Emporio - A Meatball Joint

Last week, we were feeling bold, so we decided to take our infant son (db`) downtown for lunch.  Since he's a little meatball, we decided to go get some meatballs at Emporio - A Meatball Joint.  This is the bold new venture from Matthew Porco, owner of the excellent Sienna Sulla Piazza in Market Square.

Emporio is part of a three restaurant setup collectively known as Sienna Mercato.  It sits on the bottom floor, Mezzo (appropriately) sits on the mezzanine and is a wine and pizza setup, with Il Tetto consisting of a rooftop beer garden and small plates.

When we entered, it immediately reminded us both of the interior of Tenpenny, right up the street just a block away.  If the same interior designer didn't do both, then the two firms were on the same wavelength.  Dark, rough hewn wood interior with bare yellowish bulbs in mason jar holders suspended from the ceiling.  Very cozy and welcoming.

It's a pretty interesting setup at Emporio, as far as meatballs go.  It's kind of like a fast food style menu, disguised as a gourmet meatball joint.  By that, I mean you can order from 4 types of meatballs -- classic beef, pork, turkey, vegetarian -- and pair them with a host of different sauces, at least 10, plus a special one of the day.  You can also order 1 meatball as a slider, 2 smashed together on a panini, 3 on a meatball sub, or 4 as a mega treat known as "saucy balls".  Snicker.

DB~ went with a turkey meatball slider topped with an almond spinach pesto.  She also got the mac and cheese side dish with "government cheese" (american).  She loved the meatball; you definitely don't get cheated on the sauce.  She also really liked the mac and cheese, although she didn't get a chance to finish all of it -- more on that later.

I went with the 3 meatball sub of beef meatballs, topped with pork bolognese sauce, and provolone cheese.  It was a huge sub and full of sauce, so much so that I actually ate the first few bites with a fork.

My meatball was light, which is the opposite of what a meatball usually is.  I'm guessing it had some bread crumb/cheese mix to lighten the load of the beef, but it also had a great herb mix.  Of course there was oregano, but I couldn't tell if there was basil in there, too.

Our stay was slightly shortened when we looked over and saw db` grunting and his face turning red.  Not only did he poop himself, but the angle he was sitting in his car seat caused it to go down his leg all the way to his sock.  DB~ got to see the wonders of Emporio's baby changing station.  I suggested we just change him in the trunk of our crossover.

Poopnado aside, Emporio is excellent.  As I've been typing this and talking to DB~, we both fondly recalled our lunch.  We have to get back soon.

Legends Of The North Shore

Legends of the North Shore has been open since 2002, which makes it a successful institution at this point.  Neither DB~ nor I have been there, but it comes highly recommended.  It's spoken highly of as a North Side restaurant, so we decided to give it a shot tonight.

When we walked in, we were surprised by how few tables there were and how awkwardly the restaurant is set up.  Upon entering, the kitchen and small bar area are right there.  You have to squeeze through and half-turn if someone is sitting there, in order to get to your table.

Although the appetizers sounded good, especially the always-good greens and beans choice, we went straight to the entrees.  DB~ picked the Chicken Romano and I went with the Gnocchi Bolognese.  When they came out, we were a little taken aback by the size of the portion in relation to the cost of the entree.

DB~'s Chicken Romano was $19.95 and featured two small breaded breasts, topped with lemon and parsley.  There was a small scoop of mashed potatoes and some slivers of squash.  To us, it was overpriced for the portion size.  DB~ liked it, but didn't love it.

My portion of Gnocchi Bolognese was a normal sized plate-bowl.  The gnocchi were small, but delicate and not heavy.  The sauce was a basic meat sauce, with some chunks of ground meat in the sauce.  Again, nothing special and certainly not $18.95 worthy.  It seems like each entree was overpriced by $3.

Sometimes with legends, their status is over-inflated by past glories.  There may have been a time when Legends of the North Shore was at the top of their game, but unfortunately that time has passed.

Rum Runner's Saloon

Sometimes buildings are built quickly.  Sometimes buildings are built slowly.  And sometimes things are built at a glacial pace, like Rum Runner's Saloon on Babcock Boulevard.  The offshoot of the North Park Lounge Empire seemed to take forevvvverrrrr to renovate the old Sunseri's restaurant on Babcock Boulevard.  They did add a second floor to it, but it's hard to believe that this wasn't some significant, unforeseen problem, because this place took a long time to open.

In July, it did.  Was it worth it?

At this point, you know what you're going to get with a North Park restaurant.  Solid food, big portions, lot of TV's to give you sensory overload.  By and large, Rum Runner's is cut from the same cloth.

The interior goes with the rum barrel theme, with the one wall having a series of deconstructed barrels.  It would have been very easy to run with a pirate theme or a beachy theme, but Rum Runner's showed restraint.  The main dining is small, with a series of TV's all tuned to some sporting event, but tasteful.  There's cut stone around the fireplace.  The remaining part of the main room is kind of plain, but maybe it's just that we were expecting clutter and were pleasantly surprised.

