Archives for January 2013

Bacco Cafe at Pike Place Market

January 17, 2013 by 1 Comment

Back to my recent weekend in Seattle.

There were so many brunch options I had picked out for Sunday morning in Seattle- but of course we can’t visit them all in one brunch. Among the options I presented to F included Portage Bay Cafe for their fruit bar, Skillet Diner because they have bacon jam, and Toulouse Petit for their French-New Orleans offering, but all these were greater than a mile away and he was still sore from being on his legs all day while working in the Seattle office. So I yelped options closer to us that included Cafe Campagne for their French brunch take, Library Bistro because someone talked about how they felt like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, and I was using my smartphone to browse and we were impressed with the mobile version of the Library Bistro website and I wanted to reward them for it, Sweet Iron that specializes in waffles and Biscuit Bitch which specializes obviously in biscuits, but…

He went with Bacco Cafe Pike Place Market because after our meal we could then wander the Pike Place Market for a while, and also visit the Waterfront. It is a tiny little cafe that is mostly known for their Dungeness Crab and Smoked Salmon offerings (including in omelette, benedict, and sandwich form) and various fresh fruit shakes.

Note that although their address says they are on Pine, we ended up having to walk back up to 1st street and Pine for their breakfast food- the address they list seems to be more for their bar area downstairs that is part of the rest of the plaza and isn’t entrance to the space they were using for breakfast/brunch.

Bacco Cafe at Pike Place Market’s hot oatmeal with seasonal fruit and steamed milk and brown sugar served in little vessels on the side. He thought it was thoughtful that the steamed milk was already warm so as to not make the oatmeal cold. I had the specialty of Dungeness Crab Benedict, with dungeness crab meat, two poached local free range eggs, hass avocado with hollandaise sauce on multigrain english muffin served with herb roasted potato. I thought my dish was ok- plenty of crab, but it seemed underseasoned. I wish I had had a little lemon- maybe they forgot or were rushed, admittedly we did get our order very quickly, I think in 10 minutes of ordering it.

They make the fruit shakes right there (you can watch them putting in the fruit into the juicer). Both of us enjoyed our fruit shakes- mine with strawberry, banana, pear and apple was not as tart as his with grapefruit, lime, and kiwi I think?


Bacco Cafe is a tiny place with 6 counter top seats and about 10 two-tops I think (there is a nice area outdoors to eat that offers more tables but isn’t used when the temperature if around freezing like it is now). So I was surprised there was no line at 11:30, though as it approached lunchtime the place began to fill up but even then it was maybe a 20 minute wait (and this was for larger groups of 5-6 that were showing up). It seems they have a downstairs area as well which we walked past on our way to try to find the front door of this place, but it was closed off. Bacco serves breakfast all day (from morning to mid afternoon, they close before dinner) everyday, so you don’t have to come get that Dungeness Crab bennie only during brunch on the weekends. If you want a break to sit down and warm up by the market, this would be a nice hidden retreat from the other crowds for some coffee or shakes to regain energy.

We’ll be back in February to attend Pike Brewery’s annual chocolate and beer pairing event dubbed Pike Chocofest, so I’ll have the opportunity again to try one of the other brunch places I found. We found out about the Chocofest event last year but I had to travel for work, so I missed it but we decided to try it this year. We won’t need to wander the Pike Place Market area though during our next visit (though we will likely stay in this area again for convenience to Pike Brewery)- we did lots of wandering in this area next after brunch, to be covered in the next post…

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Nuvrei Patisserie and Cafe Lunch Edition

January 15, 2013 by 2 Comments

While I was on winter break from work during the holidays, I stopped by at  Nuvrei again a couple of times. It’s become my breakfast/brunch obsession. I wished I lived closer as I was jealous each time I saw a regular come in and get greeted by name and exchange life updates small talk with the staff.

This time, rather than stopping in the early morning I stopped during lunchtime, and I found the fact that they have no menu board but you have to get to the register to grab one of their printed paper trifolds (even though the line is supposed to snake to the right of the entrance, past where they assemble the sandwiches and all the pastries and those macarons before you get to the register all the way on the left) pretty disorienting. They should have the menus closer to the right side perhaps in a menu holder that is noticeable so you can take the time to read through it before you get to the register area.

Still, even though they only had 8 bar seats and 3 tables, we were able to find a seat for 2 to enjoy our little lunch. One extra tip- if you look at the outside countertop where they have the additions for your coffee, there is one more small counter spot and 2 stools if you don’t want to eat back at the office or it’s not nice enough to eat outside.

