Burrasca Gnudi

Burrasca used to be a Tuscan food cart until in 2015 it closed the cart after a successful Kickstarter and emerged as a brick and mortar at 2032 SE Clinton Street. Since then, this family owned, humble, little warm homey neighbohood restaurant has expanded their Florentine food offerings from the pasta to include some unusual authentic appetizers you normally don’t see and some hearty mains. When there are slightly cooler summer days like what we have been having, I think of them – and you should too. Or honestly, if you’re thinking of gnocchi – get yourself here!
Burrasca, offering Tuscan Soul Food, Handmade Pasta, Chef-driven Regionality

For me, my first love remains the same: the Burrasca Gnudi, Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with butter and bits of crispy sage.
Burrasca's Gnudi, Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with a sauce of butter and sage

The service here can be a little slow at times, but I don’t feel like you go to a neighborhood family place to rush through a meal. I eat my gnudi, thinking about ordering a second plate of gnudi for myself but resist while sipping on an Italian wine in their back patio.

I use their crescentine, a puffy, fried breadstick to soak up all the rest of the butter and pick up the crispy sage, and then go across the street to Fifty Licks for dessert (sorry Burrasca). The plates here are on the small side, not the oversized portions you usually see at pasta restaurants, but they are all quality.

Burrasca’s Crescentine, a Puffed fried breadstick
Burrasca's Crescentine, a Puffed fried bread stick reflecting Florentine food Burrasca's Crescentine, a Puffed fried bread stick reflecting Florentine food

Sformato starter, a warm and savory custard
Burrasca's Seasonal Sformato a warm and savory custard that is an appetizer Burrasca's Seasonal Sformato a warm and savory custard that is an appetizer

Tagliatelle, Handmade ribbon pasta with beef ragù.
Burrasca's Tagliatelle, Handmade ribbon pasta with beef ragù. Burrasca's Tagliatelle, Handmade ribbon pasta with beef ragù.

Don’t you dare visit without getting the gnudi.

Burrasca's Gnudi, Spinach and ricotta gnocchi with a sauce of butter and sage

What is your favorite Italian go to place in Portland?

Burrasca Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Signature

Accanto – Portland Dining Month + Urbanspoon

Disclosure: This meal was complimentary/provided by Urbanspoon, but they did not require that I write this review.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not.

I am running out of steam for Portland Dining Month, and thought after the date night at Quartet (upcoming post), that would be the end of it. But, I was thrilled to see in my email inbox from Urbanspoon an invitation to attend an event at Accanto. Accanto is the more casual enoteca sibling to its next door neighbor, fine dining prix fixe and historic Genoa. Both share the same pasta making genius and executive chef Jake Martin and sommelier Michael Garofola, who stopped to chat about Accanto with us for a while about the goals of Accanto and admire the sunshine streaming through the windows. Apparently they keep him in the dark wine cellar 🙂

The airy bright space of Accanto with clean lines of natural wood feels warm and open. There are seats by the window for casual glass of wine and small plates or at the bar, or you can sit at the countertop by the open kitchen to watch the magic happen, or to the sides of the long rectangular space for a bit more privacy with your dining party. Be sure to check out the chalkboard by the bar, which lists the specials. I forgot to take any photos of the insides- I’ll try to correct that in the future.

I was so excited to receive an invitation from an Urbanspoon Event Planner for its first Urban Hour in Portland. This event gave me an opportunity to visit Accanto to sample some of Accanto’s signature dishes and the opportunity to meet and network with other foodies in the Portland area who also participate in Urbanspoon as reviewers, and also an opportunity to meet Carrie Welch.

Carrie is the co-founder of Feast Portland, organizer of an amazing food festival this coming September that includes speakers, panels, chef collaborative brunches and dinners, outdoor markets, cooking demonstrations, competitions, classes… it’s like high quality food channel, but all LIVE and IN PERSON over 4 wonderful days in a setting that is as intimate as a an industry conference of just a few hundred people. And Carrie was so laid back and cool and excited about food, I guess I had this impression that someone who helped produce the insane awesomeness of Feast would be intense and maybe a bit frenetic, but she seemed so approachable and like you could just hang at the bar. I think I successfully held myself back from squeeeing. I think.

