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March 17, 2010

Olympic Provisions Now Open Saturdays!

This Saturday, celebrate the first day of spring any number of ways–go on a cleaning spree, balance an egg on end, buy a skimpy swimsuit and book a Cancún vacation, dust your collection of sparkling rosés, and join the staff of Olympic Provisions for your first lunch or dinner of the new season.

Beginning March 20, Olympic Provisions will offer Saturday lunch and dinner service, and will now be open Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 10 pm. The Saturday lunch menu will expand to include a selection of brunch dishes, breakfast sandwiches and sweet and savory pastries, and the bar will be mixing mimosas. Olympic Provisions’ popular Aperitivo Hour menu, offered daily from 3-6 pm, will also be available on Saturday, so stop in and while away the afternoon with a charcuterie plate and a refreshing glass of rosé or Prosecco.

Executive Chef Jason Barwikowski’s seasonally-influenced dinner menu is already anticipating spring with dishes like salt-seared scallops with a grapefruit-herb salad and ginger beurre blanc, and red wine-braised rabbit leg with crimini mushrooms and English peas. Sommelier Carly Laws is stocking up on new spring-friendly wines, and there are delicious additions to the dessert menu as well–try the light-as-a-spring-breeze Orange-Blossom Panna Cotta or Grapefruit-Campari sorbet.

Click here for a link to Olympic Provisions’ lunch, dinner, deli and wine menus. Reservations are accepted for parties of 6-10, just call 503.954.3663.

March 16, 2010

Ladies Who Brunch

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending a lovely brunch put on by my lovely friends Andrea Slonecker and Lila Martin.

Andrea (left) is an accomplished cook, food writer, and IACP committee member, and is conspiring on a soon-to-published cookbook with local author Diane Morgan. Lila (right) helps promote Portland and its vibrant food scene as the Media Relations Coordinator for Travel Portland and writes a fun food blog called Eat This!

The girls just recently moved into a new apartment in Irvington, but you’d never know it. Half-unpacked moving boxes of kitchen implements in the bathroom? None. Piles of decade-old Gourmet magazines and M.F.K. Fisher books with an ironing board spanning them serving as impromptu coffee table? Nope. A lone bottle of Cremant and a half-gouged wedge of Pierre Robert gracing the otherwise barren refrigerator shelves? Au contraire, the icebox and cupboard shelves were bountiful. I was impressed, considering that I moved into my apartment a year ago and the above scenarios still exist there.

The girls combed local vintage stores to create their fashionably eclectic decor, which I, having no real knowledge of interior design styles, will dub Parisian-chic. After Lila graciously took my coat (the hostessing at this brunch was unparalleled), I was served chilled Prosecco in a slender stemless champagne tumbler from a darling 1950s-era mini-cocktail bar. I felt ever so elegant.

In the kitchen, Andrea plated juicy slices of blood orange and ruby grapefruit, the fragrance of fresh dill and sweet Spanish paprika floated through the air, and homemade granola cooled on the counter, studded with golden hazelnuts, plump dried Bing cherries and fat curls of toasted coconut. I thought the coconut was an excellent addition, giving the granola an ever so slightly tropical aroma and flavor–very fitting since during our lively brunch conversation we all admitted having a case of spring wanderlust that could probably only be squelched by a trip to Hawaii. Or Paris.

Like any good guest, I’d brought a few edible gifts, and since ’tis the season for brightly-dyed sugar-encrusted marshmallow treats, I’d packed in some Peeps, which got on very well with the salt and pepper shakers.

Brunch started with an organic yogurt parfait layered with Andrea’s homemade granola and sweet fig jam, and a refreshing citrus, fennel and herb salad that tasted like spring.

Next came a delectable dish of sliced sunchokes roasted with slices of lemon, whole cloves of garlic and fresh rosemary. It was as divine as it sounds, and a fitting companion to the savory bacon and leek bread pudding, the recipe for which Andrea has generously provided below.

After that, there was a lot of sighing and stomach-rubbing, a few more Hold-The-OJ Mimosas were poured, and an informal Nocino tasting was held, because…it was Sunday afternoon and why not?

Bacon and Leek Bread Pudding
Recipe by Andrea Slonecker

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon softened butter for greasing
6 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4” strips (lardons)
1 large leek, white and light green part only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk (whatever % you have in the fridge)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated semi-hard cheese, such as Brindisi Fontina from Willamette Valley Cheese Co.
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
6 cups stale artisan white bread cut in 3/4-inch cubes, leave crust on (about 10 ounces)
Spanish sweet paprika to garnish (Pimentón de la Vera Dulce)

Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan (reserve excess bacon fat for frying potatoes and such). Add the leeks and sauté over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until softened but not brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the leeks to a plate to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, cheese, thyme, and nutmeg. Stir in the bacon and leeks. Add the bread cubes and toss to coat evenly. Place the bread and egg mixture into the prepared baking dish, and let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes for the bread to soak up the egg mixture. Give it a stir once or twice.

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Cover the dish with foil and place it in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking the bread pudding until the top is browned and crusty, about 20 to 25 minutes more. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Enjoy!

March 13, 2010

Banana Bum

This man is wearing banana underpants. Or rather, underpants made from banana tree fibre, courtesy of AussieBum. For all those times you’ve asked your guy “is that a banana in your pants or are you just happy to see me?”

March 10, 2010

Luck Of The Irish Soda Bread

You can tell how old you’re getting by how you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Once upon a time, St. Patty’s Day meant breaking out my green and white striped cropped tube top and plastic drugstore shamrock baubles and drinking enough green beer to turn my belly button emerald from the inside out.

These days, I stay home and watch my Far & Away DVD and make Irish soda bread, with only a smidgen of wistfulness.

Searching for recipes, I found that soda bread is something of a touchy subject, everyone seems to have their own variation, to which they’re very loyal. Going to the source is always a winning strategy when seeking an authentic formula, so I browsed flights to Dublin on Aer Lingus. Then I remembered I was out of vacation time, which squelched that dream, so I started poking around for a more local source. Did I know any Portland Irish?

I was standing in the refrigerator doorway, eating Jacobs Creamery chocolate pudding out of the container with a very large spoon and pondering my dilemma, when it dawned on me–Jacobs Creamery’s ebullient cheesemaker Lisa Jacobs not only makes amazing cheese, but she is also an honest-to-goodness Irish lass.

I petitioned her for her family recipe, and to my delight, she consented to share it. It’s been handed down from her Irish ancestors but now has a local twist–Lisa makes this hardy bread with her own handchurned butter and buttermilk.

Lisa Jacobs Irish Soda Bread–the Unedited Version

I have some very lovely memories of the childhood summers and holidays I spent in Dublin with my grandmother, Nana. She is full of spirit and like a true Irishwoman, doesn’t take guff from anyone. She was inclined to stop the car to answer her mobile (no matter where we were), and she’d whip out some deadly red lipstick and write vitriolic messages on any car that dared to take her spot outside her apartment in Ballsbridge. When I visited, we would go to the shops, where she would buy me little scones with plump raisins, and then we’d go to a film, or spend the afternoon in a castle sipping tea.

One morning I was perched on the edge of the hearth with a delicate cup of tea, watching her do the ironing (she loves to iron), and we started chatting about boys. It was one of those girly conversations-I was telling her about the boys I was dating at the time. She wasn’t so amused with the fact that there was more than one, but I was quick to point out the unique attributes of each. “My little Lisa Shmisa,” she said, “One day you’re going to meet a very special boy and you’re not going to want him to go away, and when that happens make him this.”

With that she handed me a small piece of well-worn brown paper with a very delicate cursive script written on it, folded three times. Inside I found a recipe for my Nana’s Nana’s Irish soda bread. It was and still is a favorite of mine, and is best eaten with a pat of butter and a slice of lox.

To really get the best out of the recipe, it’s suggested (by me) that you get some hip hoppin’ Irish tunes going while you’re whipping up this magic in the kitchen. Favorites of mine are Cockles and Mussels, Danny Boy and It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.

I am still holding on to Nana’s original recipe, waiting for that hunk of a man that I don’t want to let go, and I have improved upon it by the only means possible–I use my own Jacobs Creamery butter in the recipe, and my very delectable buttermilk. It’s perfect – enjoy it with someone whom you don’t want to go away.

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour (I use Odlums cream flour, from Dublin)
3 cups whole wheat flour (or Odlums wholemeal flour)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup Jacobs Creamery butter, cold and cubed in 1/4-1/2 cubes
2 cups Jacobs Creamery buttermilk

Coat baking sheet in butter. Crank the oven up to 425˚F and place the rack in the middle of the oven.

1. Mix the flours together in a bowl with the baking soda and sugar. Use a whisk to mix them, it creates a fluffiness.

2. Add the butter and mix (use your hands to work the butter through the dry mixture) ’til the butter is pea- sized, then add the buttermilk (shake the buttermilk up before using it, but don’t create too many bubbles).

3. Knead the dough until it comes together. You can do this on the counter, dust it with white flour first. The bread can then be shaped – traditionally it is in round loaves anywhere between 6-8 inches in size. You will get two rounds out of this recipe. You can then put the dough on the baking sheet and sc0re the top with a half inch deep “x” and pop it in the oven.

4. It should bake for about 38-40 minutes, or until you have a nice deep brown color. Don’t overcook it or it sucks. And you can’t cut into this bread while it’s warm or it sucks. If you put a tea towel over it while it cools it keeps some of the moisture in, but you can do one with and one without and see if you see a difference.

–Recipe and tale courtesy of Lisa Jacobs and her Nana

I ate this fantastically dense and slightly sweet bread with honey yogurt for breakfast, and with a salmon salad for lunch. Something about its rustic look and texture made me crave stew, so I told ‘guy I don’t want to go away’ I would make Irish stew for dinner. It was a long day though, and I didn’t so much feel like cooking come supper time, so I stopped at Meat Cheese and Bread on the way home and bought two bowls of their deep, rich spicy beef stew. He didn’t mind.

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As delicious as it is with a hearty smear of good butter and a bit of marmalade, traditional soda bread is not always the most exciting stuff. For my next batch, I wanted a version with some pizazz. I remembered having seen a tray of unorthodox looking soda bread at Grand Central Bakery, so I went searching and sure enough, found it on their website.

The Grand Central Bakery version uses no wheat flour, more butter, and baking powder along with baking soda, and accents the bread with caraway, currants, and orange zest. The result is more scone than bread-like, but very savory nonetheless, so you don’t feel like you’re eating dessert, just a very flavorful bread. It’s a lovely twist on the classic, and you can find the recipe in the The Grand Central Baking Book: Breakfast Pastries, Cookies, Pies, and Satisfying Savories from the Pacific Northwest’s Celebrated Bakery, which I bought at Powell’s Home and Garden store on SE Hawthorne.

It turned out beautifully. I ate it with loads of butter and a cup ‘o tea.

I can’t promise that having a stay-at-home St. Patrick’s Day with freshly made soda bread slathered in butter, some Irish stew, a bottle of Knappogue Castle 1951, and your Far & Away screening will be quite as, erm, celebratory as those St. Patty’s days of your youth when you and your green tube top boarded the Barfly Bus and spent the night on a blarney and Jameson-filled adventure, but as the Irish say, “An old broom knows the dirty corners best” and “What butter and whiskey won’t cure, there is no cure for” and “God is good, but never dance in a small boat.” Remember that.

