Flight Dessert Bar – Midwestern Roots

March 18, 2014 by 2 Comments

After reading a post from Erin of Bakery Bingo about a dessert pop-up called Flight Dessert Bar, I did a little investigation and saw they were putting together a special themed menu called Flight Dessert Bar “Midwestern Roots”. This was a reflection of the Flight Dessert chef’s origin from the Midwest, Wisconsin. Being an original Midwesterner myself, I felt compelled to support this dinner, just as Erin knew that the “Variations on a Theme: Chocolate” that she experienced with them was right up her alley.

Also, I saw from their twitter there would be PBR Frozen Custard.

Tickets bought!

The Dessert Bar experience consists of a six-course dessert tasting menu with beverage pairings for each course. However, each course wasn’t just a sweet dessert- he leverages experimental techniques and flavor combinations to blur the lines between sweet and savory.

Six courses sounds like a lot of sweet dessert, but I promise you that it does qualify as dinner that will leave you satiated like a meal and not just a flight of desserts. Do not eat beforehand thinking you are just coming here for dessert!

Flight Dessert Bar- This dessert pop up was held March 1 2014 at Bluebird Bakers in NW Portland Flight Dessert Bar- Midwestern Roots started off with tyler mackie's brandy old fashioned Flight Dessert Bar- Midwestern Roots started off with tyler mackie's brandy old fashioned

Flight Dessert Bar was created by Chef Nate Hamilton and Annie Massa-MacLeod. In the sweetest story, after meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, he left his position at farm to table restaurant Harvest and followed her west to Annie’s original roots, here in Oregon. Aw, a love story.
Annie and Nate of Flight Dessert Bar, on a train in Morocco

Flight is their brainchild, with him in the back of the house and her running the front of the house. You can still feel their tentative and excited energy- the newness, the still trying to figure it all out. It’s like being invited into the initial feelings when you are first trying to establish roots when you first move into your first job after graduating college.  Not that Nate or Annie are inexperienced- it’s just the feeling in the energy of Flight. There is an element of unsureness and transition, but also the freshness, the bravado of venturing and searching for something more, the exhilaration of discovery as life is changing.

So now to recap my experience. The experience of Flight I had was when they held the pop up at Bluebird Bakers, in NW. Their next space for their pop up is going to be Racion in SW be sure to check their website and Facebook for the latest updates and what menu Chef Nate may be creating.

Flight Dessert Bar- This dessert pop up was held March 1 2014 at Bluebird Bakers in NW Portland Flight Dessert Bar- This dessert pop up was held March 1 2014 at Bluebird Bakers in NW Portland

Midwestern Roots

Course 1

Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Uplands Cheese, bread and butter pickles, cranberry jam, Beaver Sweet Hot mustard, bread. This was paired with tyler mackie’s brandy old fashioned.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 1 Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Uplands Cheese, bread and butter pickles, cranberry jam, Beaver Sweet Hot mustard, house crackers. This was paired with tyler mackie's brandy old fashioned.
This was a pleasant starter. I’ve had this award winning nutty Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese from Uplands in Wisconsin before, and it was a nice statement in Flight Dessert Bar’s commitment to the midwestern theme that they served a WI cheese.

At the same time, they demonstrated their commitment to marrying those sensibilities with what is available locally here, such as the nose tingling excellent Beaver Sweet hot mustard that is a strong punch of flavor to counter the richness of the cheese and the sweet and sour of the cranberry jam and pickles. The lost opportunity here was with the bread here, which was just white noise.

I think everyone loved that Old Fashioned- almost everyone had already finished their sample even before the cheese plate arrived, since we were welcomed with the little juice glass of it once we were shown our seats upon arrival. I could have used 2 or 3x more of that refreshing cocktail.

Course 2

Whiskey poached apple, spiced citrus “jello salad,” pie crust, sour cream mousse, molasses. This was paired with lambic kriek shandy.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 2 Whiskey poached apple, spiced citrus “jello salad,” pie crust, sour cream mousse, molasses. This was paired with lambic kriek shandy. Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 2 Whiskey poached apple, spiced citrus “jello salad,” pie crust, sour cream mousse, molasses. This was paired with lambic kriek shandy.
This was not what I expected at all- and I love to be surprised. I thought the spiced citrus salad might be an enhancement to whiskey poached apple, but it was the justifiable star of this course. I took little quarter of a spoon bites, nibbling on this, trying it in all the flavor combinations of just the jello, jello with mousse, apple with jello, apple with mouse and bit of pie crust, apple with molasses, etc. The play on the different flavor and texture contributions here was fun and invigorating.

