(August 9th, 2013) Five posts in to my trip to Portland, and I think I might barely be past the halfway mark. With all of the site seeing that we were able to do during our weekend in Portland, I'm almost hesitant to spend time on something other than jumping straight into it, but the food that we took in on our first day in Portland warrants a good post, and so here I go...
We woke up, and after another run around the Willamette River we headed to Mother's Bistro for brunch. The line for Mother's was incredibly long for a Friday morning, so we bided our time with a trip around the corner to Stumptown Coffee to further help Kim wake up.
Once seated, we started with a blackberry, goat cheese, and hazelnut salad that was fantastically fresh with all of the ingredients complimenting each other well. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there...Kim ordered a salmon hash that had pretty good flavor but was a bit oily with slightly rubbery potatoes. The salmon was good, but otherwise this dish wasn't really recommended by her. And for me, a pulled pork sandwich. Don't look for one of these outside of the South as disappointment is sure to follow. The meat was very tender, but the lack of a sauce left it dry with the flavor dominated by cheese and oily onions.
Luckily for us, the rest of the day was not put off by this meal. After a morning of wandering around the city and shopping (tax free in Oregon after all!), we stopped at Oregon Wines on Broadway where we were pleasantly surprised by a few white wines.
The real highlight of the day, and someplace that I had been hoping to visit since before my first visit to Portland even, was our trip to Little Bird that night. Oh, what a treat!
The meal started tamely enough with a dozen oysters...
Before moving on to snails. The snails were topped with ox that was smooth, almost like a brisket, and marrow bread crumbs that added the perfect crunch to go with the almost al dente pasta and subtly flavored snails.
Next, bone marrow served with pickled peppers, squid ink flat bread (oh so terribly delicious), squid, and seasoned marrow. Decadent, but delicious. As much as we love marrow, by itself it's usually underwhelming. Complimented by the saltiness of the chorizo and the tartness of the peppers plus the squid ink bread: c'est magnifique!
The last course for us was a pork chop served with green beans, heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, hazelnut, and fried prosciutto. The pork had been milk brined and barely cooked, and was a ten ounce behemoth with a perfect amount of fat and a garlic oil/vinegar emulsion with parsley. Absolutely fantastic! By far this was the best pork chop that we had ever had!
For dessert, a blackberry fig sorbet
And peaches accentuated with cracked black pepper and served with a vanilla bean tart.
Everything was exquisite for this evening. The Little Bird truly is a gem of a restaurant that we'll seek out the next time we're in Portland with something to celebrate.
Oh, and did I mention macaroons?
What evening in Portland is complete without a trip to the neighborhood bar? After my last trip to Portland, I strategically chose a hotel that was just a few blocks from Bailey's Tap Room. During our stay, we did our best to sample as many of the ever changing beers on tap at Bailey's.
Next up, a post without food pictures...
We woke up, and after another run around the Willamette River we headed to Mother's Bistro for brunch. The line for Mother's was incredibly long for a Friday morning, so we bided our time with a trip around the corner to Stumptown Coffee to further help Kim wake up.
Once seated, we started with a blackberry, goat cheese, and hazelnut salad that was fantastically fresh with all of the ingredients complimenting each other well. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there...Kim ordered a salmon hash that had pretty good flavor but was a bit oily with slightly rubbery potatoes. The salmon was good, but otherwise this dish wasn't really recommended by her. And for me, a pulled pork sandwich. Don't look for one of these outside of the South as disappointment is sure to follow. The meat was very tender, but the lack of a sauce left it dry with the flavor dominated by cheese and oily onions.
Luckily for us, the rest of the day was not put off by this meal. After a morning of wandering around the city and shopping (tax free in Oregon after all!), we stopped at Oregon Wines on Broadway where we were pleasantly surprised by a few white wines.
The real highlight of the day, and someplace that I had been hoping to visit since before my first visit to Portland even, was our trip to Little Bird that night. Oh, what a treat!
The meal started tamely enough with a dozen oysters...
Before moving on to snails. The snails were topped with ox that was smooth, almost like a brisket, and marrow bread crumbs that added the perfect crunch to go with the almost al dente pasta and subtly flavored snails.
Next, bone marrow served with pickled peppers, squid ink flat bread (oh so terribly delicious), squid, and seasoned marrow. Decadent, but delicious. As much as we love marrow, by itself it's usually underwhelming. Complimented by the saltiness of the chorizo and the tartness of the peppers plus the squid ink bread: c'est magnifique!
The last course for us was a pork chop served with green beans, heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, hazelnut, and fried prosciutto. The pork had been milk brined and barely cooked, and was a ten ounce behemoth with a perfect amount of fat and a garlic oil/vinegar emulsion with parsley. Absolutely fantastic! By far this was the best pork chop that we had ever had!
For dessert, a blackberry fig sorbet
And peaches accentuated with cracked black pepper and served with a vanilla bean tart.
Everything was exquisite for this evening. The Little Bird truly is a gem of a restaurant that we'll seek out the next time we're in Portland with something to celebrate.
Oh, and did I mention macaroons?
What evening in Portland is complete without a trip to the neighborhood bar? After my last trip to Portland, I strategically chose a hotel that was just a few blocks from Bailey's Tap Room. During our stay, we did our best to sample as many of the ever changing beers on tap at Bailey's.
Next up, a post without food pictures...
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