March 9, 2010

Champagne Cleavernova

There are certain party tricks I’d like to master–how to dance the tango, how to turn water into Châteauneuf-du-Pape and loaves into toasted coconut cream cupcakes, and above all else, how to open a bottle of bubbly with a cleaver.

In the video clip below, Olympic Provisions sommelier Carly Laws demonstrates one of her favorite party tricks, a technique known as sabrage, which was apparently very popular with Napoleon Bonaparte’s crowd. Not one to need a fancy saber when a vintage cleaver will do, Carly deftly beheads a bottle of Prosecco with one swift slice, earning our eternal admiration. She also tells me a little bit about how she came to possess this talent in the below interview.

It goes without saying–don’t try this at home. And please excuse my less-than-skillful videography. It’s on my list of things to master.

Carly, where and why did you learn how to open a bottle of bubbly with a cleaver? Is this part of your sommelier training?

I first witnessed the “saberage” of a bottle of bubbly in Vancouver, B.B. at some schmancy restaurant. Only instead of handing us a cleaver in the back of the kitchen, they said, “Mr. Day, would you like to saber your bottle in the cave?” (I was there with a boy named Mr. Day.) And of course he said yes, so we paraded down into the “cave” (which was more like an opulent basement than a real cave) and they handed him a sword (or a saber) (definitely not a meat cleaver) and gave him some pointers as to how to avoid cutting off his hand and then voila! we had pink bubbly in one fell swoop. It was thrilling and delicious all at the same time. And since then I’ve been hooked, although the occasion to saber something is rare (but definitely becoming more common due to my predilection for all things sparkly these days).

From what I’ve read, the practice dates back to the time of Napoleon and his silly soldiers trying to open bottles of champs on horseback (which is apparently hard to do while holding reigns, a glass and a bottle).

I would imagine a lot of people are surprised to witness your unusual talent. How do people usually react?

To be honest, the only other people I’ve sabered a bottle in front of besides you and Michelle is Jason (Barwikowski, Olympic Provisions’ Executive Chef and Laws’ husband), our two cats Meatwad and Chub, and the three tweakers walking down the street when I did it in our front yard a Sunday or two ago. The cats weren’t impressed. The tweakers definitely were. They actually gave us a shout out.

Do you ever worry about missing the bottle and cutting off your hand and having to wear a metal hook on your wrist for the rest of your life, or is sabrage pretty foolproof once you’ve got the hang of it?

Metal hooks are hot. But it’s easy, so no worries there.

With summer coming up, I’m sure people will want to know–does this trick work on whites and roses, or just sparklies?

As Tyler demonstrated (see clip below) while trying to make us a rosé slushy the other night, it really only works on champagne-style bottles. These bottles are made with two separate pieces – the bottle and the collar of the bottle – and as you hit the collar of the bottle with the blade, it causes stress and the top (collar) wants to snap off in one piece. The pressure inside the bottle generally guarantees that no glass will fall into the wine, which is great and you can (carefully) drink from the rim with relatively little to no worries about gashing your mouth.

Of course, if you see me with a f***ed up mouth one day, you’ll know I did this poorly.

***

See Olympic Provisions’ co-owner Tyler Gaston’s questionable usage of the sabrage technique to liberate a bottle of frozen rose:

March 8, 2010

Farmer-Chef Connection

Today my friend Mollie and I attended the 10th Annual Farmer-Chef Connection at Clackamas Community College. We aren’t farmers or chefs, just eaters, but they let regular people come too.

Put on by the Portland Chefs Collaborative and Friends of Family Farmers and sponsored by New Seasons Market, FoodHub, and Cascade Pacific, the event was both informative and inspirational. We were a bit late, rather ironically due to a distracting stop at New Seasons en route, so we missed the opening remarks by HOTLIPS Pizza co-owner David Yudkin and had to slink into seats at separate tables in the standing room-only auditorium.

We arrived in time to hear Keynote Speaker Nicolette Hahn Niman’s fascinating discourse about her work as an environmental attorney, activist and rancher, her experiences with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Waterkeeper Alliance, and her sweetly unexpected marriage to famous rancher Bill Niman of Niman Ranch. Nicolette’s passion is industrialized livestock production, and she just recently published her first book, Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms, which is part expose of the “factory farm” industry, part call to action, and part love story. If the book is anything like her talk, it will be a fascinating read. Apparently Michael Pollan thought so.

After Nicolette’s talk, we helped ourselves to fresh chewy wood-fired Tastebud bagels (Tastebud chef/owner Mark Doxtader brought two huge sacks and tubs of fresh cream cheese) and cups of Tao of Tea Jasmine Pearls green tea, and enjoyed the mid-morning mix ‘n mingle hour.

Next, everyone broke out into choose-your-own workshops, which were held directly before and after lunch. We attended Farmer-Chef Connection 101, a panel discussion with a half dozen farmers and chefs that included Carafe Bistro Executive Chef Pascal Sauton, Shari Sirkin of Dancing Roots Farm, David Knaus of Fresh Earth Gardens, and Anne Berblinger of Gales Meadow Farm. Through their freely given insights, we learned how farmers price their food and market their product to chefs, and how the two parties collaborate to cultivate strong, mutually-beneficial relationships.

And then there was lunch, which was the part I was the most excited about, I must confess. Nearly 50 local farmers, ranchers, growers, dairypersons, restaurants, markets, coffee and tea companies, and other purveyors volunteered their product and time to create fantastically fresh and delicious food. It felt like the sort meal you might get after a good old-fashioned barn-raising on a huge organic farm staffed by Le Cordon Bleu graduates. Everyone served themselves family-style in two long rows, and much exclaiming could be heard.

SuDan Lamb, Square Peg Farms, Lucy’s Table, Sauvie Island Organics, Oregon Culinary Institute, HOTLIPS, Random Order, Organic Valley, Delphina’s Bakery, Nostrana, New Seasons, The Brownie Farm, Daily Cafe, Genoa, Accanto and so many more donated to the lunch.

We left full, inspired, and looking forward to the next year’s event.

March 8, 2010

Belly Up to Cheese Bar

When Steve Jones announced that he was moving his revered cheese shop from its cozy nook inside Northwest Portland’s Square Deal Wines to the old Parkside Deli digs in Mt. Tabor and fattening it up into a cheese shop/café/neighborhood hangout, you knew instantly which side of the river Portland cheeselovers lived on by the resulting screams of joy/great gulping sobs.

Last week Steve opened his straightforwardly-dubbed Cheese Bar at the corner of SE Belmont & 61st Avenue, where the wedge and wheel crowd can now flock for everything from creamy Bries and blues to odoriferous Langres, a full selection of charcuterie, specialty groceries, sandwiches, salads, soups, small plates, and happily, chocolate. If you’re thinking something’s missing, and that something is alcohol, fear not–on Tuesday, Cheese Bar begins serving beer and wine.

I took a long walk up Belmont yesterday to poke around.

Part cheesemonger, part cheese curator, soft-spoken Steve presides over a compact but impeccably stocked case, filled with everything from your wildest cheese dreams.

A Steve and his cheese

The narrow, neat-as-a-pin shop has cheese and charcuterie cases, a short bar, and a few tables that will likely be hard to come by when word gets out.

Ayers Creek preserves, Ames Farm single source honeys, and other specialty items grace the shelves separating the cheese and meat counters.

If you haven’t yet tasted super cute Olympic Provisions Meatman Elias Cairo’s charcuterie, well, I just feel awful for you. You should definitely buy a chub or two.

In the back of the store, you’ll find an array of picnic and pantry fodder, like fancy crackers, organic dried persimmons, various nuts, olives in their pressed and unpressed states, vinegars, dried pasta, sardines, and chocolate. As you can see, there is but one Xocolatl de Davíd Raleigh bar. I left it for you. You’re welcome. You can also stock up on fondue pots and cheese boards.

Below is a shot of the menu board, which clings to the wall behind the counter. Sandwiches, salads, and small plates are listed Noah’s Ark/Cat in the Hat-style–Sandwich One and Sandwich Two, Salad One and Salad Two, Cazuela One and Cazuela Two. We ordered Sandwich Number Two because it had pickles, and because we like the word stinky. In case you’re wondering what exactly a cazuela is–I was–it’s a burnt orange-colored clay dish popular in Spain, which is what the menu’s two warm dishes are served in.

We left Cheese Bar weighed down with honey, cheese and crackers, a stinky-good sandwich and a muscovado caramel-layered Zzang bar, which upon further examination was revealed to possess nearly 50 grams of sugar beneath its dark-chocolate crust. This explains why I spent most of the afternoon passed out on the couch dreaming about drowning in seas of stinky cheese. What the fudge, indeed.

March 3, 2010

Tasty & Sons

This just arrived from Toro Bravo, so I thought I’d pass it on.

Hello from Toro Bravo!

We would like to share with you some exciting news…

We are working on our next project: Tasty n Sons – a Portland brunch restaurant that will be located on 3808 N Williams, at the southern end of the building (in the old Nutshell / Anju space).

Those of you familiar with John’s brunch cooking from his Simpatica days should have some idea of what to expect… plus many more eclectic offerings that he has up his sleeve.

We expect the space to be ready around mid March for the Soft Opening run: Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

After ironing out the opening kinks we will have a Grand Opening Party and thereafter will be open 7 days a week:
– Mon … Fri: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
– Sat & Sun: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Expect a follow-up mailer soon with dates for the soft opening and the grand opening party.

Kyle Prewitt, who has been with us at Toro Bravo for a long time, will be manning the stoves at Tasty n Sons, and will run the kitchen under John’s guidance, while John will continue as Executive Chef at Toro Bravo. Rebecca Finley, a 7-year veteran floor manager at Paley’s restaurant will manage the front of the house. Dori Prange, formerly of Toro Bravo and the Secret Society Lounge, will oversee the bar, with plenty of Bloody Mary selections to accompany the brunch.

We hope that this new project will contribute to the on-going evolution of Portland’s northeast neighborhood, which is home to John and many of our team members.

Until we set up our Tasty n Sons website, you can follow related announcements in the opening message of the Toro Bravo site at www.torobravopdx.com

See you at Toro Bravo and soon at Tasty n Sons…

John, Courtney, Ron, and the rest of the crew

120 NE Russell Street
Portland, OR 97212
503.281.4464
www.torobravopdx.com
inquiries@torobravopdx.com

February 26, 2010

Four Fine Weekend To-Dos

While weekends all too often degenerate into frantic pinballing between sports games, birthday parties, and trips to Ikea, they’re also prime time for new food finds. This weekend Portland has plenty to offer in the way of edible entertainment–Italian wine dinners, Chowder-Offs, new Montavilla sweet spots, and a romantic night at the theater topped off with a nightcap of Hennessy and handcuffs.

1. Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps debuted this week at Portland Center Stage, an energetic theatrical rendition of this classic cloak and dagger tale of mistaken identity and a handsome hero on the run. As a nod to the predicament the leading man Richard Hannay finds himself in when he’s handcuffed to a dangerous vixen, patrons are being offered the Handcuffed for Half Price promotion. Show up handcuffed to your date and get your show tickets half off. Since dinner & drinks and the theater go together like vanilla ice cream and brandy, which is rumored to have been Alfred Hitchcock’s breakfast of choice, here’s a link to Under The Table With Jen’s Pre-Theater dinner and Nightcap suggestions. Nearby Pearl District swank-spots Ten 01 and Fenouil have new chefs, so curious foodies might want to pop in before or after the show.