The lambic kriek is a belgian raspberry flavored beer that brought a tartness that I understood conceptually was to reinforce the jello salad, but though it was individually delicious I thought was an overwhelming pairing when combined with a mouthful of the more subtle dessert plate. It worked best I thought at the very end, as sort of a palate cleanser.

I have a hard time deciding if this or the next course were my favorite of the evening.

Course 3

Buttermilk fried chicken, maple gelato, pecan-black pepper slaw. This was paired with occidental altbier.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 3 Buttermilk fried chicken, maple gelato, pecan-black pepper slaw. This was paired with occodental altbier. Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 3 Buttermilk fried chicken, maple gelato, pecan-black pepper slaw. This was paired with occodental altbier.
This was so full of win. The sweetly glazed gelato melding with the crisp yet tender chicken, the crunch of the pecans, cut by the crisp and refreshing slaw… my other dining companions agreed we could have eaten 2 or 3 of these.

I loved that this was paired with a beer, and the Occidental Altbier here added a malty, hoppy, with touch of wood flavor to the dish that balanced the sweet and fat from the chicken and maple, yet some of the nuttiness and caramel toffee in the beer also complimented the pecans and the maple. Even writing this post a week later, I can still recall the flavors of this dish, mmmm.

Course 4

Pineapple upside down cake, tarragon, maraschino cherry, marshmallow fluff. This was paired with chateau st michelle 2012 riesling.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 4 Pineapple upside down cake, tarragon, maraschino cherry, marshmallow fluff. This was paired with chateau st michelle 2012 riesling. Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 4 Pineapple upside down cake, tarragon, maraschino cherry, marshmallow fluff. This was paired with chateau st michelle 2012 riesling.
This was the sweetest plate of the evening. Besides the 2 whole maraschino cherries you see in the dish, there was also fizzy cherries that were on that dish which were carbonated using a whip cream canister which are coloring the pineapple chunks…

Course 5

State Fair funnel cakes, milk chocolate-stout ganache, Pabst Blue Ribbon frozen custard. This was paired with hale’s ales nut brown ale.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 5 State Fair funnel cakes, milk chocolate-stout ganache, Pabst Blue Ribbon frozen custard. This was paired with hale's ales nut brown ale. Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 5 State Fair funnel cakes, milk chocolate-stout ganache, Pabst Blue Ribbon frozen custard. This was paired with hale's ales nut brown ale.
This was the course I believe the whole room was looking forward to. As of this date, it is still the only way I have had PBR. Unfortunately, this was a case where because so much anticipation had been built for this dish, and it didn’t quite meet those expectations (even if those expectations may have been unrealistic and unfounded).

A great deal of this dish relied on the funnel cakes, and trying to live up to the nostalgia of the last time you had funnel cake. This is a pretty difficult high bar to reach, or at least it was for me. Although I enjoyed the crunch of the funnel cake here (and unfortunately it was no longer warm by the time they had enough to serve the table), the dough was not delivering on flavor – it seemed like it needed some cinnamon, or sweetness in some other form (like a lot more powdered sugar!).

But, I appreciate the idea, and the milk chocolate stout ganache was scraped clean. It wasn’t a bad dish, but after 10-15 minutes of basically the entire room looking at the open pop up kitchen and the deep pot the funnel cakes were attempting to be made in (and I think the oil not being hot enough), it’s was just hard to deliver so was a little underwhelming. Frying to order for a staring crowd is not an envious task.

Course 6

Grasshopper milkshake, creme de menthe, dark chocolate “puppy chow”. This was paired with coffee or tea, with a little brandy for your coffee if you were so inclined.
Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 6 Grasshopper milkshake, creme de menthe, dark chocolate Flight Dessert Bar, Midwestern Roots Menu Course 6 Grasshopper milkshake, creme de menthe, dark chocolate
Why haven’t Grasshoppers ALWAYS come with dark chocolate puppy chow like this? I was scraping at the end, even though I was sooo full already.

I had earlier described that there is still a feeling that Flight is getting its bearings- and so it shouldn’t surprise you that there were a few small missteps here or there in service, or in executing what I had already thought might be difficult, making the fresh funnel cakes. Although Nate came out while the funnel cake course was getting ready, I wish similar to other pop-ups I had attended that more descriptions of how the dishes were conceived or interesting tidbits about each dish could have been shared before each course, instead of all at once. It’s one of the outstanding things about pop-ups- the closer access to the creativity process behind the scenes, unlike at a restaurant.

