Portland Eats

[Roger_Ouellette]

Hey Steven, obviously I started here first and have a good list going from everyone’s posts, Yelp is at best a secondary source.

Our son and his fiance have been living in Portland for several years and each time we visit they take us out somewhere different and fun. Last time we were there we ate at Kachka (Russian fare) and drank some interesting wines.

This November I’m looking to step it up a notch for the wedding celebration. They’re keeping the wedding very small, Justice of the Peace on Friday and then a party for their close friends and family on Saturday at a venue downtown. So I’m looking for an upscale restaurant, not a chain, that could handle a party of up to 12. The group will be all adults with varying degrees of food preferences, so I think I’m looking for a place that may have a little something for everyone.

[Steven_Miller]

Downtown…

Little Bird upstairs can easily handle 12.

Higgins can handle 12 but not sure they will set aside that much space on a Saturday.

Other choices

Imperial
Departure
Bistro Agnes (a bit small but worthwhile if they will take a rez for 12
Roe (seafood)

Outside of downtown more options of course in the SE or NE.

[Dave_McCloskey]

Heading to Le Pigeon next month. Looking forward to it!

[John_Osburn]

Steve’s suggestions are good ones. I’d add Headwaters, Jackrabbit and Clyde Common for downtown spots.

[Richard_Malloy]

I had no idea there was such a knowledgeable contingent of PDXers here!

My wife and I have a last minute chance to travel to Oregon this weekend and are hoping to make the most of a whirlwind trip and this thread has been immensely helpful.

I can’t quite believe our luck, but a cancellation scored us a reservation at Longbaan on Friday. The wine list is pretty exceptional, but given the abundance of flavors and textures - many totally unknown to me - I wonder if we should order the pairings?

[Richard_Malloy]

Here’s the current tasting menu

Snacks

เมี่ยงส้มโอ: Miang som-O
Grapefruit, shrimp, herbs, betel leaf

ขนมครก: Kanom krok
Scallop, coconut cream, lemongrass, makrut lime, crispy rice cup

แกงกระด้าง: Gang gra dang
Pig head terrine, water chestnut, black wood ear mushroom, pickled green strawberry juice

Soup

ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำเงี๊ยว: Guay jub nahm ngiaw
Chicken, rice noodle, tomatoes, taro root, ginger, cilantro

Salad

ปลาย่าง มะม่วง และผักตามฤดูกาล: Plaa yang lae pak tam le-du
Ora king salmon, ikura, mango, fava bean, fresno pepper, garlic, nasturtium

ยำลิ้นวัว ไส้อั่วเนื้อ และเห็ดดอง: Yum lin wua sai oua lae hed dong
Beef tongue, sai oua, pickled porcini mushroom, padron pepper, tendon chip

Main Course

แกงหัวปลี: Gang hua plea
Northern style curry broth with Opah, banana blossom, artichoke, betel leaves, cha om, dill

น้ำพริกข่าอกเป็ด: Nahm prik kha
Relish of ground duck breast with galanga, market greens

หมูสามชั้นย่าง: Muu sam chan yang
Pork belly, grilled onion, gang hung-lay paste

ข้าวหอมมะลิ: Khao hom mali
Jasmine rice

Dessert

ไอศครีมข้าวโพด:
Ice cream khao pod
Corn ice cream, corn rice flour cake, candied popcorn

สังขยากะทิ กับผลไม้ตามฤดูกาล:
Sung kha ya gra-ti
Coconut custard, berries, jasmine meringue, butterfly pea flower jelly

[Steven_Miller]

We did a Riesling pairing once – meaning everyone brought a different bottle. That worked pretty well. I’ve heard their pairings are good, but haven’t gone that route. I think Paul W. has.

[Richard_Malloy]

I’d love to hear from someone who’s done the pairings, but I suspect they’re as well thought out as the food. I’d kinda prefer to go that route, no thinking, no work, just sitting back and letting the meal wash over me.

[J0seph_S_c_h_e_n_c_k]

@Richard Malloy

I’d love to hear from someone who’s done the pairings, but I suspect they’re as well thought out as the food. I’d kinda prefer to go that route, no thinking, no work, just sitting back and letting the meal wash over me.

The menu changes monthly as do the pairings. I have not (yet) had this month’s menu but there are some items that never change. I always bring a Riesling and bubbles. Then we look at the wine pairings offered. We’ve only ordered the pairings a handful of times, despite dining there many many times. My advice: bring a Riesling and decide. Then, one of you order the pairing and pop your own bottle. You will not be disappointed to have some ‘extra’ Riesling around.

