Moonliting

I'm sad to write this post.

I'd thought I might have discovered a gem.  PID and I searched for something very specific for this week's date night.  Inexpensive and on our side of town. I used the Urbanspoon application on my iPod Touch to try to find the perfect spot. I must have spun the reel about 105 times before I landed on the Moonlite Cafe on Brookline Blvd. 

I read a number of reviews that all said the same thing: don't judge a book by its cover, it has a dive appeal with delicious cuisine.

I was excited to experience it for myself and tell you all about this hidden treasure in the South Hills.  But sadly, I was far from impressed.  We walked in to a half-full dining room. There were many empty tables throughout and we were seated in a booth adjacent to a family with two screaming crawling children.  Really? We couldn't have had one (or two, or three) booths in between?

Sean looked at me the moment we sat down and abruptly admitted "It smells like the 70's in here."  Which oddly enough, he was right.  It did have a Partridge-Family aroma.

But I was still overly optimistic.  Our waiter, Robert, was prompt, polite and adorable.  Our drinks came in a flash.  And then it was on to the wine...

I ordered the house Cab Sav which came before I could finish saying "savignon" and was filled to the absolute brim.  I like that. I like it a lot.  It was slightly cheap tasting but it was also cheap.  Not a horrid trade off.

And then (very quickly) came the bread.

Your typical Italian bread.  Possibly bought at one of the local markets on Brookline Blvd.  Very light and fluffy, not too hard. But nothing to write home about. Or keep writing here for that matter.

We then moved on to the appetizer...

We chose the Crab Cakes.  Are you shocked?  I didn't think so.  But we were.  When two chicken-patty wanna-be's were placed down right in front of us.

It looked, and eventually tasted, like these crab cakes (composed of imitation crab meat) were picked up from their local grocers freezer.  In a box. For $8.50/dozen.  I wish I could say better things.  But I truthfully can't.  The cocktail sauce felt store-bought also as the horseradish was nowhere to be seen in the texture of the sauce.  Overall, the crab cakes were a major disappointment.

We moved on to the soup and salad after that...

I was pleased to see that the the Chicken Noodle Soup looked authentic.  Big, hearty noodles and a foamy broth made the soup pretty tasty.  The salad was made of (GASP!) iceburg lettuce and I only received two olives, two tomatoes and one pepper. Yikes.

And finally it was on to the entree.  I was hoping -- HOPING -- this would be Moonlite's saving grace.  I'd ordered the Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo.  Many of the user reviews I'd read had praised Moonlite's alfredo.  It was my time to decide.

Upon delivery (which Robert assured happened in a very timely fashion as we'd happily discovered was his MO) the dish looked promising.  Shrimp looked cooked to perfection with a slight pink hue.  However I noticed a poor ratio of pasta-to-alfredo on the plate.  The shrimp seemed right at home swimming in a sea of sauce.  One of my biggest pet peeves is a shrimp pasta dish where the shrimp tails have not been removed.  There's nothing more messy and difficult than attempting to remove the tails from a shrimp when they're already in a pasta...especially THIS pasta. I had to hold my shrimp over the plate for 45 seconds to let the excess sauce drip off before pinching off its tail.

Once I got the tails off it was finally time to dig in.  This was it.  The moment of truth.  I took a bite and couldn't quite make out what the flavor reminded me of... so I asked PID.  He didn't even finish chewing before he blurted out "popcorn."  And...once again...he was right.  It tasted just like popcorn.  Mostly because of the outlandish amount of butter that had been incorporated in to the sauce. It was overwhelming. There was a slightly chalky aftertaste as well which made me wonder if the sauce had been birthed from a powder mixture which was not properly executed. I was devastated.

I asked PID how he felt about his meal.  He definitely had a better experience than I did.  He chose the New York Strip steak at a very reasonable price.

But it was only juicy on the fatty end where it rendered in to the meat.  He said after that it was stiff and chewy.  He was pleased with the flavor the mushrooms added, and his Italian green beans were soaked in a very delicious herbal marinara sauce, but the star of the show  seemed to forget it's lines.

Cliffs Notes:

Drinks: 2 Diet Pepsis @ $2.25
            1 Cabernet Sauvignon @ $5
Appetizers: Crab Cakes @ $4.50
Entrees:     NY Strip Steak @ $16.95
                 Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo $13.95
Tax:     @ 7% (Allegheny County only) $2.79
Tip (the service was the saving grace): $9
Total for 2:  $56.69


Overall Opinion?

