kdiddy.org

So, here is the second awesome giveaway of the week. (If you’re wondering what this is all about, you can read this post for a little explanation.)

This past Monday night, the husband and I headed back downtown to Seviche, Sonoma Grille’s sister restaurant. I have had seviche once before and thoroughly enjoyed it, while the husband remained somewhat skeptical.

Backing up a bit, if you’re not familiar with seviche, I’ll give you a quick rundown. It’s fresh fish that is marinated in citrus juice and the acid from the marinade kind of cooks the fish, but not in a way that turns the fish into the flaky white texture that you get when you, say, bake it or grill it. It’s delicious.

The husband and I settled at our table and ordered drinks. I got one of their Strawberry Mimosa Champagne Mojito, which is a little more froufy than I would normally order, but it was delicious and refreshing and not too sweet at all. I had three. The husband had a Caipirinha, which is distilled sugar cane juice with fresh lime and sugar. The lime gives it a kind of tequila taste. He only had one of those because they’re strong, but very tasty.

The chef, Jeff, came out to talk to us for a few minutes about what we would be sampling that night. We would get to try some of their signature seviche and some tapas, both of which would feature some of their dishes that have a local emphasis. Jeff has been working to purchase ingredients from local farms to keep money in the area and to foster a sense of community in the culinary scene. I like Jeff.

Our lovely server, Jackie, brought out our appetizer dish, which was their Asian Tartare. It’s kind of like your basic sushi roll but with lots of yummy stuff like white truffle oil. I totally missed what kind of fish they gave us with those but the husband and I gobbled those up and nodded wordlessly. Delightful.

Next was a chorizo-wrapped diver scallop on top of a bed of polenta, spinach and a Peruvian barbecue sauce. The husband has told me several times that he doesn’t like scallops and I keep telling him that he just hasn’t had a good scallop. This was a very, very good scallop. More wordless nodding.

Next was some of the Hamachi (Yellow Tail Snapper) in the Fire & Ice preparation. This seviche comes in those big spoons that you get at pho restaurants. The Hamachi sits on habanero peppers and onions and then is topped with a cool, prickly pear granita. You scoop the whole thing into your mouth, like a shot, so that you get the hot and then the cool. Amazing.

Then there was wild shrimp with avocado and corn salsa and milanga chips and THEN there was seared filet mignon with mushrooms (again, we devoured them even though neither of us likes mushrooms), tomatoes, and saffron aioli. Sometimes, I think of it and it makes me shiver.

Finally, we had a pulled chicken tostada. By this point, we were no longer speaking and I was no longer taking notes, because all we were doing was nodding, moaning in delight, and letting our eyes glaze over. It was sincerely some of the best food that either of us had ever had.

The atmosphere is cool but cheery and is more casual than Sonoma Grille, but would be really fun for a date or a night out and I hear that they have good happy hours and events like Salsa Night.

Just like with the Sonoma Grille giveaway, all you have to do to enter to win a $50 gift certificate is be in or around Pittsburgh and leave a comment on this post. You can enter both giveaways, but I won’t award the certificates to the same person. I’ll use random.org to select a winner on Friday, April 23rd. Good luck!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under food, Pittsburgh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.