Goodbye Wildwood Restaurant

February 20, 2014 by 10 Comments

It was with a sad sigh that I read on social media on  on Tuesday that Wildwood Restaurant would be closing in 1 week (on February 25).

When I was thinking of moving to Portland in 2007, I was not sure I would like it. I was born and raised in Chicago and lived there all my life- the bustling metropolis with its diversity and food scene were something I was very attached to. When I thought of Portland from my previous visits (usually for a long weekend to visit F, as we were only friends then and not romantically linked), I remember it being the opposite- not very diverse, and the food couldn’t compare to the level at Chicago. At the time, a visit to Rogue Brewing and a meal at Edgefield or Kennedy School McMenamins were the highlights.

By 2007, F and I had been dating for a while, and he had tried living in Chicago but still longed to return to Portland. Instead of a weekend, we planned a one week trip for me to see what Portland had to offer.

We were shocked at the changes we saw when we came- the Pearl District had come out of nowhere, and Pioneer Square was no longer hippie/transit central (at at least there was a lot less). I picked out the restaurants to try out, and Wildwood was one of them. It opened my eyes and tastebuds to what Northwest cuisine meant, and I loved it. Portland had promise after all. I moved here a year later.

  
Photos above by Sunpech Photography

Since moving here, I’ve dined at Wildwood many times for lunch and dinner. It is one of the first places that comes to mind to recommend to anyone, particularly out of town visitors who are new to Portland. When my in-laws, including my mother-in-law who is afraid of flying, came to visit, this was at the top of my list of where I wanted to take them. I tried to take my parents too but the available reservation time was too late in the evening, so I shrugged it off, thinking “next visit”. I’m sad I won’t be able to take them now.

Wildwood is of course not the only restaurant that uses local seasonal ingredients, but they do so in a perfect blend of classic and new by including some less utilized local ingredients or in new combinations. The atmosphere is both refined and casual, classy but not pretentious. The booths offer cushy private spaces, while the chef’s counter gives you a front row seat to the rhythm and magic of their open kitchen. They changed up their menu frequently so it was also an adventure of discovery to see what they had now with any visit. 

Here are a few food memories (I had a lot to choose from, but didn’t want to go overboard with this post!) that I wanted to highlight of memorable food moments at Wildwood for me. This is where it pays off that I’ve been photographing food for so long to help me remember, since visuals help spark memories for me of that week of discovery.

From that decisive, impressive Lunch at Wildwood that gave me faith in Portland’s food scene in 2007:
Crispy duck confit with microgreens and oranges and a sprinkle of almonds.
From a Lunch at Wildwood PDX: Crispy duck confit with microgreens and oranges and a sprinkle of almonds
Chestnut ravioli with roasted d’anjou pears, cider brown butter and almonds. We both really liked this concept of a fruity sauce on the pasta rather then a tomato-based or cream sauce.
From a Lunch at Wildwood PDX: Chestnut ravioli with roasted d’anjou pears, cider brown butter and almonds
House cured ham (it was juicy!) and gruyere and grilled onion sandwich with house made potato chips. It sound simple, but there was something about how this still tasted different and unique from Chicago, something so very Portland- I would say it’s the taste of the locality here.
From a Lunch at Wildwood PDX: House cured ham (it was juicy!) and gruyere and grilled onion sandwich with house made potato chips

Another Lunch – for a while, I was part of a Lunch Club with a few coworkers, until our group got broken up by too many reorganizations and cubicle moves and changes of managers and layoffs. They were among the first friends I made when I moved here, and the first where I revealed I had a food blog and wasn’t embarrassed to pull out my camera to take photos of food.
An appetizer of puree of butternut squash soup’s depth of flavor was elevated by the guajillo creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds
Wildwood PDX Lunch: an appetizer of puree of butternut squash soup's depth of flavor was elevated by the guajillo creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds
Braised cattail creek lamb stuffed crepes with carrot puree, sauteed lacinato kale, frisee, almonds, goat cheese and minted meyer lemon yogurt. The picture pretty much sums it up, with all those textures and all those tastes on the human tongue of salt, sweet, sour, hints of bitter and comforting savory were blending together here
Wildwood PDX Lunch: Braised cattail creek lamb stuffed crepes with carrot puree, sauteed lacinato kale, frisee, almonds, goat cheese and minted meyer lemon yogurt

