Pechluck's Food Adventures

March Portland Dining Month: 3 Courses for $29 + Dinner for 2 Giveaway!

February 28, 2014 by Pechluck 29 Comments

Disclosure: I am not being compensated for this post, and the Gift Certificate was won by me from a Rafflecopter via Portland Bloggers/Watershed Communications, and I am passing it on to you. 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.

I’m so excited! This is my first giveaway on the blog! I’ll be giving away via Rafflecopter to a random entrant a gift certificate for two to have a Portland Dining Month dinner! Giveaway has ended

Portland Dining Month is back, moved up from what has been previously been the month of June to now be in the month of March! During this month, almost 100 restaurants in Portland will be offering a special menu of 3 courses for the low price of $29. In most cases, this prix fixed menu may have multiple options for the three courses.

Portland Dining Month 2014 is in March- 3 Courses for $29

I’ve been participating in Portland Dining Month as a diner for several years. Last year, in 2013 I visited and recapped as example Portland Dining month experiences dinners at Firehouse Restaurant, Quartet, Accanto, Urban Fondue, Fratelli (since closed but still a great example of what a great way to discover and make yourself visit restaurants Portland Dining Month is), and H50 out of my initial 2013 Restaurant Highlight list.

Images from Prix Fixe dining at Firehouse, Urban Fondue in 2013

Meanwhile, in 2012 Portland Dining Month experiences include the posts I did at Oven and Shaker, and Clyde Common. Except for Fratelli, H50, and Clyde Common, all those restaurants I named are back in the 2014 Portland Dining month list.

Images from Oven and Shaker in 2012

As I do every year, I like to share a few of my personal highlights of restaurants/prix fixed offerings in March that catch my eye. I usually will pick restaurants based on food options in their 3 courses that sound good, as in some cases the restaurant will offer dishes are special for Dining Month, or you are getting a tremendous value on the price of normally dining there. Of course remember that the menus are subject to change by the restaurant at any time.

There are many excellent choices- about 100 in fact- of restaurants participating in Portland Dining Month. I just couldn’t highlight them all!