2. Maybe you missed our  Table For Twelve supper club gathering this week, but fear not, for not only is there a sucker born every minute, there’s pretty much a supper club opportunity born every minute in Portland too. This Saturday night join fellow oenophiles and Italophiles at Olympic Provisions for their Podere Ruggeri Corsini wine dinner. The small family-owned Italian winery is known for their Barbera d’Alba, Barolo, and Nebbiolo, which is exactly what you’ll be served along with a menu of bagna cauda and cured meats, radicchio and blue cheese salad with roasted grape vinaigrette, cannelloni with chicken liver ragu, and bollito misto. The dinner is $65 per person, starts at 7 pm, and is filling up fast, what with OP being written up right and left in everything from MIX magazine to Forbes. Call 503.954.3663 to reserve your spot. On Sunday, check out Nostrana’s “Sundays in Italy” supper, a collaboration with neighboring Garrison’s Fine Wines.

3. There’s a distinct possibility that I would sell my soul for a truly divine bowl of clam chowder. I love chowder. With a passionate passion. So it’s excellent news that Lompoc Brewing is expanding their annual Chowder Challenge into a two-day event and dubbing it SEAFOODPALOOZA. Kicking off at 5th Quadrant on North Williams on Friday at 6pm, with a rollicking Cajun band and all-you-can-eat shrimp boil ($12), the fishy good times continue Saturday at noon when a dozen local brewpubs and restaurants battle it out at the 4th Annual Chowder Challenge for the chance at winning the CHOWDER CUP. (Please tell me you almost peed your pants with excitement reading that, and I’ll know we’re kindred spirits.) Admission is free and anybody can be a judge–for $10 you get a tray of samples from all contenders, and a chance to be the Simon Cowell of chowder-judging, except perhaps without the accent and bile.

4. Been to Montavilla lately?  This fun, feisty little Southeast neighborhood is shaping up to be quite the culinary destination, and you could easily spend an entire day eating your way down SE Stark. Start with Whiskey Custard Challah French Toast at comfort food fortress Country Cat’s belly-busting brunch, shop for exotic rice and Turkish delight at International Food Supply, sip Sazeracs and Sans Nickers at Vintage Cocktail Lounge, hoop it up with $3 well drinks and ginger sake mussels at The Observatory’s Happy Hour (3-6pm daily), and this weekend check out the two newcomers on the block–nibble fairycake and lemon tarts at newly opened Pastrygirl Bakery, and on Saturday, slip into the soft opening of Immortal Pie and Larder from 11am-7pm and sample their sweet and savory pies and international specialty goods.

February 26, 2010

Bella Cupcake Couture

In honor of the pink-bud strewn trees on my street, I must share these “Bird with Cherry Blossoms” cupcake wrappers by Bella Cupcake Couture, possibly the most charming thing since, well, a fresh cherry blossom. Thanks Erin!

February 25, 2010

Avoid Dinner Desperation with Taste Unique

Sometimes, the thought of going home and having to cook dinner seems about as far-fetched as the possibility of you tearing open your belted beige raincoat on the crowded evening Max train to reveal your sexy pink polyester Ann Taylor sweater set and screaming, “Take me, take me NOW, DERANGED SMELLY MAN WHO VERY VAGUELY RESEMBLES JAVIER BARDEM!” **

Fortunately, you don’t have to do either. If you desperately need a date and some nookie, please see this new match.com ad that I am very fond of. If you desperately need an exquisitely fresh, pre-prepared Italian dinner that tastes and smells deliciously homemade (if you were channeling your Umbrian grandmother that is) please exit the Max train immediately and get to Taste Unique as quickly as possible. Read full story »

February 23, 2010

Cuckoo For Coco

Sometimes I really think that if I was poking around my favorite vintage shop and I found a magic brass lamp containing a genie, one of my three wishes would be for a copy of everything Phaidon Press has ever published.

Phaidon produces lavish, beautiful, exceptional works, and their books related to cooking are tremendous additions to any collection. A few months ago I was starry-eyed over the receipt of I Know How to Cook.

Now I am agog over their recently published Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs. I’ve had my eye on it for a couple of months, but at $49.95, I was saving up my chocolate money to buy it. Today was the day.

Read full story »

February 20, 2010

Get Your Groupon and EaT Well

If you don’t get Groupon’s daily updates via email, Twitter or Facebook, you may have missed yesterday’s offer–“$12 for $25 Worth of Seafood and More at EaT: An Oyster Bar.”

If you haven’t used Groupon yet, it’s a pretty sweet deal. Every day they post an offer for a local product or service–everything from tattoos to spa days to dry cleaning to meals at oyster bars–for which you pay a deeply discounted price. For example, today you will pay only $12 for the EaT Groupon, but you’ll get a voucher worth $25 dollars, which you can spend on whatever catches your fancy on the menu at North Portland’s EaT: An Oyster Bar.

The only catch is that a certain pre-determined number of people have to buy the Groupon (this is referred to as the “tipping point”), or you aren’t charged and you don’t get the deal. Hence the Groupiness of it all. Once the deal has tipped and closed (they usually run for a few days), your credit card is charged and you can print your Groupon and run straight to the oyster bar/tattoo parlor/spa/dry cleaners.

I just bought two EaT Groupons, which means that I’ll be feasting on Kumamotos and jambalaya next week. Or, if you haven’t yet tried the delicious EaT debris po’ boy featured in yesterday’s A&E’s Best Sandwiches article, now you won’t feel guilty ordering two.

I just bought my

February 19, 2010

Pop It Forward

This box came in the mail today. It was for Erin. We both got really excited about it. Erin got excited because she rarely gets interesting looking boxes in the mail at work, and I got excited because there was obviously food inside.

Inside there were four mini bags of Popchips, a personalized note, and an explanation of the “Pop It Forward” project. I think this is a pretty cute idea. The popchips are nice and crunchy too. You can request your own here if there’s a Popchip lover in your life. Or just someone who likes to get interesting boxes with food in them.

February 18, 2010

Table For Twelve at Mee-Sen: Fill Your Aching Void With Chicken Wings

This year for Valentine’s Day, Michelle and I did not get what we wanted, even though we asked for very simple things.

Michelle wanted a pink Bentley just like Paris Hilton’s, and for her sewer line not to back up into her basement and for her not to walk down into the basement to do laundry without turning on the light first. I wanted a bulldog puppy with a heart-shaped nose, and a villa in France, preferably one that neighbors the Valrhona family estate. Read full story »

February 17, 2010

Sahagun’s Coffee KA-POW!

Whenever I’m loitering in Sahagun Chocolates, scoping out the Luscious Caramels, and owner Elizabeth Montes tells me to wait just a second because she has something for me, I immediately do a little happy dance inside.

Sometimes she gives me a complimentary Sundrop for being the Foursquare mayor of Sahagun, sometimes she shares a sliver of spicy peanut-y dark chocolate bark, and last Sunday, she presented this:

Look at its impossibly dark rich lustrousness. Bet your choco-glands are salivating, right? Except that this isn’t chocolate. Yes, it looks like chocolate, it feels like chocolate, but it’s really KA-POW!

Elizabeth, lovely genius that she is, has created a coffee bar named KA-POW! (It’s fun to say, isn’t it?) It’s processed like a chocolate bar, but with Stumptown Coffee’s Colombia La Esperanza coffee beans instead of cacao. It’s pretty much otherworldy, and one square will leave you with the ability to fly, Red Bull gives you wings-style, to work. You might not be giving up your Barista or Albina Press habit anytime soon, after all there’s something cathartic about your cup of hot steaming morning joe, but I promise you, the KA-POW bar will make you sit up straight and think twice about coffee as you knew it.

KA-POW was created for the recent Slow Food/Ecotrust From Bean to Buzz event, which paired local chocolatiers and coffee roasters. Elizabeth was paired with Stumptown Coffee Roasters and her beloved Claudio Corallo Chocolate.

As Elizabeth put it:

“I wanted to come up with something that I didn’t already make, something that I had never seen before. I wanted to create true union/collaboration between coffee and chocolate. I wanted to make a baby from them so to speak…

KA-POW! has the bold flavor & aroma of coffee with the physicality of chocolate, all while adding no chocolate; a coffee bar. It has a pure coffee bean flavor and a crunchy texture without the unpleasant hardened shards of coffee bean.

After making KA-POW! I then made a backwards bark using KA-POW! as the medium into which I poured unmelted pieces of Claudio Corallo chocolate and nibs: a coffee bean-covered chocolate. This one is still in the works….

in the meantime, KA-POW! has landed! The only way to know it is to taste it.”

Like you needed another excuse to visit Sahagun.

February 17, 2010

Pizza on Wheels

The recent re-opening of Wy’east Pizza made me do some thinking about the marvels of Food Cart Pizza. There are huge advantages to pizza on wheels–it’s cheap, it’s fast, and perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to wait in line for 45-90 minutes to get a seat when you’re struck with a craving. Here are my favorite places to get pizza on the go.

WY’EAST PIZZA

It’s easy to whiz right by this unassuming but gaily decorated little 1974 camper trailer-turned-pizza cart on your way down SE 50th to SE Powell or Division. You should stop, though, because Wy’east’s luscious thin-crusted pies are delicious, and you should stop early, because when the day’s dough is gone, it’s gone, and it’s often gone sooner rather than later. Relish the simple flavors of a basil-strewn Margherita ($12) or indulge in seasonal pies like the Three-Fingered Jack–onion, garlic and Anaheim peppers ($14), Hot Marmot–pepperoni and sweet and hot peppers ($15), or Crater Potater–potato, garlic, rosemary, and spicy oil, all hand-tossed, adorned and baked by passionate pizzamakers/cute couple “Squish and Red.” Walk, ride the bus, or pedal your bike to Wy’east and get a dollar off your pie for your environmental good deed. One tip–call ahead, because it can take up to an hour for your pie to queue up during the dinner rush.

3131 SE 50th Ave. * 503.701.5149 * 4:30 – 9:30 pm Tues-Sat * wyeastpizza.com

PYRO PIZZA

Pyro’s pizzas and calzones are cooked in a honest-to-goodness wood-fired oven right inside the cart, the crust is thin, chewy and blistery, the the toppings are fresh and tasty, the beet sugar-sweetened sodas and the mozzarella are homemade, the people are nice. You don’t have to wait forever to get a seat, because there aren’t any seats. There’s a scant wait of 10 or so minutes for your caramelized onion, marinated tomato, pepperoni, or cuattro formaggi pizza, all of which are quite affordably priced between $6 and $8 and can be veganized for $1 extra. And it so happens that 10 minutes tends to be just enough time to walk across SE Hawthorne’s popular “Cartopia” cart cluster and put in an order for a peanut butter chocolate chip fried pie at Whiffies Fried Pies. Take both your pies home, pop open a bottle of cava/beer/YooHoo, put your feet up, and be watching Tivo’d episodes of The Soup in the same amount of time it usually takes you to wrestle your way from Apizza’s front door to the waiting list.