I came in to Urban Hour expecting just perhaps a cocktail and a few small plates, but was blown away to hear we would get to taste the Portland Dining Month menu… which means you still have an opportunity to also have this wonderful meal yourself!

You may think Accanto is like any other moderate Italian neighborhood stop, but that’s where you would be wrong. They really take advantage of unique, perhaps even previously never heard of ingredients and bring them to your tastebuds to help you explore how much more is out there. Do not expect your regular Italian food here.

For instance, the first course started with marinated olives and spiced almonds. Sounds simple enough right? But what the heck were these teeny tiny olives I see placed before me- they were almost the size of the almonds, most were half the size. Seriously, if I had the sense to have asked for a piece of bread, I think I might have also poured the marinated olive oil on the bread and eaten that to finish the little container.
Accanto, Portland, restaurant: first course of marinated olives and spiced almonds

Meanwhile, I couldn’t resist trying a few cocktails. I did it for you, it’s all for you. I sipped a bit of my friend’s cocktail, the Lion’s Tail with Temperance Trader Barrel Strength Bourbon, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, lime and simple which had a nice refreshing beginning that then swirled in spice for an interesting complex but light sipper. Meanwhile, my Guadalajara cocktail with Espolon Blanco Tequila, St Germain, lime, honey, rocks and salt also was refreshing with a nice balance of sweetness and hint of sour that made me long for ocean waves and a beach umbrella over my lounge chair.
Accanto: cocktail of Lion's Tail with Temperance Trader Barrel Strength Bourbon, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, lime and simple Accanto: Guadalajara cocktail with Espolon Blanco Tequila, St Germain, lime, honey, rocks and salt Accanto: Guadalajara cocktail with Espolon Blanco Tequila, St Germain, lime, honey, rocks and salt Accanto: Guadalajara cocktail with Espolon Blanco Tequila, St Germain, lime, honey, rocks and salt

For the second course we had the soup of the day, which was described as a potato leek soup with a cream base, everyone was surprised that it was a chilled soup. I found it quite tasty, with a bit of the black pepper lingering to balance out the soft smooth thick soup. The other option for the second course was the salad with arugula, radish snap peas, basil and ricotta salata, I had to wipe my face from the long slivers of arugula and radish punctuated by the bits of the salty ricotta salata and pretty edible flower petals.
Accanto: second course of a chilled potato leek soup Accanto: salad arugula, snap peas, radish, basil vinaigrette and ricotta salata, and a few edible flower petals for touch of pretty

My cocktail was replaced by a new one I ordered, the Meads’ Knees with Beefeater Gin, GL Dansk Mead, honey and lemon up. I can drink this all summer long baby, this was so crisp, light and lovely, with an airy sweet carefreeness to it. You know after you pull all the weeds in the yard on a Sunday afternoon and then come in and have that tall glass of lemonade- that’s what this feels like, just the “aaahhhhhhhhh….”.
Accanto: Meads’ Knees with Beefeater Gin, GL Dansk Mead, honey and lemon up

The main courses, the third course were two pasta options, one of potato gnocchi, lamb bolognese, mint and pecorino that had a chewful of doughy gnocchi and nice tangy savoryness to the sauce, though part of me wish they could have seared the gnocchi a bit or added something for a bit of a crispy or crunchy hint to the softness of the dish. I often hear how gnocchi should be pillowy soft, and I have had some that were ethereal and just melted in my mouth. I had to hold myself back from forking too many of my friend’s dish here also though, but these gnocchi are more substantial soldiers that are a bit more toothsome but definitely not tough, they were staunch, hearty little bites of comfort. Think of them as firm pillows instead of feather pillows, both kinds I would be glad to rest my head / take bites of as they gallantly balance and carry the rich lamb bolognese to me.

I really liked my dish as I took each bite of the capellini with samphire, garlic, chili, and fennel seed. Samphire, which I had never heard of, and which was my word for the day, is a grassy vegetable that reminded me a bit of water spinach, but much thinner and younger, sort of the texture of the adolescent years after a baby microgreen has grown up but not quite to the teenage years of a rapini.

