Paris 66

Paris 66

6018 Penn Circle South
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
 

Paris 66 is a family owned French restaurant in East Liberty.  It’s dinning room is decorated with French posters and pictures.  The space is cute.

The menu has plenty of gluten free items.  Just ask.  Most of the items can be modified to be gluten free, just ask the knowledgeable waiter.  He told me only things with puff pastries, pastas, and the frog legs were not gluten free.  I was slightly disappointed about the frog legs, but there were plenty of other things to eat.

First they bring out some sort of Brussels sprout cream to clear your pallet.  It was different.  Then they bring out buckwheat crepes with butter.  They were alright, if you like buckwheat or are really hungry.

I ordered the cauliflower soup.  It was pretty good.  I felt it needed a bit of salt added, which when I added it really brought the cauliflower flavor out.  It was creamy and white.  It was just a puree without any chunks of cauliflower in it, which I would have preferred, but didn’t mind.

Then I ordered the raspberry duck with the potato gratin.

The potato gratin was a square layered with potatoes and cheese.  It was moderately warm and probably premade and reheated when I ordered it.  It was ok, but not spectacular. They substituted the tomatoes for me for mixed vegetables.  That was nice.  They had a seasoning on them that I'm not entirely sure I liked, but they were crisp and fresh, and that's what matters.

What was spectacular, was the duck.  It was tender, juicy, and crispy on the outside just like it should be.  The sauce wasn’t overly sweet. It was delicious. There are a few more things I’d like to try on this menu, so I guess I’ll just have to come back.

Eddie Merlots

Eddie Merlot's

444 Liberty Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222


Eddie Merlot's has a very nice atmosphere.  The service was very attentive from the door to the end of your meal.  The waiter was very knowledgeable about the gluten content of the items on the menu. 

The steaks are why you come here.  Sure, there's seafood and poultry on the menu, but why would you even spend time looking at those things when this place is known for the steaks?  What kind of steak do you want?  Some of the meats are aged.  They have bison or cow in all the best cuts. 

Everything is al a carte.  You can add sauces or toppings to the steak. The waiter said almost all of the steaks come gluten free as they are listed on the menu and we would check on the sauces when we come to that bridge.  I didn't need a sauce to cover the taste of my steak.  I wanted to taste the steak.  I ordered the 7 oz bison filet medium rare. 

It was the beefiest filet I had ever tasted.  It was cooked perfect.  It was the only thing on the plate, except three green leaves of... something.  Maybe it was spinach. I don't know what the garnish was.  The bison looked lonely on the plate. 

The sides came in big bowls.  They were big enough to share.  I was excited about the Brussels sprouts with bacon, but was quickly disappointed by them.  The bacon was undercooked & tasteless. The Brussels sprouts were al dante, nicely cooked but bland.  I didn't try the potatoes because they scared me.  Something about they said not gluten free.  I heard I wasn't missing anything.

I was also disappointed to learn that the sides were already prepared before I ordered them, so there was no modifications that could be made to them.  The pre preparation was apparent in the quality.  I almost expected this from a chain restaurant because they are trying to keep all of the sides uniform throughout their locations.  I had higher hopes for this place.  But like I said before, you don't come here for the sides, you come here for the steaks.

The steaks, no matter which one you order, will not disappoint you!

The onion straws are not gluten free. You can just order the steaks that come with them without onion straws.  This is the beef rib eye.

The steaks are amazing and worth it!