To Repeat or Not Repeat

Posted by Kathryn @ 4:43 PM

Have you ever been accuse of not repeating things? I think this is the particular woe of the true foodie. There are so many recipes to try and restaurants to visit. Even though I love many of them dearly, I have a tendency to forget about these favorites and instead blaze a new trail. So this blog is to some respects to help me remember the tremendous successes, so I can make sure to revisit them.

This past Monday was my husband's birthday, so I made reservations at a lovely French bistro called Le Pommier on the Carson Street in the Southside. To be honest, visiting this place had been on my mind since the Primanti Bros trip when I passed Le P's window and saw they were serving Thanksgiving Dinner. As we had just moved to Pittsburgh and knew practically no one in town, we had decided to eat out on Thanksgiving day. So I called Le P and was completely crushed to find out they didn't have any seatings left. So Le P was destined for a birthday celebration.

We arrived at 7 PM and realized that the restaurant was kind of quiet, we shouldn't have worried because by 8 PM the restaurant was humming nicely for a Monday evening. We hung our coats in the coat room and sat down near the window. It was chilly, but we both wanted to be able to see the people and traffic pass by. We both chose the $35 four course prix fixe but with different options along the way. We chose a new wine, a Chanin, something I had never tried before. It had a wonderful color and with a few minutes of exposure to air a nice full bodied flavor. I had the squash soup with creme fraiche and chives, a salad verte, cumin crusted bass, and nice little raspberry pot de creme. The crusting on the fish was perfect and even though it was heavy on the spices it had a nice clean fresh taste. He chose the pate, salad verte, roasted chicken with truffle risotto, and macadamia nut ice cream. The risotto was truffley and the chicken had a nice melt in your mouth quality. At the end of the meal, my husband declared that was the best roast chicken he had ever had and that we must come back. While I thought the fish and the pot de creme were perfectly prepared, neither were the best I had ever had and I am afraid the best chicken I have ever had still remains a little restaurant I don't remember the name in Rome. The salad verte could have used a bit more inspiration, but for $35 and four courses at least they made their budgetary cuts on the salad course. I am eager to try some of their regular menu items. So the verdict is that we will definitely be repeating this restaurant! Although we didn't know this when we went, Monday is a fantastic budget night to go because they have a BYOB night where they reduce their corkage fees!

Thanksgiving at Hyeholde

Posted by Kathryn @ 8:03 PM

For me, Thanksgiving is generally held at someone’s home, a time for family and friends. But this year, it was destined to be different. First I told my family that I would not be coming for the holidays, that this year we wanted to host our own holiday meals and that they would be welcome to come visit us. This announcement was made in March and little did my husband and I know we would be moving to Pittsburgh in November. So here were are in Pittsburgh, a great town that even had the cool holiday weather ( something Ian and I don’t generally experience when visiting our parents in Texas and South Carolina). I looked in the kitchen of our 1 bedroom temporary apartment and quickly realized that a Thanksgiving Feast was not going to spring forth from the flimsy plastic utensils and two baking pans provided. So the week before thanksgiving I sat down and contemplated my options. 1. buy a prepared thanksgiving for 2 from Whole Foods 2. Make just a regular meal with a couple of festive touches or 3. Go to a restaurant.

So I settle on a restaurant. I call my first choice, but they are all booked up. I saw a long list online of hotels with celebrations, but that seemed too impersonal. The name Hyeholde catches my eye. I go to the website and find out that it is an upscale family run establishment with a Thanksgiving Buffet. With a little persistence I was able to get a 3:15 reservation because someone cancelled last minute. So the day of we pile into the car and head toward Moon Township. With only a few mishaps we manage to arrive at the restaurant and a valet service meets me at the door. My husband notes that we may be the youngest couple there for dinner. We head inside hoping for a predinner drink, but we are dismayed to hear that they have no bar. Instead they seat us a few minutes early. We order wine and are surprised when they recommend a Kendall Jackson. The atmosphere and the price point of the restaurant suggested that they would have a more sophisticated wine list, but perhaps it was just for expediency on such a busy day that they did not offer one.

1st Course -

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Foam- Nice savory soup with a nice bright sweetness from the apple foam. It was a winner

Main Course-

Buffet with Chef Carved Turkey or Prime Rib, Cold Salmon, Green Beans with Onions, Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Smashed Skin on Red Potatoes, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Breads, Ginger Cranberry Sauce, Bread Stuffing. Overall I was pleased. The Salmon was proclaimed sacrilegious by my husband, but I found it perfectly moist and a nice addition to my meal. The green beans were older and tougher than I cared for, but the brussel sprouts which are not generally a favorite were quite nice. The stuffing was just what I wanted light not too dry or too mushy with a few crispy pieces where it had browned in the oven. We each took two trips and left the buffet satisfied.

Dessert Course-

Options of Cinnamon Caramel Tart, Praline Toffee Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Pie, and Calvados Cheese Cake. I order the bread pudding, while my husband, a recent convert to pumpkin pie, ordered the pumpkin. The pumpkin pie was a tiny sliver overwhelmed by a spiced whipped cream decoration, the flavor was fine, but were were expecting a more substantial serving because of the holiday. The bread pudding, was atrocious, the toffee sauce lacked oomph, the custard was too wet, and the hazelnuts on top were practically burnt. I heard one woman ask her husband “what does the pudding taste like?” His response was “Not Much.” I desparately wanted Hyeholde to offer a dessert buffet so that I could remedy my poor choice!

Despite the less that fabulous ending to our meal, we left satisfied with the restaurant in terms of service and entrees.