Je Mange la Ville » SE Portland

December is National Pear Month: Pear Lunch at Castagna

mlb — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:16:38 +0000

I recently had the very good fortune of being invited to a festive Pear Lunch hosted by Pear Bureau Northwest at Castagna Restaurant. This was completely awesome for a number of reasons, including I got to leave work early for a long lunch and Castagna is practically in my neighborhood, so jwa and I could just walk there. And although we go to Cafe Castagna pretty frequently, it’s been a while (a couple of years?) since we’ve been to the restaurant side. So that was very nice too.

I took some photos of the lunch and at the time, I was pleased to not be the only one photographing my food. Seriously, everyone had a camera and/or iphone out and was snapping pics before trying anything. I was quite amused.

I missed a photo of the pear juice flight but I have two images of the champagne cocktail (sparkling wine cocktail? Sometimes when someone hands me a glass, I forget to remember what it is…) we were greeted with at the door, so I think it all evens out.

First up: Comice Pear with Granola and Yogurt. Sounds so simple but in reality was art in a bowl. A heavy pottery bowl with dollops of an almost-savory tasting yogurt, pear ribbons, fresh herbs and then we were each given a crispy pear pouch filled with yogurt. So fun and unique!

See, here is the second shot of the champagne. It was also at this point, after perusing the menu and wine/beverage pairings that I texted work and mentioned that I would not be back that afternoon.

Now this, this is butter with a toasty, crumbly topping — this was the sensible choice. To the right, which I did not capture in all its glory is lardo (cured strips of fatback with rosemary and other herbs and spices). Oh my. We were also served these warm, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, rye rolls. With the lardo. That sort of melted into the bread. Oh, geez. So good.

Second course: Composition of Pear with Bartlett pear puree, smoked Red Anjou pear, walnuts and herbs. This was another work of edible art. The smoked pear was amazing, as was everything on the black, stone-like plate (walnuts, lettuce leaves, flower petals). The salad was paired with a glass of 2009 Domaine du Fresche Anjou Blanc.

Third course: Pork glazed in hazelnut butter with compressed pear, whipped Bosc pear and turnips. This was so delicious and paired with Wandering Aengus “Anthem” Pear Cider.

How delicious was it? Two photos worth of delightful, rich, porky, pear goodness.

Dessert: Roasted Seckel pear, fresh meringue, pear sorbet and pineapple sage. The biggest surprise for me here was the pineapple sage. It was wonderful with everything on the plate that I tried a bite of it with. From the sorbet, to the cute little meringues, to the almonds. Again, just stunning plating.

Aside from being a great afternoon, this meal definitely inspired me to hurry up and use the ten or so pears we got in our Thanksgiving CSA bag. I was a little at a loss and just stuck them in the refrigerator when I got them, but now I think I have some serious pear inspiration.

And, in case you were wondering, this is how you tell if a pear is ripe.

Mango, Mango, Mango! Grilled Chile-Lime Arctic Char with Mango Slaw

mlb — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:22:55 +0000

So this is kind of amusing — a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the National Mango Board about being one of ~~three~~ four “celebrity” judges for Mango Taste-Off featuring Bo Kwon of Koi Fusion and Addy Bittner of Addy’s Sandwich Bar. It was June 17 at D-Street Noshery — conveniently located five blocks from my house. Well, alright then!

Here are some photos of the event.

Bowl of mangoes at the judges table — wow, the iphone4 takes great pictures!

Addy’s Sandwich — Shredded Beef Brisket, Fresh Mozzarella and Mango/Pickled Red Onions on a Little T’s Baguette. (Photo from the National Mango Board).

Bo’s Korean Halibut Tacos with Mango Pico de Gallo and Mango Salsa — the winner! But it was really close. They were both delicious!

The judges — I am on the end with my sunglasses atop my head. Eating tacos is serious bizness!!!#@!! (Photo from the National Mango Board)

At the end of the day, I walked home with a lovely green bag filled to the brim with mangoes and an orange paring knife. This is what we had for dinner that night. Yeah, it involved mangoes.

Grilled Chile-Lime Arctic Char
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
3 medium garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1-2 tsp chipotle in adobo (The stuff in a can. Just use about a half of a chile and a little bit of the sauce. Or more. It’s your mouth).
2 6-8 oz arctic char fillets with skin

Mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt using a large heavy knife. Add garlic and salt, lime juice, oil, sugar, and chipotle chile to a food processor and pulse until blended well and chile is chopped up and mixed into the marinade.

Remove any bones from fish with tweezers, then pat fish dry and place, skin side up, into the bowl of marinade and let sit about 15 minutes at room temperature.

To cook indoors, heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Add a little olive oil to coat the pan and cook the fish about 5 minutes, skin side down. The flip fish over and cook on the other side to get some good grill marks and until fish is done – about 5-6 more minutes.

