Restaurant recommends: Celebrations

You don't need a reason to enjoy Celebrations, Pat and James Allen's upscale restaurant on Bellevue Street. The small, slightly hidden restaurant is like the carpet bag of restaurants. The outside is nondescript, but opens into a multiroom dining area with tables at every turn. The white walls are dressed up with large mirrors, colorful art and pictures of the staff and owners laughing and smiling with famous cooks.

The staff and owners change the menu about four times a year. They come up with new dishes in their own kitchens and test them on an abbreviated menu before perfecting the complex and sumptuous cuisine. Here, chef DeWayne Schaff provided his favorites from the current menu.

Appetizer:

Tea Brined and Smoked Quail

This colorful dish comes with Show Me Loma lettuce, dal, sliced pear and smoked quail all drizzled with a curried saltana vinegarette. Schaff said it offers a mix of rich and light flavors side by side.

Entree:

Pancetta wrapped Broken Arrow Ranch Antelope

"It seems to be one of our best-sellers," Schaff said. Antelope is wrapped in house-made pancetta, which is basically thin bacon, served over gnocchi (potato dumplings) with a parmasean cream sauce and roasted broccoli and topped with a cognac rosemary sauce. The description might take a translation, but the flavor comes across easily: excellent.

Dessert:

Banana Cream Pie

The menu at Celebrations changes four to five times a year, but the Banana Cream Pie is a staple. The fat piece of pie is layer upon layer upon layer of vanilla cream and bananas with a traditional graham cracker crust. "I think if I took it off, I'd be hurt to some degree by the clientele," Schaff said.

Drink:

The wine

Celebrations has nearly 300 wines in its cellar -- something to go with every dish the restaurant serves. Schaff said most of the wines are from California, but there are several French, Spanish and South American labels, too. He's also working on adding some local vineyards to the selection.