June ’11 11 Portland’s Portlands Magazine of Food + Drink
Where to eat on Clinton Street A cider-centric pub, Frenchy wines Join the Negroni fan club
summer love Grilling with sticks / p24 Insider secrets from some of our favorite people / p31 Strawberry dessert revival / p38
JUNE 2011
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editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note When you spend the first three decades of your life in a place where the sun shines brightly at least six continuous months of the year, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to take all that vitamin D for granted. In fact (I hesitate to admit this), by midsummer, I usually found the sun oppressive. But my relationship with that big ball in the sky is very different now that I live in a city where the sun plays hard to get. What was once oppressive is now a source of obsession. I relish every peekaboo sun break, however fleeting. I check the weather forecast religiously. And when summer finally arrives, after teasing us with weeks of fits and Want to be sure you starts, I rearrange get every issue of MIX? my entire life so that Subscribe! I can spend as much of it outside as pos10 issues, $20 sible. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a high Go to mixpdx.com school crush, all over or call 503-221-8240. again.
4
Honestly, though, I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have it any other way. All that waiting for the sun to shine just makes it that much more glorious when it finally does. The same is true for all the things that come with it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the ripe juicy strawberries, the backyard barbecues, the picnics by the river. That old chestnut about absence and hearts is true. To help you get the most out of this muchadored, long-awaited season, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re giving you plenty of fresh ideas for summertime favorites. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got easy but insanely delicious ideas for Asian skewers, so you can throw a grilling party for just the family or the entire block. And we know youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be buying strawberries by the flat, so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dusted off five gorgeous vintage recipes to put them to good use. Best
of all, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve collected dozens of great summertime ideas from Portlanders you know and love â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the people who feed you and entertain you and make this city such an awesome place to live. From swimming holes and road trips to parties and Popsicles, there are lots of fun tips you can steal. Because when the sun finally arrives for the long haul, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to want to miss a single day of it.
Danielle Centoni, editor dcentoni@oregonian.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY BeTH nAkAMuRA
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june 2011
24 Food on a StiCk
Forget steaks and burgers. If you’re grilling for a crowd, Take it easy and grab the skewers.
31 SuMMer lovin’
Some of Portland’s most notable food lovers dish on what they adore most about summer.
38 StrawberrieS
Go old-SChool Five vintage dessert recipes get a fresh take and a hefty dose of luscious Oregon berries.
in every iSSue 15 StarterS Delectable Popsicles, dazzling jam pot, drinkable vinegar
47 PubCrawl A Southeast Portland pub where the suds are cider-centric
21 MixMaSter Negroni infatuation leads to variations
51 Five wineS French picks from June perfect for summer
45 Good CheeSe Cougar Gold proves great things come in cans
55 walkabout Clinton Street boasts blocks of great food
59 eat here Gastown: B.C.’s most vibrant ’hood 63 SCene What to eat at Aviary and Tabla 68 hiGh Five From Belgian to shoestring, the best fries in PDX
ON The COver The look of love — a perfect hood strawberry, deep crimson and so plump you can almost taste it. Photograph by rob Finch ThiS PAGe (ABOve) Fiery coals await Gabe rosen’s scallop and vegetable skewers. Photograph by randy L. rasmussen
Mix is 10 issues a year! it’s easy to subscribe online — go to MixPdx.CoM and click on “subscribe.” you can also find past articles, restaurant reviews and all our recipes at mixpdx.com, so get clicking and start eating.
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MAiN DisHes: â&#x20AC;˘ Grilled Vegetable Skewers With Dengaku sauce, p26 â&#x20AC;˘ Kasuzuke Scallops, p27 â&#x20AC;˘ Muu Ping (Pork Skewers Marinated in Fish sauce and Coconut Milk), p29 â&#x20AC;˘ Octopus Skewers, p29 â&#x20AC;˘ Tsukune (Fried Chicken sausage skewers With Creamy Chili-Garlic sauce), p28 siDes: â&#x20AC;˘ Chinese Muslim-style Cucumber salad, p30 â&#x20AC;˘ Roasted Sweet Potatoes With sweet and Hot Mustard sauce, p30
DesseRTs: â&#x20AC;˘ Green Almond Blancmange With Fresh strawberries, p43 â&#x20AC;˘ Sheep-Milk Yogurt Panna Cotta, p18 â&#x20AC;˘ Strawberries Romanoff With Financiers, Tarragon ice Cream and Blood Orange Crème FraĂŽche, p40 â&#x20AC;˘ Strawberry Pavlovas With Crème FraĂŽche Filling, p41 â&#x20AC;˘ Strawberry-Rhubarb Charlottes With Cinnamon sabayon, p42 â&#x20AC;˘ Strawberry Sabayon Parfaits, p39 DRiNKs: â&#x20AC;˘ Americano, p23 â&#x20AC;˘ Continental, p23
Online extras at mixPdx.Com: â&#x20AC;˘ Find out where to buy our June wine picks â&#x20AC;˘ Put your Cougar Gold (or any other cheddar cheese) to good use with a recipe for a Double Cheddar and Tomato Jam grilled cheese sandwich â&#x20AC;˘ Wash down your Asian skewer feast with a pitcher of Naam Krachiap (Thai Hibiscus Drink) â&#x20AC;˘ Gear up for canning season with a recipe for Grandma Ruth Dollarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pickles
8
â&#x20AC;˘ Mix up a classic Negroni
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â&#x20AC;˘ Get chef Greg Perraultâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recipe for Grilled Reister Farms Leg of Lamb steak With Chimichurri and Fava Beans
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contributors
May 6 - July 5 THE INNOVATORS OF COMFORT™
Kris Krug, a self-described “techartist, quasi-sage and cyberpunk anti-hero from the future,” is a fashion, music and portraits photographer based in Vancouver, B.C. No stranger to the city’s vibrant Gastown neighborhood, he captured its charms for our Eat Here feature on Page 59. Check out more of his work at kriskrug. com and staticphotography.com.
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Sasha Davies, our new Good Cheese columnist, has built a career out of her obsession with cheese. She started as an apprentice in the cheese caves of Artisanal Premium Cheese in New York City, where she ate her weight in cheese samples many times over. She went on to manage the caves at Murray’s Cheese and to work as a resident cheese expert for Marlow & Sons. The author of “The Guide to West Coast Cheese: More than 300 Cheeses Handcrafted in California, Oregon and Washington” (Timber Press, 2010), left NYC for Portland in 2008, and now works for Beecher’s Handmade Cheese and serves on the board of the American Cheese Society. “This column gives me one more fantastic reason to eat, search for and think about cheese.” See her column about Cougar Gold on Page 45.
This month’s Mixmaster column on the Negroni (Page 21) required Seattle-based drinks writer paul Clarke to do some arduous research — not that he minded. “The Negroni is possibly the perfect cocktail,” says Clarke, whose work appears in Imbibe and the San Francisco Chronicle and on SeriousEats.com. “It’s simple enough for a novice yet offers a challenge to those who seek one. The Negroni is one of the all-time greats.” You can keep up with his spirited exploits at cocktailchronicles.com.
Food and feature writer Michael C. Zusman is a Portland native who still remembers Yaw’s, Mr. C’s Hippopotamus and Henry Thiele’s. He likes to eat stinky cheese and almost all animal parts. Restaurants that don’t take reservations make him cranky, as do whiny diners, fast food joints and vegan pastries. After many years reviewing restaurants for The Oregonian, he still hasn’t tired of eating out almost every night, so he’s thrilled to be writing reviews for MIX. Find out what he thinks about Tabla and Aviary on Page 64, and see his story on Asian skewers on Page 24.
OTHER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUDREY VAN BUSKIRK, gRANt BUtlER, DANIEllE CENtoNI, KAthERINE ColE, johN foYStoN , AlI jEpSoN, MIChAEl C. ZUSMAN follow us on
*Ekornes specially discounted chairs and red tag clearance chairs are excluded from the free accessory promotion.
OTHER CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS/ILLUSTRATORS thoMAS BoYD, fAIth CAthCARt, jENNY KANE, BEth NAKAMURA, MotoYA NAKAMURA, RANDY l. RASMUSSEN
VOLUME 5 / ISSUE 5
mixpdx.com DANIELLE CENTONI / EDITOR
dcentoni@oregonian.com
LINDA SHANKWEILER / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
lshankweiler@oregonian.com REED DARMON / DESIGNER
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WALLY BENSON, AMY REIfENRATH / COPY EDITORS ADVERTISING STEvE uRBAN / MIX ADVERTISING MANAGER surban@oregonian.com, 503-221-8314 JOSEpH GORDON / SENIOR RESEARCh ANALYST jgordon@oregonian.com JuDY ROOKS / MARkETING MANAGER jrooks@oregonian.com, 503-221-8397 DENICE WILLIAMS / RETAIL ADVERTISING MANAGER dwilliams@oregonian.com, 503-221-8514 DEBI WALERY / GENERAL ADVERTISING MANAGER dwalery@oregonian.com, 503-221-8302 RYAN COuRTNEY / AUTO, REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING MANAGER rcourtney@oregonian.com, 503-221-8329 CHuCK SpITTAL / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR cspittal@oregonian.com, 503-294-4110
Let’s Celebrate! Your riverboat dining experience aboard the Portland Spirit and Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler vessels includes fresh Northwest cuisine prepared in our on board galleys, superb service, beautiful views of Portland's downtown skyline, stunning vistas in the Columbia Gorge, live entertainment and narration. A lunch cruise, brunch cruise, or dinner cruise on one of our vessels is perfect for entertaining out-of-town guests or for celebrating your special occasions.
TO ADVERTISE STEvE uRBAN / MIX ADVERTISING MANAGER surban@oregonian.com, 503-221-8314 TO SUBSCRIBE: GO TO MIXpDX.COM OR CALL 503-221-8240
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Attn: Circulation Dept./MIX Magazine 1320 S.w. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 CIRCULATION hOTLINE 503-221-8240 A publication of Oregonian Publishing Co.
SpECIAL THANKS / Biwa’s Gabe Rosen and kina Voelz, who generously cooked for us on their day off; Yuko hardy for lending us her cool Japanese plates; and all the awesome people on Pages 31 through 37, for sharing their stories with us.
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S H O W R O O M • S T O N E YA R D • G R E E N H O U S E
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Oregon City neighborhood Willamette River
43
Main St
of Oregon’s First City at the First City Celebration an Art, Wine, Beer and Music festival on Main Street. Last year’s event attracted over 3,000 visitors.
Oregon City Antique Fair
First Fridays Celebrate Commerce and Culture on the First Friday of the month throughout summer. Downtown is alive with great restaurants, shops, artists, and music street side.
May - Oct
5 to 8 pm
8th Street Farmers Market Join us at the downtown market for live music, great food, and 20-25 local artisan food vendors every Wednesday.
June 1st - Oct 12th 3 to 7 pm First City Celebration Celebrate the identity and heritage
➤
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July 30th 11 am to 9 pm
Historic Oregon City is a great place to shop, dine and visit.
13th st
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Oregon City’s Chamber of Commerce is pleased to present the 16th annual open air antique fair welcoming to downtown more than 80 vendors with antiques, collectables and memorabilia.
August 28th 8 am to 4 pm Downtown Car Show Main Street will be bumper-to-bumper with more than 250 cars, motorcycles and trucks and more than 3,000 visitors for this special event.
Sept 17th 7 am to 4 pm Downtown’s events are free and open to the public. Parking is free and convenient on festival days. Let’s meet on Main Street for a summer of fun in Oregon City. Visit http://downtownoregoncity.org/ to learn more and sign up for email updates.
Oregon City Marketplace
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wine shop - wine bar local art live music wine tastings small plates desserts Winestock is a combination wine shop + wine bar, celebrating 5 years in OC. Weekly wine tastings and 25+ wines by the glass pair beautifully with small plates including Jamon Iberico, stuffed peppers, artisan cheeses and chocolate cake. At Winestock, it's about the wine experience. A beautiful combination of wine at the bar or a selection of wines for drinking at home. Open at 3pm, Monday thru Saturday 820 Main Street, Suite B, Oregon City, OR 503.636.WINE (9463) www.winestockoc.com
Cypress Restaurant & Bar Experience something different in Oregon City! With an eclectic menu of Greek, Lebanese and Indian food, Cypress offers exotic cuisine and specialty martinis at exceptional prices. Great ambience & casual elegance! Our Oasis Room offers an intimate space for private parties, rehearsal dinners and corporate meetings. Catering available. Mon-Thurs 11 am - 9 pm Fri. 11 am - 10 pm, Sat. 5 pm - 10 pm 820 Main Street, Suite D, Oregon City, OR 503 387-5914 cypressoregoncity.com
To advertise in Marketplace contact Maria Price at 503.294.4126 or mprice@oregonian.com
StarterS
Page 16: Sipping vinegar, posh pot, shaving with whiskey Page 18: Sheep milk yogurt, fancy feasts Page 20: Bird-watching
Wine country chill-out Summer may be the best time to visit wine country, but walk through enough dusty vineyards and sip enough room-temp red wine and you’ll begin to wish your neighborhood ice-cream truck would include far-flung country roads on its route. Thankfully, there’s Republic of Jam, Carlton’s sweet new pit stop. Sure, the homemade preserves and mostardas made from the bounty at the McMinnville Farmers Market are divine, especially when paired with bites of cheeses and house-baked sweets. But we’ll be stopping by this Main Street storefront this summer to cool off with artisan
ice pops and Italian-soda-style Republic of Jam spritzers made from culinary 211 W. Main St., syrups. You can buy the culinary Carlton; 503-395-JAM1; syrups and take them home to republicofjam.com make your own soda, but you’d better finish that ice pop on the premises — not that this is much of a challenge. With a rotating menu of flavors such as strawberry-rhubarb, spiced pomegranate and walnut, and peach-ginger, they’re irresistible — and way better than the goods from the ice-cream man. — KaTheRIne Cole PhoToGRaPh BY RanDY l. RaSMUSSen
15
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to do
drink thiS / vinegar
June June 1-30
Eat well for cheap June may just be our favorite month because it’s Dining Month Portland. For 30 days you can eat three courses — appetizer, entree and dessert — for $25. When you consider most entrees alone hover in the $20 range, this is a sweet deal indeed. More than 50 Portland restaurants are participating, including lincoln, The heathman, nostrana and Bluehour. diningmonthportland.com oReGon hISToRICal SoCIeTY, 1947
C’mon, don’t cringe. Drinking vinegar is not an oxymoron, and it’s not vinaigrette on the rocks. It’s delicious — tart and tangy and refreshing, especially when mixed with sparkling water, ginger ale or even tequila. Chef andy Ricker introduced PDX to the trend when he started serving house-made vinegars in drinks at Pok Pok in 2005. now four of his flavors are available by the bottle, so you can mix up your own summertime refreshment at home. Made with a base of coconut vinegar, current flavors include pomegranate, honey, apple and tamarind. But more flavors will become available this summer, including pineapple. — DanIelle CenTonI $13 for a 16-ounce bottle at pokpoksom.com. Or purchase at Pok Pok, Whiskey Soda Lounge, Pok Pok Noi or Ping.
June 2-5
A guaranteed sweet time If you love old-fashioned, small-town festivals, there’s none better than the Lebanon Strawberry Festival, a late-spring classic that’s been around for 102 years and is a salute to the abundant berry fields in the 16 mid-Willamette Valley. The festival’s claim to fame: the “World’s largest Strawberry Shortcake,” which is served free to more than 20,000 visitors. Plus, there’s a parade and even a Strawberry Festival queen. lebanonstrawberryfestival. info/index.html
read thiS the farmer general “And specially from each pub’s dark end In Jersey, they to Portland wend, The holy fire water there to seek Whose brimstone stronger wills makes weak.” excerpted from “The Portlandbury Tales: General Prologue” by Sarah Kanabay. This excellent riff on Chaucer’s classic tome is one of the many irreverent works published at The Farmer General, a smart, offbeat, online, Portland-based, food-centric literary magazine (farmergeneral.com).
