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| - Arriving late to Pittsburgh, I decided to make dinner easy by just going to the Fairmount's in-house restaurant, Habitat. I went in with high hopes based on the descriptions on the menu, but was sorely disappointed by the meal. I started off with the Bourbon Meringue cocktail, which I thought was going to be a mistake when I ordered it, but my curiosity got the best of me. I can't honestly say I hated it, but I didn't like it either. It was just weird. I followed that up with a Manhattan, which is pretty tough to mess up. It was basically a bit of bourbon and what tasted and looked like cherry grenadine. It had a weird bright reddish color to it and places in the bottom end of Manhattans I've had in my life.
For the food, I started with the roasted beet salad, basically some chunks of beet, chunks of goat cheese and a couple pieces of frisee. The taste was fine, I suppose, but there was no finesse to the dish and the goat cheese was largely flavorless. For my entree, I went with the Honey Glazed Duck, described as follows: "Duck confit and goat cheese puff, wilted arugula, pear, purée of carrot and orange." I ordered it at the suggested temp of medium-rare. I can honestly say it was the worst duck I've ever had at an upscale restaurant (as opposed to duck in a take-out Thai dish). It was not medium-rare. It was rare, if not blue. It lacked the crispy skin that makes duck so wonderful. And it lacked flavor. The puree was hardly edible as it was barely present on the plate. Despite all these missteps, the worst part of the plate was easily the "puff." When I think "puff," I think light, airy, flaky. This was heavy, dense, compact. I think there was a crumble of goat cheese in it. I will say, though, that my side of Brussels sprouts were good.
Now, to be completely fair, my server was attentive and receptive to me when I told her about the problems with the dish, which I usually don't do even when I don't like something in a restaurant. The duck was taken off the bill without any fuss, which was not my goal in pointing out how undercooked it was. I also didn't give them a chance to take another shot at it, which might have changed things. Every kitchen has a bad dish now and then. This was one experience on one night, but I thought it worth sharing.
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