I wanted so badly to deliver the happy news of a new found favorite.  But instead I'm like Fox News. Delivering earth shattering news to the public without a glimmer of hope. I will say the service was outstanding.  Very quick and my drinks were refilled (without me asking) without my ever noticing they were gone.  The prices were more than reasonable and had I have to believe that if we would have tried for something slightly more traditional, it would have been an OK trip. I won't be back, but if you live in the Overbrook/Brookline area, go in and give it a shot if you're looking for an inexpensive break from cooking.  Let me know how your experience went!  I'd love to be proven wrong!

Pittsburgh Restaurants

Thirsty Thursday: ilLUMAnated

It was a dark and rainy night...

OK so it was just a Wednesday in the 'burgh.

Anyway, after a crazy day on both our parts, PID and I decided to take advantage of the rain which granted us momentary freedom from soccer, dog walks and Pirates games to use our Groupon to Luma (which has been burning a hole in my inbox for far too long)!

Luma has two locations: Aspinwall and Mt. Lebanon.  We chose Mt. Lebo due to its far superior proximity to home. 

As soon as we pulled in to the parking lot (which was on a steep incline, but hey, we're in Pittsburgh. We should be used to this by now) I could already tell I was going to like it there. We had to walk past the back patio to get to the door and I could see through the glass doors to what looked like a very mod ambiance.  I was giddy with excitement.

We arrived to a packed waiting area without an empty bar seat in the house. I immediately kicked myself after assuring PID on multiple occasions that we wouldn't need reservations on a Wednesday. Turns out, Luma has half price wine on Wednesdays!  What a pleasant surprise! They call it "Winedown Wednesday" which I find clever and appealing. Every single bottle of wine on their menu (aside from the 5 selections which are priced at over $100) was available for half off as a bottle or stem which is different than many 1/2 price wine nights I've experienced.   It was fabulous!

And so it was on to the wine... much earlier than we'd anticipated.

While there were no seats at the bar, there was no way we could turn down ordering a bottle for while we waited for our table. I relished the thought of having more affordable choices and stared at the menu for what felt like hours before finally landing on the Excelsior Cabernet, originally priced @ $22/bottle.

I must say that if you don't happen to try Luma on a Wednesday they still do have a great selection of "Twenty at $20" wines. The hostess was nice enough to hold the opened bottle under her station as we held tightly to our stems.

As we sipped, we began innocently eavesdropping as PID and I do so well when we heard a very familiar voice. I turned to my left to see Paul Steigerwald, glass of red wine in one hand and Blackberry in another, waiting patiently for what the hostess referred to as his usual table. I couldn't bring myself to ask for a picture, he looked like he just wanted to enjoy his wine, but I leaned over and had to ask:

me: "So you come here often?"  (Yes. I really said it.)
Steigy: "From time to time."
me: "Is it worth the wait?"
Steigy: "The wine sure as heck is!"

We air-cheersed (can I copywrite that?) and I left him to his texting.

Finally our table was ready and since we'd been waiting for about 30 minutes (don't make our mistake, reserve a table no matter the day of the week), we were already prepared with our order and it was on to the appetizer.

Now Brie is one of my favorite cheeses. I've made my own chutneys and had myself a delicious snack at home, but never experienced anything quite like what we were served at Luma.  This brie was baked to a light browned skin and was served with a sticky glob (and I mean that in the most positive way possible) of a pecan and brown sugar mixture which I have to assume had maple syrup in it.

I almost felt bad eating it before my meal. The pecans and brown sugar were the perfect level of sweetness and the cheese literally melted on the knife as we sliced it. It would have made for a great dessert. I was very interested in the choice of crackers as well. They were large sesame crackers.  Not something I would have paired with pecans and brown sugar...but it worked!

PID couldn't resist ordering a cup of She-Crab Bisque.  Had I been confident enough in my stomach to order yet another food item, I would have done the same.  He was in heaven.  He loves spicy which is just what this bisque was.

And while typically I like a kick of spice as much as the next gal, this crab had a bit more than a pinch (get it?) of cayenne which didn't seem to fit with the rest of the ingredients. Maybe I'm biased to my Rudy's Inlet she-crab bisque in Virginia Beach, but I wasn't feeling it as much as PID was.

