Summer Dinner at Dame Restaurant

F and I celebrated a wedding anniversary this past weekend, and our perfect place to make merry with food and drink for the occasion was at Dame Restaurant. At Dame, besides the Mon-Tues which offer No Saints pizza popup, on Thurs-Sun you will find Estes by Chef Patrick McKee providing the simply prepared to let the seasonal fresh ingredient be forward food to pair with the global selection of natural wines curated by owner Jane Smith and staff. Here’s a look at the summer dinner at Dame Restaurant we just enjoyed, though honestly I already want to go back because there were multiple other options I wanted to try.

Every time I dine here I order the Grilled Flatbread with Ricotta, fennel pollen, olive oil and I always want a second order. Trust me – get it. The heirloom tomato, grilled peach, padron, and olive oil Gazpacho, is peak summer- get it while you still can
Dame Restaurant - Every time I dine here I order the grilled flatbread with ricotta, fennel pollen, olive oil and I always want a second order. Trust me - get it. Dame Restaurant Summer Dinner - heirloom tomato, grilled peach, and padron gazpacho, is peak summer- get it while you still can

[Read more…]
Signature

Of Roots and Blooms Vegan Food

Of Roots and Blooms recently made an announcement that they are working on two cookbooks and unspecified future projects TBD so if you haven’t been before, it’s only a few weeks before they are changing their schedule. Up until end of September they will pop up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont, and up to end of August they will finish popping up Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. After that, who knows what will happen: apparently not even owners Nick and Carina, who only share that they don’t have anything solid except knowing “this while operation is about to morph into a new incarnation and life phase”

So hurry in now to try some of the best vegan food I’ve ever had! Here’s a look at some example greatness Of Roots and Blooms vegan food I’ve been able to enjoy to entice you to try it, and that vegan food isn’t all raw or dry food – it can be luxuriously rich too in the right hands.

This grilled cheese with cashew fromage fort, cheddar, spinach, toasted levain and side of chips reminds me when I first fell in love with them as a Cheese Plate cart.
Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This grilled cheese with cashew fromage fort, cheddar, spinach, toasted levain and side of chips reminds me when I first fell in love with them as a Cheese Plate cart. Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their grilled cheese with cashew fromage fort, cheddar, spinach, toasted levain and side of chips reminds me when I first fell in love with them as a Cheese Plate cart.

I’m also a fan of their Brussels Sprout Grilled Cheese with butternut squash butter, sage aioli, and melty cheddar
Of Roots and Blooms Brussels Sprout Grilled Cheese with butternut squash butter, sage aioli, and melty cheddar - completely vegan

And just as you would expect, this mac and cheese is so rich and creamy that you can barely tell it’s not real cheese but vegan cheese. This is their IPA Mac and Cheese, made with Culmination’s Phaedrus IPA and topped with rushed pretzels and chives.
Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their IPA Mac and Cheese, made with Culmination's Phaedrus IPA and topped with rushed pretzels and chives Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their IPA Mac and Cheese, made with Culmination's Phaedrus IPA and topped with rushed pretzels and chives

Here’s a closeup of their vegan Lobster Mac and Cheese with sharp cheese sauce with seaweed “lobster” stock, chopped vegan lobster meat, chives buttered Old Bay breadcrumbs baby spinach.
This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Lobster Mac and Cheese with sharp cheese sauce with seaweed

One of the things that really impresses me though beyond that is how incredible and inventive they are at creating vegan adoptions of East Coast seafood, like New England clam chowder, shrimp scampi, clammy linguine, meatball or cheesesteak sandwiches. This is their surprisingly evocative of the sea but vegan and so velvety Vegan Oyster Stew with cashew potato cream and oyster mushrooms, served with oyster crackers
Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Oyster Stew with cashew potato cream and oyster mushrooms, served with oyster crackers Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Oyster Stew with cashew potato cream and oyster mushrooms, served with oyster crackers

Or how about when they made Vegan Lobster Ravioli with vegan lobster meat, chives and almond ricotta stuffed into red bell pepper pasta with tomato saffron cream sauce with Calabrian chilies and almond ricotta topped with arugula and peas.
Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Lobster Ravioli with vegan lobster meat, chives and almond ricotta stuffed into red bell pepper pasta with tomato saffron cream sauce with Calabrian chilies and almond ricotta topped with arugula and peas Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Lobster Ravioli with vegan lobster meat, chives and almond ricotta stuffed into red bell pepper pasta with tomato saffron cream sauce with Calabrian chilies and almond ricotta topped with arugula and peas

Don’t miss out on desserts either – which can vary to mousse to cheesecake and more. This is the Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake with rhubarb sauce, and their vegan Pecan Bar.
Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake with rhubarb sauce Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake with rhubarb sauce Of Roots and Blooms pops up every Wednesday at Bottles on Fremont and Sundays at Culmination Brewing offering rotating vegan delights. This Of Roots and Blooms vegan food example is their Vegan Pecan Bar

You can follow OfRootsandBlooms on Instagram to see what will be their menu of the week – they change every week. As mentioned, they are at noon to 8 pm at Culmination Brewery (2117 NE Oregon) until end of August and Wednesday at 3-10 PM at Bottles (5015 NE Fremont) until end of September and after that it’s unclear.

Have you heard of Of Roots and Blooms vegan food before, what do you think of some of the dishes they offer, what would you try?

Signature

Aviv PDX

As I included in my Eater PDX round up of pop up restaurants, Aviv PDX is a new entry to the 2017 Portland scene, run with chefs Tal Caspi (Gonzo Falafel and Hummus food truck) and Sanjay Chandrasekaran (Sudra) collaborating together while front of the house is managed by Suzanne Prinsen (Little Bird, Biwa). Together, they offer traditional and twists on familiar and unfamiliar Israeli dishes, all completely vegan. At first their plan was to get to a biweekly popup basis at Sanjay’s Heart Bar on 1125 SE Division Street. However last week they announced they are turning Aviv PDX into the restaurant replacing Heart Bar, which opens May 3 and is open seven days a week 11AM – 10PM. Here’s a look at when they were initially popping up and I attended their second seating of the evening at 8PM.

Setup of Aviv PDX Pop up at Heart Bar Setup of Aviv PDX Pop up at Heart Bar

[Read more…]

Signature

December Dinner at Farm Spirit

On December 16, we decided to celebrate our dating anniversary (hey, fair to celebrate both the dating and wedding anniversary right, especially if you dated a while before you got married, right…) at one of our favorite restaurants in Portland, and definitely the best vegan restaurant we’ve ever been to Farm Spirit. We opted for the later 7:45 seating instead of the earlier Friday seating which was a more convenient time for us to get there after work and because for the slightly higher price there may be additional courses at this grand tasting dinner.
Farm Spirit Wine Reserve Wine Flight, Wine Flight, or Housemade Beverage Flight - purchase before you arrive when making your reservations, or when you arrive, or order a la carte Farm Spirit is very conscientious and thoughtful in creating an experience via the food and the environment to support and celebrate local vendors. This is down to the counter that you are eating upon, the shelves you see before you, and the ceramic dishes you eat from.
[Read more…]

Signature