SE 12th & Hawthorne * 503-929-1404 * Wed-Thu 6pm-12am, Fri-Sat 6pm-3am  * www.pyropizzacart.com

GIVE PIZZA A CHANCE

This downtown favorite (and Pyro Pizza’s sister cart) has a line down the block come lunchtime, and with good reason. The organic whole wheat pizza crust is thick, chewy, crisp on the bottom, and so good and hot you’ll scarf your way through the entire piece and down to a nubbin of crust in no time. The cheese is soft, thick and bubbly, the sauce is fresh and flavorful, and the ingredients are organic and locally-sourced. Try the Mom’s Favorite with caramelized onions and blue cheese, the Meataholic, or the I Give In–good old ham and pineapple with red sauce, or, make your own from the long list of potential topping candidates. Pies can be ordered whole and Chicago deep dish-style (call ahead), and by the slice–and for $6 you can get a lunch deal that includes a slice of your choice, a Greek salad and a homemade beet sugar-sweetened soda–yet another reason to wait patiently in line come noon.

SE Stark & SW 4th * 503.333.4434 * Mon-Fri 11am-4pm * givepizzaachance.com

February 17, 2010

Garden State’s Gone North

The sun was shining and the chickpea patties were frying this afternoon at the new Garden State food cart in North Mississippi Avenue’s Mississippi Marketplace cart cluster.

Cozily ensconced in the bright silver cart, which is neighbored by Native Bowl and The Big Egg, Owner Kevin Sandri and crew were serving up Garden State’s delicious meatball heros, fried calamari with Calabrian chiles, poached cod sandwiches, arancine, chickpea fries, and my favorite, the chickpea sandwich–a slightly crisped, golden fried garbanzo bean patty layered with slices of roasted butternut squash and lettuce and served on a fresh ciabatta roll.

“It’s not often you find a poached cod sandwich on Mississippi,” another patron mused aloud as he surveyed the simple menu, which is written on the front of the cart in black and red marker. “Or anywhere, for that matter,” he added.

“Garden State North,” as Foursquare dubbed it when I checked in, will now be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11am – 4pm. The opening date of Garden State’s Sellwood cart is slightly less certain. Kevin explained that due to the loss of the chef he’d hired to man the Sellwood location, it would be a couple more weeks until he could find a replacement and open. So if your dream has always been to make tasty chickpea sandwiches and meatball heroes in a cart in Sellwood, you should get in touch with him.

Just down the way, I caught sight of more good Mississippi Marketplace cheer, as the pretty little chalkboard tacked onto the side of The Sugar Cube declared opening day to be March 3.

If you’ve been following owner/sugar vixen Kir Jensen on Twitter (@thesugarCube), then you are probably already salivating over her promises of passion fruit panna cotta finished with crackly creme brulee-style sugar crusts and triple threat ice cream sandwich cookies drizzled with drippy salted caramel.

It’s going to be a scrumptious Spring indeed.

February 15, 2010

Bakery Bar SE Sold

I read the following letter on Bakery Bar’s blog this morning (to read more about new tenant Bunk Bar, click here):

SE Water Ave Bakery Bar Sold; Will Close March 2
We are finally able to confirm that Bakery Bar’s location on SE Water Ave has been sold. Its final day of business will be Tuesday, March 2. The new owners are currently making arrangements for an entirely new and very different food and beverage venture.

Bakery Bar’s NE shop, at 2935 NE Glisan – IS NOT PART OF THE SALE. The NE shop, just over a year old, is thriving and has big plans in store for 2010. In the first week of February, we began serving cocktails. By mid-March, we will have improved year-round outdoor seating. And this summer(June/July), we will again show most of the games in the FIFA World Cup.

The sale of the SE Water Ave location is bittersweet for us to be sure. It has been a very special part of the SE Industrial neighborhood as a destination for great coffee, scones, and lunch. Our employees have been wonderful. We will always be grateful for their hard work. The set of regular customers we have are second to none. In general, we are very aware that everyone involved with the shop is going to feel a genuine sense of loss. We feel it too.

But the sale will allow us to focus on the NE Glisan store. It also gives us some much needed breathing room in our busy lives. Running two shops, especially in this economy, is/has been tough. It really does take a great deal of energy and we are thankful to get a break.

So, to all our SE Water Ave customers: a very big “Thank You”. We hope you visit us at the NE Glisan shop. We’re confident you’ll like it there too.

Finally, we’d like to make a polite but very important request: Please help us by clearly specifying the “SE Water Ave shop” in your discussions, tweets, blog posts, facebook comments/chats, etc. We’ve learned it’s very easy for people to get the wrong idea.

See you all the NE Glisan shop soon.

With Both Excitement and Regret,

Dan Stoops and Jocelyn Barda, Owners

Bakery Bar NE
2935 NE Glisan St. (Between 29th & 30th) – Portland, OR
Hours: Mon-Sat 7a-3p | Sun 8a-3p
daniel@bakerybar.com | 503.477.7779

February 14, 2010

Man Candy

Yesterday we visited Northwest Sweets on NW 23rd, and found plenty of goodies for our guys, including a bag ‘o MAN CANDY.

What’s Man Candy? I’ll let NW Sweets candyman Steve Gazda explain:

The Man Candy gift bag includes:

One 8oz tin Bacon ButterCrunch

6 piece Caramel Sampler (Flavors include smoked salt, espresso and vanilla bean-orange blossom)

Two Piece Truffle Box – Your choice of either The Green Faerie (70% bittersweet infused with Trillium Absinthe) or The Highlander (64% bittersweet infused with Glenmorangie Highland Single Malt)

Pack of Candy Smokes (yes, they still exist!) and a Bubble Gum Cigar

All for $20

Throw in a jar of The Sweet Heat, my Pineapple-Chipotle Caramel Sauce for $5 more (saves you $3 off the regular price.) Its great on waffles, ice cream, body parts, chicken wings, pork chops, you name it! You’ll be hard pressed to find a more versatile, unusual and delicious caramel sauce out there.

Northwest Sweets is located on the corner of NW 23rd Avenue and Johnson * Today 11am to 7pm * 503-360-1350

February 12, 2010

Foodlove at Match.com

As you may have noticed, I’m a sucker for cute food drawings. So I’m rather fond of this new match.com ad featuring classic food love matches like strawberries & cream, salt & pepper, milk & cookies, knife & fork, and of course, peas & carrots. It is infinitely better than the “I’m just a goof looking for my ball” ad, which used to prompt me to throw my glass of champagne at the television.

Watch for the fish ‘n chip, it’s my favorite.

“Better Together” for Match.com from FriendsWithYou on Vimeo.

February 12, 2010

Olympic Provisions in Forbes

It’s not every day you get called “a sausage party” in a writeup on Forbes’
America’s Best New Restaurants list.

Congratulations Olympic Provisions!

February 12, 2010

Fried Chicken and JOJOs

Blueplate Chef Jeffery Reiter sent a very succinct email this morning.

Subject: Fried Chicken and JOJO’s

Message: “That’s right. It’s back.”

If you’re thinking that sounds like a fine Friday lunch, you’ll probably want to get going. Blueplate fills up fast.

February 11, 2010

Hungry in Seattle

You can be a lot of things in Seattle–sleepless, wet, caffeinated, a member of a hot, trampy band of medical residents…and of course, hungry. Last weekend sis Michelle and I followed the train tracks to the Emerald City, and had a grand old time.

It occurred to me that our adventure has all the trappings of a romantic mini-break for you and yours this Valentine’s Day weekend. It’s not to late to make the reservations–and won’t you be all the more lauded for your spontaneity? Read full story »

February 11, 2010

Eva Goes to Sky City

Sometimes I feel that the kindergarten set isn’t well enough represented here on Under the Table. So I asked a very special correspondent, 5-year-old Eva, for her impressions of her recent meal at Sky City, the revolving restaurant atop Seattle’s famous Space Needle. Read full story »

February 10, 2010

Mette’s V-Day Picks

Mette Hornung Rankin–my friend, The Bachelor-watching partner, and brilliant designer–sent me a few of her Valentine’s Day foodie gift picks.

When Mette first sent me a picture of this darling “Delicious Dough Mini Wallet” wallet by indie designer FluffyCo, I instantly wished it had a cupcake on the front. Then I remembered that doughnuts are the new cupcake. Plus the brilliant magenta hue matches my new Canon SD1200 camera. I can’t wait to flash this baby the next time I’m at Voodoo.

Everyone deserves a hug on Valentine’s Day. And diamonds. But sometimes life hands you salt and pepper instead of diamonds, so you may as well make do. Mint has designed the perfect contraption for someone who needs not only a hug, but somewhere to store their Valentine’s Day salt and pepper. These interlocking huggy shakers symbolize love, affection, brotherhood, and all those great things, and would be a welcome addition to anybody’s dining room table. Plus, if you’re feeling like an overachiever, you can always fill them with diamonds. I think of everything, don’t I??

Perhaps you have some big news for your partner this Valentine’s Day. I mean REALLY big news. If he’s not getting the hint when you pass on the V-Day bubbly, pointedly order two entrees with the explanation that you’re eating for two, and hand him your positive-sign emblazoned peestick when he asks for a coffee stirrer, then maybe you should give him this darling little heart spoon ‘n spork set from Beehive Kitchenware. Because nothing says “I’m preggo, you lout,” like pewter.

February 10, 2010

Let’s Be Frank–I Want Caramels

I love valentines. Growing up, I could not receive them during my formative grade school years due to being raised in a non-V-Day-celebrating religion, which naturally, made me crave them all the more.

Many moons later, when I became a kindergarten teacher (oh yes, I was a kindergarten teacher for 5 looooong years), I overcompensated with lavish class parties that involved 3-dimensional valentine holders and over the top valentine-making projects that far overutilized doilies and lace and ribbon and GLITTER. Why is it that when you are five years old, you simply cannot use enough glitter?

The parties also involved enough Necco conversation hearts and cupcakes and heart-shaped sugar cookies and red hots and pink punch to send the class into a 48-hour sugar high. Naturally, I held these parties on Friday, during the last hour of the school day.

These days I don’t get so worked up about V-Day, but I sure do love a purty valentine and a delectable sweet on the big day. Yesterday I saw these cards at darling Pearl District stationary store Ecru. They are part of the line of valentines Ecru is carrying from uber-cute specialty letterpress printer and design studio Hello Lucky. See the whole line here. I think they’re all fantastic, but foodlover that I am, I find the hot dog and banana particularly captivating.

I had the valentine, now all that was missing was the sweet. Fortunately Little Green Grocer is just down the way, so I popped in for a few Fran’s Gray Salt Caramels. The band of smoke-colored French sea salt across the middle of the dark chocolate-robed caramel pushes these buttery wonders over the top. I love the 3-pack, it’s the perfect amount for either a thoughtful little gift or relatively guilt-free gobbling alone at your desk. And at $5, you’ll have plenty of money left over for these (warning: link involves boobies).

February 8, 2010

Your Sweetie Wants a New Pool Boy, I Mean, Cupcakes and Vodka

This Valentine’s Day, I hope you get your sweetie something scintillating, like a younger hotter pool boy/girl, instead of what you were going to get them–flowers made out of fruit. Fruit flowers are so predictable, and they don’t empty the pump basket.

If you don’t have a pool, don’t despair. This week, I’ll be randomly highlighting some great locally-sourced gifts for you to give your Valentine. Why? Because I’m nice. And because I want my sweetie to get these for ME for Valentine’s Day and nothing says “I hope you get me this” like sending him a link to a posting about neat-o Jen-approved gift ideas.

And without further ado, here are my first two picks for What To Get Me Your Sweetie for Valentine’s Day.