To cook outside on a grill, just do what you usually do when you cook fish outside on your grill.

Mango Slaw
2 small mangoes or 1 large one, flesh diced
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1-2 jalapeños, diced finely
1/2 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
10 ounces of shredded cabbage mix (I used broccoli slaw mix)

To dice the mangoes:
Cut off the cheeks, leaving the pit that runs down the middle. Score the flesh in a checkerboard pattern, and remove with a spoon for diced mango.

Stir sugar and vinegar in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Place mangoes, jalapeño, cabbage, cilantro, orange zest and green onions in medium bowl. Pour vinegar mixture over and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit while grilling fish.

Serve the grilled fish with the mango slaw on the side and enjoy! This was a really great. light dinner.

Oh, completely unrelated to mangoes – I spent about an hour this morning at the Montavilla Farmer’s Market as a Volunteer Photographer taking pictures around the place. Lots of beautiful fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and all manner of snacks and treats. It was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to doing it again next Sunday!

Tuesday Night Dinners

mlb — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:35:46 +0000

Caesar Salad at Cafe Castagna.

We have started a tradition of going out to dinner on Tuesday nights. Originally, we were thinking maybe every other Tuesday, but this month went to three places — of course, I am certainly not complaining. We tried two new places: Bar Avignon and Nostrana and revisited an old-standby: Cafe Castagna. This post is mostly pictures, enjoy!

Bar Avignon
2138 SE Division Street
Portland, OR 97202

I liked the food a lot. Also, it was a very cozy space. But, jwa and I were both a little surprised with the vibe. Not really uninviting but not that inviting either. It was weird, the whole time we were there I don’t think I saw any of the staff smile at all. I’m perfectly willing to assume it was just a strange night or something and go back again, though. I really want to love this place. And it’s totally walkable from our house which is a huge score. C’mon, Bar Avignon, cheer up! I think you may be secretly awesome.

Arty menu shot.

Ambiance through a water carafe.

Paprika spiced hazelnuts.

One of my most favorite newly-discovered prosciutto applications: prosciutto wrapped lettuces with fromage blanc.

jwa’s meal: a artisan cheese & charcuterie selection with salmon rillettes and a blue cheese.

Roasted chicken with a nutty, currant-y rice and a cucumber, garlicky yogurt accompaniment. Oh, it was so good!

Vanilla bean crème brûlée.

Nostrana
1401 SE Morrison St # 100
Portland, OR 97214

Nostrana, Nostrana, Nostrana. I want to like you a whole lot. Really. I’ve heard so many good things and the space was really nice and all and I loved my cocktail. I just wanted more, I think, for the money we spent. I also thought our server was a little condescending, especially when we were just ordering pizzas and salads (put your fancy-pants away, okay?) Also especially when he asked how I liked the radicchio, which I was tentative about, since I normally am not a fan of the bitter lettuces, and then seemed bored by my response that I did actually like it in the salad. Dude! You asked.

I’d totally go again and try the 3-course farmhouse dinner. Just probably not until we go to a few more new places (Laurelhurst Market!) and hit a few more old favorites like Country Cat and Cafe Castagna. So, don’t hate me, but I didn’t love it. Bummer.

Green Smoke cocktail…it had gin, chartreuse and a few other things along with a smoked salt rim.

Nice ambiance with tall ceilings and a well-stocked, colorful bar.

Funghi verdi pizza: shiitake, house mozzarella, pecorino, garlic, lemon oil, arugula.

Alla fiamma pizza: tomato, red onion, Mama Lil’s peppers, wild oregano, spicy oil, black olives.

Cafe Castagna
1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214

Speaking of which, when we left Nostrana I really kind of wish we had gotten cocktails, pizzas and salads here instead. So, the next Tuesday we went and had dinner at Cafe Castagna and paid the same amount of money. We also really enjoyed the food, got a server that joked around with us and was very pleasant.

Regarding pizza, I guess it can depends on whether you are more of a crust person or a toppings person. Myself, I am more of a toppings person. Plus, their crust is not bad at all, very light and almost crackery with a nice poof to the edges. Nom-nom-nom.

Cocktails: Aviation gin martini with one olive and a raspberry lemon drop.

Arancini: fried risotto balls filled with fontina.

Gooey, tasty fontina.

Pizza: summer squash, fresh sheep’s milk cheese, sweet onion and oregano. Very fresh and delicious tasting. I loved it!

Genoa Restaurant, Portland

mlb — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:18:07 +0000

Genoa Restaurant
2832 Southeast Belmont St
Portland, OR 97214-4024

Okay, enough about California, let’s talk about a Portland restaurant! Recently, jwa & I went to Genoa to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. We hadn’t been to the new one yet and were both very excited to give it a try. Wow, what a great meal. There’s still a few days left with this menu, I’d recommend trying to check it out. We’ve decided to not wait for another big celebratory event. Maybe Flag Day?

