which tastes better: marketing or wine-making?
t says: I stumbled across this article today.
full article: http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/1050.full
abstract: http://www.pnas.org/content/105/3/1050.abstract
It’s an oldie, but for those interested in wine, it’s a must-read; however, can’t just read the abstract (because that’s not the full story) – you should at least read the first paragraph of the Results section and Figure 1 because there are some interesting data on people’s preferences on whether or not they are in the scanner. (The rest of the article concerning fMRI data, I don’t really know what to do with yet …)
Kinda fun, no?
elaborating upon ela
t says: Since opening, Ela has received a ton of praise for the quality of food, with much love and adoration for Chef Cichonski’s incorporation of unexpected flavor combinations and a few cutting edge techniques. We here at adsz have been waiting patiently to go. Actually – that’s not true – we’ve been rather impatient with our waiting and have been trying our hardest to get there. And now … we finally did.
May 2012, Wednesday Dinner, Party of 3. g, g’s friend, and I rolled up into Ela for our reservation and found it to be kind of empty. We couldn’t help but wonder why this would be the case, that is, until we realized that it was a Wednesday evening. Right. That’ll do it. The decor keeps it warm and inviting – lots of browns, yellow light (courtesy of “artisanal light bulbs”, right?), and nothing super-flashy (no goofy chandeliers, no pointless splashes of color). It puts you at ease, right away. As I eyed the wine preservation system behind the bar, I looked forward to seeing what values they might have to share.
We were greeted, seated, and had the menu explained to us – including a $45 fixed price lobster “tasting menu”. At first, I eschewed the fixed price menu, figuring that I wanted to choose each course for myself. But then, while perusing the real menu, I kept getting lost. Everything sounded so good (or at least so interesting) that I just couldn’t put a combination together that I felt was superior to any other. As the waitress came around to get our order, I realized that I was spending too much time thinking – I needed to stop (I am on vacation, after all). So I caved – one tasting menu for me!
lobster lobster lobster!
g, on the other hand, manned up and picked out the courses she desired. With our drinks in hand (I went for the Trimbach Pinot Blanc while g and her friend went with some very well-crafted cocktails), we sat back and watched the show …
g’s first: pea soup + poppy meringue + mint + some-kinda-cured-meat
It’s hard to make pea soup look pretty in a picture – it looks like a puddle of green. At least we can say that it tasted for better than the photo makes it look. That poppy meringue and mint really livened up the deep pea flavors – it was a perfect accompaniment for a hot summer day (actually, I said at one point: “It makes me wish it was warmer in here just so I could really make use of how refreshing the soup is!”). It wasn’t life-changing, but definitely a solid start.
t’s first: lobster curry + golden beat + coconut ice cream
My first dish arrived and I was psyched – it’s been a while since I’ve had some good lobster. Scratch that – if you count the “lobster chicken“, then I guess I had it a couple weeks ago (but I’m not counting that). Let me start off by saying that nothing in this dish was bad – and as far as “curries” go, this was bright and lively, which I like. However, I felt that the lobster didn’t really have a place, as it was a little too subtle (I did get some lobster sweetness, but not much more than that) when compared to the punch of curry, the texture of the beets, and the cold of the ice cream (or was it ?sorbet?). The balance was a little off for my taste, as it felt more like a beet curry than a lobster one.
g’s second: gnocchi + cauliflower + filberts (hazelnuts) + unidentified ingredient
Welcome to the gnocchi. Not a visual stunner, but man-o-man, it was some mighty-fine, mighty-interesting gnocchi. The pasta was light and fluffy and kind of fun to eat with the similarly shaped cauliflower (you never knew what the cauliflower:gnocchi ratio was going to be), and the cheesy/creamy sauce/foam with the sweet, earthy hazelnuts was amazing. My tongue didn’t know what hit it. It’s got to be the dish of the night!
