The Dishes: Let's Make a Deal and a Classic Returns?

Genoa, the progenitor of Portland's rise to hotness as a food mecca, has been sold after much rending of robes and gnashing of teeth over its closing a few months ago. The new owners are beginning the process of engaging in a discussion with the community, as they say, "in an effort to re-open the restaurant in a meaningful and sustainable way."

If you'd like me to pass on your thoughts on the subject, simply click on the comments link below.

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What do clarklewis, Bluehour, 23Hoyt, and Saucebox have in common?

Yes, they're three of Portland's best restaurants, with tabs for dinner that can run well over $100 for two. But now they're also offering three courses for $25, a sure sign that there's been a cooling (if not an outright freeze) in restaurant spending.

And now Castagna is jumping into the fray with a series of Thursday Night Flights featuring "an exploration of three wines from small wine producers in lesser known wine regions around the world." Each wine will be paired with a specific dish, and will also be available a la carte. The four-course dinner runs $30 with the wine pairings an additional $15 for three three-oz. pours. The schedule looks like this:

• Mar. 19: Austria. Bouillon with nettle dumplings; chanterelle and mâche salad; rouladen with rotkraut and spaetzle; linzertorte
• Mar. 26: Trentino. Minestre d’orzo (barley-salsify soup); house-cured speck with mâche; grilled lamb and lamb sausage with buckwheat polenta; fritelle di mele (apple fritters with vanilla ice cream)
• April 2: Alto Adige. Potato Leek soup with schuttelbrot; smoked trout with mâche salad; peppered pork loin with braised cabbage; pistachio semi-freddo

Details: Thursday Night Flights at Castagna. 4 courses, $30; wine pairings add $15. 1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Phone 503-231-7373.

Livin' in the Blurbs: Class Acts

Those of you who read the Oregonian's Homes & Gardens NW section have no doubt read Vern Nelson's column about edible landscaping and wondered what in heaven's name he's going to suggest we try eating next. Last week it was begonias, next week...nibbling on the shrubbery? Farmington Gardens is going to give you the chance to put that question to Mr. Nelson himself on May 3 in his presentation on how to grow a successful edible garden, then on May 17 garden writer Lisa Albert will present tips on "Going Green" by choosing plants that attract birds and beneficial insects and that require less maintenance and fewer resources. Time to dig in!

Details: Sat., May 3: Edible Gardens with Vern Nelson. Sat., May 17: Going Green with Lisa Albert. 11 am; free with registration. Farmington Gardens, 21815 SW Farmington Rd., Beaverton. 503-649-4568.

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Then the weekend of May 16th through the 18th, Seattle will be invaded by hordes of cheeseheads at the fourth annual Seattle Cheese Festival at the Pike Place Market. There will be cheese tasting, of course, and seminars by leading cheesemakers and writers like Peter Dixon from Vermont; Jeffrey Roberts, author of the Atlas of American Artisan Cheese; and Daphne Zepos of the Essex St. Cheese Co. in New York, all of whom have been featured on this very blog. (Ahem!) And Tami at the Pacific NW Cheese Project informs us that there will also be a grilled cheese contest, a "Truckle Roll" where teams race to roll wheels of cheese over a finish line (apparently hilarious to behold) and a children's parade. Not to mention wine tasting, cheese sampling, cooking demos...if it's cheesy, they're doing it!

Details: 4th Annual Seattle Cheese Festival, Fri.-Sun., May 16-18. See the website for event times and locations.

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And while not a class in the classic sense, I guarantee your tastebuds will come away well-educated from Castagna's spring dinner double-header. Spring asparagus is the focus of the first dinner on May 7th, featuring asparagus soup with fried morels, pork schnitzel with asparagus and elder flower ice cream. Then on May 21st it'll be a spring morel dinner of vol au vent with morels and asparagus, coq au vin Jaune with morels and a rhubarb crème brulée tart. The whole dinner is only $45 a person and includes wine. I've been to a couple of these dinners in the past and I guarantee the food will be mind-blowing. Have you made your reservation yet?

Details: "Spring Means Green" dinners at Castagna. Spring Asparagus Dinner, Wed., May 7. Spring Morel Dinner, Wed., May 21. 6:30 pm; $45 per person includes wine. Reservations required. Castagna, 1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd. at the corner of 18th. Phone 503-231-7373.

