Root 174 - Deja Vu

On Saturday, DB~ and I went to Root 174 for a post-Valentine's Day dinner.  It was a little odd going to Root 174 for Valentine's Day considering that just two years ago we went to its predecessor, Legume, for Valentine's Day.  Legume moved in 2012 to a new space in Oakland and set up a decor so hideous that we have no interest in going back.

When Legume was on Braddock Avenue in Regent Square, it had a French country kitchen decor.  When we walked into Root, we were greeted with low lighting and earthy color tones on the walls.  The perimeter of the walls were edged in sheet metal.  Unfortunately, the sheet metal was warped and dinged in multiple places which took away from the vibe a little bit.

As is the trend nowadays, Root has a hand-crafted cocktails menu made by a barman replete with a vest.  I chose the North Shore Connector, which I thought was fitting.  It was a great choice as Boyd & Blair Vodka is always so smooth, especially with the other add-ins and bitters.

For an appetizer, I wanted to go off the reservation a little bit.  Secretly, I enjoy making DB~ expand her culinary boundaries and getting her out of her comfort zone.  So I chose the bone marrow creme brulee.  Not sure exactly how you make it, but sure enough it came out in a tiny ramekin with a blowtorched crust on top.  There were some tiny toasts to spread the bone marrow on to.  The bone marrow had a rich, buttery taste.  I'm glad we tried it, but I probably wouldn't seek it out again.

Root's menu changes daily, so the two dishes that we had on Saturday may not always be there.  If they are, there many be subtle changes to them.  DB~ selected an Asian-themed chicken dish.  It was a chicken breast topped with kimchee, some hand rolled "rice tubes", a wasabi aioli, and cashews.  It was a very simple, yet tasty, combination of flavors, especially with a slight hoison sauce glaze.

My dinner was a cassoulet of duck confit (a small breast), pork belly (a nice sized cube), and one link of spiced pork sausage, served on a bed of white beans.  This dish was easily one of my Top 5 ever dishes that I've ever had.  The duck was perfectly seasoned and prepared to the point that the meat was falling off the bone.  The pork belly was the true star as the top of it was crusted and crunchy.  The remainder of the belly had the fat cooked into the meat matrix to the point that it melted in my mouth.  The sausage was the weakest of the three, but it was still fantastic and packed with flavor.

For dessert, we selected a Nutella Bread Pudding, mostly because DB~ would encase herself in Nutella if it were socially acceptable.  Three medium sized cubes came on a plate with warm Nutella dipping zones.

Here's an interesting societal observation -- at one point at the end of the night, I counted 32 people in the restaurant, including easily-seen staff.  Of those 32 people, 7 people were bald.  I'm not talking receding hairlines --- I'm talking shaved heads or bald.  That seemed like a HUGE number to me, especially considering that not all 32 were men.

Here's a second fun fact -- Keith Fuller is the Chef/Owner of Root, but a 2nd co-owner is Pat Bollinger, the drummer for Anti-Flag.  Anti-Flag is a activist punk band that is one of the more famous and worldwide-accepted bands to come out of Pittsburgh.  Pat has been a vegetarian since 18 and is a fan of Keith Fuller's, so it was a natural fit for him to help fund the setup.

We will definitely be back for a second go-around at Root 174, perhaps with DB~'s aunt next time.

Legume - Part Deux

I don't really do multiple posts on the same restaurant, but since we went to Legume on Valentine's Day 2011, the restaurant has relocated from Regent Square to Oakland on North Craig Street.  Trevett Hooper and the gang bought the old Amore restaurant and renovated it before opening in Fall 2011.

When we were there in Regent Square, Legume was decorated as if you were in a French country kitchen.  The decorations were sparse, but well-placed, especially in such a tiny space as the previous incarnation.  DB~ remarked that when they moved to the much bigger space in Oakland, she hoped the flavor of the food wouldn't suffer from the lack of intensity and closeness of the tiny kitchen.

