...Mediterrano [off-topic]

I made new friends this year, thanks to blogging.

One of the best blogging friendships that I have made has been with Food Collage, who started it all with inviting me to check out Aji Picante with her.  The rest is history - we have had many meals together, attended many events, and soon, I get to share in one of the biggest days of her life.

So when she asked me to help her with a project for that day, of course I said yes. It was also a great excuse for us to get together for dinner afterwards in the North Hills, which is normally a foreign land to me (not her).  Another friend, FoodBurgh, had raved about Mediterrano, and I remembered seeing them on Pittsburgh Today Live to promote Pittsburgh Restaurant Week...all signs pointed to Mediterrano as our food destination for the evening.

So we went:

Mediterrano

I've become more interested in Greek food the more that I've tried it.  I became enchanted after having a huge Greek platter at Kennywood on Greek Day, then trying many different types of hummus, babaganoush, and tzatziki, from It's Greek to Me in Brookline on our 'Burgh Bits and Bites Food Tour to Pitaland (same tour) to Labad's in the Strip District to Greek Gourmet in Squirrel Hill.  I've always been a fan of gyros, especially the ones from the cart in The Strip to the ones made in the Team Member Clubhouse at Kennywood (by a guy - Tony of Tony's Gyros - who knows what he's doing, not by a kid that I probably taught at some point!)

We were first presented with a basket of hummus and warm pita bread - this is so much better than the traditional basket of bread with butter.  Give me warm pita and hummus, and I'm sure to tear it up, especially if it's yummy - and this was:

Hummus and warm pita

 Our enthusiastic waiter rattled off the specials, which included a sugar-crusted lamb shank.  Food Collage was hesitant to order it, because to her, lamb is hit or miss - good sometimes, terrible others.  The waiter assured her that it was a quality dish, made from lamb from a local PA farm.  She had been swayed and ordered it:

Sugar-crusted Lamb with root vegetables

I also wanted lamb, but I decided to stick with the Arni Souvlaki, "Lamb, skewered with onions and peppers, and grilled, served over rice pilafi", served with more warm pita.  I figured of all of the lamb dishes, this would probably be a healthier choice (if that's possible?):

Arni Souvlaki

I was very satisfied with my choice - I didn't feel super-guilty about eating lamb, and the rice and pita made for light side options (although I know that there had to be some butter lurking in the rice).  Food Collage and I each tried a bit of the others' dish, and it was interesting how different our lamb dishes were.  I definitely liked mine better than hers - wait for her review to get her opinion :-)

Mediterrano was a fantastic choice for dinner that night.  My only side observation is that the parking situation is not fantastic - slanted parking on the side, and to get out, you are slanted the wrong way.  You cannot go around the building to get out, so you have to do a 3-point (or however many points it takes you) turn to get out of the lot, without much room to do so.  I have a small car, so this wasn't too much of an issue, but I can't imagine how people with SUV's fare in the same situation.

The North Hills has quite a gem with Mediterrano in the neighborhood.  I hope that they will participate in Pittsburgh Restaurant Week's summer week, as they did in the winter!

In addition, I hope that Food Collage and I continue to have many awesome meals and food adventures together, as each experience has been enjoyable!

Mediterrano

2193 Babcock Blvd.

Pittsburgh, PA 15209

Website: http://www.mediterranocuisine.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mediterranogreekcuisine

...PRW: Habitat

I hate snow.

Food Collage and I planned a night out for Pittsburgh Restaurant Week together, as both of our men were out of town, and we both wanted to try Habitat, a newer restaurant downtown in Three PNC as part of the Fairmont Hotel.  We were both pretty excited about it, then...

SNOW. 

It had snowed the night before, when I had to drive to the South Side, then to the Strip District, then I was going to stop home before going to a school board meeting...and I couldn't even get up my parents' street!  I ended up stopping at their house instead of my own, then driving to the meeting, scared to death the whole time.  I have lived in the Pittsburgh area my entire life, but driving up and down the hills in the snow makes me so, so paranoid.

I try to stay off the roads when it snows.  Otherwise, I'm a hazard to others.

I did not want to cancel our night out, but the oh-so-scary "Winter Weather Advisory" had been issued to start at 7 pm that night, and our reservation was f
r 7:15 pm.  Nuh-uh.  Not taking a risk.