“The Ancient Island of Sardegna” April 28th through May 15th

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just highlight the choices we had but the full menu is here.

Also, as the evening progresses, the images get a bit darker.

It’s a nice, airy dining room with maybe a dozen tables.

We started with an Amuse Bouche — a little mushroom ricotta bite with chive flowers on micro-greens that was just delicious!

Course I: Fregula con Cocciule- Puget sound clams steamed in a soffritto of garlic, parsley and tomatoes then baked in their shells and served with Sardinian couscous.

That course did not last long. So good! Plus, I amused myself by stacking my empty clam shells.

I also loved the wine we chose, Cerasio Cannonau Di Sardegna. We decided to stay in the region with this wine made from grenache grapes.

Course II – Pasta: For this course, we both chose Culurjones de Patate- delicate pasta stuffed with potatoes, and mint tossed with butter, fava beans and topped with grated Fiore de Sardo cheese. Nice and spring-like.

Shiny, pretty silverware awaiting the salad course.

Speaking of…Insalata de Ricotta Pecora Fresca- a composed salad of creamy sheep’s milk ricotta with fresh English peas, pea shoots and grilled green garlic drizzled with Sardinian extra virgin olive oil. The pea puree on the bottom was so wonderful. Just really fresh and bright and full of flavor.

For my main course, I chose Quaglie con Funghi e Ortica- Pan roasted quail stuffed with wild mushrooms, nettles and herbs served over grill asparagus and finished with a Cannonau wine reduction. Very good. Meanwhile, jwa picked Arosto di Agnello- roasted leg of Oregon lamb served with roasted fingerling potatoes and artichokes and topped with a rhubarb and caper compote which was just amazing!

At one point I tried to get him to turn around so I could steal a lamp chop by mentioning that Tina Fey & Lisa Loeb were at the table behind him sharing a plate of spaghetti. It didn’t work.

Sparkly ceiling lights.

Romantic candlelight.

Desert Course: a choice from a selection of our favorite desserts, including a creamy lemon zuccotto, rhubarb crostata, and fried ravioli dolce with orange blossom ice cream. I had a citrusy lime dessert and jwa got a flaky rhubarb pastry. Again, delicious! Our desserts were accompanied by some decaf coffee press.

Goodbye Genoa, see you again very soon!

Next up: A recipe from the cookbook Nuts in the Kitchen by Susan Herrmann Loomis.

Comune Accanto for Brunch

mlb — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:25:08 +0000

2838 SE Belmont St.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 235-4900

We finally tried Accanto for brunch Sunday and wow, we both really enjoyed it. It’s the place on the corner of 28th & Belmont, right next to the new Genoa. Actually, Accanto is to Genoa, like Cafe Castagna is to Castagna, I believe. Anyway, I love the curly fennel painting in their sign. That’s some points right there. I called before we left to walk there to see if there was a wait (there was not). I’ve learned my lesson from the not-calling-Slappy-Cakes-first-gate of a couple of months ago.

When we got there we got a table right in the front window and ordered drinks.

I got an Apricot Mimosa (Prosecco, Amaretto, apricot puree) and jwa ordered a Belmont Bloody Mary (Pepper infused Monopolowa, Spicy thymetomato juice). They were very good!

The view out on Belmont Street.

A latte, nice and strong. Plus, I just like taking pictures of coffee.

My meal: Poached eggs over creamy polenta with garlicky braised greens. So good! I loved the polenta (big surprise there) and the greens were also very good. I could have used more garlic, but then I am a garlic fiend. It was probably a good amount for a normal person.

A river of yolk cascades down. We also split a side order of the fennel bacon which was completely delicious. Neither of us thought it tasted particularly fennel-y, but again, it was so good we didn’t care. And actually, if it hadn’t said ‘fennel bacon’ on the menu, we probably wouldn’t have ordered it, so it was a very good thing, even if we couldn’t taste the fennel because Best. Bacon. Ever.

On the side I also got a Sage Biscuit, which came with its own little side of Blood Orange Marmalade. Wow, this whole part was as if I made the menu myself. That was one of the things I really enjoyed about the brunch — it’s as if they got inside my head and put all my particular food fetishes on the menu (fennel, polenta, sage, blood orange, amaretto), it was crazy!

Another shot of the biscuit, just because my love of it was epic.

The only picture I captured of jwa’s meal: Panettone French toast with Amaretto syrup, pear compote & whipped cream (on the side). He ate it very quickly, proclaiming it some of the best French Toast he’s had. I got a quick bite and have to agree — it was very light and flavorful.

So, after a great brunch, I think we’ll be trying Accanto soon for a mid-week dinner. But we do need to go to brunch again at some point as I need to try the Piccante Carotini (Stoli citros, fresh carrot juice with toasted cumin simple & cayenne sugar rim). Cumin! Get out of my head!