This went beautifully with the capellini: as you can see they are basically the same size between noodle and vegetable. So they intertwined as equally matched dance partners as I twirled it on my fork, punctuated now and then by the red pepper and garlic and fennel for some interplaying types of heat that never got spicy, but yet was there, bringing it all together by providing the simple music, making this capellini and samphire pairing seem so natural.
Accanto: potato gnocchi, lamb bolognese, mint and pecorino Accanto: capellini with samphire, garlic, chili, and fennel seed
Accanto: capellini with samphire, garlic, chili, and fennel seed Accanto:

We then wrapped up with dessert (yes, there was more!!) of Rose panna cotta with strawberries and lambrusco. I couldn’t bear to leave a bite behind even though I was so full from the generous portion of the above pasta, which I also made sure to leave no strand behind.
Accanto: Rose panna cotta with strawberries and lambrusco

See what I mean by how Accanto seems like the so casual next door neighbor, but can surprise you with sophistication because it turns out your neighbor is actually a multi-millionaire living below his means and it turns out he has some really interesting vacation stories to tell.

They had the menus on the table briefly as we were chatting with cocktails before the olives and almonds and I already wanted to be back (before they mentioned we were eating a 3 course meal, I was already wondering if they would find me weird/stalkery/gluttonous if I stayed and ordered more plates after the event… turned out I had no room after dinner) to try out a small plate of “Burrata  strawberries, favas, wrinkled crinkled crumple cress “. Crumple Cress? What are you?? WHAT?! I WANT YOU.

Make your Portland Dining Month reservations via OpenTable so that Downtown Portland will also make a donation to the Oregon Food Bank if you go this month! Remember, Portland Dining Month only lasts until the end of June!

Thank you, Urbanspoon, for helping to introduce me. I also really enjoyed chatting with other food lovers- while not everyone was a food blogger specifically (though several were bloggers), we were definitely all appreciators of foods that have opinions and like the ability at Urbanspoon to explore a wider deeper resource for researching deliciousness, since Urbanspoon allows linking to more full content. Particularly, I like looking there to read reviews in the media as well as on blogs where I can get full stories of the experience as both professional and amateur reviewers are aggregated there on a restaurant review page.

I was pleased to see Urban Bliss Media again, and also meet in person for the first time the wonderful authors of Salt. Water. Coffee. and Talk. Eat. Drink. Portland. who made me wish my blog name had more clever dramatic statements to it (hee), as well as make the acquaintance of Mommy Travels and Urbanspoon reviewer Navalis and… man, I should have taken a photo of the signin sheet we dutifully all signed at the end of the night, I will stalk everyone from the event that was there dutifully and see if I can update this. Make sure you check out these other peeps for more good food advisers to add to your list, and perhaps see their take on the event!

Disclosure: This meal was complimentary/provided by Urbanspoon, but they did not require that I write this review.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not.

Check out my other Portland Dining Month escapades: I ate at Quartet, Accanto, Urban Fondue, Fratelli, H50 out of my initial list!

Signature

Artigiano – Yukon Gold Gnocchi in Gorgonzola-Cream Sauce

Artigiano– fine dining quality Italian food from a food cart.  It’s amazing that they make their fresh homemade pasta all in a cart, and they also source local ingredients to complete the dish. Seriously, this is tablecloth restaurant quality stuff, the kind of food that I would expect with candles and sparkly chandeliers… but instead you get to enjoy it al fresco on the streets of SE Division.

Here is a photo of their meltingly delicious gnocchi, one of their handmade pasta dishes from their menu. This is the Yukon Gold Gnocchi in Gorgonzola-Cream Sauce with Filberts hazelnuts, and along with some arugula, parmigiano reggiano, and ground pepper with a touch of vinaigrette to help balance the richness… and a nice piece of bread to wipe up the sauce afterwards. I don’t know where the gnocchi kept disappearing so quickly- it was in my mouth and then gone like waking up from a good dream and trying to remember it quickly before it fades- and I kept taking spoonfuls and then I had no more, sad. 🙁

Recently the recipe for this dish for this dish was shared in Mix Magazine as part of an article on Comfort Food, Italian Style: Five Portland chefs share recipes. As Artigiano owner is quoted as saying the article regarding this dish…

“There’s nothing more comforting than the melt-in-your-mouth texture of perfectly made potato gnocchi,” says proprietor Rachael Grossman.