At the same time, that slight awkwardness is easily forgiven, as I think Flight will begin to settle in soon, and they have great potential. Their fresh perspective is fun and progressive, and I think as they get through this first year (they are only a few months into this!), their passion and hunger to share this perspective will quickly mature into success.

Their next space for their pop up is going to be Racion in SW- they have announced at least one date for each of the next 3 months (April 6th, May 4th, and June 1st), but more may be coming, be sure to check their website and Facebook for the latest updates and what menu Chef Nate may be creating. From their FB, it looks like the next dinner on April 6 is going to be an Herb dinner, with each course featuring a different local herb- tickets are available now.

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A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen

October 18, 2013 by 11 Comments

Disclosure: This meal 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.

I was introduced to Hawks View Cellars during Feast. They are a 50 acre winery located in Sherwood (in the Chehalem Mountains/only 30 minutes outside Portland) now run by AJ Kemp, son of the founder. Hawks View was totally under my radar until I saw how devoted they are to making excellent wines. When I had their Pinot Noir Reserve at the Paley Prefunk which I wrote about previously, I found myself crushing hard on them. So I was so thrilled when I was invited to attend a promotional event they were holding, A Grand Feast of Oregon.

At this event 7 wines, and 6 small plates paired with wines would be presented  by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen.

Irving St Kitchen Irving St Kitchen Irving St Kitchen

At this event, Hawks View was pre-releasing their just bottled 2012 Oregon Chardonnay and our soon to be released 2011 California Syrah at this dinner, opening  a 2011 La Baleine large format bottle (I always wondered when those super huge bottles were opened/drank!), and there was a Mystery Wine also, so classily wrapped in a printed paper bag until the mystery would be revealed!

Wines for A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen Wines for A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen Wines for A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen Wines for A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen

First, as we entered the special event room in the back of Irving St Kitchen, we were greeted by AJ Kemp, co-founder of Hawks View, along with April Yap-Hennig, director of marketing as well as a glass of 2012 Oregon Pinot Gris. Even though the alcohol is almost 15%, the wine tasted so light and refreshing. How irresponsible and dangerous you guys. I felt like I could easily drink several glasses of these! Oh, I see.

A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen, starting out with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Pinot Gris A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen, starting out with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Pinot Gris A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen, starting out with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Pinot Gris

Throughout the evening, AJ, and also Chef Sarah Schafer of Irving St. Kitchen, would introduce each of the 6 pairings of wine and food by explaining the origin story of the wine or the dish. I never knew how much drama goes into a bottle until I heard the tales from AJ, who is so full of infectious enthusiasm
Wine List for A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen AJ Kemp, cofounder of Hawks View, and Chef Sarah Schafer of Irving St Kitchen present Grand Feast of Oregon, 6 pairings of food and wine by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen AJ Kemp, cofounder of Hawks View, and Chef Sarah Schafer of Irving St Kitchen present Grand Feast of Oregon, 6 pairings of food and wine by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen AJ Kemp, cofounder of Hawks View, and Chef Sarah Schafer of Irving St Kitchen present Grand Feast of Oregon, 6 pairings of food and wine by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen

How to Enjoy Food and Drink Pairings

When it comes to food and drink pairings, this is my advice on how to enjoy a pairing.

  1. The first thing I do is examine the color and viscosity. With the glass on a flat surface, I swirl it to aerate it and examine the color, transparency, and how it moves in the glass. I always do this on a flat surface so that you don’t get accidental splash back on you if the pour is generous  or you bump your arm or get a twitch which causes splashback- which has totally happened to me, all over a sweater!
  2. Next, pick up the glass  immediately after a swirl and tilt it a bit, and put your nose in the glass slightly to smell it. I might do this swirl and smell twice, thinking about what I might detect upfront in the aromas, and how long it lasts, and how strong the aroma is.
  3. Now swirl and take a sip. Maybe do this 2-3 times. You want a very small sip, and you want to make sure it travels all across the tongue, not just the middle or back because although you can taste everything on any part, there might be areas that are more sensitive than others. Think about what it tasted like at the beginning, middle and end. How long could you taste the wine after you swallowed? How did it feel on your tongue – thin, smooth, creamy, velvety, dry, etc? Think about the tastes of sweet, sour, salt, bitter, acidic, citrus or/and earthy.
  4. Next step is to take a small bite of the food pairing, to see what it is like alone. Try to make sure you get a little bit of all the components in your bite. I know this is hard with the smaller appetizer bites! Think about how it tastes on its own, similar with what you did with the wine on step 3.
  5. Take a small swirl, another small bite, and immediately after you swallow the food sip the wine. Think about how the legs of the food you just tasted changes as you take that sip. Does it make certain flavors from the food or wine more prominent, wash out any flavor? As you continue to take small bites and sips, are there certain flavors that build up and are emphasized? Do you think the flavors are complimentary or do they contrast or make something new combined? What do you like better, the wine by itself, the food by itself, or both together?
  6. If possible cleanse your palate with water in between pairings or whenever you wish.

