Bistro 19 - Good thing it's on Route 19, huh?

Mt. Lebanon is a strange place. It's like living in a bubble, I imagine. The school district, unlike most others in the region, is made up of one municipality...Mt. Lebanon. And that one municipality happens to be one of the wealthiest in the region.

I'm sure there are people affected by the recession that live in Mt. Lebanon, but just a whole heck of a lot less of them than in other places.

All of this ties into the restaurant that DB~ and I went to on Friday night, Bistro 19 on Washington Road (Business 19) in Mt. Lebanon. It's an upscale place that you can wear fancywe jeans to, if you like. I chose to go engineering-casual, which was khakis and a collared golf shirt.

When you walk in, the best word to describe the decor of Bistro 19 is....soothing. The lighting is low-level, with amber shading. The pendant lamps over the bar were turned low. There were plenty of people with smart-looking glasses, expensive shoes, and perfect teeth. A few scarves were out on the slightly chilly Friday night.

Once we were seated, the rear wall of the restaurant (of beige/olive tones) reminded me of both slow moving waves rippling on a lake or of hot sand on a beach. I felt very relaxed.

None of the preceding tells you anything about the food, though, which is what everyone (all 3 of you that read this blog, probably) want to know. I had the Black Tiger Shrimp. For an engi-nerd such as myself, I delighted in the presentation of this dish. In each corner of the square plate was one shrimp, each stuffed with artichoke/feta mixture. At the midpoint of each side was a perfect portion of spinach. And in the center was an size of risotto with a sprig of basil on top. I took a picture, but because the lighting was so low it seemed too dark to put on the blog (I didn't want a repeat of the Tamari blog).

DB~ had the Almond Chicken. I thought I detected a slight hint of cherry in the sauce, but DB~ thought it was just the almonds that I was tasting. Her meal also came with risotto and a vegetable, which I don't remember at this time.

Bistro 19 is well worth checking out, especially to people watch all of the upper crust dining "casual" that night.