Busy week?

You know you've had a busy week when it takes three days to post the activities of the weekend before. Wheh!

Our Sunday Brunch Bunch invaded Roost at 15th and Belmont on April 21st. It's become a bit of an inside joke amongst our group about whether an establishment will take reservations or not. When you have 6-10 people dining together and the restaurant doesn't take reservations it can be a bit of a wait to be seated. Most of the group are not bothered by this. Some of the group are even anti-reservations, feeling that most establishments that offer this service tend to be more stuffy and have a dress code. To say the majority of the group are into casual dress would be an accurate statement. 

All that being said, a few of us got there early so we could visit a bit while waiting in line until Roost opened at 10:00. It's probably a good thing too, because by the time the remainder of the group arrived at the agreed time of 10:30, the restaurant was completely full.

Now on to the dining experience...

We stepped into another clean and modern dining area with limited seating at tables with another 8-10 places at the bar. There were a few things that I was a bit bothered by. They had wooden coat hooks on both sides of the room, directly above tables placed against the wall. While this was convenient for those in our party, it was not so much for anyone else wishing to hang their jacket. In fact, they would have had to reach over our heads to do just such a thing. Next, our table was backed up quite close to the bar stools. Upon leaving, I was unable to move my chair back because someone was sitting directly behind me at the bar. I ended up having to lift my legs up so I could swivel out of the side of my chair then kind of hop on one leg to get out. Grrrr...

When we started our Brunch Bunch in 2012, Candy and I decided we were going to sample Bloody Mary's at each place. So of course, when I saw a $6 BM on the menu, I had to have it.

Conclusion? It was nice and spicy and flavorful. Not the best one I've had (that goes to the Blue Pig so far), but definitely not the worst either. And for $6 I thought it was a reasonable drink. The surprise was the Creme de Menthe and soda that Kevin ordered. Surprisingly refreshing!

And I always thought Creme de Menthe was green so seeing a clear beverage added to the surprise factor. Now, let's eat!

I ordered the ham and smoked gouda omelete with arugula salad, potatoes and toast. I have to say everything was just okay. Not terrific. Not terrible. In fact, the best thing on the plate was the toast.

It was a beautiful plate of food but for $12, a bit pricey. Especially for the amount of food.

Candy ordered the braised pork which came with scallion pancake, fried eggs, salsa verde, avocado, tomatoes and sour cream. I only mentioned this because when we ordered, we agreed to split our meals and share with the other.

 

Again, a beautiful plate of food but I thought the entire dish was lacking in flavor. And again, not much bang for the buck. We all spent at least $20 (with tip) and I still felt like I needed to run through McDonald's for an egg McMuffin when we finished. 

Probably not a place I would go to again.

My busy weekend - Part II

So Friday, the 19th was the Supper Club outing to Aviary on 17th and NE Alberta. Saturday took me back to the same area. But first...

With Earth Day being April 22nd, I spent a few hours Saturday morning helping with the cleanup at Clackamette Park. My hands were dirty, my back was sore, but my heart was warmed by all the volunteers who helped out.

I had just enough time to shower and change my clothes before heading to Lake Oswego. My sister's friend Rhonda was needing a hand catering a wedding reception. So for four hours, I sliced chicken strips, par-boiled penne pasta, tossed Caesar salad, made pesto sauce, and helped with whatever else was needed. I left glad I was able to help out, but my feet were killing me!

Next I drove to IKEA near the airport to pick up a lamp shade for my niece's birthday. It was my maiden voyage to the store and I absolutely hated the experience! Perhaps because my feet were hurting, but I'm also not a typical shopper. I don't go to the store unless I need something. I go in, get what I came for, and leave. The store was huge. I didn't know where to go so covered the upper floor only to discover it was mostly the cafe, children's section, and displays. I quickly hustled down the steps and covered the bottom floor. I know I could have taken short cuts to the lighting area but I still wanted a chance to see everything. I finally found the lampshade, then proceeded to wait in line for at least 5 minutes at the self-serve checkout before I made it out.

Wheh! Looking at the clock, I was in and out in 15 minutes....and was angry and disgusted. I think it was just that there were sooooo many people there, and almost all had their families with them, taking up the aisles. One of my pet peeves is rude people, so when you have 3-4 groups in an aisle with their carts all askew and no one makes any attempt to move for you, I think that is inconsiderate and rude. Once again, it could go back to my upbringing and where I was raised. I went to the Safeway in my hometown the following day and as I walked down the aisle, people actually moved their carts and said, "Excuse me" if they discovered they were blocking the way.

Okay, enough about my bad experience at IKEA. Moving on...

