Lardo Chefwich #5 – only a few days left!

September 12, 2013 by 7 Comments

I previously covered other Lardo chefwich sandwiches 1-3 here, and then chefwich #4 of mid July-mid August here. Now here is chefwich #5, mid August – mid September. So you only have a few days left to catch this chefwich!

From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. Also, Lardo Fries and Lardo's Kentucky Lemonade From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye.

As noted before, the Chefwich Series is part of a series by Lardo of sandwiches where guest chefs of various Portland restaurants collaborate with Lardo (and Grassa) chef Rick Gencarelli. Each month, a new collaboration sandwich will appear just for that month, and the proceeds of the limited time guest chef sandwich going to benefit the guest chef’s charity of choice. The sandwich is available at either of the two Lardo locations, Lardo West in SW downtown or in Lardo East in the SE.

From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. A portion of the proceeds of the sandwich benefits the Oregon Food Bank.

For chefwich #5, the guest chef of the month is Jenn Louis of Lincoln Restaurant and Sunshine Tavern. She also was on Top Chef Masters this season and Food and Wine Best New Chef 2012 for the Northwest region.

From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. A portion of the proceeds of the sandwich benefits the Oregon Food Bank. From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. A portion of the proceeds of the sandwich benefits the Oregon Food Bank.

The sandwich is vegetarian! It is a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. The plum conserva comes in a container on the side, so I suppose you could choose to dip it. But, I decided to just spread it like a jam on top. As you can see, I supplemented my chefwich with the Lardo fries and also a Kentucky Lemonade. A portion of the proceeds from this Chefwich benefit the Oregon Food Bank.

From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. The plum conserva comes in a container on the side, so I suppose you could choose to dip it. But, I decided to just spread it like a jam on top. From Lardo, the Jenn Louis chefwich, a grilled cheese with fontina cheese, plum conserva on Grand Central Bakery sour rye. The plum conserva comes in a container on the side, so I suppose you could choose to dip it. But, I decided to just spread it like a jam on top.

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Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night

March 22, 2013 by 6 Comments

On March 21st, Alma Chocolates hosted Alberta St.’s The Cheese Plate Food Cart in the Alma Kitchen to create a dinner of inventive grilled cheese bites. The Alma Kitchen is separate from their shop on NE 28th- instead this is a special event room in the newly renovated 105 year old American Brush Building, a former candy factory and grocery distribution center and then American Brush company (and thus the name- the sign for this still is painted on in white letters on the red bricks on one side of the building as you approach from Burnside) and which is supposedly haunted. Thankfully, although the building is rather quiet, when I pulled open one of the two bathroom doors at the end of the hall (not marked- you just have to look for the sliding lock that switches from In Use to Vacant) that said Vacant and saw just a bunch of janitorial and construction tools, I quickly closed it but nothing was moving and I noticed no shadows.

The event was set up as a casual cocktail party with rustic charm using burlap sacks to cover tables and the glow of lots of white candles: it would not have surprised me to hear there were 100 candles throughout the room.

There were a few wooden chairs set up at small tables along the walls around the rectangular space. This was a bit of a surprise to me as most cocktail events I know use lots of tall cocktail tables so that people may not be sitting, but they can anchor themselves by putting food and drink there, and those are throughout the space, including the middle. I got there close to when the doors opened at 6 and my friends and I snagged chairs by a good sized table, but more chairs must have been brought in as additional people sat in a row behind us. Most people ended up being able to sit as the staff brought out the wooden cutting boards to pass out bites of the grilled cheeses, although a few were left leaning against a wall. In the corner, musicians with a guitar and saxophone provided background music.

Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen

The first half hour included snacking from a table with plates of cheese and Alma chocolate- preview of individual bites of all of the cheeses that were being used in the sandwiches we would soon enjoy: River’s Edge “Up in Smoke” Chèvre, Portland Creamery “Sweet Fire” chèvre, Willamette Valley French Prairie Brie, Briar Rose Creamery Feta, Rogue Creamery “Crater Lake” Blue, La Mariposa Five Corners cheese, and Briar Rose Creamery “Madrona” (tallegio style) cheese.

When you first entered the room and saw this table, you couldn’t help but be really impressed by the selection and quality of artisan goods here. The accompaniment here of popcorn rather than the expected vehicle of crackers or baguettes was surprising (especially given 2 of the 5 cheeses were chèvres and how awesome the PDX Cheese Cart’s homemade crackers which I sampled at Wedge 2012 are) but that didn’t stop anyone from enjoying the cheeses, and kept our appetite ready for the grilled cheese bites.

Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Briar Rose Creamery "Madrona" (tallegio style) cheese Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Portland Creamery "Sweet Fire" chèvre Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Rogue Creamery "Crater Lake" Blue Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen La Mariposa Five Corners cheese Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Briar Rose Creamery Feta Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Willamette Valley French Prairie Brie Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Meyer Lemon Bourbon chocolate truffle Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Coconut Mexican and Habanero Caramel chocolate truffles Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen

The Menu of Oregon Cheese & Alma Chocolate included

  • Briar Rose Creamery “Madrona” with pear chutney, toasted and sandwiched with salted peanut butter cup cookies. A great start and end salty and savory and sweet “grilled cheese” course.
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Briar Rose Creamery Madrona salted peanut butter cup cookie sandwich Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Briar Rose Creamery Madrona salted peanut butter cup cookie sandwich
  • Rogue Creamery “Crater Lake Blue” with mocha almond nibby bark, toasted on cranberry bread. Warming up the blue cheese really brought out more of the flavor
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Rogue Creamery Crater Lake Blue with mocha almond nibby bark, toasted on cranberry bread Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Rogue Creamery Crater Lake Blue with mocha almond nibby bark, toasted on cranberry bread
  • Willamette Valley “French Prairie Brie,” habanero caramel, toasted on warm moist banana bread, I may have had 3 of these and taken 4 bites home in one of the pink boxes they offered at the end…
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Willamette Valley French Prairie Brie, habanero caramel, banana bread
  • La Mariposa “Five Corners” cheese and Briar Rose Creamery Feta, Mexican chocolate mole sauce, toasted on corn bread. Although this was tasty, since I was able to enjoy larger chunks of the feta earlier during the first half hour (which is mild and not as salty as you might assume with feta), I would say I liked it earlier than here because there just wasn’t enough of it and although I could see the Five Corners cheese it got a little lost with the corn bread and mole.
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen La Mariposa Five Corners cheese and Briar Rose Creamery Feta, Mexican chocolate mole sauce, corn bread Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen La Mariposa Five Corners cheese and Briar Rose Creamery Feta, Mexican chocolate mole sauce, corn bread
  • Portland Creamery “Sweet Fire Chèvre,” shaved dark chocolate truffle, toasted on buttery soft almond brioche was a spicy sweet soft bite
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen Portland Creamery Sweet Fire Chèvre shaved dark chocolate truffle, almond brioche
  • River’s Edge “Up in Smoke” Chèvre, lavender caramel sauce, toasted on pretzel bread. This was my favorite cheese of the night with its strong smoky flavor
    Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen River’s Edge Up in Smoke Chèvre, lavender caramel sauce,pretzel bread

The event was BYOB, although DRY’s sodas were also available in vanilla bean or lavender or you could mix the two! I really liked the vanilla bean soda- and although we also enjoyed a bubbly sparkling wine I had brought along, the soda also was a lovely refreshing pairing. The April F+P birthday party is coming up in April, and I am intrigued with the idea of including a couple cases of DRY soda with a bar for DIY mixers: if you visit the website they offer several cocktail mix recipes.
Alma Dinner Series: Grilled Cheese Night at the Alma Kitchen DRY soda vanilla bean

The next event in the Alma Dinner series is An Evening of Beer + Chocolate featuring five local breweries (Alameda, pFriem, Hopworks, The Commons Brewery, and Double Mountain) and five local chocolatiers (Alma Chocolate, Cacao, Cocanu, Woodblock, and Xocolatl de David) pairing their chocolate and beer together on April 4th, again at the Alma Studio.

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Grilled Cheese Please to honor FDR, and more cheese opportunities

February 5, 2013 by 4 Comments

Ever since I made those asparagus and cheese sandwiches based on Homesick Texan for her Parmesan coated toasted bread, I have been also using that parmesan coating for regular grilled cheese too sometimes when feeling like I want a hug from the gloomy winter weather. You can tell it was one of those days based on the poor lighting in my kitchen 🙁

All you have to do is sprinkle shredded parmesan on the buttered part of the bread. The upgrade is easy, and it adds a bit of crispy cheesy crust to the toast and oozy cheese inside for a textural upgrade to a normal grilled cheese. I don’t have a toaster oven so I melt my cheese in the oven, and I will flip the sandwich and top the other half with parmesan once the color looks right (depending on the bread). I prefer making grilled cheese in the oven rather than a pan or griddle because I can be sure the cheese will get melty and oozy, which doesn’t always happen when I’m using the pan before the bread is already toasted and starting to take the approach of getting burned.

Besides, that gives you time to heat up your soup or stew, or prep a side salad. Mmmm, winter hug with food. And, it ties in nicely with this month and upcoming Presidents’ Day- grilled cheese was one of FDR’s favorite foods. Franklin D Roosevelt is one of the most quotable presidents of history, and his quotes reveal his introspection and understanding of the nature of humanity and the path America was on – including stating several warnings about the rise of private power and how poverty and unemployment and a culture of fear was the enemy of democracy.