The menu is also restrained.  There are a limited number of sandwiches, salads, and dinners, but it looks like they're concentrating on doing a core number of dishes very well.  There's some creativity in the ingredients and dishes that doesn't exist at the other North Park restaurants.

There's a little bit of a New Orleans theme, as there's a Shrimp Po' Boy and some BBQ Grilled Shrimp on the menu.  Is this a nod to pirates that used to frequent New Orleans like Lafitte?  Not sure, because it's never spelled out explicitly.

For dinner, I went with the Grilled Chicken Wrap on the strength of the menu's ingredient description.  There was a Granny Smith apple slaw and bacon jam on the wrap -- not your typical lettuce, tomato, cheese, chicken wrap.

The bacon jam was the star here.  It gave it some smoky flavor to go with the sweetness of the base jam.  Rum Runner's also makes a good, crispy group of fries.

DB~ went with an appetizer of Fish Tacos, after we heard that the appetizers are all big enough for a lunch portion or a small dinner portion.  Three large tacos came out stuffed solid with a breaded cod fish covered in a corn salsa with a roasted pepper sauce, a hint of cilantro, and some cabbage slaw.  Those are ingredients you won't find at the original North Park or the North Park Clubhouse.

I was impressed by the grill marks on the tortillas, but they were still soft and pliable.  We both agreed that it was a huge appetizer, as she could only eat two of them (and a handful of my fries).  I ate the third one, of course.

For an appetizer, we would have gone with three smaller shells for perhaps $7.99.  Or two of the large tacos plus a handful of nacho chips for $8.99, rather than the current $9.99.

The upstairs was completely open with all the large windows, so perhaps we should have sat up there to check out that scene.  Maybe next time.  And there will be a next time -- Rum Runner's is a solid place to get a solid meal when you don't feel like cooking that night.

Aaargh.

Grit & Grace

Last night, DB~ and I went to Grit & Grace, the newest venture from chef Brian Pekarcik and owner Richard Stern.  The two of them chef/own both Spoon and BRGR.  Spoon is one of our favorite places we've been, even though we've been there just once.  Both of us were eager to check out Grit & Grace.

Spoon is refined, modern American cuisine.  G&G is more casual, trying to play off the energy of nearby Market Square.  They actually have a very creative sign outside to court lunch traffic saying "Think Outside the Square".

G&G is in the space previously occupied by Taste of Dahntahn.  If DB~ and I weren't at that place right before it closed, we wouldn't have known it was the same space, because they completed gutted the place and started over.  It has a sleek, clean look with taupe and celery colors.  They have dark teakwood slats layered in patterns against the wall to give added depth and texture.  DB~ liked the recessed shadow boxes filled with doorknobs and hinges.

DB~ went with the American Dim Sum menu that G&G is known for.  There were five options last night to choose from, each of them $5.  She went with three of them -- pork belly, smoked tofu on soba noodles, and a tomato/bulger salad.  She ordered them one at a time, but we were both disappointed by the lag time between the dim sum girl returning to our table.  True dim sum, served by tiny Chinese ladies that bark at you, is virtually served continuously on wheeled carts that are pushed with the labored resignation of knowing you are tiny, old, and soon ready to die.  Ahem.  Scratch that last part.

I went with two small plates.  First was my siren call of short rib.  This one was served on a biscuit imbued with cream cheese and topped with a scallion shaving.  It was divine.  I wanted to line my pockets with foil and steal a basket of them.

I also went with the Chicken Meatball Ramen.  It was a very large serving with two chicken meatballs, two pieces of chicken thigh that practically fell apart at the touch of the fork, shavings of kimchi, pieces of daikon, all in a rich broth full of flavor.  I really liked this a lot and shared with DB~.

Overall, I would say G&G is 'very good' but not 'great'.  I guess we just expected more from the chef/owner of Spoon.

Tender

It's fun when you go to a restaurant expecting one thing and it turns out to be something completely different.  Going to Tender in Lawrenceville, we knew there would be hand-crafted cocktails.  We figured that the name Tender was a shortened version of "bartender".  To my surprise, the restaurant actually has a double meaning, as it appears to be situated in an old bank.

The floor is that marble/terrazzo look and the entrance is this enclosed little box that made me wonder if a would-be robber ever got trapped in there.  Their logo has the same font and look of legal tender U.S. money, as well.  There was even an old (original?) bank-looking clock on the wall.

Oh...yeah..right there on their website it says they occupy the old Arsenal Bank from the 1880's.  I'm dumb.

We knew that the menu was limited and would mostly be some artsy appetizers.  We were here for the drinks and atmosphere.  The drink menu is extensively extensive.  Pages and pages of cocktails, followed by a page of wine and a page of beer.

I went with Don't Give Up The Ship, a gin based drink with Fernet Blanca, vermouth, and curacao.  Strangely, the curacao didn't tint my drink blue at all, but perhaps the vermouth cancelled it out.  DB~ went with Aviation -- also a gin based drink with lemon and two other things neither of us had heard of before.

