New Pittsburgh Restaurants

[mjg]

A couple of the local "heavy hitters" are opening new restaurants here in Pittsburgh over the next couple months.

Toni Pais, owner of and mastermind behind Baum Vivant and Cafe Zinho:

Cafe Zao

Chris Frangiadis, formerly of Isabela on Grandview:

Bikki

[jshufelt]

Thanks for the pointers. My wife and I regularly go to the O'Reilly to "get cultured", so Cafe Zao could be a big win.

We never made it to Isabela when Frangiadis was there, although I had heard good things. I notice that one of the partners for Bikki is the same person responsible for Cozumel; I hope that's not reason for concern. I also hope that they don't try to cram people into that space like they did when it was Pasta Piatta. I'm not a big fan of dodging elbows from the next table when I'm trying to eat.

[tharrison]

Last night was our second visit to Bikki since they opened about 3 weeks ago. We used to frequent Isabela's and are fans of Chef Frangiadis, so we definitely couldn't resist checking this place out. The decor is nice -- I dig the colors a lot. The recessed lighting is a nice touch. It's bright enough to see clearly but dark enough for the ambiance. The plating of the food looks really nice. I like the tapa-esque nature of all the "small plates." Everyone gets served a basket of the sourdough rolls with some ancho chili aioli (a la Isabela) after being seating.

My only complaint is that the seafood quality isn't quite up to par with what I was used to from Isabela (but seafood is one of my super-picky areas and therefore shouldn't be taken as gospel) but when you take the prices into consideration -- everything is great and a good value. We felt Isabela's was one of the only restaurants in the area taking any real risks with flavor combos and Frangiadis is continuing along those same lines with Bikki.

Here's what we've sampled from the menu so far:

First Visit:

Jumbo lump crab souffle with tomato masala - This is definitely my favorite of what we've tried. It's the same crab souffle Chef Chris made at Isabela but changed the ancho-chili sauce to the masala. Yum!

Tandoori shrimp, roasted garlic, lime & tomato on a saffron pasta square - How could that combination not be good? The saffron pasta square kind of perplexed me -- when I thought "pasta square" my brain automatically sees "ravioli"ish things. It was actually more like a sheet of very thin pasta dough with three shrimp and the sauce on it, then the bottom of the square folded halfway over it decoratively.

Seared foie gras on gaufrette with fresh fig chutney - 3 gaufrettes (waffle potato chips) stacked with foie gras and topped with the chutney. There was a large amount of figs in proportion to the foie gras. I'm not suggesting they give you more foie gras (it's so rich I can only eat one bite before I've had enough) but they shouldn't feel they need to give you that much of the fig chutney just to make the plate look fuller. In retrospect, we probably should have eaten this dish first since it didn't seem to hold it's temperature as well as the others.

Miso seared tuna on poori & lentil salad with saffron broth - The tuna was partly raw but overdone for my tastes (I'd say it was about medium and I like it very rare). I'm assuming this problem arrises from the fact the portion of tuna, being a "small plate," is smaller and cooks through too much before it can get a nice sear.

Second Visit:

Crab Souffle (again)

Spicy quail with mustard seeds over rice crepe with yogurt mint sauce - This was really good. I'm a big fan of quail. The yogurt mint sauce was good on it's own (I could see it as being really good spread on bread) but when put on the quail, a tad overpowering.

Roasted beet cappellini with lobster, creme fraiche & three caviars - creamy and rich, this is another thing I remember off the old Isabela menu. This was our friend's favorite dish.

Mixed greens in vinaigrette with chevre, mango & honey spiced pistachios - I'd skip this to leave room for something else on the menu. The dressing was good, but the greens were swimming in it. I love mango and was hoping that it'd have a few more chunks than it did. If I was in a mood for a salad, the next time I'd definitely try the smoked salmon salad.

Curried vegetables with paneer, rice, legumes, mango chutney & whole wheat flatbread - the person we took is an ovo/lacto/pesco-vegetarian and this is what she ordered. She didn't offer to share, so I'm assuming that she really liked it

Paella, featuring curried rice, Cornish hen, shrimp, scallops, mussels & lamb sausage for 2 - I've actually never had traditional paella, so I had nothing prior to compare it to. I was excited to read it had the lamb sausage and immediately dug around for that first only to find out after asking that it's not in casing and is mixed in. The curry was a good level of spicy -- just enough to add it's dimension to the flavor party (but I wouldn't consider it hot). Be warned -- it's a whole heck of a lot of food. If you plan on ordering this and a ton of starters, it will definitely take more than 2 people to even make a dent in it. I stuck mostly to using the crispy flatbread surrounding the contents of the pan to scoop up the rice and sauce.

There was no way we were able to fit dessert in last night but the visit before we had the profiteroles with peanut butter mousse and espresso chocolate sauce and the (HUGE portion of) chocolate mousse flavored with garam masala and sprinkled with pistachios and whipped cream. I'm pretty sure the profiteroles are also from Isabela's menu at one time (I asked our waitress for her suggestion and she recommended those). My husband really liked his mousse (sans the pistachios -- he dislikes anything "crunchy"). I wasn't a big fan of the garam masala addition, but I'm a chocolate purist The profiteroles were good. My only complaints would be the PB mousse was more like a sauce (but still tasty) and the chocolate sauce was too dominant a flavor for the delicate flavors/lightness of the choux and mousse. The chocolate sauce would be awesome on coffee ice cream or another dessert which would have a texture and flavor to stand up to it.

I feel that your tastebuds are rewarded more than they're disappointed. Comfortably affordable for the level of quality/sophistication involved in the preparation, too (I'm pretty sure we got out of there the first visit for under $50 before tip). A good place to go when you're craving the flavors of Indian cusine but presented in an unusual and lighter (all the dishes I order when I go out for Indian food are "stick to the ribs" sort of things) way.

One of the dishes I would love to see a verison of that I had at Isabela (which would also fit nicely into the theme) would be the lamb tenderloin in phyllo with red coconut curry sauce. But then again, this isn't Isabela, so I wouldn't expect that too many more dish variations from there will be added onto the menu -- that's probably for the best.

If anyone else has gone, I'd love you hear your impressions.

[coolranch]

Great review. I was just coming over the the Penn boards to ask about restaurants in the 'burgh.

We're headed next month. Bikki will be on the list. sounds wonderful.

[mjg]

Excellent review. I was previously excited to go and now I am moreso than before. Bikki has officially jumped to the top of the list of places to go for dinner.

[brngckn]

I would like to give my brother and his wife (who live in the Pittsburgh area) a dinner out at a nice, not too expensive restaurant as a holiday gift. Does Bikki have gift certificates by any chance?

[tharrison]

They don't mention gift certificates on their site but their phone number is 412.683.5756 to call and ask.

[brngckn]

Thank you for the phone number. I will give them a ring.

[herbacidal]

i'm glad to see the pittsburgh contingent is growing.

Keep it coming.