Dining Notes: If given a gift certificate, go right away

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Dining Notes: If given a gift certificate, go right away

Thursday, January 04, 2001

By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic

From the mailbox: Here I go again! It looks as if I'm stuck with another gift certificate ($38, I had partially used it already) to a restaurant that has "suddenly" closed. Do you have any info on what happened to the Brentwood Station Cafe on Brownsville Road?

I talked to you on the phone about this same problem some time ago. That time it was Antonini's on the South Side. They also did a sudden closing which left me with another gift certificate. Talk about "bad luck!" Gee, I'm gonna have to tell my friends to just "show me the money!"

This trend does not bode well for the "gift certificate" idea.

Regis Ruppert, Brentwood

If it's any consolation to you, Regis, you are not the first -- or the last -- person who has had this experience. Antonini's, of course, eventually reopened in Scott. But all I get is a "temporarily disconnected" message when I call Brentwood Station Cafe.

Every time a restaurant closes, it seems, I hear from someone who has been stuck with a gift certificate. A bit of advice to anyone who receives a restaurant gift certificate: Use it, in a hurry.

On a happier note, McKeesport native Frank Ruta should be feeling as if he's on top of the world this week. In Sunday's Washington Post, dining critic Tom Sietsema gave Ruta's new restaurant Palena an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Palena should be required eating for anyone who aspires to cook in this city; already, veteran chefs are streaming in to weigh their work against Ruta's," Sietsema wrote.

Of Ruta, who got his start as an apprentice at former Lemon Tree restaurant in McKeesport, Sietsema wrote in part:

"Ruta, a White House chef in the Carter, Reagan and Bush administrations, has kept such a low profile the past few years, J.D. Salinger looks public by comparison. This despite Ruta's starry resume, which includes kitchen duty at Obelisk and the late Provence and Le Pavillon, as well as time spent in Italy studying alongside the legendary chef Andreas Hellrgil."

Palena is at 3529 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-537-9250.

This writer did the correct thing: she complained to the owner. Had she complained to the manager before they left the restaurant that night, that would have been even better. You know the saying: If he doesn't know it's broke, he can't fix it.

And on the subject of restaurant attire, which readers have been debating, let's let Rose Thompson of Glenshaw have the last word:

"It is my opinion that the attitude as to what constitutes correct dress in a fine restaurant mirrors the generation gap, also reflected in manners and behavior. I am now a senior citizen. During my childhood and adolescence in the city of New York, people in casual attire would have been refused admittance to fine restaurants.

"My father used to say 'Fine feathers make fine birds.' People who dressed appropriately for the occasion felt good about themselves, were proud of themselves, and also showed consideration for their fellow diners by presenting an appearance that was not displeasing to others or discordant to the surroundings."

Woodene Merriman can be reached at wmerriman@post-gazette.com or by phone at 412-263-1222.