Other resturants to try in Portland

Andina (Peruvian cuisine in the Pearl district) We loved the tap pas menu some items were a real treat others just good.

Le Pigeon (French influenced Northwest of downtown) Some of the menu items are a bit out there like the Foie-Gras jelly donut (appetizer) and Cornbread with bacon and maple walnut ice cream (desert). There were choices for the less adventuresome.

Veritable Quandary (downtown) Very good, food and service close to hotels in a nice setting near the river (no view).

Beast Restaurant - Portland, Oregon

The Beast

Chef: Naomi Pomeroy -- Food and Wine Best New Chefs 2009

On a trip this fall to Portland, Or. Doris and I had the pleasure to dine at Beast. It was a pleasure and a surprise. All we knew before going was it was highly recommended by the wine tasting host at the Ponzi Winery in Willamette Valley. He raved about the food and said there were two seatings a night.

Surprise one was that we got a reservation for the 6:00pm seating! I was not wild about the 8:45 seating.

Surprise two was that the Chef was a 2009 Food and Wine Best New Chef. This had me wondering about a price surprise since it was a fixed menu - "substitutions politely declined". When I got the bill at the end of the evening I was pleasantly surprised. (Dinner $52 and optional wine pairing $35)

Surprise three was the small space, with only two communal tables and the kitchen located in the same room. Both turned out to be great fun. We were seated at the smaller of the two tables with a nice couple from the Portland area who gave us some travel tips which came in handy later on our trip. We had an excellent view of the small, small kitchen and enjoyed watching Naomi, and her staff prepare and serve our six course dinner (seven if you count the grape fruit sorbet).

MENU

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12 , 2009

END OF SUMMER GAZPACHO SHAVED CHORIZO & FICOIDE GLACIALE

DOMAINE.DES TERRASSES GAILLAC BLANC-2007

CHARCUTERIE PLATE:

FOIE-GRAS BON-BON, SAUTERNES GELEE

STEAK TARTARE & QUAIL EGG TOAST

CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE, PICKLED SHALLOT

PORK, PORK LIVER & SOUR CHERRY PATE

NITTNAUS HEIDEBODEN PINOT BLANC-2007

PAUPIETTES DE VEAU STUFFED VEAL ROLLS WITH TAILS & TROTTERS PORK

SUMMER CHANTERELLES & SAUTEED GREENS

SIMON BIZE SAVIGNY-LES-BEAUNES LES BURGEOTS-2005

FRISEE AUX LARDONS POACHED EGG & SOFT CROUTONS

COPAIN ROSE TOUS ENSEMBLE-2008

-SELECTION OF STEVE'S CHEESE-

ANISE & FLEUR DE SEL SHORTBREAD

BITTERSWEET FARMS HONEY MARS-VENUS GRAPES & CANDIED HAZELNUTS

KARL SMUHLE GEIBEN RIESLING SPATLESE NIES'CHEN-2005

BROWN BUTTER CREPE

HOUSE CHOCOLATE & HAZELNUT SPREAD

VANILLA ICE-CREAM

QUINTA DO PERLADA 10 YR TAWNY PORT

SUBSTITUTIONS POLITELY DECLINED

Menu comments: The Gazpacho was very nice. The big hits on the Charcuterie plate was the Foie-Gras Bon-Bon and the Steak Tartare & Quail Egg Toast although the later was a little difficult to eat with having quail egg yoke running down you chin. I retreated and used a fork and knife rather than picking up the whole thing and popping it in my mouth. The Paupiettes De Veau (Veal meat loaf wrapped in artisan bacon) was cooked to perfection and the sauce made from the greens brasing liquid made the dish more hearty than anticipated. The Frisee salad was a welcome beak from the rich veal dish. The cheese pate was also nice but I was getting full. The last course was almost as much fun to watch Naoemi prepare as it was to eat. The crapes were wonderful and the homemade Nutella was a real treat.

The bottom line is if travels take you to Portland and you are open to eating what is put in front of you you will love the Beast Restaurant. The menu changes frequently our was billed as a celebration of what Naomi had eaten in France earlier this summer.

Matt's Famous Super Bowl Chili

This has been a tradition for the last 12 years and now I am publishing the recipe for the first time. This serves 25-30 people.

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil
6 dried New Mexican peppers
5 cloves of garlic
1 Yellow Onion
1 white onion
14 roma tomatoes
5 Anaheim peppers
2 Serrano peppers
2 jalapenos
4lbs ground turkey
15 oz can yellow corn
4 16 oz cans of pinto beans
2 16 oz cans of black beans
1 bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
3 ears of white corn
4 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 tbs regular Tabasco sauce
1tbs Chipotle Tabasco sauce
3 canned chipotles
1 tbs cayenne pepper
2 tbs epazote
2 tbs adobo
2 tbs cumin powder
2 tbs oregano
2 tbs chile de arbol
1 tbs ancho chile powder
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
cilantro
2 packages of spaghetti

Directions:

1. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the dried New Mexican Peppers and let sit for 1/2 hour.
2. In a blender combine the roma tomatoes, Anaheim peppers, chipotles, jalapenos, serranos, and 3 of the cloves of garlic. Puree the ingredients until smooth ( should produce about 3 blenders full) and place in a large pot on medium low heat.
3. In an iron skillet heat the olive oil and brown the remaining garlic over medium high heat (1 min.) add 1 1/4 lbs of ground turkey and brown. Once browned add to pot with the pepper/tomato mixture. repeat until all of the turkey is browned.
4. Add the bottle of beer, beans, canned tomatoes, and spices to the pot. Turn the burner up to medium until the chili starts to simmer then reduce heat to medium low and cook for at least 3 hours stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cook 2 packages of spaghetti
6. Serve the chili over the spaghetti in a bowl. Top with cheddar cheese, diced onion, sour cream on cilantro.