Oh, but that Food Collage!  She worked her magic and got us an earlier reservation.  She rocks!

The only bad part about our new 5:30 pm reservation was rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon.  Had I realized that Three PNC has its own garage, I could have avoided the 15 extra minutes it took me to go around ONE CITY BLOCK, but....my bad.  I was late, but Food Collage is very forgiving.

Walking into the Fairmont Hotel for the first time, I was so shocked - I had no idea that such a shiny, clean, impeccable hotel existed in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh - it was modern and gorgeous.

I walked up the grand staircase to the second floor, where the restaurant is located.  I was led to a table toward the back, where Food Collage was waiting patiently.  We were not far from the open kitchen, where we could see cooks preparing food diligently.

We were first served water from the best water pitcher I have ever seen in any restaurant EVER.  I do get fascinated with little details in restaurants, and this was definitely something that stuck out in my head:

Best water pitcher I have ever seen!

As part of Pittsburgh Restaurant Week, Habitat offered a $30 three-course menu, from which we decided to order our meals.  For my first course, I ordered the Pennsylvania Mushroom Tart, with ingredients provided and inspired by Wild Purveyors, which we have patronized before at the Pittsburgh Public Market:

Pennsylvania Mushroom Tart

I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, but this choice sounded better than the other two options - Roasted Organic Local Beets (ick - I'm less of a fan of beets than I am mushrooms) and Baby Bibb Salad.  Food Collage seemed a bit jealous of my choice, as she chose the Baby Bibb Salad, which was not as impressive.  She liked it, and it was probably the healthier choice - but mine had to be the more delicious choice (although neither of us tried the other's dish, so I guess we'll never know for sure...)

For my second course, Food Collage and I went with the Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi with Braised Organic Oxtail.   I chose it for two reasons: 1.) I had just had amazing gnocchi at Braddock's American Brasserie, which made me think that this would also be amazing, and 2.) I had been wanting to try oxtail for awhile now, after seeing it on many Caribbean menus (including Calypso Caribbean Grille, which I have yet to try, even though it's 2 minutes from my house).  

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi with Braised Organic Oxtail

I was not at all disappointed with the taste of this dish - I am definitely a fan of the oxtail (it was like roast beef), and the gnocchi was soft and tasty.  I was, however, disappointed with the serving size - for a "second course" on a menu that was supposed to be a Pittsburgh Restaurant Week deal, this was quite small.  After checking out the regular menu again, Food Collage and I discovered that the first and second courses are both offered as appetizers - explaining the portion size.  Had we known this, I may have opted for something from the regular menu instead of the pre-fixe.

A bonus of this menu, however, was that we were able to chose any dessert from the dessert menu for our third course.  This proved to be quite a challenge, because EVERYTHING SOUNDED DECADENT:

Dessert Menu

The only thing that I wasn't considering was the bread pudding, only because I had made some myself about a week earlier.  Pumpkin?  Gingerbread?  Apples?  Ice cream and sorbet?  I could have eaten any of them.  However, I thought it best to go with an old favorite: Oreo.  Food Collage agreed, especially after our waiter told us that the Chocolate Oreo Torte was made with fresh mint.

Done.

Chocolate Oreo Torte

No regrets, and I suppose it was best that the first two courses were small to make up for the amount of calories I consumed at dessert!  Oh, Oreo, you never disappoint.  Never ever never.

The service at Habitat is phenomenal - our waiter, Nate, was so helpful in helping us to decide upon our choices, and the manager, Gerry, was kind enough to check on us to make sure that we were satisfied with everything.  We definitely were.

I do regret, though, that I did not get more shots of the inside of the restaurant itself nor the hotel - because they are both impeccably gorgeous and modern-looking.  I told James that he missed out - and that we MUST go back, so that he can experience it.  MUST MUST MUST. 

Maybe then we can have three desserts as our meal...or at least take two more home...

Habitat Restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel

510 Market St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (Downtown)

Website: http://www.habitatrestaurant.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HabitatRestaurant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/habitatpgh

...PRW: Braddock's American Brasserie Blogger Dinner

I love meeting other bloggers.