To dine, I went with two appetizers.  The first were Wild Boar Meatballs served on a bed of polenta and topped with a touch of pesto.  These could have been a little more moist, but were otherwise excellent.  The Wild Boar gave just enough punch to the meatball.

My second appetizer was a segment of Pork Belly with cherry and apricot sauce, with fennel mixed in.  It was seared on the non-fat side.  The fatty belly melted in my mouth with the fruit sauce giving a sweet base to the savory bacony taste.  It was topped with some pickled onions and fresh arugula.

DB~ went with the Tender Burger, which was interesting because she doesn't like red meat.  Oddly, she seems to be reverting BACK to being a carnivore of late.  This was a standard cheeseburger, but it was well crafted.

Since I was driving, DB~ had a second after dinner cocktail and went with Immortality Juice.  This was a sparkling wine with a pear liqueur, walnut liqueur, and apricot liqueur, squeezed with lemon.  She preferred this one slightly more.

The background music was a mix of 80's synth and 80's cheese like Phil Collins' "Sususudio" (I probably misspelled that, but I don't care enough to look it up).  I didn't quite get that part of the atmosphere.  Is that what hipsters listen to in hipster cocktail bars?  Jazz, anyone?

Tender is a great place to drink and grab a small plate, but probably not as a pure dinner destination.

Central Diner

The name is nondescript.  The location is one next to a Red Roof Inn, off of a cluttered Route 60.  It sits slightly below the road, so you don't even really notice it, unless you're looking for it.

But that would be a shame, because you would be missing out on the Central Diner in Robinson Township.  Diner carries a certain connotation, neither positive or negative in my mind, of a tiny worn down little shop with the same standard fare.  A diner is solid, dependable food, consisting of all the staples.

And then there's the Central Diner.  This gleaming chrome and wood exterior belies just how massive it is inside.  This diner, replete with a case full of tantalizing desserts, also has a well stocked bar -- if you're in the mood for something alcoholic in the morning or at late night when they're still open.

This diner is owned by a Greek family, many of whom are on staff when you walk in.  There are hints, but not overtures, of their Greek heritage on the menu.  No matter if you're Greek or red-blooded American, this is the place for you.

We went with DB~'s dad and our widgets on Father's Day.  I've been remiss to wait so long to put this up.  There will most likely be a wait when you go, but they cycle people through quickly.  We knew what we wanted before we sat down.

Little Widget was going to have a bottle of formula, house blend.  Medium Widget selected the Pancakes with Oreos inside, topped with peanut better and whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate.

They might as well have just given this to every kid who walked in the door.  DB~'s dad went with the omelette topped with sour cream and bacon, plus a side of home fries.

DB~ went with a cream cheese filled French toast, stuffed with blueberries.

I chose the Napolean French toast topped with walnuts and strawberries.

This is the kind of diner that is worth driving to go check out.  You don't even have to call it a diner, if you don't want to.

Chicken Picatta at Aracri's

I had a business meeting in Greentree last night, so I asked my boss if he wanted to catch dinner before we headed over to the Doubletree.  When I asked where he wanted to go, he went way out of the box and suggested an old school Italian restaurant off of Greentree Road called Aracri's.

How he heard of this place, I have no idea.  He doesn't stray out of the North Hills too much, so that made it even more puzzling.

When I got to the restaurant to meet him, it felt like I was entering a time warp back to the 1980's.  On the door of the old Tutor style building was a sticker advertising KBL with the logos for the Pirates/Pens/Steelers of that era.  Not ROOT, not Fox Sports Pittsburgh, not what was before that...no...KBL.

The interior of this place probably hasn't been touched in 30 plus years, either.  Was this place really good or popular at one time?  I'm not saying I know every restaurant in Pittsburgh, especially in the South Hills, but I have never heard anyone say, "Hey, I had a great meal at Aracri's last weekend."

I ordered the Chicken Picatta, partly to see how it compared to mine.  This one was done with mushrooms, so I was assuming the mushrooms formed some type of sauce base.  I don't like mushrooms themselves, but I like mushroom-based sauce.  They're earthy and honest and build flavor for the whole dish.

When the Picatta came out, I was struck by the gnarled pieces of chicken.  It just seemed like a cheap cut, instead of a nice pair of chicken breasts.  The dish itself was very good -- the chicken was tender, the sauce was rich, but I was missing the capers and that salty flavor.

The dinner rolls were standard and the vegetable was a dish of steamed broccoli.  Nothing spectacular.  This restaurant, if it had a heyday, has passed that peak by.

Tenpenny

Last Saturday, DB~ and I wanted to try someplace new for dinner.  Like yesterday, the Saturday of a week ago was full of sunshine.  DB~ made reservations at Tenpenny downtown at the intersection of, through no coincidence, Tenth and Penn.

