A recap of Desayuno PDX popup

Last week, I braved the heat to attend a special pop up at St Jack’s by Desayuno, Mexico City-inspired brunch pop-up with food by Ben Morris and cocktails by Justin Garcidiaz (both employees of St Jack’s). All proceeds at this Desayuno PDX popup benefited Pueblo Unido PDX, which whose mission is to empower and provide resources to Latinxs with vulnerable immigration status, including assisting those in need to hire attorneys to fight deportation, get released from detention, and return to their families, as well as organizing and rallying community engagement.

The word desayuno means breakfast in Spanish, although really this was more of a brunch pop up. The menu for this first event boasted an impressive five savory dishes, two desserts, and seven original craft cocktails including ones that featured mole spices, or masa, or mezcal worm!
Desayuno PDX pop up inspired by the cuisine of Mexico City to benefit Pueblo Unido PDX Desayuno PDX pop up inspired by the cuisine of Mexico City to benefit Pueblo Unido PDX

Ok, so I wasn’t brave enough for the beverage with the mezcal worm, but I went for the beauty (I think everyone at the bar had this gorgeous cocktail – once you saw it you couldn’t resist getting it yourself) of the Polanco Margarita featuring pueblo viejo blanco, lime, cointreau, st. germain, rainbows, pink salt. Does it look like two different glasses? That’s because I totally had two of these.
Desayuno PDX pop up inspired by the cuisine of Mexico City to benefit Pueblo Unido PDX, cocktail of Polanco Margarita featuring pueblo viejo blanco, lime, cointreau, st. germain, rainbows, pink salt Desayuno PDX pop up inspired by the cuisine of Mexico City to benefit Pueblo Unido PDX, cocktail of Polanco Margarita featuring pueblo viejo blanco, lime, cointreau, st. germain, rainbows, pink salt

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Aramsey Spiced Brunch

I’ve been a fan of Ruchikala, the name of the food business of Kusama Rao, for years. Unfortunately with her time divided between Arizona and Portland we don’t get access to her food as nearly as much as I and many of her other fans would like given that was the main feedback from this meal (and pretty much all her others) from multiple guests. So, whenever you see an opportunity announced on her social media, be sure to jump at the opportunity!

For this particular popup she collaborated with another all female owned business, Public Provisions, who provided cocktails to go with the four courses for this Aramsey Spiced Brunch. Public Provisions  which is a traveling bar service run by partners Melanely Schmidt and Malia Meyers. Lucky for all of us, Public Provisions is also opening a bar where you can reliably enjoy some of their creative and fun drinks – more on this at the end!
Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions  Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions: Rogan Josh, a spicy lamb curry. Here, the long simmered spicy lamb curry is combined with black cardamom, kashmiri chili oil, salt cured lemon coconut mustard polenta with yogurt, saffron, clove, nutmeg and other spices.

For now, let’s take a look at this special Aramsey Spiced Brunch I enjoyed with four courses and four paired cocktails.
Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions

Course 1

The Bengali Breakfast Sando, with Panch phoron maple sausage, habanero carrot halva butter, and Kumi’s house sourdough english muffin with all sorts of spices like nigella seed, fenugreek.
Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions: Bengali Breakfast Sando, with Panch phoron maple sausage, habanero carrot halva butter, and Kumi's house sourdough english muffin with all sorts of spices like nigella seed, fenugreek Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions: Bengali Breakfast Sando, with Panch phoron maple sausage, habanero carrot halva butter, and Kumi's house sourdough english muffin with all sorts of spices like nigella seed, fenugreek
This was paired with an Indian spiced Bloody Mary that included sarina pudi, carrot, lovage, blistered jalapeno, sesame oil, and more spices as picked out by Kumi included toasted cumin. Of all the courses, all were spectacular but this was probably my vote for favorite if I had to choose.
Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions: Indian spiced Bloody Mary that included sarina pudi, carrot, lovage, blistered jalapeno, sesame oil, and more spices as picked out by Kumi included toasted cumin Aramsey Spiced Brunch with Ruchikala and Public Provisions: Indian spiced Bloody Mary that included sarina pudi, carrot, lovage, blistered jalapeno, sesame oil, and more spices as picked out by Kumi included toasted cumin

