The Carlton Restaurant

You can now follow the Carlton Restaurant on Facebook!  Click here to become a fan!

On behalf of our fine staff at The Carlton Restaurant and on behalf of my family and me,
I want to wish you a very happy, healthy and blessed New Year!

And, speaking of blessings, I’d also like to offer you this old Irish Blessing!

May all that you wish for be the least you get,
and may the best times you’ve ever had
be the worst you’ll ever see!
-an Old Irish Blessing

We are going to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary on December 10, 2009! All guests joining us for dinner on that day (The Carlton’s actual 25th birthday) will enjoy a complimentary glass of sparkling wine, will be able to choose from several dinner selections priced at $25 and sample some of Pastry Chef Jeff Julin’s birthday cake for dessert!

Thank you for keeping us in business for 25 years!  We are overwhelmed and appreciative of your support.  It really seems like yesterday that we opened our doors.  Next summer we will remodel and prepare for the next 25 years!  As our architects are hard at work, we can promise that the look and cuisine of the “New Carlton” will be better than ever!

I am proud to host a $250 fundraiser and upscale Wine Tasting event from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on Monday, December 14 for Auditor General Jack Wagner as he begins his campaign for Democratic nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania.  My many years of involvement in the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association have put me in close contact with state and local public officials – giving me a unique perspective.  Jack is an honest public servant that is passionate about good government.  In my opinion, he is exactly the kind of person that we need to lead our state during these difficult times.  We will have over 40 wines available to sample accompanied by Chef Mark’s creations.  Please join us, spend some time with Jack and participate in the democratic process.  Perhaps you can help to elect a governor from western Pennsylvania!

I am trying my hand as a radio talk show host for the first time next Wednesday (Sept. 23) from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.  on Pittsburgh Business Radio, 1360 AM.  Just as there are many folks that think they could be successful restaurateurs, I have always wondered what it would be like to be the guy asking the questions on a radio talk show!  I am looking forward to this trial run fully cognizant that I could easily fail!

We will be talking about next week’s G-20 Summit and will interview Auditor General Jack Wagner and perhaps other distinguished Western Pennsylvanians that would like to be PA’s Governor in 2010.  Please tune in if you are near a radio or computer!

Fall Greetings from The Carlton!  I am pleased to deliver a phenomenal lineup of Special Wine Dinners for your seasonal enjoyment!  We are always pleased when a winemaker or vineyard owner visits and today, we are announcing four special wine dinners – with three of them presented by the principals of the Winery!

Thursday, October 8 – Iron Horse Winery
CEO Joy Sterling presents the wonderful offerings from Iron Horse Winery.   One of Sonoma County’s most prestigious, small independent family owned wineries, Iron Horse was founded by Audrey and Barry Sterling in 1975.  Iron Horse had their award winning sparkling wines served at the White House in five consecutive presidential administrations!   In addition to highly rated wines and well paired cuisine, you will enjoy our charming host!  Joy is Yale educated, a former ABC correspondent and has authored four books!  As a second generation owner, she is taking Iron Horse to new heights!

Monday, October 12 – Eberle Winery
We welcome back native Gary Eberle to Pittsburgh to savor the wonderful wines from his Paso Robles vineyard!  After Gary finished playing college football at Penn State in the 60’s he went on to LSU where he studied cellular genetics and then to U.C. Davis for work on a enology doctorate.  After co-founding Estrella River Winery (now Meridian), Gary decided to produce premium, small production wines in Paso Robles.  He began his own label with the release of the 1979 Eberle Cabernet Sauvignon.  Please join us in saluting the success of one of our own and I guarantee you will leave a big fan of Eberle!

Friday, October 30 – Bodega Benegas Wines
Vintage Import’s Lee Kuehn presents the Bodega Benegas Wines from Argentina!  Argentina wines captured the attention of Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker in his August 2009 cover story!  He hailed the value and strength of these offerings and singled out the Bodega Benegas wines by giving 7 of their offerings scores of greater than 90 points!  Come and sample two Malbecs and some wonderfully blended reds paired with great cuisine!

Friday November 8 – Freeman Winery
We welcome Ken Freeman to The Carlton to introduce his prestigious small production Russian River Valley Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs to a Pittsburgh audience!  Ken has enjoyed a super successful career in business but was able to realize a dream when he and his wife purchased a small Russian River Valley winery in 2001.  Today his exclusive and highly rated wines are found at the finest restaurants and he has been heralded as one of the top Pinot Noir producers in the world!  We hope you can join us!

Check back soon for full menus of each Wine Dinner!  Hope to see you here!

We are excited to announce that we have signed a 10-year lease renewal for The Carlton Restaurant at the Bank of New York  Mellon Center.

I am proud to be continuing the restaurant’s traditions of a daily-changing menu, award-winning service and the most extensive and affordable wine list in western Pennsylvania. It is the convenient location of the building that makes The Carlton an easy destination for special occasions, business dinners and pre-game or cultural event festivities.  As part of this, The Carlton will undergo extensive upgrades and renovations beginning in the summer of 2010 (right after the Penguins win another Stanley Cup!) which will include subtle enhancements to the dining area and restroom finishes, as well as updated plumbing and more. Among the anticipated design changes is the addition of a wine display in every dining room.  I don’t believe there is another restaurant in the country that has more featured wine dinners than The Carlton, and we plan to continue the tradition.

We have enjoyed wonderful employee stability at The Carlton that encourages and builds relationships between our guests and our employees.  Fay, Russ, Enzo, Bobby, Tony and Doug are all servers with long tenure, and Janet, our maitre‘d, has been with us since 1984. Chef Mark is only the third person to serve in that position since we opened, and our manager, Bill Kunkel, started with us in 1986!

While I have enjoyed serving my industry and community over these many years, right now, my total focus is on preparing The Carlton for the next 10 to 20 years. We have renovations to plan. We hope to use part of next summer to improve our facility for our guests and then re-open with a renewed commitment to being one of the very best restaurants in our region. Despite the difficult economic times that have certainly impacted disposable income and traffic in fine dining restaurants everywhere, we are hopeful that The Carlton will continue to be pleasing our guests for many years to come!

We have a championship lineup of Summer Wine Dinners ready to go for June and July.  You can see the all three dinners and menus on on our events page!  We are kicking of the series with our “Best of Australia” Dinner on Friday, June 26 and you do not want to miss this one folks!  We will be sampling the products of some of the BEST producers in Australia!

Our “Best of Australia” dinner features the award winning wines of d’Arenberg, Leeuwin Estate, Penley and John Duval! All of the wines featured are highly rated and represent among the finest you will sample on the continent.

d’Arenberg was established in 1912 in the McLaren Vale Region by John Osborn and today fourth generation winemaker Chester Osborn oversees the operation!

John Duval was chief Winemaker at Penfolds where he was custodian of the famous Penfold’s “Grange” before establishing his own label in 2002!

Penley Estate was established in 1988 by Kym Tolley – one of Coonnawarra’s most experienced winemakers who also spent 15 years honing his craft at Penfolds.

Robert Parker calls Leeuwin Estate “one of the benchmarks, if not the reference point winery in Margaret River.” We hope that you can join us for this kick-off summer Wine Dinner Event!

We got the good news that we were picked as Best Contemporary Restaurant in Pittsburgh in the Pittsburgh edition of “Where the Locals Eat” which features the top 100 restaurants in Pittsburgh and features 10 outstanding restaurants in 50 other cities. The significance of winning a category (Charlie Trotter’s was the Chicago winner in our category) is that our restaurant is featured in all other 50 editions! Thanks to all of our wonderful guests – without you, we could never get this honorable recognition!