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Friday, May 30, 2003

By Mackenzie Carpenter, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Asiago Euro Cuisine is to Pittsburgh restaurants what the little black dress is to fashion: chic, sleek, appropriate for every occasion.

	Yves Carreau, owner-chef of Asiago, holds a dish of peppercorn-crusted ahi tuna with a citrus butter sauce.

At lunchtime, the sleek wood-and-glass space -- which curves around the edge of Oxford Centre's third floor -- is packed with lawyers who flock from their offices around nearby Grant Street seeking respectably trendy-but-not-too-out-there food to eat while plotting their next legal maneuvers.

At the cocktail hour, there's a cozy bar where singles can flirt and sip flavored martinis. And at dinner time, Asiago's linen covered tables -- with a discreet, flattering spotlight over each -- can be a romantic dining spot for two, or a place where larger groups feel comfortable, too.

Asiago is all that.

Oh, and the food is terrific, too.

The menu doesn't try to be all things to all people, but it provides enough range to be interesting, from relatively new creations -- crusted ahi tuna ($19) in a citrus butter sauce -- to the firmly traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu ($15). Even old standbys are raised to a new level at Asiago: crab cakes ($22 for an entree; $9 for an appetizer) are crusted with pistachio nuts and served in a pool of bright saffron buerre blanc. There's Veal Marsala ($19) on the menu, but there is also Veal Asiago ($19), the best veal I've had in this city. There is even that staple of American country clubs, Sole Veronique ($17) cradled in an eggy, Romano-cheese batter that doesn't overwhelm the fish's delicate flavor, accented with grapes and toasted almonds.

Owner-chef Yves Carreau bought Asiago five years ago when it was still called Juno (and before that, The Wine Restaurant) and created a formula he's stuck with ever since: a manageably sized Italian-French menu, offering about four dishes per entree category. He's also branched out with two "Asiago Express" take-out stands at Oxford Centre and in the PPG Place food court, featuring a menu based on the restaurant's creations.

	Asiago One Oxford Centre, Downtown 412-392-0225 BASICS: Romantic dining in sleek modernist setting, featuring Italian and French dishes with Mediterranean accents. Entrees range from $15 to $24. Seats 175. Wheelchair accessible. Non-smoking section. Reservations recommended. All major credit cards accepted. Free parking in Oxford Centre garage. HOURS: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

A native of Lyon, home of some of France's greatest culinary traditions (not to mention that lion of Lyons, 3-star Michelin chef Paul Bocuse), Carreau is nonetheless enamored of the cooking of the Mediterranean. He uses saffron -- "the pure La Mancha Spanish kind, the threads, not the powder" -- in lots of dishes. The onion soup ($5) is Italian, not French, with hints of garlic and tomato. The Soupe de Marseilles ($5) is the authentic version, roughly pureed with bits of fresh rock fish, green mussels and langostines and spiked with tomato, garlic and saffron.

Despite his French background, Carreau became well-schooled in American tastes during a 12-year stint at the Churchill Valley Country Club, and he knows his customers, which means that his menu hasn't changed much since 1998. He sounds a bit wistful about that, but knows it is the best way to keep this area's change-averse diners coming back.

There's a lot to come back for. The roasted eggplant manicotti appetizer ($15 entree; $8 appetizer) might sound tame, but it's served in a fresh, spicy marinara, and there's a tantalizing hint of smokiness from the mozzarella Carreau uses. And the restaurant's longtime house specialty, Asparagus Ravioli ($8) tastes anything but tired. Much of the ravioli offered elsewhere usually involves a filler of ricotta and a smattering of pureed something-or-other, but here, delicate pasta squares are stuffed with pure asparagus puree, subtle and earthy in flavor, accented with a tomato basil concasse "with no garlic, so as not to overwhelm the palate," Carreau says.

That luxurious vegetable is also the star of a crabmeat and asparagus salad ($11) that was one of the best I've ever eaten, anywhere -- jumbo lump crabmeat and asparagus spears tossed in romaine lettuce and roasted red peppers and a vinaigrette brightened by the flowery scent of lemon peel. It was an assertive and surprising change from the standard olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Entrees were also solid: The aforementioned Veal Asiago was silky and tender, glazed with a chianti bordelaise sauce instead of the ubiquitous marsala -- which is also available but, in the wrong hands, has given this dish such a bad name elsewhere. And despite the restaurant's moniker, that was the only dish featuring Asiago cheese (which is probably a good thing since lots of people think of it as the stuff on the bagels you can buy at Au Bon Pain).

Herb Seared Salmon ($16) featured a slightly smaller fish portion than I would have liked, but it was delicately seared with basil, rosemary and parsley and packed lots of flavor. The generous side dishes -- usually rice and vegetables -- included crunchy-sweet sugar snap peas and an aromatic, jasmine-scented rice dish that provided a subtle contrast with the green herbs in the salmon. On another night, the Stuffed Bistecca ($24) -- a juicy 12-ounce aged center-cut New York strip loin -- satisfied the craving for red meat while adding the unctuous dairy flavors of buffalo mozzarella and the tang of red roasted pepper.

Asiago's generous wine list is selective and priced along a broad range: The wines-by-the-glass selections ($6 to $9) are interesting, and the waiter was knowledgeable about which ones would go best with which dish -- something you can't always count on these days. There's an inexpensive Robert Mondavi Woodbridge white zinfandel available for $18 a bottle, but there's also a $40 Pouilly Fuisse 1999 Jaboulet Vercherre and an $84 Mayacamus 1993 Napa Merlot. And that doesn't even include the restaurant's reserve wine list, available on request, which features wines from $100 to $125 a bottle.

Desserts are a bit uneven, at least those that were made in-house: The tiramisu was fresh and creamy, with a strong jolt of liqueur to wake those drooping from the evening's exertions -- but the cherry creme brulee was not even lukewarm. On another night, my husband and I shared an ethereal out-of-house white chocolate cheesecake, all tangy cream cheese, satiny cocoa butter and vanilla -- a confection I wouldn't recommend if your marriage is in trouble, since the fight over the scraps could send it over the edge.

Inexplicably, Asiago was only half full on two nights that we visited. That shouldn't be the case. Carreau's kitchen is experienced, its waiters and its waitresses are charming and knowledgeable, although ours -- a CMU master's degree student in his spare time -- went a little bit over the top during his initial presentation (think comedian Chris Elliott doing an upscale restaurant waiter shtick). At one point, he informed us with a straight face that while the pistachio crusted crab cake is "superb, sadly, it doesn't really have a crust."

After we started laughing, he cut it out and had a good laugh at his own expense. But he knew exactly which wines we'd like and was prompt with our food and our bill, so we forgave him.

Asiago, along with a handful of other places, is a bright spot in an otherwise dim Downtown dining scene. Just don't be discouraged by the Oxford Centre's long, empty hallways leading to the restaurant -- it's in there, a light at the end of the tunnel.