I agree- I barely noticed the gloomy cloudy skies of a rainy spring day as I sat beneath the little tent next to their cart to embrace the comfort from this dish.

Don’t let a rainy blustery day stop you from getting your pasta: you can call in take-out orders, and they have parking available in the Larry’s Lighting Repair Lot on 33rd & Division after 5pm for your quick pick up and go!

Signature

Gnocchi night at Nostrana

The highlight of this week was a dinner date with my coworker, since both our husbands left us for work travel, and in a fun extra credit I introduced her to my JnJ- she also has a JnJ. We had quite a list to pick from, and after lots of careful menu deliberation I went with Nostrana.

I enjoyed two delightful beverages from their Rooster bar: one was the “Bubbling for Apples” which is carbonated to order in a Perlini shaker and composed of Liquore Strega, Jonagold apple juice, fresh lemon, Laird’s bonded applejack, quince peel syrup, served on the rocks. I started and ended my meal with this fizzy drink. I also tried “Yesterday, today, & amaro” which was less apple forward with its mixture of Flor de Cana extra dry rum, Averna amaro, spiced quince puree, lime, sparkling apple cider, served up in a martini glass. Although this latter drink definitely was better looking, it was hard to compete against the Bubbling for Apples.

Nostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, Italian

For dinner, on Thursday’s Nostrana has Gnocchi Thursday (dinner and for lunch as well), in which they offer three gnocchi treatments of their handmade potato dumplings in the Roman tradition of ‘giovedì gnocchi’. I was torn between the one in lamb & salsify ragu and the other with taleggio, savoy cabbage, leek, caraway and black pepper and decided on the latter lighter one. It is as melt in your mouth as it looks. I ate the whole thing so fast it was so good…I think when I originally ordered it I thought I would share it, but after the first bite, it was like that thought never existed (I did share tastes).

Nostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, Italian

Nostrana also has an wood fired oven and serve their pizza uncut with scissors they give to you at the table to cut up your pieces as you’d like. I went with the Funghi Verde pizza with shiitake mushrooms, house mozzarella, garlic, arugula, pecorino sardo, lemon oil… yeah, lots and lots of arugula so I could feel like it was a healthy dinner despite the gnocchi.

Nostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, ItalianNostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, Italian

The apple and pear crisp takes 20 minutes to prepare, and is well worth it- but is definitely large enough to share between 4 people. Based on the foursquare recommendations I had to get the Budino with caramel and salt which is indeed so decadent.

Nostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, ItalianNostrana, Cathy Whims, gnocchi night, Italian

Thank you J of JnJ and my coworker for such a wonderful dinner date. The kitchen brought out food quickly and our server very well versed on the menu and wines, with the atmosphere even though it got full for dinner quickly, still being easy to have conversation and privacy so that it felt intimate and warm, although as you can see from the photos, the lighting is dim. While the restaurant is casual, the staff seemed to treat it like it was higher end with their smooth service that is in and out of your way quickly and professionally- which is nice to see in the super-informal service industry Portland seems to allow.

Beard Nominee and owner Cathy Whims also opened Oven and Shaker in the Pearl, and I definitely want to visit there soon to see what she has done there. They change their menu daily, so it was exciting to be teased about what would be for dinner as I looked at the Wed dinner menu and the Thur lunch menu (the Thur dinner was not up when we went for dinner- it seems they are behind on uploading it online, though they always do eventually update it that day-I looked at it the next day in writing this blog). There had been a crab pizza that had been offered the day before which wasn’t that day- next time I’ll find it online and go that day.

It felt a little Portlandia when on the back of the menu was a list of 20 some local farmers and purveyers she sources all the food from the menu from- but in a good way… it was clearly about sourcing locally so it is fresh and seasonal, not for the absurd guilt reason of “was this animal happy before it was killed so I could eat it”. Not quite as awesome as when my coworker bought eggs which a sticker on the box listing the “Hen of the Month” including that her favorite snack is cracked corn and favorite pastime is “scratching the dirt looking for seeds”. Heh, the hen, not my coworker.

Signature

Little Bird Bistro review (including their burger for May’s Burger Month)

Ok, catching up to the last burger I had in May.

