the second time in a row this year, searches the markets each day and creates a new menu every night. Local beets turn up in a pickled-beet emulsion for seafood; puffed-pastry with local fugi apple compote and house-made vanilla-bean ice cream with warm caramel sauce makes for a tempting dessert. The comfortable dining room invites lingering but doesn't distract from the ingredient-driven menu, which manages to be satisfying yet surprising, creative yet unfussy. This cuisine is not to be missed.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Grilled or pan-roasted fresh fish with organic-heirloom-tomato vinaigrette.
 << Acanthus' pan-roasted, frenched veal chop with roasted baby yams, grilled baby Vidalia onion, organic cherry and balsamic-vinegar reduction.
ALCHEMY AT BIGELOW GRILLE'S MENU
Chef Kevin Sousa
1 Bigelow Square, downtown
412/281-5013, bigelowgrille.com
Prix-fixe Alchemy menu, $100 per person
It's unusual for this magazine to award a Top 25 slot to a specific menu rather than a restaurant as a whole - but then, everything about chef Kevin Sousa's Alchemy, which is a small tasting restaurant within Bigelow Grille, breaks the rules to win. All of the menu's 16 to 20 courses showcase new techniques, products and presentation: Expect intriguing foams, frozen powders, encapsulated liquids and other edible experiments of temperature and texture. The Alchemy menu is served Tuesday through Saturday by reservation only to 12 diners; there's only one seating, at 7 p.m.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: "Chicken-and-Waffles" with waffle-flavored foam, crispy chicken-skin chip, smoked maple-syrup powder and creamy sausage-gravy panna cotta.
BISTRO 19
Executive Chef Jessica Gibson
711 Washington Road, Mount Lebanon
412/306-1919, bistro19.com
$$-$$$
After opening in late-2006, this Mount Lebanon newcomer has quickly won raves for its warm, inviting ambience and elegant bistro fare. The diverse menu includes everything from comfort-food favorites such as filet mignon with gorgonzola to enticing Asian-inspired seafood. Owner Josephine DeFrancis, who goes by "B," has added details that make a difference, including a sophisticated martini menu and new folding windows that open up the dining room to the outdoors, giving the charming space even more appeal.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Tuna steak wrapped in wasabi nori (seaweed) and breaded; served with basmati, Napa slaw and ponzu sauce.
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