With March also being the month of Mardi Gras, it only seems right to consider Acadia with its New Orleans/Creole food from Louisiana on your dining list and it’s generous 4 (four!) courses that include Louisiana BBQ Gulf shrimp, Crawfish tails, Louisiana caught sea bream, and Creole bread pudding. Just don’t go on March 4, which is when they have a special and separate Fat Tuesday celebration planned if you have your sights set on the Dining Month menu.
Accanto on Belmont was one of my favorite dining month experiences last year with its fresh pastas and very seasonal, unusual ingredients (they introduced me to Wrinkle Crinkle Crumple Cress). Their second course pasta course options of Cacio e pepe with Meyer lemon tagliatelle and Pecorino or Capellini with chili, garlic, anchovy and pea shoots sound amazing. I had the second dish last year, as you can see below. Also, next door you can check out Genoa instead if you want something a bit more upscale but still at the $29 for 3 courses price point, huge bargain here! Reservations available on OpenTable both for Accanto and for Genoa.
Aviary is a good value at this price with its sublime French and Asian influenced offerings on NE Alberta. This is a great chance to try out a previous Restaurant of the Year award winner and they offers pretty creative food. Reservations available on OpenTable.
Everyone thinks of Besaws for brunch, but they use their own farm to also source the dishes on their dinner menu and are worth checking out – they have a special chicken roulade dish they don’t usually have for Portland Dining Month.
You get your choice of Heirloom beet salad with walnuts, grilled chicory and Hannah Bridge cheese or Oregon black truffle salad with crispy pig’s ear, frisée and poached egg as firsts at Bent Brick, so I’m already sold. I also have to tell you they have incredible cocktails here. I would be disappointed in you if you visit here and don’t try at least one cocktail. Its sibling restaurant Park Kitchen in the North Park Blocks is also participating and whose 2nd course option of Milk braised pork with Your Kitchen Gardens leeks, curds and whey alone is $29 on their regular menu. Reservations for Park Kitchen available on OpenTable.
You can get a pretty good deal at the sweet Cocotte Bistro, where the third course offering of Poulet En Cocotte with milk-fed half-bird, farro risotto, market produce, poached farm egg, jus is normally already $25 on the menu! You can add a wine flight for $12 or a dessert for just $5 more. Reservations available on OpenTable.
Shouldn’t be a surprise that Departure is a recommendation of the participating restaurants given the incredible flavor combinations and innovation that Chef Gregory Gourdet offers on the pan-Asian menu. For their menu, they are offering choices for main course of Crispy rockfish with green papaya, roasted garlic and sweet chili glaze or Grilled beef coulette with toasted broccoli, Korean chili and fermented black bean jus. One of the dessert options is a tasty sounding Pineapple icebox cake with banana ice cream, candied almond and spiced caramel. Reservations available on OpenTable.
Higgins offers classic Northwest cuisine and is one of the founders of Northwest cuisine. If you haven’t been yet, you should go at least once to this Portland institution, especially since the dishes they are offering include an Alsatian country-style terrine of duck and pork with dries cherries and hazelnuts for their first course. All the dishes are part of Higgins’ 20th anniversary celebration menu comprised of dishes from it’s March 1994 opening.
For some traditional Japanese, check out Hokusei where you can be transported to another country for a dining spell. The second course of Nijimasu teriyaki: Oregon steelhead with rye bourbon teriyaki sounds very alluring, and their third course are five pieces of nigiri if you are not a big dessert fan and would just rather have more food!
Ever since revisiting Imperial during Feast, I’ve been back several times and have been pretty enamored of various specials they offer. They have a special entree for dining month of Braised lamb shoulder with cauliflower “cous cous,” olives, preserved lemon and curried cashew brittle. No matter what, get that Parker House roll. It is worth that extra $1. I also recommend the cocktail below, A Radish Walks Into A Bar that uses radish gastrique as a nod to Chef Paley’s win of Battle Radish on Iron Chef. Also participating is Paley’s Place, his more upscale restaurant. Reservations available on OpenTable both for Imperial and Paley’s Place.
Little Bird recently revamped their menu to offer more of a French perspective than before, as I covered recently when I stopped by for their new burger. One of the offerings for their second course is the Chicken Fried Trout you see below with gribiche, herbs, radishes and pickled carrots that I wrote about before. Reservations available on OpenTable.
Ned Ludd is very Northwest and seasonal, and I love the beautiful atmosphere there. Pricewise, you are getting a bargain with 3 courses for $29 here since their entrees are typically in the $20 range already
Both the NW and SE locations of Olympic Provisions are participating, usually their entrees at dinner are already in the $20 range so you are getting some savings here with 3 courses. I would not be surprised if you walked out after dinner with a salami or two. For their third course, they are offering a Saucisson au chocolate, aka chocolate salami with French style dark chocolate ganache and warm baking spices, nuts, candied ginger, and red wine, which Portland Monthly previous highlighted the intensive recipe! Reservations available on OpenTable.
If you haven’t been to Oven & Shaker, check out all my previous reviews of their excellent seasonal pizzas
I’m a big fan of Picnic House, as you might have guessed from these previous raves I’ve written. I don’t know what they are offering for Dining Month, but whether it’s on their prix fixe menu or not, do not, do not miss getting dessert. That chocolate bundt cake is my favorite chocolate cake in Portland. Also, don’t you want a selfie with that monocled bear? Reservations available on OpenTable.
Punch Box Social is stepping it up because besides 3 courses, their Portland Dining month dinner offers a cocktail- a choice of either Monk’s Vacation (Portland potato vodka, green chartreuse, pineapple juice, lime juice and simple syrup shaken and served chilled with a lime garnish) or Heart of the Union (Union gin, triple sec, beet syrup, lemon juice and orange bitters shaken and served over ice with a lemon wheel). Reservations available on OpenTable.
I have Ración at the top of my Portland Dining Month list- they have a 3rd course offering of Wagyu culotte steak with heirloom carrots, smoked apple cider, turnip and cocoa. Usually you have to have everyone at your table spend $50 for the chef’s tasting menu, and with Portland Dining Month you are getting 3 of the 5 courses for $29. Look for a recap in the next couple weeks! For a similar deal what is usually a spendy multiple course, check out Biwa who is offering their omakase (all chef’s choice, so be ready and open for anything) for $29 a person instead of the usual $40.
Serratto is on the list offering seasonal slow food that brings together local Northwest with France and Italy and the Mediterranean that results in something familiar and comforting but yet new (I visited and reviewed them here as part of a Bloggers Group). Given how much I loved the courses during that visit, I think their entree options of either Braised Carlton Farms beef cheek with porcini-potato gnocchi, smoked cipollini onions, braised leeks and carrots or the vegetarian Ravioli with forest mushroom, caramelized onion and goat cheese filling, grilled asparagus and preserved lemon cream sound incredible. Reservations available on OpenTable.
The excellent fare at Smallwares is also complimented by some great cocktails. They make sure that there is a vegetarian option for each of the courses of the prix fixe, so if you can’t enjoy the Braised pork shoulder with squash puree, roasted mushrooms, smoked honey and Chinese mustard, the vegetarian option of Spicy tofu noodles, Thai basil, pickled pineapple and salted black bean promises a lot of flavor without the meat. Reservations available on OpenTable.
Tabla offers the best tarjarin in Portland and that is one of the five pastas they offer as a possible primi pasta course (after a choice of 6 possible starters and then third course featuring 4 entrée options). Next to the half order of tarjarin below you can see the starter from a previous visit of a gorgeous Fall Vegetable Salad. A good choice if there several of you and you want to enjoy Portland Dining Month prices but have a good choice of different things to eat still. Other participants of Portland Dining Month offering many options for the prix fixe include Firehouse Restaurant (which I recapped a visit here) and Gracie’s. Reservations for all three of these available on OpenTable.