It was a busy night -- Winedown Wednesday will do that to you I suppose -- so the service was slightly slow. We had to order a diet Pepsi for PID three times. When our waitress finally returned after our third order she informed us that they were out, but she was going to send someone to the pizza shop down the street to pick up some more.  This completely made up for her original forgetfulness. Really? You'll walk down the street for more?  We politely told her it wasn't necessary, but of course she brought it for him anyway. That's server dedication! Bravo. With supply & demand as well as labor costs in consideration she probably could have charged us $19 for the glass.  She didn't of course, but needless to say we didn't bother her for a refill.

After we received coveted beverage, we moved on to our entrees.

PID and I decided we're around each other so much that we've adopted one another's eating habits.  He  went for the Spicy Shrimp Pasta (served with asparagus) while I opted for the Tenderloin Alfredo. He took my seafood and I his steak. Thank goodness we don't mind spreading germs because we each ate right off of the other's plate.

PID was very satisfied with his dish but asked me to share with all of you with a very important lesson:

Always bring a Tide Pen.

When you're wearing a lovely white button down (he looked so dapper), you don't want this...

...anywhere near it.  I took a bite and this dish was spiced to perfection (as well as beautifully plated).  The heat felt more appropriate with shrimp and pasta than the crab bisque and the asparagus acted as a cooling element. I wasn't sure how I felt about the choice in using Angel Hair pasta in this dish versus a thicker variety, but PID insisted it didn't affect his enjoyment one bit.

Unfortunately I was slightly less pleased with my meal.  Upon ordering, I was intrigued by the thought of tenderloin paired with fettuccine Alfredo. I'd never seen it served this way before (am I just naive?) but I like steak and I love Alfredo. So why shouldn't we put 'em together?!  Sadly, I quickly figured that out. First, I was completely overwhelmed by the size and number of medallions served with the dish.  I'm already eating a heaping bowl of pasta.  Adding four fist sized cuts of steak (and I'm taking man fists, here) makes me full before just by looking at it.

But I'm very sad to say that wasn't the dish's only problem.  The meat was extremely bland. It lacked flavor completely.  I forced myself to drag it through the excess Alfredo sauce just to make it taste like...well...anything.  The four medallions were also cooked extremely inconsistently.  I ordered them medium well.  I believe two came that way while one came merely seared and still another was unbearably charred. I don't want to knock this dish completely, however. The Alfredo sauce was some of the best I've tasted -- ever.  It was surprisingly light while still holding an absurd amount of flavor.  The fettuccine on its own would have been a meal enough for me. I wondered to myself if the meat was poorly cooked only due to the busy evening -- but then I reminded myself that that shouldn't be an excuse.

We, once again, didn't partake in dessert, but the table to my left sure did.  It appeared to me that the family of four ordered one of everything on the menu!  Looked like a sorbet, a cappuccino, some type of mousse and a few other delights with whipped cream on top. Maybe they write a restaurant blog, too...?

Cliffs Notes:

Groupon:      1 @ $20
Drinks:         1 Diet Pepsi @ 2.25
                   1 bottle of Excelsior Cabernet @ (Guess what? you have to choose between using a Groupon and paying half price for wine. had I known this, I probably would have paid for the wine at the bar rather than having it transferred to my table. I was less than pleased, but it was delicious wine so I shrugged my shoulders and chose to use the Groupon. I WARN YOU NOW! No Groupons on a Wednesday if you're a wine freak like myself) $22
Appetizer:   Baked Brie @ $9
                  She-Crab Bisque @ $7
Entree:       Spicy Shrimp Pasta @ $16
                  Tenderloin Alfredo for $22
Tax:           7% Sales Tax (Allegheny County only) @ $5.38
Tip:            $15 (because "good grouponers" tip on the entire amount)
Groupon Discount: - $40
TOTAL FOR TWO:  $76.93

Overall opinion:

It was deja vu all over again with the ambiance.  I couldn't help but feel I'd been there before until I went back home and did some research.  A Pittsburgh phenom, Head Chef Michael Rudman also heads up the kitchen at Willow.  I must say, although it was slightly more expensive, I would have to suggest Willow over Luma.  However, I absolutely have no qualms returning to Luma -- maybe trying the Aspinwall location.  The menu was captivating and though I may have chosen the wrong entree, it wasn't because of a lack of desirable choices. I'm convinced my less than excellent experience was a one-time fluke that can be easily corrected with a return visit.  And PID enjoyed every bite. So give it a try!  If for nothing but the wine and the atmosphere alone!