Pittsburgh: G & G Noodle Bar (October 2016)

My spouse and I dined at G&G Noodle Bar for brunch on a Sunday in early October 2016. G&G is located on Liberty Avenue (between 5^th and 6^th Streets) in Pittsburgh’s downtown Cultural District in the space that previously housed the restaurant called Taste of Dahntahn. The restaurant is open daily for dinner and lunch or Sunday brunch (except no lunch on Saturdays). G&G accepts reservations via telephone or by using the online Open Table reservation system. Perhaps its original name “Grit & Grace” misled people to think that it offered Southern comfort food, so it now uses the shortened G&G and includes the words “Noodle Bar”. The S+P Restaurant Group opened G&G in 2014; they also operate restaurants Spoon (in Shadyside), Willow (in North Hills), and BRGR (in both Cranberry Township and Oakland).

G&G Noodle Bar features a long, narrow space that seats 80+ diners. Outdoor sidewalk dining (covered by a retractable canopy) leads to a foyer area that contains two long copper-topped communal high-top tables that accommodate walk-in customers. Next, a long bar leads to two high group tables that share a raised wooden banquette on one side; the other side of the dining area contains traditional booth seating. The rear of the restaurant includes traditional regular-height tables. Restrooms and the kitchen are located in the basement, and the door to these is located prior to the rear dining area. (An elevator is available.) Wood latticework flows overhead from the front bar to the back of the restaurant and elongates the space. Glass panels covered with chicken wire along the bar provide the “grit”, whereas the woodwork, high-backed banquettes, and lighting offer the “grace.” House-made dipping sauces and chopsticks are available in a wooden crate on each table.

G&G Noodle Bar serves Asian street food with American, Korean, Indian, and Chinese influences. The menu features small bites, noodle dishes, and sushi. We had heard that the restaurant offers dim sum selections from roving servers proffering items on trays; however, at Sunday brunch, they used trays only to deliver food that diners had already ordered. If we had seen that the dim sum steamed buns came only one to an order, we would have ordered one for each of us, because they were tasty (tweaked for brunch by including scrambled eggs) but difficult to share. Our other starter was pork belly bites, which were shareable and served in an orange chili glaze with spicy mayo. For entrees, we ordered the shrimp curry (with shrimp, coconut milk, green curry, flat rice noodles, basil, and chili) and the 5-spice roasted port (ramen noodles, dipping broth, ginger, green onion, pickled cucumber, and chili). Lastly, we shared one of the two sweet options on the dim sum menu: the doughnuts, round and rolled in sugar and served with an orange dipping sauce. (The other option was iced sticky buns.) G&G offers a full bar with beer, wine, and cocktails.

We enjoyed our brunch at G&G Noodle Bar, and we would like to return for dinner to try other small-plate offerings such as the bulgogi lettuce wraps and potstickers.