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PHOTOS BY LAURA PETRILLA
Bget away from the good memories you had of the old garden of Pusadee.
When owners Watcheree Tongdee, Bootsaba Tongdee, and Michael Johnson shut down their nearly ten-year-old business at the end of 2017 for renovation, they closed the book on this chapter of the Upper Lawrenceville restaurant. Their reimagined The garden of Pusadee, framed by its new menu perspective, new building construction and thoughtful design choices, is ripe for new memories. It may have taken them over three years to get there, but what they opened in January is extraordinary.
Bootsaba Tongdee is the main chef of the restaurant. Family matriarch Pusadee Tongdee, 79, is on hand every day to prepare the hanged man, all the curries, nam priks and lunch for the kitchen team. Johnson and Watcheree Tongdee add to the restaurant’s culinary voice. The rest of the kitchen staff are a talented bunch. Together, they’ve built a refined menu of multi-regional, house-style Thai fare, and, for the most part, they’re not playing it Pittsburgh-safe.
The menu is the perfect size – large enough to provide enough choice to put together a fairly epic but easy-to-navigate shared dinner for a well-balanced, understated meal. I found almost all the dishes I had to compose well, laminated and well executed in composition and cooking – so much so that you will have a hard time choosing your favorites.
One of the upgrades to the kitchen is a line of tao charcoal grills. This open-fire method of Thai cooking, which uses long, hot burning rambutan charcoal, produces many of the restaurant’s star dishes.
There are crispy, juicy, and sweet chicken thighs that are a good entry point for people who may be a little shy about tackling a more specific menu than what you might find in your Thai restaurant in New York. district. Grilled Humboldt Giant Squid, served with a lemongrass, chili, and garlic sauce, is eaten like steak rather than the little ovals or tentacles you typically imagine. These massive cephalopods, which can be 5 feet long and weigh over 100 pounds, aren’t commonly found on menus here. The Lemongrass Pork Meatballs, one of the few remnants of the old restaurant, are vastly improved by baking over hot coals. A new addition, Wagyu Beef with Butter Lettuce, is also a satisfying option.
Lemongrass pork meatballs
But if I had to pick a favorite among the tao grills, it would be pork belly with what’s called a caramel sauce (it’s a heavy, crisp soy and oyster sauce with garlic and chilli pepper). The fatty and tender meats are bathed in smoke and enhanced with the sweetness, warmth and umami of the caramel. “This is the best pork belly I have had in a very long time,†said a friend who has traveled a lot. Don’t overlook the tender, crunchy greens that accompany pork (or with any dish; Pusadee’s Garden’s vegetable cuisine is exemplary and something I’d like to see popping up more often).
PHOTO BY HAL B. KLEIN
Local architecture firm mossArchitects did a masterful job transforming the original Pusadee’s Garden building – where dining inside was never a draw – and a long-standing but neglected neighboring building into one intimate and sophisticated space cleverly divided into five elegantly appointed dining rooms, each with its own tranquil color scheme and design. The two buildings are connected at the front by an elegant newly constructed entrance arcade. Its dark, shiny concrete floor and long chain of glass windows overlooking the new garden together trigger the transition from the hubbub of Butler Street to the peaceful restaurant. On the other side of the interior is an open kitchen; inside, as you walk from one end of the restaurant to the other, you can watch the team of cooks at work (and, if you stay late enough, be a little jealous of what is shaping up to be delicious meals from the staff). Floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the restaurant offer views of the garden.
The best view of the garden is from the new glass bar in the far left corner, which is a perfect spot for a drink and a snack. Pusadee’s Garden is now liquor licensed – but don’t worry about losing another BYOB restaurant, as the bar program built by Johnson and senior bartender Curran “Curry†Dewhirst is a triumph. Dewhirst has flown under the radar in Pittsburgh’s craft cocktail community. At Pusadee’s, their selection of bespoke cocktails and riffs on classic cocktails deserve praise, finding a wide range of layered and well-constructed offerings that sometimes read as a little too complex or sweet (or both) but still balanced. . Beer drinkers – and it’s cuisine that pairs well with beer – will appreciate the 12 tap selection, mostly local, along with a thoughtfully curated reserve bottle list. Johnson has also curated a magnificent wine list which includes a great selection of global bottles as well as an extensive program by the glass.
