Recent Eats: Pok Pok lunch, a cheese + beer at Bailey’s Taproom Cellarfest 2

January 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I recently went with friends to lunch at Pok Pok. Whatever meal you visit here for, I always recommend getting an order of the Vietnamese Fish Sauce wings, ask for it spicy. The half a dozen natural chicken wings include the leg along with it as you can see for a good amount of meat, and after beeing marinated in fish sauce and palm sugar are fried and further tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic. It comes with Vietnamese table salad on the side, but I recommend two orders of sticky rice to go with.

Pok Pok, Ike's Wings, Vietnamese Fish Sauce wings, Andy Ricker, Thai restaurant

The recipe comes from daytime cook Ike, and was named one of the top ten restaurant dishes in America 2007 by Food & Wine magazine. It is as a sticky mess to eat as it appears in the photo (they do give you little wipes)- and also just as full of intense flavor as you might imagine from the photo.
Pok Pok, Ike's Wings, Vietnamese Fish Sauce wings, Andy Ricker, Thai restaurant

Since they don’t have Kaeng hung leh (a pork belly and pork shoulder curry that I adore from my mom’s Chiang Mai/Northern Thai area) at lunch, and I was a bit too chilled for their namesake som dtum (they call it the “papaya pok pok”) I opted for the one dish meal of khao muu daeng/muu krob. This is a pork dish done two ways- the top slices you see are the muu daeng, which is their housemade chinese bbq red pork, and the bottom is a crispy pork belly. The whole dish is then doused with a sesame sauce and on the left is a steamed gailan.

Pok Pok, Andy Ricker, Portland, Thai restaurant, khao muu daeng and muu krob

The gailan was a nice break from the sesame sauce which I thought they put too much on the dish. Their housemade version of chinese bbq red pork could not stand up to any bbq pork you can get from any random Chinese place- and although the Thai interpretation is a little more thin and bland the taste is made up for using a red sweet and salty sauce which didn’t have a presence here.  The crispy pork belly was ok but not quite what I was expecting- there was only a little bit of crispness to it, although I do recognize they gave better pork meat along with it.

I think I’m a harsher judge because what Pok Pok excels in is making street- style Thai food, no holding back the flavors that you would get if you were really there in Thailand- but I’ve had street food in Thailand. Most Thai restaurants have compromised on the homeland taste in order to survive normal consumer demands when Thai food started becoming acceptable take-out and because taste buds here are just different, understandably, then the home country. Also, ingredients that compose the dish are hard to find or just don’t taste the same as if fresh from the Thai markets there. Many times, the kitchen in Thai restaurants are also turning out home cooking, and don’t have the recipe or even intend to compete with the flavor profiles coming from food cart style expertise. Just like here in Portland, in Thailand, certain stalls are famous and followed to inconvenient locations because of their signature take on a dish. Pok Pok has been rewarded for holding true to Thai strong flavors even on American soil- but it also means that if you’ve had the real thing in Thailand and remember it well, as I have- sometimes Pok Pok can’t win the inevitable comparison. IMHO, their khao muu daeng/muu krob wasn’t bad, but just can’t compare to the real thing on the other side of the world- if you’ve had that experience. Otherwise, you might find this wonderful- and you wouldn’t be wrong either.

Whatever you do- don’t forget to get the chicken wings. And, order items off the menu that you haven’t seen before in other Thai restaurants- there’s more to Thai food than the 20 kinds of standard Thai dishes that you see on most Thai restaurant menus; here especially try the Northern and Eastern Thailand regional speciality dishes. Also, try to overlook the prices- sorry they are in dollars not baht (if you don’t know the costof these dishes in Thailand in Thai currency, you may not even think about the prices given the intensity of flavor it buys)… remember it’s saving you airfare! Besides, I have to admire the guts of a chef who is willing to dish out pretty much the real thing to the general public, not just in secret “in the know” to Thais only via secret menus or hole in the wall word by mouth only locations. To get the recipes they do use, he has to have the charisma to learn cooking in Thailand, so extra heart points.

Pok Pok, Andy Ricker, Portland, Thai restaurant, khao muu daeng and muu krob

Our regular beer bar, Bailey’s Taproom, was having their second Cellarfest. Our friends brought their liquid crack brie, while I brought the cheese board and utensils as well as (counter clockwise from the brie) a Beecher’s No Woman, a sharp cheddar, and Port Salut.