Ok, so now let’s take a look at the pairings I enjoyed for this event!

Hawks View Cellars + Irving Street Kitchen Courses

First Course Food and Wine Pairing

Irving St Kitchen Salmon Gravlax, Sauce Gribiche, Rye Crackers. Paired with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Chardonnay, which offered butteryness but not overly buttery, yaaaayy. I’ve had local OR Chardonnay and been disappointed how it tends to be a bit on the crisp, sweet, but flat/bland side. In the 80s 90s Chardonnay was really oaked, and then it seemed everyone all at once turned and ran the other way, focusing on stainless steel unoaked. This one though brought back the round warmness and creaminess that I’ve been missing in Chardonnays, but without overdoing the oak. This chardonnay is not grown in their vineyard but is sourced in Oregon locally from Gran Moraine, Yamhill-Carlton.
A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 1 of Irving St Kitchen Salmon Gravlax, Sauce Gribiche, Rye Crackers. Paired with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Chardonnay  A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 1 of Irving St Kitchen Salmon Gravlax, Sauce Gribiche, Rye Crackers. Paired with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Chardonnay A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 1 of Irving St Kitchen Salmon Gravlax, Sauce Gribiche, Rye Crackers. Paired with 2012 Hawks View Oregon Chardonnay

Second Course Food and Wine Pairing

Next came AJ and pouring of the Hawks View Mystery Wine for the pairing listed as Chicken Fried Oysters, Herbsaint Aioli, and Hawks View Mystery Wine… revealed to be 2012 White Pinot Noir, aka what AJ called “The Unicorn”. This was one of my top pairings of the evening.
A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: AJ and Pouring of the Hawks View Mystery Wine A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: AJ and Pouring of the Hawks View Mystery Wine  A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 2 of Chicken Fried Oysters, Herbsaint Aioli, and Hawks View Mystery Wine... revealed to be 2012 White Pinot Noir

Third Course Food and Wine Pairing

Marinated Pork Chop, Country Ham & Shelling Bean Ragout and Celery Root Apple Slaw with 2010 Hawks View Oregon Pinot Noir. This was my favorite pairing of the evening.
"A "A A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 3 of Marinated Pork Chop, Country Ham & Shelling Bean Ragout and Celery Root Apple Slaw with 2010 Hawks View Oregon Pinot Noir

Fourth Course Food and Wine Pairing

The course I’ve been waiting for… Irving St Kitchen’s famous fried chicken. Happiness is an Irving St Kitchen fried chicken with smashed potatoes and country gravy and greens.
Happiness is an Irving St Kitchen fried chicken with smashed potatoes and country gravy and greens. Happiness is an Irving St Kitchen fried chicken with smashed potatoes and country gravy and greens.
This was paired with the 2011 Hawks View La Baleine (The Whale), which is a a blend that changes year to year and is dedicated to AJ’s father, whose nickname was The Whale from his banking days before he retired and invested in founding Hawks View Winery. Check out April flexing her incrediblly toned arms as she pours from the decanter!
April flexing her incrediblly toned arms as she pours from the decanter the 2011 Hawks View La Baleine (Whale) "A