We went with DB~'s aunt last night and certainly won't disappointed in the food.  There was no loss of energy or creativity in the cuisine, even if garlic scapes must have been on sale that day at the market (featured in 3 of the 5 mains).

However, we were extremely disappointed in the decor of the new restaurant.  We wondered what renovations, if any, were done to the dining area.  The whole place felt like we were in a 1970's tacky outtake from the movie Casino.  The polished terrazzo floors, with blue diamond patterns, and the stark off-white walls left us feeling cold.  We were seated at the rear of the dining area next to a huge mirrored wall that just felt out of place.

It seemed as if all the decorating budget went into the bar, which had a warm red clay/brown tone to it.  That color scheme and feel was more in line with what should have been carried through the rest of Legume.

As for the food, it was great.  DB~ went with a Sockeye Salmon dish that had some capers, garlic scapes, and a red wine pesto sauce.

Her aunt had Bluefish with some mache or other type of micro-greens.  She got a side of fermented bok choy with red chiles that had quite a kick.

I had lamb kielbasa that was fantastic, served on a mattress of polenta and some escarole that soaked up the  juices from the kielbasa.  I got a side of daikon, cut like fries, that was oven roasted in a honey miso sauce.  It had a very strong taste and it was quite a big portion, due to its intensity of flavor.  Definitely enough to share with 2 people.

Overall the food was sublime, but the decor of the restaurant was so hideous that we won't be in any rush to go back here.  There are simply too many other great restaurants in Pittsburgh right now.

Legume - Valentine's dinner with DB~

Trying to surprise DB~ is a herculean task at times. She always wants to open a gift early on Christmas. When you tell her you have a surprise for her, she will badger you relentlessly for a hint. And when you give her that hint, she will Google research the crap out of that clue until she "wins". (You can't win Valentine's Day. Shut up, I win.)

Every 3 months, as the seasons change, we make a list of restaurants that we want to try in Pittsburgh. I told her that for Valentine's Day this year, I would surprise her with a restaurant that was not on our wish list. I was debating between Bona Terra in Sharpsburg and Legume in Regent Square. I've been wanting to try Legume for a while, so I called them for reservations and got a 6:30 on Saturday night.

So once I told DB~ about surprising her, she asked for a hint and I gave her two: It was close to her aunt's house and it was BYOB. She incorrectly guessed Cafe Zinho and then 10 minutes later she Googled, using 3 different sites, the Legume website for me to see. Ridiculous.

Legume is owned by Trevett and Sara Hooper and for the next 2-3 months is located on South Braddock Avenue in Regent Square. I say that because in April or May they will be moving to a bigger location in Oakland near North Craig Street. So on Saturday we got to enjoy the original, smaller version of Legume (the new one will have a full bar -- this version is BYOB).

Because Legume is small, maybe only 12-15 tables total, the menu is small. They specialize in the freshest ingredients, sometimes directly from local farms, and organic healthy dishes. Each night the menu changes and that night's menu is posted at 5 pm online. Last night there were 4 entrees to choose from: a fish dish featuring fluke with avacados and beans and lemon, a scallops dish, something called sweet potato sformato, and a bavette steak.

DB~ chose the fluke, totally by choice and not by chance, and I went with the sweet potato sformato solely because I had never heard of it. Sformato is the combination of sweet potato puree and custard into a flan-like cylinder. It was served with a potato pancake of sorts called farro, which made me think of the card game that was played in the movie Tombstone. It was fantastic and may be something that I try to reverse engineer at some point. DB~'s fluke was very tasty, as well. It was light and flaky with the perfect groupings of seasonings.

To start the meal, I had a fantastic cream of parsnip and apple soup infused with bacon. It was perfectly smooth, with no stray lumps or texture out of place. For dessert, we shared a chocolate truffle cake topped with fresh cream whipped by hand. And by shared, I mean that DB~ contemplated stabbing me in the hand with her fork so that I would be distracted and she could eat the whole truffle cake.

If you're thinking of going to Legume, I recommend going now. We both think that it may lose something in the translation to a bigger space. Will they still have the limited menu? Will it be too big? Here's hoping it is a success.