I have a blog entry about the Wildwood and Breakside Brewery Beer Dinner I enjoyed in 2012, but I wanted to highlight this particular food and beer pairing: Pastrami pork belly éclair spring onion, pickled chile cream cheese icing paired with Newport Summer Ale. I think I could have had 3 or 4 of these. Wildwood for a while was doing a sublime series of food and beer pairing dinners.
Wildwood and Breakside Beer Pairing Dinner: pastrami pork belly éclair spring onion, pickled chile cream cheese icing paired with newport summer ale

Oh, and the fabulous cocktails at the bar. Wildwood has/had 🙁 an amazing bar and craft cocktails using seasonal ingredients and local distilleries. I don’t have as many photos of these, but I did have a couple:
Wildwood cocktail of Oh Snap! Tanqueray, cointreau, mint tincture, lemon, and sugar snap peas puree
Wildwood cocktail of Oh Snap! Tanqueray, cointreau, mint tincture, lemon, and sugar snap peas puree
Wildwood Cocktail of The Naughty Kitty with pimm’s, india lemongrass, lime and strawberry puree
Wildwood Cocktail of The Naughty Kitty with pimm's, india lemongrass, lime and strawberry puree

The cocktail “An Apple a Day” was made with calvados, tuaca, fresh lemon, egg white, rosemary, and apple gastrique.
Wildwood PDX Cocktail of An Apple a Day was made with calvados, tuaca, fresh lemon, egg white, rosemary, and apple gastrique

Below is not my photos, but that of my brother of Sunpech Photography when I took him on a Forktown Food Tour of the Alphabet District while he was visiting me.
Spicy martini using crème de pêche and New Deal Hot Monkey chili vodka (the name eludes me, sorry!)
Wildwood PDX Cocktail of a Spicy martini using crème de pêche and New Deal Hot Monkey chili vodka

I will miss you Wildwood, and I shake my fist at how the lease negotiations did not work out. But best of luck to everyone there as they go forth on their new endeavors. If you could pick a new location for your place closer to my home, that would be cool too. 🙂

There will be one more post- I was able to eat there for dinner last night, but I would like to squeeze in one more, a lunch so that my first and last meals at Wildwood Restaurant will be a lunch.

Is there a restaurant in Portland that holds a lot of memories and meaning for you?

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Breakside Brewer’s Dinner at Wildwood

June 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

There was a Wildwood restaurant event of a Brewer’s dinner with Breakside Brewery Friday, 6.29 in Wildwood’s back (and newly renovated event space) Wood Room. Wildwood’s Paul Kasten & Breakside Brewery’s Ben Edmunds recently collaborated to brew “Old Woody”, another one of Breakside’s series in which Brewer Ben works with a restaurant chef to make an interesting beer. They then created a special pairing dinner to pair various Breakside Brewery beer with Chef Paul’s gastronomic creations, including of course drinking “Old Woody”. All this was at the reservation price of $65 which was inclusive of food, beer and gratuity… yes that’s right, 6 courses, all paired with beer, tip included!

The menu included

  1. strawberries and asparagus basil, spring onion, champagne vinaigrette, goat cheese, saba paired with solera-style lambic. Brewer Ben explained meant that this beer was made using the solera process in which 3 beers were used in succession in the barrel with a little purposely left as the new beer was added, so this beer is the culmination of the flavors from all three (Sour Double Wit, Soursop Wheat, and Sourdough Ale plus Brettanomyces lambicus to make it a lambic… despite all the”sour” in the beer names, it only has a slight sourness to it). Pairing wise, he also noted that the same sort of acid found in this beer was echoed in the goat cheese of this salad.
  2. pastrami pork belly éclair spring onion, pickled chile cream cheese icing paired with newport summer ale although for the vegetarian, the pairing was mixed summer greens with cucumber, snap peas, and feta. Of all the items in the menu, this was one I highly anticipated, and I loved the taste of the pork belly eclair with the chili cream cheese (although I thought the amount of icing was a bit overwhelming for the beer, though it was tasty), a melding of the tang of the cream cheese with the softness of the eclair and the meaty with bit of fat of the meat inside. At the same time, I thought the nice fresh taste of the radishes and greens was quite complimentary with the ale too, perhaps even a better pairing… though I would not give up that pork belly eclair.
  3. lamb carpaccio guajillo oil, grilled scallions, crispy chickpeas, cumin yogurt paired with session brown which for the vegetarian was a grilled asparagus and farro salad with scallions and lemon that used a slight grilled smoke taste from the asparagus to go with the malt forwardness of this beer- in this case both pairings of food dishes was excellent but the lamb was better, particularly with those awesome light as air crispy chickpeas and guajillo oil
  4. crispy chicken confit wild mushroom and fava bean panzanella paired with old woody while the vegetarian had panzanella with wild mushroom and fava beans. Both these dishes were fabulously full of crispness and complex savory flavor to hold up with this collaboration beer that has a touch of sweetness from molasses. Panzanella, a stale bread dish, never sounded that interesting to me but now I know that crunch from the bread balanced with flavors of oil and vinegar and mushrooms sounds simple but delivers more than what you would think from the sum of those parts