Ode to a copper pot I began making jam as a means of coping with the closing of my beloved cafe, little Red Bike. I spent a fruitful season creating custom flavors for friends and family, steeping lavender blossoms in sugared blackberries and spiking batches of strawberry-rose jam with generous pours of oregon pinot noir. I found comfort in the methodology of the jam-making process, and obsessed over creating unique flavors. Then my mother gave me a copper preserving pan so gleaming and gorgeous, and such a pleasure to use, it inspired me to turn my therapeutic hobby into my profession. With my mother as my business partner, we launched little Branch Jam in December 2010, selling our small-batch preserves through my husband’s food truck, lucy’s original. I fell for the pot as soon as I laid eyes on its handsome, hand-hammered exterior, its sturdy bronze handles and generous wide shape. But what’s made this love affair last is how it performs. The copper heats fast, distributing high temperatures evenly, and its shallow design and tapered sides encourage rapid moisture evaporation, nearly cutting the processing time in half and helping to preserve the texture and natural sweetness of the fruit. I love this pan not only because it makes my job easier, but also because it’s an heirloom in the making — a treasure that I hope to pass down to my own daughter someday. — alI JePSon, lITTle BRanCh JaM Mauviel copper preserving pans are available at Williams-Sonoma. Look for Little Branch jams at Besaw’s Restaurant (2301 N.W. Savier St.) and the Lucy’s Original roving food truck usually hanging out at 3925 N. Mississippi Ave. To keep up with its whereabouts, follow @lucysoriginal on Twitter.
lather up / whiSkey Shaving Soap June 3
Hole foods The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day, which is all the excuse you need to head to someplace like Sesame Donuts to indulge in bites of deep-fried bliss. littleknown fact: The observation started in the 1930s as a way to honor women from the Salvation army who were feeding World War I veterans down on their luck during the Great Depression. sesamedonuts.com
more to do
Make no mistake. This scented shaving soap from Portland General Store (based in the other Portland) does not — I repeat, not — smell like whiskey as in “I got so drunk I spilled it on myself.” In other words, it does not reek. It exudes. It enthralls. It is hands-down the best-smelling thing a man can lather on his face. It’s also creamy and luxurious and made in small batches with natural ingredients such as cocoa butter and goat’s milk. So what does it smell like? ladies, imagine for a moment George Clooney. Imagine him sitting in a leather armchair. now imagine he’s just finished off a Manhattan and has beckoned you to sit on his lap. Snuggle up and take a deep whiff. oh yes. Cedar and smoke with hints of bourbon and The Woodlands, 114 N.W. vanilla — delicious and sexy. The Woodlands, Third Ave., 503-922-1797; a very cool guy store in old Town, offers the woodlandsshop.com. soap along with several other Portland General Or shop direct at products. Pick some up for your man and relive portlandgeneralstore.com the fantasy. — DanIelle CenTonI
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StarterScont. make thiS / Sheep milk yogurt panna cotta to do cont.
to do June 9
Drink up — it would annoy her! a century ago today, temperance movement activist Carry Nation died. In her heyday, she was known for destroying saloons with a hatchet. To celebrate how temperance never really caught on, have a drink in nation’s honor at Portland drinkcentric places like Branch: a Whiskey Bar or Beaker & Flask. branchwhiskeybar.com beakerandflask.com June 11-12
Raise a pint to fruity beer Beers made with real fruit, not syrupy extracts, can be deliciously nuanced delights. Discover how great they can be at the first Portland Fruit Beer Festival at Burnside Brewing, featuring 20 beers from over 15 mostly northwest breweries. Sample alameda Brewing’s Yellow Wolf Imperial IPa infused with huckleberries, or laurelwood’s asian fruit and spice beer. Then groove to live music and pig out on barbecue and wood-fired grub from Tastebud. 18 burnsidebrewco.com June 17-19
Be proud Portland’s gay and lesbian community comes together for the three-day Pride Northwest festival, which has plenty of food and drink at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and culminates with the annual parade on Sunday. If crowds aren’t your thing, you can still show your pride — or your gay solidarity — by sampling wine at hip Chicks Do Wine or having a meal at downtown’s West Cafe, two mainstream businesses owned by gays and lesbians. pridenw.org hipchicksdowine.com westcafepdx.com June 19
Celebrating papa It’s Father’s Day, and if your idea of a great gift is a necktie, you need to get real. Give dad something he’ll really want, like an inexpensive new barbecue basting brush or sauce squirt bottles, to something more elaborate, like a new smoker or a high-tech digital thermometer. Most local kitchen stores will have an array of gadgets and grills, or you can browse online at The Barbecue Store. barbecue-store.com
more to do
There’s a reason why panna cotta is so ubiquitous — it’s crazy good and dead easy. Just cream thickened with gelatin, flavored any way you like. lately I’ve been swapping out some of the cream for yogurt, to give the dessert a light texture and crème-fraîche-like tang that goes perfectly with ripe summer berries. My yogurt of choice? Decadent, flavorful, sheep-milk yogurt from Bellwether Farms in Sonoma, Calif. It has a rich, almost cheeselike flavor that’s not as barnyardy as goat-milk yogurt can be. It even has a little more protein and less fat than regular whole-milk yogurt. The yogurt comes in plain, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry and vanilla flavors, and is available at Pastaworks and Whole Foods.
Blueberry Sheep-Milk Panna Cotta MaKeS 6 SeRVInGS
¼ cup cold water 1½ teaspoons powdered unflavored gelatin ¾ cup milk 1 cup whipping cream ½ cup granulated sugar 1 (6-ounce) container blueberry sheep-milk yogurt 1 (6-ounce) container plain sheep-milk yogurt Pour the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over it; set aside to soften for at least 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the milk, cream and sugar to a simmer. Remove from heat and whisk in the gelatin. allow to cool for a few minutes, then stir in both yogurts. Divide mixture among 6 ramekins, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve topped with fresh blueberries. — DanIelle CenTonI
Big night here’s the scene: You’re having a lovely meal, when suddenly you observe a herd of pigs’ heads on platters parading by, destined for a large table in the back. Do you grimace? or do you wonder, “how can I get my own swine?” If you hanker for an epic feast, the kind that just can’t fit on a restaurant’s regular menu, consider rounding up some friends and indulging in one of these custom dinners perfect for groups. gilt Club: Chef Chris Carriker offers seasonal Chef’s Table Feasts at Gilt Club for adventurous diners of all levels. With fried pigs’ ears and steamed buns packed with jowl meat, the “Fete de Tete” is not for the timid. Carriker describes these meals “as a chance to go way over the top,” and says they’re getting most of their bookings from awestruck customers who get a glimpse of the pork-head parade and covet their own Fete de Tete. For large groups there’s “Gone hoggin,’ ” in which a dozen friends explore the pleasures of a slow roasted piglet. less intrepid palates might want to try the whole fish baked in a salt crust, or the “Colin Dinner”, inspired by the pampered chicken of “Portlandia” fame. The dinners are designed for groups of four to 15, require two days’ notice, and start at $40 a person. Murata: If you’re ready to dive deep into the exotic wonderment of Japanese culinary tradition, plan a kaiseki dinner at Murata. The traditional eightcourse meal showcases the season’s best ingredients as well as the chef’s talents, and highlights a variety of traditional dishes, from sashimi to housemade red bean ice cream. Prices begin at $100 per person for groups of six to eight with 48 hours’ notice. Red Star Tavern: For a somewhat less adventurous but still dramatic chef’s table experience, try Red Star Tavern’s whole rotisserie dinners. Choose prime rib or suckling pig paired with a veritable feast of impressive accompaniments. The cost is $55-$60 a person for groups of eight to 16, and require three days’ notice. — aUDReY Van BUSKIRK
Gilt Club: 306 N.W. Broadway, 503-222-4458; giltclub.com Murata: 200 S.W. Market St., 503-227-0080 Red Star Tavern: 503 S.W. Alder St., 503-222-0005; redstartavern.com
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503.771.1883 PearlWomensCenter.com
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StarterScont. put a Bird on it We’d buy Willamette Valley Confectionery’s Birdie Brittle for the packaging alone. The audubon-like drawings of north american birds, plus a block print of a bird in flight, just make us happy (you got a problem with that, “Portlandia”?). But it’s the nutty, burnt-sugar flavor of the brittle that keeps us coming back for more. each piece of peanut-free brittle is loaded with millet, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds — all sparrow-approved ingredients for the backyard bird feeder, but turned into delicious candy that has just the right level of sweetness and crunch. – GRanT BUTleR $2.50 for a one-ounce package, available at various locations, including Whole Foods and Market of Choice; willamettevalleyconfectionery.com.
to do cont. June 20
last year’s new Pioneer Courthouse Square edition of the Portland Farmers Market proved a hit with the downtown lunch crowd, who packed the space looking for organic soups and sandwiches, as well as the usual pristine produce. It’s back in action from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays through the end of September. portlandfarmersmarket.org
never really sets, and there’s a tradition of celebrating those endless days with bonfires and the raising of the maypole. That’s become a Portland tradition, too, with the 83rd annual Scandinavian Midsummer Festival, a one-day event at oaks Park featuring Scandinavian food, live music, folk costumes and traditional dancing that goes until 9 p.m. — when there’s still plenty of daylight left, even along the 45th parallel. scanheritage.org
June 24-26
June 25-26
Lunch, with a side of fresh strawberries
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Save the planet, one beer at a time Portlanders love beer and sustainability, so no wonder they’re the perfect match at the Seventh annual North american Organic Brewers Festival, a free, three-day event at overlook Park. on the menu: organic beers and ciders from around the world, live music, organic food and booths featuring sustainable businesses and products. naobf.org June 25
A midsummer day’s dream In late June in the far north of Scandinavia, the sun
Forage and feast Want to forage with the experts? now’s your chance. award-winning writer hank Shaw stops in Portland on his book tour for “Hunt, gather, Cook” (Rodale, $25.99), and fellow forager and chef Matt lighter of Castagna is partnering with him for a weekend of wild food events. on Saturday, go on a two-hour foraging walk with the duo, then chow down on a picnic lunch. on Sunday, head over to Castagna for a reception, book signing and four-course dinner. Tickets and information are available through the Portland Culinary alliance. pdxca.org £
mixmaster / negroni [ Classic cocktail inspires devotion â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and countless variations ] By paul clarke / photograph By Beth nakamura
i
f cocktails were like sports teams, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d see plenty of garnet-red negroni jerseys every time you stepped into a craft-cocktail bar. perhaps less familiar to the casual tippler than celebrity-grade cocktails such as the martini, the margarita or the manhattan, the negroni nevertheless has an ardent fan base, one thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing larger and more dedicated as curious drinkers increasingly warm up to its robust flavor.
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mixmaster cont.
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admittedly, the powerful character of the negroni can take a little getting used to. typically crafted as an equalparts mix of three ingredients, the negroni starts with a base of gin and sweet vermouth â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a combination that once largely defined the ancestral martini, and that on its own offers a lovely if somewhat simple character of botanical elegance. With the addition of campari, however, any notion of simplicity is demolished, replaced by the pyrotechnic complexity that this bombastic Italian bitter liqueur contributes to the mix. attractive enough on their own, the ingredients become positively alluring when mixed, which explains the rapturous passion of negroni devotees. First created in a bar in Florence (likely the caffe casoni) circa 1919, the negroni bears the moniker of its original paramour, count camillo negroni, an aristocrat and gambler who during his colorful life once worked as a rodeo cowboy in america. now approaching its centennial, the classic negroni has earned a global following, and its simple structure and enduring appeal have inspired creative bartenders to riff on its perfect balance of flavors, producing many delicious variations. Bars in new york serve reinterpreted negronis made with Jamaican rum in place of gin, or swizzle the drink with crushed ice like a caribbean punch. tequila plays a peppery substitute for gin in negroni relatives served in bars from Berlin to San Francisco to melbourne. and in chicago, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to order an edible negroni, its constituent elements rendered solid using highfalutin kitchen magic in a blend of art and chemistry. not surprisingly, portland bartenders have gone deep with the negroni as well. Irving Street kitchen features a White negroni, using a French bitter
aperitif wine in lieu of campari and swapping out vermouth for pinot noir verjus from montinore estate. lydia reissmueller at central in old town follows a similar approach, using a locally made vermouth â&#x20AC;&#x201D; chinato dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;erbetti from canaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Feast winery â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and citrus soda. over at Bar avignon, the eastside negroni features the orangy brightness of aperol and the rich bitterness of punt e mes vermouth. at Beaker & Flask, the caraway spice of aquavit steps in for ginâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s airy botanicals in the norwegian negroni, and clyde commonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s negronis aged in used bourbon barrels have earned international attention. at nostrana, bar manager Doug Derrick has such enthusiasm for the negroni that over the course of a year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beginning last spring and culminating with a negroni Social on april 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he came up with a different negroni variation for each month, based on certain flavor concepts and the changing tastes of the season. â&#x20AC;&#x153;the negroni is very versatile, and you can make it in so many ways,â&#x20AC;? Derrick says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We figured instead of changing our negroni every once in a while, why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we always have it on the list and make it a negroni of the month.â&#x20AC;? the cold winter months saw negroni variations made with the richness of ransom old tom gin or with the spicy flavor of aquavit, while the summer versions featured lighter interpretations made with bright Italian aperitif wines and flavored with drops of ginger tincture. Derrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorites included a springtime version dubbed la prima, made with dry vermouth and flavored with a touch of heady Barolo chinato; and the continental, mixed with the earthy bitterness of cynar liqueur and the gentle sweetness of French blanc vermouth. after working his way through a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of
Great Gifts For
DADS & GRADS negroni variations, Derrick might be forgiven for wanting to take a break from the iconic cocktail. But like true negroni devotees everywhere, the greater exposure to the drink
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has only made him eager for more. “I’m way into it,” Derrick says. “I spend all month looking forward to creating a new negroni for the next.”
recIpeS:
americano this sparkly, refreshing, super-simple cocktail (pictured on page 21) swaps out the gin in a traditional negroni for a generous pour of soda water. It’s a classic, said to be created in 1861, and was originally known as the milano-turino. Why? Because the campari is from near milan, while the martini and rossi vermouth is from the province of turin. During prohibition the Italians dubbed it the americano because they noticed it was the cocktail of choice among american visitors. 1 ounce campari 1 ounce martini and rossi sweet vermouth (see note) Soda water garnish: lemon slice Ice
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pack a 12- to 14-ounce collins glass with ice. add the campari and vermouth. top with soda water. garnish with a thin slice of lemon slid down the side of the glass. Note: Be sure to refrigerate your leftover vermouth and use it up in a month. although vermouth is fortified wine, it doesn’t have the alcohol content of a spirit or liqueur and will oxidize within a couple of weeks if left at room temperature. — Doug Derrick, Nostrana
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continental Doug Derrick at nostrana rotated 12 negroni variations through his menu over the past year, with a different interpretation of the drink for each month; he says the continental was his favorite. cynar, a bitter liqueur flavored with artichokes and other botanicals, substitutes for the classic campari, and its hearty earthiness is offset by the subtle sweetness of Dolin Blanc vermouth. 1½ ounces plymouth gin ¾ ounce cynar ½ ounce Dolin Blanc vermouth Ice thin slice of lemon zest, for garnish combine ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well until thoroughly chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and twist the lemon zest over the drink, using it as garnish. — Doug Derrick, Nostrana £
onLine extra: For a classic negroni recipe, visit mixpdx.com
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get on the stick Yakitori. kushiyaki. Brochette. kabob. skewer. Meat on a spit. Vegetables on a stick. Just about every country in the world has its own iteration of this most basic of culinary concepts. And a good number of Asian restaurants in Portland offer their own interpretations, from Ping’s muu ping pork skewers flavored with fish sauce and garlic to Biwa’s succulent scallop skewers marinated in sake lees. When it comes to pleasing a crowd (the very definition of a party, really), we think these chefs are onto something. What easier way to entertain a diverse group of friends than to set out platters full of colorful, freshly grilled skewers? Preparation is easy, and just about any type of protein, vegetable or fruit lends itself to the magic of skewer and fire — thus allowing you to simultaneously satisfy Pescatarian Joe and carnivore carmen without having to try too hard. infinite possibilities for marinades, seasonings and sauces allow adventurous and timid eaters alike to join in celebration of this ancient — and, we think, genius — cooking technique. Plus, you can easily adapt quantities to make enough for a small gathering or a large crowd. toss in a beverage or two and a couple of sides, and an easy, no-fuss, mass-appeal party is born, followed by a lot of very sated guests. We’ve culled recipes and advice from some of Portland’s skewer experts: Pok Pok and Ping’s Andy Ricker, tanuki’s Janis Martin and Biwa’s gabe Rosen. their dishes range from the bold flavors of thailand to the mustardy and miso-infused marinades of Japan. they’re all flat-out delicious, and because the preparation is easy, you’ll have plenty of time to kick back with a beer.