Tenpenny is located directly across the street from the Westin and diagonal from the Convention Center, so I imagine at times it is packed in here.  In fact, we had to eat at 5:15 or else our other option was 9:15.

When we walked in to Tenpenny, we were greeted by a pleasant cross breeze.  As a result of being on a corner, Tenpenny put in two walls of floor to ceiling windows.  On this day, they were all open and allowing some circulation.  The interior of Tenpenny is striking, as it's fashioned with wooden beams and posts and a nouveau-rustic appearance.  Our server, a very affable guy named Barton, told us that the site was originally (many moons ago) a general store named Pickering's.  The way they had all the foodstuffs arranged throughout the dining room was to both simulate the general store and display some of the things they cook with.

Tenpenny also has a whole array of light bulbs hanging down from the ceiling.  At night, it's probably a very interesting look.  The whole place showed it was part of the new breed of restaurants where the interior design is just as vital as the food on the menu.

Tenpenny is the kind of place where you can come in for an appetizer and beer at the bar or have a full dinner in the dining area.  We kind of went with a hybrid of this concept.  We were told ahead of time to get the Mega Meatball.  It was...a giant meatball...but quite good.

DB~ went with two appetizers.  The first was the Truffled Mac 'n Cheese with three different types of cheeses (goat, cheddar, and gouda) melted over a twisty pasta.  It was good, but not the best ever (that might be the mac and cheese at Willow).

She also got an order of Crispy Brussel Sprouts, which is definitely large enough for 2 or 3 people to share.  The sprouts were the star of the evening.  They were cut up into small leaves, with their hard cores discarded, then flash-fried for a few seconds.  There was an excellent sauce drizzled over them made of a reduced Jack Daniels and balsamic glaze.  Some bacon and blue cheese were sprinkled over them as well.  If you don't like brussel sprouts normally, try these.  If you still don't like them, you can safely cross them off your list.

I played it safe, which made me disappointed in myself.  I went with a Braised Beef Cheek Ragout over papardelle pasta.  The dish itself was excellent, but too safe for me.

The part that quasi-annoyed us is that when we left at about 6:30 or so, there were plenty of tables seemingly available.  I know there is a function of how many servers are scheduled, too, but there were many tables in just the main seating areas that were sitting empty.  A minor complaint for an excellent dinner.

Bistro 9101

Have you ever been to a restaurant and then it closes...and then a new one comes in, it's pretty good, and then it closes?  Location, location, location always applies, but it seems like some spaces are just cursed.

That seems to be the reasoning for the restaurant at the intersection of Perry Highway (Route 19) and Cumberland.  It's a very well-traveled area, but it seems like restaurants can never stay open.  The previous incarnation was a great neighborhood place called Ziggy's that DB~ and I liked very much.  It had a beer cheese soup that was so good we wanted to take a bath in it.

But it closed (like Magoo's before it and some others I can't remember) and now in its place is Bistro 9101 -- referring to the street address on Perry Highway.  We stopped in last night to check this scene out for ourselves, as it's been open since early February.

The interior hasn't changed much, but we did like the simple paper tablecloths that were then hand-stamped with "Bistro 9101" twice by the busboys as each table was changed.  It seemed labor-intensive; you would think it would be easier to have a bunch pre-cut (they were cut by a giant paper cutter each time) and stamped and laying in a corner somewhere, but whatever.

DB~ went with a fish dish in observance of meatless Friday, so she chose two appetizers as her meal.  One was the French Onion Soup, as DB~ is like a moth to a flame with French Onion Soup.  It had gruyere cheese and mozzarella melted on top with a very dark brown broth.  She liked this quite a bit.

Her second choice was the Crab and Lobster Cake, which she did not like as well.  It was a little bit dry and almost burnt in some places.  The remoulade sauce was artfully drizzled over the Crab and Lobster Cake, though, so it was presented quite well.

I went full carnivore and selected the Pork Soprareillo.  It was small pork medallions with onions and red/green peppers with a light paprika-based sauce.  Underneath of it was a sundried tomato risotto cake.  Both of them were quite good.

I really hope Bistro 9101 can overcome some of the recent bad luck by failed restaurants.  It's OK for the North Hills to have a quasi-fine dining restaurant.

Butcher and The Rye

DB~ and I have had six Valentine's Days together.  For each one of them, she has either figured out or cajoled out of me where we were going for dinner.  A couple of years ago, when I thought I had her fooled, she handed me a slip of paper on the drive to the restaurant.  It had the name of the dinner dish she was going to order that night from the restaurant she figured out.

This year, I was bound and determined to get her.  I set the reservation back in mid-January at Butcher and the Rye and promptly tried to get it out of my head.  I figured that if I wasn't thinking about, she couldn't guess it or figure it out by inadvertent clues.  Just two days before Valentine's Saturday, she had it down to three restaurants: Bar Marco, Grit & Grace, and Butcher and the Rye.  I was worried, but I thought she would pick Grit & Grace.

I was wrong.