t’s second: lobster croquette + pork belly + mustard + other sauces
Mmmmm. Pork belly. I’m a sucker for pork belly … and have had it pretty much every place I’ve found it – maybe that makes me kind of a pork belly “expert” (or at least I could play one on TV). So how was Ela’s pork belly? I’d give it a “good”. Tender? Check. Flavorful? Smoky barbecue – check. But I prefer my belly a little juicier – perhaps deeply glazed or smothered or sauced. In this preparation, the pork belly was kind of naked … but that’s so it can pair with lobster, right? Kinda. I’m down with a lobster-pig combo, but something was a little off in this dish. The croquettes were breaded/fried, meaning they had a decent amount of fatty richness, already. Then when you add on the fat of the belly, the dish comes off a little “heavy”. The smears of sauce just couldn’t cut through it well enough. My wine attempted to, but was outmatched by the fat content of the food. As for the lobster flavor? Once again – it was a little lost with everything else going on – between the pig flavor, the mustard, and the sauces. I like where he intended to go but feel like he was blown off course a little bit …
g’s third: scallop noodles + curry
So this is the fabled dish that everyone talks about – the scallop noodles. Now, I understand the novelty – it’s noodles that are made of scallop – so that’s fun. But I think we need to put on our thinking caps before we praise this dish up and down for being “soooo good”. If this was a curry with plain ol’ scallops, would it be considered good? I’d say probably not. If these were normal scallops, you’d want to see some caramelization on them to bring in some deeper flavors, and not just the flavor/texture you get in the middle of a scallop. The curry, itself, was fine, but the sum of flavors was a little underwhelming. So it’s clear that this the dish relies on the novelty of the scallop noodles … but now let’s go back to the scallop noodles. Are they super-cool? Kinda. there’s a bit of mystique attached to them … that is … until I burst your bubbly and tell you how they’re made (or at least how I think they were made) – it didn’t involve sorcery, fancy cutting equipment, or ginormous scallops! Now, I’m no Ela cook, however, I’m 99% sure they were created in a manner similar to how Wylie Dufresne (of WD-50) makes shrimp noodles: transglutaminase! In short, transglutaminase is an enzyme that can be be used to chain together certain amino acids in proteins (that’s an oversimplification)! So if you have one slab of meat and another slab of meat, you could [in an oversimplified manner] throw on some transglutaminase and glue them together (although “glue” is a little misleading for what’s really going on here). What I suspect Ela did was puree some scallop, mix it with transglutaminase, and extrude it into the pasta shape of choice (once again – oversimplified). If this is true, then it’s not magic – it’s science. (Of course, if this is NOT how these are made, then I’m completely wrong and stupid, and I apologize to the Ela team for spreading lies.) So I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you just get around the idea of eating scallops in noodle form, I think most people would feel like dish needs a bit more going on in the flavor department …
t’s third: lobster brick + lentils + peas + truffle powder
This was probably the best of the three lobster dishes. The hunks of lobster was nice – but to be honest, I thought he was going to meat-glue together some lobster so that the lobster would be presented as an actual brick (like Momofuku brick chicken). It wasn’t, but that’s ok. In this dish, I could finally feel the lobster taking center stage (or at least joining the front line with the other flavors), so I was happy. The lentils and peas still had a bit of bite to them, and the truffle powder was a great way to get the flavor onto the dish without overpowering the lobster or sauce – I’m a huge fan! My lobster was a wee bit over-cooked, but I was so happy to see an actual hunk of lobster that I didn’t mind.
dessert = chocolate + butterscotch + lemon + Asian puffed rice crackers
This was a wonderful dessert – it just took me a while to figure out how to approach it. The secret: mash it all up and stick it in your mouth. This multi-component dessert really needs a contribution from each to get moving. The rice crackers brought in a bit of heat and some of that “funk” (my college roommate called them “fart crackers” … he was a little culturally insensitive … but very funny …), and the lemons kept the palate springy and ready for the next bite. I really liked the surprise of this dish. The execution could probably use a little work (maybe some kind of intricately layered dessert that could be eaten more gracefully?), but I like where they’re going …
Ela had its fair share of highs and lows, and I’m afraid that I just can’t jump on the Ela bandwagon yet. Don’t get me wrong – the meal was good, and the three of us had a great time together, but I think that the dishes could use a little more refinement to really push Ela over the edge so that it can join the ranks of Bibou and Fond. Right now, I put it just under Talula’s Garden in my book – Talula’s doesn’t have as many “tricks”, but does a better job with flavor depth and balance (and its sweets and cheeses absolutely crush dessert every time!) But I’ll keep an eye out for Ela, as I’m sure Cichonski’s going places.