We also had two kinds of local bread: Franz’s Palouse Plateau all natural steel cut oat, and Great Harvest‘s 9 Grain (loaves baked fresh daily all day!). The usual bread, Portland French Bakery‘s asiago bread, was missed since it wasn’t at the Fred Meyer’s during the grocery run, but Great Harvest was a fine tasty (in a different way- sweet rather than the chunks of cheese) and much healthier substitute. I’m thrilled to be able to be a supporter of so many local bakeries- and that there are so many to choose from (I am also a fan of Dave’s Killer Bread and Gabriel’s Bakery).

Our plate went great with all the beers we tried at the Cellarfest- and we tried all 18 of them that were available- and our seconds (and thirds) of tastings of the Block 15 2009’s Pappy Dark, though the sweet when emerging from the cellar Dogfish Head 2009 120 Minute IPA was a strong 2nd place favorite of ours. Last year this event is what convinced me that I wanted to start cellaring beers along with wines. Thank you Baileys.

bailey's taproom festival event, bring your own cheese plate

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Karam Lebanese Restaurant

January 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I’ve heard good things about Karam from a reliable foodie friend, but it was only relatively recently that I finally was able to visit this Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant. It is located not far from Al Amir, the home of my favorite baba ghanouj. I wondered going in how Karam would stack up, including to my Chicago standby Reza‘s.

To be fair, Reza’s is Persian, while Karam is specifically described as Lebanese. So I forgive them for not having dill rice, and my interest was peaked by their offering of kibbee, a national Lebanese dish made with ground meat, onion, and bulgar.

Our dinner entrees came with a fresh side salad, and we were excited to see some interesting beverages, especially the fruit infusion one I had that was made with homemade yogurt. I could see myself craving those drinks during the summer.

Karam Lebanese Restaurant Karam Lebanese Restaurant

I passed on specifically ordering the the kibbee this time to try their Baleela, their take on hummus served hot, steamed garbanzo beans mixed with garlic, cumin, olive oil and tahini sauce. Really really good, definitely would recommend it. I did get to try the kibbee as well- more in a moment.

Karam Lebanese Restaurant

I ate almost that whole plate on my own, because he got the huuuge Veggie Mazawat, which is a sampler of, from left to right and back to front row, taboule, baleela, falafel with tahini sauce and grape leaves (on the same plate), baba gahanouj, veggie kibbee nayee, hummus, and labne their homemade Lebanese cheese and the wrapper is from the basket of fresh oven baked pita bread! If you are coming in for your first time, this is a good way to try a little bit of everything, obviously.

Karam Lebanese Restaurant

After the full Veggie Mazawat shot, you can see closeups of what made up the sampler. First photo is a look at the taboule, baleela, and baba gahanouj. I don’t think the baba gahanouj is as good as Al Amir, but that baleela still is awesome and unique. Following that is the closer look at the baleela, falafel with tahini sauce and grape leaves (on the same plate), veggie kibbee nayee, hummus. Very filling sampler that filled our table with 7 plates of goodies to try

Karam Lebanese Restaurant Karam Lebanese Restaurant

For my entree, since I would get to sample the kibbee from the Veggie Mazawat, I decided to try something else. Based on a foursquare suggestion, I went with Lamb Couscous, a dish of tender lamb shawarma topped with feta cheese and tahini sauce. I think I only ate 1/4 of that lamb, it was good but this was a really big plate. When we asked for a box, they brought us boxes for *everything* so we didn’t waste any food by throwing it away… and it did still taste delicious the next day. Despite the lack of dill rice, this place is the closest to giving Reza’s a run for my money, and is my pick for Portland for Mediterranean food right now.

Karam Lebanese Restaurant

The restaurant is a family business with the men greeting and serving while the wife gives you a taste of her incredible (probably literally) home cooking based on recipes that have been passed down. They take great pride in their food- giving you lots of choice including ones that are unique, lots of it on a plate to make sure you don’t go home hungry, all executed well, they check to make sure you are enjoying your meal and heap new fresh in house pitas onto your table. Whether you are someone who already enjoys Middle Eastern food and is looking for a new take on it or someone trying to expand their ethnic cuisine palette, Karam is going to pleasantly surprise you with flavors – look past the simple traditional plating and indeterminate mush look and put it in your mouth and enjoy.

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Vegetarian House

January 13, 2011 by 2 Comments

One of F’s favorite places and conveniently located by his work is Vegetarian House. Actually, the restaurant is vegan, with all their dishes, which are Chinese style, using substitute meat products for the chicken, ham, beef, fish, shrimp, even squid. F usually goes for the lunch buffet, but recently we stopped by for a dinner on our way back from the convention center.