Perhaps next year...

As for the actual restaurant, if there is a restaurant with a better interior in the City of Pittsburgh, please let me know.  When you walk in on the bottom floor, there's a lot of communal seating on large butcher block tables.  The lighting is very low (which means none of our pictures turned out, because we didn't want to use the flash).  The motif is rustic elegance.

We were seated on a mezzanine level that combined a library with a hunting lodge vibe.  There was a jar with a conjoined rabbit right above our head.

For an appetizer, we ordered the focaccia with three spreads: a ricotta spread with parmesan, an olive tapenade, and an eggplant/hummus type of spread.  We both preferred the ricotta one, but all were excellent.

DB~ ordered a pan roasted trout that had some root vegetables.  She really liked it, but felt the fish skin wasn't crispy enough and lost some taste on the plate.

I went with the skirt steak that was served with an Asian squash and a rice cake.  On top was a large fried egg that I slipped off and didn't eat it.  I'm not an egg guy under normal circumstances and certainly didn't want to chomp one with a well-prepared steak.

As a whole, we loved the restaurant.  It's owned by Richard DeShantz, owner of Meat of Potatoes.  He's got another hit on his hands with Butcher and the Rye.  Oh yeah...they also make killer cocktails, if you're into those, too.

Sienna Sulla Piazza

My mom and DB~ went to Mamma Mia on Wednesday.  As I'm typing this post, I have Mamma Mia's soundtrack playing on the laptop next to me, with DB~ vocal stylings in my ear.

I met them in town for dinner at Sienna Sulla Piazza before the show.  This was a place that DB~ and I had on the radar for a while.  When we walked in on a bitter night, we were greeted by a warm hug of coziness.  It was so warm in there, I could have taken a nap.  The lighting is very low and provided by cool wrought iron wall sconces that I wanted to steal.

And naturally at an Italian restaurant, we had a French waiter.  He grew up on Reunion Island, which is off the coast of Madagascar.  He described living on a small island as "living in a jail" because it wasn't very easy to leave and there wasn't a lot around it to visit.  He was an excellent server.

For dinner, my mom went "old school" and got Chicken Cacciatore.  I always thought it was more of a casserole-style dish, but it came out with a tomato based sauce.  I didn't try any of it, but she raved about it.

DB~ chose an excellent dish in the Ricotta Gnocchi.  If you are a loyal reader of this blog (all 6 of you), you may pick up that this is the equivalent of the Gnudi that I make.  I'm not sure why Sienna doesn't just call them this, unless they're worried that people won't understand what they are.  These were excellent, with a hint of lemon in there somewhere, and DB~ said she would get them again.

When she asked our French server what the sauce was, he replied that it was a pan sauce made from the vegetable cooking down in a base of the starchy pasta water.  This was basically the type of sauce on my dish, too.

It seemed as if Sienna stocked the menu with all of my go-to favorites when eating out.  There was Crispy Quail, Braised Short Ribs, a Pork Tenderloin dish, a Bolognese sauce, but ultimately I went with my siren call -- Braised Rabbit.  I'm a total sucker for it.

The springy pasta (maccharetto pasta) had a medley of vegetables like mushrooms, peas, and carrots on top with the pan sauce running through it.  The generous amount of rabbit was layered throughout the dish and then topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  It actually reminded me more of a deconstructed chicken pot pie.

We loved, loved, loved this restaurant.  The interior design was great, the food awesome.  Market Square has really done a complete 180 in the past 5 years and is now a concentrated little zone of great restaurants of all ethnicities and price ranges.

Winghart's -- South Side

On Saturday, DB~ wanted to see American Hustle and grab dinner beforehand.  Once we saw the times, we felt like going to South Side Works to check it out.  To my surprise, my borderline-vegetarian wife suggested we go to Winghart's.  Even more surprising, she wanted to taste the delicious flesh of ground up cow.  That's right -- she wanted a burger.

I was pretty excited to go.  I've heard good things about Winghart's down in Market Square.  We got to Winghart's early around 5:30 p.m. and were one of just a few seated tables.  We had a really nice server with a very bubbly personality.

We ordered the Pepperoni Roll (a DB~ favorite) as an appetizer.  Sadly, it did not show up until the main dishes came to the table.  That's always a mark against for me.  I don't want to power down a bunch of food all at once.  I'm not Joey Chestnut over here.

For dinner, I went with the Market Square Burger (minus mushrooms), which had gruyere cheese and bacon on it.  It was quite good, but here's my issue.  For $8.75, I want something other than a burger.  Some fries.  Some chips.  A pickle.  Anything.

You can get fries for $2.75 and they're big enough for 2 people, but c'mon.  Fries and a burger for basically $10.25?  No way.  Man, I'm getting super cranky as I progress through my 30's about pricing.

DB~ got a Lonely Burger (plain burger) but gave it a friend with a piece of provolone cheese.  This was going to be an interesting experiment.  I haven't seen her eat a whole burger in a very, very long time.  Her burger was a touch greasier than mine and it threw her off her game.  She ate about half of it and then turned its inevitable demise over to me.