I picked up my girl Candy and we traveled back down Alberta to 24th and took in the sights, sounds, and smells that make up Halibuts 2. I tiny little place next to the original location (Halibuts) that offers a bar and live music. I was taking Candy out for her birthday dinner and to see my other girl, Rae Gordon play. As we made our way to a table in the area near the back, I noticed three life sized figures sitting in the corner. Replicas of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Frank Sinatra appeared almost real as they held court.

Photo by Julie E (thanks to Yelp)

We started with cocktails. Once again, I was struck immediately by one listing. Monkey Love. Basically it was a Long Island Ice Tea with Alize and a couple of other tweaks. A Long Island is usually my favored beverage anyway so I couldn't pass up some Monkey Love!

The menu is basic fish and chips. I think they might have chicken strips but everything else is seafood. Candy and I both settled on the special for the evening. Some kind of Alaskan fish I've never heard of (Burbot maybe). It was delicious. Actually everything was. The fries were the perfect crispiness while still being soft inside. The fish was fried perfectly. Heck, even the cocktail sauce was amazing. Plus after the previous evening's meal, I felt like I got my money's worth.



The venue is quite small and I don't know if it was the size or the proximity to the band but I didn't think Rae had ever sounded better. She has such an amazing range anyway that it's hard not to love everything she does. This night she was playful and interacted with the audience, drawing lots of laughter and applause.

So you're probably wondering what happened to those life sized replicas of Dean, Sammy, and Frank? Well, just prior to the band's arrival they get carted back in the storage area to a little alcove that contains the freezer. Right next to this darkened area is the restroom. Imagine my surprise as I walked back to the bathroom and out of the corner of my eye I see three grown men sitting on bar stools in the dark! It's a good thing I was already on my way to the powder room!!

Why do you scare me so???

Friday Night Supper Club - Aviary PDX

Okay, so my buddy Kevin decided to put together a monthly supper club with the goal of trying out some of Portland's top 100 restaurants as listed in the Willamette Week. Unfortunately this was the first time I actually made it to one of the posted events this year. Friday night's pick for April was Aviary on NE Alberta.

The restaurant had a clean modernistic appeal and the 8 of us were fortunate enough to be seated at the big table near enough to the door that we could watch people coming and going yet far enough away that we weren't affected by it opening and closing.

The premise is small plates (tapas) of locally sourced fresh ingredients in amazing combinations. Things like butternut squash, snap peas, black garlic, egg yolk and parmesan cream. It sounded fantastic and it was only when we started getting our plates that we realized none of us had ordered this dish.

I had the beet and asparagus salad and the charred octopus. But of course, no evening out should begin until we've had a cocktail!

I'm a huge fan of Tuaca so when I spied The Opera Sidecar on the drink menu, I knew I just had to have it! Clear Creek pear brandy, Tuaca, and house made sour mix. It was sweet and tangy and exactly what I needed.


Next out was the salad course.

 The presentation was amazing and not anything like what I was expecting in a salad. Frisee and shaved asparagus were piled in the middle of the plate and then 'covered' with paper thin slices of fresh beet. The plate was then garnished with yogurt, sunflower seeds and za'atar (a delectable middle eastern spice blend). I still can't get over how beautiful it was.


Then for the entree.

The charred octopus was cooked perfectly and was served with scallion pancakes, a slaw made of green papaya and long beans and garnished with cashews. Though the octopus was perfect, the stand out on the plate was the slaw. Who would think to do that with green papaya and long beans?

Since we had been sharing our plates throughout the evening and there was about half my salad remaining, I opted out of desert but I did get a few tastes of three items ordered by everyone else. One of the best things I tried all night was Heather's cake (for the life of me I can't remember the name). It was sweet and gooey and brought back memories of my mother-in-law's apple cake served during Oktoberfest.

However, the dish that stood out the most all evening was the tempura green beans, served with green curry and sesame salt. They were AH-mazing!

While I did enjoy the evening, I did feel I had spent a lot of money for a little bit of food. I think it's my redneck upbringing. I'm just used to getting a big ole' prime rib dinner for $10. Enough to fill you up and still leave with a doggie bag. That certainly didn't happen on Friday night.

Cooking class

Kevin surprised me by signing us up for a cooking class with one of my favorite local chefs, Jack Campbell. I've taken many of Jack's courses so was thrilled, knowing I would be in good hands. Jack's classes are a demonstration rather than a hands-on course. He always offers excellent recipes, great tips and places to buy product, and way more food than the class can eat.

Imagine going to your favorite restaurant for dinner except you get to sit in the kitchen and watch the chef at work. That's what his classes are like.

This course was all about regional Spanish cuisine and the focus was on southern Spain - Sevilla, Malaga and the Andalucia coastal area. Lots of green olives, Pimenton (smoked paprika), garlic, and fresh ingredients.

