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And for a starter, a nice mesclun salad with candied hazelnuts and Oregon bleu cheese crumbles with a good basic vinaigrette. Let's not forget the nuts and many cheeses.

Salmon, salmon and more salmon...but forget the cedar plank as far as I'm concerned. That's a fad as far as I'm concerned and it ruins the flavor of the salmon. Grill it with a little lemon butter and seasoning salt. Basic fresh ingredients prepared simply are the base of it all here. I'll agree with that. Living here my whole life, my strongest memories are food memories. Peaches, cherries, apples, and melons...watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, casaba...add to that 'shrooms and crab and other seafood. Now that I'm grown up...add a good Oregon pinot noir or any other of the fine choices from our many wineries.

Glad you enjoyed it Joni! I'm planning on going friday May 21st 4:30-6:30 with some people from the portlandfood.org group if anybody is interested. (hint, hint Trillium! )

Went back and tried the deep south pork skewers served with sweet potato-vanilla bean puree. Very, very good. Tender chunks of pork, moist and a flavorful and the sweet potato puree was smooth and sweet but not too sweet. I'll be back for more of that!

It's like we've discussed...is there really any place in Portland where you can't wear jeans? I can see maybe on a friday or saturday late night everone dressing a little nicer but early during happy hour it's pretty casual.

When I first looked at the menu posted in the window, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. The color coded menu (orange for energy, etc.) seemed a little too new agey and made me expect tofu. (They do tofu and are vegan friendly but that’s beside the point.) Stepping inside, I felt a little more at ease. The darkly neon lit, funky, artsy vibe suits me. Here’s my way of thinking. I see happy hour as a cheap, quick and casual first date. No real commitment, just a drink and a little nibble to scope things out and see if I want to pursue it further. You can get small portions for little $$ that give you the basic idea of the quality of ingredients that they use and their style of food. In some cases, as in the case of Aura, you can get smaller portions of items on their regular menu. I normally eat my way through a happy hour menu before venturing an opinion but me experience was too good to put off posting. I started with orange jicama salad with citrus marinade in a parmesan cup. The first thing I noticed was nice presentations and ample servings. It was crisp, refreshing and very good. Next was the cheese fondue that you can order “for you, for two, or for everyone” and it rivals my own. It’s a must have dish. It’s well-balanced…good cheese flavor, wine front and center, nothing gets lost. The bread was lightly toasted and the vegetables were of impeccable quality and steamed lightly to crunchy perfection. Really good asparagus, the perfect wine, gooey cheese…does life get any better than this? I washed it down with one of their neo-classic cocktails May Flowers in Moscow, a blend of raspberry vodka, raspberry schnapps with fresh lemon juice topped with champagne. For the last course, cheesecake flan with fresh ripe fruit. Very nice. Service was quick and very friendly. I’m looking forward to going back with some friends to try their aura tiers which are samplers made to share. I’m a happy camper. Aura at 1022 W Burnside across from Powell’s Closed Sunday and Monday Happy hour 4:30 – 6:30 pm tue-sat 10pm to close, except fri and sat all items $3 house salad orange jicama salad fondue for you spicy 3 cheese burger duo all night diner chicken burger duo skewers blackened chicken chinese beef curls vietnamese chicken cuban mojo chicken deep south pork drinks vodka or gin martini margarita lemon drop cosmo featured draft pint featured wine by glass

I agree with the point that dessert is treated as an afterthought and not an integral part of the meal. Not only as a menu issue but as dishes themselves. I hate it when they don't put the effort into desserts that is put into other dishes. They list drinks quite often, why not desserts? Why do we have to ask for it? And I always have to wait for the list of gelato of the day? Shouldn't they just give you a dessert menu automatically? I have to give credit to Mother's Bar and Bistro for listing the dessert specials along with the specials of the day on their board outside the restaurant. This whole afterthought attitude is a situation that I would like to see change.