Once the restaurant settles more deeply into its rhythm, I would like to see a limited late night menu at the bar. That way, they can still offer dishes like Street Noodles # 1, a holdover from old Pusadee’s and a popular dish from Johnson and Watcheree Tongdee’s other restaurant, Noodlehead; right now, it feels square-horse-round-hole-ish on a menu so anchored in regional cuisine. As well prepared as it was when I ordered it on a visit, I would skip it in favor of more notable offerings such as boneless lamb shank in a rich and warmly spiced Massaman curry or a short rib with bone Panang curry with textures ranging from an almost caramelized exterior to melted meat. Then there’s the crispy skin and plump, juicy, and (just a little) brackish flesh of the grilled amberjack. It’s topped with a tangy, flavorful and aromatic three-pepper, tamarind, and garlic sauce with a heat that increases the more you eat it. It’s a light dish that is eaten like a substantial dish, and another set of perfectly cooked greens complements it.
Inside it all is the eponymous garden which is more modernist than its previously lush iteration. Julie Kachniasz of Ground Stories designed the patio layout and even in its first season – a garden takes years to develop – the space is already one of Pittsburgh’s prettiest places for al fresco dining. . Jeff Pierce and Tom Bedger of Toadflax maintain the ever growing garden and all indoor floral plant displays.
Lamb shank with massaman curry
As exceptional as Pusadee’s Garden is only months away from its reinvention, there is room for improvements that would serve to refine the establishment of something that is the peak of Pittsburgh into a destination that deserves a place in the national conversation.
Two are lingering safety precautions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic: I would get rid of QR codes and go back to paper menus. It might sound a bit quibbling, but I don’t want to scroll through different windows to find what I’m looking for or pull out my phone every time I want to order a cocktail or other glass of wine. There is a place for digital menus in our new world of dining, but it’s not like a little square of dots, dashes and spots on a beautiful wooden table in an elegant establishment like Pusadee’s Garden. . I also didn’t dig that I had to wrap my own leftovers like I was in a fast casual restaurant – shovel them into boxes and stack them at the end of the table when they could be wrapped instead. and kept in the kitchen until the end of the meal.
Providing coaster-sized ‘to share’ plates is another problem at far too many Pittsburgh restaurants – Pusadee’s Garden isn’t the only one on that – but when you’re serving meals designed to be shared, it doesn’t matter. should have matching plates. The pace can also be a bit shifted. On one visit, the grill came moments after we started small plates (of which the roti with sweet potato and grated chicken in yellow curry was truly remarkable). Finding enough people to properly occupy a restaurant right now is a citywide challenge; this restaurant is no exception, but hopefully the service tightens up a bit over the next few months.
Laap with mushrooms
I’m curious to see how Pusadee’s garden evolves from here. I recognize that Tongdees and Johnson have to adjust to the fact that a good segment of Pittsburgh diners might not want to step out of their comfort zone, and many come in with ex-Pusadee’s expectations and favorites. But I also think the Tongdee family could share more of their culinary roots with a few dishes if they wanted – and many of us would love the opportunity to embrace it. The menu fluctuates somewhat with the seasons, which could provide space to experiment with new offerings; for example, the pomelo salad I had in February offered the opportunity to deepen the bitter flavors a bit, especially since you can’t get a constant supply of fantastic pomelo here. In a similar vein, the staple of the nam prik noom menu could use a little bit of acid, sour or spiciness to complement its smoky flavor.
Pusadee’s Garden has already been Pittsburgh’s most exciting restaurant for years. And what they do works – Pusadee’s Garden has been the toughest booking in town since it opened and it shows no signs of slacking off (tip: the restaurant is holding a few seats and you can score a table or bar seat day by showing up early). It is also very close to being a memorable experience out of this world. Why not take a closer look at it?
5321, rue Butler, Lawrenceville; 412 / 252-2683, pusadeesgarden.com
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