Even though I came during lunchtime, I ended up with more options from their all day breakfast sandwiches part of their menu. I tried the cheddar jalapeno bagel with cream cheese, and swooned over the taste of the bagels which uses with their homemade pretzel dough, so is not quite a traditional bagel but all is totally forgiven.

Also, I tried the Smoked Cheddar pretzel with chive cream cheese and smoked wild sockeye salmon which was like a dream, every bite was so heavenly, it just sinks in with the right amount of chewiness. I suppose you can just get the bagel or the smoked cheddar pretzel by themselves too and they would be just as tasty, but seriously, their pretzel bread is such a perfect mix of soft and doughy yet firm and just a little bit of salt but then add in how it tastes with the savory sandwich fixings… like the fresh melt in your mouth salmon with that smooth just enough smear of cream cheese…so incredible.

Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast sandwich pretzel bagel Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast sandwich salmon pretzel

On the brioche side, the grilled cheese with young asiagio cheese was helped by the dijon butter and the cornichons, but it still seemed plain. Also on brioche, the Morning Croque Madame with was  a much better combination with its gooey oozy melt in your mouth mix of brioche, fried egg, bechamel, dijon butter, swiss cheese and ham, served hot.

Nuvrei Patisserie and Café brioche grilled cheese Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast sandwich brioche Croque Madame Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast sandwich brioche Croque Madame Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast sandwich brioche Croque Madame

If you are looking for a grab and go pastry, besides the pretzel based bagels and their various flakey buttery croissants, you might also consider their yellow squash pizza with chevre fresh oregano and ground pepper, and the margarita pizza with tomato onion chevre and fresh basil, both on a olive oil crust. I find what they did with the squash an example of what I had mentioned in a previous post: that everything is thoughtfully created with love and high quality and European craftsmanship.

Nuvrei Patisserie and Café breakfast yellow squash pizza

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Sunset in Seattle 1/12/13

January 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment

From the RView in Seattle, watching the sunset out the window of their lounge with an Anjou Pear martini with Grey Goose, Germaine, pear nectar and pineapple juice and complimentary bar snack.

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PCS presents I Love to Eat

January 6, 2013 by 1 Comment

I Love to Eat

I Love to Eat I Love to Eat

Written By James Still; Directed by Jessica Kubzansky; Design by Julia McNamara; Art direction by Michael Buchino. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

I Love to Eat
January 8–February 3, 2013
Presented by Portland Center Stage on the Main Stage
Runs 75 minutes with no intermission
Tuesday – Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
Thursday matinees at noon

This one man stage play “celebrates the life and talent of a Portland, Oregon, original—James Beard. Before Julia Child, before today’s proliferation of cooking shows and networks, there was James Beard, the first TV chef. He brought fine cooking to the small screen in 1946 and helped establish an American cuisine. But, as is often the case with pioneers, his early efforts on screen have been lost. He went on to become America’s first “foodie,” and the award bearing his name is still the prize most coveted by chefs. Playwright James Still invites you to meet the man described as ‘the face and belly of American gastronomy’ in this play that recreates an evening at Beard’s New York home.”

The play is performed at the Gerding Theater at the Armory – Main Stage located in the trendy artsy urban Pearl District, so you can plan on grabbing great cocktails and small bites in easy walking distance (such as at my favorites Clyde Common or Teardrop Lounge , although there are many other options too!) before or after the show, and/or dinner. In fact, you may have to go out and have dinner after watching this show after all the food references and watching James Beard (played by Rob Nagle) prepare food during the show.

Portland Center Stage presents I Love to Eat Jan 8–Feb 3: www.pcs.org/eat

For an extra special treat, consider joining in with Forktown Tours, who is doing a special edition tour followed by attending this show called the Portland Loves To Eat tour on Fridays and Saturdays during the show run. Its price-tag of $99 includes a walking tour with food samples and backstory on the life and times of “the Dean of American Cuisine” James Beard and his influence on the way we eat, a backstage tour of the Gerding Theater, an hour of time for you to fill your stomach before then going in for a Friday or Saturday night performance.

Another cool option might be to attend on January 15, after attending PCS’s Shop Talk from 6:30 – 7 p.m. Admission is free, and is a time to get answers from the production staff to questions such as how they created a working kitchen, finding the right foods to include in the production (and after auditioning various brioches and challahs, what kind of bread made the final cut?) Also find out how a fridge be used as an actor’s entrance and about some “sandwich trick”? Come tackle these questions and ask some more of your own at their free pre-show discussion!

