Under the Table with Jen » Wine & Cheese

Cheese Bar

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:54:25 +0000

When prolific Portland cheesemonger Steve Jones announced that he was moving his revered cheese shop from its cozy Northwest Portland nook 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. Now the wedge and wheel crowd happily flocks to Steve’s straightforwardly-dubbed Cheese Bar at the corner of SE Belmont & 61st Avenue, where you’ll find everything from creamy Bries and blues to odoriferous Langres, as well as a full selection of charcuterie, specialty groceries, chocolate, and a rotating, seasonally-influenced menu of beer-&-wine-friendly sandwiches, salads, soups, and small plates. Six rotating taps and a nicely-curated selection of wine ensures there’s always a stout for your cheddar and a rosé for your Mahón.

Foster & Dobbs

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:46:29 +0000

If you’ve had a hard day at work, I highly suggest unwinding at Northeast specialty market Foster & Dobbs, where you can chase all your troubles and cares away with one of their fantastic DIY cheese plates and a bottle of wine or something from the by-the-glass menu–which usually offers a white, red, and rosé for $5-$6. To create your cheese plate, choose your favorite cheese(s) from Foster & Dobb’s well-stocked cheese case and then select one of three accompaniments to complement it–Savory (olives, marcona olives, bread), Sweet (dried fruit, hazelnuts, bread), or Ploughman’s (greens, bread, and mustard or chutney). The plate setup is $5, plus the cost of your cheese, by weight. Sit back with your wine and cheese at one of the little indoor or outdoor bistro tables and watch the after work crowd as they trickle in–the young professional couple buying two bottles of red wine for their dinner party, an older professorial-looking twosome discussing an NPR story on Sudan while choosing charcuterie, a Levi’s-clad 20-something sampling the Yakima Applewood Smoked Salt, two stylish sisters speaking French but obviously arguing over the Fromage d’Affinois, and a grandmother who smells faintly of lavendar and cats spooning olives into a to-go tub. Listen to the soft jazz music and eye the table of chocolate hopefully and one by one, the irksome memories of your boss’s inane requests and unfavorite coworker’s outbursts will vanish, and you’ll be refreshed and renewed, or at least a little buzzed, happy and mellow. That’s the power of wine and cheese.

Evoe

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:54:52 +0000

When Evoe Executive Chef Kevin Gibson raids the pantry, he does it right. And since he has carte blanche to pull whatever catches his eye and palate from the adjoining Pastaworks Market, and Pastaworks has one of Portland’s most blissful cheese selections, you can rest assured that the three cheeses he puts on your cheese board on any given day will be superlative. Each cheese is paired with condiments like marcona almonds, housemade plum compote, and freshly cut figs, plus slices of Pearl Bakery baguette cut right in front of your eyes. Order a glass of wine from the chalkboard menu, or buy any bottle from Pastaworks wine shop and bring it along, the corkage is just $5.

Pastaworks Mississippi

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:25:04 +0000

Pastaworks was probably already one of your favorite spots to buy wine and cheese, but did you know you can buy your wine and cheese and eat (and drink) it too? Select your favorite cheese from Pastaworks’ enviable cheese case, and perhaps a bit of your favorite salumi too, and either take advantage of one of their lovingly curated wine department’s proffered glass pours or buy your own bottle and sip it on the spot for a small corkage fee. Since this sleek Mississippi Street specialty grocery store hasn’t been doing this very long, being the newest addition to the Pastaworks family and all, all the details haven’t been ironed out and there might not be much information lying around about how to go about constructing your personal wine and cheese party, but they told me all you have to do is ask and they will fix you up. Just be mindful of their 7 pm closing time–you and your Barbera and Gorgonzola must be but a memory by then so that the friendly Pastaworks employees can go home and have their own wine and cheese parties.

