Dining out in Portland, Oregon and other Food Travels
For Winter, it looks like Bunk Sandwiches have changed up their vegetarian sandwich combination from the roasted summer squash with romesco and ricotta they had earlier for a Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple Chutney, Gruyere & Horseradish sandwich. Thanks H for the tipoff and bringing it over for us to enjoy at Bailey’s Taproom’s Belgianfest… what you see here is with the extra addition of bacon though!
Update: Market restaurant has closed since my visit
Looking to bring in dinner guests when there isn’t a show across the street at the Keller Auditorium, Market (which replaced the previous occupant French bistro Carafe) has been doing a guest chef series. I haven’t visited the location since its slight renovation and new conception into its new modernist northwest cuisine incarnation from Carafe’s final breath in June to Market Restaurant’s first opening in August this year. But when I saw Naomi Pomeroy was guesting, I decided it was time.
I hope that when I entered the restaurant the slight blush to my face was interpreted from the new cool weather, versus glancing over the young Asian men who now man the kitchen and bar (Executive Chef Troy Furuta – the bar manager is Alan Akwai). It also seems Naomi is trying the straight versus sideswept bang look- or she just got them cut. The $5 happy hour had the entire bar area packed and happily busy. Dinner-wise, with no show that Friday evening, the seating area there was maybe 1/3 full- seems like Market is still finding its audience.
For the guest chef series it is a prix fixe menu ($40), though you can also opt into a drink pairing, which I did at the steal of only $20. The meal started out with an amuse bouche of a black mission fig torched until caramelized and a bit of crispyness on the outside, then topped with delicate and decadant foie gras mousse. This was paired with a glass of Stephane Tissot Cremant de Jura from France. What an auspicious start.
1st course was a delicata squash tart with shaved watermelon radish and frisee and radicchio salad. This was paired with a cocktail of London Dry Gin, Vin a la Chataigne, Cap Corse Mettei. When I first had this cocktail, I started to worry about the other pairings as this as a pretty strong drink, but fortunately it began to mellow out after this. Admittedly, the strength of the drink was a good cleanser for the buttery richness of the tart, while adding to the frisee and radicchio which otherwise tasted like just the greens with a spritz of oil, nothing special- the watermelon radish was beautiful as garnish but offered no flavor.
2nd course, went into the more seafood exploration, an aromatic steamed link cod in smoked tomato broth, cannellini beans, leeks, tarragon, and sliced late summer grape tomato paired with Maestracci Reginu Rouge, Grenache/Syrah from France 2010. This was the most subtle, layered dish of the courses, with the broth being the equivalent of an andante second movement of a symphony and tomato being the melody because the steamed fish was on the bland side from being overcooked.
3rd course was what I had been anticipating all dinner. It was pork belly porchetta, pickled parsley, calabrian chiles and crackled green olive salsa, roasted market potatoes, pork and veal jus, paired with a cocktail of Agricole Rhum, Verjus, Amer Picon, Campari, pineapple and bitters.
As you would expect from Naomi who is famously photographed holding a whole pig about to be butchered (and presumably enjoyed at her regular restaurant Beast), this was a triumphant dish of multiple textures and robust meaty flavor. I enjoyed the hard crackly crunch of the slightly salty skin and the oozy thread of luxurious fat and moist but dense layers of tender sausage and pork, and then a bit of fire and tangy sour distributed from the fine mince of olive and chili on top. It really taste as wonderful as it looks.
The cocktail was the best matched pairing of the night, cutting through the richness and ramping it up a notch with its bit of acidity and brightness. I made sure to save a potato piece to mop up all the delicious jus so the bowl/plate was clean.
4th course of mascarpone, Italian plum tiramisu, honey syrup, and dehydrated lemon was a light little layered cake that tasted airy and melty with its creamy texture without sitting heavily after all these courses, an appropriate finish after the porchetta just before.
I think I will have to try Market again on an evening without a Keller musical or ballet performance (or maybe arriving when the show has already started). I can’t believe they lined up Greg and Gabi Denton of Argentine grill and cocktail hotspot Ox the very next day after Naomi- I want to go, but I think my arteries can one take so much rich dining in a short time span. Next on deck for Oct 20 is Nong Poonsukwattana of her Nong’s Khao Man Gai cart, followed the next evening by Chris DiMinno and Jeffrey Morgenthaler (the mixologist Prince of Portland in my opinion) of Clyde Common. The list of guest chefs only goes to the end of October, and I can only hope Market will continue this idea after the upcoming busy holiday Nutcracker performances of December.
A dinner at Nostrana, thanks to a special event that evening… egg pasta handmade from scratch and done the old fashioned way with a rolling pin from the tradition of Bologna and the Emilia Romagna region. Francesca (and her brother Tommaso) are from Bologna, Italy and doing a 1 month “pasta class tour” in the US that had started with Texas and then Seattle and had stopped in Portland next before going off to California for the rest of October (go to her website and email her if you are interested in signing up). I’m jealous that she was only in my area for a week but California is getting her for a month for opportunity of learning from sweet Italian girl (at least she appeared that way whenever I glanced over to the banquet table where she and her brother, Cathy Whims, and other guests were having dinner family style right next to us…). It seems a lot more lighthearted fun (and less intimidating) than learning from an Italian grandmama.