When I’m feeling blue, or my sweet tooth is throbbing, I like to walk into Saint Cupcake, take a deep breath, and dream about winning the lottery and buying 5o,000 toasted coconut cream dots (no wait, I just won the lottery, let’s make those regular-sized toasted coconut cream cupcakes!) and building a house out of them and living in it until I’m evicted by ants, sugar gypsies, or the Health Department. You too? Wild!

I’m sure you knew that Saint Cupcake has a unique singing cupcake telegram program that has actually brought past recipients to tears (click here), and that they deliver or ship their wicked-good cupcakes pretty much everywhere but France and Mars, but did you know they are also joining Artisan Spirits, Highball Distillery, House Spirits, Integrity Spirits, New Deal, The Farm Cafe, Montage, and Missionary Chocolates this weekend for A Valentine’s Distillery Tour? Well, they are.

Maybe your sweetie would like to go on what promises to be a fantastic and unique–if perhaps difficult to remember–V-Day date, after they stop wiping their eyes over that damn Beatles song. Sniff. What are you looking at, can’t a girl get emotional over a few cupcakes and There Are Places I Remember?!

February 5, 2010

Tour Thailand with Andy Ricker

If you’ve ever wanted to actually eat Thai street food in Thailand, and with Pok Pok’s Andy Ricker no less, here is your chance:

This could be YOU and Andy eating noodles together.

We are now booking spots for our Spring food tour of Chiang Mai and environs, scheduled for mid-April to coincide with Songkran, which is the Thai New Year celebration and Water Festival.

Chiang Mai in April is a great time to visit, despite the fact that it is the hot season there: 1) there are many fruit is season that you cannot get at any other time: I cannot emphasize how awesome this is, minor a reason as it may seem. 2) Though Songkran draws many tourists, it is very much a Thai holiday, with many special events, ceremonies, foods being prepared and most people in a great mood. 3) If you book your ticket in advance, it is a relatively cheap time to fly.

We would like to start on April 8th in the evening, and finish on the 12th in the evening so that participants can go and enjoy the festivities on the streets of Chiang Mai which begin in earnest on the 13th. It is a full 4 day tour, and details can be had by sending us back an email to this address: cnxfoodtour@gmail.com.

Thanks, best, Andy and Sunny

February 4, 2010

Check, Please

Even before you read all the entries found at the currently trending Twitter hashtag #thisdateisover, you know the ugly truth–even the most initially promising of dates can curdle faster than custard in a too-hot double boiler.

Tonight, local personalities will fill the Bagdad with their stories of dates gone bad at Planned Parenthood’s fundraiser “It’s Not Me, It’s You: Stories From the Dark Side of Dating.”

Since many dates involve food and eating, most everyone has a terrible tale in this context. I asked some of my funniest pals to contribute theirs. Names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty. So here you go, and hope to see you tonight. Read full story »

February 3, 2010

Olympic Provisions in Sunset

Congratulations to Olympic Provisions for their meaty mention in this month’s edition of Sunset Magazine! The magazine praised the OP’s soppressata as “crunchy, yet juicy.” What a coincidence, that’s exactly how we describe supercute Meat Curing Chef Elias Cairo.

January 29, 2010

The Cheese Girl Strikes Again

Cheese Czarina Lisa Jacobs of Jacobs Creamery has big news this week. She’s starting a blog, she’s “rent-able” for parties and private gigs, and she even mentions our upcoming Oregon Cheese Festival adventure this March.

Read full story »

January 29, 2010

And The Winners Are…

And the winners of Wednesday’s “Will Fan For Chocolate” contest have been chosen!

Winner of ChocolateFest Tickets–Brooke Bailey!

Winner of Chocolate Smarts, the question-and-answer-game that will make you a chocolate expert in the time it takes to snarf a bar of Scharffen Berger–Mindy Novesky!

And the winner of a perfectly whole, unopened, not even nibbled on Xocolatl de David Raleigh Bar–Danny Pettey!

Now if that doesn’t start your weekend off right, I don’t know what will. Besides a lot of champagne, which is why I’m drinking a mimosa under my desk right now.

January 28, 2010

Dear Jen

Sometimes, people send me letters. I love getting letters, especially funny letters and letters with money in them. Yesterday, I received this in my inbox.

Dear Jen,

I enjoy reading your website and feel that you might be able to help with a very difficult problem I have.   For many years now I have been dating a very special girl and she enjoys food.  My problem is that Valentine’s Day is approaching and I’m trying to decide where to take her.  She’s been to most of the restaurants in Portland, loves food, is romantic, fun, pretty, sexy…you get the idea.  I want to impress her but don’t have the money of the Kardashians or the Jersey Shore group.  I thought “Hey! Maybe Beast…but thought my chances were slim and not sure I would want to spend V-Day at a community table.  VooDoo doughuts would be fun…the Globetrotter’s apparently went there but not sure about the romance.   The Food Carts would be fun…but again…the romance.  There’s Paley’s, there’s the Ringside, there’s Higgins…what would you do to ensure a Happy Ending?  Thanks for your help Jen!

Signed,

Anonymous

Dear Brian, I mean, “Anonymous,” Read full story »

January 27, 2010

Will Fan For Chocolate!

Unlike moldy cheese, debtors, and incontinence, chocolate is probably something you want more of in your life.

So, in honor of this weekend’s ChocolateFest, I am giving away some fun chocolatey prizes, and all you have to do to enter to win is become a fan of Under the Table With Jen on Facebook or sign up for my weekly newsletter, Table Scraps! Or both, if you want, you overachiever you.
One click of your mouse and you could win one of the following prizes:

1st: A pair of tickets to this weekend’s ChocolateFest at the World Forestry Center!

2nd: Your very own copy of “Chocolate Smarts!”

3rd: A half eaten Xocolatl de Davíd Raleigh bar! Just kidding, I didn’t even open it.

Deadline for me to tell the WFC who gets to pick up the tickets at Will Call is Friday at 9am, so you must be an Under the Table With Jen Facebook Fan or Table Scraps subscriber by then! I will announce the winner tomorrow morning on the blog, and I will send them a Facebook message/email too, so if you enter, make sure you check your inbox tomorrow.

Thank you, as always, for reading. You are more precious to me than my imaginary family cacao plantation, and believe me, that is saying a lot.

January 26, 2010

Eat, Help, Love

Roasted goat and rum—eat like a pirate and raise money for Haiti at the same time this Saturday night at Olympic Provisions.

I just held a supper club event at Olympic Provisions last week and it was one of the best dinner parties I’ve ever had. The space is gorgeous, the people are wonderful, and the food is A++. You’ll not be disappointed!

January 25, 2010

Etta in the Park

The mobile outpost of someday-to-open Violetta restaurant, the “Etta” truck’s cheery bright yellow and blue visage was a beacon of lunch in the midst of downtown Director Park’s cool granite and glass facade this afternoon.

After a series of setbacks–including construction delays, Parks & Recreation red tape, and the infamous explosion that allowed Byron Beck to have some headline fun with the term “restaurant boom”–pushed Violetta’s opening from January to March to June, owner Dwayne Beliakoff (formerly of Roux), sent a letter to the staff explaining the new timeline and Etta’s operating plan, hopes and dreams, which you can read here at PDX Eater.

Read full story »

January 24, 2010

Big Pink Chill HALF OFF!

My birthday is a mere nine months away, so you’ve probably started thinking about what to get me. I’m happy to say your search is over. Because the thing I have lusted over more than anything else in the entire universe, including George Clooney, has just gone on sale. HALF OFF!

I am Half Off. Jen really, really wants me. This seems like a simple equation.

Yes, the massive “Pink Lemonade” Big Chill refrigerator that sits on display in the back of the impossibly charming Noun/St. Cupcake store on SE Belmont, is 50 percent off and eagerly seeking a new home, preferably mine. Noun owner Stephanie told me this afternoon that she is selling it to make room for a new custom Big Chill that will be a better coloric fit for the shop’s upcoming remodel.

Just kidding! I'm really only $1500. Did I mention that Jen REALLY wants me?

The $3000 price tag has been slashed to $1500, and you’re responsible for moving it, and you’ll probably have to redo your entire kitchen around this showpiece, but if you ask me, it’s the deal of a lifetime. Be still, my pink fridge-loving heart!

January 21, 2010

Three A+ Lunches Under $10

Round these parts, you can get a lot of lunch bang for your sawbuck. Food carts, downtown dens of midday dining like Blueplate and Hush Hush Cafe, and even some of the fancier restaurants offer plenty–and plentiful–lunch specials that keep you well fed and your bill in the single digits.

Do NOT print this and attempt to buy your lunch with it.

I like to keep my lunch life both cheap and interesting, so I’m always on the lookout for new lunch spots with good deals. Here are three new places where I’ve been eating well and eating cheap these past couple of weeks.

1. Mee-Sen Thai Eatery

Mee-Sen, the Thai word for both “have noodle” and “have connection” has indeed been making strong connections with Portland food lovers via its delicious noodles. Flanking the west end of a new mini strip mall on N. Mississippi, this charming little Thai noodle house has over 30 items that fit within a $10 budget (nothing on the menu is over $11), but my favorite under-$10 grazing ground is the build-your-own “Guay Tiew” section. First choose from five styles of noodles, then match them with your choice of eight different meat and soup combinations, like Gai Thoon–Thai-style stewed chicken and shiitake mushrooms in a spicy herbaceaous dark chicken broth. You can opt for the regular size ($8-$9), or you can order the small size and get two different kinds for $4.50-$5 each. If noodles aren’t your thing, just order the 10-wing plate of Peek Kai Tod–fried chicken wings–with spicy basil sauce ($9) and make a meal of it, trying not to snort the last bits of fried skin and basil just to make it last longer. Sit beneath one of the crazy Thai movie posters on the wall and your group will be cheerfully occupied for hours trying to decipher them.

3924 N Mississippi Ave. * 503.445.1909 * www.meesenpdx.com * Sun-Thu 11am-9:30pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-9:30pm

2. Pacific Pie Company

Sure the weather’s been suspiciously mild this week, but you know full well what’s going to happen. Mother Nature’s going to get surly again, driving you indoors with her savage rains and freezing temperatures, and you are going to need comfort food in the worst way. By all means, turn to Pacific Pie Company and their warm golden just-baked medallions of PIE. Beef and stout pie, roast lamb pie, Moroccan chickpea pie, creamy chicken pie, Southwest Buffalo pie ($6.50 each)–owners and bakers Sarah Curtis-Fawley and Chris Powell and company are baking up all sorts of delectable Australian-style homemade pies, plus pasties and sausage rolls, in their warm, lovely-smelling Southeast Portland kitchen. Pair one with a cup of homemade soup or a crisp salad ($2.50) and you’ve got a belly-friendly rebuttal to winter’s howling gales.

609 SE Ankeny St. * www.pacificpieco.com * 503.381.6157 * Tue-Sun 10am-3pm

3. Taqueria Los Gorditos

‘I’ve been eating at the Taqueria Los Gorditos food cart for ages,’ you’re probably thinking, ‘What’s so new about that?!’ Yes, but…last week, Taqueria Los Gorditos opened their second location, which happens to be a cozy little cafe at the corner of SE 12th and Division, so now when you wait in line for your big honking super fresh oh-s0-good Garbage Burrito ($6.50), Nachos ($6), Bistek Ranchero ($6.50), Chicharon in Salsa Verde ($6.50), vegan Huaraches ($5), Soycurl Tacos ($2 each), or tofu-stuffed Empanadas Rellenas ($7), you can sit down and enjoy your lunch with a cold Jarritos and Violet the chicken instead of heading straight back to the office to eat your lunch at your desk while browsing waterproof pants and fantasy island vacations.