Vino Paradiso

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:17:30 +0000

Half art gallery, half swanky wine bar, the Pearl District’s Vino Paradiso has a very calming effect on the soul, particularly once the soul has absorbed a bottle of very good wine and a cheese and salumi plate. Vino Paradiso takes the quality of the cheese and salumi they offer very seriously–the cheese menu is curated with the help of Northeast Portland specialty store Foster & Dobbs, which sports one of the city’s most dazzling cheese counters, while the small but expertly chosen charcuterie list includes cured meats by three of the finest salumi purveyors around–Portland’s own Olympic Provisions, Berkeley-based Fra’Mani, and Utah’s Creminelli Fine Meats. During Vino Paradiso’s 4-6 pm happy hour, glass pours of wine are $2 off and the $6 food menu includes a cheese and Pearl Bakery bread plate, among other delectables like speck-wrapped dates and the risotto of the day. If you’ve already acquired your cheese elsewhere and wish for wine to go, Vino Paradiso offers takeout bottles—wines on the glass list are half off, and those on the regular bottles list are 30% off.

Metrovino

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:04:09 +0000

Metrovino, the Pearl’s newest and most ambitious wine bar, is serving up multitudes of lovely wines along with Chef Gregory Denton’s (formerly of Luciere) inventive international cuisine. The wall of wines behind the bar—with its rows of bottles in gleaming glass canisters—looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Herein lies Metrovino’s claim to fame—European-style Enomatic machines that preserve opened wines for a month or longer, allowing Metrovino to serve tons of wines by the glass, including rare and expensive wines us regular folk might not otherwise get to try. Metrovino’s wines by the glass list is unsurpassed, and they have a special list of $9 and under wines, making this the perfect spot to sip a drink and nibble a wedge of creamy Spanish Valdeón blue cheese with port-poached pear and toasted walnuts ($7).

Noble Rot

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:25:24 +0000

At Noble Rot, your wine and cheese comes with a free view, and what a view it is—a lofty eastside perspective of downtown Portland, the sparkly Willamette, Mt. Hood, and the front door of Union Jack’s, so you can see if your honey is really going to “watch the game” and that’s why they flaked on getting after-work drinks, or if that’s just a big fat lie and they are actually going to look at boobies. The Noble Rot cheese plate is a rotating assortment of truly lovely cheeses—you may find Cowgirl Creamery’s mellow St. Pat, a tangy Caña de Cabra goat’s cheese, creamy Cashel blue, and a Pleasant Ridge Reserve cow’s milk cheese sharing the plate with rounds of Grand Central Bakery baguette ($12). Noble Rot’s wine flights are very popular ($10-$14) and their four house pours are a steal at $5. During Noble Rot’s M-F happy hour, 5-6 pm daily, your house wine is a mere $3 and the cheese plate is $9 and the view is still free.

Kir Wine Bar

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:52:39 +0000

This tiny jewel of a wine bar is slightly off the beaten track at NE 7th and NE Couch, just a cork’s pop from bustling Burnside Ave. Owner Amalia Roberts has a vast knowledge of good (and not too pricey) wine, an affinity for rosé (a whopping 10 rosés are available by the glass in honor of summer), and a warmth and genuine love for her craft. She’ll help you pair your wine with satisfying small plates like her meat, cheese and fruit plate ($10), or delicious proscuitto, fig compote, and fromage blanc crostini ($6). After 10 pm all open glass pours are $2 off, making this the perfect stop after dinner at Le Pigeon or a show at Doug Fir Lounge.

Bar Avignon

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:07:09 +0000

Blessed with two expert owners at the helm (co-owner Randy Goodman used to be the wine director at Wildwood), it’s no surprise that stylish yet pleasingly rustic neighborhood hangout Bar Avignon’s wine and cheese lists are superb. And since next to every good wine there should stand a good cheese, Bar Avignon has a sterling selection of artisan cheeses paired with the appropriate condiments, like the firm, richly flavored sheep’s milk cheese Pecorino Sardo with cherry conserva, Caña de Cabra goat’s milk cheese with marinated olives, and raw cow’s milk Great Hill Blue with Buzzing Canyon honey, which is harvested in nearby Estacada. Cheese are $5 each, and if you go during happy hour (Mon-Fri 4-6pm) you can enjoy the cheese of the day with baguette for $4, and $5 glasses of red, white, and rosé wine.