The clincher for us on why we didn't like Winghart's was how dirty the bathrooms were according to DB~.  All in all the slow service, lack of value, and dirty bathrooms totally turned us off from visiting another Winghart's.

Over The Bar

On Saturday night, DB~ suggested we try the new restaurant at the North Park Boathouse called Over The Bar.  It's a bicycle themed restaurant, so I was totally out of my element, as I'm not a person that chooses to pursue transit on only two wheels.

The restaurant was a previously unused (or at least underused) space by Allegheny County Parks and Rec.  Apparently, they gave a ton of money to the owners of OTB to facilitate the creation of the restaurant, by way of new kitchen equipment and remodeling.

The restaurant itself is divided into three distinct seating areas.  There's the inner ring of small two person booths and a handful of four person tables.  The middle ring is an outer area under a roof, but during these cold months it is enclosed with plastic sheeting to protect from the elements.  The outer ring is the at-the-moment unused outdoor seating with a perfect view looking down the length of the lake.  As DB~ said, it will be impossible to get a seat here on a nice summer day/night.

For dinner, DB~ selected the Pedal Paddle Panini.  It's a sandwich with mozzarella, basil, tomato, and peppers.  She added chicken for $3 extra and admitted that it wasn't worth it because the amount of chicken was so small.

At OTB, you can get any of their burgers in either ground meat, ground turkey, or black bean, no matter what it says on the menu.  I chose the Trail Steward, which was topped with avacados, pico de gallo and pepper jack.  I chose the fries as my side.

The food itself was average.  If you go in expecting bar food, good beers, and a great view, especially after you just went kayaking, zip lining, or jogging, then you'll be fine.

Kaleidoscope Cafe

This past week was Restaurant Week in Pittsburgh.  A whole slew of restaurants had special pricing (mostly at $20.14 per entree), so DB~ and I thought it would be a good chance to try a new restaurant out.

After looking over the list of restaurants, we selected Kaleidoscope Cafe in Lawrenceville.  It's a couple blocks off of Butler Street (towards the river) on 43rd Street.  It's nestled among a series of rowhouses in this primarily residential area.  In case you're wondering if you're going to walk past this restaurant, even at night, don't worry about that.  If you clicked the link above, you'll see that the exterior of the restaurant is painted in a series of bright colors and patterns.

The interior is much more sedate, with a yellowish/brown primary color scheme and some cloth textures hung from the ceiling to create a wavelike pattern.  The walls have a series of stuffed sewing-cloth triangles mounted on the walls.  It's a small restaurant, probably no more than 15 tables.

For Restaurant Week, Kaleidoscope had five specials, each for $20.14 from the regular menu (all but the Filet Mignon).  Additionally, you got either a small salad or cup of soup with it.  It was a cold, bleak night, so we each got the Smoked Potato Soup.

It was quite good and hearty on a night like this.

For dinner, DB~ went back to basics and got the Oven Roasted Salmon.  It came with a wild mushroom risotto, but sadly it was not like Kandouri's in Greece.  She didn't really care for the bok choy that it also came with.

I got the half of a Cornish Hen.  It was moist on the inside and had crispy skin on the outside.  The sauce of shallots, figs, and grape tomatoes was excellent.  The garlic mashed potatoes were fairly average, but the roasted squash was kind of hard and rather tasteless.

Overall, we were glad to have found this restaurant that we otherwise may not have known about.  We won't be rushing back to it, but it was good nonetheless.

Bocktown Beer and Grill

It was Saturday night and we decided to check out a holiday light show in Findlay Township, so on the way out there we stopped off for dinner at Bocktown Beer and Grill in Robinson Township.  Bocktown is located in the midst of strip mall-mania at The Pointe at Robinson.

Our car and about three thousand other cars were navigating our way through the labyrinth of shopping malls and strip malls in Robinson.  We finally got to Bocktown, across the parking lot from the Target, and were greeted with a very warm pub-ish atmosphere.  We were seated in a quasi-private backroom off of the main bar area, because the host probably thought we looked old and not in the mood for fun.

For an appetizer, we got an order of beer cheese dip, hoping to try and re-create the magic of the now-closed Ziggy's Beer Cheese Soup.  The dip was fair and came with some soft and hard pretzels for dipping purposes.

My dinner was the Geno Burger, which was a take on a burger crossed with a Rueben (the namesake being for Geno Malkin).  It was a burger with coleslaw and Russian dressing on marbled rye, then toasted.  It came with some fresh cut fries.

DB~ chose the Crab Roll and fresh cut fries.  Her crab roll was creamy and pretty middle of the road.

Overall, we liked the place.  It's kind of like a Sharp Edge, but the food quality isn't as good and the beer selection not as deep.  But other than that, it's just like it.  It's a good place to grab a beer and a sandwich if you happen to be in the area, but probably not worth going out of your way for.