I mention Opentable reservations because if you make you reservation through OpenTable, Downtown Portland will also make a donation to the Oregon Food Bank as long as you use this link. I love OpenTable to see availability of restaurants at times I am interested in, to easily make reservations using online, and also collect points for dining certificates. A great majority- 68 last I looked- of the participating Portland Dining month restaurants accept reservations over OpenTable. Last year, more than $1,800 was donated to the Oregon Food Bank to assist with their work of distributing emergency food to hungry families- we can do better this year!

Check out the Downtown Portland Portland Dining Month website for a map of where the various participating restaurants are located to be convenient for you, as well as menu listings. If you are interested specifically in which ones have vegetarian or gluten-free options, Portland Monthly has put together a list.

Let me help you enjoy Portland Dining Month by giving away one gift certificate for you a dinner for two! This gift certificate was something I won courtesy of Portland Bloggers and Watershed Communications and rather than using it myself, I am passing it on to you!

Giveaway has ended Use the Rafflecopter below to participate- this will run for 1 week, so a random winner will be chosen next Friday at 12:01 am! Come back to tweet about the giveaway in order to enter daily! Winner must respond within 24 hours and the gift certificate will be mailed. The gift certificate is good for two people to enjoy Portland Dining Month dinner at one of the participating restaurants.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Festival Event, Food and Drink, Sponsored Post Tagged With: #pdxbloggers, 2014 Portland Dining Month, giveaway, March 2014, opentable, portland bloggers, prix fixe, Watershed Communications

Book Club Review: Below Stairs and Recipe for Escoffier Sauce

February 27, 2014 by Pechluck 5 Comments

For February, the book club Kitchen Reader selected the book Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Story that Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey by Margaret Powell. Margaret was born in 1907 England and in this book, tells of her time working as a Kitchen Maid and eventually as a Cook, and generally what it was like be a servant in those times.

This memoir starts with her childhood for a few chapters, just to establish her upbringing with her hardworking parents, the fact that they were poor and yet how even in poverty there are joys, not just hardships.

She recalls when going to school “you took a piece of bread and butter with you, wrapped in a piece of paper, and gave it to the teacher to mind, because many of us children were so hungry that we used to nibble it during the course of the morning”. Another time, wanting to go to the circus, and in order to raise the money for her and her siblings to do so (half a crown), they would collect manure.

Yet despite this, she ends positively, with how great school and learning was, or sighing how the circus was like a fairytale and she thought all night about the experience. This is a theme throughout the book- terrible conditions, hard work, but also small joys.