a “hole-in-the-wall” taco joint to be proud of
t says: Ok – enough about Oregon … In our absence, a and v have been busy holding down the fort in Philly …
a says: (April, Dinner, Party of 10) We had a friend urging us (read: begging) to join him for a night at Loco Pez, so we ventured to Fishtown with a large group of taco aficionados, ready for the weekend. The decor at Loco Pez can best be described as taco bar chic and most of the room is dedicated to the bar. I was thoroughly impressed with the salsa, guacamole, and rounds of tacos we ordered throughout the night. I think the best taco was the shrimp followed by the chorizo; the al pastor could have had more flavor. v really enjoyed the vegetarian options and thought the taco accoutrements (cilantro, onions, pico de gallo, etc.) were solid. The mushroom taco was especially fresh and flavorful. We are looking forward to returning so we can try the few remaining tacos (carne asada, pollo, spinach). Beers are reasonably priced and drinks were well made. Of the two margaritas v enjoyed, the Impala (classic margarita) was the best. Turn to Loco Pez when trying to score no-fuss tacos, or with a group that has a vegetarian or two.
corked or screwed?
t says: Not one to “just let go” of an exhausted topic, I recently found myself reconsidering [again] my stance on the age-old issue of real corks vs. screw-tops for wine bottle enclosure. For those who are unaware, the traditional enclosure for bottles of wine has long been cork. And, while it’s been around for such a long time, the truth is that cork is not the most fool-proof enclosure ever “invented”, as there are countless cases of compromised corks (and consequent compromised wines). Even we here at adsz have written about near-misses as well as straight-up failures of cork – and that’s just in the past 6 months! I’d guess (as I have no numbers to substantiate the claim) that the two biggest problems with corks are that they can dry out and shrink, thus allowing air to seep in and oxidize the wine (n.b. this does not lead to a “corked” wine) and that they are prone to contamination with TCA (which does lead to “corked” wine). Screw tops (and other synthetic enclosures) are have less problems with this [if any]. So why put up with corks? The two most common reasons [that I can think of] are the following:
1) The tradition/ceremony/romance of removing a cork would be reduced to an action we frequently perform on bottles of soda (or Yoohoo).
2) Theoretically, the synthetic enclosures would “allow in less oxygen”, therefore preventing the long-term aging/maturation of wine.
While point 1 is inarguable (as it’s an opinion – “de gustibus non est disputandum”), I feel that even with abandoning the corkscrew there remains plenty of wine ceremony with screw-tops, like decanting, swirling, sniffing, etc. Thus, I really only favored corks because I was a staunch believer in point 2 – I thought it was fact/truth. But I think I’ve been misled. As you can see in the hyperlinked post above, the internet author (like many authors out there – this one just happened to pop up on google first) kind of admits that it’s controversial but then strongly states that screw-topped wines would “never” be better with age. Here, let me copy-paste for you:
other person says: “Although some may argue with this, I do not believe that a bottle of wine with a screw top is going to improve sitting in your wine cellar for a of couple years. It will taste the same as the day you stuck it in the cellar or perhaps worse, but never better. No oxygen is going to pass through a screw top so those subtle aging characteristics produced by a cork are not going to take place. Corks breathe, screw tops to not. I am not recommending that you shy away from purchasing wine with screw tops but that you are aware that these wines are to drink now. When you purchase wine that comes with a screw top, be sure to drink it within a year.”
back to t: What the crap? I might be missing something, but where did those conclusions come from? Is she/he sure that the oxygen going through cork that’s super-important for aging? Or the oxygen that’s already in the bottle? And how did he arrive at the recommendation to “drink within a year?” As you can see, wine snobs (myself included) tend to be a [sometimes misinformed, yet] strongly opinionated bunch and tend to voice their opinions loudly (especially after a glass of wine), so it’s easy to see how such hypotheses and statements about the shortcomings of screw-tops are propagated …
BUT, that doesn’t mean they’re true. There exist anecdotes and allusions to scientific-like studies:
https://www.cellartracker.com/new/event.asp?iEvent=13650
http://amateurgastronomer.com/index/screw-top-tasting/
http://www.atarangi.co.nz/cellaring-guide.html (at the very bottom)
And now … I’m left wondering who to believe! On one side, the pro-cork people have “logic” … but they also require the use of “assumptions” (e.g. assuming that air entry via the cork is the most critical component for proper wine aging). On the other side, the pro-screw people (that sounds weird …) have only some anecdotes and a couple [rather limited] studies suggestive of no difference between the two in terms of taste (and maybe some hints of the possibility of superiority for the screwtop).