Fifth Course Food and Wine Pairing

Although Hawks View does have vineyards from which they produce wines, they also source from California and Washington, specifically Horse Heaven Hills in WA for their cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and malbec grapes and from Gary’s Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands of California for Syrah and Pinot Noir. These next two wines marked our departure from drinking Oregon wines (La Baleine has some OR grapes mixed in with CA and WA).
It was paired with a beautiful serving of Irving St Kitchen Teres Major Steak with garlic grits, ancho ketchup, onion rings, marrow sauce
Fifth course, Beautiful serving of Irving St Kitchen Teres Major Steak with garlic grits, ancho ketchup, onion rings, marrow sauce paired with 2010 Hawks View Washington Cabernet Sauvignon Fifth course, Beautiful serving of Irving St Kitchen Teres Major Steak with garlic grits, ancho ketchup, onion rings, marrow sauce paired with 2010 Hawks View Washington Cabernet Sauvignon

Sixth Course Food and Wine Pairing

Finally, dessert was pairing 6 of Chocolate Torte with 2011 Hawks View California Syrah
A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 6 of Chocolate Torte with 2011 Hawks View California Syrah A Grand Feast of Oregon, by Hawks View Cellars and Irving St Kitchen: Pairing 6 of Chocolate Torte with 2011 Hawks View California Syrah

Thank you so much to Hawks View Cellars for sharing their incredible wines with me at this event, for AJ the storyteller and winemaker who gave up his dream to take New York by the throat to instead come storm Oregon with a distinct viewpoint of wanting to represent the Northwest but aspire to compete with Burgandy and is unashamed to source the best grapes from wherever they may be, including CA and WA, in pursuit of that unique taste profile. And, I also love how they CLEARLY love food- they were everywhere, daily, at Feast Portland events, and this is the second event where they have pointedly put wine and food together into pairings to really help tell the story of deliciousness.

And Chef Sarah, you are kickass, I could have eaten a half dozen of those chicken fried oysters and a whole chicken of that fried chicken,  and I was savoring each of those beans individually in that pork chop dish!
AJ Kemp, storyteller and winemaker for Hawks View Cellars AJ Kemp, storyteller and winemaker for Hawks View Cellars

Check out Hawks View Cellars – tastings are by appointment only but are very personal in touring the vineyard and learning and tasting all their wines- and the kickass deliciousness and best fried chicken in Portland at Irving St Kitchen!

Disclosure: This meal 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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Breakfasts and a Lunch in Seattle

May 10, 2013 by 2 Comments

A few more meals in Seattle… I want to wrap this up and move back to reporting Food Adventures in Portland!

Breakfasts in Seattle

Here, options from the always reliable Serious Biscuit. Here, you see the Serious Biscuit Zach – fried chicken, tabasco black pepper gravy, bacon, egg sandwich and also the Serious Biscuit crispy hamhock, collard greens with smoked onions breakfast sandwich.

Serious Biscuit Zach fried chicken, tabasco black pepper gravy, bacon, egg, breakfast sandwich Serious Biscuit Zach fried chicken, tabasco black pepper gravy, bacon, egg, breakfast sandwich Serious Biscuit crispy hamhock, collard greens with smoked onions biscuit sandwich Serious Biscuit crispy hamhock, collard greens with smoked onions biscuit sandwich Serious Biscuit crispy hamhock, collard greens with smoked onions biscuit sandwich

Another breakfast choice is Portage Bay Cafe with its local and sustainable food. There, my friend had the Verde Pork omelette with tomatillo-braised Carlton Farms pork, roasted jalapeño, queso fresco, salsa verde garnish. I had the incredible Migas, a flour tortilla stuffed with three chipotle-cumin scrambled eggs, Tillamook medium and sharp white cheddar, fresh basil, homemade salsa and sour cream. Served with fresh avocado salsa, and roasted potatoes, and I added the homemade chorizo sausage, it was so full of flavor that even though I told myself to only eat some and save myself for more meals later, I could not help but eat it all. The Verde Pork omelette was also good in a more subtle way with the braised pork, while mine was a wake up call with the chorizo sausage- your call.
Portage Bay Cafe local sustainable breakfast Seattle Portage Bay Cafe Verde Pork Omelette breakfast Seattle Portage Bay Cafe Verde Pork Omelette breakfast Seattle Portage Bay Cafe Migas breakfast Seattle Portage Bay Cafe Migas breakfast Seattle Portage Bay Cafe Migas breakfast Seattle

Lunch

For lunch one day, we took a short 15 minute walk from the office to Baguette Box, where I was introduced to the Baguette Box Crispy Drunken Chicken Sandwich (really just a very creative banh mi). Crispy sweet with a bit of tang and jalapeno bite savory goodness in each of those chicken bites, nestled in a doughy with the right amount of crunchy outside bread vehicle (though also offered in a salad version)! Not pictured- the truffle fries basket which we completely emptied.
Baguette Box Crispy Drunken Chicken Sandwich Seattle

