The Nodoguro Haruki Murakami August themed pop-up

Here’s my recap of the Nodoguro August themed pop-up- which this month was themed after the author Haruki Murakami, a famous post-modern literature author. I attended this dinner on 8/12/2014.

For next month, September, the new theme will be Totoro, from the animated move My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki!! Buy your tickets now for this pop-up of Nodoguro PDX that pops up at the Evoe space. The menu changes every month so it is only for a special 6-8 time culinary performance by Ryan Roadhouse and partner in crime behind the kitchen Mark Wooten of Phantom Rabbit Farms. At least, it seems, until they are ramped up to take over the Evoe they have been popping up in permanently!!

This time, because of where I was sitting by the counters, I took some special edition photos of our two chefs Ryan in the hat and Mark ready-for-a-shampoo-commercial preparing and plating the dishes. You will also get a glimpse of hostess and pop-up atmosphere curator Elena assisting in serving and explaining the dishes.

The Nodoguro Haruki Murakami theme this month meant creating dishes as described from various books by Haruki Murakami inspired a diverse journey of flavors, and yielded my most favorite sunomono yet from them. Each dish came from a description of the book listed with the dish (shown in bold italic), and spanned across 5 novels.

For the optional beverage pairing, I shared a bottle of Ippongi Denshin Yuki Sake with my two dining friends, though I was tempted by the Wind Up Bird cocktail (The Wind Up Bird is another Haruki Murakami novel).

So now, come take this visual journey…

Torke Oyster with Uni, and ginger blossom

From Hotel Lobby Oyster

Fig Salad with tofu cream, chanterelle and pine nut

From 1Q84
Bonus photos of some of the prepping of the tofu cream mixture by Mark

And here is the super tasty dish, which I think surprised many guests in its interesting flavors.

Sea Bream Sashimi with citrus, skin salad and water pepper

From Kafka on the Shore

Ryan Roadhouse and Mark Wooten prepared these dishes on the cool fish plates while Elena Roadhouse explains something to a fellow guest diner

Midori’s Broiled Sablefish and spicy Lotus root

From Norwegian Wood
It smelled sooo good when Ryan opened this oven door. Sure, the handle fell off a little later, but it did the trick for this melt in your mouth fish with its crispy skin.

Definitely one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

From Norwegian Wood/1Q84

I liked this sunonomo the most because it’s been more substantial then previous ones that were more palate cleanses, this one felt much more like a course that just happened to have refreshing acidity (and which I still picked up the bowl at the end and drank the rest of the vinaigrette). I liked that this time it had egg which gave a little creaminess to it as well.

Seared Japanese Eggplant, bonito, ginger, and red miso

From Norwegian Wood
The teamwork continues…

And the artsy plating of the dish

Salmon Oyakodon with Koshihikari Rice

From 1Q84
The wasabi was grated with this shark skin paddle:

I never get tired of fish eggs and sashimi cut fish on rice.

Omelette in Dashi

From Norwegian Wood

From Hear the Wind Sing

Watermelon Manju and Genmai matcha

You can see past recaps of Nodoguro dinners I have attended here for July and here for June and here for May!