Date Night Delights

It had been a very long time since we'd had a "date night." So when a friend called to say she couldn't meet us because her visiting brother-in-law broke his collarbone, we decided that, rather than taking chicken soup to the invalid, we'd go out on the town. Shows you what kind of friends we are.

Deciding where to go, however, was not just a snap decision. Should we go to one of the hip bars and see what the kids are doing these days? Would it be better to try one of the myriad new restaurants that have opened recently? Weighing these heavy matters, all Dave had to do was ask, "Who's the best bartender?" and the decision was made.

There is no better bartender that we can think of than Suzanne at Café Castagna. My brother says that a good bartender is like a trusted closer in a tight game, and she's been called Cy Young material. So once we got there and she poured one of her signature gimlets (above, left), the evening just fell into place. (And check out that sexy meniscus!)

We started with a half dozen of their fresh oysters and mignonette, three each of the teeny Tottens from the Puget Sound and another three of the only slightly larger Nootka Sound oysters from British Columbia. The Tottens were light and fresh, the Nootkas meatier and stronger, and neither really needed any accompaniment to taste absolutely perfect.

To follow those briny gems, we chose the "meat board," a selection of their very own house-cured products with a salad of Ayers Creek chicory in a light vinaigrette. In the photo, clockwise from the upper left, is their lomo, thinly sliced cured pork tenderloin; rabbit pate; mortadella with pistachios; and lardo, cured pork fat. It doesn't get much more delicious than that.

And to finish off, it was a salad of crumbled croutons and duck cracklings sprinkled on top of frizee, topped with a halved soft-boiled egg that had been lightly battered and deep fried to give it a crunchy coating. This is what we call "scary good."

Suzanne suggested a digestif of Elisir M. P. Roux liquer, a densely herbal and slightly sweet concoction, to top it all off, and who were we to refuse? A sip or two later and we were waving goodbye and strolling out of the restaurant in a lovely, satisfied fog. You can be sure our next date night won't be so long in coming.

Details: Cafe Castagna, 758 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Phone 503-231-9959.

Livin' in the Blurbs: Local Motion

House concerts, informal music events that are held in private homes, are all the rage among music cognoscenti these days. One venue called Hollywood House Concerts is featuring Portland's Tim Ellis on Mar. 2, singer-songwriter and NYC transplant Michael Sheridan joined by Dirty Martini guitarist and vocalist Lara Michell on Apr. 6, and the piano-vocal duo of Benny Green and Belinda Underwood on May 25. For reservations or to get on the e-mail list, contact Matt Miner. If you'd like to find out how to put on a house concert of your own, check out ConcertsInYourHome.com.

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It's time for holiday dinner events at GoodStuffNW's favorite restaurant, Castagna. On Dec. 23 is the Réveillon de Noel, a French-inspired three-course meal featuring gougeres, a Dungeness crab and mache salad and Christmas goose prepared two ways, as well as Buche de Noel and two glasses of wine, for only $55 per person. Then on New Year's Eve will be a five-course meal that sounds out of this world with a choice of three entrees and three desserts for $80 per person or $125 with wine pairings. For information and reservations, call 503-231-7373.

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In a previous post about storing your cheese to keep it at its peak, I mentioned local cheese guy Mark Goldman's packet of cheese papers. At that point it was only available from limited retailers, but now Formaticum has its new website up and running so you can order it anywhere from Poughkeepsie to Death Valley (and beyond).

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The restaurant space on NE 24th and Fremont that's been a revolving door for the past several years is now slated to be the new home of Lucca, "a neighborhood-friendly, Italian-influenced restaurant and bar. Lucca will have a wood-fired pizza bar and rotisserie-cooked items highlighting the rustic trattortia menu," according to a post on PortlandFoodandDrink.com. It "will focus on a value-driven wine list as well as a retro-cocktail menu. The owners, Nancy Salta and Sue Davidson, are passionate about quality food and wine, and desire to recreate the sense of community they experienced while visiting the city of Lucca." We wish them good luck!

Rosé Dinners at Castagna!