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Lunches at Lardo

February 3, 2013 by 8 Comments

Lardo PDX– sniff. I remember when we first met, when it was a new food cart, brand new and just custom built, when I attended the annual food cart festival Eat Mobile 2011. I also visited it on a food cart tour. Then, the cart grew up- so fast!- to a brick and mortar location, first on the east side of the river, and now on the west side where I visited its bright shiny digs with huge glass windows and doors and the same clean wood and food that celebrates fat. F/Jack that can eat no fat hates this place, but I naturally love it. Now they are so grown up they are throwing Super Bowl parties with heated tents and a big screen and game day food today, and earlier this month collaborated to offer a Swine and Barley Wine event (A Pig Out Production) of barleywine pairings with offerings from their menu and cheese from Steve’s Cheese (check out a take from an attendee at one of the local PDX blogs I follow, Beer Musings from Portland)

In their transformation from food cart to two physical restaurants, they still have a very casual level of service.  I’ve seen this in many places in Portland in order to reduce service staff costs. You go up and order from a chalkboard on the wall, and are handed a number so that your order can be delivered to you, and then you bus yourself to the bins. Wisely, they already have to go boxes for your leftovers out.

I also want to assure you that what is pictured below is more than one lunch I had at Lardo, and these sandwiches are not all mine. You don’t need to fear for my heart and whether I can continue to enjoy deliciousness. This was not one meal.

First of all, the Bloody Mary is quite spicy! I loved it! There haven been many a bloody mary that I have tried around PDX that didn’t bring it (and with great distilleries like New Deal with their Hot Monkey vodka and so much heirloom tomatoes and homemade pickling!). Thankfully, Lardo brought it to punch with flavor with their take on a bloody mary. As I waited for my order to be prepared (they do so to order), that bloody mary really raised my expectations of what I was about to experience, as it ranked right up there with ones I’ve had at for instance when I visited Tasty N Sons and my brunch at Simpatica.

Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Bloody Mary

You may consider bringing a friend to share with if you get the double burger and fries- I felt my heart would burst just eating that half of a Double Burger (with both Cascade natural beef and pork belly as the meats along with the cheddar and lardo sauce) and the Dirty Fries. Oh those Dirty Fries with fried pork fat scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs and parmesan, a tasty but filling combination on the tastebuds of savory and salty and spicy and sour, both crispy and so lingeringly soft in the same chew. Genius.

I’m not sure why you would not order these fries dirty- you sort of need all those peppers to balance out that pork belly on the burger. Not to say the pork belly isn’t delicious- at one point I separated them out to eat them individually to savor them, and even without the pork belly that burger is so juicy and messy and glorious. I can see this showing up on the national charts of Food & Wine as one of the best burgers in the US, and it is definitely in the top 3 for Portland.

Double Burger, Dirty fries, Cascade natural beef and pork belly with the cheddar and lardo sauce, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Double Burger, Dirty fries, Cascade natural beef and pork belly with the cheddar and lardo sauce, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Double Burger, Dirty fries, Cascade natural beef and pork belly with the cheddar and lardo sauce, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant
Double Burger, Dirty fries, Cascade natural beef and pork belly with the cheddar and lardo sauce, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant

Other sandwiches I was able to sample included the fried chicken sandwich, eggplant parmesan, and porchetta sandwich. The fried chicken sandwich was decent but I was hoping for more- I don’t mind cold fried chicken, and the description of Cold Fried Chicken, blue cheese, bacon, pickles sounded promising. But, I realized as I ate it that I was hoping for a cold fried chicken that would compare well with cold chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Maybe my memories are rosy since it has been years since I’ve had KFC since I don’t eat fast food chains anymore, but I remember not minding leftover KFC the next day because of the wonderful seasoning on their original recipe chicken or the extra crispy chicken version still having a corner of super crunch here or there. Neither of this was true with the cold fried chicken from Lardo, and I was hoping they would have celebrated the fat of the skin more either with seasoning to let it sing, or lots of breading to highlight extra crispy skin. I also wouldn’t have minded more blue cheese, such as Rogue blue cheese tang.

