EAT BEAT

A Sweet Cart Kick-Off

The creative ice cream scoopers at Salt & Straw debuted their new cart on NE Alberta – and we’ve got the photos.

Posted by: Allison Jones on May 27, 2011 at 10:00AM 8 Comments

While watching a grown woman in a tutu eat a cone of locally-made beer and bacon ice cream in the rain, I couldn’t help but marvel: it doesn’t get more Portland than this. The Last Thursday Alberta Arts district street fair was dampened by wet skies, but the line at Kimberly Malek’s new ice cream cart Salt & Straw proved that a great idea can weather a storm.

The eight opening-night flavors were chosen via Ice Cream Democracy (aka a public Facebook poll), and included Honey Balsamic Strawberry with cracked black pepper, Laurelwood Brown Ale with Olympic Provisions bacon, Almond Brittle with salted ganache, Cold brewed Stumptown Coffee with cocoa nibs, Pear with Rogue Blue Cheese, Lemon Basil sorbet, Chocolate with brownies, and the night’s best seller, Sea Salt with caramel ribbons.

Construction on the brick and mortar scoop shop down the street is coming along smoothly, and if last night’s crowd is any indication, they’ll have a loyal following by the time it opens in August. Until then, you can find the Salt & Straw cart on the patio in front of Aviary and Barista at 1733 NE Alberta seven days a week, 1 pm to 10 pm, rain or shine.

Umbrellas and raindrops couldn’t stop Portlanders from getting their hands on their first scoop of farm-to-cone ice cream. Head ice cream maker Tyler Malek was on hand to chat about his difficult, difficult job of tasting ice cream all day.

The new cart was stationed in the middle of the stretch of Alberta closed to cars on Last Thursday, perfect for walk-up and bike-up scoop orders.

With this many flavors to choose from, most customers sampled every variety before settling on a single scoop. When the scoop shop opens, customers will be able to order flights of ice cream if they can’t pick a favorite.

The Honey Balsamic Strawberry with cracked black pepper is a sophisticated take on a summer staple. Salt & Straw flavors are available by the cone or cup in one scoop, two scoop, and kid-friendly sizes.

Even the dogs of the neighborhood crave a cone. This spoiled little guy got a taste of sea salt ice cream – off a spoon, no less.

Just another satisfied customer. When asked if she liked it, this cutie responded, “It’s bacon! Bacon ice cream! My favorite.” Ours too, kid. Ours too.

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Tags: Northeast, Northeast Dining, Dessert, Opening Night

Charcuterie Chic

Olympic Provisions NW opens, bringing rotisserie chicken and handcrafted charcuterie to the far reaches of Northwest Portland.

Posted by: Allison Jones on Apr 27, 2011 at 11:05AM 0 Comments

Leave it to Nate Tilden and Elias Cairo to figure out the secret ingredient for truly phenomenal charcuterie. In order to make the best sausages, rillettes, pates, cured hams, frankfurters, and bratwurst around, you need to set up shop in the shadow of a bridge. The Olympic Provisions team launched their newest spot near the Fremont overpasses on NW 16th and Thurman, staking their meaty claim in yet another industrial area of our fair city. The new space is both neighborhood cafe and USDA-certified meat-curing headquarters, and reflects the same DIY design ethos as the charcuterie empire’s flagship space in the Central Eastside Industrial District, but with a brighter, more intimate feel. Check out our photos of the new space, and pop in for lunch or dinner before the new location is overshadowed by the next inevitable expansion of Tilden’s empire.

Olympic Provisions NW – 1632 NW Thurman St. 503-894-8136. Open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

While Cairo works his magic in the 4000-square-foot production facility connected to the restaurant, the open kitchen will be headed by former Clyde Common sous Erin Williams.

The menu will feature the classic sandwiches and charcuterie that made OP a household name, along with rustic Italian dishes like polenta with spring veggies, fried egg, and “cheese broth” ($12), ribeye steak with grilled romaine, salsa verde, and grana padano ($19) and rotisserie chicken from the adorable red eBay-scrounged roaster (complete with schmaltz potatoes, $15).

Left: Pull up a chair at the well-lit counter, grab a charcuterie plate ($12) and a specialty cocktail like the Whiskey Ginger, with Buffalo Trace, ginger beer, and lime ($8). Right: You gotta love a restaurant that stocks sausages in the mise en place.

