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Located in the heart of the Cultural District, the Sonoma Grille is a destination for theater, opera and symphony-goers. It also functions as a hotel restaurant for the Downtown Courtyard Marriott, which is connected to the restaurant by an interior door. The restaurant, which has been a mainstay of Cultural District dining since it opened in 2004, is now jointly owned by executive chef Yves Carreau, who also owns the nearby Seviche, and Uri Marcovitz.
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Food:
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947 Penn Avenue
Cultural District
412-697-1336
thesonomagrille.com
- Hours: Lunch, Sunday-Saturday 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner, Sunday-Saturday 5-11 p.m.
- Basics: International influences; variety of tapas, light and traditional entrees
- Recommended dishes: Avocado and crab meat tian, watermelon and radish salad, mixed grille, rack of lamb, apple galette, cinnamon toast bread pudding
- Prices: Appetizers, $9-22; light entrees, $10-18; entrees, $17-39; desserts, $5-20
- Wine: Almost exclusively California wines, with a fair number from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and a smattering of other regions. 100-plus offerings by the glass and 300-plus by the bottle, about 50 bottles for $40 or less. Clear list includes vintage dates and region specifics. Mark-ups vary widely -- some glasses and bottles are typical of Pittsburgh's high mark-ups, others offer incredible deals. But don't get your heart set on a selection, at least without calling, because they don't necessarily have everything on the list
- Summary: Wheelchair accessible; valet parking $8; look for street parking on Penn Avenue; credit cards accepted; reservations recommended; corkage, $20; waived if equal number of bottles are is purchased from list
- Noise level: Low to medium-loud
Marcovitz started out solely as the wine director, but he has played a major role in the restaurant since it opened. After all, this restaurant is known for its varied, expansive and interesting list, focused almost exclusively on California wine regions. Wine service is also a strength. Servers are unusually well-versed at answering questions and making suggestions about wine choices.
Your glass of chardonnay may transport you to the rolling hills of wine country, and the dining room offers an extremely literal, if a bit Disneyesque, translation. But the food wasn't quite as successful at setting the scene. Modern California cuisine is distinguished by a respect for fresh ingredients and seasonality, and a fusion style that picks and chooses flavors and techniques from a wide variety of cultures. Sonoma Grille draws on some of these ideas, and the best dishes were those that came closest to genuine California-style, but the menu doesn't always stay true to core concepts. A restaurant that purports to serve California cuisine should not be serving asparagus, corn, fresh tomatoes and basil in December and January.
Creative salads that focus on vegetables, rather than cheese, meat or nuts, are an excellent way to begin a meal. The watermelon radish salad has a base of mesclun greens (it wasn't so long ago you could only get those in California) topped with thin sheets of bright pink radish that did indeed taste like watermelon, as well as crisp apple slices, thin batons of carrot and, fortunately, a very small amount of yellow tomato. Making a vinaigrette with verjus, a distillation of unripe grapes, was a brilliant move, as vinegars are very difficult to enjoy with wine.
The avocado and crab meat tian ($12) was another excellent starter and one that successfully represented the flavors and plate-style of classic California cuisine. Lump crab meat was delicately folded together with creamy diced avocado and formed into a small cylinder with the help of a lightly spicy harissa mayonnaise. The Japanese rice cracker at the bottom was a nice surprise, adding a crisp base to this rich, buttery concoction, as well as a tiny dose of umami flavor from the soy coating.
Probably the best single savory bite I had was a side dish of maple grits. Each bite was smooth and creamy, with a hint of round sweetness and a spicy finish. But it was a struggle to fit the grits into our order, because they didn't seem to go with much on the menu.
Like many tapas-style restaurant menus, Sonoma Grille's can be hard to navigate. There's a tapas platter, tapas, substantial appetizers, light entrees, a mixed grill section and (easy to miss) a selection of traditional entrees and side dishes on the back of the menu. Between dipping sauces, chutneys, purees and mayonnaises, there must be more than two dozen sauces on this menu. Constructing a harmoniously flavored meal involves carefully weighing your own and your companions' appetites and then methodically assembling a number of components. Ordering a meal without inadvertently duplicating components or too many ingredients is an annoyingly complex task.