I met Food Collage through blogging and Twitter, and going out to eat with her is always a great experience (twice during Pittsburgh Restaurant Week alone!).  Of course, I met James through the same means, and...well, the rest is history :-)

When it was announced that there would be a special dinner during Pittsburgh Restaurant Week, I told James that we HAD to go.  We had to.  I wanted to meet other bloggers, because the first two that I ever met turned out to be so fantastic!  Also, Food Collage raves about Braddock's, and it seemed like a great opportunity to try what they had to offer.

We made our reservations through ShowClix (a great service, by the way - I used them for Savor Pittsburgh, too, without any issues) and had our tickets texted to us - ahhh, the wonders of technology. 

I had actually sampled some food from Braddock's before and was quite impressed.  My first experience was at Savor Pittsburgh, where they offered their Short Rib Pierogi for sampling - and what an impression it left on not just me, but others as well (more on that soon).

I had also sampled their Turkey Wrap at Bakery's Cookin', and I can't think of a better way to use Thanksgiving leftovers!  Usually I end up reheating (and drying out in the process) leftover turkey...then throwing a lot of it away.  I would never, ever throw away turkey if I knew how to make this wrap (and I do, thanks to the program from the event - yay!)

James and I were a little early, but we were led to the seating area right away.  Braddock's is located in the Renaissance Hotel downtown, which is beautiful:

Braddock's, from the upstairs of the Renaissance Hotel

Inside Braddock's

 We sat at a table for six with another couple who had just arrived themselves - only to find out that the gentleman was the writer of the Ya Jagoff blog, posting about people who are...well, jagoffs.  Through our conversation, we discovered that he, too, was at Savor Pittsburgh, and raved about the Short Rib Pierogi (I told you there'd me more about it). 

Also joining us were the couple from the 101 Achievements blog, posting about their adventures in accomplishing things on their to-do list.  All of us spent a lot of time in conversation between our courses!

For Pittsburgh Restaurant Week, Braddock's offered a 3-course pre-fixe menu for $25, including an appetizer, entree, and dessert:

Braddock's American Brasserie PRW Menu

Even before ordering, we were presented with a tasting plate, including that famous Braised Short Rib Pierogi, plus Grilled Strip District Kielbasa and Housemade Potato Gnocchi & Lobster:

Clockwise from bottom: Braised Short Rib Pierogi, Grilled Strip District Kielbasa, Housemade Potato Gnocchi & Lobster

Due to the overwhelming taste of these 3 items, James and I decided to forgo the pre-fixe menu and order directly from the regular menu: Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Braised Short Rib Pierogies, and Seared Diver Scallops:

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake

Braised Short Rib Pierogi (again!)

Seared Diver Scallops

All were fantastic, but the scallops stood out as the best appetizer (plus, despite being so impressed by the pierogi, it wasn't new to me anymore - the novelty was wearing off, I guess). 

The gnocchi was so phenomenal that we split a full order (which they were kind enough to split up for us into two bowls - how considerate!):

Housemade Potato Gnocchi & Lobster (yes, again!)

Even nicer, Brian Volmrich, Braddock's Chef de Cuisine, came out to talk to each table of bloggers about the food that was prepared for us - we were able to ask questions, learn about how the menu items came about (like the pierogi recipe from his Polish grandmother - I can identify!)  He even honored a request from Ya Jagoff at the end of his video.

Brian Volmrich, Chef de Cuisine (beyond my face)

 There was still room for dessert - Ya Jagoff's wife did not want her cheesecake from the pre-fixe menu, so James willingly accepted her offer of the New York Colossal Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries.  I haven't had cheesecake in awhile, and this was rich, sweet, and well worth the calories!

New York Colossal Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries (and a little "PRW" drizzle!)

 We also ordered our own dessert - Profiteroles. Ahhh, flaky, creamy - so indulgent!

Profiteroles

The staff at Braddock's is incomparable to any restaurant staff that I have experienced here in the city - so accommodating, so friendly, and so engaging.  

My only complaint?  During this dinner, I didn't get to meet any of the other bloggers that were not at my table!  Oh, well.  I'm sure we'll cross paths another time.  

Thanks so much to Brian McCollum of the Pittsburgh Taste Buds for planning such a great event for bloggers as part of Pittsburgh Restaurant Week.  I truly hope to be a part of more events like this again soon (perhaps during a future restaurant week...or sooner!)

Braddock's American Brasserie

107 6th St.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Website: http://www.braddocksrestaurant.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braddocks.american.brasserie 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BraddocksRenPgh