noambenami

I'll add another thought...I think that neither Portland nor Seattle has an exciting food scene, but exciting food scenes are exceptionally rare. Chicago, Las Vegas, New York have them. But even Los Angeles rarely tries to reach very high. It takes a tremendous amount of money and sophistication to support the kind of cuisine I am talking about. It also takes a very rare breed of chef who has tremendous talent, strength of will, and significant financial backing. The Bay Area is, of course, a natural for a great culinary scene. Vancouver, then, seems to be exceptional, as it has, per capita, a surprising number of truly special restaurants. It is, however, for its size, a surprisingly wealthy city, and conspicuous consumption doesn't seem to bother its residents as much as does the people of my lovely Portland. Neither do strip clubs. .

I understood where you were coming from and know you didn't mean to bust anything . I suggest you try eating at some of the restaurants I mentioned - Lumiere, for example, is a weekend trip from portland. You won't find nuggets of truffles or caviar. What you'll find is the absolute best produce the northwest has to offer, prepared simply and with exquisite care and skill. Its a giant leap ahead of what Higgins puts on the table. Same thing at Manresa, but with a strong focus on meat, whereas Lumiere's focus is on seafood. To be fair, though, I'm not into "great heaping" platefuls of food, and just don't find Higgins to be that good in comparison to some of the truly great restaurants on the west coast. As for a suit and tie - I didn't see people wearing those at Lumiere or Manresa either, thankfully...and Portland has restaurants that are as swank as anywhere, the food just isn't there yet.

Yup, the kitchen sits right in the middle. A kitchen that sells stale nuts and mediocre produce to any of its clients deserves the criticism it gets. That said, Higgins is, indeed, a somewhat important restaurant, historically, but these days its food is nothing special. I would respectfully disagree. Portland's food scene is growing up, but Portland still cannot come close to Vancouver BC or San Francisco. Maybe in five years...in the last two I've seen a lot of movement forward, much of it driven by the ripe group and by all the money flowing into the Pearl district. But Portland still has no restaurant that can come close to monsters like Lumiere, West, or Manresa. Still, we do have some darn tasty, fun places. Its just a pity I gotta drive seven hours or fly out to get some serious degustation action. :-).

I don't know about the Kennedy School's catered food, but their pub food is mediocre. Red Star, on the other hand, makes some wonderful food - my company used them once and the food was awesome. Another option to consider - rent out Hurley's restaurant for an evening. Very good food, and you'll have the whole restaurant to yourselves. http://www.hurleys-restaurant.com. Have fun.

Thanks, do you have any details on this, by any chance? Any parallel examples from the food industry?

Ah, good point. Don't know about the interaction of casein and tg, but I'd assume that the overall effect might be to cause the milk to do something similar to curdling...fascinating stuff, at any rate.

I don't think so - transglutaminase's primary use is for binding proteins, there are versions for fish and others for meat. I don't think it would have the desired effect, actually, it probably won't have any effect. A more likely, and interesting, culprit would be a combination of a bit of gelatin with liquid sorbitol, which would prevent the gelatin matrix from ripping when twisted and might allow the use of a minimal amount of gelatin - for maximum flavor release. Dunno. Wish I had a tenth of the knowledge the folks at Alinea have.

Hm, regarding the lime ice cream, I don't know that it needs to be that complicated (although it probably is, given Alinea's strong perfectionist tendencies.) You can usually add acidic components to an ice cream made from just heavy cream. I do this with my Seville Orange creme brulee, although it requires a bit more work since the acid can prevent the custard from settling. The trick is in making sure the texture and mouthfeel of the ice cream remain light. One possible trick to use at home could be to use some sort of acidic lime powder and add it to the custard when its being churned...I've never tried that, though. Whatever the case, I'd love to know how Alinea does it.

No, I'd say that the chocolate in that dish is a bit like a slightly dense chiboust, with a bit of added tensile strength (don't remember the chemical they use for that) to allow the sheet to be twisted into shape.

Ha! Well said. (I've always found NIN to be an eminently silly band.)

