Mae PDX – Pre Thanksgiving Dinner

On Wednesday November 25th, I had the pleasure once again to dine at the pop up Mae PDX. As I’ve written about previously when I attended and recapped the details of my first dinner, Maya Lovelace makes what I think is the best fried chicken in Portland, brined and fried in three fats and arriving at your table warm and juicy so it drips a bit in your hand after biting past the crispy outer layer into the meat inside.

Although the fried chicken is a constant course at these almost weekly pop up dinners (sign up for their mailing list to get messages on when the next dinners are and to sign up for a reservation – there are only 24 seats), the details of the other courses vary based on what is seasonal and her whims.

To find her pop-up after procuring your reservation, head towards the back of the Old Salt Marketplace parking lot and look for a red door. There, you can check in with whoever is greeting (either Maya Lovelace or Zach Lefler, the founders of Mae PDX) where they will let you know where your party will be seated. There are four tables of six set up so they have worked out the math based on who made the reservations already – each table of six will share their food family style.

Let’s take a look at the courses at my Mae PDX – Pre Thanksgiving Dinner version (since I enjoyed it the day before Thanksgiving!). Make sure you eat lightly before, as there will be LOTS of food – almost 10 shared plates – of food to eat at this dinner.

As always, it is BYOB. This time we brought sparkling wine to go with our champagne, but when you first arrive a little before 7 PM (dinner starts at 7), you are first presented pitchers of Sweet Tea. This time, it was a Sassafras Sweet Tea so it had a very sweet flavor that was a bit reminiscent of root beer.

Next was a passed appetizer of Deviled eggs with bread & butter pickled green garlic & hot sauce caviar.

You know, just the traditional southern deviled eggs with yeah, hot sauce caviar that I have feeling Grandma Mae did not make. It’s a perfect example of how Maya combines her family tradition with her own touches too.

There is usually an Assorted Pickle Platter of some sort, which comes on a big plate with lots of little jars and spoons. This time it consisted of (starting from bottom left and going clockwise, Green Tomatoes, Sour Corn (in a sauerkraut style), Okra, Pimento cheese & Benton’s 16 month aged country ham from Tennessee.

They are served with Benne crackers, a buttery toasty cracker that is addictive. I have a hard time holding myself back saving for what I know will be quite the parade of food to come – well, you’ll see.

Earlier while we were enjoying our sassafras sweet tea and waiting for everyone in the dining room to arrive and be seated, I had watched Zach prepare the fluffy mini Angel Biscuits and ever since then been waiting for those warm fluffy goodies to appear. Angel biscuits are flakey soft like a biscuit, but also have additional yeast that makes them fluffy and high.

Although bright and lemony tasty while serving as a call back to moonshine, the second of the 3 beverages Mae PDX offered for this dinner – here a Branch raw honey rye Old Fashioned – could not distract my thoughts from the pending biscuits. It was served in a small jar that we passed around the table and poured our drink into mini mason jars.

Now Zach was starting to fry the chicken in batches on the hot 3 pans behind and I started to acquire the scent of my clothing of fried chicken that I enjoyed on my Uber ride home. Thighs and drumsticks are my favorite pieces of fried chicken.

Yay! The Angel Biscuits, here served with Sorghum Butter (you can see isassafras c melting) and a Cranberry and quince sauce

Next was another slam dunk course, and one of the best Brussels sprouts I’ve ever had they were so tender and smoky, roasted brussels sprouts with brown butter crunch, brown butter vinaigrette, and chervil.

Suddenly the dishes starting arriving fast and furious – the main event really was like Thanksgiving as I completely filled my plate with food such as

Green bean casserole with chanterelles and fried onions – I always prefer when real mushrooms are used instead of some mushroom soup

Fried chicken being plated! It’s go time!

Baked butternut squash, marshmallows and fried sage created in a Sweet Potato Casserole style

The Baked cheddar grits with ramps was generous with the Tillamook Cheddar

The smoky Cornbread dressing with Benton’s bacon and chicken livers and the Chicken Gravy

As we enjoyed our main course, guests took turn observing Maya freely and generously pouring alcohol as needed to recreate the cream based on taste memory

I was super full at this point and glad I wore a dress that gave me a little more ahem room but still found the space to eat two of these mini Pecan tarts, just like her grandmother used to send Maya in the mail for the holidays. If there had been more I would have totally pocketed them – but every guest couldn’t resist eating several of these. I was so jealous that she used to get these in the mail.

These were the perfect treat to go with the Coffee Syllabub, a creamy coffee drink with Zach’s roasted coffee that was like a mash-up of an Irish Coffee but also like Egg Nog becasue of the egg white cream.

Maya plating the Sweet potato custard pie, the final course

I liked how this was a little softer because of the custard, and not as squashy.

Ooooff, now you see what I mean by eating lightly before dinner for this 10 course marathon right?

I like to think of myself as a patron of the arts – while some patrons collect art pieces and visit art galleries, or sponsor musicians, sciences, or charites, I’ve dedicated myself to the culinary arts. Besides Nodoguro, Mae PDX has a place in my heart and stomach as among my favorite pop-ups in Portland. I heartily endorse that you need to go – and if you need a friend to go with you, I volunteer!

If you’d like to learn more about Mae and Maya, check out this excellent podcast with Right At The Fork featuring Maya.

While at dinner, one of my guests mentioned he preferred cold chicken to hot chicken. I disagree. I do love both hot and cold chicken, but the juice running down from the warm meat, and the crispy texture that is yet soft of the chicken only happens when it’s hot, so hot gets more favor and will win. What do you think between cold vs hot chicken?

Thighs and the leg are my favorite part of the fried chicken, followed by wings and breasts. What are you favorite sections? What would have been your favorite dish of the dinner?