Überprüfung: Legume

Being a native Pittsburgher, I am constantly under pressure to defend my city from outsiders who find it necessary to deride my native hometown for their pleasure. It's like being interviewed constantly by the hostesses of "The View," except Whoopi isn't there to make people laugh. I'm not interested in arguing with Orange County kids who deem Pittsburgh to be backwater. They're full of shit and that's that.

But that's not enough for these people. They refuse that the city has moved forward. Consequently, we (native Pittsburghers) have to continue reminding ourselves that we are "bouncing back" or "ready for a comeback" or whatever stupid phrase UPMC uses in their commercials. We are in this perpetual state of believing that we are trying to catch up to everyone else.

But we aren't, and Legume is proof of that.

Legume is the relatively new restaurant that opened up in the quickly redeveloping Regent Square. Its owners, one of which is a displaced Pittsburgher, arrive from California bringing back what is commonly known as "California French." California French is the result of Chez Panisse, a well-know bay area French bistro that proposed the philosophy of cooking with mainly in season foods. Instead of serving Florida lemons in February, Chez Panisse advocates for the consumption of regional delicacies.

Legume is the type of restaurant that I always dreamed about when I wanted to become a chef. The menus are changed daily, the level of complexity offered in the food is tremendous, and the restaurant inside is comfortable and warm. They even have 3 different flavors of iced tea. I felt right at home inside Legume.

With a difficult choice (everything looked good), I ordered the pork terrine as an appetizer, a salad with anchovies, and the Jamison lamb shank.

The high expectations I had for Legume were quickly blown away by the terrine. In simple terms, a terrine is a mixture of cooked vegetables and meat that is packed into a container resembling a bread mold and chilled. Trust me, it tastes much better than my description. The terrine is then spread over freshly toasted baguette, and turns into a convenient taste of heaven.

As a new trend in the culinary world, more and more restaurants are now designing their menus to fit a "cleansing" course between the initial course (appetizer) and the main course. Be it fruit sorbets, salads, or some other dish that screams FRESH, this new philosophy in menu order is quite intriguing.

And from doing a minute amount of research, the philosophy is a result of the proper use of pickled ginger during a sushi meal. Traditionally known as gari, the ginger is not meant to be used as a garnish or a topper, but instead as a cleansing palate to prepare the taste buds for a different type of sushi. For those that have not eaten sushi (cough, DREW, cough), one is usually served a plate of several different types of sushi or a succession of plates with a specific type of sushi on each. The gari is used to cleanse the palate so the flavors of different sushis do no intermingle. And while we are on the subject, please don't mix your wasabi into the soy sauce. If you go to half-decent sushi bar, they flavor the soy sauce so as to optimize the experience of the meal. If they don't, well, find a new sushi bar.

In any event, back to Legume.

For me, the highlight of the meal was Mom's main course, the duck confit with brandied cherries. Maybe because I am especially fond of Mr. Mallard's dark meat, but a well-cooked piece of duck with really any type of sweet, fruity sauce is a recipe for a good time (Steelers blowing the lead in the Super Bowl? Not so much).

In any event, the next time you're faced with the situation where you must defend your hometown city, put on the Steelers/Pens, watch them beat the crap out of some New York/LA/San Diego/Miami team, have a seat at Legume, and just realize how good you actually have it.