I don't recall any music, if there was any, it was quiet. Yes, they have wine matches for almost all of the courses on the menu, plus an excellent wine list. I didn't order any cocktails at Alinea, but I was served some cocktail-ish drinks at Trio which were exquisite. Definitely an option to consider. The chef at Alinea wouldn't allow anything to be served his guests that wasn't terrific. He's funny that way. . Noam

The food at Alinea tastes better. The food at moto is wackier, fwiw, some of it is quite good. Like some other people on this board, I consider Alinea to be the finest restaurant in the country, it plays in a different league than Moto. However, if you've never done a tasting menu before, Alinea's food may be a bit difficult to understand...no offense meant, its just very intellectual, complex food, and I believe you would get more out of the experience once you have experienced less rarefied tasting menus. Go to Spring, or Le Francaise or Zealous, or any of the other wonderful Chicago restaurants and have tasting menus. Going to Alinea without ever having done a tasting menu is like going the the museum of modern art with no previous knowledge of art and art history. You'll still have a good time, but you'll be missing a whole lot. Just my opinion.

For tapas: Patanegra For good use of local ingredients: Park Kitchen For amazing steak and sophisticated food: Gotham Building Tavern For Italian: Ciao Vito or the overpriced but good Clarkelewis, Fratelli's, Balvo For contemporary, expensive French: Hurleys For French-Eclectic: Alberta Street Oyster Bar and Grill For decent, normal sushi: Mio's in Northwest For decent, monster-sized sushi: Saburro's in Northeast For tasty urban dining/happy hour: Portland City Grill in the bank tower For a great, honest, hole-in-the-wall place: Ken's Place, 19th and Hawthorne For great bread: Ken's Bakery (no relation) on 21st. For amazing, if a little weak, drinks and killer sweet potato fries: 820 For breakfast: Byways Cafe in NW For Crepes: Le Happy in NW For good food in a rather random, industrial location: Carlyle And thats our show for today.

I've eaten at Higgin's a few times. Frankly, I don't think this is a particularly good restaurant, especially given the evolution of the Portland dining scene over the past two years. The last two times I was there, we ate at the more informal bar and the food was mediocre at best. Perhaps you would have more luck in the main dining room, which is a big leap up in ambience, at least. Wildwood is nothing particularly special, but I'd give it a nod over Higgins'. On a good day, Park Kitchen, Gotham Tavern, Mint, Alberta Street Oyster Bar & Grill, Ciao Vito's, Fratelli's, Patanegra, etc are all much better places to eat. Plus, they're smaller, more neighborhood oriented restaurants which I personally much prefer.

Ok, lets recap: 1. Canola oil is fine and inexpensive. 2. Nonstick pan makes things easier, but cooks the meat a little differently than stainless. Personallyl, I like nonstick, but have concerns about the health effects. 3. Dry the skin, a knife can be used to "squeegee" moisture out of the skin. I like this technique and use it. Salting the skin 30 minutes before cooking helps draw out moisture. Scoring the skin looks good, helps the fish keep its shape, and, I should add, helps the fat render out of the skin. 4. Once the skin side is done, lower the heat (so butter doesn't burn), wait a couple of seconds, add a pat of high quality butter and aromatics (e.g. garlic, thyme, parsley, capers, chocolate, a wedding cake, lug nuts, whole white truffles, etc), baste, flip the fish. For thinner fish, you're pretty much done at this point. Thicket cuts of 3/4" and above should probably finish cooking in the oven. 5. Rest the fish under foil for a few minutes. Any comments? P.S. Yes, sautee does imply moving, so we're not doing that, but I don't think we're actually frying here. I'd classify the techniques here as primarily "pan roasting."

While this may be a little bit off topic, I think that the American Iron Chef is a terribly produced show. The cheesiness factor in the japanese version was at least honest and had a bit of charm. The american show's attempt to copy the cheesiness keeps all of its bad characteristics without retaining the good ones. Whoever produces that show is a butthead. That said, I'd like to note that I personally dislike Wylie's cuisine. My personal opinion is that he is a technically skilled chef who simply has more misses than hits. I agreed with the judges' assessment of his cuisine from my own personal experience at WD50. Another note - I suspect that even fresh Tilapia is simply not a good match for sous vide. Wylie made a bad call in using a technique for that technique's sake, and should have known better. Finally, its nice to have people who are not professional eaters in the judges' booth. Personally, I couldn't stand any of the judges and their interactions with the chefs was stiff and uncomfortable...personally, I'd put the chefs somewhere else so they wouldn't just have to stand there while their food is being picked apart. This was the first american iron chef I've seen and, bad production calls aside, I enjoyed seeing these chefs do their thing, and Alton Brown is probably my favorite TV food personality.