For anyone that didn't go...ya'll really missed out. I think this is one of the year's best events not to be missed. For $60 (or for free if you volunteer for the event) you get to sample the best of roughly 50 restaurants and 30 wineries. We had so many wonderful things wandering all four floors. The pick of the evening for MSG and I...the panna cotta with candied fennel and fennel caramel sauce from Tuscany Grill rocked our world. It was one of the most luxurious things I've ever put in my mouth. A great time was had by all.

Big plates, Trillium? I don't remember any big plates of anything when we went. It was okay but nothing really knocked my socks off.

I'm another one that agrees with foodie52. I've always felt that the two flavors of chocolate and strawberries kind of butt heads. I don't care for them. The exception would be white chocolate dipped or the way we do them at work by the semi-load (literally, guys) at Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. We use cone-coat that we buy in #10 cans by the case which is fairly close to magic shell ice cream topping. It has a much milder flavor that I feel accentuates the berries instead of overpowering them. It also helps with the condensation on the outside when they are put in plastic containers and put in the cold cases at the stores alongside the fruit trays and such.

Yeah, we should probably continue our discussion by e-mailing direct. I had a cutie-pie chef there for awhile that was telling me that I didn't really need culinary school and when I ordered dessert, I would get a little extra. When I was done this second plate just kind of whizzed around in front of me with a white jacket passing by behind me. I think he just liked to watch me eat.

Beautiful boxes Sinclair!

I used to pretty much live there. Especially once I started getting serious about pastry. It's really bad when you walk into a shop and instead of asking if they can help you find something, they just give you a nod and a "Hey, You...".

I like the idea of using the cocoa nibs. That sounds great. Makin' me hungry! Mmmm...chocolate...breakfast of champions!

Much better tip. You could'a' brought me some. You really coud'a'. (I'm teasing.) They look great Nick!

Came across that show for the first time last night. I was amused by Don the Vampire's reaction. Interesting show.

That would be cool. Just what I need...one more reason to be at the farmer's market. Yum! Glad to see you pop into my regular little corner here. You know I'll show if you cook for the gang some more! Last time was great! One of these times I should get to bring dessert though. And I finally found the smell. I believe it's the Portland French Bakery on 68th and Marine Drive.

Hey, MSG, where's mine? I'm starvin'! I'm not that far away. Is that what I smell out the back door of the warehouse? (When the wind turns a certain way, it smells like a bakery outside. I can't figure out where it comes from.) They sound good!

Five pages of posts already? I think eG'ers are the only ones really watching the show and the only reason we watch this train wreck is so we can discuss here the next day. Who else watches this crap other than desperate single women who would travel from LA to NY for a Rocco sighting? I can't discuss anywhere other than here because everyone in the real world when you mention the show says "What?" like they have no idea what you're talking about. And while I'm at it, can that little intern boy get his nose any further up Chodorow's butt? He is just a happy little camper rootin' around there, isn't he?

I thought the close was just temporary....

Some friends invited me to the buffet on 82nd and Holgate and they serve shrimp with the shells still on. I tried them but it really wasn't my thing. They weren't bad or anything, I just didn't care for the texture. Kinda crunchy and not in a way I cared for. To each his own.

Go and sign in on portlandfood.org and you'll get an e-mail sent directly to you letting you know exactly where we're going and what's coming up! Hint, hint. So are you coming to the Sukothai outing on tuesday 4/20? You like thai food, right? We'd love to meet you, Trillium!

I'm Pam. Jil is Jill-O. I'm so glad you had a good time! Come again soon! Maybe someday we'll all go to NY and you can show us around!

For now would be the key words here!

I can't believe they did a cheap eats listing and didn't include Blue Nile. The african listings have Queen of Sheba and Horn of Africa but not Blue Nile. They are one of my very favorite cheap eats in town! Two of us can split a combo platter and be stuffed for $8. And it's one of the things I totally crave sometimes because it's so good!