And… back to food. I always have a preference for seedy oat bread, which is what you see here, as well as two slices of smoked provolone- and a bit of melted butter and pinch of parmesan on each side, that’s it! I have historically always kept it simple, using a really nice cheese that is flavorful so that I only need a couple slices in it rather than stacking up a multi-cheese sandwich.

parmesan crusted grilled cheese parmesan crusted grilled cheese parmesan crusted grilled cheese

parmesan crusted grilled cheese

Though now, looking at all the food porn photos of grilled cheese at Grilled Cheese Social and whenever I glance at the Grilled Cheese recipe books by Laura Werlin, it is something I might reconsider.  These ladies really puts together some incredible sounding grilled cheese combinations. Now Laura Werlin has a new Mac and Cheese book out too. I’m so jealous of her life. Her ability to just remember and list out recommendations of various amazing cheeses is something I aspire to- which is why starting this year I am now starting a cheese notebook to track what I try.

I’ll aspire but probably never be cheese champions like Laura or Steve of Cheese Bar, but I hope to be more conscious of learning instead of just eating it! But of course, I will continue to just love it even as F points out the contradiction of trying to eat healthier but never ever being able to give up cheese and wanting more cheese. One of the best ways I learned about cheese was during Steve and Ten 01 (since closed) one time event the Cheese Bar Spectacular in summer 2010. 100 cheeses is a lot to try and even I got cheesed out, but it made me hone in what I liked and didn’t like though comparisons.

There is an upcoming event that can help you (and me) with this though: the annual Boys & Girls Clubs’ Showcase of Wine and Cheese. Every year this is a ticket that grants you entrance to a room in the Oregon Convention center where you can sample hundreds of wines and there are cheese vendors and an appetizers buffet. I missed this event last year because I was traveling internationally for work and the year before that because of family in town, but I plan to support them again this year. The cheeses are not going to be artisan cheeses as they are too small to donate to the hundreds that attend this event, but I don’t discriminate against any cheese and it is still a great way to get introduced and practice your palate.

Also consider this kickstarter for a community cheese club that Cyril is starting:

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Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House

July 28, 2012 by 1 Comment

After a matinee showing of the Dark Knight during opening weekend, we visited Picnic House again, this time with sandwiches in mind for our late lunch.

We ordered three sides… and as the waiter pulled up another two-top to join the two-top table we were already occupying at, he explained that he does this all the time. The simple white plates Picnic House does use are rather large- even when the food occupying it is in the “small plate” section. From our previous visit, Picnic House has greatly increased their small plates options on their menu, giving us a lot of choices- we wanted more than the three we ordered, but we had to leave room for sandwiches I guess.

The three small plates: Warm Beets, tossed in gremolata compound butter, which I liked though I wish the pieces were a bit smaller so that they could have had more exposure to the roastiness; Roasted cauliflower with sherry vinegar macerated golden raisins and shallots which was definitely our favorite of the three dishes, there was nothing left on the plate for that one; and the Asparagus and new red potatoes, roasted and served with preserved lemon and caper aioli, of which I think a spinkle of salt and pepper was needed.
Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland Warm Beets, tossed in gremolata compound butter, Sides at Picnic House, Portland Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland, Roasted cauliflower with sherry vinegar macerated golden raisins and shallots Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland, Asparagus and new red potatoes, roasted and served with preserved lemon and caper aioli

Sandwich-wise, we went with the Grilled Cheese sandwich, with aged white cheddar cheese and slices of apple and fig butter, gooey delicious between thick crusty bread with a contrast of fig to highlight against the oozy cheese; and the more tame in flavor Ratatouille sandwich (served grilled but can also be cold- I ate half hot there, and half cold the next day and both were fine) with marinated vegetables, sweet pesto & ricotta salata. The marinated vegetables had good flavor, but a more generous slathor of pesto would have been appreciated as some of it got absorbed into the bread.
Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland, Grilled Cheese sandwich, with aged white cheddar cheese and slices of apple and fig butter Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland ,Ratatouille sandwich with marinated vegetables, sweet pesto & ricotta salata

The highlight was dessert again. Already pretty full from the above, we wrapped some up for dinner later and thought we would try that chocolate cake again and just eat half and take the other half for a future dessert. It never happened- the next thing you know, that cake was completely gone.
Chocolate Cake, Picnic House

The cocktail during lunch I had was the Sauvie drink, composed of Rogue’s hazelnut rum, seltzer water, and hand-mixed Coca Cola made from original syrup recipe rather than bottles or cans. Similar to the Fleur De Lis drink I had my first visit (a mix of Indio Blood Orange vodka, hand mixed 7up with edible flower), this two was a light refreshing drink which was bubbly and clean without any syrupy sweetness from using a normal soda mixed drink, fulfilling its promise of effervescence.