By Michael Zusman Photography by Randy L. Rasmussen and Beth nakamura
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skewers are flexible, so it’s easy to feed a crowd or just a handful of close friends. gabe Rosen of Biwa (in the purple shirt), put together a makeshift table, called some friends and fired up the grill for a casual dinner of skewered scallops marinated in sake lees, and vegetables drizzled with a miso-based sauce.
grilled Vegetable skewers with Dengaku sauce MAkes ABoUt 6 seRVings
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even a meat-heavy gathering should have at least one or two main dishes for vegetarian friends. here, the vegetables get an umami-blessed miso sauce on the side. Biwa boss gabe Rosen says an accompaniment of firm tofu is a great idea, too. this recipe is appropriate for all manner of vegetables from zucchini to carrots, kohlrabi, green onion or small daikon radishes. if you wish to thread different vegetables on one skewer, try to use vegetables that will have similar cooking times. 2 tablespoons mirin ½ cup light miso (preferably the locally made soy Beam brand) 2 pounds vegetables, such as zucchini, mushrooms and carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces Vegetable oil salt combine mirin and miso in a small bowl. if necessary, thin with a tablespoon or two of water to bring the mixture to a smooth, saucy consistency. set aside. skewer vegetables, 4 to 5 pieces to a stick. Brush lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt to taste. grill over medium heat until lightly browned but not mushy, turning each skewer just once. serve with the sauce. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gabe Rosen, Biwa
shoP! You might be able to find some of the ingredients for the accompanying recipes at your mainline grocer, but for efficiency — and fun — try shopping at one of Portland’s local Asian specialty stores that feature items from all over Asia, plus fresh meat, fish and produce.
kasuzuke scallops MAkes ABoUt 4 seRVings
on their own, large sea scallops possess a subtle sweetness. But in this recipe from gabe Rosen of Biwa, the scallop’s natural sweetness is dramatically enhanced after an overnight marinade in sake lees, or kasu. You can usually find sake kasu at Anzen or Uwajimaya (see sidebar). 1 pound large scallops (about 15) 1 cup sake kasu (the lees from sake) salt toss scallops with kasu and allow to marinate in a plastic bag or covered bowl overnight. thread marinated scallops on pre-soaked bamboo skewers (use 2 skewers to keep scallops stable). sprinkle lightly with salt. grill over high heat until nicely browned and just done (medium to medium-rare), about 2-3 minutes on each side. serve with lemon wedges. — Gabe Rosen, Biwa
gabe Rosen says:
“When grilling foods that are inclined to swivel around the skewer maddeningly (scallops, many mushrooms, onion slices and fish that tends to stick), use two skewers. This will greatly increase the stability of the skewered item, and provides an easier-to-use handle for hard-to-move items or things that stick to the grill.” “For most skewers, you want the things to brown but not overcook. So build a really hot fire. None of this stuff should be on the grill too long. For those items that will benefit from more gentle cooking (such as spring onions), put them around the perimeter of the grilling area for more indirect heat.”
Uwajimaya We found just about all the ingredients we needed to test each recipe at Uwajimaya, thanks to their excellent meat and seafood selection and their very organized ingredient aisles, categorized by country and ethnicity. 10500 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Beaverton, 503-6434512, uwajimaya.com Fubonn Supermarket Fubonn and Uwajimaya are the two biggest Asian grocery stores in Portland, and both are the first places we go when we’re testing Asian-inspired recipes. 2850 S.E. 82nd Ave. #80, Portland, 503-517-8899; fubonn.com H Mart Another large store with a tilt toward korea and abundant dried and prepared foods, this hub will have most of the seasonings you need for the recipes in this story. 13600 S.W. Pacific Highway, Tigard, 503-620-6120; hmart.com Anzen Importers A store that’s been around forever, featuring specialties from Japan, including immaculate, sashimi-grade fish. 736 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland, 503-233-5111; 4021 S.W. 117th Ave. #E, Beaverton, 503-627-0913
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tsukune (Fried chicken sausage skewers With creamy chili-garlic sauce) MAkes ABoUt 6 MeAtBALLs
this recipe for tsukune (translation: deep fried chicken skewers), from Janis Martin, chef/owner of tanuki, is a classic example of Japanese izakaya fare, or drinking food. they're not grilled, but they're so good we're making an exception. ground chicken gets flavor from garlic, ginger and lemon and is then formed into oblong “meatballs.” once skewered, Martin suggests frying them in a deep fat fryer or in a shallow cast iron pan filled with oil. We used the bottom of a broiler pan set over two burners since our skewers were particularly long. to keep the ground meat intact on the stick while it cooks, Martin often wraps chicken skin around the meat. You could also use caul fat or thinly sliced pancetta to the same effect. if you can’t find the kewpie mayonnaise called for in the sauce, you can make your own by substituting rice vinegar for the vinegar or lemon juice called for in your favorite aioli or mayonnaise recipe. 2 pounds chicken thighs 5 cloves garlic, peeled and grated with a Microplane grater 3 inches ginger, peeled and grated with a Microplane grater, (about two tablespoons) 2 green onions, minced Zest of one whole lemon Vegetable oil ¼ cup spicy sukiyaki sauce 28
¼ cup kewpie mayonnaise ¼ cup chili-garlic sauce or sambal Remove the skin from the chicken thighs and reserve. Pull or cut the meat off the bones. cut the meat into 1-inch chunks and freeze for about 10 minutes to firm up. Place in a food processor and pulse until chopped but not mushy (if any large pieces remain, chop them by hand). in a bowl, combine the chicken, garlic, ginger, green onions and lemon zest. Mix well. Pack about 2-3 tablespoons of the meat mixture onto skewers, forming 2- to 3-inch-long, 1-inch-wide cylinders. Wrap each one in a piece of chicken skin, caul fat or thinly-sliced pancetta. secure the wrap with a long toothpick. heat oil in your deep-fat fryer according to directions, or fill a cast-iron frying pan or a roasting pan about halfway with oil and heat on medium-high until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the meat skewers and, turning only once, fry until skin, caul fat or pancetta, is golden and crispy and the internal temp of the chicken is 160 degrees, about 3 minutes on each side. When done, place on a cooling rack to let excess oil drip off. Meanwhile, combine sukiyaki sauce, kewpie mayonnaise and chili-garlic sauce or sambal in a small bowl. Mix well until smooth. serve skewers with lemon wedges and sauce.
Janis Martin says:
— Janis Martin, Tanuki
“I don’t have the ability to deep fry in my kitchen at Tanuki. No deep fryer, no problem. Shallow fry in a cast-iron pan or, if your skewers are too long, a roasting pan set over two burners.”
PhotogRAPh BY Beth nAkAMURA
octopus skewers MAkes ABoUt 5 skeWeRs; 4 seRVings
this dish is spicy, and at Andy Ricker’s Ping restaurant, it’s very popular. thai chilies, or the closely related bird’s eye chilies, may be small, but they pack a powerful punch, just a notch or two below the notorious habanero. You can usually find baby octopus (typically frozen) at Asian markets like Uwajimaya (see page 27). if no octopus is available, substitute small, cleaned squid. 2 pounds baby octopus, thawed 4 cloves garlic ¼ cup whole thai chilies (about 20), de-stemmed 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste ¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes) ¼ cup water ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro Freshly ground black pepper
if the octopuses are not already cleaned, clean them: cut a slit in the hood, pull out the innards and discard them. cut off the beak and discard. Rinse the hoods and tentacles and allow to drain in a colander. in a mortar with pestle, crush garlic and chilies. in a bowl, combine crushed garlic and chilies with sugar, salt, lime juice, water and cilantro. taste and adjust seasonings as needed. toss octopus in the marinade and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, if not overnight. thread tentacles and hoods onto skewers, leaving a few inches of the skewers bare so you can handle them. grill over medium-high charcoal or gas fire until done, about 1-2 minutes for each side. toward the end of grilling, season with a little salt and black pepper. serve immediately. — Andy Ricker, Pok Pok and Ping
Muu Ping (Pork skewers Marinated in Fish sauce and coconut Milk) MAkes ABoUt 4 seRVings
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simple, porky and a great complement to more challenging skewered dishes, Andy Ricker’s thai recipe, offered daily at Pok Pok, calls for pork shoulder, the perfect cut for soaking up the rich flavors of his marinade: coconut milk, fish sauce and garlic. keep in mind this is a fatty, chewy cut. if that’s not your idea of delicious, substitute pork chops or loin. 4 to 6 garlic cloves 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 3 tablespoons fish sauce ¼ cup coconut milk 1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch squares ¼-inch thick salt and freshly ground white pepper
Andy Ricker says:
crush garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle. transfer to a large bowl and add the sugar, fish sauce and coconut milk. Whisk to combine until all sugar is dissolved in the liquid. toss pork in the marinade, and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, if not overnight. thread pork onto skewers, leaving a few inches of the skewer bare so you can handle them. grill over a medium-high charcoal or gas fire until done, about 2-3 minutes or less each side. toward the end of grilling, season with a little salt and white pepper to taste and serve. — Andy Ricker, Pok Pok and Ping
“If you have metal skewers, use them. If you use bamboo skewers, soak them in warm water for about an hour before skewering meat; this prevents them from burning on the grill.” “Resist the temptation to play with the skewers while grilling; you will get best results by seasoning the grill with a little oil, then leaving the skewers on the fire untouched until you turn them over. They won’t stick as bad this way, you get a nice char crust and they will cook faster, too. Use a knife blade or cake spatula to help flip them if they stick.”
SIDE DISHES:
Roasted sweet Potatoes With sweet and hot Mustard sauce
chinese Muslim-style cucumber salad
MAkes 6 to 8 seRVings
MAkes ABoUt 4 seRVings
these roasted sweet potatoes are seriously addictive, and a great accompaniment to Janis Martin’s tsukune skewers. the spicy mustard sauce is not for the faint of heart.
For this recipe from Andy Ricker, mild, succulent cucumber gets powerful backing from raw red onion, potent pickled garlic and savory caraway seed. the pickled garlic in this recipe can be found at Asian markets.
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled or skin left on depending on preference olive or vegetable oil, or rendered fat ¼ cup chinese dry mustard ¼ cup mirin ⁄8 cup water
1
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds ¼ cup green onion, finely chopped
ONLINE EXTRA:
Get Andy Rickers recipe for a Thai hibiscus drink at mIXpdX.cOm
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of water to boil. cut sweet potatoes into one-inch cubes. cook in boiling water for about 7 minutes, until they just begin to get tender. Drain and allow potatoes to dry. toss potatoes with enough olive or vegetable oil, or rendered fat (such as bacon or duck fat), to coat lightly. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the potatoes are crispy and golden, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, combine chinese dry mustard, mirin and water in a small bowl. Mix well. Let sit for 3 minutes, then mix it again to ensure there are no lumps. once the potatoes are out of the oven, sparingly drizzle the sweet and hot mustard sauce over them (it doesn’t take much to season the potatoes). sprinkle sesame seeds and chopped green onion over the top, toss gently, using tongs, and serve. — Janis Martin
2 cucumbers, cut into ½-inch dice 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 1 cup diced red onion 1 head pickled garlic, peeled and minced 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted ¼ cup distilled white vinegar 2 tablespoons juice from the pickled garlic salt and pepper to taste Mix together the cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, pickled garlic, caraway seeds, vinegar and pickled garlic juice. season to taste with salt and pepper. Let sit for an hour or two before serving to allow flavors to marry. serve as a light accompaniment to skewers. — Andy Ricker, Pok Pok and Ping PhotogRAPh BY Beth nAkAMURA
lo ve
summer
30 of Portland’s coolest
people dish up hot ideas for celebrating the sun
There’s a bright side to the fickle, fleeting and oh-so-beautiful summers of Portland: When they finally arrive, we don’t take a single day for granted. Every blue-skied morning is a cause for celebration, and we soak up the rays every chance we get — even if it means balancing our plates on our knees so we can dine outside on the porch. We bask, we bike, we eat ice cream for dinner while wading barefoot through fountains. Few cities can possibly love their summers more. But we’re always on the lookout for ideas, so we asked some of our favorite food-loving Portlanders what they love most about summers here in the Northwest. From steamed clams on the coast to pig roasts in the backyard, we’ve collected a lot of really great ideas from a lot of really great people to help you get the most of out every sun-drenched day. CoMPIleD BY Deena Prichep, Katherine Cole, lucy Burningham, and Grant Butler
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summer
in Portland means stone fruit to me – cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, plu-
ots, nectarines. We make drinking vinegars and infused liquors for the restaurants out of all of them. But when the peaches show up in earnest, in all their ripe, aromatic glory, I know summer is here in earnest, too. Then you’ll find me standing in the middle of the Montavilla or Lents farmers market, mauling one a few steps from a Baird Family Orchards stand. Can’t wait. — Andy Ricker, owner, Pok Pok, Pok Pok Noi, Whiskey Soda Lounge, Ping
My favorite thing about living in eugene during the summer was that all the students would be gone and we’d have the town to ourselves. We’d pick up sandwiches at Marché Provisions and head out to the most remote swimming hole we knew, out on the Row River by lake Dorena. We’d spend the day swimming, laughing and soaking up as much oregon sunshine as possible. Portland is such a bigger city, so it’s hard to capture that moment of being totally alone in nature with your friends. — Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar manager, Clyde Common 32
(You can find Morgenthaler’s favorite swimming hole, and a bunch of others, at swimmingholes.org)
Summertime is the ideal time for some of the best hiking — and salmonberries. We have hiking trails here all year-round, but in the summertime the clouds part and you can see for miles. It’s like being in a completely different state. I’ll head to Mount St. Helens with some friends or restaurant people. I’ll bring a backpack with some smoked salmon and a bottle of wine. We’ll hike about five miles up to the top, where the landscape just opens up, and spend some time just picking delicate salmonberries and enjoying the peak of summer. — Matt Lightner, chef, Castagna
“Summer for me is tomatoes and squash, eggplants and peppers. ” — Jason French, chef/owner, Ned Ludd My life feels complete when Ruby Jewel starts to sell ice cream at the farmers market. Why? It’s the time when trading happens — always a win-win. I get giddy thinking about smearing Rogue Creamery butter all over Pearl Bakery’s fig-anise roll, or making a sandwich with an heirloom tomato (sliced on our salt block from The Meadow) and sheep’s milk feta from Ancient Heritage Dairy, plus a glass of Argyle bubbly to go with it. — Lisa Herlinger-Esco (right, with sister Becky Burnett), owner, Ruby Jewel Treats PHoToGRAPH BY FAITH CATHCART
In summer, it’s impossible to resist buying stupid amounts of Rainier cherries to plow through on our overheated road trips to elk lake campground outside of Bend. It’s a tough choice as to which I look forward to the most: driving with the windows down, spitting out three pints’ worth of Rainier cherry pits, or the final destination. even though we’d rather drive straight through, my wife and I almost always give in to our kids’ requests to stop at the Black Bear Diner in Madras on the way. It’s about halfway there and by this point in the trip, our kids have figured out just how to get on our nerves, so the stop is usually welcome. I get the same thing every time: patty melt, extra mushrooms, coleslaw and a vanilla milkshake. — Scott Dolich, chef, Park Kitchen
Summer means frequent trips to the coast. I love picking up smoked salmon and cheese from the Tillamook factory and eating it on the beach at Ecola State Park. We also rent a beach house with friends and get fresh Dungeness crab in Nehalem. Paired with sweet corn on the cob (my family is from Minnesota), some beer and an ocean view … it’s summer! — Van Havig, brewer
on an ideal summer day, I’ll head down to the PSU farmers market, grab my snacks, then load up the car and head to the Washougal River. I always bring water, seasonal fruits, local bread, soft cheese from Monteillet Fromagerie (in Walla Walla), and most importantly, a sopressata from olympic Provisions. To go with it all, I love drinking Seven from Upright Brewery and Wandering Aengus Wanderlust. These things make me feel like a king while relaxing by the river. — Wille Yli-Luoma, owner, Heart Coffee Roasters
We love going urban hiking with our two kiddos. We take off from our house in inner Southeast and
“hike” through the Sunnyside neighborhood down to Water Avenue Coffee Company for some fuel in the form of two cappuccinos. Then we cross the Hawthorne Bridge and head to the Park Blocks, usually ending up at Director Park in time for burgers at violetta. The kids get to play in the water fountain as we watch the sun break over the top of the Park Avenue West Tower. Then it’s time for afternoon naps (for the kids at least) in the double stroller as we cross back over the Morrison Bridge and go up Belmont back to our house. All in all, it’s about seven miles and takes perhaps six hours including lunch — a lovely way to spend a summer day in Portland. — Ryan Sharp, winemaker/owner, Enso Winery
David and I try to head to
Astoria once each
summer to stay at the Hotel Elliot for a night or two, usually on a Sunday. We stay in the same corner hotel room that has windows to open on each side so the sea air blows throughout the room. Before we check in, we head to a stall at the Astoria Sunday Market and eat the most amazing tiny steamed clams that are super fresh, briny and delicious. Then we head down to the Bowpicker (left), a boat-turned-fish shack, and order the albacore fish and chips. We eat them in the parking lot and sit in the sunshine. — Jenn Louis, chef/owner Lincoln, Sunshine Tavern, Culinary Artistry PHoToGRAPH BY BRIAn lee
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I bet most Portland food-lovers would vote for tomatoes as the quintessential taste of summer, but for me it’s fava beans. — Robyn Steely, executive director, Write Around Portland For some it is the smell of fresh cut grass that heralds the end of winter, but for me it is the pungent, hunger-inducing scent of meat grilling on a spit. My friends and I will go to Nicky USA or Carlton Meats to get lamb, goat, suckling pig, a whole hog. Maybe this year we’ll do an entire calf Argentine style. It’s the obsession I like in my friends. The need to tear up our yards and fashion elaborate pits and spits, all to satisfy some primal belly-driven
PHoToGRAPH BY JUlIA eWAn/ WASHInGTon PoST
craving. Sitting around the slow turning gears with wine and beer, we admire the beast and dream of the next, which may be the true obsession. — Lee Medoff, distiller-owner, Bull Run Distilling
My favorite summer dish is Don Jones’ Famous Salmon. Don is a Portland friend who grills an entire salmon fillet, skin side down, over a hardwood fire. The salmon is always super fresh, caught the day before. Then he puts the fillet in a very large roasting pan set over the fire, smothers it with fresh onion slices, garlic and Don’s Secret Sauce, and lets it poach. The sauce contains a truck-load of butter (I keep a defibrillator handy), plus salt, garlic and secret spices and herbs. Don assures me this dish is low-calorie and I refuse to question his veracity. 34
Every Memorial Day weekend I camp out with friends and make an appetizer of dates wrapped with bacon then grilled over charcoal and oak chips.
