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Friday, March 21, 2003

By Mackenzie Carpenter, Post-Gazette Staff Write

After 17 years of running one of Pittsburgh's top 10 - or, some might say, one of its top five - restaurants, it might be understandable if the good people at Cafe Allegro were to slack off a little bit. Get a little tired, maybe.

	Alan Earing, a waiter at Cafe Allegro, holds a plate of the stuffed chicken salsiccia. (Theresa Glenn/Post-Gazette)

But after two recent visits to this South Side perennial - which was last reviewed by the Post-Gazette five years ago - there was no sign of any fatigue whatsoever.

Chef de cuisine Gloria Fortunato, mentored by longtime executive chef Joe Nolan, is turning out vividly flavored dishes that sparkle and smolder, from sprightly horseradish-crusted red snapper to plush filet mignon in a full-bodied sauce of dark beer and gorgonzola. An unusual creme brulee tart, its creaminess laced with the oily sweetness of orange peel, still haunts. The service is graceful, the atmosphere quietly charming. OK, so the decor could use a little freshening up - the blinds looked a little dusty and the white walls cry out for some color - but in general Cafe Allegro is still a wonderful place to eat dinner.

There's something else, too, that sets Cafe Allegro apart from other fine dining establishments in this region: You don't have to break the bank to eat there. The dishes come in all kinds of sizes, as part of a new effort to encourage what Antoinette Cardamone, one of the restaurant's owners, calls "antipasto eating, the way they do in Europe."

On one night, my dining partner and I selected three generous appetizers and two half-size pasta entrees from the restaurant's winter menu - after stuffing ourselves first on the extraordinary homemade bread from Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill, which came with its own little pot of whipped salmon mousse (on another night it was an herb concoction). We each had wine and dessert, and got out of there for $85, including tip. That's not a cheap evening, but at this level of culinary virtuosity, that's a bargain.

On that particular freezing cold night, we eschewed the restaurant's signature calamari appetizer - marinated in a spiced citrus sauce and grilled - and opted for a different kind of heat: pureed roasted red pepper soup with fennel ($5.50). Not to be hyperbolic, but this soup was a showstopper, with almost as many levels of flavor as a good wine - spicy and smoky on first taste, with a cool, barely detectable afterbite of licorice (from the fennel). The wild mushroom gratin - a sturdy yet simple concoction of mushrooms (chanterelles, morels, or shiitake, or whatever is seasonably available from the restaurant's mushroom purveyor in Oregon), mayonnaise and Asiago cheese - is presented in a toasted, carved-out chunk of the restaurant's homemade wild mushroom sourdough bread ($8). Talk about layering flavors.

In a twist on tried-and-true eggplant parmigiana, there's rolled eggplant ($9) stuffed with ricotta, almonds and spinach, dusted with nutmeg. For a dish that can sometimes be leaden, this version was light and melting. An armload of poached asparagus ($7) was perfectly cooked, served in a golden chicken broth lightened with lemon, and, depending on the night, may be sprinkled with gorgonzola cheese or sun-dried tomato vinaigrette.

Our "entrees" were two good-sized half-portions of Pasta Arrabiata, a classic, fiery Italian dish of spaghetti, calamari, shrimp and scallops and Nolan's own homemade seasoning mix - "it's like Old Bay, but not as heavy on the cumin" - and in a rich seafood stock ($8 for half size; $17 for full size). The butternut squash ravioli in a brown butter sauce is a longtime Cafe Allegro favorite, rich and filling, the sweetness of the filling contrasting nicely with the nutty sauce.

On another night, we opted to spend more on some substantial entrees. The aforementioned filet ($26) is the restaurant's most popular dish - they're loath to take it off the menu, even in summer - and it's easy to see why. It's a perfect union of steak and beer, the relatively bland flavor of filet ramped up in a dark, concentrated sauce of veal stock, shallots - and, adds Nolan casually, "a couple bottles of Guinness" - finished with butter and gorgonzola, and a touch of good balsamic vinegar to counteract any chalkiness.

It was dazzling. Alas, the crabcakes ($24) were not: sauteed rather than broiled, they seemed slightly mushy, the only less-than-perfect concoction on the menu. But the red snapper, crusted with horseradish ($24), is doused with what Nolan calls "ralsa." Neither relish nor salsa- but full of good things: diced peppers, onions, cornichons, capers - it was bright and puckery.

Now, about that creme brulee ($5.50) It was a creme brulee tart, actually, but the pie crust seemed superfluous. For those who tend to be purists about this dish - made with cream, eggs, sugar and the best vanilla - the orange peel is a spectacular addition. The chocolate bread pudding with cherries was lovely too, but I wished for a more generous dollop of creme anglais on top to balance its fudgy richness. Cafe Allegro's desserts aren't huge, but they aren't itsy-bitsy, either - just the right-sized, elegant ending to a lavish meal.

The wine list, which has won an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine, is being revamped; the new one will be ready in April. There are currently 50 selections, ranging from a $20 Arcata Arroyo Seco to an $84 Matanzas Creek Chardonnay (wines by the glass range from $5 to $8, with one special wine featured each evening). Interestingly, those are lower prices than five years ago, when the lowest price to be had was $28.

While Nolan, who has been with Cafe Allegro since the Cardamone family opened it in 1986, would like to do more experimenting, he knows his audience. Pittsburghers "weren't ready for the gooseneck barnacles we served a few years ago," he says ruefully, insisting that this seafood delicacy is better than shrimp or most other kinds of shellfish.

But he's still out there trying new things and bringing back old favorites (as always, there will be fiddleheads and fresh peas on the spring menu, which debuts April 1) and he's anything but tired. "We've come so far, and we're still having fun after all these years."

So are we.

Cafe Allegro
51 S. 12th St.
South Side
(412) 481-7788

Hours:Daily, 5 to 11 p.m.

The basics: Intimate, sophisticated Italian and French Mediterranean food. Free private parking lot nearby; seats 110; separate smoking and non-smoking dining areas; wheelchair accessible; all major credit cards except Discover; reservations suggested, although on some weeknights you can walk right in.

The last word: '