Been Busy!

Hey Guys-

I've been so busy the last month between Christmas and New Year's.... and then add on Pittsburgh Restaurant Week, Beer & Whiskey Dinners, Lent, and Valentine's Day.  If that isn't enough, I am traveling to Paris on February 1 for vacation.   I have never been to Paris for vacation, although I did study there learning to  make different breads a while back.   We are staying at the Renaissance Hotel near the Arc De Triumph.  I have been doing some research, and I want to go to Frenchie, Le Chateaubriand, and a few other great restaurants.  Any suggestions on where I should eat or shop?  Also any other Parisian secrets?

Looking to February, I have the Lenten Fish Fry's underway.  We are going to be open for lunch on Fridays only during lent, so make sure you stop by.

I hope everyone enjoyed Pittsburgh Restaurant Week, and is looking forward to the upcoming months!  Don't forget to vote for us on PittsburghMagazine.com on the ballot for Best New Restaurant!

Sally In San Francisco

We headed to San Francisco for the Steeler Game this weekend, hoping for a big win for them.  We ran into Sally Wiggin, the newscaster from WTAE at a Steeler bar called Giordano Bros, similar to a Primanti Bros. here in Pittsburgh.   They filmed a short video of her at the bar, with Tolga in the background.  Check it out here.  

While in San Francisco, we ate at Incanto, a nose to tail restaurant, hoping to meet Chris Cosentino, a well-known chef on the Food Network and in San Francisco. Pictures will be up soon.

Looking forward to New Year's Eve at Meat & Potatoes, call us for reservations!  412-325-7007.

Pittsburgh Magazine Review

For a great article to read about Meat and Potatoes, check out Pittsburgh Magazine. The restaurant was just written about in the December 2011 issue for our modern-day "Pittsburgh Speakeasy and Gastropub." From this article, you can see the picture of our Bone Marrow, Devils on Horseback, Pate, and others. It also shows our "cow diagram."

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We spent our holiday in NYC this past week, eating and researching. Come back next week for a great post and pictures!

Celebrities at Meat & Potatoes

We have been getting some celebs in Meat & Potatoes, but we normally do not talk a lot about it. We have had Tom Cruise (BTW our favorite Tom Cruise skit is the dance scene from Tropic Thunder) with wife Katie Holmes, and the band Anthrax, along with a lot of other people from Los Angelos, have been visiting in the past few weeks. How great is it to get a few icons in here to enjoy our food? What do you all think we can do to get more?

We went to the Anthrax concert - Don't worry - we have pictures Here.

P.S. - We got Momofuku KO reservations for this Wednesday in NYC. I think we are pretty lucky, don't you??

Loving Life And Limb

Marie and I love to eat. We like to check out new restaurants in Pittsburgh every week, and especially to help support the Pittsburgh Chefs and Restaurants. This past week, we went to Arlecchino, a restaurant by Jonathon Vlasic from Alla Famiglia. The food was extremely good, and we even had this intense pasta course, where the server would put hot pasta and cream into a large cheese wheel and scrape the cheese until it created an Alfredo-like sauce. It was like your favorite Macaroni and Cheese created in front of you. Check out Pictures here.

We also ended up at KAYA this week, one of our favorite Big Burrito restaurants. We ran into our friend Erica there (who is Chef Keith Fuller's girlfriend), and she bought us a bottle of "Life and Limb" (Version 2) a collaboration of Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head that they re-did a second time for the beer lovers in us. We always have terrific meals at KAYA, so thanks!

As for the rest of our fun-filled week - we ended up going to the Pittsburgh Steeler game on Sunday, thanks to our good friend Bruce Arians. Here are some pictures from our Sunday Funday together with our friends.

Chef Family Dinners in Pittsburgh

This past Sunday, some of the Pittsburgh Restaurant Chef's got together to do a "pot luck" family dinner. This week, it was held at ROOT 174, whose head chef and owner is my friend Keith Fuller. In the picture to the left, you will see me and my friend Bryan from Spoon. We all brought in a dish, along with some wine or other favorite item, and shared with one another. This was such a great way to interact with a lot of the Pittsburgh Restaurant food scene. We are going to try to do this every so often to give us all a chance to unwind and talk about what we love about what we do, and that is FOOD. Here are a few pics from Sunday.

Another thing we have been working hard at this week is BRUNCH. The food has really been looking good. It is served from 10:30 - 2 pm Saturday and Sunday. Here are some pictures of some menu items.

Here are some Pictures of some of our brunch menu items

Post a comment on what you like for brunch!!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @4Meatnpotatoes & @ChefRDeShantz

Follow us on Facebook: Meat & Potatoes

LIVER FOUNDATION DINNER & MY NEW TOY

I got a new toy right before the Liver Foundation Dinner this past Sunday. I FINALLY got the duck press I wanted from Sur La Table. This thing is great. All I do is press my roasted duck and I get all of the juices out to create a wonderful sauce.

This Sunday at the Liver Foundation Dinner, I served Duck as my main course, as well as some other great things. My sous-chef Harry, my bartender Mike, and Marie helped me serve some great people that evening.

My menu was as follows:

COURSE 1: "SweetBread Tacos" - chili & cocoa crusted sweetbreads with avocado, aji amarillo, corn salsa and pickled red beets

ACCOMPANIED by a "Tequila Fizz"- blanco tequila/lime/agave/egg white

COURSE 2: "BiBimBap" - Eel and Foie Gras over sticky white rice with a sunny-side up quail egg

ACCOMPANIED by a "Perfectly Plum" - plum wine/sake/honey liquor/black cherry juice/basil

COURSE 3: "Risotto" - Black Truffles, Parmagiano Reggiano and a sous-vide egg

ACCOMPANIED by an "Americano" - campari/antica formula vermouth/prosecco

COURSE 4: "Fish and Chips" - Chowder broth-based PEI mussels with potatoes, bacon, and rosemary sea salt chips

ACCOMPANIED by a "Pimm's Blue Ribbon" - Averna/St. Germain/ lemon/ cucumber/ mint/PBR

COURSE 5: "Sous-Vide Duck" - Duck with roasted figs, baby carrots, and beets

ACCOMPANIED by a "Barrel-Aged Manhattan" - Buffalo Trace Bourbon/Cinzano Sweet Vermouth/bitters

COURSE 6: "Pumpkin/Almond/Toffee" - Pumpkin Creme Brulee, almond brittle, and sticky toffee pudding

ACCOMPANIED by a "Spanish Coffee" - Brandy/Grand Marnier / Kahlua/ Coffee/ Cream/ Demerara sugar rim

It really was a great event. Thanks to everyone that had a great night with us for the after party at the Westin. Good Luck to everyone!!

For Pictures from the evening - E-mail Marie at perriello12@hotmail.com

DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @4meatnpotatoes

@ChefRDeShantz

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