— Kurt Widmer, co-founder, Widmer Brothers Brewing — Rob Widmer, co-founder, Widmer Brothers Brewing
every summer we invite our friends with kids over for what we call a “Rent-a-Kid” party. It gives us a chance to do those things that we like to do but are so much better with kids around. We have great fun cooking and making build-your-own banana splits. Then we go to Bullwinkle’s Family Fun Center to play arcade games and ride go-carts and those boats where you spray each other and get soaking wet. — Paul King, co-founder of the White Bird dance series
For the past couple of summers, my dad and I have made my grandma’s pickle recipe. Her name was Ruth Dollar — I love that name— and she was of the “Dollar Corner” clan in Battle Ground, Wash. We used to call her “Chickie Grandma” because she had a chicken farm. now we have chickens at my house in northeast Portland (I guess having chickens makes me think of her). Anyway, it’s fun to pull out her recipe because it’s in Grandma’s handwriting and it reminds us of her. I think we did 40 pounds of cucumbers two summers ago; it was a
major production. The whole kitchen was filled with pickles. Then, last summer, I had so many lemon cucumbers in the garden, I tried using those, but they turned out mushy. You have to use pickling cucumbers. It gets so hot in the kitchen in the middle of the summer, but it’s fun. I guess I’m a Depression-era foodie: I’m all about putting up food. — Tess Darrow, founder and owner, Egg Press
ONLINE EXTRA: Get the recipe for Grandma Ruth Dollar’s Pickles at MIXPDX.COM
My mother-in-law always gives us more tomato starts than we can handle, and by the end of the summer we are overflowing with a mysterious array of tomatoes destined for salsa and Caprese Salad. — Nate Query, bassist, the Decemberists
love
When I think of summertime foods that I love, I think of tomatoes. Ripe, juicy, sweet-with-just-the-right-touch-of-acid tomatoes. And the only thing I really want to do with a nice, ripe tomato is eat thick slices of it between two slices of good, toasted bread with lots of butter, mayo, sea salt and black pepper. It’s a sandwich taught to me by my grandmother, who grew up very poor on a rural farm in Connecticut. not terribly gourmet, but hella good. I thought that there was no way the oregon tomato could ever compete with the Jersey tomatoes I grew up with, but I was wrong. every summer I go down to the PSU farmers market and get a few handfuls of perfect early Girls from viridian Farms, and enjoy a bit of gustatory bliss. — Tommy Habetz, chef/owner, Bunk Sandwiches and Bunk Bar
Almost 20 years ago, when my daughter was 5 and we lived in eugene, we went rollerskating along a path on the Willamette and happened upon a huge thicket of wild blackberries. Those blackberries translated into the “Best Pie in the Universe” — the pie of family legend, a pie that gets better every time we talk about it. So, my favorite oregon summer ritual is looking for wild berries. The best part is the seeking because it’s an excuse for long bike rides or hikes to hopeful spots and usually ends with eating berries warm and dusty right off the bush. We often go to Sauvie Island to forage along Reeder Road — followed by a skinny dip! — Sarah Hart, owner, Alma Chocolate 35
I plant a “Greek Salad” garden — peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. When they’re ready, I add some Fraga Farm organic raw goat feta, olive oil and red wine vinegar and I am happy as can be. Greek salad on its own or with a piece of grilled fish or meat — it’s my go-to meal of the summer! — Grace Pae, owner/executive chef, Artemis Foods We used to live in a tiny condo where we really couldn’t entertain, so when summer came around, we made Portland parks our dining room. We’d truck food, plates and our bocce set down to Willamette Park or Wilshire Park for a dinner party for four, eight or 12. We kept the food simple (pasta salads, sliced meats, cookies) and the wine pink. Real china, silverware and a tablecloth made it feel extra-special, but use what you’ve got — and don’t forget the candles! one more tip: If you’re tired of slogging out oregon 99W on your way to wine country, summertime is the perfect time to take a little detour. Hang a right in Sherwood and make your way to Smith Berry Barn (pictured). They have the most incredible lavender-strawberry milkshakes (and a super-cute farm store) that will sustain you as you continue on to your favorite wine tasting destination. — Tyson and Emily Crowley, owners, Crowley Wines
I love Gartner’s Country Meat Market way out on Killingsworth — specifically their cheese brat, which is outrageously delish. When the sun starts shining it’s time to BBQ!! I cook a lot of meat and mess with it all the time at Beast, so when I entertain (which I do love to do) I like to keep it as simple as possible. Not only does Gartner’s have a great selection (many things are already pre-marinated), but they are also very helpful and kind in that awesome old-fashioned kind of way. You also see a truly diverse crowd — and that is something we often don’t get enough of here in PDX. — Naomi Pomeroy, chef/owner, Beast
summer The annual Ettinger Family Vacation takes us to Joseph every August for a
week of hiking, swimming and beer-festing Bronze, Blues and Brews style. The highlight of this six-hour drive is the evening arrival at Terminal Gravity Brewing for buffalo burgers with the works and fresh IPA. The TG beer garden’s idyllic setting at the base of the Wallowa Mountains makes it my all-time favorite. — Christian Ettinger, owner/brewer, Hopworks (Get details on the annual Bronze, Blues and Brews beer festival at bronzebluesbrews.com)
The summers of my childhood were filled with basil.
My mom used to make a big bowl of pasta and fresh-from-the-garden-basil pesto that we would eat on our front porch. She’d make pesto sandwiches. She’d put pesto on salads. I thought we were fancy. It turns out we were just poor. either way, you can make a lot of meals out of basil, and it still tastes like summer to me. These days, I am lazy and have money, so I buy my weight in basil pesto at Food Front Co-op. It’s pesto just like mom used to make. I’d like to grow my own basil someday, but in the meantime I am happy to spend my summers planning that herb garden while I sip basil mojitos on the porch. — Chelsea Cain, best-selling author, whose most-recent thriller is “The Night Season.”
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The activity that really says summer to me in the Northwest is swimming in a river. I love to pack a picnic and go with friends to the Sandy River for the day. The perfect picnic might include a bottle of white wine and some beer (kept chilled in the cold river), yummy cheese and bread, summer fruits like plums, peaches, marionberries, blueberries, and some smoked salmon. I bring along a portable hammock and we’re good to go!
“I’ve lived in Portland for over 20 years and have learned to soak up all the
— Rebecca Pearcy, Queen Bee Designs
getaway within 20 minutes.” — Matt Higgins, owner, Coava Coffee Roasters
sunshine I can during our fleeting summers. A couple of years ago I rebuilt a 25-year-old aluminum fishing boat, and as soon as the weather’s warm enough we pack up a cooler full of beer and a propane grill, and start heading down from Cathedral Park. Right where the Columbia and Willamette converge there’s a sandy bank with ocean-style sand. We grill up some sausages or burgers and a whole mess of summer vegetables,
pretend we’re at the coast. Working lay down some towels, and
on a new business can take up so much of your time, but I can leave my house and be at a sunset barbecue
We knew summertime had arrived when my mom busted out the plastic Popsicle molds. orange juice frozen was disappointingly plebeian, apple juice almost pointless, grape was the best. or so my little brother and I thought. one day, prior to running around in our huge Iowan backyard, my mom handed us homemade Popsicles made from pulpy limeade. The icy syrupy tang defined the flavor of summer; it was fresh-mowed grass, lazy bees, petals dropping off fat english roses. Then one day she added chunks of fresh raspberries and I damn near lost my ever-lovin’ mind. Until such time as I can successfully make a Creamsicle, nowadays I leave such things to the professionals. BTW, you know what sounds like it would be good when you are out of mixers but isn’t? otter Pops and vodka. — Daria Eliuk, co-host of “The Daria, Mitch & Ted Show” on 105.1 The Buzz PHoToGRAPH BY RoB FInCH
feel beautiful from the outside in
Between Mosier and Hood River is an old section of Highway 30 that is closed to motor vehicles. You can walk, skate or ride your bike through the old WPA car tunnels (left), get a great view of the river and enjoy the quiet beauty of the forest. We often start out in Mosier at 10-Speed Coffee Roasters for a drip coffee or a latte. The Mark o. Hatfield east trailhead is about half a mile from there; if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re walking, the old tunnels are a nice turnaround point; there are plenty of places to dodge off the paved road for a picnic. If you want a longer hike or are on a bike, you can keep going to Hood River, which is about seven miles away. Back in Mosier, we either stop at The Thirsty Woman Pub for a microbrew, or hit Route 30 Classics, a Porsche museum and ice-cream shop. And we always make sure to bring home fresh-picked local cherries from one of the farm stands. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Patrick Reuter and Leigh Bartholomew, winemaker/owners, Dominio IV Wines
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I come from a family that discusses what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll eat next at every meal. Although I like to cook, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not of the caliber of my brother (Seattle chef Ethan Stowell) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; much to the dismay of my friends. Still, my fellow sixth-floor neighbors in our building in the Pearl are all excellent cooks, and we get together every six weeks for either a progressive diner or a potluck on the roof. We throw down newspaper and do big pots of shrimp, clams and corn or a poached fish with a variety of salads and condiments. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve converted many but not all of my neighbors to rosĂŠ, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tradition to finish the evening with grappa. Luckily we only have to get downstairs. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Christopher Stowell, artistic director, Oregon Ballet Theatre ÂŁ
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Rebirth of the cool Armed with Oregon strawberries, local pastry chefs breathe new life into five vintage desserts By GraNt ButLer
ack in the 1950s and ’60s, people didn’t eat out nearly as often as we do today, so when they did go out, they wanted to dine at tony places serving elaborate European-style “cuisine.” Chefs of that era were known for rich, elaborate dishes, and meals finished off with elegant layered parfaits and billowy Pavlovas. These were the Grace Kelly of desserts — cool, poised and beautiful. In the decades since, these old-school desserts have drifted off the menu and the minds of diners, as home cooks turn to simple recipes and chefs embrace rustic desserts that reflect their farm-to-table sensibilities. While
we’ll always love shortcakes, cobblers and free-form tarts, those graceful midcentury desserts deserve another chance. They are simply too good to be forgotten. Pretty yet unfussy, they rely on creams, custards and meringues that anyone can make. And, it just so happens, they’re perfect with strawberries. This month, as juicy Hood and Totem berries become available at local U-pick fields and farmers markets as well as ever-bearing varieties like Tillamook and Puget Summer, it’s the perfect time to celebrate both luscious Oregon berries and the bygone desserts that show them off deliciously. So we asked some of Portland’s best pastry chefs to dust off these classics and give them a gentle update, while remaining faithful to what made them cool in the first place.
Photography by Beth Nakamura
Strawberry Sabayon Parfaits Makes about 8 servings
Rustic, homey shortcakes have stolen the spotlight, but pretty parfaits like these deserve a comeback. They’re almost as easy, but feel a lot more special. They’re essentially mini trifles, with layers of vanillascented spongecake, sweetened strawberries and rich custard made tipsy with the addition of a sweet dessert wine. Butter, for coating the pan
Sabayon:
Granulated sugar, for coating the pan
8 egg yolks
Spongecake: 8 egg yolks 2 cups granulated sugar (divided) 2 teaspoons vanilla 1½ cups cake flour ½ teaspoon salt 9 egg whites
½ cup granulated sugar ⁄3 cup Sauternes-style wine
2
¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup whipping cream Strawberries: 3 pints strawberries ¼ to ½ cup granulated sugar
To make the spongecake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a half-sheet pan (otherwise known as a 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheet) and cover the bottom with a sheet of parchment. Butter the parchment and sprinkle the buttered areas with sugar. Tap out the excess. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks, 11⁄3 cups of the sugar and vanilla together on high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to another large mixing bowl. Sift the cake flour and salt over the mixture and fold in (it will be stiff). Thoroughly wash and dry the mixer’s bowl and whisk attachment, then use them to whip the egg whites until foamy and frothy. Continue whipping while sprinkling in the remaining 2⁄3 cup sugar. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Fold a small amount of the whites into the yolks to make it looser, then fold in the remaining whites in two batches. Spread the cake batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly pressed. (Cake can be made 1 day in advance. Allow to cool and wrap in plastic wrap.) To make the sabayon: Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, wine and salt in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until mixture is thick. Cool over an ice bath. Meanwhile, whip the cream. When the custard is cool, fold in the whipped cream. Keep chilled until ready to use. (Can be made several days ahead.) To prepare the strawberries: Slice or quarter the strawberries and toss in a bowl with the lesser amount of sugar. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes so that the berries have time to macerate and release juices. To assemble: Gather 8 pretty glasses that hold about 12 ounces. Cut the cake into rounds that will fit in the glasses. Layer the ingredients, starting with a spoonful of the sabayon. Top that with a piece of the cake. Spoon some strawberries on top of the cake. Add another spoonful of sabayon and top with another piece of cake. Now add more sabayon and end with a topping of strawberries. — Adapted from Lauren Fortgang, Little Bird
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Strawberries Romanoff With Financiers, Tarragon Ice Cream and Blood Orange Crème Fraîche Makes 6 servings
1¼ cups almond flour
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
There are countless variations on this dessert, which is essentially strawberries and cream spiked with Grand Marnier. Though its heyday has long since passed, it’s a winning combination — even more so when given notes of tarragon and blood orange, as in this recipe from pastry chef Bryn Robeson of Bluehour. Though you could skip the financiers, since they’re served alongside, we don’t recommend it. They’re incredible.
½ cup egg whites (from 4 eggs)
Zest of ½ blood orange
Tarragon ice cream:
Strawberries:
1 cup whipping cream
2 pints ripe strawberries, halved or quartered if large
Financiers: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups powdered sugar ¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole milk 4 egg yolks
¼ cup granulated sugar, or to taste (depending on how sweet the berries are)
1
⁄3 cup granulated sugar
Zest of ½ blood orange
½ cup packed tarragon leaves
½ vanilla bean
¼ teaspoon salt
Strawberry syrup:
Blood orange crème fraîche:
2 cups quartered strawberries
½ cup crème fraîche
2
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1
½ vanilla bean
⁄3 cup granulated sugar ⁄8 teaspoon salt
To make the financiers: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Set a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. After the butter melts, it will begin to foam up and simmer. When foaming has subsided and milk solids have browned and dropped to the bottom of the pan, remove from heat. Sift the sugar, flour and almond flour into a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites. Pour the browned butter into the bowl slowly while whisking until combined. Pipe batter into savarin molds or divide among 10 (unlined, ungreased) muffin cups, filling them only halfway. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly pressed. To make the ice cream: Set a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add the cream and milk. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the pot, along with the pod. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook until reduced by one-third. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk yolks and sugar together until light in color. Temper the egg mixture by whisking in about ½ cup of the hot cream. Then whisk the egg mixture into the pan of hot cream and return pan to the heat. Cook, whisking, until the custard reaches 165 degrees. Remove from heat, strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a new bowl and set in an ice bath to cool.