Well, thank god for the electric palm trees across the street from Schwa: Its front is so unassuming that I'd have passed it by a dozen times if I didn't know it was there. Seriously, so little light peeks out from the restaurant that I thought it might be closed. Well, the neighborhood is hardly conducive to getting walk-in business, but seriously, letting out a little light onto the street would have been nice...shuttered is the best word I can use to describe what Schwa looks like from the outside. On the other hand, once you go in, the place is charming. Minimalistic decor but with enough warm touches that it feels cozy. The dining room cannot be more than about 500 square feet, most of it taken up by good looking 2- and 4-tops. At the end of the dining room is a window through which part of the kitchen can be seen, striking a good balance between an open and a closed kitchen. I took my little sister out for dinner, she is 16, a highly critical eater, and a vegetarian to my omnivore. We ordered two tasting menus at $80 apiece, a $110 white truffle menu is also available. Given the chefs' skillful use of black truffles during this meal, I'd guess that the latter would be terrific. As a prelude, I found Schwa's use of plates to be creative and well judged, I'm a big fan of unusual place settings and Schwa did a great job. - We started out with an amuse of carrot juice, cardamom foam, served in shot glass on a small, wavy plate. On the side was a carrot chip and a bruleed cardmamom marshmallow. Lovely. My sister especially liked the marshmallow. - Next was a salad of granny smith apple, celery, celery root puree, apple puree, and white anchovies (sans the latter for my sister.) Fresh and attractive, but overall not terribly exciting. A bit of vinaigrette, some oil, and some micro greens would have been nice. - A spoon with a bit of raddish, some eggplant confit, and pickled crosnes was served next. A well conceived dish that I enjoyed. Even my sister, who hates eggplant ("I'm going to eat this like it was medicine") liked it. - Up next, a beautiful dish of prosciutto, sliced melon and arugula, draped over a cup of prosciutto consomme (tasted like good chicken stock infused with the ham) with melon balls. For my sister, the same plates, but in her case, white peruvian beans, roasted peppers, and a few other items. Sorry, I'm working off of memory here. She virtually licked the plate clean, which I think is the highest compliment one can give a dish. - Next up, beets, both roasted and pickled, red, orange, and, I think, candy stripe. Parsley puree, parslee root puree, goat cheese foam, excellent spanish olive oil. Also what looked to me like reduced beet juice and beet powder. Again, we both cleaned our plates till nothing was left. My only criticism here is that while goat cheese foam is fun, its also pretty tasteless. Real goat's cheese would have been nice. - Next, quail egg ravioli with ricotta. Brown butter, fried sage. I'm unsure about the cheese. These were good, a rich dish at a point in the meal where richness was appropriate. The quail egg yolks were still completely runny. While interesting, as well as very technically competent, in execution, this dish was oddly simple. I would have loved to have seen the dish lightened a touch and something interesting added into the mix, for example, a lighter, more modern sauce, such as a very airy emulsion of sage and fava beans. - Next - surf and turf for me. A absolutely frankenhorkin diver scallop, black truffles, braised veal cheek, black trumpets, turnips, parsnip puree...a beautiful dish that achieved the ideal where the various different elements amplify each other. For my sister, tofu, leeks, date-miso puree, mushrooms and what looked like kale. Good stuff. - After that, a wonderful dish of what I think was pork loin, probably cooked sous vide, braised pork belly, saurekraut and golden raisins. What seemed like a reduction of the braising liquid was at the bottom. No idea what was in it but it tasted like veal stock, red wine, and maple syrup. Delicious. My sister got a dish of seitan, peanut sauce and a few other items. It was lovely to look at and she liked it. - Next up, a great little transitional item: Raspberry jelly on a sweet sunchoke custard, served with a sunflower sprout. The latter tasted wonderful, and the combination of raspberry and sunchoke was oddly appealing. This was served in attractive little shotglasses with bottoms rounded out, so the glasses sit at a tilt. Interesting glasses that I've seen and liked before. - After that, honey-honeydew melon sorbet, a small quenelle served on little dimpled plexiglass (?) cubes. Well placed cleanser, but a little heavy on the salt. - Finally, an upside-down pineapple cake, served on sliced of bananas that I think had been oven-roasted in their skin. Alongside of it was some custard that neither of us saw the point to or liked very much. A bit of lime sorbet would have been much appreciated instead, as we were both quite, quite full at this point. Still, custard aside, the cake was quite good. Disappointingly, no chocolate - we were told that if we wanted chocolate as part of the tasting menu, we can ask for it, as the tasting menu is put together a la minute by the chefs. So, in conclusion, I liked this place a lot and recommend it. Its rare to eat food of this level in such close quarters to the chefs who cook it. It all felt very personal. The food itself is of a very high caliber and lack of chocolate notwithstanding shows an understanding of ergonomics, presentation, texture, pacing, etc. The only criticism I can muster is a slightly heavy-hand overall with the salt, and a slight lack of balancing acid. I'm sure the cuisine will become better and more focused in the future. Go there and check it out. P.S. Schwa is byob, with no corkage that I am aware of. Everyone but us had wine and beer on their tables...bring good wine, the food deserves it.

