| rev:text
| - I have been to all of Lidia's restaurants in Manhattan, but this was my first go at her establishment all the way out in Pittsburgh. This restaurant is pretty similar to Becco, except there is no "theater crowd" and the restaurant has a considerable amount of space. The menus are pretty similar too, with the unlimited pasta specials being a mainstay here as well.
The design of the restaurant is intriguing. It has two levels, and a considerable amount of open air space which is punctuated with huge, intricate chandeliers and giant tableaux along the walls. There is an industrial feel which helps the restaurant blend in fairly well with the Strip District; yet, at the same time, there is a sense of elegance down along the floor. The balance was struck quite nicely, and it made for an interesting place to eat.
As for dinner, I was disappointed that the 3-course prix-fixe was only available as an option for the entire table. My girlfriend did not want to eat any pasta, so that option was simply not available to me. I am not sure why they can't offer the special on an individual basis and charge a "single supplement" price if only one person orders it from a particular table, especially if we were both planning to eat 3 courses anyway. I ended up ordering the same appetizer I would have ordered from the 3-course menu, a pasta dish for my second course, and forwent dessert for the same price. It seems silly to be so pedantic about such things. Oh well.
For the appetizer, I went with the Cozze ($12). As an appetizer, it is only available in a white wine preparation, but on the prix-fixe menu they had a red wine (fra diavolo) preparation. Since that menu was verboten to me, you guessed it, I received the white wine preparation. The mussels were served in a very narrow, tall bowl. The bowl was jammed tight with open black mussels, sitting upon a shallow pool of broth and crowned by two pieces of toast. The mussels were clean, not a single one was cracked, and they were all open boasting sizable pieces of meat. I had to eat about half of them though before I could get to the broth, and given the narrow opening of the bowl, I had to break the toast into pieces to sop up some of the broth at the end. The broth was silky smooth and fairly flavorful. I just wish it were more accessible. The presentation was aesthetically pleasing, but not especially functional.
For the main course, I went with the Lasagna Bolognese ($16). I was so pleased to see an authentic preparation! There were flat sheets of freshly made spinach pasta which had the perfect texture for this dish. The color of the sauce was correct too for a dish from Bologna. The quality of the Grana Padano was pretty good as well. The portion size was especially large making for a rather robust and tasty dish. I was fairly pleased with this course, good all around.
Wine. I had a glass of Nero d'Avola ($10). The particular selection was decent. I was surprised though that my wine glass was taken from the table and later appeared on the table with wine in it. What was this? Why was I not shown the bottle? Why was I not given an option to taste it? (It's an inexpensive wine; I can live with that one). Why was it not poured in front of me? And, why was it under-poured? So, yeah, I was pretty much not inclined to have any more wine, given such off-putting service.
I passed on dessert and called it a night. Overall, I think the quality of the dishes is high, and I generally enjoyed the ambiance. They are missing all of the polished service that I would expect to see at any of the NY locations, though. Also, I was annoyed with the structure of the menu.
3.75 stars
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