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 DESSERT ISLAND GULLIFTY'S HUGE MENU IS FAMOUS FOR ITS LAST COURSE
For 14 years, Gullifty's has been winning ``best desserts'' contests when Pittsburgh diners vote. Next to the tall, lighted display of delicious-looking big pies and cakes in the restaurant's entryway is a wall covered with ``best desserts'' awards. The restaurant staff bakes them every day, in small quantities, so they'll always be fresh. ``No artificial anything, no preservatives added,'' the menu promises. Many customers come to Gullifty's especially for the killer cookie, the turtle cheesecake, or another favorite. The desserts are good, to be sure. But are they the best in Pittsburgh? No, I don't think so. While I'm eating a cut of the 10-pound apple pie (the best of four desserts I've had here in the last month), I keep thinking of the other outstanding desserts around town -- the wonderful cappuccino torte and other cakes by Jeff Julin at the Carlton, Downtown; the hazelnut torte and other creations by Art Inzinga at Siena, Market Square; chocolate blackout cake at Valhalla in the Strip; and Bridget Engle's sweets at Lucca in Oakland. And that's just for starters. What Gullifty's has is an extensive list of mostly traditional desserts: 28 every day, plus feature desserts on the weekend. The cheesecakes, triple chocolate cake, and 10-pound apple pie have been the same for years, according to Genie Mularkey, manager. They sell a lot of them, too. It's not unusual, Mularkey says, for Gullifty's to sell 35 pies, with 10 cuts from each pie, on a weekend day. Last April, Gullifty's tried to update the dessert list a bit, and dropped a couple that weren't selling well. Immediately, regulars noticed and complained. Now these desserts are made occasionally as weekend features. But there is more to Gullifty's than dessert. You can order a traditional meal, a sandwich, pizza, pasta, stromboli, calzone, salad, a Mexican dish or a cappuccino. Don't get too fancy about your wine choice, though. ``Just the basics,'' His Honor says with a sigh - two chardonnays, one cabernet, one merlot, a total of 10 by the glass. The best dinner we've had at Gullifty's was a sandwich. It's their ``famous Gullifty Reuben,'' a triple decker of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing on grilled rye. It was a little chintzy on the cheese, but otherwise a perfect Reuben. Traditional dinners were less successful. Grilled chicken and asparagus Alfredo, served on fettuccine, was a disappointment. The sauce was pasty, not creamy, and the promised asparagus was a few short pieces of the stalks in the sauce, along with shiitake mushrooms, larger pieces of roasted red pepper, and strips of grilled chicken. Roast boneless leg of lamb had been roasted and roasted and roasted until it was dark and not very appetizing looking, with nary a trace of the garlic and rosemary seasoning. Shrimp and pesto pasta was a big serving, but the rock shrimp were hard and the sauce unexceptional. Garlic fettuccine, chopped fresh tomatoes, fontina cheese and pine nuts in the dish didn't help enough. Gullifty's kitchen bakes its own bread and turns some of it into big croutons that show up generously in dinner salads and atop soups. Soups are made from scratch daily. We liked the thick, creamy chicken and garlic soup, topped with those croutons, Parmesan and Gruyere cheese, and with pieces of chicken and carrot shreds in the soup. With a salad, it makes a meal. Cream of spinach soup, though, didn't have much flavor, and the little garlic dumplings were leaden. One taste, and H.H. reached for the salt and pepper. A popular eating spot for people going to the movies in Squirrel Hill, Gullifty's is owned by Mark and Matt Hastie. The restaurant's name comes from the children's TV program ``Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.'' It's advertised as a unique eatery, and that's an apt description. The take-out menu alone goes on for eight pages, and often there are many specials. Whatever you order, though, it would be a shame to eat at Gullifty's and not have something from the long list of tempting desserts. (Then you can decide for yourself whether you think they are the best in town.) We counted three cheesecakes (chocolate chip, Oreo and turtle) on the regular menu, plus other cakes, pies, tortes and more. Maybe, for a really definitive decision on whether Gullifty's desserts are just good or really the best, we'll have to try every one. Oh, what a job this is.
Gullifty's
-- Review by Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
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Hours:
Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m.; Sunday, 10
a.m.-midnight