I started out with a wine flight of Vini del vulcano, red wines from Mt Etna “a magnificent wild terroir”. I’m a big fan of wines made from grapes in volcanic soil regions. I was in love with the middle wine especially, a Etna Rosso DOC I Custodi ‘Aetneus’ 2007 from grapes of 100+ year old vines, because it was so smooth and almost buttery in feel while being light berry forward. Meanwhile, F was excited and enjoyed some tasty Italian beers such as D’uvaBeer by LoverBeer and Genziana by Birra del Borgo.
Starterwise, both the salad (Insalata mista with lettuces, crisp seasonal vegetables, arbequina olive oil and red wine vinegar) and House charcuterie plates were big hits. I was glad they refilled our bread plate so that I could use it to balance out all the rich meaty goodness. The House Charcuterie plate included, from upper left corner clockwise, crispy pork trotter, lamb liver and fresh herb pate, porchetta di testa, apple mostardo, coppa di testa, smoked ham, pickled radish and pattypan squash
Finally, the beautiful handmade pastas from Francesca Tori, thick and doughy and fresh. The favorite pasta was the Caramelle candy-shaped pasta filled with Red Kuri squash, nutmeg, parmigiano, and sage butter (although maybe a little too generous with the butter, but nothing a little shake couldn’t help with), although the wonderful sauce with the Garganelli with prosciutto, arugula, brandy, milk, tomato, parmigiano was good enough to drink as a soup.
We wrapped up with a Tiramisu of ladyfingers, rum, mascarpone, Spella espresso and Pizzeria Mozza’s butterscotch budino with salted caramel. You cannot go to Nostrana without having budino!
Nostrana will sometimes host various dinner and even cooking events with visiting chefs, so keep an eye on their Facebook and website to see what Nostrana is exploring next!
It seems that it is suddenly autumn. A week or so ago, it was 90 degrees and humid, still summer. Now, the mornings are brisk and dewy cool so that you need a jacket and layers, and the dusk and darkness of night falls sooner and sooner. Crunchy leaves are littering the ground, and the geese are already here on their way to apparently California?
Since Picnic House has opened, it has become a regular stop every 2 weeks or so. Most of time on the way home, F will grab my favorite Nutty Brown Rice Salad, a mix of crunchy brown rice and roasted cauliflower, carrots, turnips & sweet peas in a roasted hazelnut vinaigrette, while he rotates through the salads himself depending on his mood. It’s a huge salad- enough for two meals on its own. After a stop at Benessere Oils and Vinegars store (where I cannot resist, even though I already know the specific flavor infused olive oil I want, to taste 4 other olive oils or balsamic vinegars), we met up to actually eat there among the charm.
With the cool breeze rustling the leaves around the South Park Blocks, soup and a sandwich sounded like just what we needed for some warm comfort. The summer corn and sweet pea soups have been replaced, although this being Oregon full of tall shady trees and rain making fungus plentiful all year ’round, the wild mushroom soup is still on the menu. He had the roasted tomato soup topped with basil cream and fresh oregano, not pictured. Meanwhile, I went with the spiced pumpkin soup, topped with cranberry cream and chipotle peppita seeds.
The dinner entree is listed as “Soup and Grilled Cheese” entree… but which bonus surprise! comes with a small salad too. The spiced pumpkin soup was very mild in terms of seasoning, presenting mostly soft creaminess as you would expect from any cousin squash soup. The cranberry cream and chipotle peppita seeds gave it some interesting depth of a bit of tart and crunch here or there. With the doughy melty grilled cheese, it was a little too much, so I had the soup and sandwich separately while taking bites of the arugula salad (along with gorgonzola bits and candied pecans) to cut through that richness. F had no problem dipping his grilled cheese into his roasted tomato soup though.
This food cart, Sideshow Eatery, started out with mainly side dishes 6 weeks ago, but recently added sandwiches, and a photo from Food Cart Portland of their pork belly sandwich successfully tempted me to try it for lunch after a dentist visit downtown. They are open until 11-6pm so if you hurry you could grab this after work as well- these hours are good M-Sat, they are open 11-4 on Sun so their sign says (so they are open on the weekends!). Besides the pork belly sandwich, they also offer a Caprice vegetarian sandwich of mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and basil mayo, and a PBJ sandiwch which uses peach jam and homemade peanut butter.
Pork belly sandwich is a quickly seared pork belly nestled atop arugula for a bit of bite, sriracha mayo (spicy and creamy, but more towards the kick end of the spectrum), and pickled red plums for a bit of sourness, all in a toasted Pearl Bakery baguette.
Poutine was the side I chose, though you can also get regular pommes frites (twice fried yukon gold potatoes… yes, fries.) and then enjoy them with your choice of handcrafted sauces varying from curry ketchup to garlic mayo and sriracha mayo or Japanese mayo. My poutine was plain, but you can also add extra cheese and gravy, chopped onion, or bacon. If your arteries are still flowing, consider that Sideshow also offers fluffy sugar coated beignets, those New Orleans style powdered square doughnut covered in powdered sugar, and you can even order chicory coffee to go with.
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.
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