Meanwhile, Lardo’s Eggplant Parm ‘Old School’ with tomato sauce, provolone, basil was messy with its generous saucing, and the breading still had a bit of crispness despite it. It is a good option for the vegetarian who you drag to eat Lardo with you. In fact, Lardo offers two vegetarian sandwiches- there was also a Rapini sandwich with aged provolone, capers, and red pepper agrodolce available as an option.

Fried Chicken Sandwich, Cold Fried Chicken, blue cheese, bacon, pickles, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Fried Chicken Sandwich, Cold Fried Chicken, blue cheese, bacon, pickles, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Eggplant Parm, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Eggplant Parm, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant

Finally, Lardo’s signature porchetta sandwich with caper aioli, gremolata that have been written up nationally including the recipe shared at Saveur. It’s a sandwich of fatty melt in your mouth pork belly that is wrapped around the roasted pork and doesn’t apologize for it, and in fact adds all that good olive oil and gremolata on top (though seriously just the meat/fat combo itself is already luscious).

Lardo's signature porchetta sandwich with caper aioli, gremolata, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant Lardo's signature porchetta sandwich with caper aioli, gremolata, Lardo west, bringing the fat back, Portland restaurant, sandwich restaurant

Lardo is serious about bringing the fat back. And, it doesn’t hurt that now with having a restaurant space (two actually!), they can offer half a dozen options for cocktails and more than a dozen local Northwest microbrew beers to wash that extreme richness down with. They also have pie holes- I stared so wistfully at those pecan pie holes but couldn’t muster the courage to add more to my arteries in one meal (well, also considering what gluttony the meal order already consisted of as you see. I more than blew my caloric allowance before dessert…) Not a single thing is more than $10, but every item is an indulgent pleasure that seems to border on sinful in its exaltation of richness.

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Country Cat Dinner

July 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

At a birthday dinner at The Country Cat, we started with the soft doughy House Potato Bread and Butter. Country Cat is one of those restaurants that charges for bread service, so this was $2. The Animal of the Week during our visit was proclaimed by the menu as “LAMB”, and when we tried the Grilled peaches with Lamb Bacon as a shared appetizer, almost all was forgiven for the bread charge. Those Grilled Peaches were the best dish of the evening.
The Country Cat, Portland Oregon, soft doughy House Potato Bread and Butter The Country Cat, Portland Oregon, Grilled peaches with Lamb Bacon

My entree was the fried chicken this restaurant is supposedly known for, in dinner form of the Cast-Iron Skillet Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, though I switched out the standard side of Mashed Potatoes & Sausage Gravy for Creamy South Carolina Grits instead. The chicken is fried quite a bit which gives a lot of great crunch to the outside while keeping a moist inside, but I didn’t detect a lot of seasoning to go along with the crispy (but at some places slightly tough) skin. But, I give them credit in that it was not greasy chicken, and I loved that it was boneless. The grits were ok, but I was definitely missing the fact that there was no vegetable included- it seems there is room for it on the plate. Bizarrely, from the yelp photos it looks like their version for brunch is a better plating of the chicken than during dinner, including both greens and pecan bacon spoonbread. It seems at one point in the past this dinner dish used to come with collard greens and a biscuit, evidently they since have changed their minds (though you can add these yourselves by adding an additional appetizer of the $2 biscuit and specifying that other $6 side instead of mashed potatoes and gravy).

I fortunately was able to procure part of F’s side order of Creamed Corn with Toasted Pecans & Fried Sage Leaves, a nice assembled bit of texture in that side dish with the buttery bursts from the corn and the crunch of pecan bits. The other entree, Summer Vegetable Pie with Tomatoes & Goat Cheese, was more disappointment as it turned out less like a pot pie and instead to just mostly be a quiche, thus has a lot more egg than you might be expecting from that menu description.
The Country Cat, Portland Oregon, Cast-Iron Skillet Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, South Carolina Grits The Country Cat, Portland Oregon, Creamed Corn with Toasted Pecans and Fried Sage Leaves The Country Cat, Portland Oregon, Summer Vegetable Pie with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

I’m not sure what it means that as we meandered over and enjoyed the many varied beer taps and pool table at Roscoe’s next door after dinner, that my eye would occasionally wander to look longingly at the fried chicken strips I saw also served there (although they also serve sushi rolls… what?), just across the street from Country Cat. I really wanted to like the place- I suppose maybe just like bbq, depending on your previous experience you have cultivated certain taste expectations for fried chicken- and this didn’t quite meet what I had hoped for. At the end of the day, it was those grilled peaches that are what stuck with me.

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