  5. pan seared rib eye filet fava purée, grilled porcini, pale ale glace paired with old bourbon woody while the vegetarian pairing was russet potato gnocchi with morel mushrooms, fava beans, and creme fraiche. I’m certain this is the beer that started really working out my liver (just looked it up as it’s currently at Breakside Brewery on their board listed at 11%) but the complexity of flavor that every sip of liquid offered is well worth it, this is one fine beer. Ben also mentioned this beer’s other alias, Old Whiskey Dick.
  6. colston-basset stilton honey, candied walnuts, brooks cherries paired with bourbon barrel aged 1st anniversary wheatwine This was the only beer I didn’t love (though I still like it) because I thought it had too much alcohol upfront (it does clockin at 12.7%) and I would have liked to have it sit a little longer to mellow out, but F thought the beer was perfect as it was/is.

All the food and beer pairings were really wonderful through all six courses without anything being a disappointment and in fact, even impressing us more than we expected. Overall it was an amazing experience as everyone around us was a beer and food lover, but we got to enjoy this in a relaxed but refined atmosphere.

Wildwood also has a great bar with seasonal summer concoctions I enjoyed while waiting between the end of work and beginning of this brewer’s dinner. One of their summer drinks is the The Naughty Kitty with pimm’s, india lemongrass, lime and strawberry puree, a sweet but not too sweet drink that definitely took me away from my worries quickly and smoothly. I also appreciated a little gift from the kitchen of pate with a little dop of mustard and bit of cornichon all vehicled into the mouth by a little toast… as if I wasn’t already grateful enough that the Chef was willing to put together a vegetarian version of the six courses at my request. Enboldened by this bite, I decided I still had enough time to try one more cocktail that caught my eye- Oh Snap! Tanqueray, cointreau, mint tincture, lemon, and sugar snap peas puree, a fresh cocktail. As always, I have never been disappointed by Wildwood in presenting me with local and seasonal flavors that really embody the Northwest region.

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Forktown Tours Alphabet District Tour

December 5, 2011 by 1 Comment

My brother (visiting from Los Angeles) and I lucked out with a dry day in November after a rainy evening the night before. This worked out great for us to visit Pine State Biscuit in SE for breakfast, then back downtown for visually inspecting and enjoying the sensory aroma all the food carts on Alder Street just as they were opening up for lunch rush, and then shopping at Columbia Sportswear’s Flagship store. With his new forest green coat, he looked like a Portlander rather then an LAXer as we headed to our food tour.

As an extra tip to you readers and secret stalkers, as he browsed the store I ran over to Pioneer Courthouse Square visitor’s center to grab some brochures and maps for my “visitor’s basket” of the guest room and also coupon for 10% off at Columbia. If you are coming to stay at a hotel, go online to the Travel Portland site to get the Portland Perks Coupon Book. In general, whenever I travel I like to go to the town’s visitor website just to see if they have any promotions, and even at a mall or department store you could score a visitor’s discount pass- or as a considerate host, get those for your visiting guest.

I would only recommend Pine State Biscuit as a weekday breakfast because its physical locations is so small. Even on a Friday mid-morning we were holding our breath hoping a table would open up before our food came up. Luckily it worked out, but I don’t like how it takes away from the relaxing experience that starting your day should be on a day off in that you’re anxious about getting a table and you’re crunched for space even when you do get someplace to put your plate down. There are some really great brunches during the weekend, but since my brother’s visit to Portland was on a Thursday afternoon to Saturday early morning flight out I was more limited on choice. In retrospect I suppose I could have picked out a breakfast at a food cart. Then again, this was before he had a coat. Next time bro!

  

The highlight of our Friday was that I signed us up for a tour with Forktown Tours. I had been on their food cart tours earlier this year in conjunction with Eat Mobile. I thought it would be fun to give them a try again and both celebrate eating (he is after all my brother) and get the story and feel of a local neighborhood, and it would be an opportunity for him to play with his camera. This particular neighborhood tour covered the Alphabet District, which combines Slabtown with Nob Hill (aka the NW 23rd streets area), so you get to walk through a combination of an up and coming area and a trendy boutiques area.