The scientist in me (having awoken after a 1.5 year slumber) feels that there just isn’t enough data to take a side … yet. It is pretty tempting to go pro-screw-top, but they’re going to need some better-controlled real-deal studies if they want to conclude that screw-tops are not worse than cork (“the absence of proof should never be considered proof of absence”). Furthermore, the scientist in me is quite furious at the wine snob in me for being pro-cork for as long as I have, accepting and spreading the explanation as “reasonable”, “logical”, and even “truth” without the numbers to back it up; it’s dangerous and could lead to misinformation that could have disastrous effects had this been a real-life issue rather than something as frivolous as wine. As for the wine snob in me – he’s crying after having been verbally abused for the duration of me writing this post.
Conclusion: I’m “retracting” my former statements made to friends and family about the superiority of cork … pending further evaluation by UC Davis and other such impartial investigators. May the best enclosure win. And yes, this means that if I meet the wine-of-my-life tomorrow, I will buy it … regardless of its silly-looking screw-top and less-than-sexy noise it makes as you open it. I’m a changed man.
The Oregon Trail: Eateries (cont’d)
t says: And to complete the whirlwind recap of Oregon dining, here we go …
Wine Country Day 3 – Dinner: Thistle. Now, this restaurant is quite a controversial topic in wine country. Our BnB proprietors very clearly didn’t like the place – the chef had a reputation of being “Mr. Grumpy-pants”, and the format of the restaurant is a little too “hip”/”cool” for Oregon. For example, when we walked in, you’re told by the hostess/waitress/server that the menu is on the board and that that’s the only place it’s written (Little Fish has a very similar tactic). On one hand, the menu seemed pretty good:
Thistle’s menu
But on the other hand, you can’t see the menu from every seat in the restaurant (actually, I’d say that less than half the seats in the restaurant are even in the same room as the menu!) … and this is why their execution of the chalkboard menu is ultimately a fail! As the evening progressed, a crowd of people started to build, as patrons had to stand in the room we were eating in (i.e. I picked a seat right underneath the menu so as not to have to rely on memory), make up their minds, memorize their choices, and then return to their seats.
Continuing with Thistle weirdness …
So I got up to wash my hands before eating. I apparently looked lost (I was), so the bartender gave me directions … but then he warned me … “Yeah, the lights don’t work in there – don’t worry – there’s candles.” I thought, “that’s weird”. And then I walked in:
bathroom by candlelight
- So then I knew it was weird. I mean this has to be some kind of violation. You can’t see it in the above picture, but that bar next to the toilet that people should rely on for balance in case they’re elderly or handicapped (or happen to fall in because someone left the seat up) – there’s candles on that, too. I’m all for ambience – trust me – but I just don’t see how anyone needs to be put in a romantic mood to void/evacuate/wash. Kinda weird …
On to the food – it wasn’t bad! Actually – it was pretty good – technically the best that we had in Willamette Valley. Fish cookery was top notch. Gnocchi were soft and pillowy. Good stuff. g was especially happy because for all of the negative comments we had read about the chef, we found that his food was tasty. We did feel, however, that the chef might be a little “green”. It seems like he has a lot of ideas (i.e. ingredients) that he desperately wants to put on each and every plate without putting enough thought into how the diner would approach them. As a result, I found myself hunting/dissecting with my fork and knife to ensure that every bite had at least some of each of the components, as I imagined that’s how chef imagined they’d go together. A prime example was the fish dish:
there’s just too many (at least 7) components! … (but each one is cooked VERY nicely)
I think my favorite of the evening was:
simple appetizer = potato + bacon + kale + egg + mustard
We would consider going back to Thistle again, but there are other places in Wine Country that we’d try first. Cuvee, Recipe, and The Painted Lady come to mind immediately (oh, and the restaurant in the Allison and the new one in the Inn at Red Hills).
