portland

Acadia: A Slice of New Orleans in Portland, Oregon

off the vine — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:58:03 +0000

By: Laura Sabo Journey east through the Fremont neighborhood in NE Portland, slow down when you get to the corner of 13th and Fremont, and you’ll find Acadia, a gem of a restaurant serving the epitome of New Orleans cuisine. Lunch is served only on Wednesdays and has legions of fans, so get there early or make reservations in advance. Acadia is small in size but big in the flavor factor. Walk through the door and the aromatic scents of spices will take you right down Bourbon Street, sans the beads.

Staycation is the current buzz word of the moment, so if you are sticking around town, save yourself a trip to the Big Easy if you are a fan of Cajun or Creole fare. Even if you aren’t a Southern fare groupie, you’ll soon become one. Reminiscent of Cajun chef Justin Wilson’s tagline “I guarantee it”, and possibly borrowed from Men’s Warehouse founder George Zimmer - “We guarantee it.”

There is a plethora of offerings on the menu including these delicious appetizers: the $2 Gulf oyster shooter with Bloody Mary mix and jalapeno vodka and the high-end Cajun fruits de mer for $22 (translation: “fruits of the sea”, referring to a combination of seafood). Soup and salad items are smoked oyster, rabbit and andouille gumbo with popcorn rice ($9) or a blue crab and arugula salad with almonds, asparagus and radishes tossed with green goddess-horseradish dressing ($10).

Don’t have a case of your “eyes being bigger than your stomach”…absolutely save room for the main course. While the blackened catfish with pickled corn relish ($13) or the Louisiana barbeque shrimp with Worcestershire sauce, butter, black pepper and lemon on white rice ($15) are TDF (to die for), the real star of this show is the bona fide Po’ Boy sandwiches, dolled up with red beans. There are chicken, catfish and shrimp Po’ Boys, but do yourself a favor and attempt the soft shell crab Po’ Boy, a rarity in these parts. All Po’ Boys range in price from $9-$11.

Acadia’s chefs search the South for native ingredients like Gulf oysters and shrimp, blue crab and Louisiana crawfish, and have them shipped via air cargo twice weekly for freshness. Cajun popcorn rice from Gueydan, Louisiana and andouille sausage from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana are also brought in.

When you get home, kick off your shoes, put on your beads (well, maybe not) and enjoy the remainder of your staycation. Your hammock should be looking real good ‘bout now.

Acadia
1303 NE Fremont Street - Portland, OR
(503) 249-5001

Ping – The Latest from the Owner of Pok Pok

off the vine — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:55:24 +0000

By: Laura Sabo Heading to our usual favorite Portland China Town haunt, Good Taste, my husband and I saw the sign for Ping. Being the adventurous sort, we looked at each other and said, let’s try it. Opened last February, Ping is the latest creation from the owner of Portland’s beloved Pok Pok.

Since we had tasted the delicacies that Pok Pok has to offer, how could this be bad?

From the outside, no one would ever suspect what lurks inside. Housed in the former China Town favorite, Hung Far Low, I’d describe Ping as a hiply-decorated skewer city. Ping’s décor gives off a vibe of sitting in a cool Taiwanese restaurant. Laminated black and white tablecloths are reminiscent of Asian newspaper, recycled wood dons the walls, while vintage radios found in an abandoned store down the street grace another wall. The corner tables have tiny wood shelves holding matching antique-like lamps and sheets of rice paper drape like billowing clouds above the open kitchen.

While there are salads, noodle dishes and snacks such as deep-fried tiny fish and shrimp chips, skewers are king here. A minimum order of two per menu item is posted. With prices ranging from $2.00 for muu ping — pork shoulder skewer marinated in garlic, fish sauce, coconut milk and sugar — to $3.50, the baby octopus skewer infused with lime, chilies, garlic, fish sauce and cilantro, you can order and share many. A welcoming touch is the condiment bowls holding a black pepper, sea salt and lime substance and lip-smacking hot pepper sauce to pour over the morsels. Vessels, not glasses, of water arrive at each table in case of tongue flare-ups.

