Restaurant Review Archives - Page 81 of 81 - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Dinner at Le Pigeon

November 22, 2008 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

The menu changes at Le Pigeon weekly, but only slightly to account for the seasonal ingredients and what is best on the market. So, it should be no surprise that perhaps the staff when it's time for them to eat, turn to ramen or… a girlfriend delivering Burger King! Ha! At least, that's what we learned from a fellow diner is what she saw the previous time she visited. She thought it was scandalous, while I just thought that if someone ate like this all the time, it wouldn't be that healthy… since I'm not cooking, who knows what butter/lard/cream/etc is in this stuff. Who cares! We're eating out, which isn't everyday! And bad things make food delicious. Several tablemates said they wish they could eat like this all the time, while I was thinking it was an interesting treat but even too rich for me to imagine dining like this daily. I guess the problem overall I had was that I was quite cognizent of the richness, rather than complexity of flavor and texture, or simple good ingredients. I still thought it was an interesting experience, but perhaps my expectations were too high coming in.

Take the starter course- the healthiest offering was probably the beets, walnuts, endive, and toast. The others probably were quite savory- a flatbread with lamb, pecorino, and caramalized onion was tempting to me, as was the pork belly with gribiche and cabbage (I was not interested in the foie gras with apples and cinnamon roll or the mackerel with broccoli, prosciutto, and croquette), but I ordered the sweetbreads with fallen porcini souffle and truffle. The sweetbread was great- the souffle was good for the first few bites, but then was sorta mushy- not sure if that was a casualty of the large party of 13 at our table since I was with a dinner group. The truffle was ok, but it is hard to be impressed with truffle shavings anymore when I see them offered at the Portland Farmer's Market at $15 an ounce and I can shave them myself on whatever I want (which in fact, I did the next day with the truffle I had bought earlier that day). One great thing with living in a dark damp northwest is the mushrooms! Perhaps the dish should have used truffle shavings and truffle oil to really push the flavor profile.

Entrees, the cornbread stuffed onion with butternut squash and pear had an execution problem- dry at the top, but getting moister as you continued down the onion, but then greasy at the bottom. The part that was in the middle was good, but sadly, the salad that accompanied it ended up being the star on the plate. M

My monkfish with lobster and leeks had a great broth which flavored the lobster wonderfully, and my only small complaint is that the monkfish, though perfectly cooked and moist and tender and delicious, did not pick up that great flavor and I had to keep sopping it back and forth in the broth- if only it had transferred to the fish as well. Not that the fish wasn't fresh and tasty- like I said, it was cooked just perfectly, I just wanted some of that broth to have transferred onto it as well as it did the lobster and vegetables, which were amazing. That broth really was wonderfully flavorful. I could have picked up the bowl and drank it.

Also looking around the table, the only entree I was jealous of was the beef cheek bourguignon- I stole a picture taken by Joanne, the delightful group organize, to share with you. If only it had been organic beef, but as you can see, it was quite a meaty dish…

The dessert board teased me from the moment I sat down. What would I want, the foie gras profiteroles with caramel sauce and sea salt, or the honey bacon apricot cornbread with maple ice cream? So torn! Eventually I asked the waiter to break the tie in my mind, and went with the latter. I also got a bite of the chocolate date cake but I thought it couldn't compare to the great chocolate dessert that I had had at Belly. The cornbread was generously bacon-ed, and all I could wish for was more butter for the cornbread or some tabasco (which is how I usually like my cornbread) to add a bit of kick to it. I barely noticed any apricot, and really… some spice would to contrast with the honey would have made this so much better. But, I did eat the whole thing up, so not like it was bad either. How can I say no to bits of warm bacon bits?

And, as a surprise treat, Joanne took pictures of the table, so you can actually see me for a change since I am not behind the camera. As you can see, the kitchen is directly behind the table (if you don't have reservations and don't have to wait, you can sit at the counter and actually watch them cook right there before you- like a sushi bar but it's an actual restaurant kitchen), and I would turn to strain my neck once in a while. This place is teeny- besides the 10 seats at the kitchen bar and the table I was at which fit 14, there were only two other eight-top tables (if I recall correctly) to support the communical dining setting here. Here's a glimpse at me beyond the food!