When we met with Jessica, our guide, she passed out a little list and map of what we would be doing- 7 stops! – setting up the anticipation for the tour as we waited for the rest of our group (we ended up being a group of 4 guests, 1 guide). What stops are on the tour and what samples are served vary so what I describe below may differ from other iterations of this tour experience.

We started out at Besaw’s– I’ve passed by several times but never been in. I was pleased that this tour not only made me walk through the door, but it covered the history of the location and that part of town (Slabtown). We learned lots of little trivia, but my favorite was here, with the little historical story that the bar used to have a trough below the bar because it was for men only and hey, it saves a trip to the bathroom… There’s even a picture of it in the back by the current bathrooms (heh). Background stories and history like this is why I like taking a tour, instead of just leading a progressive meal myself.

For our tasting sample we got to start with some bubbly with their homemade pear reduction mimosa, giving us a very festive start. We also were given a small bread size plate sample of their mixed green salad using greens from their literally local source of their very own garden just a few yards away, including fresh horseradish. I had heard of Besaw’s because of their brunch, but this visit highlighted their great offerings outside of breakfast foods- and I think that’s what I would go back for, a meal other then brunch, and definitely make sure to food that utilizes ingredients literally harvested steps away.

 

Our next stop was Kenny and Zuke’s Sandwichworks, where we sampled reuben sliders with their own hardwood smoked pastrami along with a taster of an india pale ale from a Portland brewery. I don’t recall which local brewery it was- I only took a baby sip because I drank mine and my brother’s mimosa at Besaw’s- but I loved the idea since Portland is such an IPA city to showcase that to a visitor.

We also talked about how Kenny and Zuke’s started at the Farmers Market- and several other businesses that started out as just a small stand at Farmers market and built a following and investment money from that into brick and mortar locations. Yay small businesses and the way that the Farmer’s Market helps incubates them, and a perfect example of how Portland is both a growing city but also so supportive of small and local.

Our next stop was only across the street for St. Honoré Boulangerie to sniff the aromas of wonderful French baked goods and share a bag of Chouquettes, which are little puffy pastry balls made with a pâte à choux and sprinkled with rock sugar. These little bites were a nice light break after the smoky meaty pastrami, and too easy to have a second… or a third…

 

I was excited that Wildwood was part of our tour. I love this restaurant not only for it’s always changing menu, but that it’s great for visitors because it has a parking lot. They helped found Northwest style cuisine, and are still producting high quality local sustainable food in a very elegant environment. These were my favorite samples of the stops in the tour.

We started with celery root soup- just you know, with butter and topped with black truffle oil. YUM. Wildwood has an amazing bar and craft cocktails using seasonal ingredients and local distilleries, so we also got to try a spicy martini using crème de pêche and New Deal Hot Monkey chili vodka. Then, we tempered the spiciness by sharing one of their daily pizzas, which highlighted autumn leeks and chantarelle mushrooms. Yes, all these samples! This was amazingly generous. I couldn’t believe we still had 3 more stops to go, since we are only 4 stops in! And, I need to make sure I get to Wildwood more often.


Next we were introduced to Sterling Coffee Roasters, which is technically a food cart but when you stand before them they look like they are in a luxe photo. I think they are my inspiration this year for how I want to look this winter in sweaters. We tried samples of their coffee, hot chocolate, and hot chai, all of which had a complex depth that you wouldn’t get from an average coffee chain. It’s next to the Trader Joe’s but I had never noticed it- but I will definitely remember it now. They spoke to us for quite a while about their small business and their knowledge and passion about their beverages, representing well how Portland is such a foodie city and how we are fortunate enough to have these kind of passionate food purveyor specialists even in this smaller city.

    

We walked along some neighborhood streets to stop and admire two historical houses- one in the Crafstman and the other in the Prairie style. Then, the next stop was my brother’s favorite, PBJ’s Grilled. This is another food cart, this one specializing in fancyified peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using homemade ingredients and unusual combinations. We got to meet both partners and hear about how they got started and think of their sandwich specials while also trying two of their spicier sandwiches (which was good as it was getting cooler now as it was evening and the last part of the 3 hour tour).

