Pittsburgh doesn't seem like the ideal environment for outdoor dining. After all, the city has an unfortunate reputation for dreary skies and rain. While there may be few cloudless days in Pittsburgh, the weather isn't so much terrible as changeable.

Perhaps it is the weather's ambiguity that makes Pittsburghers love outdoor dining so much. If so, diners will be pleased to learn that they have more options than ever for dining out, outdoors.

Since February, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's Paris to Pittsburgh program, which provides matching funds to Downtown businesses to improve their facades and create a positive "street-presence," has made great strides in partnering with Downtown restaurants to add or improve outdoor dining, which has been one of the primary goals of the program. Outdoor dining "activates the streets, it makes them more lively," explained Hollie R. Plevyak, the PDP's Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

Palate Bistro, Downtown, 412-434-1422, www.palatebistro.com The Sonoma Grille, Downtown, 412-697-1336, www.thesonomagrille.com Buon Giorno Cafe, Market Square, www.buongiornocafe.com MixStirs Cafe, Market Square, 412-288-8999, mixstirs.com Moe???s Southwest Grille, Market Square, www.moespittsburgh.com Tonic Bar and Grill, Downtown, 412-456-0460, www.tonicpittsburgh.com Milano Pizza, Downtown, 412-281-5780 Legume Bistro, Regent Square, 412-371-1815, www.legumebistro.com Wright Seafood Inn, Heidelberg, 412-279-7900, wrightsseafoodinn.com Red Room and 2Red, East Liberty, 412-362-5800, www.redroomcafe.net

Louis Astorino, who first conceived the program, was originally inspired by the streetside tables at Parisian cafes, so it's only fitting that one of the program's first participants is Palate Bistro on Sixth Street, which serves a menu of refined French classics currently including frogs legs, beet salad and hangar steak. The new space adds 18 seats to the restaurant, but John Valentine is also excited by the opportunity to "have a greater presence on the street." Palate's new facade includes awnings to protect tables from the rain and too much sun, charming cafe-style tables and chairs, and trees that will eventually be lit up at night. Though not every detail is in place -- the permanent barrier and the tree-lights will take a few more weeks -- the restaurant is holding a grand opening for the new space on Sunday.

Just a few blocks down Penn Avenue, Sonoma Grille's new space is also taking shape. Retractable awnings will allow for flexibility, and rather than using stanchion-like barriers, they are working with a local florist to create planters to separate the dining area from the street. Outdoor dining will add six tables to the restaurant, and sommelier and owner Uri Marcovitz predicts that the new space will be open by July 1 or soon after. Though dining will be prioritized, I predict that during off-hours these tables will be the perfect spot to enjoy a glass of wine and a light snack.

One of the areas that will benefit the most from the Paris to Pittsburgh Program is Market Square. The MixStirs Cafe, which opened in the fall of 2007 and serves sandwiches, wraps and smoothies, was the first participant in the program and has used the matching funds to revamp its lighting and signage, and to add retractable awnings and outdoor tables. In the near future the cafe plans to add NanaWalls -- large sliding glass doors -- that diminish the barriers between indoors and outdoors year round.

Sliding glass doors are also a feature of the new design of the Market Square Buon Giorno Cafe. The cafe is undergoing a major renovation that includes adding a large second-story deck above the sidewalk patio. Diners on the deck will have a unique view of the square.

Moe's Southwest Grille, set to open in the Square sometime this summer, is another Paris to Pittsburgh participant that is using the program to help fund major changes to its building's facade. Large windows form an almost continuous opening along the Square, and earlier this week carpenters began to erect large flower boxes along the wall.

Businesses and individuals have been unhappy with the square for years, but now that noisy buses have been rerouted, new businesses are opening and others are redecorating, Market Square is already humming with new vibrancy. It's easy to imagine that in the near future Market Square will have the liveliness and life of a campo in Italy, especially when new outdoor seats are filled with diners.

Other restaurants working with the PDP include Tonic Bar and Grill and Milano Pizza. There are plenty of funds left in the program, which received a $1 million grant from the Colcom Foundation. "Now that the projects we've been working on are coming to fruition, we're hoping we'll get more interest in the program," says Plevyak.

Downtown isn't the only place to find new patios and sidewalk seats. Legume Bistro in Regent Square, which opened just over a year ago, has tables on the wide sidewalk that markedly increase the seating capacity of this small and extremely popular restaurant.

Though the setup is simple, Legume is an ideal place to eat al fresco because the food is so seasonal. Dishes such as Crostini with Fresh Figs, Ricotta and Shallot Marmalade ($8), and Kistaco Strawberry Shortcake ($7), will last only as long as figs and strawberries are in season. There is nothing more satisfying than a perfect local strawberry eaten while enjoying a beautiful summer evening.

The new owners of the Wright Seafood Inn in Heidelberg have added a lovely, rustic wooden deck overlooking the river.

Of course, outdoor seating is most memorable when it is a little unique -- a hidden garden, for example. Another exciting change at the Red Room in East Liberty is the imminent opening of 2Red, a new lounge adjacent to the main dining room, which will have a rooftop deck that seats 45. Both the lounge and the rooftop deck should be open in a few weeks, hopefully by mid-July.

Belts may be tightening and dining out is admittedly a luxury, but Pittsburgh has too few sunny days to waste. Spend at least a few this summer enjoying the splendid outdoor dining experiences Pittsburgh has to offer.