Matteo's -- Lawrenceville

Sometimes, little things set me off.

Like a man riding a unicycle down Butler Street on a 20 degree day.  What a hipster d-bag.

This was what I saw on the way to a lunch with two other people from my office, courtesy of our IT consulting firm, at Matteo's in Lawrenceville.

My irritation grew when our disaffected server handed us our menus and made us (me) feel inadequate for not getting an appetizer or soup.  It's a business lunch at 12 pm on a Wednesday.

Peak irritation occurred when she read the "specials" of the day.  On the printed menu, there were probably six pasta and five sandwich choices.  She proceeded to wax poetic about (at least) five pasta dishes and three sandwiches, plus a soup.

Is this lunch sponsored by Lumosity or something?  How in the world were we expected to remember all the specials?  Oh yeah, the giant chalkboard that only half of our table could see....forty feet away from us...written in faint chalk.

So I was all set to not like this place and give a scathing, unicycle-influenced review.

But I can't.  The food was excellent.

Three people got this baked ziti-esque dish with pasta, mushrooms, sweet and hot peppers, and sausage.  It was a special, so I can't tell you exactly what it was because I didn't take my fish oil memory pills that day.

My co-worker and I got campanelle pasta in a sage-butter sauce with rapini, complemented by sweet sausage disks.  I was worried it was going to be a lumpy sauce, but it was the perfect consistency.  This was also a special, but they should bump this up to full time.

The sixth guy got a meatball sub and he seemed to enjoy it also.

The decor of Matteo's is urban chic, pretty spartan.  They have a nice size bar for being a relatively small restaurant.  The full floor to ceiling window at the front brings a lot of natural light into the place.  I've always been a fan of Piccolo Forno right up the street, but Matteo's is a place that I'll have to take DB~ too, as well.

Waffallonia

DB~ and I were at Phipps on Sunday to see the decorations and check out the hype of that Santa guy.

Afterwards, we took a quick jaunt over to Squirrel Hill for a midday snack at Waffallonia.  Specializing in Belgian waffles, specifically the sugary Liege waffle, we hoped to re-capture a little of the waffle magic from our Euro trip to Brussels this summer.

I had a waffle called Namur (apparently a city, but made me think of Namor the Sub-Mariner) with Nutella and banana slices ($4.50), while DB~ got a waffle with Nutella and whipped cream ($4.50).

The waffles are sugary and very good.  Unlike the waffles your parents made when you were growing up, the mix is not a liquidy mix, but rather a dough that is put on the waffle maker and then pressed hot.  The toppings are generous, but I found them to be a touch overpriced for the size -- they are slightly bigger than a man's hand.

Waffallonia is a great place to get a snack, like we did, as they aren't filling enough for a full meal.  They also have ice cream there, which wasn't appealing on a 20 degree day, but something to keep in mind for a return visit in the summer.

BOhem (not a typo)

Recently, The Counselor came out.  I was really anticipating this movie, based on the great cast, the great director, and the great screenwriter.  Can't miss!  Well, it missed.  All the pieces were in place and some of those pieces even did a great job, but all together it just didn't work.

Cut to Friday night.  DB~ and I were supposed to meet our friends for dinner at BOhem in Seven Fields, but unfortunately they had a family issue and couldn't meet us.  When we walked into BOhem (short for bohemian, but not sure why the 'O' is capitalized too), we were taken back by how gorgeous the interior is.

Cut stone on the walls, funky chandeliers, interesting typography fonts, lighting fixtures made out of old wine bottles, and rough-cut wooden tables.  This is pretty much how we would decorate a restaurant if we owned it.  On this damp and chilly November night, there was a fire going in the fireplace right next to us.

Our first flag was the fact that at 6 pm on a Friday night, in the busy 228 corridor no less, there were only 3 other tables seated.  By the time we left at 7:15, it was more busy, but still.

The menu is billed as French rustic bistro, so again, it should have been right up our alley.  I went with the Boeuf Bourguignon and DB~ chose the Mac 'n Cheese with Shrimp added.  A rustic stew (with short rib meat, one of my culinary kryptonites) and mac 'n cheese?  Talk about a slam dunk to try a new restaurant!

Unfortunately, the meal was disappointing.  Not to harp on what is becoming a common topic, but my dish was overpriced ($18) for the amount and quality of what I got.  I counted six (!) half-dollar sized chunks of meat in my stew.  The stew meat, if it was short rib, was tough and chewy.  The carrots and potatoes were very tender (I even ate the mushrooms) and the sauce was extremely flavorful, but there wasn't even enough carrots and potatoes to make up for the lack of meat.

Where's The Boeuf?

DB~'s dish was also underwhelming.  Billed as macaroni with a cheddar gratinee and spinach, it was a pasta dish with a creamy spinach sauce.  This should have been a hearty dish, definitely not with a runny white sauce, with some prawn size shrimp on top.  Instead, the shrimp were tiny and the dish completely underwhelming.