Overall, I wasn't unhappy- but I did not feel it was necessarily a five star experience. Maybe three and a half or four stars. As I mentioned, there were little things they could have done which would have brought them up to the level I've seen in Chicago, such as Shawn McClain of Spring and Custom House (as well as Green Zebra, but I prefer those two other restaurants of his), but this didn't even compare to Chicago's Sweet and Savories for me, though I felt like Le Pigeon was trying to fit in a similar niche. I tell you, I'm a bit spoiled from other experiences, that's all, and because of the hype, I was expecting that level, and it just wasn't there, though it wasn't a bad restaurant. Just didn't meet my expectations: it need a bit more finess in execution, but I can see the potential in the creativity of the menu created.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: le pigeon, restaurant review

Later Boss…

November 15, 2008 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

It's been pretty hectic on my front the past two weeks. Little did I know that when I had my one on one with my manager on the night of Halloween, that it would be my last. We chatted about the work I had been doing, and particularly that morning I had led a meeting that aired out some undercurrents and by doing so, made them confrontable and what I theorized, solvable. The meeting outcomes met my hypothesis, and helped solidify us in the direction of my vision of where I wanted my work and the team's work to go. After chatting with him for a while about this, we also turned to discussing what I had been exploring in Portland which as you probably noticed in my previous posts, just happened to be alcohol related. In fact, I was going to a beer meet up the next night at Bridgeport. My manager was more of a sake enthusiast though, and chatting with him on a local sake, it put me in the mood for sake and to Dragonfish I went, again.

As it turned out, on Monday morning, my manager ceased to be my manager because my team was laid off… except for me. I was moved into what was previously our internal client's team and now reported to one client instead of being in a central services area. That Monday was pretty surreal- I had come in with a list of things to do since I was going on a trip to gather customer input the next day and I wanted to have a paper prototype. Instead of working with my team, I ended up building that prototype that late afternoon after some of my former co-workers had already left and that evening before my flight by myself. Instead, the day became one of trying to help the people I had chosen to join in a team make their exit, and also transfer as much as that knowledge to me as possible so it wasn't lost. One of my coworkers had been with the company for 30 years, and it was the only employer she had ever had. Keep in mind that I had only been with the company for 5 weeks.

So as you can imagine, these past two weeks have been busy days in which I am trying to understand my roles and responsibilties- both what is expected of me, and then also trying to carve out the space so that I can continue doing what I intended to come to the company to do in the first place. It has taken two weeks, but I think I have basically regained the foundation that I thought I was establishing two weeks ago- now it's on to the planning how to execute the work and getting buy-in from the next level up in the chain on that plan now that they are warm to the concept at least.

Here are photos from that dinner at Dragonfish that Halloween night though. I found the sushi rolls disappointing, the guacapoke had too much avocado and needed more tuna, and the dessert was disapointing. You'd think that they would realize that after a dinner of cold to room temperature food, dessert should be either a really cold temperature like green tea ice cream something or a oven-warmed tart to finish, and with the dessert we ordered it seemed a perfect combo of the two, but the tart was room temperature and the bananas inside slightly chilled/room temperature instead of being warm and gooey inside.

I should have tried the Lobster Roll, which is the only thing left on the menu now that I am curious about (lobster salad and cucumber wrapped with tuna and avocado, with blood orange sauce and lemon mayo). But on the waitress' recommendation I tried the other roll that had caught my eye, the Dragonfi Roll (tempura shrimp, enoki and shiitake mushrooms, and asparagus wrapped with eel, tuna, orange and green tobiko and eel sauce and lemon peel mayo). Unfortunately, this turned out to be a flavor mess- I was hoping it would be a cool twist on the rainbow roll which also has quite a medley of ingredients but winds up being like a neopolitan in sushi form, but… well, it wasn't. At least F's spicy mushroom fried rice was delicious! Also per my ex-manager's recommendation, I tried the Momokawa Flight, which consists of Ruby, Silver, Diamond, and Pearl, and I really did like that. The Ruby was described as "soft and lightly sweet with hints of honeydew", Silver as "smooth with a dry tart green apple finish" (this was our favorite), the Diamond as "dry with a crisp favor and granite aroma" (much sniffing and tasting was done trying to figure out this granite description), and the Pearl, the cloudy one pictured, is "unfiltered and sweet with a coconut undertone" which I didn't find too bad either.

Tonight I am going to Le Pigeon, which was Portland Restaurant of the Year in Diner 2008. I've also volunteered in one of my dining groups to host a dinner meeting once a month, so there will be more food reports!

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review, Weblogs Tagged With: dragonfish, restaurant review

Craving some carbs…

October 30, 2008 by Pechluck 1 Comment

I can't wait to go to the Portland Farmer's market again come Saturday. Although I'm a little surprised out by some bread and meat offerings (which I still purchased and ate anyway) that I've seen. Examples? A lamb sausage from the wood-fire baked oven bagel vendors Tastebud (the bread was great, the meat was too chewy and hard).

