Je Mange la Ville » Downtown Portland

Grüner

mlb — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:19:52 +0000

Grüner
527 SW 12th Avenue
Portland, Oregon

As much as we are trying to go to new restaurants, I am trying to post about them. We went to Grüner last month (see, I am not even that far behind!!) but I’ve wanted to go since this Summer, when I was taking volunteer photos for the Montavilla Farmer’s Market and one week’s chef demo was Eric Purugganan, sous chef at Grüner.

Chopping cherries at the demo.

I got to talk to him a little bit before the demo and he was really nice (plus his demo dish was quite tasty — cherry chutney with fresh goat cheese on crostini). I came home that day and said to jwa, “hey, we should go to Grüner sometime!.” And…five months later we finally did. Hooray!

Cherries are messy!

It’s funny, I normally wouldn’t get too excited about German/Alpine type food, but oh my god, it was all so good! I can’t wait to go again. Here are the pictures and what we ate.

Obligatory menu image.

Pretzel-y bread with deviled eggs in the background. Very good starters.

Beet-pickled deviled eggs. I don’t even like beets, but these were great. jwa was disappointed that I liked them because he had to share then.

Kabocha squash dumplings, sautéed chanterelles, butter, fried sage leaves, parmesan.

Cream of turnip soup, caraway, dill-goat cheese butter. The photo does not really do this soup justice.

Roast duck breast, caramelized quince, elderflower, spiced red cabbage, quark spätzle. This is the best duck I have had at a restaurant.

jwa’s entree: Roast squab breast & braised hindquarter, venison sausage, red wine sauce, celery root gratin with gruyère cheese, pickled cranberries.

Perusing the dessert and after-dinner drink menu.

The last of the wine means it’s time to leave and go walk around Powell’s for a bit.

H5O Bistro Downtown

mlb — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:58:03 +0000

H5O Bistro
50 Southwest Morrison
Portland, Oregon 97204

Normally, we hardly ever eat downtown. We’re just really lucky living where we do in the SE and being within easy walking distance to many different, tasty establishments. But, we are trying to broaden our horizons and ever since March’s Foodportunity event (asparagus, roasted garlic and parmesan FTW!!!), we have wanted to try H5O Bistro. And, as luck would have it there was an occasion to be downtown Saturday evening and what better than to go there for dinner first? Nothing better, that’s what. It was an excellent idea.

The evening started off with a very Portlandia moment with a ~~drive~~ bike-by from the tweed biking people, which we had a great view of from our table. Nice outfits and hats. Very tweedy. And jaunty. Okay, then we moved onto drinks.

A Cinnamon Blood Orange Margarita (cinnamon-infused tequila, blood orange, star anise, orange juice) for me. Very strong flavors but I really liked it. It seemed kind of Fall-ish, but then Fall is my favorite season so I was happy.

jwa had a gin martini, like he usually tends to do.

Next there was an amuse bouche, a little round of brioche toast and this amazing pulled pork on top of it. Seriously could have eaten a plate of these…

We split the Smoked Salmon Fritters (hickory-smoked troll king salmon, fennel, honey, parsley sour cream), which were very good. I especially loved the parsley sour cream. I always forget how much I like the flavor of parsley. Note to self: stop forgetting that!

jwa’s salad: Three Beet Salad (sherry vinaigrette, herbed goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts), which was very artful in its white bowl. Almost made me wish I liked beets.

I had the Caesar Salad which was also good. Not my favorite in pdx, but certainly tasty. Not garlicky enough for me, but then I am a garlic fiend.

Okay, now this was a winner — Pacific Halibut with Avocado Gazpacho, parsley, jalapeno, citrus melange, poppy seeds and black salt. Thankfully, jwa let me have a few bites. I loved the gazpacho with the citrus and the halibut was flaky and moist.

I had the Duck Breast – confit of duck, house gnocchi, fennel pollen, tomato, english peas. Equally delicious! The only problem was that jwa kept stealing my gnocchi. So unfair.

Pretty shot of the post-dinner coffee. I seriously loved these place mats. So photogenic. I want some for home.

Okay, dessert was a plate of Spanish churros. While growing up, we used to always get churros at White Sox games (the handful I went to). While I definitely enjoyed those, these were much better (duh), with cinnamon and sugar, spiced hot chocolate and homemade roasted marshmallows.

Just when we thought we were done, we were brought out a couple of salted caramels with our check. Well, okay, if you insist.

The verdict: we both really enjoyed our dinner and we both definitely want to head back there again soon.

Summer Side Dish: Grilled Zucchini with Garlic and Lemon Butter Baste

mlb — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:20:08 +0000

This was a side dish that worked really well with some grilled albacore tuna steaks. For the fish, I made a quick topping of kalamata olives, green olives, cherry tomatoes, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice and feta cheese. So, it was a Mediterranean kind of a thing (one of my favorite kinds of things).

The zucchini grilled while the fish rested. I think the scores in the zucchini are to let the buttery goodness soak in. This recipe is easily halved or even quartered. I did the later with 2 tbsp butter, 1/2 tbsp lemon, 1/4 tsp each of the spices and a pinch of curry. Oh and yes — there was cheese!

Grilled Zucchini with Garlic and Lemon Butter Baste
recipe adapted from Bon Appétit magazine
8 medium zucchini (about 2 1/2 pounds), trimmed, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp powder
grated Parmesan cheese (optional? no, not really…)

Preheat barbecue (medium heat). Alternately, heat up a grill pan over medium-high heat. Score cut side of zucchini halves diagonally about 1/4 inch deep at 1-inch intervals.