After eating our way through numerous skewers, the Kuaytiaw Khua Kai kept calling to us. The dish was easily shared by two and is a spicy array of wide rice noodles with chicken, green onion and scrambled egg stir fried in garlic oil and dusted with chile powder. All this for a mind blowing $6.00. This is the stuff of dreams. No wonder Ping was named Rising Star of 2009 in the Oregonian’s Diner Guide.

Ping

102 NW 4th Avenue, Portland

(503) 229-7464

Hours weekdays 11:00-10:00, Saturday 4:00-10:00

Happy Hour weekdays 2:00-5:30; 4:00-5:30 Saturdays

Closed Sunday

Portland’s Barbur World Foods

off the vine — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:00:13 +0000

By: Laura Sabo - Walk into Barbur World Foods in SW Portland and you’ll feel like you found the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s culinary global wonderland.

Barbur World Foods was built in 1936 to serve as a small Piggly Wiggly store in Portland. John Attar is the third owner buying the store in 2004. He also owns Ya Hala Restaurant in Portland, as well as International Food Supply grocery store next to Ya Hala. Attar wanted his store to be one of a kind and key to his concept was offering affordable foods from around the world. read more

The Portland Saturday Market (and Sunday too)

off the vine — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:47:02 +0000

By: Laura Sabo Not to be confused with the plethora of Portland Farmers Markets that bless our metropolitan area, the Portland Saturday Market is a marketplace unlike any other. Founded in 1974, the Portland Saturday Market is the largest continually operating outdoor arts and crafts marketplace in the United States featuring over 250 artists from across the Northwest. Centered in Portland’s historic Old Town District, the market has expanded and spilled across the street onto the waterfront of the Willamette River.

You won’t find a head of lettuce or flowers here, but what you can find are artisans selling their handmade works of art; everything from candles to musical instruments to garden art to glass pieces to wood and metal works. My personal favorite is Spoonman Creations where metal master, Mike Kelly, will make anything out of recycled flatware and other kitchen utensils. Mike is one of the few original vendors still at the Portland Saturday Market. Perfect for that hard-to-buy person is the fork or knife headwear. I’d say this stuff is priceless but it’s really reasonable. Both of the fork or knife headwear will set you back $7.00. Now that’s recession proof.

Thirty unique food vendors set up shop every weekend, each trying to lure us in with sweet scent of whatever’s cooking on their grills and stoves wafting through the air. Among them are Chowder Heads who make homemade clam chowder, hand breaded fish with fresh sliced chips or Angelina’s Greek Cuisine who craft gyros made of beef and lamb traditionally grilled on a spit. Cloud Cap Coffee Works custom blends espresso drinks and coffee made from locally roasted coffee beans from sustainable sources.

Don’t even think about leaving without the ubiquitous elephant ears. Sugar rush anyone?

Portland Saturday Market

108 W. Burnside, Portland (503) 222-6072

Saturday 10:00-5:00 pm, Sunday 11:00-4:30 pm (February 28th-December 24th)

Affordable Gourmet Flights at Uptown Billiards

off the vine — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:46:49 +0000

By: Valerie Brockbank I am a member of a dining club organized by a group of women friends. It is our goal to try all the best restaurants in Portland on a monthly basis. The food we are encountering is so good that we have been upping that to once every two weeks, with some repeats in between.

Good or even great, doesn’t have to make us poor. In fact, the invention of happy hour gourmet fare has made this endeavor down-right affordable.

One of the best happy hours we have come across is the Uptown Billiards’ 5-course tasting menu that features a different vegetable every two weeks. Yes, this is an upscale old-world billiard hall with beautiful tables and velvet curtains, but as the owner, Kent, says, “We’re not all fun and games!”

The food, in the small library-inspired dining room, is amazingly inventive and fresh. Their chef, Mark Potovsky, was named the best seafood chef in Canada, and has worked at one of my favorite places to visit and dine, The Sooke Harbour House Bed and Breakfast and dining room, perched above the Pacific Ocean in Victoria, British Columbia.

