Dish Osteria and Bar

Dish Osteria

I love this little gem of a place.  I've been here a few times.  It's tucked on the corner of 17th and Sarah Street in the Historic South Side district of Pittsburgh.  It's service is superb.  They will modify a lot of the dishes to be gluten free.  The people are friendly, but most of all, the food is unique and always delicious.  One thing I love about this restaurant is the evolution of the menu.  It is always changing, yet some elements remain constant.

The restaurant is a small establishment focused on Italian dishes with accents of Sicilian and Mediterranean flavors.   There's pasta, seafood, poultry and more.  The pasta is not gluten free, but plenty of other dishes can be made gluten free.  Just ask. 

This time I ordered the cuddlefish.  I've never had cuddlefish before, but I knew this was the place to try it.

It was salty, it was savory.  It was interesting.  I can't say I've ever had anything like it.  And I liked it.

I also had a gluten free dessert here.  The Panna Cotta was so delicious I wish I ordered two!  It is a vanilla bean custard with berries.  I was so excited about this gluten free dessert after seeing it it at the table next to me, that I ate it before I could snap a picture.  That is totally not like me.  I love taking photos of food.


412-390-2012
128 South 17th Street,
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

http://www.dishosteria.com

Cafe Du Jour

Cafe Du Jour

I love this place.  I'm never disappointed when I come here.   It is closed on Sunday & Monday, BYOB, and cash only, but it's well worth it.  It is an outside dining restaurant hidden on East Carson St.  Once in the door, you walk through the kitchen to get to the outdoor patio dining area.  The patio is set up like a secret garden with a waterfall in the back.  It really quite cute.  There are only a handful of tables, so its best to make a reservation. 

We started with a Spinach Asiago dip appetizer.  It came with bread, but to make it gluten free, they added a plate of vegetables for me to dip.  I was uncomfortable with the bread coming directly on the same plate as the dip, but they were separated by a dish so I spooned some dip on my plate and ate it with the vegetables.

I ordered the wild mushroom consumme soup.  It was a pleasant light beef broth with an assortment of wild mushrooms of all different sizes.  It was delicious.

My friends had the meatballs on a baguette.  It wasn't gluten free, but they said it was very tasty. It had a very nice presentation. 

For my entree, I ordered the strip steak with blue cheese, onion crisps, zucchini, spinach sprinkled with a little cheese, and potatoes.  The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare with a crispy outside.  The onion crisps made me do a double take.  I questioned the server about them going into a frier.  He assured me they were gluten free.  I don't know how they cooked them, because they were crispy and flaky, something usually associated with being not so gluten free.

The perfect end to a perfect meal was the flourless chocolate cake.  It was creamy, fudgy, packed a chocolate punch.  I can't imagine a better end to this wonderful meal.

As I was told, everything must have been gluten free, even though it was hard to imagine that it was because it was all so good.

1107 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203