To Dine For
By Kate Chynoweth, Food Editor
Photography by Laura Petrilla
Whatever you crave - be it comfort food, global fusion, handmade pasta or something completely off the wall (nitro wasabi-flavored peas, anyone?) - you're likely to find it here on our list of the year's 25 Best Restaurants.
What are today's diners looking for? Well, in my opinion, they're seeking places where the food is utterly out-of-the-ordinary but the mood is upscale-casual enough that you can wear jeans (OK, expensive jeans). And increasingly, we have more of these in the Pittsburgh region.
The kitchens at these destinations are presided over by an ever-rising tide of chefs who focus on fresh and local ingredients and make nearly everything from scratch - whether that results in rabbit rillettes or potato gnocchi, veal stock or fennel sausage. We also have more variety to choose from. Try the bocadillos and mojitos at Seviche, where a new-style raw bar meets a colorful cocktail lounge, or visit the hip new Bar Nine for small bites from the fancy menu next door at Nine on Nine. Choose any of the destinations on our list and you're in for something fun and different.
This year's special-awards categories reflect a happy trend of attracting - and retaining - great food talent in 2007: Matthew Porco returned home after a stint at Veritas in New York City to open Mio Kitchen & Wine Bar, our "Best New Restaurant" winner; Trevett Hooper, this year's "Rising Star Chef", came back to open Legume after five years of soaking up southern California's vibrant culinary scene; and Douglass Dick, our "Chef of the Year", garnered national recognition with a write-up in Gourmet magazine as one of "America's Best Farm-To-Table Restaurants." The restaurants profiled in these pages, selected by Pittsburgh magazine's Restaurant Review Panel, are more proof that it's great to live in this region right now - especially if you're hungry.
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
$$$$: $35 and up
ALCHEMY MENU AT BIGELOW GRILLE
Chef Kevin Sousa
1 Bigelow Square, downtown
412/281-5013, bigelowgrille.com
Prix-fixe Alchemy menu, $100 per person
Kevin Sousa's Alchemy menu ranks among our top 25 for the second time in a row - an unusual feat, because it's the menu receiving recognition rather than the restaurant itself. His 12- to 16-course offering, launched in early spring, shows an impressive evolution that goes beyond simple mastery of molecular gastronomy techniques. The high-tech wow factor still exists, thanks to elaborate lab equipment in the kitchen and food-science savvy that creates flavored powders, encapsulated liquids and other food feats in physics. But there's also a new refinement in these dishes that needs to be seen - and tasted - to be believed.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: "Sushi" made of uni (sea urchin) ice cream, shaved ice made of toro (tuna belly) infused with pineapple-soy-dashi broth, nitro wasabi-flavored peas made with liquid nitrogen, soy-sauce lentils and melt-in-your-mouth avocado candies.
Editors' note: The Alchemy menu is no longer being served at Bigelow Grille; chef Kevin Sousa is now chef at Red Room Café and Lounge, where he serves an Alchemy-like menu à la carte.
Below, left: Chef Kevin Sousa created this "sashimi" dish for Bigelow Grille. It combines "bon bons" made of rice ice cream, avocado pebbles, sushi, nitro wasabi, toro shaved ice and yuzu juice.
Above, right: Sousa's take on dessert includes bites of malt crème brûlée, freeze-dried pineapple raspberry cotton candy, bourbon-compressed pineapple, chicory and malt fluid gels, espresso streusel and pineapple guava paper.
BISTRO 19
Executive Chef Jessica Gibson
711 Washington Road, Mount Lebanon
412/306-1919, bistro19.com
$$-$$$
Mount Lebanon's answer to the urban bistro offers up an inviting ambience and an eclectic menu. Everything from American comfort-food favorites such as filet mignon with gorgonzola to Asian-inspired seafood are on offer. Owners B DeFrancis and Richard Fuchs deliver the details that make a special evening, from the fun list of martinis to windows that fold open to bring in fresh air on a warm night.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Lamb loin chops with pesto beurre blanc and red-wine mushroom risotto.
BONA TERRA
Executive Chef and Owner Douglass Dick
908 Main St., Sharpsburg
412/781-8210
$$$, BYOB
In 2007, Gourmet magazine named Bona Terra one of "America's Best Farm-To-Table Restaurants" - and this distinctive chef-owned place lives up to the national hype. The freshest local ingredients, often sourced that same day by chef Douglass Dick, show up in creative and constantly evolving ways (the menu changes daily). The food is satisfying yet surprising, creative yet unfussy, and the comfortable dining room invites you to linger. Warning: People have been known to call five months in advance to score a table on a busy weekend night.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Seared scallops with vinaigrette made from local strawberries.
CAFÉ ALLEGRO
Executive Chef Joseph Nolan
12th and East Carson streets, South Side
412/481-7788, cafeallegropittsburgh.com
$$-$$$
The flavors of the French and Italian Riviera are a specialty at this bistro, which has been a fixture on the South Side for 22 years. The menu offers up dishes such as spicy tomato and saffron bouillabaisse or filet mignon with dark beer and gorgonzola sauce. The dining room invites you in with crisp decor and artful touches. In the summer, you'll recollect the charms of Europe as you linger over house-made dessert and espresso at one of the tables clustered on the sidewalk.
Chef's Favorite Dish to Make: Signature appetizer of grilled calamari dressed with spicy citrus marinade.