[PDX] Southpark

[ExtraMSG]

Thought I'd give the fish at Southpark a try and 25 for $25 gave me a reason. I'm not a big fan of fish. I usually am extremely picky about the seafood I'll eat. But Southpark came recommended for fish. It seems to be recommended second only to Jake's. Here's the 25 for $25 menu (I'm going by memory for the items not on the webpage because they gave us a copy of the menu, but it was the wrong menu, which was annoying):

STARTERS

Singing Pig Farm Organic Greens and Candied Walnuts with Spanish Goat Cheese or Gorgonzola

Soup of the Day

ENTREES

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Toasted Hazelnuts, Sage and Marsala

Grilled Salmon with Chorizo and Clam Piperade

Painted Hills Beef Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Creamy Rosemary Polenta

DESSERTS

Southpark's Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée: A Traditional Custard with Burnt Sugar Crust

Warm Banana Bread Pudding: Rich Banana Bread Baked in a Rum Vanilla Custard and Served with a Vanilla Caramel Sauce

Choice of Gelato: Vanilla Bean, Toasted Almond, Pear Sorbetto

***

They went a little weak on the starters and desserts, imo, but maybe they were providing for the least common denominator, putting boring things that people wouldn't be scared to try.

I had the 25 for $25. My wife chose off the regular menu. I had the soup, the salmon, and the bread pudding. My wife had crab cakes, the black bass (if I remember right) special, and the chocolate fritters.

They started us out with a nice bread basket, a decent wheat sourdough with a nice thick crust and a white bean spread to go on the bread. They also place an interesting pitcher of water on the table (at least for us as non-drinkers) but still came by so often and filled our glass with it that I never had to fill it myself.

The soup was a vegetable-noodle soup with serrano ham julienne. It had bell peppers and tomatoes, I believe. It was an okay soup helped a lot by the serrano ham. The broth was a little oily or something, I think, but had a nice mild spicy heat.

The grilled salmon was pretty good, though its meat was maybe a little soft. But the flavor was good. The clams were spaced around the outside of the plate, littlenecks, I think, and still attached to their shells, which was a bit annoying. It's nice when they take scrape the clams from their shells and then put them back in. With only a butter knife and fork it can be a bit awkward removing them. They seemed to be cooked correctly. The chorizo was a very mild chorizo cut into 1/4" thick slices and laid all over the dish. The salmon came with a sautee of bell pepper julienne and crushed tomatoes. Overall it was a decent dish. But just a little lackluster and disappointing. I think a good sauce using the clam jus, maybe some ground rather than link chorizo, and the tomatoes would have brought everything together better. It was just too much like the chorizo and clams were a side dish for the simply prepared salmon. I want dishes that are more cohesive.

The bread pudding was quite tasty. The sauce for a bread pudding is very important and this one is good. But the use of the banana bread for the pudding also adds interest and the texture and flavors were all there. It's a solid dessert up there with The Heathman's and maybe even Mother's bread puddings.

My wife's crabs cakes were pretty good. They were Moroccan spiced with a cilanto, minto, and lime sauce. The sauce and the seasoning were very good. However, I think some would be disappointed. They actually reminded me of falafel with crab or something. They weren't anything like the great crab cakes you get in places like Washington, DC, where it's all big lumps of crab minimally bound by other bits. These are not those. You'd have to really look to see the crab and if you're crab averse like I tend to be, you'll have no problem with these. It's a subtle crab flavor. And with this appetizer tying with the highest priced appetizers at Southpark, I think that justifies a little complaining. It's one of thoese cases where it's a very good appetizer and yet still disappointing depending on who you are. $10

The black bass was excellent. It was served on sauteed or braised greens with a large "grain" couscous, pleasantly seasoned with some sort of Middle-Eastern/African flavorings, and sauteed winter squash. The bass was grilled and reminded me of ono that I've had in Hawaii with it's ultra meaty texture that makes it more like a very tender chicken breast than anything you might normally call fish. Both my wife and I liked it a lot. $19.50

Her dessert sounded better than it was, I think. It's described as deep fried chocolate marbled fritters served with toasted almond gelato and caramel sauce. What it is is chocolate chip doughnut holes with ice cream. I think they're tossed in cocoa powder or something before being fried, too. The gelato was pretty good. But I hoped for something a little more special. Like a cross between the cherry fritters and chocolate dumplings Lucere used to serve. $7.

Overall I think the menu has some interesting items with their slight Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern/North African accents. Their prices are fair with almost nothing over $20 and most appetizers under $10. The service is adequate and the room is pleasant with high ceilings, subtle Mediterranean earthtones, and large windows. It's another one of Portland's quality restaurants without too much that's exceptional, but with prices most diners can afford.

