Poulet Bleu Is Pittsburgh’s Hottest New Restaurant | Eater

"A new French restaurant in Lawrenceville from chef Richard DeShantz and partner Tolga Sevdik has opened its ground-floor dining room (with a second floor, roof deck, and expanded outdoors on track to open by spring). Seating just under 50, the spot departs from DeShantz’s usual downtown watering-hole-or-steakhouse dichotomy for a more refined, candle-lit experience—floral wallpaper, blue tiles, and a French-blue Hestan range anchor a dining room into which the kitchen seamlessly flows, a design executed by DeShantz and his brother Ron and reflective of his art-school background. The menu, developed with executive chef David Racicot (a multiple James Beard longlistee) and executed by chef de cuisine Ryan Hart, leans classic French: steak frites, pot au feu, and skate wing meunière appear alongside a breakout French onion soup built from a pound of oxtail and onions, Cognac-laced veal stock that nearly reaches the lip of the bowl, and a broiled baguette “raft” topped with Emmental and Comté—the diner punctures the taut cheese to release the broth and then spoons through shredded oxtail and sweet onions (DeShantz says of presentation, “I hate when the cheese sinks a little”). A small entrance bar overseen by Cecil Usher focuses on classics (a vodka gimlet with lime cordial, St. Germain and a dash of lavender bitters, French 75s), while sommelier John Wabeck has assembled a mostly French, food-friendly wine list aimed at over-delivering for the price and capable of suggesting after-dinner pours like Sauternes or Kirschwasser. Desserts nod to DeShantz’s pastry roots—crème brûlée, yuzu lemon curd pavlova, profiteroles, beignets, clafoutis—and the chocolate soufflé, a pouf for two served with crème anglaise and cherry compote, is an early favorite. The combination of design, careful cooking, and timing—French restaurants are back in style—has produced packed seats and busy reservations, yet the team intends the place to feel approachable and spontaneous for locals rather than off-limits to regulars." - Melissa McCart