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| - Although the East Liberty and Bloomfield areas have recently acquired some top-notch restaurants, it's great to have an option a bit further down on Penn Avenue in the Friendship/Garfield area. While the food at Spork is definitely "upscale" in price and presentation, the atmosphere is casual and cozy, with those huge windows that are great for people watching as well as letting in the light.
During our visit, service was thorough. We had, I think, about five people check on our table, deliver food, and take requests throughout the evening and each of them was professional, upbeat, and engaged with the menu options. The menus at Spork come with a pencil, so you can circle or check the dishes that you wish to order. Although Spork doesn't bill itself as a "tapas" restaurant, the menu is definitely arranged to suggest that multiple dishes be ordered. And if you actually thought you were getting a large-size entree portion of something for $12, you missed the foodie explosion that's happening in Pittsburgh (and the pricing that comes with it). Being conscious of the pricing and talking to the server, we chose to order several smaller plates and bites to share.
Generally speaking, we were very happy with our menu choices. The goat-cheese spread with eggplant and toast was delicious. All of the table's pasta choices were excellent (rags with duck soppressata, tagliatelle with veal bolognese, and ravioli with butternut and sage). Seriously, these pasta dishes are something special. The crudo with walleye was both sweet and tangy, with plenty of acid to balance out the mango.
The menu is a little bit "all over the place" and sometimes that seemed to show. The "bread and spreads" should definitely have been called "bread & oil" since the spreads were butter, a different kind of butter, olive oil, lardo...and white bean spread. The bread was AMAZING, but we would have been much more prepared and happy with the dish if it was just "bread and butter." The lamb meatballs with yogurt-cucumber sauce definitely carried the full gyro taste experience, but were dense and didn't seem as special as some of the other menu items.
The desserts were awesome. I've said in the past that I don't always think Pittsburgh restaurants, otherwise awesome, have great desserts, but recently that's changed. The chocolate-coconut "tiramisu" was huge, with a beautiful sponge cake and several different textures and flavors of chocolate & coconut. So good!
There will definitely be a next time. I'm already trying to figure out how to convince my seven year old picky eater that we stop by on our way home from her school, which is just a few blocks away. Definitely want to try their cocktails and burger!
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