Friday, December 05, 2003

By Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For many years, the Italian restaurant Pasta Piatto was something of an institution in Shadyside, and when it closed last year, this reviewer fielded dozens of e-mails from anguished regulars -- many wanting to know where they could redeem their gift certificates but others just plain sad to see it go.

Creative combinations at Bikki: seared foie gras with mango chutney, top, and tandoori style shrimp with truffled paneer. (Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette) BIKKI 736-738 Bellefonte St. Shadyside 412-683-5756 HOURS: Open daily, 5-10:30 p.m. Parking available next door at Shadyside Garage; parking stubs will be validated by management. Not wheelchair accessible. No smoking. BYOB (although that will change when a wine bar opens in the next few months). All major credit cards accepted. No reservations. BASICS: Reasonably priced Indian-French-Spanish cuisine in an elegant, minimalist setting. Entrees range from $12 to $23 (Paella is $40 for two).

Well, now one institution has now been replaced by another. Bikram "Bikki" Kochhar -- longtime Pittsburgh restaurateur, entrepreneur and raconteur -- has moved into the space with a new restaurant named for himself: Bikki. And in doing so, he has brought in one of the city's most celebrated chefs, Christian Frangiadis, to partner with him, ratcheted down prices and upped the surprise quotient from the kitchen with Euro-Indian "fusion" cuisine.

It's a blend of familiar European classics, souffles, paella, fish en papillote, with Indian spices and ingredients -- curry, of course -- along with pink lentils, split peas, paneer and garam masala, all offered in a lovely, minimalist space with rosy lighting, contemporary furniture in warm woods -- even pretty etched glass tea lights flickering on each table.

Can Bikki pull this latest project off? Well, at this early date, Bikki the restaurant (not the man) is still a work in progress, with some very bright spots on the menu -- and some muddled areas, too. Bikki (the man, not the restaurant) at one time or another has run nearly two dozen dining establishments in the Pittsburgh area, some terrific (Simply French), some not so terrific (Cozumel). But when the chef is Frangiadis -- an immensely creative culinary artist who is also an alumni of Simply French and most recently of the great Isabela on Grandview -- even the mistakes are interesting.

Still, right now many of the dishes at Bikki simply have too much going on on the plate. Whether it's the exquisite veal filet mignon wrapped in bacon or the curried shrimp with coconut, each entree comes with at least half a dozen little sides: rice, chick peas, chutney, paneer, veggies, legumes, beans and various little spicy pastes, some hot, some sweet, all of them spooned onto the plate in a somewhat gloppy presentation. It's almost too much for palate to process: too many tastes running together, too many bright colors muddying the result.

Indian cuisine uses more than two dozen spices -- what we know as "curry" is really a delicate balance of different combinations -- but sometimes, when East meets West in the kitchen, there's more confusion than fusion. Case in point: a puff pastry vegetable strudel with truffled paneer -- a delicate cottage cheese -- also came with tomato, eggplant, asparagus and roasted garlic ($8). My head spun as I tried to monitor what I was tasting: Was that a hint of truffle? Or garlic? Or cumin?

Nonetheless, I was grateful to be able to order several Frangiadis signature dishes and try some new creations and not feel as though I was blowing half my paycheck in the process. Those on a budget should stick to the "small plates" part of the menu, where a piping hot jumbo lump crab souffle with a tomato masala can be had for $10. Did the spice in the tomato masala garnish -- spooned into the souffle at the table by the waiter -- overpower the delicate crab? Sure, but at that price, who's complaining? Frangiadis' roasted beet cappellini with lobster, creme fraiche and three caviars -- one of the gems on the menu at Isabela -- was another bargain at $11, although I would have liked a little less salt in the dish and a little more caviar. Cashew and black bean fritters topped with curried chicken and tamarind chutney were disappointing ($8), though -- too greasy, although the chicken and chutney accents were vividly flavored.

Salads were a strong point: mixed greens in vinaigrette with goat cheese, mango and honey spiced pistachios was sublime ($5) and the romaine hearts with smoked salmon, avocado, lime, cumin and yogurt dressing ($8) were a melange of smoky, sweet and tangy flavors -- although I would have liked to see more avocado in the mix.

Entrees were, if anything, even more adventurous. I didn't get to try the tandoori style Cornish hen with basmati rice and veal glace finished with foie gras butter (next time!), but I did sample an unusually flavorful filet mignon ($18), which came on poori -- a kind of pancake -- with a fragrant red curry-tomato drizzled with bearnaise. Steak and potatoes types might be horrified at the sacrilege, but this dish really worked -- a fusion of savory, spicy and unctuous. A curried paella for two ($40) offered Cornish hen, shrimp, scallops, mussels and lamb sausage, but again, the strong spicing in the curried rice drowned out the individual flavors of the seafood.

Still, the aforementioned veal filet mignon, served with that panoply of sides, blended East and West effectively, since veal is a relatively bland foodstuff to begin with and needs assertive flavors to shine. But at $23, this is one of the pricier items on the menu, and given the luxurious nature of the main ingredient, the serving was small.

The fusion theme is carried into the desserts, again with mixed results. The beautifully presented cardamom carrot cake ($5) with almond-saffron icing was an interesting new interpretation of a classic, but the enormous chocolate mousse ($6) flavored with garam masala -- generally a mix of cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns -- made me rebel. I like my chocolate straight, and the sweetness of the masala really obscured the nutty, buttercream notes in the chocolate, in my opinion.

Bikki's servers were pleasant, if occasionally slowed up by the hard-working kitchen. Indeed, there are some ground rules that startled us on one visit. After we were seated, and discovered belatedly the BYOB policy, one of our foursome slipped out to buy a bottle of wine. When we tried to order some appetizers in his absence, we were politely rebuffed by the waiter, who said the kitchen prefers that appetizer and main dish orders be placed all at once. So we had to wait until our wine-buying companion returned before ordering anything at all. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Still, Bikki, with its emphasis on low prices and experimental cuisine, is on to something. If the kitchen can work on simplifying what comes out on the plate, so that the flavors of India, France and Spain can speak in greater harmony rather than cacophony, then Bikki may find itself becoming as much of an institution as Pasta Piatto, settling in for a run as long and laudable as that venerable Shadyside landmark.

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