rev:text
| - I chose this new Penn Circle restaurant to celebrate my birthday. First of all, parking in this neighborhood during prime dining hours is challenging. If East Liberty is to rise like Venus it needs more convenient parking. However, I found a spot at 6:30 on a Wednesday without too much trouble. I suspect that on a Saturday night it would have been worse. The restaurant is small and exists in the space once inhabited by Notion. For about an hour, we were the only diners. This was great for us as it afforded us plenty of time to relax and peruse the brief but adequate menu (7 appetizers, 5 entrees, 2 desserts). In spite of its brevity, all of the choices were creative and attractive enough to be considered. For appetizers, my dining partners and I chose the foie gras (onion marmalade, nut butter, balsamic, brioche) and beets and goat cheese (arugula, honey vinaigrette). All were outstanding and beautifully presented. Our entrees were Elysian Fields "lamb wrapped lamb chop" (brie stuffed onion, concentrated carrot) which was a chop inside a burger and Piedmontese strip steak (brussel sprouts, blue chips, truffle butter), all done perfectly and presented elegantly. Both desserts were wonderful and were presented with a flourish of liquid nitrogen mist! Noticed at another table: cured salmon smoked at tablsidee by covering the fish with a dome of fresh charcoal-fired smoke. There is a short French wine list by the glass and by the bottle. The wines we sampled were excellent and paired well with our dishes. The bottom line is that this is one the finest restaurants we have experienced in a long time and potentially the best in the Burgh. Go there!
|