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While the custard cools, blanch the tarragon for 30 seconds in a small pot of boiling water, then plunge in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and dry thoroughly. In a blender or food processor, purée about 1 cup of the custard with the blanched tarragon and salt. Strain mixture through a finemesh sieve into the remaining custard and mix well. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cold, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. To make the blood orange crème fraîche: Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, whip crème fraîche and brown sugar until medium peaks form. Add liqueur and orange zest and whip to stiff peaks. Chill until ready to use. To prepare the strawberries: In a bowl, toss strawberries with desired amount of sugar. Mix in zest and seeds scraped from the ½ vanilla bean. Refrigerate until ready to use. To prepare the strawberry syrup: Combine berries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over low heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries have collapsed and softened. Strain syrup through fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Press on the strawberries to extract as much syrup as you can, without letting the pulp pass through. Discard the strawberries. Return syrup to the pot and bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, approximately 8-10 minutes. Add salt to taste and cool over an ice bath. To assemble: Allow ice cream to soften (but don’t let it become liquid), then fold in the blood orange crème fraîche. Divide mixture among 6 decorative glasses, top with the sugared strawberries and drizzle with the syrup. Serve with a financier alongside. — Adapted from Bryn Robeson, Bluehour
Strawberry Pavlovas With Crème Fraîche Filling Makes 6 servings
The origins of Pavlova are still debated between Kiwis and Aussies, who both claim the 1930s creation as theirs. Either way, it’s an elegant study in textures: The meringue is both shatteringly crisp and slightly chewy, and provides a welcome contrast to the airy whipped cream and smooth fruit. In this version, the meringue is portioned into individual servings, and the whipped cream is replaced with lightly sweetened crème fraîche (you could also use sour cream). “Whipped cream or ice cream also works well,” says Suzette chef Jehnee Rains, “but I prefer the more sour flavor of a cultured cream to balance the sweetness of the meringues.” Meringues: ½ cup egg whites (about 4), at room temperature ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar 1 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch ¾ teaspoon cider vinegar or champagne vinegar ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Filling: 1 cup crème fraîche ¼ cup granulated sugar (divided) ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled
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1 teaspoon lemon juice, balsamic vinegar or red wine To prepare meringues: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites with cream of tartar on high speed until you have foamy peaks. On medium speed, begin adding the sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time, then increase speed to high and whip to firm peaks for 3 minutes. Mix in cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla extract to combine. Spoon out 6 half-domes of meringue onto the cookie sheet. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the meringues lift off the parchment. To prepare the filling: Whip the crème fraîche with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and ¼ teaspoon of the vanilla extract until thick and billowy. Taste for sweetness, and chill. This can be done in advance, but may need rewhipping if it sits for over an hour. Select 12 (or roughly half) of the nicest berries and slice them ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle 1½ teaspoons of sugar over them and add a splash of lemon juice. Set aside to macerate for 5 to 10 minutes. Purée the remaining berries in a food processor with the remaining 2½ tablespoons of sugar. Taste for sweetness and correct with additional sugar, lemon
juice, vinegar or red wine, to taste. Pour about onequarter of the purée over the macerated berries and taste again for sweetness. When you are ready to serve, use the tip of a spoon to gently cut a circle the size of a golf ball in the top of each meringue, pressing down the center. Transfer the meringues to plates, spoon the whipped crème fraîche into the cavity. Spoon the strawberry sauce around the meringues on the plate, and divide the macerated berries, putting a few on top of the cream, the rest around the plate. — Adapted from Jehnee Rains, Suzette
StrawberryRhubarb Charlottes With Cinnamon Sabayon Makes about 4 servings
There are two main kinds of charlotte desserts: The British version, which features a bread-lined mold filled with apples and then baked, and the French version, which swaps ladyfingers or spongecake for the bread and cold, creamy mousse for the filling. Irving Street Kitchen’s Sarah Schafer and Helena Root went the British route, making a version that uses brioche and strawberry-rhubarb compote as the filling, with a luscious cinnamon custard to drizzle on top. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for greasing ramekins Granulated sugar for ramekins, plus extra for top Strawberry-rhubarb compote: 1 pint strawberries, halved or quartered 8 ounces rhubarb, cut into ½-inch dice ½ cup granulated sugar Zest of ½ orange 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier Batter: 4 large eggs ½ cup whole milk ¼ cup granulated sugar 42
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 12 ounces brioche bread, crust removed, sliced ¼ inch thick Cinnamon sabayon: 6 egg yolks ½ cup packed light brown sugar ⁄3 cup Calvados or apple liqueur
1
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped Splash of water Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter four 4- to 6-ounce ramekins. Sprinkle evenly with sugar and tap out the excess. To make the compote: Combine the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, orange zest and Grand Marnier in a medium nonreactive saucepan set over medium heat. Cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and rhubarb is soft, about 5 minutes. Remove any large pieces of rhubarb and berries with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl, leaving the juices behind. Continue simmering the juices until reduced and syrupy, about 5 minutes more. Stir into the rhubarb and berries and let cool. (Can be made several days ahead and refrigerated.)
To make the batter: In a shallow dish, combine eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon. Stir with a whisk until fully combined. Invert a ramekin, or use a round cutter, on 4 of the bread slices to use as a guide to cut out circles. These will be the bases of the charlottes. Cut the other slices of bread in half lengthwise. To assemble: Dip the bread circles in the egg mixture and place in the bottom of each prepared ramekin. Dip the rectangles of bread in the egg mixture, then use them to line the walls of each ramekin, standing them upright around the perimeter and leaving an overhang that you will later use to fold over and seal the charlotte. It should take about 5 or 6 strips per ramekin. Fill each with 2 to 3 tablespoons of strawberry and rhubarb compote. Fold over the edges of the bread to seal it up completely and sprinkle the tops with a little sugar. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. If the tops brown too quickly, cover loosely with
foil. When done, the bread will have puffed up slightly, the edges will be brown and the sugar on top will have caramelized. While they bake, make the cinnamon sabayon. To make the sabayon: In a large mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, brown sugar, Calvados, cinnamon, vanilla bean seeds and water. Set bowl over a pot of boiling water and reduce heat to low. Whisk (you can use a handheld mixer with the whisk attachment to make it easier) until the mixture becomes light and fluffy and the volume almost doubles, about 5 to 10 minutes. (Sabayon can be made several days ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm gently over a double boiler or serve cold.) To serve: Allow the charlottes to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto individual plates, if desired. Top with cinnamon sabayon. — Adapted from Sarah Schafer and Helena Root, Irving Street Kitchen
Green Almond Blancmange With Fresh Strawberries Makes 6 to 8 servings
It seems almost everyone, except Monty Python fans, have all but forgotten about blancmange. But this delicate and ethereal centuries-old dessert is worthy of reviving. Think of it like an almond flavored panna cotta, made lighter and cloudlike with the addition of whipped cream. “I like to put a modern twist on this dessert,” says Paley’s Place pastry chef Kristen Murray, “honoring my upbringing in California and these wonderful immature almonds that are so plentiful there. Green almonds are available from mid-April to midJune. They have a subtle flavor that is commonly described as delicate and grassy. The almond fruit resembles a ripe grape hidden in a green, soft, fuzzy husk.”
Divide the mixture among 6 to 8 (4- to 6-ounce) ramekins or gelatin molds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. When ready to serve, toss the strawberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and allow to macerate for up to 30 minutes. Serve the blancmange in the ramekins or unmold onto serving dishes. To unmold, dip the bottoms and sides of the molds into hot water for a few seconds and invert onto a plate. Tap the plate on the counter a few times, then gently lift off the mold. Garnish with the strawber-
ries, and the reserved green almond fruit and white edible flowers, if using. Notes: When in season, green almonds are occasionally available at Pacific Coast Produce. Call ahead to order. For the milk, Murray recommends Garry’s Meadow Fresh Jersey milk, produced on Lady-Lane farm, a small traditional dairy farm in Mulino. It’s sold at New Seasons Market and local farmers markets. — Adapted from Kristen D. Murray, Paley’s Place
1 pound fresh green almonds or ½ pound blanched slivered almonds (see note) ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (divided) 2½ cups whole milk (divided; see note) ¼ cup water 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin ¼ teaspoon almond extract (if not using green almonds) 1 cup whipping cream 1½ teaspoons elderflower liqueur (optional) 1 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled Small, white edible flowers (optional garnish) If using green almonds, separate the inner fruit from the husks. Reserve 6 or 8 almond fruits for garnish. Pulverize the remaining almond fruit (or all of the slivered almonds) in a large mortar and pestle with ¼ cup of the sugar and 1 cup of the milk. If you do not have a mortar and pestle, you can use a food processor, but it does remove a bit of the romance behind this ancient recipe. Pour the almond milk paste into a fine-mesh sieve lined with wet cheesecloth. Lift the cloth and twist to press all of the milk out of the almond mixture. Discard the almonds and cloth. Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top; set aside for at least 5 minutes to allow gelatin to soften. Pour the remaining 1½ cups milk and ¼ cup of the sugar into a saucepan. If using green almonds, add the husks. If using slivered almonds, add the extract. Heat over medium heat until almost about to boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the gelatin. Let steep for 20 minutes if using the husks. If not, continue to the next step. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into the almond milk. Allow mixture to chill in an ice bath or the refrigerator until cold (don’t leave it there for hours or the gelatin will start to set). Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Whisk onethird of the whipped cream into the cold almond milk. Gently fold the rest of the cream into it. Add the liqueur, if using.
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Nob Hill neighborhood W
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4 NW 21st Ave
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Thinking about changing food for your pet? We carry a large selection of Natural foods for Dogs and Cats. Come and check out our selection of Raw Food such as Nature’s Variety, NW Natural, Primal, Stella & Chewy’s. Here at Nature’s Pet we foster cats from the Columbia Humane Society and try and find homes for them. Free underground parking. Open M-F 10 to 7, Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 11 to 5. Stop by and mention this ad for 10% of your entire purchase. 111 NW 21st Ave Portland, OR 503.360.1244 www.naturespetmarket.com
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5
Urban Fondue
Food Front Food Front is NW Portland’s freshest source for local and natural foods including organic produce; fine wines; artisan breads & cheeses; fresh, local meats; and fair trade coffee and chocolate. Whether you’re looking for daily essentials or delightful indulgences, you’ll find it at Food Front, naturally. Open 8am-9pm Daily 2375 NW Thurman St. Portland, OR 503.222.5658 www.foodfront.coop
2
3925 NE MLK JR. BLVD
NW Vaughn St
N 1
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NW Thurman St
NW Davis St
1
NW Quimby St
NW 22nd Ave
NW Pettygrove St
NW Kearney St
NW Irving St
6
NW Hoyt St
NW Glisan St
NW Everett St
NW 22nd Place
NW Northrup St
NW 23rd Ave
Serving a unique dining experience featuring scratch recipe fondues made with local ingredients. Open 7 nights a week 2114 NW Glisan St (next to Bartini) Portland, OR Reservations: 503.242.1400 or www.urbanfondue.com
4
Hand Crafted Stoneware
• Fine bourbon • Classic cocktails • Southern Cuisine
Serratto
2075 NW Glisan Street Portland, OR (near the corner of NW 21st and Glisan) 503.222.1056 www.popehouselounge.com
2112 NW Kearney St. Portland OR 503.221.1195 www.serratto.com
Gift Certificates available. Lunch, Dinner & Happy Hour Seven days a week. Parking in our lot on NW Johnson St.
Nob Hill Marketplace
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Our unique shop offers the finest hand-painted European stoneware from Ceramika Artystyczna that is microwave, dishwasher and ovensafe. We also carry linens, antiques and gifts. We welcome your visit and are open everyday between 11am6pm. www.polishpotteryplace.com 2281 NW Hoyt St Portland, OR 97210 (corner of 23rd and Hoyt) 503.222.5463
To advertise in Marketplace contact Lindsay Grant at 503.221.8352 or lgrant@oregonian.com
good[ Cougar cheese Gold from Washington State University ]
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Delicious yet oft-misunderstood Cougar seeks distinguished palate w/can opener. If Cougar Gold had a headline for its online dating profile, that would be it. As much as we love the adage about not judging books by their covers, we do it anyway. It’s human nature. And Cougar Gold, produced at Washington State University’s creamery, has the distinct kitsch and challenge of being packaged in a can — not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think “gourmet cheese.” Although the can gets a lot of attention, the cheese inside is truly worthy of admiration. Still, it’s impossible not to wonder why it’s in a can, so let’s start there. By SAShA dAvIeS photoGrAph By fAIth CAthCArt
good cheese cont. In the late 1930s, when Cougar Gold was being developed, there was no plastic packaging. Cheesemakers commonly used wax for packaging and aging hard cheeses, but wax was prone to cracking and contamination. So WSU began looking for alternatives. one of its research projects, funded by the U.S. government and the American Can Company, was aimed at finding a way to effectively package cheese in cans. Lucky for us, the researchers and cheesemakers developed a can-compatible cheese that’s so delicious, it’s still in demand today. What makes Cougar Gold so good? It’s almost like the offspring of cheddar and gruyère — the tangy, fruity and sharp flavors of cheddar mixing with sweet, nutty, brown butter notes common to gruyère. those cheddar characteristics result from a step
in the cheesemaking process aptly termed cheddaring, which presses out moisture and allows the curds to knit together and become more acidic. All of these things lend cheddared cheeses a certain kind of body and that classic tangy flavor. Cougar Gold gets its gruyère-like sweet, nutty, caramel flavors because of the culture added to the milk during cheesemaking, a culture that the creamery has maintained like a sourdough starter for decades. dr. N.S. Golding, for whom the cheese is named, found it after many failed attempts with other cultures, which produced cheeses that gave off gases as they aged, resulting in disfigured cans. Not good. But the winning culture not only made the cheese canable, but it also gave Cougar Gold its signature flavor. And the rest is history.
Name: Cougar Gold Milk: Cow from Washington State University’s dairy Age and look: Blond, craggy rounds aged a minimum of one year, though WSU alumni and Cougar Gold fans have been known to age unopened cans in the refrigerator for 10 years or more.
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1230 nw hoyt • 503.241.8800
Flavor: the texture is claylike and crumbles a bit when cut, but then it melts into creamy deliciousness in your mouth. on the finish, sweet flavors of caramel are balanced by a hint of bittersweet chocolate and bright fruity notes, similar to those in cheddars. Eat with: pickles of any kind, as their acidity will balance the richness of the cheese while the sweet and sour notes meld with its tang. My favorite is pickled raisins from Seattle’s Boat Street pickles (visit boatstreetpickles.com for a list of local stores that carry the pickles). Drink with: Almost anything, from sauvignon blanc to a pacific Northwest IpA. even a robust merlot would work. Why we like this cheese: It ranks ridiculously high on the snackability scale, and it reminds us that great things can come from cans. Where to find it: $19.99 a pound at New Seasons, or $18 for a 30-ounce can at Washington State University or online at cougarcheese.wsu.edu £
ONLINE EXTRA: go to MIXpDX.cOM and get Fr a t e l l i Po r t l a n d . c o m @fratelli_pdx
the recipe for double cheddar and tomato Jam grilled cheese sandwich from Laura Werlin’s new book “grilled cheese, Please!” (Andrews McMeel, $16.99).
PUBCRAWL
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[ Portland pub takes cider seriously ]
w
e portlanders love to have a drink with friends, which is why our pub scene is as robust and varied as any in the world. We love to learn about new tipples, too, and a recent addition to portlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pub roster, Bushwhacker Cider, is teaching us that cider is far more complex and historic than the sticky-sweet alcopop ordered by people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much like beer. a sip of a dry, tart, Basque cider aged in a chestnut barrel and poured from the requisite two or three feet above your glass will quickly erase any sugary aftertaste left by an ill-considered swig of a mass market industrial cider. as will the Belgian-beer-like barnyardand-Brettanomyces funk of a good asturian cider, or the apple-blossom bouquet of a normandy or Brittany cider. and Bushwhacker, the only pub in the nation with only cider on tap, is just the place for that sip.
By john foyston / photography By thomas Boyd
PUBCRAWL Cont.
