Dining out in Portland, Oregon and other Food Travels
I loved going through the Namazake Paul Advent Calendar last year in 2021, and the Sake Advent Calendar is back and better for 2022. The calendar is huge – because it features at least one sake cup sized prize behind each door (an even more special larger portion for Christmas Eve!). The box is massive – here’s my cat for a little scale, as well as a few detail shots about the cute calendar art.
Nodoguro is blissfully and officially back! As a long time supporter and diner of many Nodoguro dinners, I attended their pop-ups their summer with the Izakaya in the Canaries as I covered previously, and although I did not do a blog post I did put together an Instagram reel of the Nodoguro Lil Nashi brunch pop up also. Both of these events were at a borrowed space, but as reported by the Oregonian, Nodoguro has found a new permanent location. I was fortunate to be able to snag a reservation for myself at a November seating, and here’s a look at the new space and a re-visitation of the Nodoguro 3.0 dining experience. The menu may change quarterly or possibly monthly, depending on what Chef Ryan Roadhouse decides to do. For this visit the theme was Nurturing Your Kokoro.
The seating is one per night on mostly weekend dates, and limited to just a little more then a dozen people for approximately 2.5 hours of a dinner tasting menu that features snacks and composed courses made from the best of local northwest and Japanese ingredients and Nodoguro preparation that combines creativity and traditional techniques, plus a line up of omakase sushi bites and miso soup, dessert and tea. The space on NE 23rd is a little hidden, you have to walk down a lantern-lit pathway to the restaurant door.
Upon entering you find yourself at an initial welcome area, and a lounge to socialize with the other dining parties of the evening while possibly enjoying a welcome drink – here a Tamagawa Heart of Oak sake from Kyoto with nutty, toasty characteristics that was really well balanced – I could drink this endlessly and kept sipping it slowly to make it last. You can select from a pairing that included both wines and sakes, or beverages by the glass or a bottle. One of the updates Nodoguro has made that I really enjoyed and I think made it the best pairings from the dinners I’ve had so far is that the selection is all Oregon wines if it is wine, and they endeavored to select wines and sakes that are unique and not ones you can find normally on store shelves or on other restaurant beverage lists.
Doors open 30 minutes before the dinner service, and dinner service is at a shared countertop, though every course is plated and served to you individually. For this theme of Nurturing Your Kokoro, each seating came with an oracle card, and several us read aloud our cards, unique to each setting, to the table. Mine read “Flowers even bloom on grass that has been trampled.(Japanese proverb)”. I would prefer not to be trampled but good to know I will persevered and still blossom.
Umami juice. Vegetables roasted then fermented with soft vinegar, this small starter cleansed the palate and was a bit reminiscent to me of a kombucha. The beverage pairing for the snacks is this crisp Mellen Meyer Brut Nature – Willamette Valley AVA. This Oregon sparkling wine producer was new to me and I’m glad for the introduction
Duck, squash, and cranberry. Nodoguro serving up a a little Thanksgiving”, with the squash poached in sake and the beautiful perfect slices of duck. I wish Thanksgiving could really be duck instead of turkey like this. One of my favorite creative courses of the evening.
The Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor is an iconic area of the Oregon Coast and is a state park that you can travel to between Bandon and Brookings offering miles of rock formations among lush green forests with cliff overlooks, sea stacks and arch formations, and quiet beaches. And, it’s all free- no park pass needed. You can make this a day trip as it is just a 2 hour drive between these two seaside towns, but expect to add on a few hours with the many scenic stops and hikes available before and within Samuel Boardman State Park. Even if you do not want to do much hiking, it is still worth a visit as most viewpoints are easy accessible right along the corridor that you can park and do very short walks to viewpoints. Here’s my guide to Samuel H Boardman Scenic Corridor based on my day trip. This was a leisurely drive from after sleeping in and breakfast and first walking Circle in the Sands, to a lunch to go, no hike more then 30 minutes roundtrip, and then returning back to Bandon with a stop at Prehistoric Gardens, all in time for watching sunset at Coquille Point.
I covered Circle in the Sands and the sunset views at Coquille Point already at the linked posts, so this post will focus on my take on a guide to the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor iconic views, whimsy nostalgia of the Prehistoric Gardens experience, along with a lunch with a famous hot dog!
Don’t worry whether the weather is sunny which will look beautiful with blue skies and blue seas in your views, or if it is a gloomy grey day that is also IMHO atmospheric: I think all weather conditions make the scenic viewpoints look special. I recommend driving from north to south for the trip so you are always pulling to the right side into the viewpoints.
I know it’s been awhile since I updated – this blog is a non-sponsored hobby, and unfortunately my career got more busy (still at same company, same team) so I have not had as much free time to both write blog posts. That said, I have been getting into making more Reels on Instagram at @pechluck – no I’m not on Tik Tok. So if you are looking to see what I have been doing lately, check out my Stories and Reels for food, travel, kitty and raccoons. For some bits of any of the below, I have individual social media posts on my Summer and Fall Adventures 2022.
Hopefully as work gets restructured, maybe I’ll have time to write again – particularly about what you see below. Until then, I hope you are all doing well out there and thank you for stopping by.
Summer and Fall Adventures 2022 between July – October:
Crater Lake, and Smith Rock, and alpacas at Crescent Moon Ranch in Oregon
San Diego Comic-Con in San Diego 2022 – Severance TV Show Offsite, D&D Movie Offsite, and Prey Movie Premiere that I was lucky enough to score a free invite from Collider
On my birthday, I celebrated myself with a reservation to an Urban Farmer Mushroom Dinner. It included a mushroom cocktail and mushroom centered 4 course dinner at Urban Farmer Portland. This was the first of a Mushroom Dinner series as the executive chefs collaborate at the other two Urban Farmer locations, there was one in Denver yesterday (check out the Urban Farmer Denver Instagram stories for how fun it looked), and one in Philadelphia coming up next In September. Hmmm, I wonder if I’ll be in town (F’s family is in that area) in September during that time… Each of the Urban Farmer Mushroom Dinner events has the same 3 chefs from the 3 locations joining forces, but creating new dishes for each event, so a new menu each location. 
In a luxe touch, each seat had a numbered wood laser cut menu that had two different kinds of mushrooms possible. I did pick my seat based on the mushroom I wanted (the other one was maybe an oyster mushroom?) Also the centerpieces on every table had mushrooms in them too!
Although the Portland event has already happened, in honor of this event series, you can still stop by at all Urban Farmer locations throughout the month of June for a special Mushroom Steak entrée featuring a whole roasted mushroom smoked with bourbon barrels and a black garlic molasses sauce.
The dinner series is inspired by the Urban Farmers’ in-house mushroom terrariums. During the dinner, Urban Farmer Portland Executive Chef Matt Christianson not only stayed hydrated by sipping from a mug decorated with mushrooms (as seen below to the left), but was so enthused to talk about the foraging from the wild or homegrown thanks to Misty Mountain Mushrooms and the mushroom incubation program at Urban Farmer. He showed us how the mushrooms are grown in these bag covered substrate blocks. He even cooked the main course right in the room so the dining area became aromatic with the scent of cooked mushrooms.
In the back of the dining room, there was also a show and tell display of different mushrooms!
Pechluck's Food Adventures
Enjoying deliciousness in Portland & wherever travels may lead me.
My name is Pech, short for Pechluck. I enjoy adventures in eating - dining out and cooking and imbibing for local Portland deliciousness or wherever travels lead.
Disclosure: There may be at times sponsored posts where the ticket to an event or meal or sample product to review was complimentary, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.
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