Restaurant Week’s summer edition
Score good flavors with good values
The summer edition of Pittsburgh Restaurant Week kicks off on Aug. 13, and this year it will feature at least six places that have signed up for the weeklong promotion for the first time.
More than 70 restaurants will be participating in the event that runs through Aug. 19 and gives diners another excuse to try out new places and visit old favorites and order from prix fixe menus at affordable prices. Restaurants that are joining the RW bandwagon for the first time aren’t necessarily new to their neighborhoods and include Fujiya Ramen (Shadyside), The Foundry (North Side), Fogo de Chao (Downtown), La Riviera Bistro (sister restaurant to The Twisted Frenchman in East Liberty), Garden Grille at Hilton Garden Inn (Moon) and Coughlin’s Law Kitchen (Mount Washington).
When Pittsburgh Restaurant Week started in January 2012, there was no plan to hold one in summer, organizer Brian McCollum said. But at a wrap-up party at the end of the winter RW, participating restaurants filled out a survey where they requested another one in June or August, and the summer edition was born.
Business is typically low and slow for most restaurants during this time, and RW gives them that much needed boost. So they drop their prices and offer multicourse prix fixe lunches and dinners to ex cite diners. Unlike Girasole
(Shadyside), which participates in winter but never summer, more restaurants in the Cultural District have RSVPed now when compared to January, said Mr. McCollum, because the robust holiday show season sends the crowds their way.
For RW, dinner is a requirement but lunch is not. So if a restaurant is typically open for dinner, it has to offer it on the menu and the maximum price it can charge is $35.18. The 18 cents is themed to the year and to draw attention to RW specials on the menu. Restaurants serving lunch are charging $20.18 this year.
Restaurants such as Nine on Nine, Senti, Superior Motors, LeMont Pittsburgh and Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse offer an early access to their special menus and so you could get a head start to the prix fixe menus starting Friday.
In addition to restaurants belonging to local groups such as Richard DeShantz (Meat & Potatoes, Tako and Pork & Beans) and AMPD (Social House 7 and Ten Penny), the RW list also includes individually owned restaurants such as The Vandal, Eighty Acres Kitchen & Bar and Talia; hotel-based ones such as Fl.2 and Ember & Vine; and national chains such as Joe’s Crab Shack and Capital Grille. Also, all the steakhouses in the city are participating except for Andrews Steak & Seafood at RiversCasino.
Here is a sampling of restaurants with menus that justify their price tags:
• Fujiya Ramen (815 S. Aiken Ave., Shadyside): You can get a lot of bang for your buck at both the three-course $15.18lunch and $20.18 dinner. For lunch, appetizers include pork & chive gyoza, takoyaki and fried tofu; entrees come in the form of ramens — tonkotsu, spicy miso and chicken; and mochi ice cream in green tea, mango, red bean, vanilla and chocolate flavors is served at the end. Choices for dinner double with some repeats from lunch. Tempura shrimp, okonomiyaki or yakitori platter are among the starter options. In addition to five ramens, you can choose from three donburi dishes for the entree. And mochi and tempura ice cream flavors are availablefor dessert.
• Luke Wholey’s Wild Alaskan Grille (2106 Penn Ave., Strip District): It features lunch and dinner specials for RW, but the lunch is a steal. For $20.18, you can get an appetizer, entree and housemade dessert. Caesar salad with white anchovies, lobster bisque, she-crab soup and sushi roll (California, tuna, salmon or yellowtail) are the appetizer choices. Entree options are corn and crab salad with mango vinaigrette, soft shell crab taco with chipotle slaw and oyster po’boy with creamy horseradish sauce and french fries. The desserts change daily.
•Roman Bistro (2104 Ardmore Blvd., Forest Hills): Both the $20.18 lunch and $35.18 dinner RW menus feature items that are not on the regular summer menu. While there are more choices for dinner, there is a variety for lunch, too. Summer berry salad, tomato and watermelon gazpacho and lobster bisque are the first-course options for lunch. They are followed by ahi tuna tacos with Sriracha sauce, lobster lettuce wraps, seared sea bass with citrus risotto and pasta trio of manicotti, lasagna and butternut squash ravioli the second course, and for the third course you can order any of the bistro’s desserts.
• Carmella’s Plates & Pints (1908 East Carson St., South Side): At this bar that resembles a speakeasy with its dim lighting, wooden beams and exposed brick, a three-course dinner is $29.18. Start with a summer salad or bean and greens before choosing chicken breast with Parmesan polenta or wild boar ragu with housemade pappardelle or summer vegetable stew with couscous and basil pesto as an entree. Dessert is panna cotta with stone fruit or chocolate cake with salted hazelnut caramel.
• Ember & Vine (910 Sheraton Drive, (Double Tree, Marshall): Although dinner is $35.18 like at most other places, it is four courses here and not three. Start with woodfired oysters with chiligarlic butter or bacon jam tart with goat cheese and get a house salad with champagne vinaigrette or Caesar salad as the second course. For the entree, roasted Amish chicken with rosemary-lemon potatoesand spicy rabe, grilled ribeye with cheddar polenta and grilled asparagus, and tagliatelle bolognese are the options. The daily dessert selection will be served table-side toend the meal.
• Burgh’ers (3601 Butler St,, Lawrenceville): At this blackand gold joint, Fiore Moletz serves grass-fed smashed burgers that are named after city neighborhoods — Polish Hill, Morningside, Fox Chapel, Forest Hills and Lawrenceville. Of course there also is the Pittsburgher that is served with cheddar, slaw, pickle, basil and onion. Typicallytwo craft burgers cost $26 here but during RW you can get two burgers and fries for $20.18 for lunch or dinner. For an additional $5, you can order any Burgh’ers Brewing beer.
• Coughlin’s Law Kitchen and Ale House (10 Virginia Ave., Mount Washington): A $20.18 dinner here gets an appetizer and three tacos. Appetizer choices are chips and beer cheese with salsa, fried pickles with chipotle ranch, Buffalo chicken dip with naan and barbecue pork quesadilla, a RW special, with corn and poblano relish. Pick from smoked brisket, a RW special, blackened tuna with avocado, sweet potato and black bean with spiced almonds, and carnitas with pickled radish for the tacos.
• Fogo de Chao (525 Smithfield St., Downtown): The Brazilian steakhouse’s dinner for $35.18 is a good deal for anyone with a ginormous appetite. In addition to multiple visits to the Market Table (salads, vegetables and fruits) and feijoada bar (black bean stew) buffets, you can order one roasted meat: picanha (prime part of top sirloin), top sirloin, bottom sirloin, bacon-wrapped steak, lamb, Parmesan-encrusted pork, pork ribs, pork chops, pork sausage and chicken and will gets sides such as cheese bread, crispy polenta, mashed potatoes and caramelized bananas served throughout the meal. Then for dessert, you can get New York cheesecake, chocolate moussecake or key lime pie.