We started off by sharing the veggie chicken salad. It smells great when it arrived at the table, and the warm chicken was a nice contrast to the cool crisp salad that was dressed in a light tangy oil based dressing

His choice of entree was the veggie sesame chicken. The veggie chicken tastes just as good as it looks, though it was done extra spicy here, with the simplicity of the steamed broccoli giving you a break from the well sauced fake chicken which was cooked perfectly just like meat- it had the same texture with the crisp deep fried outside but moist inside.

Meanwhile, I went with the house special pan fried noodle. Look at that closer shot of some of the ingredients with the noodles- broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, fake chicken, fake shrimp in all its detail. Not shown- the fake ham (its the perfectly box shaped piece of meat in the previous picture of the dish). When the dish comes, it is presented on a sizzling plate with the noodles very crispy before the sauce begins to race you in absorbing the noodles, and then making this dish soggy. This probably would have been better if there had been more people sharing it to scoop out their crispy noodles immediately- and this platter is truly enough to feed a family. The fake chicken didn’t fare as well in the pan fried noodle dish as it did crisped up in the other two dishes. I couldn’t stop admiring the fake shrimp. The chef works pretty hard to make that fake shrimp look as shrimpy as it does… and it has the exact right texture, I actually was digging around looking for all the shrimp.

The interior of this place may not look like much, as the atmosphere is functional and simple. You may have mixed feelings about what is playing on the large screen TV against one wall of the room with its peace/vegetarian/Buddhist propaganda agenda. Do the vegan takes of the standard dishes stand up in terms of the flavors of an actual meat dish? Not from a good authentic restaurant, but from the average takeout place in the neighborhood when you have that craving for somewhat Americanized Chinese, yes it does, minus the grease and MSG and meat from who knows where from who knows when. A lot is depending on the dish- from my few visits, I thought the gluten fake meat works better in some preparations more than others. Crispy preparations of the fake meat in a dish generally fare better. Also, some dishes are better fresh from the kitchen because of the sauce ruining the texture or the steam in the box softening the dish. Although we made the mistake of taking the salt and pepper faux shrimp home so it was no longer fresh in terms of the breading, the taste itself was spot on.

Mostly, I admire this small business’s ethic and effort. The chef there really is a hard worker- they are open 365 days a year, 11-9, working through all holidays. The waitress even admired it- said they have only closed when the chef wanted to take off to see his daughter graduate. Same thing with the guy who usually runs the front of the house- everyday but Sunday, year round. Otherwise there they are, every day, all day, passionate about providing a full Chinese menu of all the expected options, but in an vegetarian way to save animals and encourage good health, making what difference he can in this lifetime, one dish at a time. When I first enter and leave, Vegetarian House is right next door (even sharing the same stairs) to another Chinese hole in the wall Good Taste- but this one is the type that has the Chinese duck hanging on a hook right in the front window, and maybe a crispy roast pork and bbq pork hanging right behind it… the type that in Asia would be an open air restaurant along the street…and I admit my steps slow down a bit as I feast with the eyes.

But every time I keep on walking into Vegetarian House. If you’re going to have Chinese, Vegetarian House offers the typical dishes but with extra care and concern- it’s better for your heart in more ways than one.

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Metrovino NYE Dinner Recap

January 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Ringing in 2011! Here’s a recap of our dinner on 12/31/2010 at Metrovino. After being seated promptly on arrival and being given the time to peruse and then taking our beverage order, we started with the Amuse bouche at Metrovino’s NYE Tasting 2010 dinner. It was  a spoonful of tomato and basil and perhaps also tuna tartare if you are an omnivore, along with a little container of Jerusulum artichoke soup. The soup was very nice and creamy and we both really enjoyed it, the spoons were ok- I was expecting more perky brightness in the flavor. As we would soon find out, that was the theme of the dinner- richness with an attempt at a bit of acid on the side.

First Course. For the vegetarian, it was an Alba White Truffle Blintz with house made ricotta cheese, alba white truffles, chives, celery-lemon vinaigrette. He found this too creamy for his liking, and passed the plate over for me to ensure bread mopped off every last bit of truffle (which he didn’t notice!!).

