Starting today is the beginning of the soft opening of Mediterranean Exploration Company. Located at 333 NW 13th St in the Pearl, they will only be open for walk in dinner service 5:30-10pm, with their actual full opening and taking reservations starting on August 1.

Gorham has struck again as he continues to stake ground in the Portland quadrants. Well, I say quadrants but since there is NW, SW, NE, SE, and N, there only leaves the SE for him to conquer now with this latest opening in NW (Toro Bravo is in NE, Tasty n Sons in N, and Tasty N Alder in SW). Here, Gorham takes inspiration from the Mediterranean, which strongly leans towards Greece and the Middle East.

I attended the MEC launch party during the 4th of the July weekend, which was free and open to the public in order to sample bits of their menu. So here’s me passing on some of that sneak peak information to you…

When you enter, you can definitely recognize the space as having similarities to its siblings with the standing bar not far from the hostess stand and the open kitchen with a few countertop seats.

Special shoutout to the bar, who were working very hard to keep us thirsty launch party guests hydrated with pretty much anyone ordering a couple drinks. After all, it was also for a good cause, as the launch party food was free and part of the bar proceeds from the entire night will go to
Live Wire Radio, a nonprofit organization and radio variety show on OPB. I went with the special gin punch they were offering.

Even those who can’t have alcohol can enjoy though- they have delicious options such as this gorgeous Austria soda with black currants (there is also an elderflower one) and a housemade ginger ale soda.

I also tried two other cocktails from the Bar: The Arak Frappe cocktail with razzouk arak, sugar, crushed ice has a strong licorice flavor but is served with a little carafe of soda water for you to customize the level to your taste.

The other was the refreshing Tai Tai cocktail with pueblo viejo silver tequila, combier orange, pistachio orgeat, lime, mint and crushed ice.

And now onto the food menu that I saw previewed- who knows if this will be accurate to when they really open… all of the food is geared towards sharing tapas style.

Raw

• Salmon Carpaccio with arak, dill, capers
• Palestinian Beef Tartar with tahini, yoghurt, cumin. I enjoyed the Creamy richness here that substitutes for the usual egg in steak tartare
  

Mezze

• Warm Castelvetrano Olives with olive oil and bay leaf
• “Shalosh”, with roasted eggplant, tomato and olive oil, and pumpkin carrot
• Beef Bacon Wrapped Date, with beef bacon subbed here for pork because there is no pork at all on the menu
  
• Sheep’s Milk Feta with olives. This with the perfect warm doughy pita bread is amazing.
  
• Steve’s Cheese Board with mahon menorca (raw cow, mallorca), fiore sardo (raw sheep, sardinia) and paski sir (sheep, croatia)
  
• Saganaki with olive oil, lemon, grilled bread
• Falafel with s’hug, pickles, tahini
  
• “Usul” hummus with chopped egg
• Fried calamari with spicy tomato sauce, ouzo
  
• Tomato fritters with olive oil and sea salt
• Housemade Lebneh with olive oil and fried cauliflower
  
• Fried Anchovies
• Grilled Octopus salad with roasted sweet peppers
• “Vered Hagalil” chopped salad
  
• Raddichio 2 with cherries, parsley, yogurt dressing,  a new incarnation of the radicchio salad (my favorite Gorham version though is the one at Tasty N Alder)
  

Oven

• Nuvrei bread plate with olive oil
• Philo Chard Pie – this is a great option for vegetarians. Look at the carnage of how fast this pie went!
  
• Greek Potatoes
  
• “El Baboor” Lamb Kebab Pie

Plancha

• Moroccan Brick Chicken with arugula salad
  
• Mackerel with beet olive salsa – this is an outstanding dish, don’t let a single bit of that beet olive salsa be left behind
  
• MEC Lamb Gyro. Hmm, bacon wrapped appetizer, check. Raddichio salad, check. Burger… nope. is this MEC Lamb Gyro the MEC equivalent Gorham offering of the burger?
  

Piato

• Mejadara with rice, lentils, fried onion. This is a must have, and vegetarian!
  
• Chreime, a tripolitany jewish fish stew
• Fried chicken with aleppo pepper and honey
• Lamb Ragu

Grill

• Octopus with piquillo pepper and dill. This is a must have.
  
• Prawns with red charmula, parsley, preserve lemon
  
• Greek lamb chops with oregono, garlic, lemon
• Dry aged Rib Eye with baharat, red chili, pine nut butter... sorry I don’t have a photo with the full rib eye, but let me promise you that it is delicious, and here’s a peek of a piece I was able to grab (along with a Greek Potato and cheese sample).
  
• Nazareth Kebab with beef and lamb
• Syrian Kebab with beef and lamb
• Moroccan Chicken Kebab

Dessert

• Cardamom Ice Cream Affogato with Turkish Coffee.  I saw this though I wasn’t fast enough for a photo and it looked wonderful.
• Triple Nut Biscotti with wines
• Rose Water Panna Cotta with pistachios
• Date Olive Oil Cake with honey yogurt and orange blossom syrup
  

The kitchen staff was dressed in shirts that on the back, proclaimed “Shalum, Y’all!”. Also, with the open kitchen I got to admire them dressing the octopi and the kebabs (actually, I didn’t have a single kebob when I was at the party- they went way too fast and my hands with the camera phone were not quick enough! Well, definitely going to order some when I visit the restaurant during regular service!)

Meanwhile, NY DJ Waffle was excellent at keeping the good music flowing during the launch party. One wall by the bar had these whimsical birds, the same bird as on the kitchen staff T shirts… And I was able to end on a sweet note with this dessert which I believe is provided by Maurice’s Kristen Murray.

Shalum, Y’all! I’ll be back with another report from a meal during their soft opening service… I NEED to try the “Eastern-style” fried chicken with Aleppo pepper and honey that I kept eying as they went by… Was there anything on the menu that catches your eye?