by Erin Palmer

Created on: December 21, 2008

The Sonoma Grille in Pittsburgh was a positively memorable dining experience. Being from Philadelphia, my husband and I never really expect much from restaurants in other cities in Pennsylvania, but Sonoma Grille surpassed our expectations.

We started with the Tapas Platter for two ($22), which included a Tandoori chicken satay with sweet onion ginger sauce; Shrimp Tempura with Asian slaw and scarlet orange and apricot chutney; Flash fried calamari with a twelve pepper remoulade; Ahi ceviche with blood orange, chipotle and pepitas, and plantain chips; and Duck confit and apple samosa with cilantro mint chimichurri.

The tapas plates were uniquely arranged in the middle of the table on a wine barrel stave. The duck confit fritters pleased everyoneeven the pickiest of eaterswhile the ahi ceviche was bursting with fresh fish and citrus flavors.

We had ordered a single serving appetizer of the calamari ($9) before we realized that it was the same as the tapas platter. This came before everything and even though it was fresh, lightly breaded, and tasted like squid is supposed to taste like, it was a little too small for $9. I am of the mindset of American portions being obscenely large, but this appetizer was small enough that it appeared in the middle of the table, served on a bread plate, and half of us didn't even notice it was there.

The menu was overwhelming at first, but had a nice variety of choices. I was tempted to try the $85 4-course option with wine paring menu but I'm glad I didn't because I would have gorged more than I did. Instead I chose the "Mixed Grill" option, which was kind of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" meal.

The "two selections" of a main dish was $24 and I chose the Spicy cilantro and lime crab cake (4oz) and Filet mignon and mushroom kabob (5oz). I could then choose two different sauces, from which I got the Zinfandel demi-glace and the Harissa cumin mayonnaise. My side was the last choice, and I opted for the side of the day, which was fettuccine with an olive and artichoke sauce.

Everything on my plate was phenomenal: cooked and seasoned perfectly. I probably would have been happy with the $14 option of just one main dish, but I almost cleaned my plate because everything tasted so good.

The other meals of choice were:

Grilled Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola scalloped potatoes, smoked tomato demiglace, grilled asparagus for $26 (one of these was asked to be lightly seasoned, and to substitute green beans for the asparagus, which was not a problem

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