For the omnivore, it was Caviar Blintz: california sturgeon caviar served over a warm blintz stuffed with dungeness crab, house made ricotta, chives, lemon zest. Spreading the caviar over the blintz to even out the saltiness balanced out the creaminess of the inside along with the soft but crisp crepe outside. Along with our dinner, he had a “Syrah Smackdown” flight that consisted of wines from Washington (Tyrus Evan), Oregon (Cristom), and Australia (Mitolo “Jester”). I had a “Sparkling Smackdown” wine flight of Italy (Dama del Rovere Durello Brut) vs Oregon (J Albin Brut Rosé) vs France (Huber-Verdereau Crémant de Bourgogne). Washington won in the Syrah, but France won in the sparkling.

Alba White Truffle Blintz with house made ricotta cheese, alba white truffles, chives, celery-lemon vinaigrette >Caviar Blintz: california sturgeon caviar served over a warm blintz stuffed with dungeness crab, house made ricotta, chives, lemon zest

Second Course. For the vegetarian, this course was a Warm Winter Squash & Belgian Endive Salad with goat cheese croquette, lentil & leek vinaigrette, toasted walnut. He didn’t care for his cheese croquette, so I got to spread 3/4 of it on bread to enjoy. And admittedly the cheese was only so-so, croquette form did not improve it- whatever breading was around it was more like soft breadcrumb then crunch. The cheese inside the breading was sticky creamy rather then light fluffy and no additional flavor from a nice culture, now that I recognize the difference in making goat cheese myself at home.

For the omnivore, this course was Lobster, Avocado & Green Apple Salad with Braised Pork Belly, Crispy Potato & Alba White Truffles poached lobster salad with crème fraîche, fines herbes, avocado, celery vinaigrette. I liked the flavor from the pork belly along with the lobster and green apple, but I thought they could have dialed back the creaminess from the avocado a bit and instead added more green apple for more balance against so much savory. The crispy potato also was not very crispy. For a “salad” course, this was a terrible salad, it’s better as a starter, unless they add in more greens as this was so creamy.

Warm Winter Squash & Belgian Endive Salad with goat cheese croquette, lentil & leek vinaigrette, toasted walnut Lobster, Avocado & Green Apple Salad with Braised Pork Belly, Crispy Potato & Alba White Truffles poached lobster salad with crème fraîche, fines herbes, avocado, celery vinaigrette

As a special additional course for the omnivore, there was Cold-Smoked Foie Gras “Pastrami” with red cabbage marmalade, blood orange & caraway gastrique, dark bread and duck rillettes. This was incredibly rich and like thick tablespoons of Irish butter- I wish there had been more of everything else= be it marmalade, blood orange, or bread to spread that meat butter around. The quotes around the pastrami came from the fact that rillette was coated on the outside with the typical seasoning for pastrami- garlic, coriander, pepper, etc- and when presented at the table a glass container was upside down on it, and when lifted smoke steam wafted up. F also extracted a promise that I would never have foie gras again based on the principle that it is a cruel and unnecessary item to produce and eat.

Cold-Smoked Foie Gras Pastrami with red cabbage marmalade, blood orange & caraway gastrique, dark bread and duck rillettes Cold-Smoked Foie Gras Pastrami with red cabbage marmalade, blood orange & caraway gastrique, dark bread and duck rillettes

Course 3, Mains. For the vegetarian, this was Napoleon of Wild Mushroom & Perigord Truffle and sautéed spinach, cauliflower, grilled quince and truffled pine nut anglaise. This was F’s favorite dish, the spinach was tender and cauliflower were seared so had a bit of crisp burnt part to it.

For the omnivore, the main course was Grilled Cattail Creek Lamb Loin,Foie Gras Wellington with Perigord Black Truffles, sautéed spinach and black trumpet mushrooms, grilled quince, sauce perigourdine. The lamb loin was perfectly cooked, and the sauteed spinach still juicy, and man that perigourdine sauce really rocked. The Foie Gras Wellington seemed extraneous to me.

Napoleon of Wild Mushroom & Perigord Truffle and sautéed spinach, cauliflower, grilled quince and truffled pine nut anglaise Grilled Cattail Creek Lamb Loin,Foie Gras Wellington with Perigord Black Truffles, sautéed spinach and black trumpet mushrooms, grilled quince, sauce perigourdine

Course 4, Dessert. For the vegetarian, Bosc Pear Crème Caramel chocolate hazelnut crumble, pear salad, nutella semifreddo, and the omnivore a similar set, Bosc Pear and Triple Cream Cheesecake with chocolate hazelnut cookie crust, pear salad, nutella semifreddo. The semifreddo was really thick and chocolate-y- we both had problems finishing it. The crumble, being less creamy and rich then the cheesecake, was the winner between the two. The pear salad was not full of enough juice from a fresh pear to balance out the other two rich components. We were both also pretty full from this very reasonably priced tasting course dinner, the mains really packed a punch in terms of both flavor and being fulfilling as a course, so something more light and palate-cleansing at the end would have been more what we were looking for. However, both of us are not into desserts normally anyway.