Olea is a fine place. I ate there a few days ago and had a glass of the vino tinto, which was wonderful. Have not been to fenouille, but it sounds like the food will be fine. Frankly, I'm not a fan of the whole trend in Portland to put together very large semi-fine dining restaurants. Andina, Fenouille, even Olea are a bit like that, seating over 100 people at a time. Andina, especially, serves up rather unimpressive food, but its got a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately, there are few great small restaurants in Portland. I have found Paley's place to be charming, but gastronomically uninspired. Park Kitchen can be terrific, as can Gotham. Clarkelewis is good, but can be violently overpriced. There is a promising little place on Alberta called The Alberta Street Oyster Bar and Grill. The food is sophisticated but not pretentious. The chef is young and will need some time to buff out the rough edges from his cuisine, but the place is still wonderful, go early, go often and watch this guy - hopefully he'll go where I think he can go. Ciao Vito, also on Alberta, is a great place for a fun dinner. Its got a good vibe and serves hearty, well prepared food. I always put in a good word for Ken's Place on 19th and Hawthorne. Again, completely unpretentious, tasty, and a good vibe. I love the chicken sandwiches at St. Honore, which is also a good place to just be in, as is 820, which is worth the visit just for the sweet potato fries. Pambiche serves up good cuban. Noble Rot sometimes puts out really tasty food, the chef is, like Scott from Olea, a French Laundry alum, and while he doesn't play in those leagues, when he puts out the effort (sadly, thats a lot more rare now than when they first opened) he can do some very solid flavor development. And the wine flights are fun, too. Well, thats enough for now. I'll note that the Ripe restaurants; Family Supper, Clarkelewis, and Gotham, are all doing 5 to 7 course tasting menus, a format that is unusual for Portland. I have not tried these meals and would love to get a report on how well they play out.

I just read the beansbeans review. I came away with two things: 1. Either this "Scott" is a jerk or beansbeans has a strong tendency to overdramatize. The service at both Trio and Alinea has been charming. There is definitely a bit of humor in it but I found the pacing and the delivery excellent and not overwrought. 2. Both her and her friends were sick when they went to the restaurant. That would, frankly, invalidate any review for me off the bat. Reviewing a restaurant when one is ill is like having sex when one is miserable.

I've been invited to Matsumoto on the 25th. I did not know it was so well known, at least among food geeks.

Zealous is a great restaurant. Add it to your wishlist...fairly creative and very tasty.

Don't know about Chez Bru, but I thought the 1 michelin starred bistro was absolutely amazing - some of the best south-of-france food I have ever had. Don't miss it, whatever you do, even if you have to cut back somewhere else.

Just to throw in my two cents - if the point of the experience is to give the kids a good memory, take them to a zoo or a fun science museum or to a cirque du soliel show. Making them sit for several hours while food they cannot possibly truly appreciate is served in an elegant, hushed setting, doesn't sound to me like something any normal five or nine year old would appreciate. I did treat my little sister to lunch at Clos de la Violettes (2-star in Aix - very good) and dinner at Charlie Trotter's (bad)...but she's in her teens and can be fun to have around. But even at that age she doesn't get a huge kick out of these marathon dinners. I think that this usually comes down to whether or not you yourself would enjoy dinner more with them around. If not, take them to some kids' attraction the next day and feed them good steak frites and bonbons.

Yeah, they're open. As I understand it, the Pearl bakery is currently finishing construction, so they're still at their old location SE. So, right now, the solution is to call them up. I'm pretty sure they deliver. I didn't know the website didn't have an address, sorry. It does have the phone number though: 503 314 0297.

Nuvrei, in the Pearl, founded by a Payard alum, is making some beautiful christmas logs for the season. http://www.nuvrei.com.