SE 12th & Division * 503.445.6289 *  Twitter * Mon-Sat 7am-9pm, Sun 7am-3pm

January 20, 2010

Pie Thunder From Down Under

When I try a new restaurant or food that captures the affections of my taste buds, I feel the need to spread my joy immediately, via telephone, via text, via departing comments to people in line and passerby near the door.

After all, when you’re in love, you want to sing it from the rooftops, be your l’amour the brooding, surprisingly-muscular-under-all-those-layers-of-black hipster you enjoyed a brief but torrid affair with on the 15 between SW 2nd Avenue and SE 39th Avenue, or be your l’amour a Pie. Yes, a Pie. Pie deserves true love too, or at least a chance at it.

Dear Pie, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it: "I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you," which is, Full and Happy. PS: You're so much cuter than that hipster on the bus.

Considering this, I was pretty upset when my sis refused to acknowledge my repeated messages about Pacific Pie Company’s new shop and the delicious beef and mushroom pie I was eating there. Then, when I finally tracked her down and demanded an explanation as to why she hadn’t rushed right down to try them, she howled, “BECAUSE SAVORY PIES ARE WEIRD!” Read full story »

January 19, 2010

Dovetail Bakery Open, Pastrygirl Not Open (Yet)

Dovetail Bakery opened their first brick ‘n mortar retail bakery this past Friday at the corner of NE 31st and Alberta, offering long-suffering fans a permanent place to enjoy a hot cup of Courier Coffee and some of the finest vegan pastries in town.

Read full story »

January 15, 2010

Culinary Nooners Part II

This is part two of an Under the Table series entitled “Culinary Nooners,” where I find out-of-the-ordinary lunchtime destinations so you can have a little midday mini-adventure. You know, spice up your lunch life.

Ever have a nostalgic flashback to your good old high school cafeteria, pining for the days when your iceberg lettuce salad with extra ranch and concave grilled cheese sandwich and 600-oz fountain Coke came on a red plastic tray for the whopping price tag of $5? Yeah, me neither.

But while I may not miss high school “cuisine,” or anything about high school for that matter, there’s just something about a cafeteria. Maybe it’s the comforting lack of atmosphere, the predictably unpalatable but incredibly cheap food, the little cartons of chocolate milk, the 101 stories you can make up about the people sitting in rows at long plastic tables gossiping about work or playing cards or reading romance novels while chewing their rubber hamburger cud.

In this installment of Culinary Nooners, you’ll get a blast into the past, and a Nestlé Drumstick too, at the Express Cafe in the United States Post Office in the Pearl District, a hidden gem (I use this term lightly, mind you) where your grilled cheesesteak comes with a free bodice-ripper, and you just might be invited to join a rousing game of Uno by a guy wearing a t-shirt that says “I used up all my sick days, so I just called in Dead.” Read full story »

January 14, 2010

Table For Twelve Returns With A Big, Fat Fibula

Dear Food Friends**,

Once upon a time sis Michelle and I had a supper club. It was called Table For Twelve and it was a rollicking good time. We ate, we drank, we met fun new people who also loved to eat and drink, sometimes we conducted ourselves with grace and dignity like our governess Nonna taught us, sometimes we flashed our wunderpants to the occupants of Le Pigeon and ran home barefoot. It was the best supper club in Portland.

Then, Hollywood came calling. Read full story »

January 14, 2010

Lovely’s Lovely

We had a lovely dinner indeed at just-opened Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, the newest dining venture from the Minnick sisters, who delighted Portlanders with their charming North Portland dinner den Lovely Hula Hands for many years before closing the doors Dec. 31 for personal and staff-related reasons.  You can read their farewell letter here. Read full story »

January 13, 2010

Table for Twelve Returns

Table For Twelve is back. Why should you care? Because it’s the best supper club in Portland, that’s why, bucko.

Here is how it works, in a nutshell. Once a month, me and sis Michelle join 10 of our closest friends/people we’ve never even met before and patronize one of the most interesting restaurants in Portland. We eat, we drink, we laugh, we meet new people, we share desserts with them even though for all we know they have the heebeejeebees, we drink too much, we embarrass ourselves, we run home barefoot, etc. The experience varies a little each time.

We print up meal rating/comment cards for you to fill out after the meal, which Michelle almost always loses, meaning she then has to make up the ratings and comments in our post-meal “review,” which is why a lot of the “comments” say something like “my favorite part of the meal was when michelle flipped jen’s dress up in front of the front window of le pigeon and everyone saw her wunderpants.” This is a true story, actually, which now causes me to wonder why it is we’re resurrecting TFT? Oh right, because it’s the best supper club in Portland. (Note to self: Wear pants on the second Wednesday of every month.) If you want to more about how it works, please click here to see details and our commandments of etiquette. We have 10 of them, just like Mt. Sinai.

While the ship has sort of sailed as far as having TFT tomorrow night, we will be having an amazing dinner next week at a very fun meaty new restaurant. You might be able to guess which one. I’ll be sending out the official invite for next week’s dinner, and subsequent dinners, in my weekly newsletter, Table Scraps. If you don’t already get Table Scraps, you can sign up here. It’s pretty painless. You input your name and email address, which I would never ever sell for money or even chocolate, and every Thursday you get Table Scraps in your inbox. And you get first dibs on Table For Twelve. It seems like a win-win to me.

Looking forward to seeing you at the table!

January 10, 2010

Gratin and Glücklich Endes at Grüner

I went out of town for the holidays, so sis Michelle and I celebrated a belated Christmas dinner at Grüner last week. Read full story »

January 7, 2010

Lucy Loves Bacon

Mette’s dog Lucy, the official Under the Table mascot, is caught in a moment of pure bacon lust.

Lucy Gets the Last Piece of Bacon

January 4, 2010

Foster Burger Open

I’ve been off the grid for a couple of weeks, which was lovely. No tweets, no updates, no posts, no check-ins, not much of anything really. Just me, my new book Far Flung and Well Fed: The Food Writing of R.W. Apple, Jr., and a bottle of champagne. Okay, a few bottles.

Which is my excuse for not posting this press release sooner. 

FOSTER BURGER IS NOW OPEN- DECEMBER 29, 2009

Foster Burger, 5339 SE Foster Road, Portland, 97206, (503) 775-2077, opens its doors tonight.

Chef Daniel Mondok (Sel Gris Restaurant and James Beard Nominee) has put together a short and sweet menu (see attached) featuring house ground burgers, hand cut fries, meal size salads and milkshakes.  Foster Burger will be open for seven consecutive days (December 29th to January 4th) and then will phase into its normal opening schedule:

Thursday to Monday –  Open 5pm to 11pm

Open until midnight on Friday and Saturday

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday

Here is the menu, in case you want to torment yourself reading it while eating your healthy New Year’s Resolution dinner of lettuce leaf-wrapped tofu.
Read full story »

December 21, 2009

Culinary Nooners Part 1

This is part one of a new Under the Table series entitled “Culinary Nooners,” where I find out-of-the-ordinary lunchtime destinations so you can have a little midday mini-adventure. You know, spice up your lunch life. And at the end of the article, you can enter to WIN A FUN PRIZE.

I try to eat lunch out every day. I know the financial whiz people who write bestselling books about how every time you so much as sniff your morning latte you take one symbolic step closer to the poorhouse would scorn me, but I don’t care. My retirement plan has always been to die young and beautiful and in mid-sip of Grande Dame anyway.

When I was little, eating lunch out on the town was an rare thrill, a welcome change of scenery from my own kitchen counter, an adventure that transcended my usual noon routine of a sorrowful, concave peanut butter and jam sandwich served on my mom’s hideous floral print plates. But now that I’m all growed up and can eat lunch out whenever I want, sometimes it gets boring. The thrill is gone. I needed to spice up my lunch life.

So come lunchtime, I went to China.

Read full story »

December 19, 2009

Cheesy Good Fun

I sincerely hope you are a fan of my dear friend Lisa Jacob’s tremendously good cheeses, if you aren’t yet, make a point of stopping by her Jacob’s Creamery booth at the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market this winter (the Hillsdale market runs bimonthly year-round) for a taste of her delectable feta, crumbled mozzarella, cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, and new Irish Cashel blue cheese. And please don’t pass up the pudding.

Lisa writes one of the funniest newsletters in town, and was gracious enough to let me reprint it. Recently, Lisa took a position as cheesemaker at Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheeses, setting off a whole new adventure that involves cheesemaking to the strains of Edith Piaf, learning to make blue cheese with noted cheesemaker-down-under Neville McNaughton, and living in a drafty old farmhouse in “Nowheresville” without luxuries like kitchen plugs.

Here’s the latest installation of Lisa’s hilarious chronicling of her life as a Cheese Czarina. If you want to be included in her mailing list, email her at lisa@jacobscreamery.com.
Read full story »

December 18, 2009

Belly Timber’s David Siegel Talks Pork (And Other Things)

Once upon a time, when someone mentioned Belly Timber Executive Chef David Siegel, I immediately thought of candied bacon.

Read full story »

December 17, 2009

Big-A** Sandwiches Is Here

It seems like everyone’s buzzing about Big-A** Sandwiches, a highly anticipated addition to Portland’s seemingly bottomless food cart community. Of course, with a name like Big-A** Sandwiches, curiosity and Big-A** expectations are only natural.

After a few Twitter-chronicled setbacks, Big-A** Sandwiches looks set to open downtown at SW 3rd and SW Ash on Monday, Dec. 21, for both breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday, and on Thursday-Saturday nights they’ll be dishing up late night grub as well.

The menu is simple and fun, offering four hearty sandwiches on Fleur de Lis bread and the option to douse any of them in creamy béchamel sauce for an extra dollar. Sides include coleslaw and three kinds of fries, from plain to bacon cheese, and you can wash everything down with a Mexican Coke. Big-A** Sandwich heaven. Read full story »

December 16, 2009

Come On, Get Slappy

Slappy Cakes, the newish make-pancakes-right-at-your-table restaurant on SE Belmont Avenue, was the most fun I’ve had for $10 in a long time, even trumping my last good paw through the Walgreen’s clearance section. And that’s high praise.

Read full story »

December 15, 2009

A Christmas Prank

My friend Laura sent me this clip. It’s a prank of great ambition–wait until you see the gift-wrapped refrigerator and paper towels…priceless. I don’t know if the perpetrator deserves coal or a Zhu Zhu Hamster in their stocking.

December 15, 2009

New Chocoutique on SE Belmont?

I’ve been accused in the past of seeing, smelling, and tasting chocolate where no chocolate exists. I suppose there are worst hallucinations to be had. But I could just swear there was cacao in the air when I left Slappycakes (SE Belmont & 42nd) Sunday morning, and a few peeks inside the sleek space next door caused a hopeful theobromine rush.
Read full story »

December 14, 2009

Danish For a Day

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a bona fide Julefrokost, a traditional Danish Christmas Lunch, hosted by Under the Table’s very own Mette Hornung Rankin, designer extraordinaire and honest to goodness Dane, and her husband Darin, an honorary Dane.

Read full story »

December 13, 2009

Cake, Steak and Lobster

I sure do love Martha Rich.