Last week’s Happy Hour Menu featured asparagus from Martinez Farms in Canby, Ore. The menu can be sampled alone or with wine pairings: $10 for the dishes or $20 with the wine pairings. If you have a hefty appetite these dishes may be an appetizer, but for me they were satisfyingly filling.

We started with a leek, asparagus and watercress soup garnished with Rogue Creamery blue cheese and almonds; that was paired with a 3 Stones New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. This was my favorite wine of the evening: crisp, and fruity with a vanilla nose and long finish, and it was a great match for the richness of the soup.

Course two was grilled asparagus with micro greens, shaved Regianno cheese and orange oil served with a Garofolio Verdicchio from Marche, Italy. This wine, although a little one dimensional, had a bit of smokiness to match the asparagus and a fruitiness to match the orange oil. Dish three was my favorite—a large seared scallop with pickled asparagus on a bed of roasted carrot puree and tarragon pesto cream. I loved the roasted carrot puree. This dish paired beautifully with the mineral qualities of a Chateau Gaudrelle Vouvray from the Loire Valley.

The meat course featured perfectly crusted rare lamb slices on top of an unusual mushroom asparagus bread pudding, with apple-mint chutney and rosemary jus; it was served with local Yamhill County Marina Piper Pinot Noir. The tannin was just right for the lamb and the bell pepper finish complimented the bread pudding. We were all wondering how the chef was going to work asparagus into a dessert, but he did! The lemon asparagus pound cake with Chantilly cream was earthy and delicious; the sweetness came from pairing it with a GD Vajra Moscasto d’Asti from Peidmonte, Italy.

Five dishes, a plethora of ingredients and many new cooking ideas later, we were making plans to come back every two weeks, as they change their featured ingredient. In fact, we’ve already made reservations for their Sorrel inspired menu next week. Now I can take this lovely herb way beyond soup!

3 Stones New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 95

Garofolio Verdicchio from Marche, Italy 80

Chateau Gaudrelle Vouvray from the Loire Valley 90

Yamhill County Marina Piper Pinot Noir 85

GD Vajra Moscasto d’Asti from Peidmonte, Italy 92

otv rating (0 to 20)

Food: 19
$$ for happy hour, $$$$ for three course dinner

Vibe: 17
Billiards $10/hr week nights, $12/hr on weekends.

Uptown Club
120 NW 23rd, Portland OR - (503) 226-6909

2nd Annual Eat Mobile – Portland’s Food Cart Festival

off the vine — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:12:51 +0000

By: Laura Sabo One of the great many things about living in Portland is being reminded of the phrase “Keep Portland Weird” on a myriad of bumper stickers around town. The 2^nd Annual Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival was no exception, although I prefer to use the term eccentric.

After winding around a city block in the historic Kenton District off Interstate during our 40 minute wait to get in, my friend and I wondered if it would be worth it. At the gate they were charging $5.00 but, much to our surprise, we were told that also included as much as you could sample. More lines inside. No problem. Worth the wait.

With more than 170 carts in town, you’d be hard-pressed to enjoy them all. The Eat Mobile Festival is an opportunity to appraise Portland’s food cart scene sampling palatable bites from carts sporting names like Fat Kitty Falafel, Flavour Spot, Lulu’s Confections, Moxie Rx, Todbott’s Triangles and Sip, Soup, Cycle. All proceeds benefitted Mercy Corps Northwest.

Feeling slightly out of our element because of our lack of tattoos, nose rings and youth, we carried on and battled the lines devouring as much as we could, most likely breaking even on our $5.00.

Paul BunyanThe vibe was funky and most definitely Portland. Smack dab in the middle of the picnic tables and lines was a ping-pong table. Did the organizers really think anyone would tear away from their morsels, let alone have the elbow room to break out in a game of table tennis?