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“that’s not at all what I was expecting,” Erika Zoller says after her first taste of a Basque cider at a recent tasting at Bushwhacker. “that’s a lot more tart than I expected, but then I started on sweet ciders, and I’m learning that there’s an amazing variety of flavors and price ranges out there. you think of cider as just one flavor, but then you come here and realize how much there is to learn — and I want to learn more.” “I started making cider about seven years ago,” says jeff smith, who opened Bushwhacker Cider with his wife, Erin, last september. “I got serious when I took two of peter mitchell’s weeklong cider classes up in mt. Vernon, Washington.” mitchell is an English cider expert who’s considered the michael jackson (the late Brit beer expert) of the cider world. “I figured that if I spent all that money, it was time to do something,” says smith. that “something” was Bushwhacker Cider, a welcoming, simple space in a building across from Edelweiss deli and the Berlin Inn in the Brooklyn neighborhood. there’s a big roll-up glass door at the west end, seating for about 40, and a couple of dartboards. and, of course, there’s cider — lots of it. the bar has seven rotating cider taps, the coolers are stocked with a hundred or so bottles from spain, france, England and the northwest, and there’s a cidery with 150 gallons of cider fermenting in the back. “jeff’s doing something that nobody else in the country has done,” says cider expert and ninkasi brand manager morgan miller. “By opening a cider-only bar, he’s created a new
consciousness about the product, and everyone in the industry — distributors, bottle shop owners and publicans — is seeing an increased awareness of good cider among their customers.” smith is holding cider tastings and “meet the maker” nights (admittedly not as a felicitous a phrase as “meet the brewer”) and he’s making cider, too. his last batch used 50 pounds of golden delicious apples smoked across the street at Edelweiss deli. “he’s very much inspired by the portland craft-brewing tradition,” miller says. “I do want to do more than just add different flavors to cider,” says smith, who decided to make cider because he didn’t think he had much to add to the inventiveness of local brewers. “so I want to experiment with different yeasts and oak-aging and more. I’m very much inspired by alex ganum at Upright Brewing, where, amid all the big fermenters of his standard beers, he always has these little carboys of special beers and experiments. I’m inspired in general by craft brewers because they have a quick turnaround
Enjoy Beautiful Views Taste Distinctive Pinot Noir, Dolcetto & Muscat. Open Year-around by appointment
WX Up to 20% off cases & Specially priced Pinot Noir Futures
503-662-5609
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time and they love to try new things.” there are all manner of imported ciders in the coolers (plus a thoughtful selection of wines and beers), but many of the shop’s ciders come from the growing number of pacific northwest cideries such as Wandering aengus, Blue mountain, Carlton Cydery, E.Z. orchards Cidre, and a dozen more that thickly cluster in the upper lefthand corner of the U.s. map. “We live in apple central,” smith says. “this is a perfect region for cider making.” Clearly, hard cider is shaping up to be the next big thing. the first conference of hard cider makers was held in oregon in january, and this month portland welcomes Cider summit nW, a big all-cider festival that’s the identical twin to one held in seattle in the fall. market Watch predicts the U.s. hard cider market will grow from the current 1 million cases to 15 million cases in the next decade, and hard cider sales increased by 12 percent last year, outpacing even the vigorous craft beer segment. “portland is the perfect town for
there’s so much more to hard cider than mass-produced “alcopop.” jeff smith is doing his best to spread the good cider gospel through Bushwhacker, his pub in southeast portland.
Bushwhacker cider: 1212-d s.E. powell Blvd.; 503-445-0577, bushwhackercider.com cider summit Northwest: saturday, june 11, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Elizabeth Caruthers park, south Waterfront. Event features 50 artisanal ciders from the northwest, England, france and spain. tickets cost $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and include a tasting glass and 10 drink tickets. for more information, go to cidersummitnw.com.
G R E A T
Escapes
Bushwhacker because it’s the imbibe capital of the U.s.,” says smith. “people here have very open minds and good palates, and they love to try something new. I thought to myself that if a cider house was going to work anywhere in the country, it would work in portland, where we even have a kava bar. I can’t imagine this working as well in any other town.” still, it was a little daunting to leave a decade’s worth of secure paychecks as a department manager at a WinCo store to start making cider. “Initially I was going to open this as a production cidery, but I learned a lesson from the mcmenamins — make your own stuff and sell it in your own place.” smith originally dedicated one of his taps to beer. “I sell a fair amount of beer in bottles and cans, but I never could blow through a keg,” he says, “so now we pour only cider.” the taps vary according to supply, but include a good selection of northwest ciders that sell for $4, in glasses that range from a 10-ounce snifter to a 20-ounce pint depending on the cider you order. there’s also a $6 taster tray and a half dozen cider cocktails. food is as basic as the ambience, as befits a man who loved the old, funky versions of the Bridgeport and full sail pubs. you’ve got your salted-in-the-shell peanuts, bags of good multigrain chips and spicy pickled eggs. But you can also bring in your own food or get $5 off when you order a pie from a neighboring pizzeria. It’s all very cozy and publike, and that’s just the vibe smith wants to foster. “I want the kind of place where guys come in to play darts and drink from mugs, not wineglasses,” he says. “We should have a steve’s Cheese plate — we’re good friends with steve (jones, owner of Cheese Bar) — but pickled eggs and peanuts are more us. some people want to push cider to the wine-connoisseur side of things, but we want to have more fun with it.”
top five great cider words: 5. Sagardotegi: a traditional Basque cider house where cider is dispensed in long, arcing streams from the barrel to aerate the flat cider. 4. Scratting: Crushing the apples. 3. Pomace: the pulp from which cider is expressed.
Skamania County In Skamania County there are open spaces, spectacular views & unique experiences. Try a relaxing mineral bath at Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. Spend the night at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, a weekend in a cabin along the Columbia River or quiet Carson Valley. Hike the core of a volcano, discover a waterfall or golf a scenic course. Relax, watch kiteboarders & windsurfers. Take the short drive up the Gorge, just 45 min. from Portland. Discover it all for yourself. We’re waiting for you in Skamania County.
800.989.9178 Skamania.org
Silverwood Theme Park Jump in the car for a short drive to Silverwood, the northwest’s largest theme park, a place filled with fun and excitement for everyone! Gigantic steel & massive wooden roller coasters, raft rides, a skyscraping drop tower, oceans of wave pools, slides & a laid back lazy river. Just north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on Hwy. 95.
1-208-683-3400 SilverwoodThemePark.com
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2. Barrikotea: a chestnut or oak barrel of up to 100 liters for aging Basque cider. they can range up in size to the kupela of a thousand liters or more. 1. Scrumpy: the Western English name for small, withered, sour cidermaking apples, and by extension, the cider itself. this name is said to make perfect sense after three of four glasses of the stuff. £
The Dalles
A Sunny Destination Located on the sunny side of the Cascades, The Dalles provides easy access to skiing on Mt. Hood, white water rafting on the Deschutes, windsurfing and boating on the Columbia, hiking and mountain biking in the National Scenic Area, cycling the quiet back roads, and fishing for salmon, steelhead, trout and sturgeon. Or, for something more relaxing, check out our fabulous wines, art galleries, historic sites, museums, concerts and festivals.
800-255-3385 • 541-296-2231 www.thedalleschamber.com
The Landing at Newport Discover The Landing at Newport, a 57-unit resort style condo-hotel. From glorious sunrises to magnificent sunsets, you will experience an ever-changing view of the beautiful Yaquina Bay and Bridge. Located at the end of the historic Newport Bayfront, you can enjoy the fishing fleets, shopping, and fine dining. Whether you spend your day beachcombing, crabbing, or sightseeing, or end your day relaxing next to a warm fire in the privacy of your home away from home, THE LANDING AT NEWPORT will be an unforgettable experience. For reservations please visit our website at
800.749-4993 thelandingatnewport.com
Sellwood neighborhood SE 16th Ave
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Farmhouse Antiques Sellwoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite mini-mall! - Vintage jewelry - Hats - Furniture - Cast Iron - Glassware - Pottery - Postcards - Holiday decor & more!
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Springtime in Paris/Portland!! Finally!! CoCo brought back a few very special treasures from her last trip to the ďŹ&#x201A;ea markets in Paris, and they are in the store now!! There are also some fun and funky garden art pieces, amazing vases, books and jewelry. Lots of Baggalini bags and carry-ons, plus cute Jammies for your travels as well!
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Dressed
Come check out our exclusive optical gallery featuring hand-painted stain glass eyewear from Studio3 Occhiali Eyewear imported from Italy. We also carry famous designer eyewear such as Gucci, Liz Claiborne, Silhouette, Prodesign, Lafont, Calvin Klien and Sean John, just to name a few. Stop by and check us out! Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 - 5:30 6539 SE Milwaukie Avenue 503.236.6008 www.visionsource-moreland.com
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CoCo got dressed in all the wonderful new spring and summer styles from her very favorite vendors. Some from Italy, some from France, and many from the grand olâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; USA. HOBO handbags, clutches & wallets in all the great spring and summer colors and styles. Wonderful new jewelry from Grayling, Pools of Light, Chan Luu, and colorful bright bangles, earrings, & necklaces from Brazil! 7007 SE Milwaukie Avenue 503.236.7777
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Sellwood Marketplace
To advertise in Marketplace contact Jeff Brosy at 503.221.8320 or jbrosy@oregonian.com
five wines
m
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[ Perfect picks for one June from another ] atthew peterson favors clean lines. and lean wines. the partner and wine buyer at June restaurant trained in design — he worked his way through the pratt institute waiting tables at notable new york restaurants — and drew the plans for the restaurant’s spare yet stylish and comfortable interior. the largely european wine list he constructed is no different. it can look a bit intimidating at first (not one but two scheurebe wines?), but his underlying philosophy is elementary: careful farming, thoughtful cellar practices, food-friendly wine. as he often says, “it’s all just juice.”
so, even though June was named after a person, not the month (she was chef greg perrault’s grandmother; you can see a glamorous black-andwhite photo of her as you approach the bar from the front door), we could think of no better place to find recommendations for this month’s wines. as the earth warms up beneath our feet and the farmers markets get rocking and our backyard vegetable plots start to look like, well, something, we’re craving perrault’s cooking and peterson’s fresh attitude toward wine. that’s why we asked peterson to help us pick a fresh, French lineup of wines for a backyard barbecue on the most perfect evening in June. in response, he took us on a tasting tour of France that boomerangs between the cool coastal west and mountainous east before turning toward the balmy
By katherine cole / photography By randy l. rasmussen
River Dining at Its Best
MARKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ON THE CHANNEL
five wines cont.
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south. his white and lighterred picks are thirst-quenching for midafternoon heat, while his stronger reds and fortified sweet wine are ideal for finishing a meal in the chilly latespring/early summer air. â&#x20AC;&#x153;iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m thinking of that transition from light to dark, when the moon and stars are starting to come out, that transition from heat to a slight chill. the format from a restaurant to a backyard is also a transition: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going from seated courses and dishes with wine pairings to standing up, walking around and being interactive. these wines will go with certain things at certain points of an outdoor meal, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also versatile enough to fall into place anywhere,â&#x20AC;? he says. and anyway, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all just juice.
A PeRfect JUne eveninG, witH stRAwBeRRies to stARt 2008 François Chidaine â&#x20AC;&#x153;Clos du Breuilâ&#x20AC;? Montlouis ($27)
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imagine, if you will, snacking on fresh-picked strawberries while you prepare for the summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first patio party, then sharing a glass of this white with friends as they arrive. dry yet beguiling, with notes of â&#x20AC;&#x153;honeysuckle, tangerine, almond and quince,â&#x20AC;? as peterson points out, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sipper for a sun-soaked afternoon. Just across the loire river from the better-known Vouvray, montlouis is a sleeper source for similarly floral, delicately fruity whites. in this region, François chidaine is the organic- and biodynamicpracticing grower on whom all eyes are trained. of his many interpretations of the chenin blanc grape, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;clos du Breuilâ&#x20AC;? is the driest. From one of the highest-elevation vineyards in montlouis, where the flinty topsoil sits on a bed of limestone, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it has a chalkiness and some racy minerality as well,â&#x20AC;? says peterson. so when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for an apĂŠritif, pour everyone a glass of this white, and be sure to put that bowl of berries on the table, too.
JUNE 2215 E. Burnside 503-477-4655
witH sALAD
NV Domaine de la Tournelle â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Uva Arbosianaâ&#x20AC;? Arbois ($22.50) Whether you have your salad course before, after or during the main event, it calls for a lighter wine. petersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pick is similar to a dry rosĂŠ, but geekier. in arbois, the northernmost sub-region of the Jura â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a fairy-tale-worthy enclave of forests and hilltop chateaux on the swiss border â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the thin-skinned ploussard grape is made into a fresh, unfiltered wine thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a deep, cloudy pink. Vignerons evelyne and pascal clairet farm their vineyard organically, then put the fruit through carbonic maceration (think of the joyful kool-aid quality of a Beaujolais) before letting it rest in enamel-lined tanks for nine months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;it has notes of pepper, strawberry, watermelon, lavender, rose hip. it is lovely with vegetables,â&#x20AC;? peterson says. and, he advises, serve it cold, just as you would a rosĂŠ. â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alive, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fresh, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fun,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little esoteric, but i think, given a chance, it could become an every-summer joy for people.â&#x20AC;?
witH fisH/LiGHt MeAts 2008 Domaine de Veilloux Val de Loire Rouge ($18.75)
passetoutgrains is a blend of gamay and pinot noir best known in Burgundy; turns out a variation of it is made in the upper loire, as well. this version, from the cheverny region, includes a dollop of malbec and cabernet franc as well. at just 12 percent alcohol by volume, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lighter, fruitier red that straddles the divide between twilight and dark, between hard-core carnivores and those less committed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;you could put this out with charcuterie, cold prepared stuff,â&#x20AC;? says peterson. â&#x20AC;&#x153;or, say youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got pescetarians and meat eaters at your backyard party; this is the wine to match with that side
'21¡7 %/2: ,7
of salmon.â&#x20AC;? itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s produced in a 1,000-plus-year-old chateau where, in keeping with his familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two-centuries-old farming traditions, vigneron michel Quenioux cultivates his vine rows according to biodynamics, that old-worldy, spiritual take on organic agriculture. serve this earthy, silky red slightly chilled.
witH MeAt off tHe GRiLL
2007 Domaine Catherine Le Goeuil â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cairanneâ&#x20AC;? CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne Villages ($21; also available by the half-bottle for $12.50) picture provence: the olive groves, the fields of lavender. the sun- and wind-swept hilltop village of cairanne overlooks the aigues, an eastern branch of the rhĂ´ne river, and affords spectacular views of the jagged, rocky teeth of the dentelles de montmirail and the massif of mont Ventoux. in this picturesque spot, winemaker catherine le goeuil follows traditional vinification practices, such as the use of indigenous yeasts and long fermentation in cement tanks. her unfiltered wines are raw and real; her vineyard is certified organic. this grenache-based blend includes some syrah, mourvèdre, carignan and counoise for complexity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got that brambly, rich, smoky thing going on,â&#x20AC;? says peterson. â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really good for grilling.â&#x20AC;? Just roll me in some herbes de provence,
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witH BRownies
NV Domaine La Tour Vieille Banyuls Reserva everyone asks what they can bring, right? try to work it so that your neighbor will bake a pan of her killer old-school brownies. and be prepared for this delicious possibility by having Banyuls, the portlike wine of southern France, on hand. not just any Banyuls, but this blend of old-vine grenache, grenache gris and carignan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; hand-farmed (i.e. no tractors) on steep, windblown schist terraces overlooking the mediterranean sea. the seriously old-school producer creates this cuvĂŠe by blending current and older vintages in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;soleraâ&#x20AC;? system that dates back to 1952. phew! But getting back to the brownies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Banyuls is what you should have with chocolate, especially chocolate brownies,â&#x20AC;? says peterson. â&#x20AC;&#x153;it has all these nice brown spices and qualities like black licorice. and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to worry about the shelf life; you can bring it back out a week later.â&#x20AC;? yep, since itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fortified wine, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the gift that keeps on giving; just keep it in a cool dark place (like your fridge) and tap on your neighborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s door the next time you smell warm chocolate. ÂŁ
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walkabout clinton street
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[ Indulge in a five-block multi-sensory feast of handpies and cocktails, sad-eyed kittens and poppy-seed soap ]
southeast Clinton street has lingered in the shadow of nearby division street for a long time, when the arrival of lauro Kitchen, nuestra Cocina and, more recently, pok pok, Whiskey soda lounge and little t american Baker made it one of the hottest dining strips in the city. When it came to Clinton, the conversation inevitably turned from food to shenanigans — especially those associated with perpetual midnight screenings of “the rocky horror picture show” at the Clinton street theater. While would-be dr. Frank-n-Furters still line up on saturday nights, the bike-friendly street itself has evolved into an epicenter of dining cool. the heat started rising in 2005, when restaurateur david machado followed up lauro Kitchen with the Indian-spiced Vindalho and entrepreneur peter Bro opened savoy tavern & Bistro, a kitchen known for midwestern comfort food such as pan-fried trout and fried cheese curds. soon after, Bro added Broder, the scandinavian spot next door. the success of these restaurants paved the way for newer arrivals that have By grant Butler the town talking — proving that division street’s shadow over photography By randy l. rasmussen Clinton street is history.
walkabout / clinton street cont.