I really wanted to like Little Bird Bistro, the newest restaurant by James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year 2011 chef/owner Gabriel Rucker. The menu sounds promising, and it seems to be geared specifically towards being more accessible then Le Pigeon but with the same affection for spotlighting the savory depths of being a carnivore. The downtown area now has a bistro to compliment its offerings of American and ethnic foods (ethnic greatly bolstered by the various cart pods), so for its great location and namesake, and as it is riding the current trend of French bistro in the restaurant scene (St Jack’s, Brasserie Montmartre reconcept, Cocotte Bar and Bistro, probably more recent other buds I don’t know about), Little Bird will be probably successful.

But for my first visit we walked away with the taste of the bad experience from the service rather than the food. For my other visits, the bartender offered the kind of bar care to mend over the initial roughness in my memory, and the waitress was cordial and attentive enough- but the food didn’t consistently rise to what I had been hoping for. For the price, there are other restaurant choices whose food is just as good or better just north on Burnside… though admittedly just not French (I have not been to Brasserie Montmartre yet). I have to admit their definitely steps it up- and that difference is appreciated and noted- but it just didn’t always come all together for me as a whole experience.

For my first time, our group of 12 couldn’t reserve a table until 8:30 as the restaurant doesn’t want large parties to hold up the tables (you can get a table earlier but you put down a $1000 guarantee deposit, as I understand it from our dinner organizer). We were seated in the upstairs section and then joined by all but one late guest and so we sat, with our menu and little juice-glass size glasses of water… and sat, and sat.

Some of us had put in drink orders within the first 10 minutes of being seated, but we before our drinks arrived it was another 15-20: so 30 minutes after our reservation, the first thing besides water appears. Whenever anyone ordered a drink throughout the meal, it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time- such as ordering it when a course arrives and then the drink not appearing until halfway or more through the dish being eaten. Maybe it’s the fact that our table was upstairs and those narrow slightly steep stairs are a pain to go up and down. I wouldn’t sit up there again, despite the view overlooking the rest of the restaurant and the street.

I had a long time while waiting for my meal to start to look at the restaurant and decide my favorite bird motif in decor was this little red guy on antlers that hang over the opening to the kitchen, which essentially takes up the space next door.

About 40 minutes in, despite the interesting conversation our stomachs were empty and we asked if we could order appetizers at least. We were told that since one of the ten of us were missing (car trouble), we had to wait as they couldn’t put any of our order in until everyone was there in order to time everything correctly, and that appetizers and mains go together, period. All she could do was walk around the table answering questions on the menu- not even to pre-emptively write orders down.

This created a lot of unnecessary drama. I understand the desire to time all the plates, but it was one person, not half the table missing and we even said we were willing to let her dish be off timing if the majority could please please be served. Why the waitress couldn’t take that statement gracefully by saying “hm, let me ask the chef or manager” instead of instantly shooting it down verbally right then or there just aggravated the situation. I thought that maybe I was misreading the whole concept intended with Little Bird Bistro- maybe they are taking it all the way to include a side of just slight disdain because they know more about food then you to go with your polite service and your pleasant but eventually overwhelming heavy dishes to really give you that French experience.

Overall, the lack of smooth communication and the actions they took to serve us gave a very mixed feeling of thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness.

  • She continually filled our little water glasses for us, but it was not until her trip up for taking our order that she thought to bring bread for the table- which was all devoured in 5 minutes since everyone had already been drinking on an empty stomach.
  • When one guest gave feedback to the manager that one of the dishes was salty, she said that the dish was supposed to be salty and that’s the way it was done, so there you go. Meanwhile, another guest who only ate a third of his gnocchi was asked what was wrong with it and if it was anything they could do about it (he had never had gnocchi before) and was apologized to multiple times (we did not ask for anything either time btw).
  • It was very long to be waiting to finally be allowed to order- but the check came quickly and were done individually… with a 20% automatic gratuity (more typically for groups there is automatic 18 with the additional tip write in line).

