Steelhead's menu pleases diners of diverse tastes

Souffles scare many cooks, but Pittsburgh Marriott City Center's executive chef, Brian Pekarcik, thinks he has a recipe that anyone can make.

His Gorgonzola Blue Cheese Souffle is one of the most popular appetizers on the Steelhead Brasserie & Wine Bar's menu. Pekarcik serves the dish with a scrumptious apple and pear salad.

"This souffle is really, really versatile," says Pekarcik, a Murrysville native who moved to California after college and just moved back to this area last year.

"You can serve it as a side dish or an entree," he says. "You can interchange cheeses and substitute goat cheese. It's perfect around the holidays."

Pekarcik, 33, has designed an ambitious menu for the Uptown hotel's restaurant that reflects his skills and pleases diners with diverse tastes. He has to make Penguins fans happy, since the 140-seat restaurant is right across the street from the Mellon Arena, as well as more formal diners.

"Penguins fans want food very fast, while business guests want a nice entree," he says. "The hard part is juggling a balance between events at the arena and guests at the restaurant. I have to design a menu that accommodates a lot of different needs and tastes.

"Our lunch, dinner and lounge menus are fairly extensive," he says. "I constantly change the menu to keep current with what's available. We utilize local farmers and get our fish from Samuels & Sons, out of Philadelphia. They do a great job -- their product is very fresh."

Pekarcik was Bradley Ogden's executive chef for the past four years in San Diego. The James Beard Award-winning Ogden is a celebrity chef out West.

"I've been very fortunate," says Pekarcik, who lives in Monroeville with his wife, Jessica, and their two children. "When my wife and I had our second child, we decided it was time to come back East and cook professionally in my hometown."

Some of Pekarcik's dinner entrees include crab-stuffed petrale sole, miso-glazed black cod, domestic lamb, bacon-wrapped day-boat sea scallops, roasted pork loin, grilled rib eye pave and braised beef shortribs, and grilled Atlantic salmon. His appetizers inclulde seared ahi tuna, grilled scallop and prawn ceviche salad, hot and cold Maryland crab and, of course, the popular Gorgonzola Blue Cheese Souffle.

"Once I get bored with a dish, I change the menu," says Pekarcik with a smile. "We don't have any specials because I change the menu so often."

Pekarcik cooks with four sous chefs and has 20 kitchen employees. He regularly works 60-hour weeks, and says he's lucky if he has a 10-hour day. Yes, the job is stressful, he admits, but handles he it well.

"You have to understand what you're getting into," Pekarcik says. "In this business, you have to have a passion for it. I go further and say you have to have a sickness for it, or the profession will chew you up and spit you out. You'll burn out quicker than in any other profession."

The biggest seller on his menu right now is the rib eye and short rib combination, served with mashed potatoes and winter root vegetables.

"In California, we served lots of fish and vegetarian meals," he says. "Beef is a big seller in Pittsburgh. It's a challenge to do beef differently, but I'm a steak-and-potatoes kind of guy."

Owning his own restaurant is a dream Pekarcik has, down the road, but he's enjoying his time at Steelhead.

"It's easier to make an impact in this city than in, say, New York," he says. "They are so saturated with great chefs there. That's the best part of being an executive chef -- getting my name out there."