The walls of windows and skylights illuminate the white subway-tiled walls, polished-metal meat slicer, handcrafted wine displays, and piles of salami wrapped in butcher paper topping the glass deli case.

The custom-built wine wall (filled with choice selections from wine director Star Black) and the kitchen counter’s frame were hand-fused by Tilden and his father – talk about a labor of love.

Expect Olympic Provisions NW to keep the laid-back, comfortable vibe of the original, with lunch offerings like hot ham-and-brie sandwiches, porchetta sandwich on ciabatta, and OP’s signature frankfurters.

“If it gets any brighter,” Tilden exclaimed, squinting into the sunlight streaming through the restaurant’s windows, “we might need blinds.” When they show up, you can bet they’ll be handcrafted as well.

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Tags: Portland Chefs, Restaurant Openings, Northwest Dining, Northwest Portland Dining, Openings, charcuterie, Opening Night

Here Comes the Sun

Jenn Louis’ long-awaited neighborhood bar, Sunshine Tavern, opened its doors on Southeast Division and we’ve got the inside (soft-serve) scoop.

Posted by: Allison Jones on Apr 20, 2011 at 11:15AM 5 Comments

Jenn Louis and David Welch (the husband and wife team behind North Portland’s Lincoln and Culinary Artistry catering) have just launched the neighborhood restaurant that will define Summer 2011 in Portland. I know that’s a pretty big assertion, but think about it: locally-made soft-serve ice cream, shuffleboard, free old-school video games (yes, unlimited Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong), frozen margaritas, 8 beers on tap, and kid-friendly bar food that feels like a mash-up of Louis’ gourmet northwestern cuisine and the deep-fried-everything booth at the state fair. Add the brilliant use of the Southeast Division space: tall windows, sliding walls, reclaimed wood from bowling alleys and barns, and an open kitchen that allows the staff to be a part of all the fun. And if you ask me, that’s brighter than sunshine.

Sunshine Tavern – 3111 S.E. Division St – 5 to 10 pm weekdays, 5 to 11 pm weekends. Overwhelmingly kid friendly, all hours.

Chef Jenn Louis really knows how to command a kitchen. Simultaneously calling out orders, rolling pizza dough, crunching pork cracklings, and chatting up kids about their favorite Dr. Seuss books… Louis makes it all look easy.

Pork cracklings with pimenton and sea salt ($5) were a popular first-night order, paying homage to classic bar snacks without all those pesky peanut shells to sweep up. These smoky, salty crunchies would pair perfectly with Sunshine’s frozen margaritas, house-made orange soda, or a pint from the rotating tap of Welch’s favorite brews.

Throughout the restaurant, creative design details push Sunshine into true artisan territory. Here, Louis and Welch re-imagined traditional bar lighting in favor of a dozen different shapes of classic Edison bulbs in contrasting fittings.

The chopped salad of lettuces, piri piri peppers, rustico cheese, french fries and salami ($8) manages to feel light and decadent at the same time. If you think about it, french fries aren’t that different than the potatoes on a Niçoise salad. Besides, you can burn off those extra calories playing an intense shuffleboard match. It’s all in the rationalization.

The Monte Cristo with fried egg, powdered sugar and marionberry preserves ($12) is basically a deep-fried double-decker ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. The key here is the preserves, an added sweetness that adds balance to the decadent dish. Hungry for more? You can swap the fries for pork-sausage gravy cheese fries, because, you know, why not.

The colorful, friendly portraits on the rear wall of the restaurant were painted by former Decemberists drummer (and Louis’ current drum teacher) Rachel Blumberg. The paintings are great, but the real shock here is that Louis has time to take drum classes while running two restaurants and a catering company. Has anyone checked to see if she has a twin?

My favorite bite of the night was the soft-serve honey ice cream (from Fifty Licks) with home-made “magical shell” topping – made of 70 percent cacao, salt, and olive oil ($5.50). This will be the perfect dessert when it comes in a cone, so I can eat it one-handed while playing video games long after the sun goes down.

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Tags: Portland Chefs, Southeast Dining, Bar Openings, Opening Night

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