The tapas platter for two ($22) included some really delicious bites, such as two skewers of moist tandoori chicken with lovely smoky edges and crisp tempura-fried shrimp with sweet orange and apricot chutney. But it also included some really bland bites, such as the small pile of pale, dull fried calamari served with a remoulade whose name -- 12 pepper -- was a lot more jazzy than its flavors; a small duck confit and apple samosa had also been removed from the fryer too soon, so the stuffing, while moist and flavorful, was lukewarm, and the wrapper was doughy rather than crisp.
The simplest entree possible -- selections from the mixed grille -- can be served with up to six dipping sauces, including Zinfandel demi-glace and Japanese sweet onion sauce. To top it off, the grille selections come with a side dish, such as fettucine with tomato basil sauce or an "Asian-style" stir fry of fresh vegetables. Since most of these sides come with their own sauces, it's not entirely clear why more sauces are necessary -- especially when none of them seems to pair up well. Escolar and Ahi tuna were cooked perfectly, and their flavors were far superior to that of any of the sauces, which were generally one-dimensional and too sweet.
The study of duck ($26) was the worst offender when it came to sauces and extra components. The centerpiece, grilled duck breast with soba noodles and tiny shreds of bok choy, was swimming in a salty sauce that tasted predominantly of soy sauce and ginger. It came with a duck BLT, and the previously mentioned pasty samosa.
The duck BLT was a cute idea, but the flavors didn't go well with the other components, and while the duck bacon had good duck flavor, the yellow tomato was mealy and flavorless.
The "larger size" or traditional entree that I sampled, the rack of lamb ($35), was a final example of the confusion I'd come to expect from these menu items. Ordered "Point Reyes Blue Crusted," it arrived with a small bowl of blue cheese sauce.
You might notice a few changes in the dining column this week. From now on I'll be giving sepaerate ratings for atmosphere, food and service, as well as an overall rating, which is simply an average of the three, rounded to the nearest half-star.
Giving separate ratings should make the review process a little more transparent for readers and restaurants, as well as making it easier to recognize restaurants who excel at some areas more than others.
I'll also be incorporating a little more information about restaurants' wine lists into the summary at the end of each review.
These changes have been inspired by helpful reader feedback over the last year, so please keep the comments coming.
-- China Millman
Fortunately, despite some flawed and frustrating savory courses, it's not terribly difficult to ensure a strong finish to a meal here. Dessert, prepared by pastry chef Kelly James, went a long way towards redeeming all the previous flaws. Interesting and bold flavors and careful execution make this dessert menu one of my favorites in the city. The apple galette ($8) with salted caramel ice cream and hard cider reduction is seasonal and classic, but also showcases trendy flavors (salted caramel). With its good pastry crust, perfectly cooked apple slices and mouth-watering ice cream, every bite of this dessert was worth savoring. The cinnamon toast bread pudding ($8) was one of the best I've had in a long time. There was just enough custard, the bread was soft, but not sopping, and the molasses caramel was spicy and sweet. The gingersnap ice cream was another winner. Blood orange sorbet ($5) was too icy (using some alcohol might help), but the flavor was bright and well-balanced.
Coffee, on the other hand, is not a good way to salvage your meal. Sonoma Grille is a good example of how you can start with good beans (La Prima) but wind up with an inferior product. A cappuccino was served with such overheated milk that even after five minutes of stirring and blowing it was impossibly hot. Espresso was served on one occasion with a twist and a bowl of sweeteners. On my next visit, no sweeteners or twist of lemon for us, one of the few server missteps. Both times the espresso was dominated entirely by bitterness without any of the other flavors that should be present.
A taste of California? I'm not so sure. But with some renewed energy and more attention to what's coming out of the kitchen, this restaurant could still recapture some of its old glitter.
