{"id":414,"date":"2018-06-14T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/?p=414"},"modified":"2018-06-14T14:17:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T18:17:22","slug":"shadyside-still-rules-when-it-comes-to-crowd-pleasing-plates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/2018\/food-drink\/shadyside-still-rules-when-it-comes-to-crowd-pleasing-plates\/","title":{"rendered":"Shadyside still rules when it comes to crowd-pleasing plates"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Lawrenceville, Downtown, East Liberty and the North Side transform from quiet main drags to lively restaurant rows, Shadyside has been a Pittsburgh dining staple for decades. An ideal location, leafy environs, appealing architecture and cared-for buildings work in its favor, as well as big-name anchor brands and indie boutiques.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere definitely has been an increase in tourism in the neighborhood,\u201d says Jennifer Girasole, chef at\u00a0Girasole<\/strong>\u00a0(733 Copeland St.).<\/p>\n

Open since 2000, the family owned restaurant carved its reputation in the first few years on salads and pastas, but\u00a0\u201cpeople\u2019s palates have changed,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople are more educated about food.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result she\u2019s selling more dishes like farro salad with roasted spring vegetables. And the restaurant has expanded into catering.<\/p>\n

Big Burrito\u2019s\u00a0Casbah<\/strong>\u00a0is another mainstay, steered by chef Dustin Gardner, who took the helm in 2016. He has put his stamp on the place, turning out an array of Mediterranean-inspired small plates, pastas like gnocchi, canestri and orecchiette and entrees from halibut to half-chicken.<\/p>\n

Before he took the helm at Casbah, he did a stint at\u00a0Soba<\/strong>\u00a0(5847 Ellsworth Ave.), where Lily Tran runs the kitchen and its Asian-influenced menu of char siu ribs, Sichuan chicken, miso cod and dolsot bibimbap.<\/p>\n

Scott Walton, who opened\u00a0Acorn<\/strong>\u00a0(5528 Walnut St.) in September, recently returned from an \u201cAcorn, In a Nutshell\u201d dinner at the James Beard House in New York. Now you can try dishes he debuted at the high-profile event, including artichoke rigatoni, fiddlehead fern tempura and fava bean tabbouleh. Don\u2019t miss the baked Alaska for two, a frozen treat that\u2019s lit afire tableside.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>
The interior of Girasole is pictured on Friday, April 27, 2018. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chef <\/a>
Chef Chris Corimski of Girasole. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The interior of Fujiya Ramen is pictured on Friday, April 27, 2018 in Shadyside. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chef <\/a>
Chef Takayuki Ishida of Fujiya Ramen. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The interior of Casbah is pictured on Friday, April 27, 2018. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Executive <\/a>
Executive chef Dustin Gardner of Casbah. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The interior of Acorn, modern American cuisine, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. (Rebecca Droke\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chef <\/a>
Chef owner Scott Walton at Acorn in Shadyside. (Rebecca Droke\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The interior of Noodlehead is pictured on Friday, April 27, 2018. (Lake Fong\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The inside of Cafe Zinho restaurant on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 in Shadyside. (Antonella Crescimbeni\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Millie's <\/a>
Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pyrotechnics <\/a>
Pyrotechnics at the table with the baked Alaska at Acorn in Shadyside. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Off the beaten path is the charming\u00a0Cafe Zinho\u00a0<\/strong>(238 Spahr St.). The great Tony Pais celebrated his 20-year anniversary in the fall and has been battling Parkinson\u2019s disease. The chef works with the Moroccan-born Dounia Touil to turn out dishes like monkfish\u00a0liver over caramelized pineapple or beet and goat cheese timbale. With Mr. Pais in the house, there\u2019s no bad table inside or out at this BYOB.<\/p>\n

For more casual eats, check out the family friendly\u00a0Mercurio\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0(5523 Walnut St.), where Anna and Michael Mercurio bake Neapolitan-style pizza in their Acunto wood-fired oven. (Also don\u2019t miss the gelato.)<\/p>\n

Noodlehead<\/strong>\u00a0(242 S. Highland Ave.)\u00a0is another quick and satisfying option for Thai street food from the folks behind the temporarily closed Pusadee\u2019s Garden in Lawrenceville as well as Burgh Thai, which just opened in Verona. This cash-only BYOB offers dishes like street noodle no. 2, egg noodles with tempura shrimp, bok choy, bean sprouts and cilantro, or kee mao,\u00a0big flat rice noodles with bok choy, napa cabbage and chile garlic sauce.<\/p>\n

The newest noodle option in the neighborhood is\u00a0Fujiya Ramen<\/strong>\u00a0(815 S. Aiken Ave.). From Tokyo-born Zen Yoshida, it\u2019s one of a handful of Fujiya Ramen locations in the U.S. serving tonkotsu-based ramen, fried karaage chicken nuggets, chashu (pork belly) and takoyaki (octopus fritters).<\/p>\n

If watching a game or sitting on a patio is on the to-do list, there\u2019s\u00a0Harris Grill<\/strong>\u00a0(5747 Ellsworth Ave.) for a burger and a beer or a long list of wing flavors. Tuesday is bacon night.<\/p>\n

To cap off a warm summer night, consider a cone from\u00a0Millie\u2019s Homemade Ice Cream<\/strong>\u00a0(232 S. Highland). Its offbeat flavors include cardamom with rose ribbon, dulce de leche or fried pound cake with preserved berries.<\/p>\n

Even with the constant addition and subtraction of restaurants, Shadyside is as tight-knit a neighborhood as any in Pittsburgh. Citing shop owners who direct tourists her way, Ms. Girasole says, \u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the support as the restaurant continues to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melissa McCart: mmccart@post-gazette.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Lawrenceville, Downtown, East Liberty and the North Side transform from quiet main drags to lively restaurant rows, Shadyside has been a Pittsburgh dining staple for decades. An ideal location, leafy environs, appealing architecture and cared-for buildings work in its favor, as well as big-name anchor brands and indie boutiques. \u201cThere definitely has been an… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[14],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2018\/06\/20180427lf-Restaurant16-10.jpg?fit=2400%2C1558&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"Consider visits to old-school spots like Girasole or Casbah or check out new places like Fujiya Ramen.","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9EDbT-6G","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/distinction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}