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| - I believe it was Aristotle who once said, "Holy craaaaaaaaaaaaap!" Based on the dining experience I had last night, I can only assume that he'd just eaten at Casbah when he said that.
Pittsburgh is a city that has no shortage of *amazing* restaurants and among those, Casbah is one of the best.
I went with my two kids (foodies at heart and who are both up for anything, always--no chicken nuggets for these two) and our experience, from the moment we crossed the threshold til we floated out after we were finished, was damned close to perfection.
First off, THE WINE LIST. Sweet niblets. I had a glass of Michel-Schlumberger Pinot Noir that was so good that my eyes actually crossed. CRAZY good. And the rest of the selection was just as impressive.
We were served a basket of hot-from-the-oven bread with sea-salted butter and this otherworldly strained Greek yogurt stuff with lemon that was so yummy I seriously considered licking the plate. Seemed reasonable at the time.
Appetizers were flatbread with hummus, baba ghanouj, and red pepper muhummara (sublime) and veal/pork meatballs with crispy Brussels sprouts that earned a resounding "OMG!" from the young uns.
The girl child ate--and swooned over--short rib ravioli, the boy devoured (and waxed rhapsodic over) his orecchiette with Elysian Farms chicken, and I lost myself in (and have pledged my troth to) the best cioppino I've ever eaten (San Francisco, eat your heart out).
But wait! There's more!
Dessert. Holy yum balls. Kid #1 had raspberry-chocolate bread pudding with crême Anglaise, Kid #2 had the chocolate cheeesecake bombe. Both kids were over the moon and doing things like pledging to clean their rooms every day (that must've been SOME dessert).
On top of all this, the service was AH-mazing. Every person who came to the table was funny and smiling and bending over backward to make the meal all it should have been. And it was.
I've eaten at a great many of this city's best restaurants and this was one of the best experiences I've had here.
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