First was the Spicy Thai (grilled Challah bread with orange marmalade, sriracha, fresh basil, curry, and PBJ’s peanut butter), followed up the Hot Hood (Challah bread, black cherry jam, jalapeno, apple wood smoked bacon, PBJ’s peanut butter). I wish there was a way I could take jars of their homemade jams and jellies and peanut butter home.

     

We wrapped up with the itty bitty bites of desserts of Two Tarts Bakery of a cookie with chocolate, and macaroons.

 

The tour was really fun and delicious. The tour took about 3 hours and less then 2 miles of leisurely walking on sidewalks, along with plenty of sitdown times (and bathroom availability) at all but 2 stops. Don’t eat much before because this tour is very filling with samples, and you want to have room to enjoy all the flavors you’ll be tasting. Just as with the other tours I’ve had with Forktown, this felt just like a friend of a friend was personally taking me around her local area, telling me trivia and recommendations as we walked and chatted casually, and not much like a touristy tour at all. I hope I have an excuse to take a guest on the North Portland tour sometime!

All of these photos are courtesy of my brother and his Canon EOS 60D camera, available in his Picasa album 2011 Portland Visit. This post is pretty photo-intensive (rclick and click Show Photo if you see a little X instead if it didn’t load properly) but all the photos exist. And there are some I didn’t include so you can visit the album for more, or to see them larger.

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Wildwood

January 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This was my third visit to Wildwood, and as before, their seasonal menu had lots of items that intrigued me, and based on my sampling of my plate and some that were not my own, I stand by my original impressions. They are still executing consistently and their presentation and flavor profiles always a expert mix of complex and simple and beautiful but comfortable and approachable while learning new taste combinations. I believe this is one of the best restaurants in Portland, with impeccable friendly and knowledgeable service that looks and treats like a fine dining destination but feels intimate and casual, merging both a relaxing yet hip atmosphere that reflects the Northwest just like its cuisine; clean and understated with a nod to the environment and style.

Wildwood's seasonal specialty cocktail of a Pomegranate Caipirinha with cachaca, house grenadine, muddle lime, and regan's orange bitters. I would have expected this to be better in the summer. And served by the pitcher :X

Meanwhile, "An Apple a Day" was made with calvados, tuaca, fresh lemon, egg white, rosemary, and apple gastrique. Very light- I think I was expecting more of a cider taste to it.

On all the food though they were getting base hit after base hit. One hit out of the ballpark was the appetizer of puree of butternut squash soup's depth of flavor was elevated by the guajillo creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds and the soft and fresh foccaccia bread plate was refilled 3 times to ensure it was all wiped clean. Also the bread was just good.

I'm not usually a salad person, but I liked my salad of winter chicories with grana padano, toasted walnuts and lemon-garlic vinaigrette. It was dressed just enough but yet all over- amazing sleight of hand in execution that is sadly often rare in restaurants.

The Draper Valley Farms Chicken Pot Pie with beecher's cheddar crust, smokey ham hock, turnips, alby potatoes and a surprisingly robust butter lettuce salad that could have been item on the menu itself was better than anything from home. The slow cooked fennel stuffed pork belly sandwich on a house made roll with pickled chile cream cheese, grilled onion, butter lettuce, and kennebec potato chips sounded like it should be overly rich (Portland kitchens love pork belly if you haven't noticed reading menus all over town), but they know how to trim to show off the best cut and taste here at Wildwood. The dining companion who always is able to hold herself back and take some of lunch home for later was the first to completely polish off her plate of grilled hawaiian ahi tuna with frisee, grilled prarie creek farm potatoes, san giuliano olives and lemon aioli.

My personal choice this time was braised cattail creek lamb stuffed crepes with carrot puree, sauteed lacinato kale, frisee, almonds, goat cheese and minted meyer lemon yogurt. The picture pretty much sums it up, with all those textures tastes on the human tongue of salt, sweet, sour, bitter and savory were blending together here. If only I had a spicy cocktail to go with this, I wouldn't have been able to ask for more.

I did end up with a spicy cocktail later after a wine tasting at Wine Unwind (an adorable wine shop with handwritten tasting notes on the wine bottles they have for purchase and they also have wine flights and music or movies to inspire a visit to a certain region's wine), followed by a very light meal at Olive or Twist so I wouldn't stumble home. A tuxedo'd Sinata-like singer crooned as I sipped The Peruvian, a martini with Mazama Pepper vodka, mango puree, and lime juice. It looked almost like it was healthy carrot juice with only a little jalapeno floating as a hint to the warm fire it held for me. What a really great day that was! 

 

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