From the RView in Seattle, watching the sunset out the window of their lounge with an Anjou Pear martini with Grey Goose, Germaine, pear nectar and pineapple juice and complimentary bar snack.
Trader Vic’s Portland: Drink there
July 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Because of Portland Dining month and meeting someone after they got off the Amtrak, Trader Vic’s was a stop for dinner one evening in June. As my previous two visits, the drinks were delicious and tasted like there was no alcohol but do pack a punch while tasting like punch. This time, instead of the Menehune or Mai Tai, I tried out the Potted Parrot, a fruity concoction that allowed me to take the parrot on a chopstick home to hang out with my Menehune couple.
For appetizers, I selected the Crab Rangoon with Blue crab, spiced cream cheese, crisp wonton wrapper… the wonton wrapper was not very crispy, and it was more cream cheese than crab. The Edamame Humus are served with house-made lavash crackers, chili oil and daikon sprouts, and was a stand out only because those crackers are wonderfully seedy, the hummus had little flavor. But, you can also get those crackers, along with peanut butter, as part of Trader Vic’s “bread service”.
The entree was a beautiful looking in presentation but overcooked Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi with ginger citrus beurre blanc, some thin grilled asparagus, and wasabi mashed potatoes that promised with its color but didn’t deliver with flavor. It’s a good thing the June Dining month deal was for the appetizer, entree, and dessert for $25… usually this entree alone is $24, and I would have been upset. The dessert was a servicable Snowball – Vanilla bean ice cream, toasted coconut, house-made chocolate sauce, and the other entree was the Vegetarian Curry, which the best part was the rice (served separately) and the accompaniment of more of those seeds that are used on the lavash crackers on the side.
Still, the drinks are fun, and the bartendress very friendly and fast in servicing all those around on the bar. Check out the happy hour here- the best food I’ve had so far is still their shrimp, which is available on their happy hour menu, and that’s probably the menu you’ll want to use if you want any nibbles at all that are worth the price. There are plenty of other places to eat in the Pearl, so this could be a good warm-up before that better meal for your dollar some place else- soak up the laid back atmosphere and the tiki drinks, pretending you’re in a tropical kitschy place… and then move onward in your adventures… or probably misadventures, the way these drinks can sneak up on you.
Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen
December 23, 2011 by 32 Comments
What was Pho PDX has blossomed into adulthood recently with Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen. It cleans up its late night pho act by leaving the food court mall equivalent of a just graduated out of college continuation of a dorm room/first apartment, and is now getting all modern and sophisticated like it now has a respectable full time white collar job and the same interior decorator who designs those apartments used in backdrops in TV shows.
They have deep red booth seats with little gold buttons and antique-recalling wooden red mismatched chairs paired with modern dark wood tables and a minimalist bar (including the I hope you have a small butt barstools) which are softened by pink parasols hanging from the ceiling and the whimsy of sketched black and white lions with fetching blue eyes jumping around playfully on one wall to counter the damask wallpaper on the other wall. It seems just too classy for a place that stays open until 4am. It’s like a sexy supermodel or actress who loves sports and videogames- who’s complaining about the upscale-ness?
After a little holiday shopping downtown, we stopped for dinner. They have a menu on a chalkboard, but grab the printed ones by the register when you first walk in and order there at that corner. They give you a table # so then you find your seat and wait for your food delivery. This definitely makes sense for the pho lunch rush to get orders in as fast as possible- and thankfully unlike say the teeny Pine State Kitchen or Bunk Sandwiches which also runs on a “order first and then get your seat”, there is plenty of real estate to establish your eating space- it’s more akin to Noodles and Company or Boke Bowl with the table numbers meaning you will at least get your food delivered to you without trying to carry your pho anywhere.
It just looks so nice it almost seems like it would be a full service restaurant- especially when you are at the more laid back dinner hour. Consider this though- then you’d be at the mercy of someone waiting and checking on your table. The biggest boon to this is for cocktails. I only had two that night, but let’s say I want to try them all (and let’s say that’s not untrue, but probably should not be done in one trip). I would easily be able to every time I want a refresh, just hustle up to the bar and get instant gratification of ordering something instead of having to flag someone down as they try to service everyone else. It is a more casual service model, but I don’t mind. There’s nothing wrong with sometimes preferring the service at In N Out over a tablecloth restaurant.
For food, we started out with the Fresh Spring Rolls (rice paper stuffed with vermicelli noodles, romain, sprouts, and mint and your choice of pork&shrimp, shrimp, or tofu- we had tofu) last time, so this time went with the Vegetarian Crispy Rolls with tofu, celery, cabbage and carrots. The end of our comparison was that crispy rolls aren’t as good- we like the peppery flavor inside, but the wrapper added an extra oiliness that isn’t as refreshing and “I feel healthy” as the super fat spring rolls (even though you are eating something 4x the size). Definitely go with the Spring Rolls (you can see photos of them at my previous blog on Pho PDX).
For the main, I tried out the expanded menu from pho with the namesake Luc Lac, cubed beef tenderloin wok seared with hennessey, beurre de france, garlic, black peppercorn, served with field mixed greens and tomato fried rice. This is some seriously steak quality meat that is flavorful and a nice cut of beef, it made the greens underneath just by being underneath super tasty. The tomato fried rice was ok but I would have preferred plain jasmine rice to not compete with the flavor of the beef.
