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Regulars count on Shiloh Inn for little touches and popular menu Friday, September 17, 1999 By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
The woman at the next table is talking to the waiter, sounding like she's looking for an argument:
"I'm going to have soup, a salad and dessert. That's all. My husband is going to have an entree. That's all. Is that OK with you?"
"Whatever you like, ma'am," he replies.
It's probably not the strangest request he's heard. The Shiloh Inn, often referred to as the Mount Washington restaurant without a view, has been in business more than 19 years, and the owners and staff have surely heard a lot.
Many things about the restaurant have not changed in those years. Looking around the dark room, decorated mostly in browns, with heavy draperies on the windows, I'll bet it's much the way it was when it was opened.
One of the fireplaces on the outside wall is still lit in the winter; the mantel above is being used as a server's station tonight. It's loaded with glasses and a pitcher of ice water.
The waiters are in tuxedos, as they have been since Day One. Almost as soon as you're seated, they bring out slices of garlic bread with grated cheese on top, still warm from the oven, another tradition since Day One. The restaurant does not charge extra for the garlic bread, and if you want a second serving, fine.
These are the little touches that long-time customers remember and like, says Spiro Edgos, a member of the families who own the restaurant. The fancy spots on Grandview Avenue are where you take out-of-town guests to see the grand view. Shiloh Inn gets more local people making repeat visits, he says.
His Honor and I, of course, don't care about fancy, but we're always looking for something new and different. H.H. does his looking on the wine list; I check out the menu. "About 20 whites and 15 reds, mostly American, with a few bottles from France and other countries. Here's one I never heard of -- Morro Bay chardonnay," he says.
That's hard to believe, but it's always fun to try and learn about a new wine. So tonight we learn that we don't want to order Morro Bay again.
We've ordered oysters Rockefeller with mornay sauce as an appetizer, and we're disappointed. The oyster shells are stuffed with a gluey mix of chopped oysters and spinach, sprinkled with cheese, and overcooked. Another night here, we had beef teriyaki as an appetizer and it was excellent -- three tender, broiled filet tips with green pepper and onion chunks in teriyaki sauce, on a bed of lettuce. For a small appetite, this could be dinner.
Our salads are puzzling. The house-made creamy honey-Dijon dressing is nice. But this is September, when the backyard gardens on Mount Washington are overflowing with fresh, bright red tomatoes and our salads have wedges of hard, pink under-ripe tomatoes. Why? (Incidentally, this wasn't a fluke. Twice within the last four weeks we got those under-ripe tomatoes in our Shiloh Inn salads.)
The menu is generally traditional, from veal chops to strip steaks, pasta with marinara sauce to chicken piccata, and several fish and seafood selections. Prices are mostly in the $14.50-$28 range.
The Shiloh Inn claims to make the best crab cakes in the city. Finely shredded lump crab meat and very little else is shaped into small cakes (three to a serving). They arrive golden on top, the crab fresh and sweet, with a container of a creamy sauce of lemon, butter and chicken broth for dipping. They are very good.
The best in the city? I haven't tried them all yet; give me time and a big expense account!
Swordfish steak is served with a caper butter sauce. Excellent, says H.H., except that the thin ends are overdone. Sole Shiloh comes with more of that good lump crab on top and a creamy shrimp sauce, but it's a little overdone.
Red-skinned potatoes are served plain, which is OK with us, but one night they were barely warm. Ratatouille, a nice change from the usual vegetable selections at this time of year, is sweet. I like it.
Broccoli arrives bright green and crisp tender. But it arrives in one of those little "monkey dishes" often used for side dishes. Watching H.H. try to cut florets off the big stalk in that tiny bowl makes me wonder: Don't people who run restaurants ever eat in the restaurant themselves?
Finally H.H. admits defeat and moves the stalk of broccoli to his dinner plate where it can be cut easily.
Shiloh Inn is known for veal dishes. One of the "regular specials," an entree that's not on the menu but almost always available, is veal Alexander, or lobster tail with sautéed veal medallions and that creamy lemon sauce also served with crab cakes. Stuffed filet with lump crab meat, served with béarnaise sauce, is another "regular special."
We've tried the veal Mediterranean, a surprisingly mild, but nice dish of small, tender pieces of veal with mushrooms, green olives, diced tomato and feta cheese. Pittsburgh favorites like veal romano and veal marsala are also available, as well as veal Shiloh. That's the restaurant's take on veal parmesan, with shrimp, tomatoes and peppers.
Brothers John and Tom Edgos started the Shiloh Inn 19 years ago, taking over a business called Billy's, known for barbecued ribs. Before that, the building had housed a doctor's office.
Tom is now retired. But various other members of the family, like Spiro, are usually in the restaurant, tending bar, greeting diners, sometimes waiting on tables or helping in the kitchen. Milton Sloan has been the chef for 10 years
The cheesecake -- and it's an especially good one, served with a rich raspberry sauce -- is made from Sophia Edgos' recipe. (She's Tom's wife.)
The restaurant isn't busy tonight. It's quiet and relaxed. I can't resist watching that couple at the next table. He had some of her soup. She ate half of his entree. Now he's eating half of her dessert. Do they eat this way to hold down the cost, the calories, or both?
Shiloh Inn
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Hours: Monday through Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m. Closed Sunday