Here's the first course....a lovely gazpacho. Jack mentioned that one should make it at least 12 hours in advance. However, for the class he made a small batch to demonstrate using green and red peppers, garlic, tomatoes, cucumber, Snappy Tom tomato juice, sherry vinegar, Pimenton, and red onion. He whirred everything together in the food processor to liquify. Then he served it alongside a nice spicy Piquillo Pepper Sauce and garnished with chopped cucumber, sweet onion, and green and red peppers. Before anyone had a chance to get up and grab a bowl of this lovely and colorful soup, he also presented a larger bowl of the batch he had made the day before. I took mostly the older batch but a small amount of the newest as well. What a difference! The newest batch had a brighter color but was flavorless compared to the previous days' offering.

Gazpacho - Mostly the batch made the day before but there is a small spoonful (a little bit brighter in color) in the foreground with a dab of a Piqillo Pepper sauce on top.

Next up was an Avocado and Orange Salad. Beautiful oranges had already been cleaned, sliced and laid on the plate followed by a layer of sweet onion, cut into rings. Jack then made a dressing using olive oil, lemon juice, fresh parsley, salt and pepper. This was all whisked together just to blend, not to emulsify. The onions were topped with a layer of fresh tomatoes that had been peeled, seeded and chopped. Now here is why I love Jack's classes:

He pulled a bag of avocado halves from the fridge and says he purchased this bag at Cash and Carry for about $8. The bags are in the frozen food section and contain approximately 14 cleaned and pitted halves. That's just over $1 per avocado! And you don't have to worry about dark spots, whether they are ripe or not, and all the other pitfalls of purchasing fresh. These would be great for guacamole or some other recipe where everything is mashed together. Even in this salad they were pretty great, though there was a tiny textural difference from the freezing.

After including the rough chopped avocado to the salad, he added Moroccan black olives and topped with toasted almond slices, then drizzled with the dressing and sprinkled with chopped parsley. So colorful and absolutely delicious.

Avocado and Orange Salad - a delicious light salad that would be perfect in the summer.

The next course was a succulent and juicy chicken dish called Pollo A La Espanola. Chicken thighs had been seasoned with Pimenton and salt then fried skin side down in a hot pan using olive oil. The thighs were removed to a baking pan and put in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour, covered. Jack then made a sauce of smoked ham lardons, onion, garlic, red and green peppers, canned diced tomatoes, sliced green olives, and chopped parsley. He smothered the chicken with this gorgeous sauce, covered with foil and placed back in the oven for another 30 minutes. This was served over white rice and was my favorite dish of the evening.

Pollo A La Espanola w/rice - this was my favorite dish all night.

The last course of the evening was Chili Shrimp with Garlic and Patatas Brava. The shrimp was a really quick dish of shrimp sauteed in olive oil and butter then topped with lemon juice, wine, Pimenton, chili pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cooked until the shrimp were pink and completely cooked. The pan was shaken during the cooking process to emulsify the sauce. Again, Jack offered another nugget of wisdom when he tells us shrimp should be cooked just until they turn pink, then removed from heat. The shrimp will continue to cook so better to err on removing from the heat early rather than later. If the top of the shrimp touches the tail, they are overcooked. The flavor will still be delicious but the texture a bit rubbery. Due to health regulations, most restaurants typically serve overcooked shrimp.

Chili Shrimp with Garlic - fresh and juicy shrimp with just the right amount of heat.

Jack began the potato dish (a favorite tapas dish in Spain) by par-boiling the small whole potatoes and draining. He then added to a hot pan of olive oil and included garlic, serrano and pasilla peppers, cumin, Pimenton, sherry vinegar, and chopped green and red pepper. This pan of deliciousness was shirred (slowly moved forward and backward) on the burner to prevent the ingredients from burning. Using a spoon or other such implement to turn may have resulted in piercing the tender skin of the potatoes. Upon serving, he sprinkled with sea salt and said this dish could be served hot or a room temperature.

Patatas Brava - literally fierce (spicy) potatoes. is dish contained yukon, red and purple potatoes, peppers, onions,

Each class Jack draws a student's name from a bucket and that person wins a cookbook featuring the cuisine of the evening. Now I've been to at least 20 of his classes and had not won a book yet. This night he offered two different books, one from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) featuring the dishes of Spain and the other was a book on Tapas, or small plates. He also had a lovely bottle of Spanish olive oil for the drawing as well.

Kevin's friend Donna was taking the class with us and wouldn't you know...she won the cookbook. She immediately said, "Which one should I get?" so I told her she should pick the one from the CIA. Jack handed her the book and she turned to me and said, "Here. You take this. I know you will get more use out of it than I will." I had never met this lady before that night and she gave me her cookbook! I was so touched. I still didn't win my cookbook but at least I got to go home with something from the evening besides a full belly.