Oregon Day 4: Mixing it up …
So we decided to visit Columbia River Gorge before settling in Portland. It’s true that you kind of pass right by Portland to get to the Gorge from Wine Country, however, we felt that we just needed to visit more of Oregon. It was great! The views were spectacular, and had g and I been more “into” water sports and/or hiking, I’m sure we could have spent even more time there. For us, we were content with the pretty surroundings and the waterfalls.
Multnomah Falls is so huge we couldn’t fit more than half of it in any one picture …
Additionally, there are lots of great spots to picnic. We stopped at a Target to pick up a corkscrew and acrylic tumbler so that we could drink some rose at the Gorge – check it:
lemon zest chevre (Abbey Road Farms) + baguette (Red Hills Market) + Domaine Drouhin rose (in a $2 Target tumbler)
This lunch was AWESOME.
After arriving and getting situated in Portland (and seeing some sights – like Powell’s City of Books), g and I prepared for our first [and only] dinner in Portland: Le Pigeon.
We had reservations to eat at 7:30 but were starving by 5:30. So we “chanced it” and just showed up, hoping to nail one of the chef’s counter seats that are available to walk-ins only (only 10 or so seats available, first-come-first-served). We were in luck – we were the last two that fit! Whoopie!
Ok – let’s slow things down now – Le Pigeon deserves the blow-by-blow …
t’s app: grilled lamb tongue “salad”
So, the lamb tongue wasn’t presented in exactly the way I thought. I thought that a hunk of tongue was going to be cooked slow and then grilled at the last second. Instead, this was fine slices of meat mixed with other interesting salad-like ingredients. Ultimately everything did taste great, but I think people who go ga-ga for this dish are just falling for the hype of “eating tongue”, to which I am no stranger (and this didn’t taste particularly lamby, either). And, unfortunately, it paled in comparison to g’s app …
g’s app: rabbit pot pie (topped with hot mustard ice cream) + rabbit heart “salad”
Holycrapballsthiswasamazing. First off, That pot pie totally killed it. As much as I raved about Alla Spina’s Pig Pot Pie, this is an order of magnitude better. Seriously. The succulent rabbit meat (and plenty of it), the ice cream (g loves hot mustard), and I even think there was a little bit of foie hiding in there … heaven. And then there was that mix of rabbit heart and mustard and something sweet/fruity-tasting (?tamarind?) and unidentifiable other “stuff”. And then it happened: I was brought to a pause – you know – one of those times when you want to just close your eyes and let your brain and mouth savor every flavor of the symphony before you. It was the best dish I had had in a long time. And the surprise/novelty of it reminded me a bit of the old Talula’s Table Bryan Sikora (not to be confused with the new a.kitchen Sikora). I did not see that one coming … Needless to say, g won Battle Appetizer (lamb tongue never stood a chance).
