Portland: Hospitable and Bountiful

My wife and I recently returned from our vacation in the Pacific Northwest, more specifically Portland, Oregon. Interestingly enough, my co-workers did not find Portland to be an appealing destination for one to spend their hard earned time off. Siege and I found it to be not only a fantastic destination for culinary thrill seekers (getting a little carried away here) such as ourselves, but a very scenic and hospitable place as well with plenty of sights and sounds to keep an ADD man (me) and his patient wife busy.

As with most of our travel, often times they are food centric and this trip was certainly no different. My "pre-trip routine" is always the same, research the crap out of the city or town scouring the net for worthy places to satisfy my palate. So I had plenty of options in mind courtesy of www.traveloregon.com. The following is a brief synopsis of the bounty of food and beverage enjoyed in Portland.

After a day of driving around the city acclimating ourselves to the fresh Oregon air, miles of walking, there was really nothing that sounded better than a slice of hot pizza. Now, Ken's Artisan Pizza and Apizza Scholl's, were my planned pizzerias to hit, but to my surprise and delight Hot Lips Pizza delivered a great pie using local seasonal ingredients. A fine example would be the Waldorf with olive oil, blue cheese, and thinly sliced sweet apples. Yours truly threw down a perfectly baked calzone with layers of mushroom, mild Italian sausage, cheesy mozzarella, and a zesty tomato sauce to round it out. Upon arriving at Hot Lips, I was thirsting for some of that famed Oregon handcrafted beer and the selection here was off the hook! I was even able to sample a locally-made brew before I made my selection of beverage, which was really cool.

So, we were off to a pretty good start. Things continued to trend upward that night for dinner as we tasted the Mediterranean offerings at Olea Restaurant. We began with the ubiquitous calamari. Sounds boring, but trust me, it was anything but drab. It was one of the fresher versions I've had and was accompanied by a superb salsa verde. Next up were the mains, polpette dell' agnello (lamb meatballs), baked in a brick oven and a side of creamy polenta with Mascarpone and parmigianio reggiano. One word: yum! Everything was fresh, cooked properly, and plated well. Definitely a place to check out if you are ever in the Pearl District of Portland.

On Halloween night (our last night), we decided to journey to a new local hot spot, 10-01, for our 5th Wedding Anniversary dinner. We didn't actually get married on Halloween, but this was after all, was our last harrah in Portland. When I made reservations the hostess asked if there were any "special accommodations" she could make. I informed her that it was our anniversary to which she gleefully replied, "We'll take good care of you." Taking care of us was an understatement, Siege and I were seriously taken aback by their good will and hospitality. We arrived and were promptly seated at a table that didn't exactly spell romance. This would be the only minor faux pas of the night and was quickly remedied and we were whisked away to a more private, spacious window table near the kitchen. What transpired from there was pure restaurant bliss. From fantastic Foie gras to succulent and tender beef short ribs in a red wine sauce, everything was cooked and presented to perfection. My Duo of Cascade Beef, with the aforementioned short ribs, came with a well marbled slab of rib-eye (meat is good!) and a side of butternut squash puree, which was absolutely spectacular. It had all of the sweet goodness of the squash with a perfect amount of butter and cream that lifted the dish to new heights. There is really only one wine to imbibe when feasting on a dish with as much girth as this had... Zin me! The 2005 Turly Old Vine Zinfandel was hefty, jammy and stood up well to the marbled beef. My wife opted for the roasted lamb chops and was not disappointed. She especially liked the toasty on the outside, creamy on the inside goat cheese gnocchi that came with it.

I'd like to point out that the experience was great, not only for the outstanding food, but also in large part to the exemplary service and super cool decor. The restaurant was modern, sophisticated, but at the same time quite comfortable. Our waiter was super cool and uber helpful. Siege and I both agreed that we had never been to a restaurant that treated us so well. They genuinely seemed happy to celebrate our momentous occasion with us, offering us complimentary sauternes to go with our foie gras and even throwing in an extra dessert! Speaking of dessert... we had three. Yes, three frickin' deserts. What? We just happened upon them. After discussing my options with our server, I decided on the butterscotch chocolate brownie served with caramel popcorn. The dense and super sweet brownie was nice with the salty and sweet caramel popcorn. My better half was pleased with her choice, a refreshing Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta, fresh and light with great depth of flavor from the honey poached crisp apple. But it doesn't stop there, our server, realizing that I was deeply conflicted between the house made churros and the previously described brownie, kindly ushered some freshly made churros to the table after he brought out the initial two desserts. How cool is that? For the grand finale, the chef topped the night off by giving us housemade truffles with Grand Marnier in the center. We were stuffed, happy, and ready to roll at that point, it was truly a great night. Check out Ten01 next time you're in Portland!