[trillium]

It sounds like their 25 for $25 menu is not showcasing their best stuff or it just isn't to your taste. I know we don't have very similiar tastes in restaurants, you love Carpriel's, while I think the dishes are too busy, too many flavors going on and just trying too hard to be "creative", I guess. Southpark is one of my favorite restaurants in Pdx, I've been there about 4 times and each time had something pretty exceptional (spicy scallops and chard on spaghetti, a mixed fish stew, the mussels, the yuppie hamburgers, the roasted banana ice cream with chocolate galette, etc). I like the fact that they don't overwhelm their dishes with too many things going on at once and let the quality of the ingredients shine. The $25 menu doesn't look that exciting to me, though, and I'll add as a wine drinker, they have a very odd wine list for this location.

Thanks for posting all of these, it's great to see what's on the menus. I'll only be able to go to one or two, we just don't eat out that much, so you're helping to narrow it down.

regards,

trillium

[ExtraMSG]

Thanks. Believe me, though, we're pushing our food budget way out there this month, especially since we're gong to Mexico soon. Guess we'll have to be cheap this Christmas. Normally, I just cook every night and we'll eat maybe a lunch out and a dinner out a week. But I figure 25 for $25 gives us an opportunity to try new places and give other places a second chance.

I think places seem to have two approaches to the 25 for $25, either as a least common denominator, put something out there that almost everyone can like well enough, or as a showcase. I prefer the latter, Southpark seemed to have done the former (especially since they made sure there was a vegetarian, fish, and meat entree, a soup and a salad).

I'm hoping that some of these threads I've started won't end up just being my 25 for $25 thread but people as they go to these places in the future or thinking back will give their recommendations and criticism as well. eGullet, afterall, has an advantage over Chowhound in that you don't have to create a new thread since the old threads pop to the top with new messages. It makes it a nice way to just see a bunch of information on a place all in one thread. There are surprisingly few threads for restaurants out there right now. I've tried to search for pre-existing threads, too, for all the places I've gone for 25 for $25.

I'm not sure how our tastes are different, but I do like to have a certain amount of complexity to a dish. I like balance and it takes a bit of complexity for that. But ofteh these can be quite simple. Take for instance a restaurant (actually a part of a restaurant) that I really like in Dallas called Lola's Tasting Room. They have a 15 course tasting menu, each dish being quite small. It may be something like a braised veal cheek with polenta and broccoli. But the veal cheek is glazed with a wonderfully rich yet tangy sauce. The polenta is creamy and salty. And the broccoli adds that slightly bitter green vegetable flavor. Each was good on its own, all three together were greater than the sum of each alone. It's relatively simple in appearance and flavor, truly, but well-balanced. Or a foie gras dish I had that was seared foie gras, It had a little silver dollar-sized toast layer, thin and crunchy. Then the seared foie gras. Off to the side was poached cherries, so red and delightful. When you put all three together it was bliss: crunchy toast, rich, meaty foie gras, sweet and sour cherries.

I don't know that Portland has any restaurants where they're truly making complex dishes or very complex flavors. Probably your average Indian food place tops them all. I like Caprial's because they're bringing some fusion elements to the dishes to add a lot of depth. I like depth to be part of most dishes.

Finally, I would say that when I go out I definitely am looking for something at least a little special. I don't want a piece of grilled salmon on some spaghetti with butter and sauteed greens with nothing to bring it together. I can do that at home and spend less free time, less money, and probably do a better job than 99% of places.

[trillium]

Thanks.  Believe me, though, we're pushing our food budget way out there this month, especially since we're gong to Mexico soon.  Guess we'll have to be cheap this Christmas.  Normally, I just cook every night and we'll eat maybe a lunch out and a dinner out a week.  But I figure 25 for $25 gives us an opportunity to try new places and give other places a second chance.

Yeah, there are a few restaurants that the $25 thing makes me want to check out, but some of them I think you'd have to pay me to go to! When we go, you can be sure I'll add my comments to a thread or start a new one if we end up some place you haven't reviewed. Cafe Azul and Bluehour are at the top of the list, with Wildwood and Heathman trailing.

Finally, I would say that when I go out I definitely am looking for something at least a little special.  I don't want a piece of grilled salmon on some spaghetti with butter and sauteed greens with nothing to bring it together.  I can do that at home and spend less free time, less money, and probably do a better job than 99% of places.

You know, that's exactly the problem. I think we are buying our food from many of the same sources the restaurants we're attracted to going to are (local farmers) and I'm often disappointed.

regards,

trillium

[ExtraMSG]

Damn local and organic movement. Viva la FedEx!

[trillium]

You misunderstand me. I am more than happy with the produce and meats I buy locally, the disappointment creeps in when I go to a restaurant and they have the same ingredients from the same places I do, but produce equal to worse food. For that much hype and expense, I want better than what I can do, you know? I don't go to restaurants to be entertained, I go there primarily to eat. I'll confess I'm sort of irritated right now with some of the people who have got a lot of fabulous press recently for being the latest and greatest "new wave" in pdx. They talk a big talk but don't always deliver the goods. I think the praise as gone to their heads and distracted them from doing their job, which is putting out food, not strutting around with a fat head. Ok rant over...

regards,

trillium