Or the mysterious meat muffin (the muffin and meat were both dry, but the muffin so dry I actually was wishing the meat was greasier to help me out), I am still always a sucker for bread at a farmer's market. Also, being to say "I'll take a meat muffin".

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I think I mentioned before some great seedy cheese bread that I had there that made a nice Sunday breakfast the first time I had it. I bought it again the other week so I could have it for breakfast on Sunday and I had it at work on Monday. And I want it again.

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Also visited another brewery, this time Rogue Distillery & Public House (PDX). The beer was great- I liked the selection better than all the others, and I didn't even get a sampler tasting. Gotta respect a place that offers you a leather bound book akin to what you would usually see a wine list presented in and say "this is our beer album". Each page was dedicated to the story of a beer they brew. This location actually is a distillery as well and it sounded interesting, but more then I could handle for a Sunday brunch/lunch.

But, the bread here (what's with the breweries having such great house-made bread here?) was really great: a fresh warm loaf of bread baked with Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ale. The bread and the beer were so delicious, we overlooked the salty hummus and dry Kobe Bleu Balls (ok, I ordered it just to say it. Meatballs stuffed with Rogue Creamery Oregon Bleu cheese). And the fries were nice and crispy, just how I love them. Seriously, look at that bread for that sandwich. It was soft and warm and fresh.

We took our favorites, the smokey ale (which really was super smokey- like enjoying the charcoal you've been barbecuing on during a summer Sunday afternoon. Would be good with so much food) and rich chocolate stout, to go. Sitting where we could see the bathrooms, we also enjoyed observing what other patrons would decide was the correct door.This place is a bit divier than the other breweries in the neighborhood (Deschutes and Bridgeport) since it's not fancied up with beautiful wood or a loft-style interior- just benches, booths, and good beer.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Portland Highlights, Restaurant Review, Weblogs Tagged With: meat and bread, meat muffin, portland farmers market, restaurant review, rogue distillery & public house

Burgers… and burgers

October 23, 2008 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

Recently, I was able to enjoy two burgers. One, was at Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl District. After attending the first of a series of photography classes that had come free with my new Nikon camera (and where I learned the tricks for composing shots, taking advantage of telephoto to bring scenic backgrounds closer in shots with people, and focus holding), we went looking for Rogue Brewery. Instead, we ran into Deschutes and just stopped there. I loved the look inside that retreats from the modernity of the Pearl with nod to the natural character of Oregon thanks to incredible wood carved into forest creatures and mountains and valleys of river, just like Oregon itself.

Besides the great beer, they had a really great pub menu. I really liked the appetizer of wild mushroom bruschetta, which was seasonal Northwest Wild Mushrooms sautéed in a Mirror Pond Wort Sauce with roasted garlic topped with Juniper Grove Farms goat cheese and served with fresh artisan bread. That bread was really good. In fact, when the burger was taken home for leftovers, I just ate each half of the bun on its own, leaving a naked veggie burger. The veggie burger here is made in house with Black Beans, Vegetables, Spent Grain from the brewery and fresh spices with avocado-tomatillo salsa, with a brewery-baked wheat bun. The burger patty had great taste, and the buns was great, but really it would have been better topped with a bbq sauce to play up the spice instead of creamy avocado which flattened the complexity with mediocrity. The other entree, an arugula, grilled pear, hazelnut, Juniper Grove goat cheese and housemade duck prosciutto pizza using spent grain dough, was good but unfortunately couldn't quite compare up to great wood-burning oven pizzas at various places in Chicago (Pizza DOC, Spacca Napoli, Crust, etc). The duck confit was too salty, the pears sliced too thin so that they dried out, and the cheese too overwhelming and should have been added less heavy handedly instead of making the pizza soggy and overpowering the subtler taste of the dough. I'd definitely go again though- the menu still had lots of other options I was interested in trying.

You may think I am such a picky eater because I always critique the things I eat and don't seem happy with them. But, I'm actually not picky! I like to eat a lot of food! I just have an opinion on how the food could have been at a higher level. Today I went with two co-workers to a new place that just opened by my work… Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We got there when the line was not quite at the door yet (and there were more then five guys back in the open kitchen- more like a dozen), making burger patties and fries fresh before our very eyes while peanuts in the shell were offered to help with the wait. They are raved about in other places in the US for having best burgers and best fries, and even written on some index cards on a bulletin board along the wall were handwritten comments from customers attesting great affection for the burger and fries (including illustrations- one of a burger saying "I see you!" which was a little freaky) and notes saying they were better than In and Out! What!