Also, for the official West Coast Premier on Friday, January 11th, after the evening performance theater goers will be treated to a tasting reception which will feature 5 of the 7 James Beard winning chefs in Oregon, including Philippe Boulot of Multnomah Athletic Club (and previously the Heathman), Greg Higgins of Higgins Restaurant, Caprial Pence of Basa Basa, Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon and Little Bird, and Cory Schreiber of The Art Institute of Portland (and founder of Wildwood Restaurant). This $125 event tickets are for a limited time and can only be purchased by visiting directly or calling the Portland Center Stage box office  and providing the code “James Beard Public Market Event” (tickets for the other performances of the show’s run can be purchased over the PCS website.) All proceeds from the evening will benefit the planned James Beard Public Market, a concept for a local market that will rival Pike Place Market but located here in hometown Portland.

Finally, during the performance run PCS is also partnering with the Oregon Food Bank for a food drive, so consider bringing non-perishable items with you. We are very fortunate in that we have choices in deliciousness and can leisurely love to eat, but there are others who are in need and hungry and would love to eat too. Note there is a Whole Foods only a few blocks away. You can also use a promo code FOODBANK that will get you a $5 discount off tickets and PCS will donate $10 to Oregon Food Bank for using the code.

I had mentioned this show to F before Christmas, and after asking a couple times more (it was repetitive reminding…) he purchased matinee tickets for us to attend on January 20,. We’ll be attending with the Foodie Meetup group so that we can join in a free backstage tour – an example how PCS is stepping up to reaching out to the foodie community to celebrate the first Portland Foodie of them all.

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Lobsters in LA

January 5, 2013 by 3 Comments

I love lobster rolls. I seem to have a harder time finding them here in the Northwest, but in LA there are several roaming lobster trucks, so when I went to visit for Christmas week I requested that I try one. The Lobsta Truck was on holiday, so based on previous experience of my siblings and location from where we were staying, our next choice was Cousins Maine Lobster. It was parked right next to another food truck, Let’s Roll It, that takes various Japanese dishes and then substitutes cooked meat from other cultures instead- we looked longingly at inari pouches with lobster and a lobster maki roll, but did not get distracted. We were here for lobster rolls, and then off to a second lunch destination.

My brother and I got the Connecticut Lobster Roll, which has fresh warm Maine lobster served on toasted New England style roll and touched with melted butter and lemon. The fact that it is a New England style roll is critical. My mom went with the Maine Crab roll that uses Maine Jonah crab in the same roll brushed with butter and dressed with mayo. At first she was using a fork to just eat the crab meat and I was totally not going to let her throw away that roll- I would eat it plain- but then she discovered that it was really good bread and ate it all herself after all. One of my bucket list trips is to go to Maine and just eat lobster rolls all week.

Cousins Lobster Truck Cousins Lobster Truck

They have a cute little ironing board where you can wrap up your leftovers in foil if you’d like, but that’s silly. You will not have any leftovers. You will devour this sandwich in mere minutes, mmmming the whole time from the toasted but soft sweet buttery roll and the generous lobster meat.

Cousins Lobster Truck crab roll Cousins Lobster Truck lobster roll LA

Cousins also has a restaurant in Pasadena, which then offers additional menu options if you don’t have the flexibility to stalk down the latest location of their truck.

Actually, this was quite a lobster day. First, after all that sweet lobster had melted in my mouth, on the way to lunch stop #2 I had the lobster ice cream.

Cousins Lobster Truck lobster ice cream

And, later that evening, the family went off to eat the specialty house lobster at Newport Seafood Restaurant.

Newport Seafood Restaurant Chinese lobster

I don’t think there is ever too much lobster. Having it whole where you need to free that tender lobster meat from the shell is not something I really enjoy- I prefer lobster tails and lobster rolls and let’s say, lobster that is added to a dish (such as the Risotto Con Aragosta I had at Michaels on Naples).

I was so happy with my dinner at Michaels- my lobster risotto was decadent but not too creamy, and I also go to share 1/3 of the  Bistecca Per Due special they had, a really tasty 32 ounce prime rib eye roast with my brother which they carved table-side for us. Even though it was a chilly 40 degrees or so, sitting on their upstairs patio was no problem at all because they had covered it with a tent and had plenty of heat lamps, a roaring fireplace, a saxophone player playing at the bar, so sophisticated  it didn’t even seem like we were outside. If I hadn’t been with my siblings, I would have never gotten to experience this elegant meal- and it was one of my top two meals of the week (the other being Cousins which was delicious but not really elegant as we were eating standing on the street). Great picks J!

Michaels on Naples lobster risotto Michaels on Naples Bistecca Per Due Michaels on Naples Bistecca Per Due

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