Enjoy Portland. Lots of good food and wine things happening

[Richard_Malloy]

So Portland exceeded all expectations, and my wife and I are left to bemoan our sudden realizations that (1) Thai food in Boston sucks; and (2) despite a profusion of new, interesting restaurants here there are few that satisfy so thoroughly as the gems of the Portland dining scene. It’s a great town to visit for so many reasons, but I’d return for the food alone.

[Richard_Malloy]

Let me briefly describe the highlights:

Måurice - in Boston we knew Kristen Murray for her stint at the white linened and kinda-stuffy No. 9 Park, but this spare luncheonette near Powell’s Books is something altogether more interesting and unique. I loved the savory dishes but the desserts blew my mind. The lemon soufflé pudding cake was simple, perfect, unforgettable. Cue the inimitable Ruth Reichl: “This is – I have to say it – one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. A citrus cloud, it whispers lemon, lemon, lemon as it slowly evaporates, leaving a trail of delicious memories in its wake.” http://ruthreichl.com/2017/10/portland-visions-of-sugarplums.html/




Nong’s Khao Man Gai (SW Alder food pods) - Nong Poonsukwattana is one of the great success stories of the PDX foodcart scene, and she made her bones with one dish: the eponymous khao man gai. I’m familiar with the variation known as Hainanese chicken rice, and like that dish Nong’s is lightly poached, sliced chicken (here skinless) served on a bed of deeply aromatic rice with sauce (get extra for a quarter), cilantro, and a side of the chicken broth. Park yourself on the near concrete berm just across the street from the Domaine Serene tasting room, and try not to go back for seconds. We also really liked the jianbing (Chinese crepe) at Bing Mi, another foodcart around the corner just off Alder.



Langbaan - discussed throughout this great thread, this is the back room at PaaDee where chef Rassamee Ruaysuntia serves 8 seatings a week and reservations are booked out 5 months in advance. As recommended above, we put in our names last minute hoping for a cancellation, and received the happy call the day before we left. The meal was sublime, the service casual, but expert and enthusiastic (thanks, Kyle!), and the setting was warm and convivial. It was a fine opportunity to meet the friendly and altogether interesting local PDXers that surprisingly outnumbered we out-of-towners. The current menu focuses on Northern Thai cuisine and marries traditional dishes with a touch of modern whimsy. For example, the Kanom krok would be familiar to anyone (“Tom kha scallop!”’exclaimed my wife), whereas the Khao pod ice cream dessert seemed sui generis, soft corn cake and corn ice cream playing against the crunch of candied popcorn studded with caramelized shallot, the savory note of the shallot perfectly harmonizing with the dessert wine. (Oh yeah, do get the wine pairings and bring that bottle of Riesling to boot!) Another absolute highlight was the pig’s blood sauce dressing the Gang gra dang - it was so amazingly delicious that I threw aside any pretense of manners and licked that plate clean. Should I find myself in Chiang Mai (and I certainly hope to do so one day!), I will definitely try the raw pig’s blood soup currently so famous there (and featured on that Bourdain/Ricker Thai episode of Parts Unknown). All in all, I had one of the finest meals I’ve been fortunate to experience at Langbaan, its greatness diminished only by the fact that all our other meals in Portland - both high and low - were so superlative that even the brightest light dims in a constellation of so many stars.

Amuses
เมี่ยงส้มโอ: Miang som-O (Grapefruit, shrimp, herbs, betel leaf)

ขนมครก: Kanom krok (Scallop, coconut cream, lemongrass, makrut lime, crispy rice cup)

แกงกระด้าง: Gang gra dang (pig head terrine, water chestnut, black wood ear mushroom, pickled green strawberry juice, pig’s blood sauce)

Soup
ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำเงี๊ยว: Guay jub nahm ngiaw (chicken, rice noodle, tomatoes, taro root, ginger, cilantro)

Salad
ปลาย่าง มะม่วง และผักตามฤดูกาล: Plaa yang lae pak tam le-du (Ora king salmon, ikura, mango, fava bean, fresno pepper, garlic, nasturtium)


ยำลิ้นวัว ไส้อั่วเนื้อ และเห็ดดอง: Yum lin wua sai oua lae hed dong (beef tongue, sai oua, pickled porcini mushroom, padron pepper, tendon chip)

Entrees
แกงหัวปลี: Gang hua plea (northern style curry broth with Opah, banana blossom, artichoke, betel leaves, cha om, dill)

