Pittsburgh's Ritual House starts summer with new, lighter dishes
Ritual House, which opened in February in the Union Standard Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, served up a new menu on Wednesday. The plan is to change up the offerings seasonally.
Executive chef Edwin Smith and pastry sous chef Zoe Peckich have brought their American cooking styles and modernized dishes with ingredients and techniques from around the world.
Called “shareables” on the menu, the brûléed oranges have goat cheese and local microgreens. The fried green tomatoes are topped with green goddess dressing and pickled onion, and the tuna poke features sashimi-grade tuna and poke sauce.
And that’s just for starters.
Entrees, cocktails and desserts have a new taste, too.
“My focus is always on quality first,” said Smith in a statement. “The menus have been refined in a way that our everyday diner can come here for something light or something completely decadent and always be wowed by the consistency, freshness and creativity on their plate.”
New entrees include Asian-inspired fried chicken piled high on the plate atop a fresh Asian slaw and drizzled with Szechuan syrup. The sous vide beef short rib has a Burgundy wine demi-glace, pearl onions, carrots, and Parmesan grits. There is also Chilean sea bass and tuna sashimi.
Side dishes include BBQ sweet potato with whipped Mascarpone and new pasta offerings such as lobster macaroni and cheese.
There are more salads and soups as well as a smoked pork loin handheld, Nashville hot chicken and Bear Italian beef.
Smith added power bowls with roasted sweet potato, roasted beets, green apple, avocado, red peppers, mixed greens, and quinoa, topped with Green Goddess dressing and the kung pao bowl with togarashi spiced chicken, peanut soba noodles, cucumber, Asian slaw, edamame, avocado and sprouts topped with a sweet poke dressing.
Brunch favorites remain, such as lemon merengue pancakes, candied pepper bacon and red velvet chip pancakes. The pastrami hash and smoked salmon are new.
Pekich, recently featured in the Food Network’s Summer Baking Championship series, will continue to create the seven-layer cake with a sparkler and glowing cotton candy tower, she’s added a “not your gram’s strawberry pretzel salad” and “the rocher me away” with hazelnut mousse, salted caramel, gold leaf and toasted hazelnuts in a dark chocolate shell.
The lemon dream has lemon cake, white chocolate cheesecake with lemon curd, lemon gastrique, and is topped with an almond lace.
Two of the cocktails are using Glenshaw-based Boyd & Blair spirits. Their vodka is in the “Lavender Lemon Drop” and their rum is in the “Tropical Like It’s Hot” cocktail.
“It’s great when local restaurants support and feature local brands not just for being local but for being top quality,” said Barry Young, president, CEO and master distiller for Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, LLC, in Gibsonia. “For us, Ritual House is top quality and we are thrilled to have our brands there and featured. It is a great partnership.”
The restaurant is about providing memorable and delicious moments for everyday diners as well as guests who have something to celebrate, said Ritual House co-owner Herky Pollock, in a statement.
“At Ritual House, our team is constantly inventing and is forever celebrating our city – we want to be a positive contributor to the daily energy of our vibrant downtown neighborhood,” Pollock said. “From engaging business lunches to after-concert cocktails, we want to be the house away from home for our guests.”
Reservations are encouraged for brunch, lunch, and dinner.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.