Pittsburgh Baillage is Served a Feast from the Pacific Northwest

By Vice Chargé de Presse Ken McCrory

On the heavily overcast evening of February 13, 1997, with snow threatening, the Grand Concourse's Matre de Table Restaurateur Rick McMaster gave us a glimpse of the bright blue skies of the Pacific Northwest. Well -- that might be an exaggeration -- but we did get to sample the cuisine of the American shore of the Pacific Rim, as well as the wines of Oregon and Washington. Rick poured Argyle sparkling wine from Oregon's Willamette Valley as well as a 1995 Elk Grove Pinot Gris at the reception. The hors d'oeuvres included mini onion tarts, reggiano touilles, swordfish carpaccio, a northwest oyster bar (featuring seven types of oysters), smoked salmon quesadilla, smoked shrimp cheesecake and the Grand Concourse's famous wild boar sausage. With these exotic taste treats from the Northwest, Executive Chef Bruce Patterson was just getting warmed up.

The Grand Concourse restaurant is located in the old Pittsburgh and Lake Erie terminal building. The restaurant is an absolute cornucopia of brass, marble and stained glass built in 1901, an era when railroads were fabulously wealthy and spared no expense for their terminal buildings. When the restaurant moved in, it took hundreds of hours of scraping and cleaning to remove the dirt and tar from the stained glass arched roof. Even today maintenance of the roof is a major cost, but one Rick feels is well worth it.

As photographer Peter Wolf made a Herculean effort to drag the Chane members away from the hors d'oeuvres for a picture, Dame de la Chane Shirley Olander's husband, Ward, commented that he had shipped out of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie terminal for the Army in 1946. With the anticipated feast before them, the Pittsburgh Chane was glad to be staying put, rather than shipping out.

While several members of the Chane spent most of the reception standing by the oyster bar (hmmm...I wonder if those rumors about oysters are true?), most everyone still had plenty of room for the five courses that followed. The soup course, served with a 1995 Tualatin Riesling, was a rich cream of cauliflower with curried apple pure. A 1993 Gewurtztraminer accompanied the salad course of dungeness crab and artichokes. Vice Chancelier-Argentier, Herb Sperling, correctly guessed that the salad dressing was a rmoulade of dill and cayenne pepper. After an apple sorbet, our first entre was pot-au-feu of Alaskan steelhead salmon and Alaskan spot prawns with clam in a fennel broth. These were accompanied by the 1993 Tualatin Chardonnay and the 1993 Tualatin Reserve Chardonnay. This delicate dish was unlike any "stew" you've ever tasted.

The second entre of Columbia River sturgeon wrapped with sweet potatoes served with leeks and a veal stock Pinot Noir reduction was paired with the 1994 Montinore Pinot Noir and the very rare 1994 Montinore Pinot Noir Reserve. These powerful Oregon Pinot Noirs, particularly the Reserve, are worthy contenders to the great burgundian Pinot Noirs. Dessert included hazelnut praline tiramis accompanied by two dessert Reislings from 1987 -- the ultra late harvest Montinore from Washington County and the ultra late harvest Montinore from Yam Hill County.

As the snow that had held off all evening finally began to fall, we sat comfortably over after dinner drinks and cigars amidst the beautiful surroundings, as Chevalier Bernie Cohen reflected that it had truly been a grand evening at the Grand Concourse.