For mains, I went for the hunk of meat:
t’s main: boeuf bourgignon
I thought that I had this one all locked up. The meat was fall-apart tender and deeply penetrated with the uber-oomphy braising liquid. The onions and potatoes were so deeply flavored that they barely resembled their pre-cooked form. And yes, even the carrots were scrumptious. It was so classically done and so perfectly executed that team t was going to steamroll team g for sure … or so I thought …
g’s main: chicken … kinda
Ok … so I labeled the above photo “chicken”. And yes, it was a plate that featured chicken. But don’t be fooled. This was no ordinary chicken. This chicken was possessed by the devil … because clearly only Beezlebub would think of lobster-ifying chicken. That’s right – lobster chicken. Now, g confesses that she ordered it because she wanted me to have the beef (I “called it” first) – she only went for the chicken because I had told her that some Yelpers said it was delicious. They. were. not. lying. You put a piece of white chicken (stuffed with lobster) in your mouth and it’s so vividly lobster that you swear it was a piece of lobster. And then, as you bite down, you get the firmness of chicken which while weird at first is actually kind of a well-matched texture for the power of the lobster. Underneath, there’s dark meat mixed with lobster pieces and that ridiculous sauce (and peas … g loves peas). Now, g admits that this technically was not the “best” chicken she ever had in terms of chicken cookery (i.e. the chicken alone wasn’t particularly tender or particularly juicy – but done well enough), but she feels that it’s probably a contender for the best “chicken dish” she’s ever had when it comes to flavor – and I’m totally with her. This chicken – this silly bird that was screwed around with to taste like lobster – was out of control. As good as my beef was (and as impressive as the picture of the beef was) and as confident I was that “cow beats chicken” is as true/fact/dogma as “rock beats scissors”, g’s chicken, with the power of lobster, slayed my cow. Damnit. I was 0-2 this meal (and she let me have first pick!) On to desserts to see if I could pick up at least 1 victory to restore team morale …
t’s dessert: creme brulee and malt pot de creme
My dessert wasn’t very fussy. I was feeling kind of full, so I wanted some lighter flavors that went down smoothly. And, after watching chef torch off a creme brulee (after all, we did have prime seats), I decided that that’s what I wanted. And indeed everything was delicious! The textures, temperatures, and flavors were all spot on …
but g showed me no mercy …
g’s dessert: “carrot cake”
I was actually surprised g ordered dessert. Usually, she foregoes dessert and takes a bite of mine. But not this day. This day, she annihilated me 3-0. Okay. Look at that carrot cake. That is clearly NOT a “carrot cake” as the menu suggested. It was like bringing a gun to a knife-fight. Forget “gun” – try rocket launcher. First off, let’s tackle the obvious component: the carrot cake. This carrot cake was crazy. Now, I’ve had some darn good carrot cakes in the past (shout-out to w!), but this was super moist and super soft, but somehow not “spongy”, and it boasted carrot and spice flavors, but no actual carrot particles were visible. The cream cheese icing wasn’t over-bearingly sweet or cream-cheesy, with just the right amount of viscosity. I’m pretty sure those nuts were toasted because there’s no way they could have had the flavors they had otherwise. The chamomile ice cream – ok – that was the one thing on the dish that was “normal” – a nice mild flavor to provide some background for the other fireworks. Now let’s talk about the ridiculous … Those ribbon thingees are shavings of yellow, orange, and purple carrot that had been treated in such a manner that they were essentially like those Listerine pocket strips … except that they tasted of carrot. Those yellow raisins were rehydrated in Lord-knows-what, but had this mix of sweetness and a little bit of sour/tart punch. And then there’s that little cube of orange … carrot, right? WRONG. That was some sort of gelatin substance that was cut into cubes (think textured like panna cotta) so it would look like carrot, but have this wonderful cross of creamy and carroty and sweet. Someone had a lot of fun crafting this dessert … and we had even more fun eating it.
As you can see, Le Pigeon serves some wonderful food. At “baseline” (i.e. everything I ordered), the food is “delicious” and superbly executed. But at the extreme (i.e. everything g ordered), it’s whimsical and surprising (and delicious and superbly executed). g wants to do an FTC trip to Oregon so that we can do up the wineries and go to Le Pigeon. Who knows – maybe after reading this post, the usual suspects will begin thinking about it … Whadya say – International Pinot Noir Celebration in July 2013?
Day 5 – Finishing off Portland …
Yes … this has been a very long post. But give me just a few more pictures to wrap up our trip (rapid fire – I promise!):
I started off the day by bringing some Voodoo Donuts back to the hotel … yea … I know it’s a tourist trap
wait for it …
raspberry jelly, lemon cruller, buttermilk, and Memphis Mafia (i.e. chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, all on fried fritter dough)
Voodoo was good, but I think their “shtick” is just doing “over-the-top” donuts (they have a lot more like the Memphis Mafia pictured above). I kind of prefer FedNuts super-flavor-packed donuts to these, but I will say that Voodoo has a better actual “donut matter” (Fednuts are a little too cakey for me).