Melt butter with lemon juice, lemon-pepper seasoning, garlic powder, oregano, and curry powder. Do this either in a small pan or a microwave-safe bowl.

Brush seasoned butter on cut side of zucchini. Season with a little salt.

Place zucchini on grill and cook until charred on all sides and just beginning to soften, about 10-12 minutes.

Transfer zucchini to platter and sprinkle with the cheese.

***

Last Weekend’s Random food around Portland:

Latte at Albina Press on Hawthorne

Last weekend we saw Cinematic Titanic (most of the MST3k people) and it was so funny. Such as — Convoluted Man!!!

Okay, back to the food. Before hand, we hit Veritable Quandary for dinner. Excellent choice — we need to go there more often.

Awesome salad at Veritable Quandary. Specifically: Poached Egg, Smoked Bacon & Butter Lettuce on Crispy Cornbread, with Pickled Onions and Buttermilk, Chive & White Cheddar Dressing.

jwa’s meal: Crispy Trout with Toasted Pecan Butter, Dungeness Crab, Sweet Corn, Spinach & Scallions

My meal: Alaskan Halibut Cheeks, Creamy Quinoa, Local Asparagus, Cipollini Onions & Pea Shoots

The Schnitzelwich Put a Spell on Me

mlb — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:49:00 +0000

Tábor
Downtown at SW 5th and Stark
503-997-5467

Mmmmmmm…schnitzelwich
Before I even tried Tábor, I thought it was the lunch cart with the most personality. The colorful Eastern European cottage facade, the music from the outdoor speakers … cute! After reading the little write up in Portland Magazine I finally managed to stop by for lunch and now I am in love with the schnitzelwich.

Breaded pork loin or chicken breast in a Ciabatta roll with lettuce, paprika spread, sautéed onion and horseradish $5.00.

It is, first of all, huge. H-U-G-E. I eat half for lunch, wait an hour or so, then eat the rest because I loved the first half so much. Crispy chicken, caramelized onions and horseradish, you say? Fabulous. Sign me up.

I need to try a few of the other items on the menu — the potato pancakes and chicken paprika are especially calling to me — but it’s hard to not order the sandwich. They have all sorts of authentic Czech food including goulash, soups, dumplings and sausages. They also cater and (their web site says) will offer cooking classes. Fun! I try to go there once every couple of weeks, as I know my desire for hot, crispy, big sandwiches will leave me once the weather gets warm. Stupid summer.

When I visited during the snow storm yesterday, before getting to go home early, the owners were telling me how they got in early that day, before all the snow and now they were stuck at work. Bad for them but good for me. I got my schnitzelwich.

Schnitzelwich. Schnitzelwich. So much fun to say too.

S is for Snow — The N-O-W is for Now

mlb — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:39:10 +0000

I had no idea that it was supposed to snow today, Neither, apparently, did Trimet. It started out as a nice walk in the snow at 7:20 AM, down to the bus stop at 34th & Hawthorne.

Once there, I only had to wait about 5 minutes before a bus came. It was packed but I got a spot right in the front, standing just a hair behind the yellow line. Good for me but bad for everyone at stops past 30th, as we had no room and he didn’t make any other stops.

Once we hit Madison though, it was all backup and no bus lane. So, I decided to get off at Grand and walk the rest of the way into work. So did a lot of other people. I even beat the bus across the bridge by walking it.

Got to work at 8:20 so it took me about 60 minutes. It usually takes 30 minutes so not too bad.

Another bridge picture.

View from my office window.

Around 11:10 I decide to go out and forage for lunch, walk around and take a few pics.

Snow covered octopus outside Greek Cusina.

Snow outside Tabor Cafe where I grabbed some lunch

Art-y snow pic back by office, across the street from Mother’s.

The awesomeness of the Schnitzelwich — more on that tomorrow.

Get back to work and find out we all get to leave at noon. Yay! Eat half of lovely schnitzelwich and tasty sobe green tea and check the Trimet page for bus tracking. It said there was a Hawthorne bus due at the corner of SW 2nd and Alder in 10 minutes. I’m somewhat skeptical, though, as it had said this for the last hour. Got my stuff and started out anyway.

When I get there, it’s chaos. There’s 25 or so people standing about and a Trimet dude trying to help people with the new bus stops downtown. I asked him if the transit tracker was lying when it says there was a 14 coming in 10 minutes. Two ladies waiting for the 15 laughed. They had been waiting for the Belmont bus already at this stop for 1 1/2 hours. They had not seen a 14 come by in all that time. In fact, no buses had been by at all. I start walking home.

Called jwa and informed him of my new (and improved?) transit plans. He said he’d leave the house now (he had a full, work-from-home snow day), and that we’d meet on Hawthorne and walk back home together. How sweet.

Looking back at downtown.

We met up around SE 18th and stopped in Starbucks so that my legs could warm up, as they were frozen by this point. Got a green tea latte, defrosted a bit and headed back out. Further up Hawthorne, around 25th, a bus has wiped out and was blocking the right, east-bound lane. Now it just sat there, deserted, stuck and forlorn.

Boo.

We got home around 1:30 and now I am going to curl up on the couch with a book, Tim Powers, Three Days to Never, which I highly recommend.

Hmmmm, wonder if tomorrow will be a snow day too?