Dining out in Portland, Oregon and other Food Travels
You can enjoy getting into the Christmas spirit at the Miracle, a Christmas cocktail pop up bar. This international pop up has landed in Portland inside the Bacchus Bar in the lobby of the Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland downtown this year. Here’s a look as we head into the final stretch to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day!
One of the biggest bargains in fine dining with can be found at Roe Portland. Two dining experiences are available, and I have tried both. In the spring (unfortunately the day just after I cracked my camera phone lens) I enjoyed the Tasting Menu. For this menu, it is prix fixe but you have a certain list of dishes to choose between for your four courses for the huge value price of $68 per person – you can easily run that up per person for four courses any restaurant, but you get the extra experience of the fine dining service at Roe. Recently, I went back and tried the Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX for the price of $138, and you get seven courses plus some surprises. Here’s look at what the experience was like for me in the first of October 2019.
Finding the restaurant is a bit of an adventure to start with. Located in downtown Portland, only a few blocks away from Pioneer Square, you have to enter a building called Morgan’s Alley- there isn’t even a sign for Roe visible. Look for the Oregon Wines on Broadway and go through the doors just to the left of this wine bar and bottle shop. Keep pressing through the hallways to the back until you see stairs, and follow those up to a very subtle restaurant entrance.
When you enter, you are transported away from the busyness of Portland and your day into the dimly lit entrance foyer of Roe PDX. There is a card with your last name waiting for you, and once the host returns to the cart, he or she will take your coats, pour you a libation to greet you. In my visits to Roe, this has varied from some hot dashi in the winter to sparkling to in this visit, a chamomile tea infused vermouth aperitif.
Shortly after, you will be led to your seats at your table or the chef’s counter (which has it’s own reservations). There are no walk-ins at Roe – but it’s easy to make reservations online and check the available times lots on Tock. Most seats have a view of the open kitchen, and I appreciate that the tables are spaced well enough that you can enjoy private conversation – this is not a noisy restaurant so you can really enjoy the food and drink and your dining companions.
You can select to purchase beverages by the glass, or bottle, or have a pairing. We opted for the beverage pairing. The initial menu showing you the courses is only a teaser, with only a noun to designate one of the main ingredients for each course. If you have any food allergies or such, they do check with you by sending you a message the day before your reservation, and they check one more time in person here. You also have an option of caviar add on if you so choose. Ok, we’re ready, game on – and we so choose to enjoy some caviar service please. 
Before the dinner courses, we are treated to some complimentary snacks, or amuse bouches. The first set of amuse bouches included Housemade dashi, Hamachi crudo with walnut pecan and concord grape, and Albacore tartare in buckwheat crepe with wasabi. These amuse bouches and the caviar were paired with one of my favorite pairings of the evening, a Quince fruit wine from Art + Science.
Then, the next amuse bouches arrived almost at the same time as the caviar. I was fine with the pan fried salt cod with caviar but honestly the excitement of the caviar made me forget to note what was exactly the second snack here besides that it was in a roasted peanut topping.
The caviar service ranges from some individual caviar selections from the low end of $45 up to a trio of caviar for $175. The caviar is served with warm potato blini, whipped creme fraiche, and sieved egg. It’s simple and perfect – I would always get this add on from now on if I visit Roe.
How about we finally get down to seeing the courses of the dinner for the Chef’s Menu at Roe PDX now? We haven’t even started on the first listing yet!
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At the end of last year, a cute little coffee, smoothie, and dessert cafe opened in downtown Portland called Kozy Bar. It specializes in sugar free treats using a sweetener made from rice. Everything they offer uses natural ingredients with no additives or preservatives. If you are looking for a healthy and nutritious option, look to Kozy Bar. In particular, you should definitely be checking out the Ice Cream at Kozy Bar.
There are many flavors of the ice cream bars available at Kozy Bar. Note that all their ice cream comes in ice cream bars – no scoops are available, though I hear the owners are exploring what they might be able to do with soft serve. Even vegan flavors are available.
It’s only been a little more than a year since King Tide Fish and Shell made its debut along the South Waterfront, within the Riverfront Hotel, replacing the previous Three Degrees Waterfront Bar and Grill. The modern American food has been upgraded to seafood that takes its inspiration from the Pacific Northwest and American classics with intriguing touches of Japanese and Mexican.
The patio is my favorite of those offering a view almost literally steps from the Willamette River, while still also having the convenient location of being right downtown. The bar even offers rocking chairs with heaters. Even if dining indoors, floor to ceiling windows provide a view.
Here’s a look at how close to the water King Tide’s terrace patio is
Jake’s Grill is one of those classic Portland restaurants offering its American food menu of steaks and seafood as part of the Sentinel hotel (previously the Seward Hotel, and Elks Temple, and then later the Governor Hotel. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places). Although it is owned by McCormick & Schmick’s, Jake’s still maintains a lot of autonomy over its sourcing and menu. For May, they are featuring special Pasture to Plate menus utilizing Anderson Ranches Lamb. Here’s a look at my favorites of the Jake’s Grill and Anderson Ranches Lamb dishes.
Anderson Ranches has been in the lamb business for 5 generations, and is located in the Willamette Valley. Their lamb is 100% grass fed and free range. Their flock are fed no antibiotics, growth stimulants, feed addictive and growth hormones. They graze on free range pastures on rolling foothills and open fields to roam and eat what they like and grow at their natural pace. Anderson Ranches farming uses sustainable practices and practices complementary to raising sheep such as the sheep helping with seed crop or weeds that control growth for trees or for other farmers to reduce need for herbicide. Supporting Anderson Ranches is supporting a thoughtful local business.
Meanwhile, Jake’s Grill is then taking their great lamb product and utilizing it in both traditional and in creative dishes. If you think you don’t like lamb because it’s gamey or you think lamb only comes so red and medium rare, you will be very pleasantly surprised at the huge range of options they’ve come up here between Jake’s Grill and Anderson Ranches Lamb.
Pechluck's Food Adventures
Enjoying deliciousness in Portland & wherever travels may lead me.
My name is Pech, short for Pechluck. I enjoy adventures in eating - dining out and cooking and imbibing for local Portland deliciousness or wherever travels lead.
Disclosure: There may be at times sponsored posts where the ticket to an event or meal or sample product to review was complimentary, but 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.
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