And I love her new website. I think you will too, because who doesn’t love vivid paintings and illustrations of cake, steak, & lobster (and so much more), especially those with a story? Seems like the perfect Christmas present to me. HINT HINT.

December 12, 2009

A Merry Salty Christmas

Christmas trees are probably like babies, you’re certain yours is the most beautiful, even if realistically, it looks kind of like a constipated monkey. But seriously, my tree is the fairest of them all.

Sure, it’s a little lopsided, and someone didn’t distribute the blue lights all that evenly, and I’ve only dug up 11 ornaments thus far, and–as evidenced by the lone gift–I am waaaaay behind on the Christmas shopping, but all that just adds character.

Plus, my Big Gay Ice Cream Truck ornament is in the mail.
Read full story »

December 11, 2009

Where Should I Go For Dinner?

This post is inspired by an email written by my coworker Heather, the shortest email she has ever written, in fact.

From: Heather

Subject: Dinner?

Date: December 9, 2009 12:58:59 PM PST

To: Jen

where should I go for dinner?

I am always happy to help when someone asks me this question. In fact, I tend to drop everything I’m currently working on (in this case, my expense reports, which is my least favorite activity, narrowly edging out ‘picking up the dog’s doody just as the street car goes by’) and devote myself to finding the person a perfect dining venue.

In this case, Heather wanted to try something new. This is the list I made her. Perhaps you will find it useful too.

Read full story »

December 10, 2009

Northwest Sweets Opens

With the exception of a defibrillator, nothing warms the heart faster than a good old-fashioned candy shop. Thus, my heart went a-thumpin’ when it heard that Northwest Sweets had opened on NW 23rd Avenue.

Read full story »

December 8, 2009

First Impressions: The People’s Pig

Sometimes, you don’t know what you’re craving until a nice pork-loving man named Cliff Allen wraps it in foil and hands it to you. 

Today, I was shivering and chattering my way to Blueplate for Pot Roast Tuesday when I was sidetracked by The People’s Pig, a new food cart at SW 2nd & SW Stark, tucked into a parking lot right next to Al-Amir Lebanese Restaurant. It’s a cheerful cart, painted yellow with red stripes, with a nice porky logo that’s difficult to see when the awning is up. I tried to take  a picture for you, but I’m only 5′2″ and I didn’t think the owner of the shiny black SUV in front of The People’s Pig would appreciate my bootprints in his/her hood so this is what you get. I scanned the menu and noticed they had two very tasty sandwiches on it. Plus, I’m such a sucker for a new food cart. My pot roast run was suddenly derailed. 
Read full story »

December 3, 2009

Got Crabs?

In honor of this past Tuesday being the first day of Oregon’s crab season, I made a card for my friend Rob.
For myself, I made a crab dinner. I love, love, LOVE fresh Dungeness crab. Is there anything more satisfying than cracking open a crab leg and gently tugging out a fat, gorgeous hunk of sweet flesh? (Gosh, re-reading that, I feel kind of cruel. Sorry. Click here to join the Facebook Group “Against Cruelty to Crabs;” motto: “Go pick on a prawn.” )

Just in case you’d like to celebrate the onset of crab season yourself, I thought I’d share my perfect crab dinner.

Read full story »

December 3, 2009

No Prickles at Thistle

City girl that I am, I like to joke that I try to leave city limits as little as possible, but in all truth, I don’t get out of town nearly as often as I’d like to. Last week, as part of the Parents-in-Town holiday weekend curriculum, we drove out to the Willamette Valley wine country, where a day of wine tasting, fresh country air-breathing, and driving around in circles on random unpaved roads was capped by an exceptional supper at McMinnville’s Thistle restaurant.

Thistle opened this past July, helmed by chef/owner Eric Bechard and his partner Emily Howard, a wine buyer and McMinnville native. You might remember the talented Bechard from his days behind the stove at now-closed Alberta Street Oyster Bar and Grill. He’s super cute, has a way with roasted beets, and was named the Oregonian’s Rising Star in 2006. In summer 2008, he defected to Seattle to work at Opal Bistro, but it wasn’t long before he returned to Oregon, eschewing Portland in favor of going west into wine country to open his own place.

Read full story »

December 2, 2009

Repeal Day at Teardrop Lounge

This sounds awfully fun, what with the whiskey prescriptions and secret passwords.

December 1, 2009

Olympic Provisions Sneak Preview

Mette, Shellie & I attended the Olympic Provisions’ Friends & Family Sneak Preview lunch this afternoon, so I thought that in the spirit of the season, I’d share my pictures.

Read full story »

November 30, 2009

Blogvana

There are a lot of neat food blogs out there, but every once in a while I stumble up on one that’s irresistible. Like Bakerella. Beware, clicking into her site right now may cause you to fritter away most of your Monday morning looking at cake pops. This post in particular might pique your interest, provided you are a fan of Sesame Street. Which everyone should be. 

November 25, 2009

Every Time a Restaurant Opens, a Foodie Gets Her (Third) Chin

The ripping and tearing sounds you’ll hear in the week following Thanksgiving aren’t your favorite jeans finally giving up the post-11-helpings-of-leftover-stuffing good fight, it’s the brown paper coming off the windows of four new Portland restaurants. Or so we hope. Keep your fingers crossed for the following eateries to throw open their doors as scheduled. Read full story »

November 24, 2009

Grüner & Foster Burger Updates

This is probably old news to most of you, I accidentally let both of these press releases age in my inbox for a few days, but they caught my eye this morning while I was trolling for job offer emails from French champagne houses in need of tasters, so I will post them now, old news or not. 

First up, Foster Burger. 

 

Reply

 

 

Kurt Huffman  to info

show details Nov 20 (4 days ago)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

chefstablepdx@gmail.com

Portland, Oregon

Daniel Mondok (Sel Gris) and Andy Ricker (Pok Pok, Ping) will team with ChefStable to open a burger bar at 5339 SE Foster in Portland sometime this January.  The menu will be simple and inexpensive with a focus on signature meat (ground in-house), hand cut fries, simple salads, milk shakes and a full bar.  The 48 seat bar will feature a heated 50 seat outdoor smoking patio which will be open year-round.

For more information e-mail:  info@fosterburger.com

Next, good news from Chris Israel about Grüner, which is only blocks from my apartment, so I’m extra excited about it. It’s a long one, but just click to keep reading. Read full story »

November 21, 2009

Five Food Funnies

Here are my favorite food funnies of November, thus far.

1. Girls in cute dresses making Ham Daquiris

Read full story »

November 19, 2009

The Scoop on Fifty Licks

Ice cream lovers (and I hope that’s all of you), put down that tub of Haagen Dazs or Coconut Bliss and pay attention–there’s a new ice cream maker in town, and he and his trusty Carpigiani have big plans to seduce you with their cold, creamy creations, passion for excellent local ingredients, and maybe even the sweet strains of the ukelele.

I sat down this week with Fifty Licks‘ Chad Draizin in the marvelous smelling Lower East Burnside kitchen he shares with Abby’s Table and Salt, Fire & Time, over a bowl of soup generously provided by kitchenmate Tressa Yellig, and we talked about Chad’s winding path from college dropout to beer brewer to ice cream man (all before the age of 30), his passion for the “science nerd” aspects of ice cream making, the impromptu tequila and chocolate-fueled think tank that resulted in the name Fifty Licks, and his dreams of his very own scoop shop filled with retro waffle makers, shoestring fry-studded malted ice cream, and of course, plenty of jimmies. Read full story »

November 19, 2009

Lovejoy Bakers Opens Today!

The line wasn’t quite out the door yet this morning when I arrived at brand new Lovejoy Bakers, but it was getting close.

A partnership between former Pearl Bakery head baker Dan Griffin and the owners of Pizzicato Pizza, Lovejoy Bakers’ opening was eagerly anticipated by neighbors, industry folks, and curious food lovers alike. I’ve been peeking through the brown paper on the windows for weeks, myself. Maybe even months. Having suffered through meals at three of the four restaurants who occupied and then unoccupied the space before the arrival of Lovejoy Bakers, I was sincerely hoping the fifth time would be a charm. It’s certainly looking, and tasting, hopeful.

Inside the beautiful glass and steel-framed bakery, tantalizing freshly baked breads and pastries were lined up in neat rows, a full coffee bar fueled those on their way to work with Ristretto Roasters brews, and a selection of fresh fruit, natural juices and sodas, sparkling water, and Nancy’s organic yogurt filled the cold case by the registers.

I ogled the lunch menu, which includes 17 sandwich selections like open-faced smoked salmon tartine with creme fraiche and egg salad with lemon zest and chives, a few soups, house cheese and charcuterie plates, breakfast sandwiches served all day, and salads like roasted beet and citrus with chevre and the Lovejoy Salad–Bleu d’ Auvergne, San Daniele proscuitto, house-roasted turkey, sliced egg, and cured olives in a tarragon dressing. For pictures and menu click here>> Read full story »

November 18, 2009

They Eat, They Tweet: 12 Food Tweeps You Should Follow

@jenlikestoeat

What with Twitter being all the rage these days, it’s hard not to be a follower, even though Mom told us it was a bad idea because no good comes those who channel their inner lemming. Just the other day, overwhelmed by the relentless tide of incoming tweets rolling down my @jenlikestoeat page, I cleaned out my “following” box, and in the process took stock of my favorite existing tweeps, and added a few new must-reads.

Here’s my list of 12 of today’s tastiest Tweeters. If you aren’t already following them, you probably would enjoy doing so, assuming you give two twits about food. (I know. I’m sorry. I could not help myself.) Read full story »

November 17, 2009

Julefrokost 2009

I got this invite from Mette today. In true Mette style, it was exquisite.

A traditional Danish Christmas lunch, Julefrokost starts at 1 pm, and from what Mette tells me, lasts at least seven hours.

“You are invited to our Annual Holiday Lunch for victuals and cheer. Arrive prepared for good food, drinks, and conversation,” reads the invite in both Danish and English when you lift up the four tiny doors that Mette painstakingly crafted with an X-Acto knife. Then it spells out a few menu teasers. “Schnapps, herring, fish, liverpaste, cucumber salad, beer, ryebread, mackerel, and more.”

Apparently, Danish Christmas lunch also involves a great deal of Aquavit. Oh my.

November 16, 2009

Confessions of a Snack Smuggler

Last week, my boyfriend and I went to see The September Issue, a rare treat since neither of us ever seem to have the time for the luxury of a movie-theater movie. I was set for movie snacks, I’d just gotten a sampler pack of Theo chocolate bars as a birthday gift and it was securely buried in my handbag beneath a scarf. Eschewing my stash of chocolate, he bought a small soda and a small popcorn at the theater snack counter, the total for which came to $11, which sent him into spasms of indignity. To which I said, “That is why you SMOS–Smuggle Your Own Snacks.” 

I’ll probably get my Regal Crown Club card pulled for this post, but I’m a firm believer in packing in your own movie snacks. It’s not just the outrageous cost associated with in-theater snacks, it’s the selection and quality control. It’s true that a few theaters around town, like The Academy Theater in Montavilla or downtown’s plush Living Room Theater or (depending on how you feel about the McMenamin’s menu), any of the McMenamin’s theaters, serve up a decent spread at a not-too-ungodly markup, but almost invariably the first-run theaters serve up the same tired boxed candy, oversalted popcorn, and conventional soda. The food-lover needs more. 

