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Always lovely, the dining room at Le Pommier on Carson Street has an extra glow about it these days. Dark wood gleams in the warm light; expansive mirrors reflect linen-draped tables toward a distant point. While the atmosphere of this 25-year-old French bistro can be romantic it's a place that calls out for an evening of good friends, lively conversation and good food and drink.
- Hours: Monday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 5-10 p.m.; Sunday closed.
- Basics: Le Pommier offers seasonally inspired, often creatively inflected, versions of traditional French dishes in a casual yet elegant atmosphere with professional, knowledgeable service.
- Recommended dishes: Le Montparnasse cocktail, plat au charcuterie, butternut squash soup, crab cake, roast pear salad, cardamom duck, maple-brined pork chop, chocolate creme brulee, buckwheat crepes
- Prices: Appetizers, $5-$16.50; entrees, $19-$27; desserts $6-$13.
- Drinks: Above average cocktail list is heavy on the aperitifs, with a thoughtful range of potencies. Le Pommier is known for its French-heavy wine list, organized by varietal and region, with vintage dates and helpful tasting notes. About a half-dozen whites and reds are available by the glass (starting at $8 for white wine and $9 for red) or by the 375 ml carafe ($15 for white, $17 for red). The bottle list includes an additional two dozen whites, 16 for $40 or less; a couple of roses (more in warmer months); and almost three dozen additional reds, 21 for $45 or less. This intriguing list is full of bottles unavailable elsewhere in Pittsburgh. There is also a short, relatively conservative list of beers. Mark-ups hover between 200 percent and 250 percent.
- Summary: Wheelchair accessible (accessible restroom in kitchen); credit cards accepted; call a week ahead for prime-time reservations; corkage, $5 per stem, waived on Mondays.
- Noise level: Loud.
The Calvados-based Montparnasse ($9.50) was a glorious start, crisp and acidic with just a hint of the complex perfume of Saint Germaine liqueur. The Corpse Reviver ($9.50) was more bracing, the anise flavor of absinthe dominating the quieter contributions of dry vermouth, Cointreau, Hendrick's gin and lemon.
The simplicity of the setting was a good foil for the straightforward beauty of much of the food. The charcuterie platter seemed poised to inspire a still life painting -- the deep red of thinly sliced salumi, a perfect quenelle of Dijon mustard topped with slices of radish and halved cornichons, the gleaming orbs of olives the colors of Mediterranean stones and trees. The salumi (sweet sopressata and hot capicola from Pennsylvania Macaroni) tasted rich and meaty with that irresistible texture, toothsome and delicate all at once.
The pistachio studded country pate was a bit bland, but at that point we were all fighting for another spoonful of the unforgettable chicken liver mousse, a sinfully rich concoction of caramelized onions, golden delicious apples, chicken liver, brandy and nutmeg. The secret ingredient that transforms this dish? One can almost hear Julia Child crowing: "Butter!"
Salad sometimes gets overlooked on this type of menu (who wants to waste so many bites on lettuce with crepes or profiteroles in the offing?), but the roasted pear salad ($7.50) is more like the happy marriage of a salad and a cheese course. The now-ubiquitous mesclun mix (before Alice Waters started that fad, you could only find such a salad in Provence) is topped with a roasted half pear, the edges just caramelized. Its mate is a small slab of rich blue-veined cheese. A scattering of walnuts and a shallot vinaigrette play bitterness and sweetness off each other with each bite.
Soup was also a worthy contender. The special that evening was butternut squash with caramelized onions and creme fraiche ($6.50), an autumnal classic.
Though sold on the soup, I couldn't help but notice that our server didn't describe it with the same lush detail as the server at a neighboring table. In general, the service was elegant and professional, but occasionally cold.
The soup, fortunately, was not. Few could compete with the silkiness of the texture or the balanced sweetness of each bite, the creme fraiche incorporating that transformative hint of acidity.
Chef Mark Collins has a knack for taking a sometimes ordinary dish, like butternut squash soup, or crab cakes, and turning them into something a bit more special. Two small disks of crab meat ($9) were so well browned that they seemed to have borrowed some of the pleasure of a great potato pancake. The crunchy crusts highlighted the sweet, moist crab all the better. Instead of remoulade, the crab cakes were accompanied by a celeriac mousse and a salad of julienned carrots, segments of sweet orange and a touch of mimolette cheese.
Fall flavors were in full swing across the menu. A maple-brined pork chop ($23.50) was sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds and accompanied by an almost souffle-like pumpkin-gruyere polenta. Earthy wild mushrooms tempered the salty richness of the gruyere, while a pile of buttery julienned carrots added that final, oh-so-French touch.
Duck breast is a risky choice at many restaurants, too often marred by improperly rendered fat, overcooking or under-seasoning. Here, cardamom-flavored skin was crisp, the meat remained juicy, and a tart marion berry sauce balanced its gamey richness ($25). Leek-strewn orzo, cooked to al dente perfection, was an original and suitable accompaniment.
The menu wasn't flawless. Le Pommier's version of steak frites ($21.50 for hanger steak, $32 for filet mignon), even with the more flavorful hanger steak cut, was a little dull, neither the meat nor the fries particularly well executed.
House-made fettuccine ($16.50) with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, arugula and porcini mushrooms sounded promising. Unfortunately, the flavors didn't combine harmoniously on the plate. The white-wine based sauce had a bitter aftertaste, perhaps from the arugula.
These flaws, relatively minor, are tempered further by the frequency with which the menu changes. Already they are transitioning to the late fall menu, full of enticing dishes such as roasted quail stuffed with wild rice and fois gras or golden beet-celeriac filled ravioli with wild mushroom ragout, royer mountain cheese and red beet gastrique.
The dessert list changes as well, and while sweet dishes are not quite as creative here as the savory ones, they are worth considering. The dessert list is printed on the main menu, a considerate touch more restaurants should adopt. Mulled cider sorbet and cinnamon ice cream couldn't have been more delicious. Creme brulee is overplayed on Pittsburgh dessert lists, but I was glad I'd made an exception for a chocolate version ($7.50) with such an intense dark chocolate custard it was almost like a chocolate mousse topped with a caramelized sugar crust.
Le Pommier is a restaurant with style and substance, a Pittsburgh institution that has reinvented itself more than once. Though the restaurant was purchased by the Culinary Concept restaurant group three months ago, the same excellent team continues to run the restaurant, balancing authentic French cuisine with a passion for seasonal flavors and a distinctive point of view.
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