together with corn and andouille sausage and coated it with crispy panko. Such extensive fillings can threaten the essential character of crab cakes, but these were remarkably light and tender, even as the flavors were bold and perfectly in harmony. Tarragon-mustard cream added pungent top notes, while mirliton slaw, made from capellini-fine threads of chayote and carrot, offered a suitably fresh, bright counterbalance. Pecan-crusted red fish with Creole meuniere sauce was an inspired variation on the French tradition of sole meuniere — fish sautéed in a lemony browned-butter sauce — and its Creole cousin, trout amandine, in which the fish is crusted in almonds and served with meuniere sauce. Red fish, a member of the snapper family, is another mild white fish, slightly steakier than sole or trout, and its pecan coating gave it a robust, meaty crunch. It held up well under a modified meuniere sauce that was more like a gravy and chockfull of juicy minced onion.
Chef Chad Radecker
Seared pork tenderloin and a duck breast special bore surprising resemblances to each other. Each featured rosy pink meat of extraordinary tenderness and depth of flavor, bearing out the important distinction between “mild” and “bland.” Wedges of poached peach highlighted the duck’s sauce, while the pork held its own in a sweet bourbon barbecue glaze. The pork was marvelously accompanied by chipotle grits, a little creamier than what accompanied the shrimp. Full of the pepper’s signature smoky flavor, these grits were among the highlights of a superb meal. Tables on the Green serves expertly prepared, authentic New Orleans cuisine in an almost incongruously genteel setting. We may never be members of the country-club set, but fortunately, Tables on the Green is open to all. INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M
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On the RoCKs
{BY HAL B. KLEIN}
OPEN KITCHEN New North Side bar allows you to order off someone else’s menu As restaurant-goers know, the BYOB eatery is a staple of the local dining scene. But the owners of The Beer Market — now open across from PNC Park — have turned the tables on the concept. They’ll provide the bottles … while you can bring your own food. “We don’t have our own kitchen here,” says general manager Tim Conti. But he hopes patrons won’t see that as a shortcoming. “It’s a simpler operation here because we don’t cook food. We focus on the beer.” A look at the beer menu proves his point: There are 50 beers on tap and several hundred in bottles. And what’s more, Conti says, the absence of a kitchen allows you more food options as well. While customers are invited to bring their own food, they can also order out from nearby restaurants, whose menus are enclosed in binders at the table. “All you have to do is look through the menus, select a place nearby and they’ll bring it right to you,” says Conti. Nearby restaurants include Giovanni’s, Mullen’s, Doubleday’s and BZ’s Bar and Grill: Together, they offer a full range of options including pizza, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and even upscale American bar classics. The neighboring establishments serve their own booze as well, but BZ’s chef Garrett Akans says area bars share a spirit of camaraderie rather than competition. The additional food orders also help boost his restaurant’s bottom line. “It’s a symbiotic relationship,” he says. Conti says that although he expects an occasional complaint, the general reaction to the concept is positive. “Let’s say we had one menu, and it had a pizza and a burger: You might get sick of it,” he says. “This way, you have a bunch of places to choose from.” In a nod to one of Pittsburgh’s burgeoning food trends, Conti is also contemplating another idea: “Maybe I can get a few food trucks parked nearby.”
“LET’S SAY WE HAD ONE MENU, AND IT HAD A PIZZA AND A BURGER: YOU MIGHT GET SICK OF IT.”
INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
110 Federal St., North Side. 412-322-2337 or www.the-beer-market.com
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