Michelle and I are huge advocates of the above-and-beyond theater repast. We shared a bag of freshly made cart tacos at Wolverine, we feasted on strawberries, chocolate and Brie in The Proposal, and we took a bottle of Veuve and Riedel flutes to the Sex & the City screening, unintentionally popping the cork at a pivotal point in the opening sequence and earning a theater-wide ovation for it. A few weeks ago we went somewhat thematic and smuggled hot Altengartz bratwursts into New York, I Love You, and packed a French picnic for Coco Before Chanel–ham & gruyere sandwiches, green olives, crisp apples, good dark chocolate, little cans of Sofia Blanc de Blancs, and tiny bottles of Segura Viudas cava. The picnic fit in a small Banana Republic bag, and the ticket-checker didn’t give it a second glance. 

It made me wonder what other people smuggle into the movies. Please, do share your Confessions of a Snack Smuggler. What’s the finest feast you’ve taken into a movie? Do you smuggle your snacks in the giant purse you reserve for moviegoing excursions, in your back pocket (oops), in your scarf-with-pockets? Email them to jen@underthetablewithjen.com. I will compile the best ones and post them, sort of a la Cosmo confessions, but less raunchy. Well, I think they’ll be less raunchy, anyways. Who knows what memories people might dredge up about what they snacked on at the screening of 9 1/2 weeks.

November 12, 2009

Getting To Know Elias Cairo and His Meat

As the eagerly anticipated restaurant and salumeria Olympic Provisions prepares to open in the Produce Row neighborhood of the Southeast waterfront next week, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding the OP and its roster of influential and accomplished partners, which include Clyde Common owner Nate Tilden, Clyde Common Executive Chef Jason Barwikowski, and former Executive Chef of Castagna Elias Cairo, who will assume the unique title of “meat-curing chef.”

Last weekend Eli, Michelle (Eli’s sister and OP co-owner) and I went to breakfast at Broder (one of Eli’s favorite breakfast spots) and talked a little bit about his globe-trotting meat-loving adventures, his taste in meat-curing music, his favorite spot to get meat, his ironic stint as a happy teenage vegan, and why Olympic Provisions will be the biggest and most exciting challenge of his career.

Read full story »

November 12, 2009

Are You Playing Foursquare?

Once upon a time, I was not fond of Foursquare. When you are forced to wear glasses AND a headgear in elementary school (why yes, this did scar me for life, thanks for asking), you develop a wariness of games involving hard rubber balls being bounced in the vicinity of your face.

But time changes everything. Teeth get straightened. Nearsighted eyes get Lasiked. The scars of youth are replaced by those inflicted by adulthood. And one day, you wake up and Foursquare is the most compelling thing since bacon-infused chocolate–Foursquare the location-based social network, that is.

I’m new to the Foursquare scene, myself. My first introduction came this summer, as I read Whiffies Fried Pies owner Gregg Abbott’s tweets declaring himself mayor of this or that. At first, I ignored them. I thought he had delusions of grandeur, or was living out some sort of weird twisted mayoral recall-gone-wild fantasy. Au contraire, he was “playing” Foursquare, a fast-growing mobile social networking phenomenon with a loyal and quickly expanding Portland following and strong implications for social food lovers about town. Read full story »

November 12, 2009

Tale of Two Pie Heavens: Part 1

Once upon a time a wise man, I think it was Jack Handy, said: “When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it’s not, mmmmmmmm, boy.”

Some people’s idea of pie heaven is holing up in a warm kitchen with a lot of cold butter, a rolling pin, a heaping fruit basket, and a library of spices, while other people’s idea of pie heaven is walking into Random Order bakery, pointing to the brandied peach pie and handing over their money. Let’s not quibble–there’s no right or wrong pie heaven.

But with Thanksgiving on the horizon, it’s time to think about where you stand, because while the turkey gets a lot of space on the T-Day playbill, it’s the pie that brings down the house–warm spicy pumpkin pie, could-die-happy-now chocolate pecan pie, cinnamon and nutmeg-laced good-old-fashioned apple pie.

Whether you believe the road to pie heaven is paved with good intentions, Grandma’s secret lard-laden crust recipe, or cold hard cash, Portland’s pie scene has something for you. Read full story »

November 12, 2009

Tale of Two Pie Heavens: Part 2

Not wanting to make pie is nothing to be ashamed of. Not everyone has pie-making in their blood, or even a remote interest in breaking cold butter into a willing mound of flour, rolling out a flaky dough, wrestling it into a pie pan, crimping it, and filling it with deliciousness.

Fine. So be it. But there must be pie on the Thanksgiving table, so you are going to have to go out and forage in the urban wilds of Portland to find it. Fortunately many fine local bakeries are opening their pie-making arms to you. Here they are.

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November 11, 2009

Nostalgia

Someone cute just sent me this. Considering I paid $6.25 for a ham sandwich at lunch today, I feel wistful. I could sure go for a 25-cent deluxe tulip sundae right about now. 

November 5, 2009

Love at First Bite: The Sugar Cube

I woke up so all aflutter this morning, I half expected to see plane tickets to Paris on the nightstand. But then I realized that my morning butterflies were just preemptive insulin spikes resulting from my anticipation of the Grand Opening of much-missed The Sugar Cube food cart, the newest and sweetest addition to North Portland’s Mississippi Marketplace.

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November 4, 2009

Chef Ben Bettinger Tells All

(Okay, so maybe Ben didn’t tell all, but he did tell me what it’s like being named Restaurant of the Year when your kitchen is barely four months old, he revealed his early affinity for melted Brie and apple sandwiches, and he admitted that while he works at one of Portland’s premiere cocktail hotspots, after a long night in the kitchen he drinks Coors from the can.)

After nearly a decade spent in the kitchens of some of Portland’s most respected restaurants, 30-year-old chef Ben Bettinger has come into his own at four-month-old Beaker & Flask, a much-anticipated cocktail bar and restaurant that garnered a significant buzz around town leading up to its rather prolonged opening on June 25th. Read full story »

November 3, 2009

A Dish-Free Thanksgiving

Dear Dishwasher,

I’m sorry to break it to you like this, but your services won’t be required this Thanksgiving. Yes, I know you’re accustomed to full racks four times over on Turkey Day, I know you were ready and willing to bravely spray, wash, rinse and pulverize at least 25 pounds of turkey gristle, butternut squash soup smears, port and tangerine zest-accented cranberry sauce glops, pecan pie crusts, and the half-eaten remnants of Aunt Martha’s dreaded leaden corn muffins like you do faithfully every year, but this year Mother has asked that we dine out, and Mother always get her way.

Cordially,

Jen

PS: If you’re thinking of picking up some freelance work on T-day, you might try one of the following bastions of Turkey Day gluttony:

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November 3, 2009

Do You Have What It Takes to Get Yelled At by Chef Tom Colicchio?

Bravo TV’s Top Chef combines two of my favorite things–food and reality tv–and affords me the opportunity to gape at sexy Chef Tom Colicchio, so it was exciting to hear that Top Chef is holding auditions for the show’s 7th Season right in here in our dear Portland, next Sunday, Nov. 15, between 10am – 2pm, at the Benson Hotel. 

The stakes are high and so are the producers’ expectations. Contestants must have “a passion for food, creativity, a thorough knowledge of cooking techniques and trends and oodles of charisma.”  According to the 24-page application, hopefuls must also:

*Create a culinary interpretation of the lyric “Eleven Pipers Piping” from the song “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

*Create a dish based on the color yellow.

*Dish on who your least favorite chef is and why. 

*Describe your most embarrassing moment. 

*Reveal an odd fact about yourself or talent you possess. 

*List any celebrity chef contacts you have. 

You also have to submit a five minute video, in which you are directed to “show off.” 

“We want to be impressed with you as a chef, but we also need to get to know you as a person and your personality–make us laugh, cry, have fun…most of all, be YOU,” requests the network.

That’s all very nice, but after reading through all 24 pages of the application, my one question was not answered: Is Tom Colicchio going to be there giving out free smooches or what? Because if he is, even I could be persuaded to make a video revealing my passionate, charismatic rendering of yuzu pancakes with corn and yellow bell pepper salsa in a French’s mustard & lemon reduction.

November 1, 2009

All You Can Eat Tastebud Pizza and Salad

If you’re prone to the Sunday evening blues, and are known to stay home alone eating leftover lo mein, watching Ace of Cakes reruns, and trying to forget that you are working class and thus have to return to your cubicle in roughly 12 hours, take heart–starting TONIGHT, Tastebud Pizza has brightened your Sunday nights considerably with their new All-You-Can-Eat Pizza and Salad extravaganza.

Each and every Sunday night from 5-10pm, at Tastebud’s pretty little hidden dining room at 3220 SE Milwaukie (across the street from the Aladdin Theater), for $15 you can choose from 4-5 kinds of seasonal brick-oven-baked pizzas (think roasted squash, pancetta, pears, and spicy kale) and a variety of winter salads, and then keep on with the pizza and salad-eating force and don’t stop ’til you get enough.

October 28, 2009

Today is My Birthday, now Gimme Some PickleCake!

Today is my birthday. I won’t tell you how old I am, because after a certain age, a lady should never tell, unless the Trader Joe’s clerk asks you because you’re buying a case of Blanc de Blancs, which by the way is the best $4.99 bottle of sparkly ever.   

The day is going well. I had a round of La Tur and a small bar of Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate (both from Pastaworks) for breakfast, because, it’s my birthday and I can.

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October 24, 2009

I Got Lucky at the Hot Pepper Spa

It was Friday night, work was a rapidly fading memory, and my tumbly was rumbly. Time to play the ‘where do you want to eat tonight?’ game. I had a few ideas, I usually do.

“Some people like to come home after a long week, put their feet up, watch a little TV, relax,” my boyfriend said wearily. “You want to go drive around and look for food.”

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October 23, 2009

Friday Breakfast Club: Byways Cafe

Every Friday morning at 7:15 am, Bethie and I (and Michelle if she can get out of bed), meet for Friday Breakfast Club. It can be a little tricky to find a good breakfast joint that’s open before 8 am, but we ferret them out. We both work downtown, so we aim for west side destinations, in a largely futile attempt not to be later to work than usual.

This week we met at Byways Cafe on NW Glisan Street, in the Pearl. Byways is a cheerfully eclectic diner with an old fashioned soda counter and wonderful sparkly red vinyl booths to sink into on a rainy morning such as this. Hot coffee comes almost immediately, and you can hear the scrambles a’sizzling and the line cooks ribbing each other. A motley collection of regulars sit silently at a table or on a barstool and leisurely read the paper. It’s a great place to wake up and smell the bacon. 

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October 19, 2009

Look Ma, Wallpaper Loves PDX! AlsoIgotatattoo.

Oh, the things I do for my job. Today, I volunteered to have my leg tattooed with henna, for a video shoot we’re doing this week. Laura was supposed to be the victim but whoever got the tattoo couldn’t shower until tomorrow morning and she wanted to work out tonight. At first I objected but she bribed me with a bottle of champagne. We all have our price.  Read full story »

October 19, 2009

PFM Makes Food Dreams Come True

Like me, you probably have food dreams yet unfulfilled. Cooking school in Montalcino, dinner at elBulli, centipede skewers at Beijing’s Dong Hua Men Night Market, a steamy snog session with Jamie Oliver, I could go on and on. Perhaps your yet-to-be-realized food dreams include a year’s worth of Portland Farmer’s Market shopping sprees (yes, please!), or making dinner with famous Portland chef… Read full story »