{PRW} Blogger Dinner at The Porch at Schenley

For Pittsburgh's second Restaurant Week, bloggers from the area were invited to have dinner at The Porch at Schenley.  I'd been to The Porch before on a bright summer day, back when my best friend was visiting from Texas.  During that visit, we'd just walked around the University of Pittsburgh campus when we stepped into The Porch for late afternoon meal. 

 We ordered the farm bread, served with homemade strawberry jam, apple butter and honey butter.  Starting off a meal like this is perfection to me. Have I told you how much I love bread?

PGH Dining: Brasserie 33

 On Valentines Day, Husband took me to a restaurant I've been close to a dozen times, but never inside. Brasserie 33 is located next door to our laundromat, which might have turned a few people off. Strangely, we were happy to go, once Husband purchased a Groupon to take us to this mentally "back burner-ed" restaurant. It is next to the laundromat, so we hardly considered it!

 We sat at a table alongside the line of windows facing the street. When purchasing the Groupon, Husband was told the menu would be prix fixe,  but we were handed a one-sheet menu with several options. Lucky us!

 As we looked over the menu, we were given bread to munch on. The amount of butter was sadly not correctly proportioned to the amount of bread.

 The kitchen was just over Husband's shoulder, so we got to see the action!

 Our first part of our dinner was the steak tartar, a dish that neither Husband nor I had ever had. {Shocking, I know!} For me, tartars are interesting dishes, with the raw meat coupled with a raw egg yolk...something of an intense flavor shock. 

The dish was brought to our table, and we just stared at it. It was composed of large chunks of meat, marinated in an acidic sauce. First, we had expected a finely chopped, or even processed, product. The meat had a decent taste, but ended up being very chewy. Husband had a especially chewy piece, which may have been some sort of connective tissue. 

This dish was not our favorite, at all.

 We then moved on to another dish we'd never had: Oysters Rockefeller. This dish seems like a southern-ized version of oysters on a half shell. Someone please educate me on the past of these little lovelies. 

 The dish was flavorful and cooked well, but the details weren't there for us. The bacon/lardons were far too large, and overpowered the oyster, spinach and cheese. At the end of a bite, you were still chewing bacon. The fat had not been rendered well, either.

 Finally, we shared a salad to round out or appetizers. 

The salad was accompanied by toasts with a goat cheese spread on top - creamy and snappy! Lovely. The dressing was a Thousand Island of sorts, and was the best homemade version either of us had eaten in several years.

 For entrees, we chose the popular dishes of the night {they were on most of the tables around us}: seafood bouillabaisse and a roasted duck with currant glaze.

Roasted half duck, served with a scalloped potato stack and steamed vegetables.

Broth studded with seafood. 

 Both dishes were good, but the duck was my favorite. The sauce was sticky and sweet, which complimented the dark meat well. The sides were lackluster.

 While looking over the dessert options we enjoyed a Kir Royal, which, thank to our waiter, had extra "razzmatazz."

 Now, it's time for the HOLY MOMENT OF THIS MEAL. We ordered the apple tarte tatin. If you've ever watched the Barefoot Contessa or any french cooking show, you gape and stare at the episode when they finally arrive at making a tarte tatin. A fruit that's been encased in the most decadent caramel you've ever tasted {because it's homemade!}...a dessert that's almost perfect. Brasserie 33's offering was intensely perfect, and is certainly in my top 3 desserts of all time. {Dash Best} Husband doesn't even like cooked apples, but these were like slices of candied deliciousness.

 If you are ever in Pittsburgh, or specifically Shadyside, please go eat this dessert. Skip dinner, but have this dessert. You won't regret it in the least. 

In short, dinner was less than memorable, but the apple tarte tatin was unbelievable. 

PGH Dining: Burgatory Bar

 I'm warning you now, readers, that this will be a somewhat lackluster post. While I loved the greasy goodness of Burgatory, there were several features of the event that weren't stellar.
First, Husband and I had tried to go eat at Burgatory Bar, a spankin' new restaurant in the Waterworks Mall in Aspinwall {across the river from us in UpLa*}, but were unsuccessful because of the TWO HOUR WAIT {in December}. So, this time, we came prepared. We walked in on a Thursday evening, threw our name on the reservations list, and was told it would take about 45 minutes to an hour before we could get any table {they have tall boys as well as booths or chairs}. Fine. Great. Will do. We then proceeded to shop at T.J. Maxx and other smaller stores nearby. After about 50 minutes, Burgatory texted my phone to let me know I had less than 10 minutes to rush my buns over to the restaurant, or I would lose my table. We BOOKED it over, and made it in time to be seated at a two-person table near these puppies:

Flame Sculptures! {Or maybe some sort of space heater?}

Another one.

After taking a breather from our jog to the restaurant, we looked over the menu, which held a bevy of delicious options from chicken chili to salads to custom burgers. Husband didn't end up getting a "Custom Creation," but he HAD filled out the form.

He noticed lettuce wasn't an option. Weird. It IS a burger place, after all. 

We continued to look over the menu {and took in the cutesy posters on the wall, below} before deciding on sharing a burger and a salad, which would follow our appetizer of all appetizers... 

We couldn't pass up the truffled Gorgonzola fries. Could you?

Bucket O' Fries.

 The Gorgonzola stayed mostly in clumps, and stuck to the oiled fries delightfully as you snagged a few for your bite. The green onions added a nice bite to cut through the richness of the cheese and white truffle oil. 