Despite the mention of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downtown Abbey on the cover, it should be clear that this book is the story of Margaret, not of her employers- there is some reflection on them, but as she changes employers (and she does not ever work for the aristocracy- there are no Lords or Ladies here) the story is about her experiences, not their scandals.

Even at that level though, being a servant wasn’t just about being poor. It was about being treated as a whole other type of human because of her class. This included being looked down and talked to by her employers in that she can’t just hand them a newspaper. She was admonished to put it on a silver platter first before handing it to them.

Her room was so cold that she had to break a layer of ice to wash up in the morning. By the way, the room is probably furnished with the employing family’s cast-offs they don’t want – such as blankets that are plush curtains with the bobbles still on them.

As a kitchen maid every day she had to undo and then redo the bootlaces of the daughter and nanny in order to iron them (!) as part of her routine in scrubbing and cleaning shoes.

Despite all that, small freedoms provided a small degree of identity and line that was hers. For instance, she seemed to revel in victories like being able to successfully move from the lowest servant position, kitchen maid, to cook, and move from house to house when she wanted a change. She was able to get away without wearing her cap as part of her uniform, she was able to sometimes negotiate a day off a week as part of her employment, and push back against being simply told to move to the countryside with the family but downgraded as a house parlourmaid instead of the cook position she had.

Margaret has an awareness of social unjustice, and the divide among those who have and those who haven’t. There are many times she remarks upon the differences between Us and Them-

“Perhaps if we had been allowed to mix, we would have become quite friendly but I don’t think so because they were brought up with an ingrained idea that they were a different class of people from us altogether.”

She observes

“It was the opinion of ‘Them’ upstairs that servants couldn’t appreciate good living or comfort, therefore they must have plain fare, they must have dungeons to work in and to eat in, and must retire to cold spartan bedrooms to sleep. After all, what’s the point of spending money making life easier and more comfortable for a lot of ungrateful people who couldn’t care less what you did for them? They never tried, mind, to find out if we would have cared more by making our conditions good and our bedrooms nice places in which to rest.”

At another point, she notes

“In fact, all my life in domestic service I’ve found that employers were always greatly concerned with your moral welfare. They couldn’t have cared less about your physical welfare; so long as you were able to do the work, it didn’t matter in the least to them whether you had back-ache, stomach-ache, or what ache, but anything to do with your morals they considered was their concern. That way they called it ‘looking after the servants’.

They didn’t worry about the long hours you put in, the lack of freedom and poor wages, so long as you worked hard and knew that God was in Heaven and that He’d arranged for it that you lived down below and laboured, and that they lived upstairs in comfort and luxury, that was all right with them.”

She is observant and the tone in the book is very direct, like a great grandmother talking and not caring what you think, just telling it like she sees it. There is bitterness, but also some reflection that ends in admitting that perhaps her view is wrong, and also humor.

There are no specific recipes in the book, although she talks about a breakfasts of milk pudding or macaroni cheese or cottage pie, whatever was left over from the night before.

She recalled the fancy plating of a dish of cutlets where the mashed potatoes would be rolled in egg and breadcrumb balls slightly larger then walnuts and then arranged in a pyramid on a silver dish while the cutlets would stand on end with a little white frill on each bone all around, with parsley at intervals.

I think I read that description several times, trying to picture the craziness here.

In the book, she mentions her invention of her famous kipper savoury. It involved kipper that had not been eaten being tossed into the pig bucket, but when told that the Madam expected her to use that leftover kipper for dinner, she fishes it out, cleans it with soap!

Then, to disguise the soap, she covers it up with

“that good old stand-by, Escoffier sauce. It’s a marvelous thing for disguising the flavor of something you don’t want noticed. I sent it up well garnished and decorated, and to my surprise Mrs Bernard sent the parlourmaid down with a compliment. She said, ‘Tell the cook that’s the most delicious savoury we’ve ever eaten.'”

So, what is this Escoffier sauce?

Recipe for Escoffier sauce, which I made vegetarian with tofu on white rice

Apparently, it’s a sauce that is rich, dark brown, thick, slightly sweet and salty with a hint of tart sourness from the wine. It is apparently associated with Auguste Escoffier, a famous French chef who organized French cooking methods, including declaring the French five mother sauces. I can see why well to do households, even small ones, needed a cook and it wasn’t considered a hobby or passion like now- cooking anything is time consuming!