But onto the food. If it has been incredibly wonderful, maybe we could have still left the table with a good feeling- Screendoor‘s long wait is all forgotten when you first start biting into your food, same with the wait at the Bellagio buffet… Not so much here with Little Bird. It’s not bad, and it’s a definite positive to have this French option in the downtown area and so conveniently located. But it’s also not so overwhelming or consistingly good that your mind can just be swept away by the food and ignore the “by the rule book no exceptions” service or an encounter with some who embodied the slight disdaining but polite French waitstaff stereotype.

My appetizer at of Escargot, garlic cream, lightly fried gougères was my favorite dish of the 3 I had that initial dinner. The sauce was much lighter then what you find in normal butter bathing escargot, but did the job, and a I appreciated this take on escargot in terms of the snail and sauce and gougeres. The dish came with a small topping of salad with vinaigrette to try to counter the richness of the rest of the dish- but it was over the top with vinegar, and it distracted from the otherwise wonderful dish. Also, the thoughtful gesture with serving escargot- that’s always the time to refill the bread basket, so the guest can dip the bread in and wipe up all the delectable sauce from the plate. The gougeres were nice on their own, I wasn’t going to make them sponges and cover up the point of the gougeres which is the cheese inside. This is a good dish if you carefully spread out the acid of the salad, though not necessarily a good value.

Entree at this outing was the famously raved Duck Confit with little potatoes, asparagus, orange glaze. The crackly skin was the best part, the dark meat underneath was a wee bit overdone but not dry (though approaching that state at certain parts) and overall a little salty but not inedibily so- though another person said hers was like licking pockets of salt at times. At least all the meat was able to come off the bone… since they never gave anyone at the table any knives besides the butter ones that were at the original place setting. I wish it had come with more side vegetables to balance the dish. The duck at Burnside Brewing was better in flavor (though not in skin texture) and priced lower, so I didn’t understand the fawning over the duck confits in other reviews, based on this experience. It looked so promising, and so were the first bites, but not after you get under the skin and into the real meat. That seems to be appropriate given how this night’s dining experience went.

My side of Potato, bacon, morbier cheese, didn’t appear at first… just like with two other guests who had ordered sides and had to ask what happened to them. They appeared after we asked- individually, so it entailed three separate trips down the stairs because as soon as one guest mentioned the lack of side, the server was on their way down before checking the whole table so that us other two could mention our needs as well. As a side, it wasn’t bad, but nothing special either. The side dish was priced pretty dear- I think steakhouses are more generous with a side at that price- this is barely enough to share, but so rich you only want to eat so much of it yourself.

I want to believe it was just an unfortunate case of an off-putting experience because of a bad service night (the reviews on yelp also seem to plead this case- at times service is pointed at being inconsistent and timing being off, but others didn’t notice). I would never recommend a group here.

I have been to Little Bistro a few other times thanks to its proximity to my regular bar- all of those visits all were for weekday happy hour time/right at the start of dinner time, and besides one booth visit I also sat at the bar where Tom took care of me and was the attentive barman in terms of service. Each visit he cheerfully described my drink options, letting me know about the Happy Hour prices right away, and put food into the system as soon as he turned away with my order. On both visits, when another group appeared close to end of happy hour/beginning of dinner service, he told them so while presenting them with both menus and asked if they wanted to order off that HH menu really fast. As soon as a drink was poured he offered bread with butter- and even when I refused him at first during one visit as I was waiting to be joined by another, he still asked multiple other times to make sure I wasn’t starving while I enjoyed waiting with two drinks.

I first came back for the roasted marrow bones, which were fun though extremely rich, even for me. They come in an intimidating plate of two giant bones in a size that you would normally see in plastic bag to feed a large dog or maybe the Flintstones. It’s definitely a conversation piece. They come with a little bit of tart bright orange marmalade to counter the heaviness and a few pieces of overly toasted bread carefully allocated on the plate as well (on a later visit I saw they had switched this to mushroom and balsalmic vinegar instead). You use the spoon to pull the fattyness out and plop on the bread (mine was not going to spread), maybe put in a tip of orange marmalade- not too much because it will overwhelm the marrow and you only want the teensiest smidge as it is very strong in flavor profile. I think one bone would have been enough for me- this is a dish to share since it’s so rich. Value-wise for the price, only the “early/late” price of 25% off seemed to make sense to me for what this dish offers. Normally, this is the same price as the Le Pigeon Burger you will see later in the review…

Meanwhile, the salad of “Field Greens, banyuls vinaigrett​e, Le Chevrot” were nothing special, nor were the fennel au gratin or ham sandwich of “Baguette, Jambon de Paris, gruyere, dijon, green” which greasy rather then rich- it was better as a leftover cold the next day. I would prefer a baguette sandwich from Best Baguette over ordering this sandwich again, I suppose I had been hoping for something a bit more like a Croque Monsieur and this was twice as heavy. Everything was decent but not memorable.