 After eating 85% of that bucket of absolutely delicious fries, we were thankful that we were sharing our entrees. I ordered the Farm House salad, which featured "Baby Lettuces and Arugula tossed with Sunflower Seeds, Shaved Parmesan, Roasted Roma Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Haystack Onions and Balsamic Vinaigrette".

My portion of the salad.

 I wish I could say I loved this salad. I do. It has every typical item I love to sprinkle onto the salads I make at a salad bar or at home for a light dinner. This salad, however, was RUINED by the incredibly acidic balsamic vinaigrette. Biting. Seriously. Additionally, the 'roasted' roma tomatoes resembled jarred sun-dried leathery bits. The corn was basically nonexistent. Neither of us found more than four kernels. The only redeeming factors of this salad was the crispy onion rings, being super thin and perfectly crunchy, and the pieces of shaved Parmesan for their salty taste.

The salad, as I began to pick through to unsuccessfully find tasty bits.

We were so ashamed at how little of the salad we ate, that we took the rest home to cover our tracks.

On to the burger. That lovely, meaty dish that won our hearts for Burgatory. The meat was cooked well, and the vegetables and condiments were fresh. The bun was a winner, too. It was buttery and airy, without falling apart as soon as we dove into our respected halves. 

Can you tell I was super pleased with the bun?

 Finally, we had some room left in our stomachs, so we indulged in a Campfire S'Mores shake. The shakes, at $6 for a classic and $8 for a hard boozy one, are thankfully served with any extra shake liquid that won't fit in the frosty glass. 

Our shake was a chocolate base with graham crackers blended in. The grainy texture might sound terrible to some {and I thought I'd agree!}, but it went so well with the whipped cream and toasted marshmallow on top for the overall S'More effect. Check plus from these ice cream lovers on that!
Getting into Burgatory was an exhausting feat, but I think it was worth it. I'd give them a solid B+, considering the dishes we ordered, and how typical they'd be for burgers and fries fare. With some extra credit work on the wait time and salad, they'd bring themselves up almost a letter.

*Note: I've deemed our neighborghood, Upper Lawrenceville, as UpLa. I mean, if Lower Lawrenceville gets called LoLa, then we should have something fun, too, right?! 

PGH Dining: Pho Van

 On a rainy night last week, Husband and I indulged in our favorite dark and stormy weather pastime - having a steamy bowl of pho. We decided to head to Pho Van, located in The Strip District, because of the look of the storefront {I know, we're superficial!}, the number of people inside {always a good indicator}, and the proximity to Lawrenceville. It WAS raining, after all!

While we usually start a meal with appetizers, this time we went straight for the main event. We shared two dishes: Pho Tai and vermicelli noodles with peanut chicken {Bun ga nuong} and a fresh summer/spring roll {instead of a fried one}.

Just what we wanted to foil the steamy goodness of beef pho.

The noodle dish was super fresh and light. The dipping sauce/dressing was sweet and not at all spicy like I was expecting. The roll mimicked the dish itself, having noodles, lettuce and herbs inside. The chicken was a decent portion for the price, and was grilled well.

The pho 'side plate' came with the usual suspects, all fresh and crunchy. 

Beef {Eye-of-Round} Pho

The pho came out looking just as we'd hoped: pinkish meat, fragrant broth and floating accoutrement.

As you swirl the meat in the piping hot broth, it finishes cooking. 

Despite the shiny surface, this bowl of pho was not too greasy at all. Husband said the pho was one of the best he's ever had. He appreciated the fact that it had plenty of beef, as so many phos can be packed with only noodles and broth.

Pho Van was priced well, with no surprises on our bill. {Total was less than $22.} It has definitely found a spot in our usual lineups, according to weather conditions. 

Do you have a favorite rainy weather restaurant?

Feasting Part 2: Christmas Day & Post-Day

Christmas Day had arrived, and we were still recovering from the night before. What a meal! Today's menu consisted of a brunch of egg nog pancakes, followed (many hours later) by a dinner of Ina Garten's fillet of beef bourguinon. 

Husband surprised me that morning with a full stocking!

My stocking.

Again, we hadn't planned on giving any gifts or stockings this year because of the move. 

My stocking spoils. 

Luckily, Husband had the foresight to fill his stocking, too. I usually play by the rules, see?

Husband's Stocking

After stockings, I went upstairs to take a shower and get dressed for the day while Husband made the breakfast. He did a great job, making his own egg nog (rather than buttermilk) pancakes, turkey sausage, and sliced honey crisp apples. Yum!

We then spent some time Skyping with our families. Skype is such a great invention, and I'm so glad my Dad encouraged me to download it. 

We headed northeast to visit some of Husband's family that afternoon. Again, it was so nice to see family and get to know new people. We were able to download the Skype app onto Husband's iPhone (I left my Android at home), and let his mom Skype with some of her family members she hadn't seen in more than 40 years! What a cute and awkward moment. Sorry, Martie!

The next day we set up as Chef and Sous Chef to make fillet of beef bourguinon, since we had eaten dinner with Husband's family the night before. Flexibility -  it's great! Husband expertly sliced through the beef tenderloin fillet, careful not to cut through muscle, and only along seams. (Thanks, Anne Burrell!) 

He then followed the directions to brown the fillets, brown lardons, and scrape up that lovely crud on the bottom of my prized Le Creuset. 

He added in vegetables, stock and other delish ingredients. 

To make THIS.

Again, with the Cabernet.

Also featured again in our meal were treats from La Gourmandine. 

We had a loaf of wheat bread and two desserts. 

Their signature lemon tart, obviously for Husband.

And, a Buche de Noel for me.

What a fantastically cute dessert!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!