Commercial Street Fishery

Jayne and had dinner in Manchester NH at the Commercial Street Fishery last night. What a great find and well worth the extra drive.

We hadn't planned on going out to dinner and were dressed very casually so we opted to he eat at the bar. I ordered a Tangere martini while Jayne had a house special fruity mojito. My martini was nice and dry and served with a spear of four large olives. Jayne's mojito was minty and sweat. She loved it.

We started with half a dozen raw oysters. We chose a mix of east coast and west coast varieties and had them dressed with a drizzle of jalapeno and cilantro mignonette. Jayne commented she thought they were even better than our favorite Finz' wasabi-stoli oysters.

For the entrees Jayne had the 24$ Grilled Idaho Rainbow Trout with fingerlings, leeks, shrimp, spiced pecans, greens, citrus brown butter, while I chose the 27$ Grilled Rare Yellow Fin Tuna with roasted beets, gnocchi, pork belly, frisee, red wine Syrup.

My Yellow Fin was cooked perfectly. It was a 2" cube of fish, cooked very lightly on each side and then sliced into three beautiful slices to expose the sashimi quality fish. The combination of both the beets and the pork belly with the fish was unexpected but very delicious.

Jayne's Trout was served as two fillets, sans the frame. The spicy pecans and the citrus brown butter added a hearty and robust flavor that raised this this common fish to heights I had never tasted before. It was fantastic.

We split a coconut coated fried banana split for desert. Jayne enjoyed it, but I was disappointed. Regardless of the final let down, we will most certainly head north to have dinner there again. Highly recommended.

NYC

New York was a great time! Dispite what some/one of us might report, we spent most of the time either eating somewhere or having a liquid refreshment somewhere! We roamed from Times Square to Brooklyn to Upper East Side and back. Without a doubt the most amazing meal I enjoyed was at a small hole in the wall called Supper. Though we waited about 2 hours for a table, it was worth it. I had Spachetti al Limone which made me melt. It was light and refreshing and packed an abundance of lemon and cheese. Another favorite at the table was a pasta and mint dish which sounds unusual but was excellent. Between the food and the company I had a great time and look forward to getting out there again. Check out the web sight at www.supperrestaurant.com it is cute!
Lessons I learned in NYC...if you need a cab ask Joanna!...if you leave something in the cab ask Joanna to chase it down...if you need a phone steal Joanna's... if you have something to carry don't ask Jayne just carry it yourself...there are red neck bars where you can shoot deer even in the heart of NYC!
So girl's...where do we go next?

Octobarcue

Every football season I experiment with different recipes for our Patriot game tail-gaits. One of the recipes from this season that I liked a lot I called Octobarcue. Octobarcue was an attempt to bring together classic New England fall tastes with good old-fashion barbecue. It's probably heresy in the eyes of a barbecue purist but I thought it was pretty good eats.

I started by dry-rubbing pork ribs with a spice rub of my own creation. The exact mixture is unfortunately lost but it featured pumpkin pie like spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove with more traditional savory spices like onion powder and paprika. Once rubbed down, the ribs sat in the fridge over night.

The next day I created pouches of heavy aluminum foil for the ribs and braised them in pumpkin ale for two and a half of hours in a low oven - around 250. I chose Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, a really tasty brew that's not overly spiced like so many pumpkin beers. I'm sure you could use any braising liquid but I thought this fit in well with the theme. As a side note: whenever I use this braising technique, no matter how many layers of foil I use the packets always leak so I suggest you use a jelly-roll pan or other item to catch the inevitable mess that will occur.

For the glaze I simmered a mixture of three parts applesauce, one part real maple syrup, Serrano peppers and a little lemon juice until it was nice and thick.

At the game I put the ribs on the portable grill to heat them up and give them some color and then slathered them with the glaze.

I think the flavor combination worked really well. The moist pork definitely had noticeable hints of pumpkin ale and pie spice and the glaze brought a sweet heat to the party. If you're looking to infuse some fall flavors into a tail gait or football party give this recipe a try.

Turkish Delight

With no background in Turkish food I found what was to me a wonderful spot on an obscure back street of Nashua. The Seven Hills Restaurant was amazing. Location aside...across from a homeless shelter...I had a fabulous lunch full of unusual flavors! We tried the sampler appetizer which included Yalanci Dolma (stuffed grape leaves), Sigara Boregi (phyllo stuffed with cheese), Kofte (seasoned lamb and beef patties), Sucuk (Turkish sausage in a sauce), piyaz (bean salad), Cheese, and Olives. It would be hard to tell you what was best because it was all great. The flavors and aromas were strong without being overbearing. Not realizing the ample portion of the sampler we also each had a wrap sandwich which though delicious was not needed for lunch with the shared appetizer plate. We finished our meal with Baklava which we were informed by the proprieter was in fact Turkish not Greek as popularly believed. He actually said it is from the Asian Tojork...I could have missed the spelling. Anyways it was wonderful and made with pistachios rather than walnuts. I've never had anything nearly as incredible as this.
The restaurant opened just 15 months ago and has recieved great reviews in a number of magazines and newspapers. They are closing this weekend for two weeks as they go back to visit family at this time. The web site www.sevenhillsresaurant.net shows a great deck over the river for dining in warmer weather and there was a very small shop downstairs to purchase Turkish teas, coffees, spices, and more.
I hope the Lyons east can get together here for dinner soon and explore even more of the unusual menu!