My spouse and I dined at Butcher and the Rye with three
friends on a Friday evening in early September 2016. Butcher and the Rye is
open for dinner only from Tuesdays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays and
Mondays). You can reserve a table using the Yelp SeatMe online system or by
telephone. The Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group operates Butcher and the Rye, next-door-neighbor
tako, nearby Meat and Potatoes, Poutine
House (at the Consol Energy Center, now called the PPG Paints Arena),
and soon-to-be-opened Pork and Beans. The restaurant’s name draws from the Scottish poet Robert Burns’ children’s
song called “Comin’ Thro the Rye” as well as from the JD Salinger novel “The
Catcher in the Rye”; the later inspiration is evidenced by a local artist’s
interpretation of Holden Caulfield on the main floor.
Butcher and the Rye is located in Downtown Pittsburgh’s
Cultural District across from Heinz Hall, in the space previously occupied by restaurants
Palate Bistro, Overture, and Iron Butterfly. Butcher and the Rye opened in 2013,
and it has yearly been named one of Pittsburgh’s best restaurants by Pittsburgh
Magazine ever since. It has also won the James Beard Foundation Award for
Outstanding Bar Program.
The two-story restaurant features rustic Americana décor. A
chandelier made of white antlers hangs in the main dining room bedecked with
rabbit-print wallpaper; murals reminiscent of tattoos decorate the tables and
chairs; knives and cleavers are displayed by the entrance; reclaimed doorknobs
are installed as purse hooks; and mounted taxidermy animal heads adorn the
walls. Butcher and the Rye offers two bars. The main floor bar features an amber
multi-story Whiskey Wall that contains 600+ kinds of whiskey. The smaller,
quieter second-floor Rye Bar contains a library for lounging and a calmer
dining room. The bar serves 3 custom local draft beers, 10+ draft cocktails,
30+ wines, and 15+ featured cocktails. The restaurant offers seating at traditional tables, communal
tables, lounge tables, and at the bar. The kitchen is located in the basement.
The Butcher and the Rye menu features contemporary versions
of rustic American dishes. When it
first opened, Butcher served only small plates; however, the current menu
features larger dishes as well. Every dish that we ordered and shared
was a hit, including crispy pig wing (braised pork shank fried and coated with
Thai chili sauce, served alongside a mango salad with peanuts and cilantro),
pig candy (pork belly with apple kim chi, miso, cilantro), cauliflower (with
farro, carrots, pine nuts, harissa yogurt), beet and goat cheese salad (with squash
seeds and a blood orange vinaigrette), and one of the night’s appetizer
specials, the compressed peaches (with nuts), beef tartarte (with parmesan
bread, garlic aioli, radish, capers, and a truffle egg), duo of rabbit (with
fried leg and mortadella-stuffed saddle, cornbread, and mushrooms), halibut
(with gnocchi, artichokes, marmalade), and hanger steak (with onions, potato
croquettes, asparagus).
Our dinner at Butcher and the Rye was excellent!
We will return!
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