Background

Notion, a new fixture in Oakmont since New Year's Eve, flirts with the complexities of your personality. A glance at a sommelier gliding about in a charcoal suit starts the voice in your head telling you to sit up straight and use a grown-up tone. But the staid thought is quickly slapped to submission by Nine Inch Nails hits and '90s alternative rock creeping in from unseen speakers. Dishes that are given as much care in presentation as a sculpture exhibit also have components that fizz, burst or defy traditional forms, pleasing the kid buried deep inside you. But, yet, it is not a family restaurant.

"Some people think our dishes are too expensive, but we're not snooty. The people who have come here and return have open minds," owner and executive chef Dave Racicot says.

Racicot has the perfectionist soul of an artist, always sketching his dishes and working and re-working plating ideas.

"This is such an expression for me. I'm just fortunate in my creative outlet that people get to eat it," he says.

Although exposed to cooking in his family, Racicot knew a formal college setting wasn't his thing and ended up choosing his education. He got a glimmer of it at the Indiana Holiday Inn in his hometown, starting as a dishwasher and quickly ascending to executive chef. His knowledge blossomed with a cook position at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, where he was a student in the ways of each of the resort's kitchens. A subsequent move to Las Vegas' Picasso gave him his first "little fish in a big pond" moment and he adapted by becoming a skilled researcher, honing his precision and philosophy. Stacks of cookbooks, reference books and numerous Internet searches mentally prepared him for 2005, when he returned to Nemacolin Woodlands and accepted a job as the chef de cuisine of Aqueous and, later, Lautrec.

At Lautrec, Racicot found his stride, landing the resort the coveted AAA Five Diamonds Award, which they had been striving for for 10 years. Other accolades followed, including James Beard Award nominations, "rising chef" superlatives and landing a prestigious Mobil Five Stars Award by age 30.

Racicot was next preparing to open his establishment in the area, but as each opportunity crumbled, he started to look elsewhere. When he was "fixing to move to South Carolina" with his wife and three children, 314 Allegheny River Blvd. popped up on Craigslist.

Atmosphere

The dining area is small, but seductive, draped in passionate crimson and rich pewter. Fixtures are slightly Asian: a cool rectangular stone above each plate for resting silverware, crinkled paper-shade floor lamps, clean panels of woven mat suspended from an exposed black ceiling. A spoon glints with what looks like a tiny off-center diamond, but actually is an embossed stamp.

The kitchen is stainless steel, everything gleaming and spare. Racicot works quietly in a corner, editing a dish, as the rest of the kitchen staff moves with purpose around him.

Instead of bread or a salad, we were presented with two tiny silver bowls, to "excite our palates."

Nested inside was a deep-orange mango jelly, a frothy whip of lime and a tiny, glassy orb. We were instructed to place the orb on our tongue and try not to break it. It slowly dissolved until it suddenly gushed sweet lychee into our senses. Then, we were hit with the statement that we had eaten lychee "raviolis," the beautiful little riff swelling over the tangy lime.

Racicot insists he's not a mad scientist in the kitchen -- that he, merely, utilizes agar, "used since the 1200s in Japan."

The mysterious-sounding ingredient was revealed as a simple gelatin, by a nonchalant Racicot.

"Read the back of Edy's ice cream -- it's the kind of ingredient that makes for a more scoopable texture. It's just another tool -- an ingredient like salt or pepper. Regular food bores me. I like to deconstruct and manipulate the textures of foods." he says.

Menu

Notion has 12 items on the menu, from appetizers to dessert, but each has been tweaked by Racicot's brand of chemistry, measured to "100ths of grams."

The deiver scallops ($16), for example, were ringed with fragrant rose bubbles, an effervescence fluff resembling a wave receding. Dots and painterly textures of chestnut, caramelized fennel and lemon imitated the little surprises you find on the beach: fennel sprouts formed the tiny branched "ears" of a sea slug, while the scallops are more like polished stones peaking out from under driftwood. The scallops, impossibly tender, come to Notion in a can signed by each diver who catches them.

Turgid beets, pointed root to the ceiling, formed a beautiful portrait with black currant, grapefruit and crispy yogurt in beets ($14). The dish was a fine mix of crispy dried components, tangy sweet bits and tart citrus, giving the winter vegetable of dash of warmer climes.

The chicken ($26) was sliced into three stacked rectangular sections perched atop a cloud of celery puree and dotted with celery and savory fried shiitake. Crispy, seasoned chicken skin formed a disk to the side and crispy confetti-like ribbons on top.

The Alina Duck ($32) formed a protective nest around buttery foie gras. That alone brought us to our senses, but a pink rutabaga banana puree played off the delicate fats in the dish, balancing the heavy with light. Various types of cabbage added color and interest.

Dessert was a heated debate about the virtues of the white chocolate ($10), served as a powder that turns to a whip in your mouth, and the hazelnut chocolate ($12), which ended up being a diagonal delight of pudding-soft cylinders of chocolate, chunks of whole wheat cake and dots of a bright orange sauce, made from bitters and pith. Banana slices, almost unrecognizable as wafer-thin ovals, sliced through random sections of chocolate and cake. Blotches of banana sauce mixed in took us over the edge.

Editor's Note: New dining feature

We have replaced the "Lunch Bunch" with expanded dining coverage. Look for Alle-Kiski Valley and Pittsburgh-area restaurants to be featured every week in Ticket.

Additional Information:

Notion

Cuisine : Eclectic

Hours: 6-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 5-10 p.m. Saturdays

Entree price range: $26-$32

Notes: Major credit cards accepted. Extensive wine list and sommelier. Specialty cocktails. Reservations suggested.

Address: 314 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont

Details: 412-828-7777

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