This time I remembered to snap a photo of their cocktail offerings- as with all the photos click to view larger. They have also just updated their website, which now has much more information, with the main annoyance that their lunch specials are each individual thumbnails sized so small that you have to click to read each one, and also that they hide their hours of operation by not listing them at all. Props for having the main food and beverage menu at least on the website and not pdfs like so many other annoying eatery websites- it was bad enough that they did that before smartphones in the 2000s, but even worse now when looking up a place to eat on your phone is so ubiquitous. And, it looks like their jolly looking bar bear is becoming their icon.
 
Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House, Portland

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Clyde Common: Happy Hour and a Dining Month Dinner

June 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

A happy hour at Clyde Common: I love the drinks here. The seasonally changing cocktails available thanks to Jeffrey Morganthaler (he manages the bar, both crafting those liquid treasures for patrons to enjoy and borning them from his imagination using  a wide variety of liquid libations as an ingredients palette…) makes the hipsterness at this place and the communal nature of Clyde Common and the fact it is so loud in there a little more forgivable.

I started out my Clyde Common experiences with multiple visits for happy hour. My very first time I fell in love with the Clover Club drink, composed of Broker’s gin, lemon, raspberry gum syrup, egg whites. I love drinks with egg whites, it takes me away on a cloud of lightness that goes down way too easy.

So to make sure I don’t drink a glass of these every 10 minutes… I needed something else. Yes, you, Heart of Darkness, composed of Ramazotti amaro, demerara rum, lime, egg whites. A smoky complex drink that contrasted with the bright citrus of the Clover that I can’t help but sip so I can enjoy the swirl of those flavors.

I went back another instance and the Clover was gone- replaced with a new drink called East Of Eden with Broker’s Dry gin, lemon, egg whites, gewurtztraminer reduction, elderflower, so similar concept. Also delicious, though quite sweeter then the Clover.

Another time, it was the Strega Sour that called out to me, a concoction of Gin, Strega, lemon juice, egg whites, tea-infused honey syrup, a balance of tar t and sour that was cleansing- and it would be a good balance to the dinner meal which I’ll describe shortly because the acid cut through the richer fat of the plates. I was also tempted by the house aged cocktails, and recently they have added bottled sparkling cocktails as well… well, more visits to come.

Also, none of these drinks are their happy hour cocktails. Most around me were going with the Daily Punch (genius on the bar manager part because it can all be prepped before) or the regular Heavy Petting crowd pleaser (Monopolowa vodka, grapefruit juice, Aperol, quinine syrup, lemon peel), although there a a couple other choices on the happy hour options as well. But I didn’t care. If you are going to a movie at the Living Room Theaters, this is where you should go after. L to R pictured below are Clover, Heart of Darkness, East of Eden, Strega Sour.

Clyde Common, Portland Oregon Clyde Common, Portland Oregon

Clyde Common, Portland OregonClyde Common, Portland Oregon

If you can get a seat at the bar after work, do make a plan to enjoy the happy hour food. They have a daily $6 grilled cheese which I like to get with their perfectly executed crispy fries with harissa and crème fraîche ($3). The harissa is supposed to be spicy, but is tamed into mildness. The grilled cheese pictured is one with pesto- other times it has been a mushroom grilled cheese, or with roasted peppers- so it’s a dish that is both dependable but a grab bag surprise.

Clyde Common, Portland Oregon Clyde Common, Portland Oregon

Here are photos from dinner, which I was finally convinced to try rather than my usual happy hour visits thanks to Portland Dining Month. For the $25 3 course menu for June 2012, the offerings included a First Course of Late spring greens, pickled grapes, and smoked almonds; Second Course of porchetta, roasted garlic sausage with fingerling potatoes and pickle relish; and Third Course of Lemon-buttermilk pudding cake, walnut-thyme crust, rhubarb preserves, cream.

Clyde Common, Portland Oregon Clyde Common, Portland OregonClyde Common, Portland Oregon Clyde Common, Portland OregonClyde Common, Portland Oregon

In addition, we also ordered from the dinner menu for that day the Board, which that day featured seared guanciale, grilled bread, balsamic, burrata and a shot of chardonnay, and the vegetarian garganelli pasta dish (half portion- nothing to write about so I won’t), and an additional dessert of chocolate-peanut butter tart (very dense) with honey-roasted peanuts atop vanilla pudding. They change their menu daily, although some items persist at least for the season… and of that a couple stay all year long

Clyde Common, Portland Oregon Clyde Common, Portland OregonClyde Common, Portland Oregon

The MVP of the dinner was the Board, as well as the pickle relish under the super fatty porchetta which balanced out the heaviness of that meat dish (and the light lemon pudding cake with the tart rhubarb also finished it out as a cleanser). That burrata was soooooo good.
Clyde Common, Portland Oregon

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