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| - What an amazing find during my short stay in Pittsburgh.
Here's how it works: Sienna Mercato is actually 3 separate restaurants, separate menus, AMAZING food, all under one roof. It doesn't get better than that.
On the ground floor is Emporio, known as the "meatball joint", and for good reason. These guys know exactly what they're doing, not only with the meatballs, but with their sides and sauces as well. As a first-timer, the menu seemed a little daunting. They essentially allow you to choose your main - either the "saucy balls", a selection of 4 of their meatballs, with a choice of sauce over your choice of side(s) or a choice of meatballs in some sandwich-y form, sauce and a side. This may sound simple enough, but all the possible combinations of meatball/sauce/side makes choosing difficult. After much hemming and hawing, and with some help from both hostesses and our waiter, I finally decided on an order of Saucy Balls. I chose the chicken meatballs, with chicken gravy over a side of crispy parm brussel sprouts (my other choice was the chicken meatballs with government cheese over mac and cheese). And when it arrived, it was better than I thought it would be... because, really, how good can meatballs really get? Let me tell you: these fine chefs at Emporio really know their balls. But the real surprise? The BRUSSEL SPROUTS. A close second to my absolute favourite sprouts from San Francisco, and THAT is saying something (those sprouts from SF can be found at North 49 in Burlingame, close to SFO, and are one of my favourite things to eat in the entire world). My only complaint is that once the chicken meatballs and gravy were all done, the sprouts on their own were quite salty (probably due in large part to the pile of parmesan that came with it) and I was unable to finish it. The colleagues I dined with also had the meatball of the month (pepperoni) with the mac & cheese and the Loaded Baked Potato Bowl (beef balls, mashed potatoes and tater tots with government cheese sauce), and all their plates were licked clean! We enjoyed our dinner here so much that a couple nights later, we returned to try...
Mezzo, on the second floor of Mercato - charcuterie and wood-fired pizza, but their selection really included a "finer" dining than their sister resto downstairs. Much like my experience on the ground floor, I had a hard time choosing from the menu, everything sounded so good. But the good people at Mezzo have a solution for this dilemma: for $35, you can choose something from their "small/medium" (appetizer/salad/antipasti) section of the menu, something from their "large" (main) section and it all includes dessert. As recommended by our waitress, I got the Ricotta Gnudi to start, the Boneless Pork Chop and the Chocolate Hazelnut Marjolaine for dessert. The gnudi (ricotta cheese coated in breadcrumb and an apple butter) was okay. I wish I had gone with my gut and ordered the Frutti di Mare instead. My colleague ordered the Salmon Tartare and RAVED about it. But even if he hadn't, his clean plate said it all. The dessert was also just okay, and somewhat disappointing... but the pork chop that arrived in between...THAT was delicious. Easily the best pork chop I've had in a long time. Possibly because I don't typically like pork chop. But this? This was GOOD. The ramp pesto was unexpectedly the highlight of the dish. Highly recommended.
The icing on the cake? Both servers (Anish from Emporio, Emily from Mezzo) as well as the bartender, whose name I didn't get, but mixed me up an AMAZING non-alcoholic drink were all STELLAR. I couldn't recommend Siena Mercato more, either restaurant would be great. (We didn't visit the beer garden on the top, for lack of time, but looking at the menu seems like a small combination of appetizers from both restaurants and drinks).
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