This Week at the Herdic House
Well, this has certainly been the turnaround week of spring, hasn’t it? A lovely, sunny Easter Sunday has carried us into a downright warm Wednesday, which seems to be planning a transition to a hot, hot, hot Thursday—it might be finally time to switch those winter sweaters for summer dresses! And thanks to this heatwave, we’re already getting inquiries about patio dining, which is a delightful concept—though we’ll remind everyone that the temps still tend to drop when the sun leaves our patio, so it’s best to bring some layers if you’re planning to dine al fresco at our place in the springtime. That said, tonight’s Blue Plate should be good to warm your bones a bit: we’ll be serving up a sausage and roasted pepper lasagne, finished with slivers of fresh basil and parmesan. It’s $18 at our House, and $20 to go, like always—but, per usual, our number of to-go orders will be very limited. We’ll hope to see you out tonight! And we’ve got some delicious ice creams and sorbets for those looking for a cool down—thin mint ice cream and blueberry bergamot sorbet, among others… Come join us for our Thursday happy hours at the bar, from 5-7 pm, with $1 off all beers and $2 off wines by the glass—or drink and dine on the patio in the lovely temperatures! Plus we’ll be serving our Thursday night feature that pretends to be healthy, all while loaded with the tangy umami of ranch dressing: house favorite Herdic Pittsburgh salad, this week served with grilled Key Farm flank steak, fresh-cut fries, grated cheddar and parmesan ranch. Plus, Hannah will be shaking up fresh mint juleps at the bar… It’s been a lovely week to be out and about in the world, whether that took you downtown to visit our excellent local shops and restaurants, out into the woods to forage for views and edibles, or just out into your yard to clean up the detritus of winter.
Liz and the kids took a picnic lunch up to Rock Run (with a bit of help from Bittner’s in Trout Run) and spent a lovely afternoon bouncing from rock to rock and eating cheese cosmos creekside before scouting the hillsides for fiddleheads, trillium, violet and trout lily. It’s an amazing thing to watch the world awaken in the spring—and if that sleepy valley wasn’t awake when we got there, the kids (especially Linden with his exuberant abuse of fallen trees) have certainly woken it now.
But even at home, the spring is everywhere at the moment—scores of us have yet to mow our shaggy lawns because the pretty purple of the ground ivy is too luscious to crop, the streets are littered with the pale pink of blown petals, and, now that Bob Dylan has left town, we can all set about focusing on the many delights spring has to offer. (For the legions of you who made it to the show last night, we hope it was excellent!) Here at the Herdic, we’ll spend the week cooking up the goodies that spring has brought our way, including some delightful spring lamb, the ubiquitous wild leeks, teensy violets and whatever else the week might bring by. As Liz is celebrating her birthday early next week, she’s determined that Friday’s menu will be dictated by the whims of the season and the whims of a cook who doesn’t get out enough—in other words, we’ll be cooking up some ersatz dishes that are otherwise difficult to find around these parts, utilizing the sudden bounty of the springtime…
- Rhubarb Negronis
- Wonton soup with shiitake, shrimp and ramp wontons
- Mustard green salad with shaved fennel, warm bacon vinaigrette and crispy goat cheese
- Yogurt-marinated lamb shoulder from Elysian Fields, roasted, pulled and served over rice with cucumber salad and flat bread
- Layered local strawberry and lemon panna cotta with fresh lavender cookies
And don’t forget to call down and score a table for Mother’s Day at the Herdic! Rated the #1 Mother’s Day destination (by the two moms we asked, but who’s counting?), we’ll have an excellent spread to help you celebrate the woman who brought you into the world—and may have likely been looking after you ever since! We’re serving 11:30 am-2:00 pm…