The other main, Lemongrass Stir Fry with tofu option (instead of chicken) with veggies and lemongrass-tumeric chili sauce over rice, was the same as previously served at Pho PDX- ok, but why get that when you have so many other better options with their bigger kitchen? They now offer tempting sounding Ga Ro Ti of roasted half game hen marinated in lemongrass, spirces, and garlic with greens and tomato fried rice, Nem Nuong Pork Sausage either as vermicelli bowls or rice plates or Banh Mi (or awesomely a combination plate with grilled pork, grilled chicken, grilled chrimp, the nem nuong as crispy rolls), Chicken wings caramelized in fish sauce and garlic, Mussels in lemongrass tamarind broth with mushrooms, Sugar Cane Shrimp…
Yes I’ll be back please. I’m going to have every cocktail they offer by Spring 2012, you’ll see. Those cocktails kick a$$… and is all the reason you need to expand from the pho to try everything else on the menu.
Recently in Seattle… Tavern Law cocktails, Lunch at Revel
December 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I love the concept of Tavern Law and their beverages (you’ll just have to trust me on this one because they do not have anything useful on their website). Their tiny kitchen right next to the bar is pushing out little small plates like the tempting mac and cheese with duck fat crumbs on top. But the space is very small, and the standing room is awkward because you are inevitably in the way between a bar stool and another stool by the center counters, or between chairs at tables… Their seats really seems much like you in the library of someone’s home, which I suppose does go with their speakeasy theme. The best place to sit is at the bar- otherwise as they craft these cocktails and also try to deliver the small plates they can’t really get around to check on anyone for refills very often.
I started out with the Flip of Lusty Lady (pictured) and finished up with the Angry Unicorn Project (not pictured- it’s quite a manly scotchy drink) as we admired pretty people around us (some lucky ones who had made reservations and went though the show of using the phone on the wall before being let into the secret passageway upstairs) before we met up with everyone in the group and went to dinner at small plates restaurant Lark a few blocks away.
Lunch at Revel which serves an urbanized modern take on Korean was amazing- and the counter where you can sit and watch your food prepared in a kitchen so open stretches across the whole bar but is also like a kitchen in a home. We started out with a light salad of Hearts of palm, spinach, smoked peanut, miso vinaigrette- even though we did talk about their corned lamb salad. We shared a rice bowl of Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole which they advertised with egg yolk, and it was ok, but would have been so much better if it had been a shared stone bowl, which is what I had been expecting. Meanwhile we also shared the decent noodle dish of Dungeness crab, seaweed noodle, creme fraiche, spicy red curry.
We tried each of their pancakes (the Kale, walnut, arugula, pecorino was surprisingly my favorite over the Pork belly, kimchi, bean sprout one or the Squid, chick peas, pickled padron pepper one) and also each of their dumplings which brought back good memories of the half a hand size potstickers of old Hong Min. For the dumplings, we all swooned over the rich Cauliflower ricotta, black truffle sesame, pickled leek dumpling, which blew out of the water the other two options of Shrimp and bacon, pickled ginger, cilantro dumpling and the Short rib, shallot, scallion dumpling. I definitely want to make it a visit the next time I go to Seattle for personal reasons.
A Happy Hour at Teardrop Lounge
September 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I organized a happy hour for a group of ladies this past Thursday at Teardrop Lounge. One half of JnJ had mentioned it several times, raving about it, and I was glad to finally get to see that those reviews were so very well deserved. It was also awesome to get all these wonderful ladies who I knew worked downtownish together for some gushing over A’s recent engagement and catching up with each other- the time just seemed to fly by and I felt like I didn’t get to talk to everyone as much as I wished. I guess we’ll just have to do it again.
I started out with one of the three Happy Hour Special drinks for $5 (they also discount off of any wine or beer)- the “House Sake Sangria” of Junmai Ginjo sake, brandy, Oregon pinot gris, spice blend, citrus, and Viridian Farm berries. The fact they serve it with chopsticks for fruit picking is genius and thoughtful. As I watched them spoon it out of a punchbowl, I wonder why at all the sangria I’ve had this summer I have yet to see a punchbowl. Are punchbowls only for old fashioned people?
I also felt nurtured by the “San Francisco Swell” $10 (Brooke Arthur, Wo Hing, San Francisco), created from Appleton Reserve rum, lime, mint, blackberry honey, Angostura bitters, egg white, Chandon brut sparkling, and clearly touches of love. I believe the information in parenthesis is the name of the original mixologist, their cocktail place where they offer that recipe, and city, so I felt a bit like a fancy traveler doing sophisticated drinks around North America.
Next for me was “Beer & A Smoke” for $11 (Jim Meehan, PDT, NYC), a concoction of del Maguey Vida mezcal, lime, Cholula, Dos Equis Lager, Bitter Truth Celery bitters. This tasted both dirty and healthy at the same time. You have to like smokeyness… which I do.
Final beverage(s) of the night: Vuelo de Agave “the way they do it in Mexico, kind of” as recommended multiple times by Alyssa. This was a flight of Siete Leguas tequilas (helpfully all labeled- so there was from left to right the Blanco, Reposado and Anejo) and 3 house interpretations of sangrita made with heirloom tomatoes (Spanish Style which the bartender rattled off a long list of ingredients that made my head spin, Tomato Water, and a Roasted Tomatillo that called for a slow roasted careful roasting process). The tequilas gave me a friendly burn, but those sangritas were really kickass- I can imagine a life where I drink all those sangritas everyday. It took a lot of self-restraint to not knock down those sangritas and instead take little sips from each of the 6 glasses back and forth, exploring combinations of tequila and sangrita.
All the drinks here are beautiful and tasty. Because we are enjoying an Indian Summer the front wall was basically thrown open so we could enjoy the sunshine and breeze while we waited for our handsome bartenders in striped shirts and suspenders and bow ties to shake up and create the works of art that are our sexy drinks. You can’t help but feel the dedication to the liquid arts in every sip.