น้ำพริกข่าอกเป็ด: Nahm prik kha (relish of ground duck breast with galanga, market greens)

หมูสามชั้นย่าง: Muu sam chan yang (pork belly, grilled onion, gang hung-lay paste)

Desserts
ไอศครีมข้าวโพด: Ice cream khao pod (corn ice cream, corn rice flour cake, candied popcorn encrusted with caramelized shallot)

สังขยากะทิ กับผลไม้ตามฤดูกาล: Sung kha ya gra-ti (coconut custard, berries, jasmine meringue, butterfly pea flower jelly)

The highlights of our first half-day in Portland, more to report as I have time … xxx

Aug. 9: Updated with photos!

[Richard_Malloy]

Day 2

Pine State Bakery at the Portland Farmers Market for the chicken biscuit. Decent biscuit, well fried chicken, but the real highlight was the “BeeLocal” honey that dressed it. I mean, even as a mere condiment against strong flavors it shone through. Very deep, very complex, I ended up licking every stray drop I could spot. I understand this a well known local product (worth looking up), and we would love to have brought some home, but we weren’t checking bags.



Pok Pok on SE Division for lunch. Admittedly we came here partly from a sense of obligation given the rstaurant’s importance to the local PDX dining scene and Thai food in America more generally. It’s the only Thai place we visited with an American chef at the helm, but don’t let that put you off: Ricker’s food is exceptional. If you’ve seen the Bourdain Thailand episode with him you’ll certainly come away thinking his food is as authentic as it is delicious (seriously go watch that episode right now if you haven’t seen it!). The atmosphere here at the original location is perfect, open air, Thai music lilting from the speakers, customers’ dogs playing happily in the little alley. After a warm and sunny morning checking out the (huge!) Farmers Market and crawling up SE Division’s great restaurant row (snacking all along the way), it was pure bliss to sink into Pok Pok with a cold beer and a chill breeze.

But first we put in our names and cell # for about a half-hour wait and headed back up SE Division for more snacking. Hmmmm, dauntingly big ass line at Salt&Straw makes me wonder how bad I really want it (Pine State’s big ass line really only paid off in honey), so down another block or two until we hit Pinolo Gelateria. Oh yes, this was the place! Gorgeous gelatos and sorbettos, and no line whatsoever. Loved this.



Back to Pok Pok where we had one of our favorite dishes of the trip: Cha ca La Vong (menu description: catfish marinated in turmeric and sour rice, fried in turmeric oil with scallions and dill, served on rice vermicelli with peanuts, mint, cilantro and mam nem). The perfect dish for a warm summery day, so fresh and herbaceous with real depth to the seasoning and such perfect noodles. My wife was deeply disappointed to discover that the NYC location does this dish sans noodles (yes she really was considering a 3+ hour drive from Boston to NYC just to order it). The grilled boar collar (Muu paa kham waan) was equally amazing for me, but I agree with my wife that it was less appropriate somehow for the midday summer heat, and the Ike’s fish sauce wings were certainly tasty enough to have earned their iconic status (yet more typical and well overshadowed by the other dishes). We also really liked the Khao Soi Neua, a beef curry noodle soup we ordered “Muslim style”, apparently a Chiang Mai classic preparation. It was an interesting, quite different counterpoint to the Northern Thai curry that capped the meal at Langbaan the night before.









Pok Pok was another highlight in a series of highlights, and we will return every time we get back to Portland. Hopefully often!

Little Bird Bistro - we had planned for Padee tonight, but scoring last minute reservations for Langbaan the previous night made it seem a little superfluous. Little Bird was close to the Kimpton Monaco where we stayed, and we arrived after 10 to enjoy the Happy Hour specials. We’d be dining at Le Pigeon on Monday, and thought this might be good foreplay. Along those lines, we ordered what turned out to be the last bottle of 2016 Lapierre Morgon they had, which was the same sulfured version we get on the East Coast. We already knew that Monday we’d order the sans souffre version at Le Pigeon (Kermit does not ship these East, it’s one of my wife’s favorite wines, blah blah).

Following oysters and an appropriate pairing, the Lapierre had opened up and was effortlessly hitting the high Cs (this would prove an interesting comparison against the “N” bottle on Monday). We ate relatively lightly, but the charcuterie plate was spectacular, and a great foil for the Morgon. Dessert was likewise excellent, but it was the tea that commanded our attention. Hmmm, “Smith” tea? Doesn’t sound all that special, but damn it’s good! Unlike us, many of you probably know that Steven Smith is one of the most important names in tea (Tazo, etc) and before he died he returned to his hometown of Portland to form Steven Smith Teamaker. We have since ordered several tins by mail, and are drinking his teas daily. And of course kicking ourselves for not getting to one of the shops in Portland.



