EAT BEAT

Beaker & Flask Brings the BBQ

Start getting in a Summer state of mind with Beaker & Flask’s Picnic in the Parking Lot.

Posted by: Allison Jones on May 04, 2011 at 12:58PM 2 Comments

The spit-roasted pig becomes a picnic plate with fresh sides for only $20. Photo: Allison Jones

Benjamin Bettinger kicked off the weekly Beaker & Flask Tuesday Night Barbecue long before most people in Portland ate breakfast. The chef was up early spit roasting a Carlton Farms pig over hot coals in the parking lot, filling the morning rush hour with fragrant smoke. It was all in a day’s work for the Central Eastside eatery, which will be offering up a plate full of picnic favorites and accompanying wine and cocktail specials every week through the sunny season.

The pork is the star of the feast. Bettinger brines the whole pig in an orange zest-infused elixir, stuffs it with more citrus, and spins it slowly, hour after hour, until it literally falls apart. I arrived early to snap a few shots of the roasting pig before it came off the spit, and as I was shooting pieces of tender meat began dropping into the fire. A melee ensued as Bettinger jumped to catch the pork before it all ended up in the ashes, and I was treated to one of the first sizzling bites off the pig. The orange came through beautifully, brightening the savory decadence of the succulent meat, a testament to the chef’s early morning endeavors. In upcoming weeks, the Beaker & Flask team will tackle whole goats, lambs, and a few more pigs, giving any barbecue joint in town a run for their money.

Acting as backup singer to Bettinger’s main course lead, Beaker’s new sous chef Anthony Walton will whip up three new sides every week, making the most of Portland’s seasonal bounty. This week’s options included three flavor-packed salads: zesty lentil and grilled asparagus; a classic wedge with iceberg lettuce, shaved hard-boiled egg, bacon, and ranch; and a mix of arugula, radish, strawberries, and goat cheese. The colorful, fresh sides let the pork shine, and the $5 wine selections are guaranteed perfect pairings for an evening of great food and sunshine. A whole plate of food, including a pile of pork, cornbread, and two sides, is only $20, but the first taste of summer is priceless.

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Tags: Southeast Dining, Eastside Dining, Food Event

IPNC Walks it Out

The International Pinot Noir Celebration brought the area’s top sips to Portland’s Central Eastside restaurants to kick off the sunny season.

Posted by: Allison Jones on May 02, 2011 at 01:00PM 1 Comments

The good people behind Oregon wine country’s annual International Pinot Noir Celebration sure made the most of yesterday’s glimpse of summer. The IPNC Pinot Walkabout brought out over a hundred Portland wine lovers for a Central Eastside food and drink relay race – fifteen of the area’s top Pinot pourers were paired with nibbles from Beaker & Flask, Noble Rot, and Simpatica Dining Hall. Tasters were encouraged to stroll between the neighborhood restaurants, and some of the area’s big names in wine and food were seen sipping their way through the afternoon. Check out our photos of the fun below!

If you missed the Walkabout, there are still tickets available for Passport to Pinot on Sunday, July 31. All 70 participating IPNC wineries will pour for Oregon’s largest outdoor wine tasting, and fifteen of the northwest’s top chefs will offer up summery pairings. This year’s Passport to Pinot chefs include Genoa’s David Anderson, Bar Avignon’s Jeremy Eckel, Ken’s Artisan Bakery’s Ken Forkish, June’s Greg Perrault, and many more. For ticket information, head over to the IPNC website.

Beaker & Flask’s bar hosted Adelsheim Vineyard, Amity Vineyards, Archery Summit, Bethel Heights Vineyard, and Erath wines. The event was a casual opportunity for wine lovers to get the inside scoop behind their favorite wines.

Beaker & Flask chef Benjamin Bettinger prepared plenty of treats for the afternoon’s revelers – saving time to try the wines for himself. Highlights included the smoked bone marrow and green garlic crostini and crispy pig ear snacks.