Two standout entrepreneurs were Tabor Authentic Czech Cuisine and Leroy’s Familiar Vittles. Tabor’s choices were Chicken Paprikash and Hungarian Goulash. Sampling was limited at each cart so I opted for the paprikash. While the chicken was mouth-watering and fork-tender, my Hungarian husband’s paprikash tastes more authentic and flavorful – but let’s keep that little secret between us.

Leroy’s VittlesLeroy’s ‘cue was succulent and meaty with a slight vinegar tang served over crunchy slaw and a large breadcrumb. While their cart was next to the soon-to-be-opening The Grilled Cheese Grill, which had a line deep into the abyss of the festival, Leroy’s had none. This astounded me because, frankly, grilled cheese is grilled cheese, but how often do you get offered carte blanche pork ribs? No line = more ribs. Who’s counting?

Marbles were to be given out at the front entrance for foodies to vote on their favorite food cart but, unfortunately, we learned that after sampling many carts’ handouts. We weren’t about to get in yet another line for marbles.

Another night well spent in eccentric ‘ol Portland. We Portlanders wouldn’t have it any other way.

Portland Restaurants go Green At the Northwest's Big Show

off the vine — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:45:23 +0000

By: Valerie Brockbank If you have never been to a restaurant industry conference and trade show, make friends with a chef or your barista and get them to take you along as an “employee for a day”. You’ll get a ring-side seat at an event that is part education, part food tasting and part entertainment.

The Northwest Foodservice Show was in Portland this year. The focus was on helping the restaurant trade to “Go Green” and find ways to streamline their businesses in a tough economy. read more

Norwegian Winemaker and James Beard Chef Bring-It-On

off the vine — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:59:00 +0000

By: Valerie Brockbank Wine shows off its best traits when creatively paired with food. And what better way to experiment than letting the experts do this for you. Wine dinners pair a winemaker and a chef; they put their heads together and come up with a menu that will delight your palate and educate your taste buds.

On a early spring evening, Johan Vineyards near Rickreall, Ore and chef Jeff James of j.james Restaurant in Salem, Ore, the State capital, created a five course feast that brought food and wine pairing to new heights. Both support organic and biodiversity farming practices. read more

Wildwood Restaurant still going strong...

off the vine — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:52:12 +0000

On a recent northwest swing I stopped by the Wildwood Restaurant in Portland for lunch. Still going strong after 13 years under executive Chef Dustin Clark; Wildwood was founded by James Beard award winner (best chef in the pacific northwest) Cory Schreiber.

The focus is still all about fresh locally sourced ingredients. Standout dishes I tried included skillet roasted Totten Inlet Mussels and a wonderful pan seared Black Cod. wine list is left/west coast… 30+ pinot noirs from oregon alone! full bar. - jas

(0 to 20) off the vine rating:

food: 17+
service: 16
vibe: 17

Wildwood Restaurant view map
1221 NW 21st Ave
Portland, Oregon
(503) 248-9663

Tastebud - Rustic woodfired oven creations

off the vine — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:50:34 +0000

Opened in the summer of 2008,Tastebud in Portland; with it’s Italian imported Mugnaini oven serves up artisan pizzas with unique and varied toppings. Perhaps even better are some of the other items that come out of the wood fired oven.

Chef and owner Mark Doxtader’s been lighting up the Portland food scene at the Portland Farmers Market the past several years. Now, with permanent digs in town we stopped by to see what the excitement is all about.

We tried a puffy and crispy crusted, roasted pear, house made pancetta, marscarpone and arugula pie, along with several side dishes, washed down with some outstanding beer from Hair of the Dog Brewing Company. We loved the roasted potatoes leeks and cream, and the clams, garlic, aleppo chilies & toasted focaccia. Wines from Oregon and Europe well selected. Open for dinner 6 nights a week, 5:00pm - 10:00pm. Brunch on Saturday and Sunday.

(0 to 20) otv rating
food: 16
service: 14
vibe: 12
$$

Tastebud
3220 SE Milwaukee
Portland, OR
(just south of Powell Blvd.)
(503) 234-0330