Culinary WHIRLED /EDIBLE EXCERPT

Get a taste of what’s inside the current issue of Edible Allegheny.


Perfectly Paired

Restaurateurs all over Western Pennsylvania are preparing to poach this perfect fruit.
By Nicole Barley

Pears, so simple and sweet, are the ultimate snack. At The Ivy Café, get your fix from Chef Anthony Hruska and his wife, Lisa, whose last name means “pear” or, “the person who picks pears” in Czechoslovakian. Start with the Port-Poached Pear Salad — rich pecans, salty-sweet blue cheese, dried cranberries, and a port vinaigrette compliment with a wine-soaked pear. Bookend the meal with the Pear Almond Tart, centered around a sweet soufflé. In Shadyside, Pangea’s Chef Ron DeLuca plans to wrap pork tenderloin in cherry wood-smoked bacon and serve it alongside a poached Anjou pear stuffed with whipped Roquefort cheese, all atop frisée and red onion salad tossed with candied-walnut vinaigrette. Set for gorgeous garnish are “crispy pear fritters and Frangelica cream, or a cognac pear butter,” he says. Plus, Palomino’s Chef Brian Thurston suggests two recipes, pepped up with lots of spice. Spoon savory wild rice and pear relish that pops with pear brandy. Sip a ginger and pear martini, tart and tasty with fresh lime sours. Or take his easy tip for entertaining holiday guests, “I also love to serve pears with mild cheeses and Champagne, both for an appetizer and dessert.” Sounds like a perfect pairing.

The Ivy Café, 201 E. Main St., Ligonier. 724.995.1050. theivycafepa.com. Palomino, 4 Gateway Center, Ste. 100, Downtown. 412.642.7711. palomino.com. Pangea, 736 Bellefonte St., Shadyside. 412.621.3152. pangea-shadyside.com.


Plum Perfect

Mirabelle serves local traditions with a seasonal twist — and a glass of Champagne.
By Victoria Bradley

A mirabelle is a small, sweet yellow plum. John Muth named his Oakmont restaurant, Mirabelle Restaurant and Champagne Bar, after the fruit to show his dedication to fresh, local ingredients.

Mirabelle’s chef Michael Flowers likewise draws from the traditions and heritages of Western Pennsylvanians with an emphasis on what’s local. “That’s what makes up regional American cooking: the ability to source from our farms. It is nice to know where our food is coming from,” he says.

Muth agrees. “The food here is unique, but it’s not complicated,” he says. “We are aware of and respect the origins and traditions of food.”

The restaurant offers 10 sparkling wines by the glass, stocking miniature bottles so as not to compromise the flavor — or the bubbles. The top seller is a sparkling wine from Schramsberg Vineyards called Mirabelle, a toasty brut with a crisp lemon-lime finish.

A simple loaf of bread at Mirabelle is extraordinary. The restaurant sources locally milled organic flour from Frankferd Farms in Saxonburg. Warm bread pairs nicely with the chilled beets salad, almost too beautiful to eat, with its bleeding red beets, gold beets, and candy-stripe beets, topped with pickled grapefruit and served with a side of crackling goat cheese crème brûlée. Mint oil freshens the dish.

Best is the jägerschnitzel, a sauteed pork cutlet, sourced locally from Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance, crunching with golden breading that soaks up thick, syrupy black forest mushroom sauce. Roasted brussels sprouts balance the buttery housemade spaetzel with a vegetable tang.

Pear huckleberry cobbler is a warm finale, with its melting gob of housemade huckleberry ice cream.

The meal is worthy of a Champagne toast.

Mirabelle, 215 Allegheny Ave., Oakmont. 412.517.8115. mirabelleoakmont.com.



Download the PDF.
Give the PDF time to download.

To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email Jennifer Diamond.

To read more, pick up the Holiday issue of Edible Allegheny Magazine, published by WHIRL Publishing, on newsstands now!