As the temperatures climbed and walkers worked up a sweat, Bethel Heights Vineyard’s 2009 Pinot Noir Rosé was a definite hit among the offerings at Beaker & Flask.

Simpatica hosted Rex Hill (that’s Mike Willison and Bill Hatcher of Rex Hill above), Sokol Blosser, Soléna Estate, Stoller Vineyards, and Yamhill Valley Vineyards wines.

Tasters received their own wine glass at every stop and were given 45 minutes to make their way around the room. After chatting and sipping through five wines at every stop, attendees were guided to the next location.

Noble Rot’s wine bar reputation and gorgeous views made it a natural stop on the tour. The rooftop restaurant hosted Elk Cove Vineyards, The Eyrie Vineyards, Lemelson Vineyards, Ponzi Vineyards, and R. Stuart & Co. wines.

Nobel Rot easily made the most of the sunny day, with expansive views of the Willamette River, downtown Portland, and the West Hills adding to the beauty of the afternoon.

PDX Pedicabs were on call to bring wine lovers from Point A to Point B. The Central Eastside tourism board should look into making these free all the time – or at least on gorgeous sunny Sundays!

All Images © Allison E. Jones

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Tags: Southeast Portland, Southeast Dining, Wine, Eastside Dining, wine country, Food Event

Let Them Eat Fish

Photos and first impressions of Chef Trent Pierce’s inaugural Sunday Seafood Brunch and raw bar at St. Jack.

Posted by: Allison Jones on Apr 18, 2011 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Oil cured albacore with frisee, orange, and olive salad, and anchovy mayonnaise at St. Jack

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Oil cured albacore with frisee, orange, and olive salad, and anchovy mayonnaise at St. Jack

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Local prawns and charred sea urchin over soft scrambled eggs and chives.

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Local prawns with sauce vierge, crab mayonnaise, and mignonette.

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Buckwheat blini with mushrooms, chive, creme fraiche, and salmon roe.

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Omelette with pommes frites and gruyere.

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Eggs en cocotte, baked eggs with cream, fines herbs, and toasted baguette “persillade”

Expectations were high for the debut of St. Jack’s new Sunday brunch. Chef Trent Pierce’s seafood-anchored menu promised to be a different take on Portland’s standard put-an-egg-on-it brunch. To that end, the talented chef’s first notable showing since the lamentable closing of SE Hawthorne’s FIN in February did not disappoint. Dish after dish, the presentation was flawless – a perfect marriage of Pierce’s modern sophistication and St. Jack’s rustic French sweetness (think perfectly-spaced slices of pickled mackerel and radish on a Quebecois grandmother’s well-worn floral china) – and the metal buckets of ice, oysters, and Dungeness crab on the bar highlighted the aquatic focus of the occasion.

If St. Jack pulses with warmth and energy at night, the welcoming, country-chic feeling is increased five fold on a sunny Sunday morning. The brunch is an all-day affair (the special menu is offered from 10 am to 7 pm) but we had reservations for the first seating of the morning and had our pick of the sunniest table in the restaurant – perfect for checking out the parade of Clinton neighborhood dogs and taking photos of the menu selections (check out the slideshow for the full crave-worthy experience).

The long menu – split into raw selections, small plates ($5-$13), pastries ($2-$4), and warm entrees ($7-$15) – could use some paring down, and wouldn’t be remiss to leave off the expected Portlandbrunch™ dishes. A seafood brunch doesn’t need yet another bistro hamburger with bacon, and the over-salted and over-cooked eggs en cocotte (baked eggs with cream and fines herbs, $8) and gruyere omelette with pommes frites ($9) were unfortunate casualties of the rush of the first service of the morning. Unsurprisingly, the most memorable bites were found in the raw and small plate selections, where Pierce’s creative pairings and insistence on only the best seafood truly stood out. Favorite plates included the pickled mackerel with charred ramps, buttermilk, and aged sherry ($5), the potted, oil cured albacore with a frisee, orange, and olive salad and anchovy mayonnaise ($7) and the local prawns ($8 for a half dozen) served with chunky sauce vierge, a perfectly sparkling mignonette, and some lick-the-plate-worthy crab mayo (which was so delicious we ordered more to go with our pommes frites).