So we're never going there again, right?  Well, not really.  Much like The Counselor, I'm willing to give it a second chance.  Maybe get some appetizers and treat it like a tapas bar.  The interior is too good to give up on.  What this place really needs is a chef that knows how to cook like a French bistro.

Thai Foon

I was in the midst of a DBS Saturday (while DB~ was teaching a workshop), which consists of completing a chore list then watching bad movies and English Premier League "soccer", when I got a text at 3:30:

"Got done early.  Want to meet for dinner at Robinson?"

I double-checked the time to make sure that I hadn't blacked out, but it really was still 3:30.  DB~ wasn't supposed to home until around 6 pm.

"Sure."

"Gravity 3D is at 5:50"

Ah, dinner and a date night!  All right.  We'll watch Gravity and then go out somewhere and make a night of it...

"Can you meet at 4:30?"

Whazzuh?!  We're both in our mid-30's.  Now we're going to have a blue-hair special dinner and a matinee movie, be home by 8 pm?  We became 65 year olds so gradually I didn't even notice it happening.

I suggested we check out Thai Foon right around the corner from the Cinemark theater at Settler's Ridge.  DB~ loves Chinese food, especially the Sesame Inn, but she has a reticence about Thai that I can't figure out.  I think she thinks every dish comes out and makes you breathe fire, when the opposite is actually true.  Yes, it can get spicy if you ask them to, but Thai has a much more interesting palette of flavors than Chinese, which can be very heavy.

Thai basil, cilantro, coconut, peanuts, just to name a few.  To say nothing of the curry dishes that are staples.

My goal for dinner was to get my adventurous/yet-not-adventurous wife to order something other than her favorite safe choice of Pad Thai.  Mission accepted.

Not surprisingly, we got a table right away at 4:30.  Thai Foon doesn't have much in the way of interior decor, aside from two interesting circular tables set off to the sides in their own little private nooks.  Yellow is the national color of Thailand, due to its association with good luck, and the walls here were a golden color.

The menu was pretty standard Thai stuff - curries, noodles, soups, some spicy dishes, but one item's name caught my eye:

I really did a double take -- Jap Chap?  In the words of Archer....phrasing?

Periodically, I need to be reminded that I don't care for certain things.  After trying bubble tea in Montreal with DB~ (waaaaay back in 2009 when we first dating...it was actually our first "trip" together), I thought that I was good on checking bubble tea off my list.

But there it was last night.  And you got to check off little boxes on what flavor you wanted and the types of tapioca!  I went with Mango and standard tapioca.  I wanted to sample it throughout the meal, but it didn't come out until our dinners were served, so I was sort of forced to chug it, which is not something bubble tea is meant for.

For dinner, I was (again) completely out-ordered by DB~.  She never really drifted towards Pad Thai, but she was putting up a lot of "play it safe" vibes.  She eventually ordered the Udon noodles with Chicken.  It had such a great flavor base and the Udon noodles were chubby and perfectly cooked.  Just the right amount of vegetables to complement the Udon, not overwhelm them.

I went with the Honey Coated Walnut with Chicken.  Mine had a cream sauce (which it said on the menu), but after eating it I just didn't feel like I was at a Thai restaurant.  It was pretty heavy and the cream congealed a little towards the end of the meal.

Overall, I would definitely come back, especially prior to a show.  It's quick service and located a few feet from the entrance to the movies.  Way better than waiting in line at some of the other chain type restaurants at Settler's Ridge (it's a good thing my parents don't read this blog, as they're obsessed with Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, which I find "eh").

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to race DB~ to the fridge to claim the rest of her Udon noodle dish.

Thin Man Sandwich Shop

Seeking an alternative to the same old place for lunch, the IT guy and I went down to the Strip District today and checked out Thin Man Sandwich Shop.  I've had it in the back of my mind for a while since it opened earlier this year, but just never got around to it.

On the corner of 21st and Smallman (across the street from that church that you've probably walked by a ton of times), it has a very nice well-lit space.  I think they removed some of the walls and added extra windows.

The menu is artsy, gourmet, and eclectic.  When I woke up this morning, I didn't think I'd have a chance to have chicken liver mousse or skate wing or lamb sweetbreads as sandwich choices.  In the end, I went safe and chose The Smash.

It was goat cheese marinated chicken, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, and lemon pickled green onions.  The bread was a nice multi grained baguette.  The sandwich was $8.99 and it was a decent size, but I felt like it was a touch overpriced.  I feel like I'm getting old and crotchety, as it seems like every place I go I feel is overpriced by $1-3 per item.  I also could have used some chips or something.

The sandwich itself was very good, but I thought the onions were a little salty and took away from the sandwich.  I ordered first and got The Smash.  My friend got The Smash also, which made me regret not getting the excellent sounding Roast Beef.  Ordering regrets.

If DB~ and I go here on some Saturday after shopping the Strip, I'm sure she'll get the Roasted Butternut Squash and I'll get the Roast Beef.