We did Bunk Sandwiches takeout for lunch – they’ve received a ton of accolades and have been on DDD – I know it’s a tourist trap, too …
meatball sandwich – those were some darn solid meatballs and the sauce was actually pretty good (with some spice) … but I know that g’s meatballs could wreck Bunk’s … just sayin …
chicken salad – good components around the chicken salad, but the salad itself was only “meh” – Rotisseur might be able to take ’em …
And that’s it!
We boarded a plane with our wine, prayed that we (and the wine) would arrive safely in PHL, and voila! Here we are!
Overall, it was a fantastic trip – g was glad she did it! (Her original attitude was “Oregon? Who goes to Oregon for vacation?”). To those who’ve “done” California, Oregon is a great trip with great wines and a slower/nicer attitude. The food might not be as polished/famous as Napa’s, but it’s also a helluvalot cheaper (the wines are, too!). Portland is an interesting city and worth a visit (lots of cool tattoos), but we can’t justify any more than 2 days (g says: When we go back to Oregon, we’re only going to stay in Portland for the food – no need for me to see anything else.) – we probably would have spent more time in the Gorge had we had the time.
Waiting for noon …
t says:. We’re hanging out at the shore. The weather is beautiful. The only thing missing:
But we will … Right as soon as it’s no longer “morning”.
The Oregon Trail: Eateries
t says: And now, let’s roll the picture reel – it’s time to see some Oregon food.
Wine Country Day 1 – Lunch: Red Hills Market. This was a cute little market that sold everything from meats, breads, and cheeses to wines, coffees, and touristy nick-knacks. They do some pretty good desserts, including the best macaroon I’ve ever had (I didn’t take a picture of it because by the time I thought to do so, I had already consumed the entire macaroon). It’s the perfect place for a first bite after a tired journey or to pick up some picnic necessities. Oh – I forgot to mention the delicious artisanal sandwiches:
red hills market roast beef
Wine Country Day 1 – Dinner: <Picnic> Famous 3rd Street Pizza. We didn’t take a pic of the place or the pizza because it was pretty standard fare – nothing special. We would have done something awesomer, but Mondays in Oregon Wine Country are tough – it’s REALLY hard to find open restaurants (either that or we just suck at looking for them). We took a pizza back to Abbey Road Farms BnB and enjoyed the view over a slice of pie. Ahhhhhh, heaven.
Wine Country Day 2 – Lunch: The Horse Radish. Located in downtown Carlton (this is a joke), this is a great little sandwich-centric place for lunch. Because it was called “the Horse Radish”, g insisted that we order a dish containing the condiment … meaning that we again had roast beef:
not as “sexy” as Red Hills Market, but more filling (only half is pictured above)
Oregon cheese trio and some fig jam
Overall, the food was satisfactory and the price was right. Not bad!
Wine Country Day 2 – Dinner: We had another outdoor picnic, but this time, we’re going to play a game where you guess what we ate after a long day of wine tasting …
The large box had a salad (yawn), while the other components of super-awesome outdoor meal are …
… Oregon Dungeness crab lasagna …
… papperdelle bolognese …
… cupcakes (peanut butter and chocolate, red velvet, raspberry filled, and caramel filled) …
… and a beautiful view!
As you could probably guess from my strong words in the last post, the wine was the best part of this meal. It was just a wonderful outdoor drinking wine. The food was pretty good, but we have to admit that for the hype that Nick’s Italian Cafe gets, you’d think that this was going to be the best Italian food ever. It wasn’t. (g suggests: It wasn’t bad, but maybe they just don’t have a lot of great Italian places around here to compare it to.) I agree – Osteria would reduce the long-time “establishment” of Nick’s to a nothing more than a faded memory within a single summer. The cupcakes a similar story – they weren’t bad, but it’s similar to any old cupcakery you can find in Philly.
Wine Country Day 3 – Lunch: Dundee Bistro. This place rocks. Seriously. The food is well-prepared and often contains little tidbits of novelty to wake you up from a wine-tasting-induced-siesta. The by-the-glass wine list is impressive. The hipster waiters are nice enough, so that wasn’t a problem. I’d say that if you want a sit-down lunch, this place is a no-brainer.
pasta carbonara … but the pasta is kinda like ramen noodles …
French Fries (truffled) + golden beet salad with curried apples
Wine Country Day 3 – Dinner … to be continued …
after dinner sneeze 