They are! Well, just the burger. I have to say, the burger patty itself is better tasting then In and Out's. The bun was soft and doughy and fresh too, and though I wasn't so sure about the lettuce and tomato being as fresh as what I had from Cali In and Out's, the rest of the "everything" toppings of fried onions, sauteed mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, mayo and pickles I think is a better combo than Animal Sauce. Maybe the fried onions could have been cooked a bit more (some of them were a little raw), but that burger was so juicy and hand formed that when part of the burger fell apart and I was just holding some meat, I had just that and was in heaven. Of course, I just also had a large portion of my calorie intake for the day with just the burger- I guess I should at least hold the mayo.

The fries are offered regular or cajun, and cajun is definitely the better choice. I didn't like that they were serving the fries in styrofoam cup- isn't there a more eco-friendly way? But, I like my fries crispy and well done, and these were not, and that's my personal preference.

But that burger was great! I would just eat that burger patty plain without the toppings and even without the bun! What I have pictured is actually not the regular, which comes with TWO patties- I had the "little cheeseburger with everything". This outpost (the only one in Oregon) is still new and my team members and I naturally observed and critiqued their process and roles of the assembly team, but they are still brand new, they just need to figure out how to still serve things fresh but without such a long wait for the food (took us 20 minutes between ordering and getting our sack to go). I can't help it, I'm a natural critique of process and design.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: deschutes brewery, five guys burgers and fries, restaurant review

Happy Birthday Steven! Dragonfish and Belly

October 11, 2008 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

For Steven's Portland branch of his birthday celebration, we went to Dragonfish Asian Cafe for happy hour sushi and sake. We started off with a glass of Momokawa Ruby Tokubetsu Jummai , a sake with a taste that is soft and lightly sweet with hints of honeydew, as well as a Lemongrass Lime Rickey, a cocktail with vodka infused with lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves, lemon and lime juice, and a splash of soda. It was like a Sprite really. I grabbed a sheet and started filling in circles of the happy hour menu (sort of like filling in the circles of an SAT or ACT test that I actually want to take) with cheap bites, such as Inari, Tuna, Salmon, and Spicy Tuna sushi for $1.95 each, cucumber rolls and crunchy crab rolls for $2.85 each, and edamame ($2.85), caramel ginger chicken ($3.85) and my favorite of the evening, salmon katsu ($3.85). Since they made the mistake of putting the vegetarian sushi on the plate as the fish, F couldn't eat it so he additionally ordered off the dinner menu a green curry dish with tofu. We ordered a flight of sake and a bottle of the house warm sake.

They have a sake club at the restaurant- each time you visit and order a glass, flight, or bottle you get a punch to earn you free sushi or dinner. This is really a fun place to unwind after work, and it's on the way home. Definitely want to take Steven here for some sake when he comes into town!

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Another good meal I've had recently is when I went with my dining group (my first meeting with them) to go to a restaurant in Portland called Belly. I loved the appetizer of a smoked pork rillette which spread so well on the toasted bread, and was countered well by the pickled asparagus (although there was a bit too much asparagus given- too generous!). The mustard was not needed.

The entree of the "loaded potato" gnocchi with bacon, scallions, creme fraiche, and shaved white cheddar was good, but I was expecting something special besides making it taste like a baked potato. Yes, they seared the gnocchi for an interesting texture when you found a crunch, but I think adding another ingredient to counterbalance the heaviness with something spicy or tart would have improved it by a lot. I know traditionally baked potatoes are pretty rich, but some places do throw in a touch of curry powder or something reminiscent of sour cream to add to the cheese and bacon richness. I guess I was looking for innovation because it seems like they want to try it: also on the menu, but I didn't order because I wanted the smoked pork more, was an appetizer called "pb & j – crisp pork belly, toasted baguette, apple butter". Other entree choices also included chicken fried duck leg and braised rabbit pot pie, so they seemed like they wanted to take known traditional comfort food and put a twist on it. It just didn't happen to the extent I wanted it to for the loaded potato gnocchi, and after the perfect balance of that appetizer, I felt a bit disappointed by the gnocchi because it wasn't at the same level, though it was still pretty good.

Dessert was aa-maa-zing and so I ended on a happy note: dark chocolate cake with hazelnut bavarian cream and chocolate sauce. I ate that thing in minutes, and I don't usually like chocolate. I still think about that dessert when I think of chocolate- it is the new chocolate cake by which I will measure other chocolate cakes.