Bosc Pear Crème Caramel chocolate hazelnut crumble, pear salad, nutella semifreddo Bosc Pear and Triple Cream Cheesecake with chocolate hazelnut cookie crust, pear salad, nutella semifreddo

Overall, this was a wonderful dinner, despite the critiques you saw above. F’s taste doesn’t like creaminess, but I found the blitz to be great. The salad courses they served didn’t work as traditional salads, but could definitely stand as first course starters on their own. The main courses we both really enjoyed in flavor and texture as it balanced many profiles in every bite and combined the various ingredients well. And, although the dessert was a bit too heavy for us,  we admit we generally lean towards lighter palate cleansing desserts, and especially after such richness in the previous courses it seemed like a bit of overload. Similar to the salads though, if those desserts were paired with a different type of dinner, could work well on its own. The main flaw was the progression of the courses put together in a sequence, not the concepts of the dishes- at least on this visit. I’m all for luxury on New Year’s Eve, but the richness here was even a bit much for a butter, bacon, duck fat lover like myself.

The atmosphere was modern but still warm, with the wait staff continually keeping our water glasses filled (F was very thirsty) and checking in on us but still being unobtrusive so we could have our private conversations. We sat by the window but never felt cold, and got to enjoy the view as the evening went on of people travelling to their New  Year’s Eve countdown destination with potluck dishes or beverages.

Their wine menu is huge, with tastings (1/2 glass )  and a glass available on most of their wine options rather then the normal only a dozen glasses of wine to choose from. They also had 2 dozen wine flights to choose from if you wanted their suggestions that would be a “smackdown” of various wine regions, definitely an interesting take- but you could have easily made your own wine flight as well with all those tasting options. This would be a great place to explore wine, and since it’s right across the street from the streetcar stop, you could even do so with public transit as your safe option home so you can enjoy all you wanted. Metrovino also was rated “best burger” in Portland, and based on this dinner, has culinary strength to match its impressive wine list.

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A Progressive Meal on Alberta Highlights: Grilled Cheese Grill, Mash Tun Brew Pub

December 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I finally made it to the Grilled Cheese Grill, a cart that also has a bus so you can eat your melted cheese and bread inside the toasty school bus if you don’t want to sit on the benches. The bus has lots of interesting art to look at on the ceiling, and Trivia Pursuit cards on the table, that is if you aren’t already having fun looking at all the old school photos that are printed on the table and bar. The photos I took were parts of the ceiling by our booth that particularly caught my eye: panda mailbox with panda-man, a hummingbird with an owl with horns visiting on its lap while pet mice crawl around it, striped bear-things and no-faces.

Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, busGrilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

I greedily ordered two sandwiches and ate half of each. First was “The Hot Brie”: Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough.  This turned out more greasy then I liked, with the brie and red peppers getting mushy and squishing out of the sandwich.

The Hot Brie, Melty Brie, Red Peppers, Tomato, and Spicy Mustard on Sourdough, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus
The second sandwich, the “BABs”: bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye. A great mix of melty cheese with crunchy bacon and apples, I would get this again.
BABs, bacon, Apples, Bleu Cheese, Swiss on Rye, Grilled Cheese Grill, Portland Oregon, food truck, grilled cheese, bus

The next stop of our progressive eating (it started and ended at the Kennedy School, which is where we stayed for the weekend) was Alberta Co-op for snacks, and then Mash Tun Brew pub for a bacon bloody mary and some local beers. Our snack while we had our beverages was a pretty tasty “Tempeh Things”- fried tempeh, served buffalo or barbecue style (we asked for half and half as they weren’t too busy) with house-made veganaise. Both sauces were flavorful but in different ways- the spicy slightly drier buffalo, and the smokier, more sticky barbecue, and the crisp texture of the tempeh was a great vehicle, better then the traditional chicken wing since we could bite right in. The veganaise was not as good as a traditional ranch offering though, offering some of the creaminess but little more than that. Still, we were impressed how vegetarian friendly this brewpub was in providing a dozen decent options that weren’t just salads or hummus or a frozen veggie burger (they make their own veggie burger in fact here), and we wouldn’t mind coming back for a second visit to try a full meal.

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