Air dried Mackerel Archives - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Nodoguro July 2014 Tanabata Mitsuri

Another month, another dinner recap, so here’s me reporting in with the Nodoguro July 2014 menu.

Pretty much Nodoguro PDX is part of my monthly budget now. The menu changes every month, and I don’t know any other place I can get this kind of experience and level of complexity of flavors in any Japanese restaurant in Portland. Every menu, even from week to week or day to day, changes based on the produce availability and freshness of the ingredients, so if I don’t go that month, I will never see that combo again. Damn you Ryan.

Even though this is a pop-up in the Evoo space, Elena does an amazing job transforming the space each time with simplicity and grace and warmth based on that month’s theme. What a supercouple.

A peek at Elena of Nodoguro PDX on the bottom right and some of the colorful lanterns in the Evoo space A peek at Ryan talking to one of the guests at the Nodoguro pop up

Lovely decorations by Elena, and one of the sake curated by Carl for the dinner

Add in the unique produce from Mark of Phantom Rabbit Farms who is providing so many of their ingredients. Apparently they just sat down with some coffee with a Japanese seed catalog and oh, decided what to grow all year. Psssh. These geniuses. Check out the Phantom Rabbit Farm website for their series of farm dinners – I hope to visit sometime.

Oh, and then there are the additional drinks from Carl Donheiser (he wasn’t at my July dinner and was missed, though it was his menu). It’s no wonder that Michael Russell named Nodoguro one of the best pop up restaurants in Portland that cumulatively add up to the Oregonion’s Restaurant of the Year.

For this dinner, we got to write wishes that we then tied onto a tree Each month, along with a change in theme is a new painting by Elena's dad for Nodoguro!