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Meadowlark Portland Dinner Spring 2018

I’ve attended many Meadowlark Portland dinners with chef duo Jen and Emily – from For the April 22, 2018 spring Meadlowlark No #30 dinner, the inspiration for Chefs Jen Datka and Emily Park came from the idea of handcrafted and locally made casatiello, a traditional bread studded with cheese and cured meat, and a dessert of . As has been true since last year, all the dinners of this pop up supper club for social justice always benefit a cause. This dinner was no different – all proceeds benefited OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon.
Meadlowlark Portland Dinner No #30 April 22, 2018 All the dinners of this pop up supper club for social justice always benefit a cause and the food and drink emphasize rustic, handcrafted cuisine and local ingredients. Meadlowlark Portland Dinner No #30 April 22, 2018 All the dinners of this pop up supper club for social justice always benefit a cause and the food and drink emphasize rustic, handcrafted cuisine and local ingredients. Here, for this dinner one of the highlights was the giant loaves of housemade casatiello, a traditional bread studded with cheese and cured meat - pancetta, cacio di roma, and green garlic

I’ve enjoyed many dinners with them before which I have recapped on this blog previously – from a Seollal Koraen New Year Dinner to Apericena Springtime Sicilian Cocktail Party to their a Breaking Bread party with Nostrana. For this dinner, it was my first time learning about OPAL and their work
Meadlowlark Portland Dinner No #30 April 22, 2018 All the dinners of this pop up supper club for social justice always benefit a cause and the food and drink emphasize rustic, handcrafted cuisine and local ingredients. Here are Chefs Emily Park and Jen Datka

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Fimbul Icelandic Dinner Spring 2018

Fimbul PDX is a pop up focused on Scandinavian and Icelandic cuisine. I raved about the dinner I attended last year, and am excited to see what they do this year. They took a little bit of a break as Matt and Aurora welcomed their beautiful daughter last year, but seem to be ramping up for more this year. After a short research trip by the Matts to Iceland, there is a possibility that we’ll be seeing more frequent offerings of Fimbul dinners (possibly even twice a month?!), so make sure you are following them on their email list (sign up on the website) and social media to be in the know! In the meantime, he’s a look at the recent dinner I attended, the Fimbul PDX Spring 2018 dinner on March 13.
Fimbul Icelandic Dinner Spring 2018

They do have one dinner already planned – a collaboration with Johan Vineyards for their annual wine dinner in the vineyard on August 25th, 2018. Tickets available through Johan (info@johanvineyards.com). Expect that dinners may sell out, and you need to make reservations. The usual Fimbul pop up dinners are ticketed off their website, and you can choose to purchase just the prix fixe dinner, add on wine pairings, or purchase beverages a la carte there. The wine pairings for this dinner were all Wines by Johan Vinyards, and there were also spirits like Brennivin and Opal, both which are Icelandic liqueurs.

For the Fimbul Icelandic Dinner Spring 2018 edition, I attended the 5:30pm seating, and they did an amazing job of prepping beforehand so that we were out as the 7:30pm seating was coming in. Here’s the menu, and then I’ll go through my thoughts course by course.
Fimbul Icelandic Dinner Spring 2018 Fimbul Icelandic Dinner Spring 2018
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Dia de Los Muertos Dinner with Hand Made Mexico

I love pop up restaurants because it allows chefs to have a life without the grind and debt of a brick and mortar restaurants with set daily hours, and these more intimate dinners always present an opportunity for a chef to come in front of the guests and talk about what inspired the food or how they made the food. The recent Dia de los Muertos Dinner with Hand Made Mexico series is a perfect example of how going to a pop up, even solo (you are sitting usually at communal tables and meeting people anyway!) is worth it for those backstories.

Dia de los Muertos Dinner with Hand Made Mexico with Chef Cynthia Vigil and Feastly

The dinner was a family affair, with references to food memories of meals by or with Chef Cynthia Vigil’s  mom or with her sister, and hearing the techniques (some time consuming, some causing blisters!) passed down through generations being used to make our dishes. Here’s a look at the dinner, which also served as a fundraiser – 10% of the total sales were donated to Pintando Esperanza (Painting Hope) to help build houses for those who lost everything on the 9/19 earthquake in Mexico City and Morelos.

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