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| - Let me start by saying that maybe I was looking forward to this meal too much. I and some friends of mine have been planning this meal at Cure since July. The wife part of the couple is a foodie like me, however, the husband could care less. So reservations were made months ago and lost. My friends currently reside in New Mexico, so it wasn't like we could wait until the following week. Fortunately, we were placed on a waiting list and able to get in Friday, November 28.
We decided to order "snacks" and ordered the salumi platter and pork rinds. Both snacks were fantastic. You can't go wrong with freshly made pork rinds and everything on the salumi platter was wonderful. The duck speck and the nduja were my favorites, along with the toasted crostini with lardo. Nduja is a spicy spreadable pork sausage. Come on man! Spreadable pork sausage? Yummy! My only complaint with the platter was that we were only given three or four crostini for all of that meat and spreads. However, when we asked for additional crostini, it was provided immediately.
Now on to the sad part... I understand the idea behind "chef-centric" restaurants. Chefs have a certain vision as to how they want their food to be savored. I get that. I would be mad too if I saw a meal that I had worked hard on envisioning/developing/cooking only to find that someone poured an entire bottle of ketchup over the whole thing to suit their taste. However, I don't think that it's too much to ask that a certain spice or flavor be eliminated from a dish. I wanted to order the Heritage Farms Chicken Breast and Confit, however, I noticed that lavender was listed as one of the ingredients. I'm sorry, I just don't like floral notes in my food. Rose water flavored desserts, lavender, blah, blah, blah. I politely asked our hostess if I could place an order for the chicken, but without the lavender. She quickly informed me that she would ask, however, because the restaurant was chef-centric she doubted that I would be accommodated. Hunh? She proceeded to take my friend's orders and departed to the kitchen. About 5 minutes later, the hostess came back and informed me that the chefs are unwilling to remove the lavender from the dish and that they would only remove it due to allergies. Hunh? Okay! I decided to order smaller portions of two pasta dishes...the Spaghetti Carbonara and the Parisian Gnocchi. My friend ordered the Bratwurst served with spaetzle, fried eggs, cabbage, dill crème fraiche and mustard greens. My other friend ordered the Chicken Breast and Confit because she said that she didn't mind the lavender. So, after chatting, I excuse myself to the restroom. Upon my departure from the restroom, I see what appears to be my meal ready for pick-up in the kitchen. Sure enough, my friends' meals have arrived and they said that the hostess would return with my meal. To be fair, my meal arrived tableside shortly after I sat down.
Now here is the tricky part, somehow both of my dishes were lukewarm. The Spaghetti Carbonara had a good flavor, but since it was lukewarm, I couldn't get the egg to emulsify into the sauce. So instead of having a rich carbonara sauce with salty bits of pork and peas, I had lukewarm pasta with egg clots. The Parisian Gnocchi that I ordered was served with smoked beef brisket, San Marzano tomato sauce and ricotta. Again, lukewarm pasta. In my humble opinion, a well-made sauce should not have one flavor which overwhelms everything else. All I got from the sauce was a tomato "paste" flavor and not really a tomato "sauce" flavor.
With regards to my friends' meals, we each tasted food from each others plates. I tasted the chicken and as I thought, the lavender was too intense for my taste. However, it had tasty sweet potatoes, sweet and sour kale and a preserved Meyer lemon sauce. Now my other friend ordered the Bratwurst and he said that it didn't taste like much. His wife and I were like, "You are not a food connoisseur like us and you don't know what you're talking about." You know what? He was absolutely right! For a place that specializes in house made meats and charcuterie, the bratwurst that night was almost flavorless. Tender? Yes! Not overly greasy? Check! Flavorful? Not really! What a letdown after a fabulous salumi platter. As for the spaetzle and other accompaniments, they were just meh. Nothing to write home about...not that much seasoning or anything else. His wife and I couldn't believe that he was right.
We were seated in a window booth not far from the door and I don't usually pay attention to drafts, however, Friday night was a little chilly. Our service was okay and the hostess was friendly and knowledgeable. Overall, a disappointing experience. I hate to say that. I have read so many good things about Chef Justin Severino and I'm glad that he makes the Pittsburgh area his home base. We're honored. I just wish that me and my friends meals were better Friday.
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