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even the gravlax and sodas are house-made. and, in a nod to the devotees of nearby people’s Co-op, there are a few vegan treats thrown into the mix, including a daily soup. across the street there’s another delicious a.m. option with 2 St. Jack (2039 s.e. Clinton st.; 503-360-1281; stjackpdx.com), by night a French bistro that’s received some of the best reviews of
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Fresh on the scene is 1 compote (2032 s.e. Clinton st.; 503-234-5689; compotepdx.com), a charming bakery/cafe that opened in april. sweet vintage light fixtures, high ceilings and big windows make the dining room feel bright even on dreary days. diners linger over espresso and pour-over coffee from ristretto roasters while windulging in compote- and cream-topped biscuits, poached eggs or a tuna melt on house-made bread. the blackboard menu boasts: “everything we make is fresh, organic, local, whole grain, seasonal, made here.” and you taste it in things like rustic yet meltingly tender hand pies filled with interesting things like spiced apricots and plums, or gingered pears.
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any new restaurant in the past year. But during the day, it’s a lower-key patisserie with baked goods by alissa rozos, the former pastry chef at Bluehour. glass-domed cake stands are piled with things like canelés — buttery, bite-sized, eggy cakes that get a crunchy exterior from beeswax-lined molds — plus flaky croissants and madeleines. With morning light streaming through the east-facing windows, it’s a perfect spot for sipping coffee and catching up on your reading. next door is 3 camamu Soap (2021 s.e. Clinton st., #101; 503-230-9260; camamusoap. com), a fragrant little shop that has a special kitchen soap you’ll want to stock up on. studded with coffee grounds and poppy seeds, it’s designed to scrub cooking odors out of hands. this is a hands-on place, and chances are good that you’ll find co-owners lori Basson and sarah hanna either making their bath and body bars or working on the packaging, which is all pulled together here.
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When day gives way to night, the booths and banquettes fill up at 4 night light lounge (2100 s.e. Clinton st.; 503-731-6500; nightlightlounge. net), where people gather for inventive cocktails built on fresh juices and infused vodkas and bourbons. they’re just the thing to sip alongside small plates of Jamaican jerk pork belly with lemony polenta, or a vegetarian mezze platter stocked with hummus, falafel and roasted red peppers. When things get raucous around the pool table, which they eventually do, duck out to the covered, space-heater-bedecked back deck — the perfect place for sipping and talking no matter what the weather. Farther up Clinton street is another late-night haunt: 5 Dot’s cafe (2521 s.e. Clinton st.;
503-235-0203). Before oregon’s indoor smoking ban took effect a few years ago, this cafe and bar was oppressively smoky. the air may have cleared, but it’s still so dark you need a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. When they do, visually feast on the felt and metallic toile wallpaper that’s a backdrop for a collection of black velvet paintings featuring matadors and sad-eyed kittens. settle into one of the naugahyde booths, then dig into an order of the hot and spicy fries, with thick-cut potato wedges and sides of either tofu sauce or sour cream for dipping. If your tastes are running a bit more sophisticated, head on to 6 the Press club (2621 s.e. Clinton st.; 503-233-5656; myspace.com/ thepressclub), a coffeehouse/restaurant/reading room that’s all about curation. owner Kevin
Friedman is passionate about writing, and that’s reflected in the row of carefully chosen magazines ranging from utne reader to Vanity Fair. the aesthetic carries over to the menu of sweet and savory crepes and sandwiches that are all named after great writers like truman Capote, John steinbeck, david sedaris and toni morrison. there’s also a cocktail list filled with drinks named after classic fiction titles like “moby-dick” and “gone With the Wind.” If that feels borderline precious, the feel-good vibe makes up for it. during the day, you can sit at the bar with a perfectly made latte and read the newspaper, but at night it’s all about candlelight and live music from local groups like the tango troupe mood area 52 or jazzy swing papillon. retro music may not be what the campy “rocky horror” fans have in mind, but it feels like the right fit for the neighborhood. £
SE 27th Ave
SE 25th Ave
SE 23rd Ave
SE 26th Ave
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SE 22nd Ave
SE 21st Ave
2011 DINER Coming Thursday, June 23
SE 24th Ave
▲ N
SE Division St
5 SE 20th Ave
Watch for The Oregonian’s
SE Clinton and SE Division neighborhood
4 SE Clinton St
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Inspiring Clinton with carefully crafted cocktails for over 7 years. Boasting high quality, conscientiously sourced ingredients prepared with care & attention at a surprisingly low price. Featuring sidewalk seating, and a fabulous all season patio: heated on demand, covered for the rain, and sunny when the rain retreats. Happy Hour 3pm - 7pm, Seven Days a Week & 11pm - 1am, Sunday through Thursday. Brunch Saturday & Sunday from 10am - 2pm. Minors Welcome 2100 SE Clinton St. Portland OR 503.731.6500 www.nightlightlounge.net
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Piccolina ReSale Piccolina - New and Resale Boutique for Kids and Maternity. Clothing - Toys - Strollers - Diapers Swings - Bedding - Slings & Carriers - Gifts
We specialize in easy wear, easy care clothing that flatters all figures (check out our petite jeans). For fun, timeless styles and those hard to find “not so basic” basics twill is the place for you.
2700 SE 26th Ave. Portland OR 503.963.8548 www.piccolinaresale.com
2132 SE Division St. Portland OR 503.922.2084 www.twillclothing.com
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Mother Nature’s Earth Friendly Baby Products Papa G’s believe in strictly using Organic Ingredients. We use only organic oils, grains, flours, produce, spices, beans, nuts, seeds, and sweeteners. Papa G’s specializes in catering, no event too big or small, and have 4 flavors of organic packaged tofu available at your favorite grocer. Papa G’s is a green company that is committed to changing the world, one meal at a time. 2314 SE Division St., Portland OR hours: 11am - 9pm seven days a week 503.235.0244 www.papagees.com
Mother Nature’s baby store offers all the best in cloth diapers, slings and other safe and natural products for mamas and babies. We have been providing resources and personal assistance for over 8 years. Come in, try it on, take your time! We have a toddler play area, changing table, and plenty of time to answer your questions. We also offer an on-line gift registry, classes and resources. 2627 SE Clinton St. Portland OR 503.230.7077 www.mothernaturesbabystore.com open 10:30 to 5:00 Monday - Saturday
Clinton & Division Marketplace
To advertise in Marketplace contact Jeff Brosy at 503.221.8320 or jbrosy@oregonian.com
eat here / Gastown
59
g
[ Vancouver’s most historic district is also its hippest ] By dAnIelle CentonI
photoGrAphy By KrIs KruG
astown was born out of a whiskey barrel. It literally sprang up around a saloon. And if you’ve ever paid a visit to this neighborhood, the oldest in Vancouver, B.C., anytime during its 144 years, these inauspicious beginnings make utter, perfect sense. Founded by a gold prospector, saloonkeeper and riverboat captain who went by the unfortunate nickname of “Gassy Jack,” Gastown was the nucleus of Vancouver. It’s where it all began. And you can still see these roots in the cobblestone streets, the old architecture and the antique streetlights, all of which give the district a throwback feel, like a pocket of history wedged between the sleek, urban high-rises of downtown, and the industrial train yard on the shore of Burrard Inlet.
eat here / Gastown. cont.
salt tasting room
pourhouse 60
Gastown suffered through decades of being down on its luck. It was the bad part of town for as long as anyone could remember. But recent revitalization and an army of Vancouver’s young, cutting-edge creatives — artists and designers, chefs and mixologists — have turned what was once skid row into the city’s hippest destination. now the neighborhood boasts perhaps the most exciting craft cocktail scene in the country, with food to match. sure, the streets are still a bit rough around the edges, but that’s part of what keeps things interesting. Arrive in the area in time for breakfast and head straight for Two Chefs and a Table (305 Alexander st., 778-233-1303; twochefsandatable.com), a sweet little bistro that’s the offshoot of a popular catering
pourhouse company. light streams in from large windows, bathing the rusticchic space in morning light while you fuel up on things like seasonal scrambles or chicken and waffles. the team behind the restaurant recently added an artisan butchery/charcuterie to the lineup. Just around the corner, Big Lou’s Butcher Shop (269 powell st., 604566-9229; biglousbutchershop.com) stocks heat-and-eat meals like coq au vin, house-made sausages, raw meats from just about every animal, and a well-chosen selection of sandwiches including bahn mi with house-made pâté, Chicago-style sausage sandwiches, and porchetta with chimichurri. to get to the heart of Gastown, follow Alexander street west for three blocks until it hits Water street. Along the way you’ll see the Alibi Room (157 Alexander st., 604-623-3383; alibi.ca), which is an
absolute must-stop for beer lovers. If it’s too early to partake in a pint, make a mental note to come back to sample a staggeringly diverse selection of interesting beers from breweries around the province, some of which are exclusive to the pub. there are even rare one-offs from American craft breweries. Continue walking along Water street and get down to the serious business of shopping. Orling and Wu (28 Water st., 604-568-6718; orlingandwu.com) offers a covetworthy selection of glassware, tableware and linens. If you traveled by car, you can splurge on gorgeous european finds from sweden, France, england and Israel that just aren’t available in the u.s. If you’re bound by the constraints of your luggage and don’t want to ship stuff home, there’s still plenty of packable coolness, like peacock-feather-
printed muffin cups and embroidered felt French press cozies. Fashionistas will want to stop at Obakki (44 Water st., 604-669-9727; obakki.com), the flagship store of the Vancouver international design house favored by celebrities like Gwyneth paltrow, Kate hudson and tyra Banks. the clothes are pricey, of course, but their clean, modern lines softened by a flowing femininity are dangerously hard to resist — especially the summer dresses. When you’re ready for lunch, you have plenty of options. If you want to stay on Water street, you can get a stunning deal at Pourhouse (162 Water st., 604-568-7022; pourhousevancouver.com). settle in at this gilded, velvet-flocked, Victorianesque restaurant for the daily lunch special — a po’boy, a side dish and a beer for $12. or you can save this
l’Abattoir
l’Abattoir hot spot for dinner, when you can wash down familiar, well-executed standards like steak frites and braised short ribs with a perfectly made classic cocktail like the sidecar, a new classic like the red hook, or go for dealer’s choice. For a lighter lunch, venture down Blood Alley and look for the banner with an upside-down salt shaker. this is Salt Tasting Room (45 Blood Alley, 604-633-1912; salttastingroom.com), a small, friendly spot where you can order artisan cheeses, cured meats and wines paired up in flights. It’s also a great place for a pre- or postdinner snack, as is the spanishinspired Judas Goat (27 Blood Alley, 604-681-5090; judasgoat. ca), an even tinier space a couple of doors down owned by the same restaurant group. order a sherry and a snack
the diamond from Judas Goat’s changing tapas menu, then gear up for a serious dinner at L’Abattoir (217 Carrall st., 604-568-1701; labattoir.ca) around the corner. here, among the exposed bricks and beams accented by gleaming glass and steel, you can dine on high-end cuisine like pan-fried veal sweetbreads on toast with veal tongue and sauce gribiche; or scallops paired with oxtail dumplings in a crispy, flaky wrapper. since this is Gastown, which has become the craft cocktail capital of Vancouver, drinks are taken very seriously. Whiskey is well represented in house drinks like the Meat hook (bourbon, maraschino, punt e Mes, Islay single malt) and the donald draper (bourbon, pineau de Charentes, Abricot de rouillson, peychauds, absinthe). Across the street and up a
nondescript set of stairs next to Angel Fabric paints (a quite awesome shop selling bold, kitschy hand-painted shirts and shoes) is another prime cocktail destination oozing with atmosphere. The Diamond (6 powell st.; di6mond. com) was opened by a couple of bartenders, and it shows. the bar hosts regular cocktail classes, and the drink menu constantly changes with in-house creations like the parliament (cachaca, fernet, lime and honey) and the east Van punch up — a tiki-like blend of dark Cuban rum, absinthe, passion fruit, Falernum, orange and lime that comes in a pitcher and serves six. Considering Gastown’s spiritssoaked origins, we can think of no better way to finish off the night.
ER2011 T N U O C CULTURE
a celebration of urban street food & international wine
Thursday, July 28, 2011 A Pre-IPNC EVENT 6:00PM—10:00PM at ANNE AMIE VINEYARDS
Only $60
eleven restaurants, twelve wineries & a few surprises
Apizza Scholls, Beaker & Flask, Biwa, Jason Barwikowski, Laurelhurst Market, Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, Ping, Podnah’s Pit, ¿Por Qué No?, Ristretto Roasters, Swamp Shack, Violetta, Anne Amie Vineyards, Cobb Wines, Grochau Cellars, Lemelson Vineyards, Lincourt Vineyards, Mt. Difficulty Wines, Saintsbury, Syncline Winery, Tantalus Vineyards, Teutonic Wine Co., Van Duzer Vineyards, Weingut Wieninger, & DJ Chris Rhodes
Buy tickets & find out more
www.anneamie.com
61
the diamond
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Give a Nod to the Motherland: this is the commonwealth, after all, so it seems only fitting to raise a pint at The Irish Heather (212 Carrall st., 604688-9779; irishheather.com) a proper pub that takes its food seriously. even more serious is its whiskey selection â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially if you go out the back door to the private courtyard where the pubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whiskey-only offshoot, Shebeen Whiskey House, pours an impressive selection of single malts, bourbons, rye and whiskeys from around the world in a cozy, clubby atmosphere. Ruin yourself for Chinese food anywhere else: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true what they say, the Chinese food in Vancouver is the best youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find outside of China. eat here and be prepared to cry next time you order Chinese food back home. one of the best contemporary Asian restaurants, which happens to have an amazing craft cocktail menu, is Bao Bei (163 Keefer st., 604-688-0876; bao-bei.ca) on the edge between Gastown
and Chinatown. Its comfy-chic decor of framed family photos, faded chintz and flea market finds gives it a romantic 1930s Indochine kind of vibe. All the better for relaxing and chowing down on the shao bing buns and sticky rice cake. Shop by boat: youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to cross downtown to get to Granville Island, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth the trek. With dozens of artisans selling everything from paintings and jewelry to handmade brooms, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a whole dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of shopping to keep you busy. the market itself boasts a wide array of prepared foods and fresh ingredients; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like pikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s place without the crowds and tourist traps, or san Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ferry plaza without the snobs. If you do nothing else, stop in for a fresh, hot, yeasty raised doughnut from Leeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Doughnuts (1689 Johnston st., 604-685-4021), a family-run business and one of the marketâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original vendors, then take a water taxi somewhere, anywhere, for a cheap, fun way to see the city from the water. ÂŁ
scene Our picks for what to eat where Reviews
Aviary Tabla
big ten
Outdoor dining HigH Five
French fries
63
New kids in town: Aviary co-owners and co-chefs Jasper Chen, Kat Whitehead and Sarah Pliner / p64 PHOTOGRAPH BY MOTOYA NAKAMURA
scene
new reviews
Aviary
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The surprise high-octane opening so far in 2011 has to be Aviary restaurant, a 45-seat Portland-casual gem tucked into a new building along bustling, do-your-own-thing Northeast Alberta Street. What’s the surprise? It’s that Aviary isn’t a French bistro, does not feature comfort food classics or wines of the Pacific Northwest and isn’t run by the same handful of operators who have come to dominate the Portland restaurant scene. Instead, the New York-trained, three-headed kitchen/ownership at Aviary — Sarah Pliner and married couple Jasper Shen and Kat Whitehead — pumps out consistently imaginative, sometimes daring fare, with roots in both Oriental and Occidental soil. Though lacking the bludgeon-like imperative of the area’s temples of hyperlocalism, the seasonally evolving menu still manages to showcase what is great about eating in the Pacific Northwest. A late winter starter of Dungeness crab strudel offers insight into the breadth of the kitchen’s vision: shattery layers of golden pastry surround a generous filling dominated by everyone’s favorite Oregon coastal crustacean, with an accent courtesy of a nori vinaigrette. Another playful favorite — this one pointing sharply eastward — is a roast goose salad. With accompanying bun and greens, the sweet soy-enriched goose meat is plainly intended to be consumed in sandwich form, like an element of the multicourse Peking duck ritual. In the menu’s “larger plates” section, the most compelling new dish of the year, described sparingly as “crispy pigs ear,” is an audacious East/West twist on paella. Crunchy-thin triangles of deepfried ear — like porky potato chips — mingle with bracing fresh greens and chunks of avocado atop a mélange of coconut rice embellished with sweetsmoky Chinese sausage. It is even served in a small paella pan. To be sure, perfection at Aviary remains an aspiration. The pastry on the strudel was greasy the first time I tried it, and the rice in the pig’s ear dish overcooked on another visit. Sweets are competent — and will surely improve with the turn of the seasons — but they don’t match the menu’s savory side. The beer ice cream dessert is a carnival trick no one is apt to order twice. The wine list, on the other hand, is serious if small, the service is top-notch and the atmosphere comforting if not cosseting. Though the value equation at Aviary also rates among the tops in town — nothing on the menu breaks the midteens, and half the choices go for under $10 — its popularity has lagged some other recent openings. The unavoidable truth is that Portlanders — our notorious 20-something retirees and well-off aging yuppies alike — tend to be ultraconservative when it comes to taking a culinary adventure. Thus, food carts, pizza, burgers and fries are always a smash, while the popularity of lovely little restaurants such as Aviary tends to build slowly.
