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| - Spoon just opened in Shadyside in mid-July. I didn't know anything about it, until I heard some rave reviews on Twitter. Since I was going to be in the neighborhood anyway, I made a reservation for Friday night. The restaurant is tastefully decorated with dark, rich colors. The air conditioning was obviously working because it was nice and cool, even though the outside temp was a sweltering 94 degrees. It was fairly busy, but the noise level was fantastic...a nice hum in the background, but I could easily hear my husband over the table. I think the curtains help absorb a lot of the noise. The service was prompt and attentive through dinner service -- at one point, the hostess came over to take our order. The waiter was swamped with other tables, but he still made sure that our orders got put into the kitchen, so we weren't waiting and starving. Nicely done.
Their wine and cocktail menu is put together well. I will note that the font is micro-sized, and it doesn't work for such a darkly lit restaurant. The table next to us mentioned it to the hostess, after they squinted and fought to read it. The hostess said the restaurant has increased the font two times, since hearing complaints. I can't imagine what the original Liliputian print must've looked like, but they should increase it even more. Nobody wants to hold the menu at arm's length to get a glimpse of the cocktail list. And you'll want to look at the cocktail menu...it's very creative and fresh. (Although I couldn't understand why they'd offer a hot tea cocktail in the middle of July. No thank you.) The waiter suggested the basil vodka gimlet...served with simple syrup and lime, it was delicious.
Ok, so the food...very good. Creative, flavorful and fresh modern American cuisine. For appetizers, we had the 'bacon and eggs' and the ahi tuna prepared two ways. Both were great, but the bacon and eggs was a knockout -- pork belly confit with a 5 minute poached eggs on top. Underneath it all with a nice hollaindaise and on the side was cooked asparagus. Everything was done well -- the pork was rich and flavorful, and the egg was cooked just enough that the yolk was very barely cooked, and its liquid poured over the pork belly and mixed with the hollandaise. Even the asparagus was prepared well -- not overlooked at all. The ahi tuna was prepared as a roll, stuffed with crab and fresh spices over avocado puree. It was also prepared as over noodles with chili aioli.
For dinner, I had bacon wrapped day boat scallops with rock shrimp and sweet corn sautee. My husband had milk fed veal, again prepared two ways. First as a meatloaf with a spicy, sweet chipotle glaze and then braised with cabbage. Dessert was fresh fig sorbet...all their ice creams and sorbets are made in house. Solid.
They use a lot of foams and complicated little components that all work together to create a great dish. It's a lot of good stuff that I couldn't make at home, so in my opinion that makes it worth it. They had some lower priced options on the menu which is good. I saw a burger and fries on there for $9...very reasonable for this type of restaurant. I particularly liked the 'prepared two ways' theme of some of the menu items. You basically get a taste of two dishes for the price of one entree. I know they did for 'artistic' reasons, but as a diner I really liked the economy of it.
On the way out, we stopped at their bar in the back -- very hip, though we didn't stay for a drink. It also had a burger bar...this would be a great hangout for happy hour or a casual dinner.
Bottom line - it's a winner.
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