Recipe for Escoffier sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup Brown Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Beef Flavored Bouillon, or Beef Stock. I used vegetable.
1 onion, finely chopped (approximately 1 cup)
1 clove minced garlic (about 1 1/2 teaspoon)
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

For the Brown Sauce: In a saucepan melt the 2 tablespoons butter, and then stir in the 2 tablespoons flour. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned. Add the 2 cups stock and stir constantly as you bring to boil. Boil 3 to 5 minutes. Then reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until reduced to about 1 cup. At the end, the sauce should be slightly thinner than gravy.
Now, for the Escoffier sauce. Saute onions and garlic in butter, add wine, and simmer for 4 minutes. Put together all the remaining ingredients (I seasoned the brown sauce, and then added the onion/garlic wine sauce after it finished simmering) and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

It’s then your choice what to serve with this Escoffier sauce. She used kipper, which is apparently some sort of herring like, oily fish. To feed vegetarian F, besides using vegetarian broth and vegetarian worcestershire sauce, I served it with Quorn Chik’n Tenders or sliced firm Tofu, which I let simmer in the sauce for a bit and served over jasmine rice.

Escoffier sauce with tofu, on white rice. Vegetarian, easy recipe

I read this book as part of the online book club the Kitchen Reader. For our casual online club there is a new book selected for every month, each book is related to food, and members write a review on their blog during the last week of that month. If you are interested in joining, check out the website.

For March the book club selected reading is The Mere Mortal’s Guide to Fine Dining: From Salad Forks to Sommeliers, How to Eat and Drink in Style Without Fear of Faux Pas by Colleen Rush. I have at least two business trips I need to take in March, so I’m pretty unsure I’ll have time to read the book, but maybe you would be interested in joining our online book club!

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: Below Stairs, book club, Escoffier Sauce, Kitchen Maid’s Story, Kitchen Reader, Margaret Powell, vegetarian recipe

Melt’s 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese

February 26, 2014 by Pechluck 6 Comments

I wrote previously about how I attended a book release party at Cheese Bar for Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese. This recipe for 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese is the first recipe I’ve blogged about from the book, though I’ve actually made a couple others already. Well, let’s say this is one I changed the least so thought I could more fairly share.

One of my favorite recipes from the book is one I barely even follow but use as a guideline: a recipe with Raclette with Farfalle, Cornichons, and Sauteed Onions. I ended up using Farfalle or Bow Tie, and switched out the Raclette for whatever cheese I have available, but throwing in that sweetness from sauteed onions or leeks, and then little cut up cornichons for a bit of acid has been a revelation of a different kind of flavor to mac and cheese.

F looked at me weirdly when he saw me chopping the cornichons (I have also used mini sweet pickles), but it totally makes sense. You often see cornichons on a cheese plate- of course it would work with mac and cheese!

Now, this recipe for 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese also originally had pancetta. However, I don’t think there is anything even remotely vegetarian that I can substitute for pancetta, so I simply omitted it.

Instead, I upped the broccoli by a little bit, and added a little bit of olive oil since I didn’t have leftover pancetta frying grease. Instead of chives, I sprinkled some red pepper flakes just for a little hint of heat. I also served this with a side of honey mustard chicken for those who can eat meat (you can use Chik’n for a non meat version- the sauce if vegetarian).

The usage of a sweet pugliese or whatever crusty bread on top really makes for an interesting texture with the mac and cheese and the broccoli makes it healthy, right?

Recipe adapted from Melt, 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese, vegetarian and mac and cheese comforting goodness

Ingredients:

12 ounces elbow macaroni
I omitted this because I wanted it to be vegetarian, but also 1/2 pound/1 cup of thick-cut pancetta, chopped coarsely and fried until crispy. Don’t throw out the fat, you can use it in the recipe! If you are being vegetarian like I was, just use 1/4 cup of olive oil.
2 1/2 cups milk – I used 2% milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces aged Cheddar, grated. The book recommends Pineland six-month aged Cheddar, and I happen to use Tillamook Aged Cheddar. The cookbook notes you can use any medium-sharp Cheddar.
4 ounces of grated Monterey Jack
4 ounces low-moisture mozzarella, chopped coarsely- I just used some shredded mozzarella that’s extra from making pizza
2 cups broccoli florets- each floret should be chopped to be about 1-inch in size. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 but I wanted more broccoli since I omitted the pancetta to be vegetarian
2 cups coarsely torn sweet Pugliese bread or other crusty bread of your choice – I cut/tore them so they were cubes of about 1 1/2 inches
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives – but instead I used 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, again because I wanted a bit more flavor pop since I was omitting the pancetta to be vegetarian

Ingredients for the Melt recipe of 3 cheese macaroni and cheese casserole w broccoli and sweet pugliese topping

Directions:

Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, mix in with 1/4 cup of olive oil OR the cooked crispy pancetta/pancetta oil and stir to coat the pasta so they don’t stick together. Place in a greased 13×9 casserole dish.
With the salted boiling water post-pasta, I steamed the broccoli a little bit to soften it. If you are using frozen broccoli florets you can omit this step and just let the broccoli come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To make your cheese sauce, start by heating the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. As soon as the milk starts to steam and there are small bubbles around the edges – in other words no need to boil it, you are just heating it- turn off the heat.
As soon as the milk is heated, in a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is just melted, stir in the flour and mix until it takes on a light brown color in a few minutes, make sure you keep scraping (I used a silicon spatula) to prevent burning. Slowly add the warmed milk, stirring constantly to prevent burning, for a few minutes. When you dip a spoon in the sauce in progress and lift the spoon out, turn to the back and draw a line with your finger- the sauce should not break that line you drew once it has successfully thickened. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper once you reach this point.
In small handfuls, add all of the cheeses- the cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Mozzarella, and keep stirring until all the cheeses are completely melted and incorporated into the sauce.
In the casserole dish that has your pasta, mix in the broccoli and the sauce. Fold everything together. On top, spread the torn sweet Pugliese bread
Bake for 30 minutes or so until the bread browns and the cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes so you don’t burn your tongue and can enjoy all flavors of this dish. If you’d like, sprinkle generously with chopped fresh chives- in my case I added more freshly ground pepper and my teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Recipe adapted from Melt, 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese, vegetarian and mac and cheese comforting goodness

And here it is at the end, all gooey and warm. It should be able to serve 4-6.
Recipe adapted from Melt, 3 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Sweet Pugliese, vegetarian and mac and cheese comforting goodness

Filed Under: Cooking, Food and Drink Tagged With: Broccoli Cheddar Mac and Cheese, mac and cheese, mac and cheese cookbook, Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese, Vegetable Mac and Cheese, vegetarian

Pépé Le Moko Portland – First Looks

February 24, 2014 by Pechluck 7 Comments

A little glimpse at some of the offerings at Pépé Le Moko Portland… which finally opened on Valentine’s Day, so at the time of this visit was just 1 week old.

S and I got there around 4:30 or so on Friday (after our lunch at Wildwood I just covered). It is a small, little unassuming front, with only the door and curtained window and simple window sign to hint at its location. When you first glance in, you see a tiny little counter where oysters on ice glistened, and where sandwich and chip snacks are put together. When you open the door, you are greeted by a little podium, where the hostess inquires about your party size.

Doors of Pépé Le Moko in Portland

We were told the table would not be ready for another 5-10 minutes. Since there really is no room to stand and wait inside for more than 2 people, and it is pretty tight quarters between the hostess and the sandwich man, we opted for a 2 block walkaround, and gave her my phone number for her to text us when our table would be ready.

As we walked away, I got my first text from Pépé Le Moko letting me know they had my correct number and they would text me again when they were ready for us. It also provided a neat link to a No Wait app which shows you where you are in line. I like their thoughtfulness already.

Ok, so even though we were full from lunch, despite trying to burn some calories by walking from NW 21st to Nordstrom for some shoe shopping and then back here, my eyes are always hungry. So maybe we went and peered at the menus at Lardo and Grassa and walked back, and exactly 10 minutes from when we started our walk, I got the text telling me it was time. If it had been a little longer I might have been tempted by Dirty Fries. As we walked by the Clyde Common bar, we saw it was already bustling with Friday happy hour patrons.

The menu at Pépé Le Moko is small, giving the impression that it is carefully curated, though they do have a full bar so can make your requests as well. The curators, if you didn’t know, are the well known Nate Tilden of Olympic Provisions/Clyde Common/Richmond Bar and Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Clyde Common. The Pépé Le Moko Food Menu include some small bar snacks, oysters, and Bocadillos, which are little sandwiches- I did not order any this visit, but they looked to be about 4 inches long.
Pépé Le Moko cocktail menu Pépé Le Moko Food Menu- snacks

The feel once you come down the stairs is not surprisingly subterranean given its basement/bunker location. It is dark, mysterious, moody- even a bit dirty and foreign in a sexy way, reminiscent of Casablanca.

Apparently the name Pépé Le Moko is inspired by a movie in that time period (1937)- Pépé Le Moko is the name of a gangster from Paris who hides out in Casbah, Algeria. And that’s all I know about the movie from IMBD and Wikipedia. So the fact the atmosphere evoked that feeling even before I was able to google Pépé Le Moko should be considered a success.

The decorations are sparse, and the seating small- the whole place probably only can fit only 40-50 max, with very dim lighting. I did notice the light fixture on the wall in our lil booth had an outlet… Very convenient if my phone needed a charge and I had my charger.

The spotlights are on the bartenders, which seems about right.
Bartender at Pépé Le Moko preparing a cocktail

We started with the cocktails Hotel Nacional Special with aged rum, lime, apricot brandy, pineapple gomme and bitters. I went with the Amaretto Sour with classic amaretto, overproof bourbon, lemon and egg white. These were both surprisingly delicate, and we found ourselves sipping them gently to savor them.
Cocktails at Pépé Le Moko, Hotel Nacional Special with aged rum, lime, apricot brandy, pineapple gomme and bitters and Amaretto Sour with classic amaretto, overproof bourbon, lemon and egg white

We went for another round. I ordered the Grasshopper, knowing this was my dessert before it was time to go home. Crafted from Cremes de menthe et cacao, vanilla ice cream, Fernet Branca and sea salt. This made me feeling pretty fancy and pampered, as happy as a kid getting a sundae, when it was served up literally on a silver platter with a charming paper straw.
Cocktails at Pépé Le Moko, Grasshopper crafted from Cremes de menthe et cacao, vanilla ice cream, Fernet Branca and sea salt

The biggest hit though was the Espresso Martini, described simply as Stumptown Coffee extract, Kahlua, overproof vodka and lemon oil. Sounds straightforward and familiar, like any other espresso martini you encountered in your past. But Damn. It is the best Expresso Martini Ever. S even ordered a second one. Do Not Miss This. It’s seriously jaw dropping how this is leagues above any other espresso martini in history.
Cocktails at Pépé Le Moko: Espresso Martini, described simply as Stumptown Coffee extract, Kahlua, overproof vodka and lemon oil

I regretfully had to raincheck on trying any of the food here and more cocktails, but I hope to visit again soon and see how it is shaping up. They are open everyday 4pm-2am.

My first looks and impression were very positive though. The cocktails are high quality, so I didn’t blink at the price- they seem par for the course with what I would expect at an urban bar. It seems a perfect way to start or end a night, but I am unsure whether you should plan a meal or a group more than 4 here, because it just seems so small. Well, more to come!

Filed Under: Cocktails, Food and Drink Tagged With: Amaretto Sour, Best Espresso Martini, craft cocktails, Grasshopper, Hotel Nacional Special, PDX Cocktails, Pépé Le Moko, portland, portland cocktails, Stumptown Coffee cocktail

Recap of my Final Wildwood Meals

February 22, 2014 by Pechluck 1 Comment

I think I stated most of what I hoped to in my last Goodbye Wildwood post. So this is more of a food photo memories post of the last dinner and the last lunch at Wildwood Restaurant I had this week. They are closing on Tuesday February 25, so there are still a few days of service left if you want to try to catch a lunch or dinner with the Wildwood Restaurant Team. So without further ado, my simple recap of my final Wildwood meals, first dinner on Wednesday and then lunch on Friday.

Dinner at the Chef’s Counter at Wildwood Restaurant started with the cocktail No Ordinary Rabbit made with temperance trader bourbon, renig dag aquavit, carrot juice, ginger, lemon
Dinner at the Chef's Counter at Wildwood Restaurant with the cocktail no ordinary rabbit made with temperance trader bourbon, renig dag aquavit, carrot juice, ginger, lemon

It was an honor to watch the kitchen running on this busy night, as everyone was coming out to say goodbye by dining at Wildwood one last time.
Wildwood Restaurant open kitchen

After an amuse bouche of of coconut mint gelatin, I was on to my next cocktail, the Nice Looking Shrubbery that looked like I was in a vampire movie but actually I was drinking aria portland dry‎ gin, combier orange, vida mescal, beet juice, regan’s orange bitters, lemon.
Wildwood Restaurant amuse bouche of of coconut mint gelatin Wildwood Restaurant cocktail, the Nice Looking Shrubbery of aria portland dry‎ gin, combier orange, vida mescal, beet juice, regan’s orange bitters, lemon.

I took my time with my first course of brick oven roasted mussels with bacon, leeks, cider,‎ fried sage, crème fraîche, toasted baguette. I was not ashamed to use a spoon once I had freed the mussels from their shells to eat this like a soup, including using the toasted baguette to sop up sauce. The bowl was completely empty and dry when I returned it.
Wildwood Restaurant starter of brick oven roasted mussels with bacon, leeks, cider,‎ fried sage, crème fraîche, toasted baguette

For my main dish, I enjoyed every last bite of the clay oven roasted pork chop with grilled leek pudding, clams, foie gras butter.
Wildwood Restaurant dinner entree of clay oven roasted pork chop with grilled leek pudding, clams, foie gras butter

I ended the night with the warmest of hugs from Wildwood, the cocktail of Unladen Swallow with green chartreuse, julianne’s spiced hot cocoa powder, house made combier orange marshmallow.

I took a half day on Friday so I could come to lunch. It seemed fitting that since my first meal was at Wildwood, so would my last. Since I didn’t need to worry about returning to work, I started with a cocktail, the Ni! I was lucky enough to get the very last one. It’s made with big bottom bourbon, campari, pierre ferand dry curaçao, hammer and tongs l’afrique, barrel aged fee bitters. And my final cocktail, the Blood and Sand with dewars, cherry heering, sweet vermouth, orange juice.
Wildwood Cocktail of Ni! It's made with big bottom bourbon, campari, pierre ferand dry curaçao, hammer and tongs l’afrique, barrel aged fee bitters. Wildwood Restaurant, my final cocktail, the Blood and Sand with dewars, cherry heering, sweet vermouth, orange juice.

We had very grumbly rumbly stomachs by the time we got there for our late lunch after our office escape, so dived hungrily into an order of ken’s bakery bread with trapini sea salt and bamboo leaf salt on pats of butter and house made country pâté with pickles, lentil cracker, grain mustard. My dining friend S had a lunch of tandoori roasted chicken romaine salad with creamy garlic dressing, pickled chiles, grilled onions, naan.
Wildwood Restaurant lunch starters of ken’s bakery bread with trapini sea salt and bamboo leaf salt on pats of butter Wildwood Restaurant Lunch entree of tandoori roasted chicken romaine salad with creamy garlic dressing, pickled chiles, grilled onions, naan

I was super pleased with the final Wildwood sandwich I would have, dustin’s salame sandwich with rosemary focaccia, pickled chile cream cheese, butter lettuce, tapenade, shaved onion, and mixed greens in a miso vinaigrette with spicy‎ cashews. Why isn’t pickled chili cream cheese more common, it satisfies 3 great tastes in one!

Thanks for all the memories and deliciousness Wildwood!

Filed Under: Cocktails, Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: bamboo leaf salt, beet juice cocktail, Blood and Sand cocktail, brick oven roasted mussels with cider, carrot juice cocktail, Chef's Counter, clay oven roasted pork chop, combier orange marshmallow, craft cocktails, dinner, Dustin's Salame sandwich, goodbye Wildwood, grilled leek pudding, lunch, Ni!, Nice Looking Shrubbery, No Ordinary Rabbit, pate, PDX Cocktails, Pickled Chili Cream Cheese, portland cocktails, trapini sea salt, Unladen Swallo, wildwood restaurant

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