Tabla The pairs and parties and periodic flocks who have already visited Aviary know it is a special place. To those who have yet to make it, a meal there is apt to be a pleasant surprise. — MICHAEl C. ZUSMAN
Tabla The crowds appear at Tabla Mediterranean Bistro with tidal regularity. They roll in nightly for a drink at the long, friendly bar out front or to take a table and a meal in the main dining area or at the six-seat counter ringside to the open kitchen. Once sated, diners depart in a sunny mood befitting the menu’s southern European latitude. It hasn’t always been so. The currents of trendiness, creativity and consistency have buffeted Tabla over its relatively long life since opening in 2003. (Remember, restaurant years are like dog years, only shorter.) Some may recall that this is owner Adam Burger’s first restaurant, his “baby,” as he calls it. His other projects were Nutshell, a desultory all-vegan effort, and the gorgeous and horrible-then-great-then-OK Ten-01 in the Pearl District. Both — which are now closed — moved Burger away from Tabla for a time. Now he’s back, keeping the home fires burning, but it’s the stove-side stylings of rising star chef Anthony Cafiero together with Tabla’s peerless three-course $28 menu (up from $24 effective May 1) that have Tabla cresting Portland’s tallest waves of popularity. The three-course dinner is, without a doubt, the best fine-dining value anywhere in a town where frugality is practically a religion. Tabla’s deal allows diners to pick any dish from each of the regular menu’s three categories: appetizers, pastas and entrees. Even factoring in slightly reduced portion sizes and supplements for dishes
that rely on more costly ingredients, it’s still easy to imagine big city visitors looking at their check at meal’s end and repressing a self-congratulatory smirk. Even off the three-course menu, Tabla’s prices are moderate, with appetizers under $10 and full-sized pasta dishes and entrees trading in the midteens. But the great values take a back seat to the evolving gustatory deftness demonstrated daily by Tabla’s crack kitchen crew helmed by Cafiero. The distinctively coifed and mustachioed 30-yearold chef can often be seen trolling area farmers markets, so there can be no doubt about his commitment to freshness and support for local agriculture. And a recent trip to Spain has seen Cafiero’s offerings explode with new ideas from Basque country, the world center of enlightened culinary modernism, adding to selections from around Italy. Among menu favorites there is a goat cheese pasta called gnudi (similar to gnocchi, but without potato) that arrived in early spring with maitake mushrooms, nettles and a green garlic broth; a rich and righteous pappardelle — wide, flat noodles — enhanced with a long-simmered duck sugo, a hit of chile and sprinkle of pecorino Romano; and “mar y montaña,” loosely translating to “surf and turf,” that pairs exquisitely slow-cooked octopus with chorizo, among other goodies. Tabla can be loud and feel a bit cramped. It’s something of a neighborhood institution, so firsttime visitors might also feel like awkward newbies at a club where all the other members are visiting for the umpteenth time. Don’t be deterred. The veteran servers are friendly and there’s plenty of sunshine and tasty food for everyone. — MICHAEl C. ZUSMAN PHOTOGRAPH BY MOTOYA NAKAMURA
North Mississippi Avenue 1
Humboldt St
the bye and bye 1011 N.E. Alberta St. 503-281-0537 thebyeandbye.com Every great neighborhood needs a great neighborhood bar, and this Northeast Alberta Street gathering place captures the essence of its surroundings with a funky atmosphere (including an oil painting portrait of Evel Knievel) and an all-vegan menu. Grab a menu and order dishes like barbecued tofu, grilled “cheese” sandwiches and spicy chili, plus Southern-inspired
COMPIlED BY: Grant Butler CONTRIBUTORS: Grant Butler Kyle O’Brien Mahesh Raj Mohan Michael Russell S.j. Sebellin-Ross
equinox Restaurant & bar 830 N. Shaver St. 503-460-3333 equinoxrestaurantpdx.com This neighborhoody joint more than doubles in size during warm weather, when garage doors roll up to extend a warm bar and restaurant out into a quiet, spacious patio just off North Mississippi Avenue. The flagstone-covered patio is peppered with tables with umbrellas and heaters, creating the ideal spot for a brunch of smoked salmon hash and a spicy Bloody Mary made with house-infused serrano or horseradish vodka. Dinnertime feels magical; choose a bottle of wine to accompany crunchy salads and a plate of steak frites. La Calaca Comelona 2304 S.E. Belmont St. 503-239-9675 lacalacacomelona.com The decor of this Mexican restaurant is Frida Kahlo-inspired, and that mood carries over to the backyard garden, where more skeleton-
Failing St
Williams Ave
Vancouver Ave
Shaver St
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5
Mississippi Ave
When warmer weather arrives, tables and chairs spring up on sidewalks all around town. But some spots offer outdoor seating with more going on than just a view of traffic whizzing by. We don’t need to remind you about the rooftop patios at Noble Rot and Departure (do we?). Instead, we’re giving you our not-so-obvious picks for some of the best places to soak up the sun.
Skidmore St
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Outdoor dining
spirits such as the signature Bye and Bye, with peach-infused bourbon and vodka, plus cranberry and lemon juice, all served in a quartsized canning jar. Then head to the front patio, a fenced-in area that faces west, with picnic tables for soaking up the evening sun. If it’s rainy, there’s a roofed-over garden patio out back where breezes flow through a small grove of bamboo stalks.
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big 10
Beech St
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Mr. Green Beans Mr. Green Beans is Portland’s headquarters for Do-It-Yourself Domestic arts. We carry everything for roasting your own coffee, making your own cheese and soap, canning and preserving, cultures and starters and much more. We also have a full line of classes to get you started.
Trebol
3932 N. Mississippi Avenue Portland, OR 503.288.8698 www.mrgreenbeanspdx.com
4835 N. Albina Avenue Portland, OR 503.517.9347 www.trebolpdx.com
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PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH NAKAMURA
Ruby Jewel Come and enjoy the heavenly marriage of vanilla bean ice cream, dulce sauce and rosemary pecans in a sundae. We take pride in using locally sourced and handmade ingredients. Specialities include homemade ice cream sandwiches, two vegan and 12 small batch flavors.
Prost
Lorenzo’s Ristorante Italiano Lorenzo’s offers a variety of standard and family inspired food. Dine in this classic, yet casual environment and allow our staff to guide you through some of Portland’s best Italian food.
Portland’s newest location for small batch artisan ice cream cones, sundaes and sandwiches.
Lorenzo’s uses local hormone free meats, imported and domestic cheeses and cured meats.
3713 N. Mississippi Avenue Portland, OR 503.505.9314 www.rubyjewel.net
3807 N. Mississippi Avenue Portland, OR 503.284.6200 www.lorenzospdx.com
Mississippi Marketplace To advertise in Marketplace contact Josh Frickle at 503.294.4127 or jfrickle@oregonian.com
scene
Rontoms themed art, an abundance of plants and a pond create siesta-like calmness. That lets you keep your attention squarely on the terrific red snapper ceviche, blackberry mole and the intense carne asada from chef and owner Patricia Cabrera. Meriwether’s Restaurant 2601 N.W. Vaughn St. 503-228-1250 meriwethersnw.com This lush, classic garden in
Northwest, with its covered patio and a gazebo, feels like a Euro retreat. The restaurant serves food made from the bounty from their nearby five-acre vegetable farm, which makes salads exceptionally fresh and tasty. Classic cocktails and Northwest wines by the glass pair deliciously with happy hour food, such as harissa chicken wings and a beet salad with feta.
north 45 517 N.W. 21st Ave. 503-248-6317 north45pub.com This sophisticated pub is an upscale alternative to the divey spots nearby, and in the late spring and summer, its back patio may be the perfect spot for hanging out with friends at one of the dozen picnic tables in the glow beneath strands of twinkling white lights. On the busiest nights they staff the patio’s bar, keeping spirits flowing. The crowd is a bit older than nearby bars, and they’re not here solely for drinking, which keeps the vibe cool yet low-key. The kitchen’s signature steamed mussels, which come in a choice of eight broths inspired by global travels, are accompanied by Belgian-style fries with aioli dipping sauce. There’s a substantial Caesar salad, and a hefty plate of chicken wings.
Prost 4237 N. Mississippi Ave. 503-954-2674 prostportland.com let’s be honest, food carts are fun, but not that accommodating seating-wise. Either they’re grab-and-go or waitwait-wait for a tiny table. Problem solved at the Mississippi Marketplace, the food cart pod featuring Garden State, The Big Egg, Nuevo Mexico as well as the vegan carts Ruby Dragon and Native Bowl. Order anything from the carts and head to the adjacent patio at Prost, a pub specializing in German beer. Yes, Prost also serves food, which may make you feel like you just snuck candy into a movie theater, but don’t worry — the pub encourages patrons to bring food cart fare to the table. In addition to serving 10 German beers on tap in appropriate glassware, servers can help you pair, say, a sopaipilla with spicy beef and green chiles with a food-friendly brew.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNY KANE
The Minimally Invasive
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Short Scar Face and Neck Lift There is less scarring, shorter recovery, shorter surgery time and less risk than a full facelift. Complimentary consultations. Call us today 360-587-0003 Virginia Huang, M.D., FACS Richard K. Green, Jr., M.D., FACS Before Surgery
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scene Rontoms 600 E. Burnside St. 503-236-4536 rontoms.net Known as a restaurant industry hangout, this patio also offers hundreds of feet of outdoor picnic tables to the downtown happy hour set that migrates across the Burnside Bridge. Beers on tap, a short wine list and basic cocktails may be less memorable than the setting, which can feel like a rowdy German biergarten sans the steins on a Friday evening. Still, it’s one of the largest patios close-in on the east side, a great place to while away a sunny afternoon with friends. tin shed 1438 N.E. Alberta St. 503-288-6966 tinshedgardencafe.com So it’s a staple, the kind of place you take out-of-towners or friends feeling nostalgic for something comfortably Portland. But that’s no reason to snub this popular patio destination. With a blooming garden and brick fireplace
inside a covered space that shares a wall with the famous corrugated steel walls of the Tin Shed restaurant, this patio has come to define summertime dining on Alberta Street. Grab a mug of coffee from the self-serve station during the mandatory wait for a table and work up an appetite for a scramble or a burger. Dogs are allowed and acknowledged with a doggie section on the menu. veritable Quandary 1220 S.W. First Ave. 503-227-7342 veritablequandary.com This longtime downtown restaurant has a serious kitchen that’s often overshadowed by its bustling bar scene. But the real reason to go here in warm weather is the large patio that’s surrounded by flowers, with Willamette River breezes carrying their fragrance aloft. For brunch, focus on eggs Benedict or the terrific brioche french toast. At dinner, there’s the signature osso buco or the crispy razor clams to tantalize the
Veritable Quandary palate. Afterward, you can complete your outdoor experience with a stroll through nearby Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Yakuza Lounge 5411 N.E. 30th Ave. 503-450-0893 yakuzalounge.com Behind this sleek Northeast Portland sushi and Asian fusion restaurant, wood-slat tables, candles and modern red chairs create a decidedly civilized
PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH NAKAMURA
Ludeman’s the
NIELSEN’S
thrill of the
grill
Jewelers Since 1892
503 234 1614 | 825 NE Multnomah, Suite 280 Lloyd Center Tower building across skybridge from Nordstrom
over 35 on display over 100 in stock
CITY-WIDE SCAVENGER HUNT!
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charcoal • gas • pellet • built-in free standing
FOOD - WINE - ART.
Patio Furniture Awnings • Firepits Fountains • Yard Art
Discover the good life in Carlton...
Buy tickets at www.CarltonQuest.com
setting. The garden frames the scene with a fuzzy but manicured appearance — a place less suited to 3-yearolds or quick-fix happy-hour-goers than the diner looking for a fine bite of raw fish. Try the hamachi roll, with its minced yellowtail, Bosc pear, avocado and shaved jalapeño and wash it down with an Asahi or a splash of the appropriate “Star Filled Sky” Junmai Ginjo sake.
Prizes worth over $700
12675 S.W. Canyon Road, Beaverton 503.646.6409 www.ludemans.com
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high 5 / French Fries Burgers and fries are one of historyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest food pairings, right up there with bacon and eggs, and rice and beans. But when french fries are perfectly prepared, they become stars in their own right. In Portland, plenty of places fry them up right. But some places take them further, topping them with everything from gravy to exotic oils and spices. We rounded up the best of the best. With fries this good, you can make a meal out of them â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss the burger at all. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Grant Butler
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Fries with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Debris gravyâ&#x20AC;? and cheese at bunk bar: One of the great FrenchCanadian contributions to high-calorie cuisine is poutine, a diner staple in which french fries are topped with cheese curds and generous amounts of brown gravy. Bunk Bar puts its own meaty spin on the dish with its â&#x20AC;&#x153;Debris Gravy,â&#x20AC;? made out of the end slices of the roast beef used for sandwiches. This gravy is amply piled on top of a basket of fries, topped with Tillamook cheddar, then baked in a super-hot oven for a few minutes until the cheese bubbles. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jamie Oliverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest nightmare, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the ultimate bar food. 1028 S.E. Water Ave.; 503-894-9708; bunkbar.com white truffle fries at Little big burger: The big question when attacking an order of fries at little Big
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Bunk Bar Burger is whether to dunk them in ketchup. On their own, the perfectly fried sticks of Yukon gold potato have plenty of flavor, thanks to a sprinkling of white truffle oil and sea salt. But the ketchup here isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the average stuff thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s loaded with corn syrup and artificial ingredients. The burger shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exclusive Camdenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Catsup, created by owner Micah Camden, is sweetened with honey and gets plenty of kick from sriracha hot sauce. The ketchup covers up the smoky truffle scent a bit, but creates the perfect fry experience. 122 N.W. 10th Ave.; 503-274-9008; coming soon to 3747 N. Mississippi Ave.; littlebigburger.com Duck Fat and Rosemary Pommes Frites at brasserie Montmartre: Reborn in 2006, then revamped, refined and reopened in mid-May, this bright brasserie ingeniously uses flavorful fats to create variations on a pommes frites theme. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delicious but unsurprising truffle oil and sel
Fresh Italian, Steaks, Seafood and MORE! BANQUETS â&#x20AC;˘ CATERING LUNCH â&#x20AC;˘ DINNER
Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy
503.292.0119
www.ernestositalian.com
gris; rich, savory pork belly and tarragon; and haunting duck fat and rosemary. Served in a paper cone with a cup of aioli, the delightfully crispy fries are thinner than standard fries, without venturing into shoestring territory. The light sweetness from the duck fat makes them much too easy to devour. 626 S.W. Park Ave.; 503-236-3036; brasserieportland.com belgian fries at Potato Champion: This late-night fry cart stays open until 3 a.m., so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon to find the post-bar crowd lining up for baskets of poutine or chili-cheese fries after last call. For sheer simplicity, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to go wrong with a paper cone of freshly cut, twice-fried Belgian fries, which come with a variety of dipping sauces, like pesto or wasabi mayonnaise, harissa, tzatziki, as well as homemade ketchup with global flavor inspirations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; curry, banana and rosemary-truffle. When ordering, play it conservatively: The $2.50 mini is perfect as a single side, the
$3.50 small is a mealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of fries for one person, while the $4.75 large is enough for two to three people to share. Corner of Southeast 12th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard; 503-505-7086; potatochampion.com shoestring fries at Red star tavern & Roast House: The shoestring fries at this popular downtown hotel restaurant are a happy hour favorite, judging by their presence at almost every table in the bar area in the early evening. For just $3, you get a massive Parisian-style paper cone filled with crunchy sticks that have been fried to a dark golden-brown, then dusted with a chili-lime seasoning that creates a nice balance of heat and tang. For dunking, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ketchup and whole-grain mustard aioli. 503 S.W. Alder St.; 503-222-0005; redstartavern.com ÂŁ PHOTOGRAPH BY MOTOYA NAKAMURA
YOUN GBERG HILL wine. inn. events. view.
Tasting Room Open Daily 11 to 5 pm
10660 SW Youngberg Hill Rd., McMinnville, Oregon 97128 Ph. (503) 472-2727 www.YoungbergHill.com
all photos moscaphoto.com