The latest addition to the Pittsburgh Downtown dining renaissance is Palate, a modern French gastro-bistro that is creating quite a stir.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Lami Grubb Architects designed the interior of Palate, where photographs of Paris provide the French ambience. Click photo for larger image.

Palate is the creation of John Valentine, a longtime professional restaurant manager who has worked in New York, Toronto and Florida. He originally came to Pittsburgh to help Madison Marquette open a new restaurant they planned to put in the old G. C. Murphy property on Forbes Avenue, Downtown. The property negotiations failed and Madison Marquette left town, but by then, Mr. Valentine had fallen in love with Pittsburgh and especially with the Cultural District. He wanted to stay and he wanted his own restaurant. He would need to find a great chef and a good location. He began searching for both in 2005.

A restaurant review in the Nov. 3, 2005 Post-Gazette (by yours truly) lauded a new chef at a Downtown restaurant. Mr. Valentine rushed off to see if he agreed that, "The best news coming from Trilogy is what is happening in the kitchen ... The young chef, Ryan Racicot, is full of innovative ideas and is prepared to take chances. You could simply close your eyes and point to anything on the menu and come up with a winner. I predict great things from this extremely talented chef."

After one lunch, Mr. Valentine was definitely interested. He returned daily until he had sampled every item on the menu and indeed, he did agree that Ryan Racicot was not only extremely talented but that he was the man he wanted as his partner in his new restaurant.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette At Palate, European sea bass served "en barigoule," with artichokes, mussels, cherrystone clams and roasted lemon juice. Click photo for larger image.

Finding the right location for the venture was much more difficult. After 18 months of searching and a few false starts with properties that had to be abandoned for various reasons, Mr. Valentine finally found the perfect venue.

Directly across the street from the front door of Heinz Hall, 212 Sixth St. is a two-story building with an interior staircase to a mezzanine dining space and a second-floor lounge and bar. The restaurant seats 66 diners in three distinct areas.

There are an additional 12 seats at the bar and a lounge with upholstered love seats and chairs.

The building was totally gutted and re-configured by architect Bethany Demi of the Edgewood firm Lami Grubb. This process added five months to the length of the project. Several times the opening of the restaurant had to be postponed. The owners were determined to have everything perfect first.

Chef Racicot is from Pittsburgh. In the tradition of the finest European chefs, he trained with various master chefs but has no formal culinary schooling.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Palate restaurant executive chef Ryan Racicot, left, and owner John Valentine with a changing projection of stills of art, fruit, faces, silverware, statues, landscapes and other images in the back dining area. Click photo for larger image.

There must be some powerful culinary genes in his family. He was already working as a sous-chef at age 16. His brother Dave Racicot is the executive chef at Lautrec, the highly acclaimed French restaurant at Nemacolin Resort. He, too, received all his culinary instruction from on-the-job training.

What they both have is a dedication to pure and uncomplicated flavors that come from using the finest and freshest ingredients and preparing them with respect and creativity.

"Palate is the fulfillment of a dream," Ryan Racicot said.

The sous-chef at Palate is Sam Cerminara, who grew up with Chef Racicot and has worked with him at other Pittsburgh restaurants. There are five chefs de parties who assist in the kitchen.

Palate opened on June 8 and in a matter of days had developed a solid fan base. Phillip Injeian, the violin-maker who has a shop around the corner on Penn Avenue, is a regular.

"I take all my New York guests and musicians there for dinner," he says, noting that the casual-yet-sophisticated ambiance is reminiscent of a small Manhattan restaurant. He loves the risotto, the hanger steak, the Amish chicken and the sea bass. "It's hard to stay away from Palate."

Belle Conover of Collier appreciates the black-and-white photos of Paris that hang on the walls, but it is the perfection of the food, the presentation and the service that keep her coming back. She finds the waitstaff to be experienced and professional, something rare to find in Pittsburgh.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Palate's signature tartare: Traditional beef tenderloin flavored with grain mustard and creme fraiche and topped with pommes frites. Click photo for larger image.

She already has sampled a number of menu items.

"The wild mushroom risotto is a killer," she said. "But you must also try the sheep's milk ricotta gnudi with two giant grilled shrimp and a sort of parsley pesto sauce. I loved that."

Ms. Conover also has sampled all the desserts. She insists that the fresh goat cheese cake is the lightest and most delicious dessert in town. Pastry chef Mary Brozio has a number of other tempting treats, including warm pear dumpling with apricot honey and pistachios topped with vanilla bean ice cream, which also got high marks from Ms. Conover.

For guests who want to end their dinner with something savory, there is a selection of six artisanal cheeses.

Palate offers a fixed-price theater menu for pre-theater dining. The $35 menu is three courses and is available before 7 p.m. It offers three choices: Du Jardin, a vegetarian menu; L' Ocean, with seafood; or De La Terre, which features beef.

There also is a bar menu available from 4 to 6 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. The bar menu consists of many of the appetizers plus a sirloin burger, lobster BLT sandwich and a turkey, pancetta and Swiss cheese sandwich.

The bar stocks a number of micro-brews and imported beers. I was surprised to find my favorite German wheat beer, Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, on the list. Among the draft beers they pour are Unibroue's Maudite, from Quebec, and Thirsty Dog's Old Leghumper, from Independence, Ohio (now that's a name!)

The wine list is heavy on French wines including three Alsatian whites from three different grape varieties and all under $40. The French reds are predominantly from the 2004 or 2005 vintage, which for red Bordeaux or Burgundy wines is too young to enjoy. The restaurant allows guests to bring their own wine. The corkage fee is $15.

This week Palate began serving lunch. The restaurant is open for lunch from Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner is served from Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and late night small plates from Monday through Saturday from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

There is a possibility that the restaurant will eventually be open for brunch on Sundays.

Mr. Valentine said that opening the restaurant in the Cultural District is "a privilege" and noted, "I am humbled by the kindness and generosity the people of my adopted city have showered upon me."

Palate's Web site is www.palatebistro.com; the phone is 412-434-1422.