Once the kitchen hits its stride, St. Jack’s seafood Sunday is sure to become a go-to spot for a new take on brunch. Here’s hoping they dive in head first and embrace the full potential of Pierce’s seafood expertise, because Portland is more than willing to swim along.

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Tags: Southeast Dining, Eastside Dining, First Impressions, Opening Night

Chef-ish Q & A: Matt Jacobson

Tasty tidbits from the co-owner of Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar, opening soon on East Burnside.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Sep 29, 2010 at 11:30AM 7 Comments

Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar will soon be feeding hungry Eastside office workers and late-night party goers.

Folks who frequently stumble out of Rontoms wishing they had consumed a few less beers and a lot less cigarettes will soon have a place to sop up the alcohol and their shame: in preparation for a “sometime before Halloween” opening, Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar has been steadily cleaning up the act at 624 East Burnside, with a dazzling sign and the same exterior burgundy-and-black paint job that graces about 101-percent of the hipster havens in Los Angeles. Scheduled to be open Lunch to Late Night, including serving up slices until at least 3:30 a.m. on the weekends, this all-new pizza pub is the brainchild of Mikey McKennedy, co-owner of the popular vegan dive bar, Tube, at 18 Northwest 3rd Avenue in Old Town, and Matt Jacobson, founder/owner of the 20-year-old indie music label, Relapse Records.

“We’re both passionate about pizza and wanted to bring it together with other things we love—art, music, good beer, and Portland,” says Jacobson.

Here’s what else he had to say:

1) Can you give us a sneak-peek at the stats on Sizzle so that we can brag to our friends that we’re in the know?

We will offer what I would characterize as an East Coast-influenced thin-crust pizza, with a focus on farm-direct ingredients. We’ll have all the classic topping combinations, as well as a nice selection of veggie/vegan pies and our own recipes, like a super-spicy pizza featuring Secret Aardvark hot sauce as the base with hot peppers on top! In addition to pizza-by-the-pie or by-the-slice, the plan is for the menu to also include Stromboli, grinders, and ice cream from our new neighbor, Fifty Licks—we expect to have the full range of flavors, but we will absolutely have Stumptown Coffee, Maple with Bacon, and Slabtown Whiskey. And we’ll have a full bar showcasing local spirits, wine, and Oregon beers like HUB, Ninkasi, and Amnesia.

2) How do you personally like your pizza?

Thin and a bit crispy with a mug of local IPA.

3) With so many pizzazz-y pizzerias in town, what will make Sizzle stand out?

First off, we will have pizza by the slice and be open late—two things that many pizza shops in town don’t do. Also, I think our location and vibe will set us apart. The space used to be a hair salon, most recently, and we basically gutted it and put in all new systems. We had to remove much of the wonderful fir floor, but we were able to salvage the wood and use it, along with some reclaimed church pews, to build our booths. We will have a great jukebox filled with a range of indie/rock/metal music like the Pixies and lots of local bands like Red Fang, plus ever-changing art on display and a back patio!!!

4) What made you decide that lower East Burnside was THE place to plop down?

So much is happening on East Burnside and in the surrounding area in terms of art, music, nightlife, creative businesses, the skatepark, and so on… it’s one of the most vibrant parts of town. It’s also just across the river from downtown and a major gateway to the Eastside. I feel like we will be creating a unique place in a unique area of one of the coolest cities in the country.

5) If you could have any band in the world play at your opening, who would it be?

That is a really, really tough question. Maybe Metallica during the Master of Puppets era, Slayer on the “South of Heaven” tour, or the Melvins, just because they rule.

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Tags: Restaurant Openings, Bar Openings, five questions, Pizza, Eastside Dining