Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX

One of the biggest bargains in fine dining with can be found at Roe Portland. Two dining experiences are available, and I have tried both. In the spring (unfortunately the day just after I cracked my camera phone lens) I enjoyed the Tasting Menu. For this menu, it is prix fixe but you have a certain list of dishes to choose between for your four courses for the huge value price of $68 per person – you can easily run that up per person for four courses any restaurant, but you get the extra experience of the fine dining service at Roe. Recently, I went back and tried the Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX for the price of $138, and you get seven courses plus some surprises. Here’s look at what the experience was like for me in the first of October 2019.

Finding the restaurant is a bit of an adventure to start with. Located in downtown Portland, only a few blocks away from Pioneer Square, you have to enter a building called Morgan’s Alley- there isn’t even a sign for Roe visible. Look for the Oregon Wines on Broadway and go through the doors just to the left of this wine bar and bottle shop. Keep pressing through the hallways to the back until you see stairs, and follow those up to a very subtle restaurant entrance.

When you enter, you are transported away from the busyness of Portland and your day into the dimly lit entrance foyer of Roe PDX. There is a card with your last name waiting for you, and once the host returns to the cart, he or she will take your coats, pour you a libation to greet you. In my visits to Roe, this has varied from some hot dashi in the winter to sparkling to in this visit, a chamomile tea infused vermouth aperitif.

Shortly after, you will be led to your seats at your table or the chef’s counter (which has it’s own reservations). There are no walk-ins at Roe – but it’s easy to make reservations online and check the available times lots on Tock. Most seats have a view of the open kitchen, and I appreciate that the tables are spaced well enough that you can enjoy private conversation – this is not a noisy restaurant so you can really enjoy the food and drink and your dining companions.

You can select to purchase beverages by the glass, or bottle, or have a pairing. We opted for the beverage pairing. The initial menu showing you the courses is only a teaser, with only a noun to designate one of the main ingredients for each course. If you have any food allergies or such, they do check with you by sending you a message the day before your reservation, and they check one more time in person here. You also have an option of caviar add on if you so choose. Ok, we’re ready, game on – and we so choose to enjoy some caviar service please.

Amuse Bouches and (optional) Caviar

Before the dinner courses, we are treated to some complimentary snacks, or amuse bouches. The first set of amuse bouches included Housemade dashi, Hamachi crudo with walnut pecan and concord grape, and Albacore tartare in buckwheat crepe with wasabi. These amuse bouches and the caviar were paired with one of my favorite pairings of the evening, a Quince fruit wine from Art + Science.

Then, the next amuse bouches arrived almost at the same time as the caviar. I was fine with the pan fried salt cod with caviar but honestly the excitement of the caviar made me forget to note what was exactly the second snack here besides that it was in a roasted peanut topping.

The caviar service ranges from some individual caviar selections from the low end of $45 up to a trio of caviar for $175. The caviar is served with warm potato blini, whipped creme fraiche, and sieved egg. It’s simple and perfect – I would always get this add on from now on if I visit Roe.

How about we finally get down to seeing the courses of the dinner for the Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX now? We haven’t even started on the first listing yet!

Ahi

Another of my favorite pairings (and my favorite of my dining friend) was the Teutonic Recorded in Doubly with the next course. This muscat wine is a perfect balance of a little sweet but also bright acidity. You could really pair this with anything and be happy, and in this case it was with Ahi with white soy ponzu, assorted seaweed, sesame, white crispy rice.

Geoduck

Next was a Geoduck with with matsutake, kohlrabi, sudachi paired with Dreamy Clouds sake – and I really loved how not all the beverage pairings were wine.

Sturgeon

Now from first local Portland to Japan, now our beverage pairing moves to France with a Silex Noir 2017 Francois et Julien Pinon Depuis 1786 Vouvray. Up next, Columbia River Sturgeon with maple miso glaze that is cured, lightly smoked, then grilled and served with roasted squash and squash jus and a hazelnut salsa verde

(Bread Service)

Not explicitly listed on the menu but part of the meal also is a bread service starring some Little T Bakery bread along with softened butter and three flavored salts – a citrus (lemon orange) salt, a fennel salt, and a bonito salt.

Prawn

Now our wine passport takes us to Austria via Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg Osterreich Austria Zweigelt Niederosterreich 2016, while the dish takes a turn to rich with a Prawn dish that turned out to be a play on Shrimp and Grits with Kauai Blue Prawn, mussel vinaigrette, heirloom corn, Oregon truffles, sauce sauce américaine.

(Palate Cleanser)

Very tart and light and fluffy palate cleanser of hibiscus tea foam.

Skilfish

Skilfish (a relative of the black cod and just as delicious) with eggplant, carrot, basque chili confit, brown butter veloute, paired with the only red wine of the evening, a Lisagathe Chateau du Hureau 2015 Saumur-Champigny.

Apple

Now we are finally into the dessert round. First came fruit – and because of the timing of fall, apple. Specifically paired with a dessert wine which was not too sweet a Late Harvest Royal Tokaji 2016, it was Winesap apple with cider sabayon, caramel, hazelnut linzer cookie with cardamon and cinnamon. Honestly it was the only course I was not too keen on because the cardamon was strong and the apple not strong enough.

Chocolate

This was more my style – chocolate mousse with black sesame, white sesame cracker, bay leaf ice cream, chocolate leaf. The final pairing for this was an Amaro cocktail with grapefruit

(Check)

One more sweet light bite as we received our check – White chocolate peach macarons.

You should expect with this many snacks and courses that you are really in for a long meal – several hours, so may time and leave space for all the food and drink. For a special occasion, the Chef’s Menu would be a perfect dinner date – or maybe for no occasion at all like with my visit where I was just catching up with a friend who I hadn’t talked to in ages.

With so many noisy restaurants, many with a lot of hustle and bustle where you feel guilty lingering, Roe PDX stands out because they assume your dining party will have that table all evening. They pace everything by carefully watching you, so you can really enjoy without feeling any rush. The service is really fine dining service – something you don’t always find in Portland.

What do you think of Roe based on the experience I shared with you of the Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX?