Portland Food Adventures Ben Bettinger at Simpatica

If you have never heard of it, Portland Food Adventures is this amazing concept. The organizer of the events, Chris Angelus, founded PFA with the idea that for one price, you can have multiple food adventures.

The kickoff food adventure is a multiple course dinner at a restaurant in which every course is paired with a beverage, and the chef will come out to chat with the group about the menu, his restaurant, and possibly more. It is meant as a much more interactive experience to learn  about the people and philosophy behind the food then just dining at the restaurant. Then, the food adventures continue when you are given an envelope of gift certificates to try some of that particular chef’s favorite and recommended places to eat and drink in Portland!

Last week on February 5 I attended the latest in the series, A Portland Food Adventures wiith Chef Ben Bettinger , who currently has the role of Executive Chef at Laurelhurst Market. Along with Chef Ben’s move (he was previously at Imperial) comes craft cocktail man Kevin Ludwig, who provided pairings for the food that included cocktails as well as wine for the evening’s PFA.

From left to right, Chef Ben Bettinger, cocktail man Kevin Ludwig, and Portland Food Adventure/PFA founder Chris Angelus

The move to Laurelhurst Market is a reunion for Ben and Kevin as they had worked together to found Beaker and Flask and earned Willamette Week’s 2009 Restaurant of the Year a mere few months after opening. Laurelhurst Market is actually also now a Paley’s reunion special because not only have Ben and Kevin done stints at Paley’s Place, but so has the recently announced Patrick McKee who has joined in as sous chef. The news of Kevin and Patrick joining Ben’s party have only come out in the past 2 months, so many guests of the PFA including myself were looking to see a preview and insight on where these gentlemen think they will go with Laurelhurst Market.

The PFA event was held at Simpatica Dining Hall, which is co-owned by Laurelhurst Market’s David Kreifels. The benefit of this is that we had a private space all to ourselves.
   

Chris very carefully sets the table seating chart and labors over making sure everyone will enjoy their tablemates’ company as if each of these PFA events was a Rehearsal Dinner for a wedding and you are a dear friend that he wants to make sure meets other cool people.

Demonstrating more organization then some dinner events I have attended in Portland, the PFA events always have a printed menu. It’s great as it is a listing of all the courses and pairings so you know everything you are about to enjoy and can look forward to for the evening, you can take the menu back as a keepsake so you can remember all the deliciousness you just had, and possibly look for certain items if you choose to dine again at the chef’s restaurant.

Thanks to our private dining room, we started out with a 30 minute cocktail hour where everyone got to mingle and meet other PFA dinner guests. Smoked Salmon Rillette with Fennel and Citrus on Crostini were passed as a welcoming first bite.

Kevin Ludwig served up the cocktail Grounded For Life composed of Crater Lake Pepper Vodka (this vodka is infused with 5 different sweet and hot peppers), Cointreau, Fresh Celery Juice, Lime in a glass with a salted rim. I thought this drink was incredibly refreshing – it’s not spicy, more a balance of sweet and sour. I’ll also pretend with all its vegetables that it’s healthy and I don’t want to hear anything to the contrary.

Eventually, we sat down in our assigned places and were treated to a Coffee Rubbed Beef Carpaccio with Oregon truffles, Grana Padano, and Pickled Onions, which were paired with 2013 Schloss Gobelsbuerg Gruner Veltliner from Austria.

Chef Ben Bettinger and Kevin Ludwig as well as Chris Angelus welcomed us with a little introduction to themselves, with how the menu we were reading came about as a demonstration of the celebration of meat they are doing with Laurelhurst Market as well as influences from the past Beaker and Flask. They promised to overwhelm us.

We were then treated to the incredible dish of Pan-seared Veal Sweetbread, Creamed Kale, Pickled Yellow Foot Chanterelles, and Sweet Onion Agrodolce which were a fun study in really different flavors from each individual component on the dish and trying to combine them together. This was paired with Kevin’s Norwegian Negroni cocktail with Krogstad Aquavit, Cynar, Sweet Vermouth, and Orange Oil.

You can see what good spirits everyone was in already as we were poured bubbly in the form of Cantinae Di Clari C Sparkling Rose from Italy. This was to be paired with Grilled Pork Cheeks with Pickled Octopus, Braised Peppers and Onions, and Grilled Bread and Aioli. We’re not even at the main course yet.
   

The main course was humongous, and was both impressive and intimidating to many but we were excited for the challenge. We worked together to pass the giant family style platters of the vegetables of Grilled Romaine with Salsa Verde and Feta and the meat that had Smoked Eye of Rib, Grilled Spinella, Braised Rib Tip Marmalade, and Roasted Bone Marrow. We were all feeling like family and friends as a group at this point. The wine pairing of Vina Olabarri Rioja Reserva 2005 was outstanding.

One of the things that was pretty fun was seeing people try new meats that they never had. We were exploring and learning something new this evening. Some guests were trying carpaccio, or sweetbread, or pork cheeks, for the very first time. All of us wondered together what was Cynar in the Norwegian Negroni or what is Spinella on the meat platter. Ben and Kevin came and helped us out.

Cynar it turns out is an Italian bitter liqueur which has artichoke as a key ingredient, but doesn’t just take like artichoke – in fact it has an herbal slightly bitter sweet taste that is often mixed with orange juice – which is why it’s not a far step to put it in a Negroni with fresh orange oil. Also, it’s pronounced “Chigh-nar”.

Meanwhile, spinella is part of a ribeye cap that is a rare cut as it’s not often butchered into that piece, and combines the best of the fat of a ribeye with the tenderness of the tenderloin… sooo good.

We were all super full at this point, and some of us said we would just take a few bites of the dessert, an Olive Oil Pound Cake with Orange Marmalade, Creme Fraiche, and Toasted Almonds. Oops, it turns out most of us at the whole thing it was so good that a few spoonfuls was not enough. This was paired with Coltibuono Vin Santo from Italy for a sweet ending.

And of course, don’t forget the promise of more food adventures with the gift certificates envelope! This PFA, guests were encouraged to try out Reverend’s BBQ, Raven and Rose, and Lardo. Ben raved about the Reverend’s BBQ burger, and the atmosphere and great drinks by David Shenaut at Raven and Rose.

You can check here for upcoming events with Portland Food Adventures, and you can also get some insight into people and events in the Portland Food Scene by listening to the Portland’s Right at the Fork podcast which he helps host. You can also follow PFA at the Portland Food Adventures Facebook, or the Twitter handle @PortlandFoodAdv or Instagram @PortlandFoodAdv 

The price of the tickets to a PFA dinner experience always include all food, drink, gratuity, and are inclusive of the value of the gift certificates you will receive to continue your adventures. The ability to interact with the chefs, as well as to meet and enjoy a meal with many other fellow food adventurers and all the fun conversations you have throughout dinner – completely unique and priceless.