The famous Le Pigeon burger was a really decent burger. The burger is named for the original restaurant, “Le Pigeon” which offered limited quantities of this burger (they only serve five a night at the original)- but here at Little Bird it is a normally available menu item. When it arrives at the table, it does look amazing, coming with a knife solidly speared through the middle because honestly, you’re going to need that knife to eat this. The fries stayed crisp but didn’t have much flavor that took it anywhere special, and even were overly salty in one certain corner- that was one of the two detriments of the dish. I really was disappointed by the fries.

The meat patty is a housemade thick and a great combination of juicy Cascade beef without being greasy. I really really liked the treatment of the lettuce into slaw of being cut and dressed because it made sure it was a crispy counterpoint to the richness, even if it made the entire experience extremely messy. The burger is topped with Tillamook aged white cheddar which is needed to stand up beside that beef and slaw. The grilled pickled onion was sweet but in a huge chunk instead of more spread across the entire burger so with one bite I would get no sweetness, and other bites I would get more onion then beef- the other detriment of this dish when I had it- I hope this just was an execution mis-step. The grilled ciabatta bun is solid enough that it holds everything in with its thick crusty outside and doughy inside but is also very filling. I wasn’t surprised to see other burger eaters taking off the top and just eating the insides like a steak with extra toppings- which actually is quite a compliment to their burger.

The favorite dish I had from the menu was the Gnocchi Parisienne with peas, roasted portobello and pistou. The gnocchi were light and pillowy and melted on my mouth while also having a bit of crunch from a slight sear, and the peas and portobello offered good chewy texture and bursts of flavor. A pistou is a simple sauce made of just garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil, and it tasted very fresh and like they were great quality base ingredients.

During my visit at a table for early dinner, the service was blazingly fast- I only ordered a drink and an entree, so pretty straightforward order. The bread with salted butter arrived at the same time of my drink, and I was still on the last piece of bread when the entree appeared only 10 minutes after I ordered it and overall I was in and out within 30 minutes or so. That kitchen’s ability to execute is nimble. But, I never felt rushed during my meal- though I definitely felt their bustling from all on the first floor to serve which is at the expense of helping guests feel relaxed and that little service illusion that they enjoy tending to us as guests and having us experience their restaurant.

The check always comes with a complimentary mini macaroon. Each time I went, the flavors varied- this one was a banana nut one. You would think that this touch at the end of every meal would make me feel pampered and be a gesture of small care. Yet each time the way it was presented, instead of coming from a desire of Little Bird to ensure the meal ended with just a touch of sweetness, it was just a box to be checked off for “mignardise” like part of the formula for fulfilling the concept.

It’s a small restaurant, and when you enter, it seems to bring up a bistro air immediately- loud but cozy, the little decorative touches of a small bird here or there and the shiny tin ceiling, the chalkboard of specials looked beautiful with art carefully drawn on the borders. The atmosphere is charming. The space has been put together well to feel elegant but not stuffy.

Me, I take the word Bistro in the name to mean food probably with too much butter but also a comforting local part of the neighborhood that has some continental classiness going for it to make me feel a bit fancy and I can have escapist fantasies about having once spent a nostalgic semester in a romantic Paris.  Little Bird just isn’t generous enough to fulfill that as every dish is rich but not every dish is comforting or makes you feel cared for. It looks appealing and finds that line between luxury and homey charm, but then isn’t inviting enough to feel casual and local like a neighborhood friend. But it can have its moments if you choose carefully, and don’t come in a large party, and aren’t looking for your bistro to become personal. It definitely offers French food that aspires to be extra decadant, but just not the nourishment I was hoping for.

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