Portland continues to surprise and delight. I am so impressed by the local products, and I would love to bring BeeLocal Honey’s business model to Boston if only I knew how to keep bees! And suddenly I’m finding tea to be as fascinating as wine. I haven’t even mentioned all the great beer we’ve had, or all the delicious nibbles along the way, or the various coffee shops (I’m much more versed in coffee than tea, so perhaps that’s why the tea was so much more memorable to me now). There are just so many interwoven threads in the fabric of this great little town.

There’s one other thread that stretched over from our first day that I have to mention. Somehow we found time on day 2 to take a hike on Lower MacLeay trail up to the Stone House. Along the way, we kept being drawn to photograph the tiny purple, blue, and white forget-me-nots lining the trail. My wife mused that these were all over Portland but she couldn’t remember where we kept seeing them. Then it hit us: the duck confit smørbrød at MÅURICE! Hey, they were also tweezed onto the Gang-gra dang and Sung kha ya gra-ti at Langbaan! So we made our way back down the trail, munching on forget-me-nots all along the way.


More to come …

[Steven_Miller]

No one here (that I know of) will recommend S&S over Pinolo. Glad you found it!

[John_Osburn]

Dude, you are hitting some highlights all right, and apparently eating 24/7! Excellent reporting.

And Steve is correct about Pinolo/S&S…

[Richard_Malloy]

Pinolo was perfect for the gorgeously warm, bright weather, especially those amazing sorbettos. But I do lament not getting to try some of S&S’s savory flavors, especially after tasting the foie profiterole at Le Pigeon (another iconic dish that more than lived up to its billing). Isn’t bone marrow one of S&S’s regular offerings?

That said, I do prefer gelato to ice cream and no-line to dauntingly big-ass line, the latter explaining our decision not to attempt brunch despite it being so thoroughly PDX (I may have been traumatized by that “brunch village” Portlandia episode!).

[P_Willenberg]

@John Osburn

Dude, you are hitting some highlights all right, and apparently eating 24/7! Excellent reporting.

And Steve is correct about Pinolo/S&S…

Agreed. lots of incredible places you got to visit.

Geeks should add Canard and OK Omens to their lists.

[Rick_Allen]

Really wish there was something like Canard on McMinnville.

[Richard_Malloy]

Missing our chance to eat at Canard was surely regrettable, although we ultimately felt well and fully Ruckerized via Little Bird and Le Pigeon [insert avian-related Portlandia-inspired quip].

I may have given Little Bird short shrift above, and I’d hate to leave an unintendedly unimpressed impression. The space, vibe, menu couldn’t have been more suitable to a later seating or more amenable to our moods after a day well spent all over Portland. Sort of a brasserie-cum-bistro with tall, (copper?)-tiled ceilings, mirrored walls, and banquettes, yet still somehow cozy and inviting, with well controlled noise for such a large, reflective space. I loved the tiny details like the antlered signpost over the kitchen and taxidermed birdies in their carved-out cozies above the tables that recalled a similar stuffed/mounted fowl at the Stumptown-Ace Hotel. The oysters were clean and sweet, the charcuterie plate inventive and unique (among other delights, big crackling porcine clouds of crunchy fried pork skins). And when “Audrey’s Theme” from Twin Peaks wafted through the dining room my eyes rolled back deliriously as I slumped into a Lynchian reverie.

There”s a Ken Oringer spot in Cambridge Mass called “Little Donkey” that’s among a small handful of Portland-quality restaurants in the Boston area. If “Le petit âne” was the name on its door, I’d be certain Oringer was deliberately channeling Rucker. His casualy inventive dishes at Lil’ Donk — whimsical but not precious, fine but not stuffy — certainly do.

On to our final 2 days in Oregon in which we meet Rick Allen (hey Rick) and continue to stuff face with some of the finest edibles and potables the Pac-NW has to offer!

And we also ate at Nick’s.

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

OK Omens is a lovely night out. Ask for the age page.

[P_Willenberg]

You’re right to be slightly unimpressed with Little Bird. It’s what happens to a restaurant downtown. Rent is expensive and you have to cater to tourists which dampens things. Can’t think of anything I’d recommend downtown sadly.