Traditions are all a matter of perspective. They can be constraining, like having tuna casserole for dinner every Friday night of your life, or they can be affirming of the ongoing nature of life and its cycles. One recent tradition we've enjoyed is the yearly series of rosé dinners that Monique and Kevin host each summer at Castagna Restaurant on Hawthorne.

Like last year, this summer they're doing a series of four casual, family-style regional dinners arranged around our favorite summer wines. Each dinner includes three courses and two glasses of rose for $45, a steal at any price. And from the dinners we went to last year, each course is packed with great food, and those two glasses seem to be refilled at least once.

The schedule this year is drool-worthy and features:

• July 18 Loire Valley: Cider-cured pork loin cooked in hay with André Neveu Sancerre Pinot noir 2006 and Lucien Crochet Sancerre Pinot noir 2006.

• Aug. 1 Provence: Grand Aioli dinner of garlic-centric dishes with Commanderie de Peyrassol 2006 and Chateau Miraval 2006.

• Aug. 15 Bandol: Bouillabaisse with Chateau Pradeaux 2006 and Domaine de Terrebrune 2006.

• Aug. 29 Cassis: Roast Bronzini with Clos Sainte Magdelaine 2006 and Domaine du Bagnol 2006.

Make your reservations now to guarantee a seat. If you've been looking for a reason to move from the café side of the wall to the restaurant, this is a fantastic excuse to do it!

Details: Castagna Restaurant, 1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd. at the corner of 18th. Phone 503-231-7373 for reservations.

New Lunchin' in a Favorite Spot

Growing up in Redmond, my mother would bless me with a day off from school and take me to the big city of Bend and the Pine Tavern for shopping and a "ladies lunch." Overlooking a sloping lawn with a stunning view of Mirror Pond on the Deschutes River, and with a 200-year-old pine tree growing up through floor and through the roof, it's always set the standard for a perfect mid-day repast.

Now, I love the lunches at Nostrana and Lorenzo's but it's nice to have more choices. So I was thrilled when I heard awhile ago that one of my favorite places in all of Portland, Café Castagna, was opening for lunch starting this week. I immediately made plans with fellow Castagna groupie Kim to go for their opening day.

We hit the jackpot with fabulous weather, the garden in full and glorious bloom (I'm totally enamored with the cardoon plants, those tall leafy things against the wall...so architectural!) and a table for two on the patio. The menu is a somewhat simplified version of their dinner menu, with three pizzas, their fabulous burger and fries, a pasta dish, appetizers and desserts. Plus a great idea for lunch, half orders of two of their terrific salads.

We opted to share a bowl of their Ten Treasures soup (above, right), a light broth with bit of artichoke, spring onions, fava beans, chives and peas, a perfect portrait of spring's first harvest. We followed that with a wedge of iceberg lettuce with a creamy green goddess dressing, the crunch of the lettuce offset by the richness of the chive-studded dressing.

Their featured pasta that day was chitarra with grilled scallops, tossed with preserved lemons,a "really good" Ligurian olive oil and a mild Italian green, agretti, that I'd never had before. Tubular in shape and about two inches long, owner Monique Siu said they'd had it in London recently and found a grower here who could supply them with some plants for the garden. Apparently native to marshy areas, it reminded me of sea beans with the same crunchy texture and mildly green flavor. With a couple of glasses of icy cold jewel-like rose, it made a wonderful and reasonably priced lunch.

Details: Cafe Castagna, 1758 SE Hawthorne on the corner of Poplar and Hawthorne. Phone 503-231-9959.

Rosé Dinners at Castagna

Our favorite restaurant in Portland, Castagna, is doing a series of rosé dinners on Wednesday nights this summer, each with a different regional focus. We attended the first dinner on July 19, which featured a white and two rosés from Spain and a three-course family-style dinner. It got off to a promising start with four, count 'em four, tapas-style appetizers (crostini with fresh anchovies, Senor Kevin's amazing devilled eggs, fried shrimp croquettes and mussels in a saffron broth).

These were followed by amazingly luscious lamb chops with a stunningly good romesco for dipping (one of our dinner-mates referred to these as "lamb lollipops"), roasted fingerlings fresh from the farmers' market and haricots verts with Spanish prosciutto. Followed by fresh raspberries and blackberries topped with a cloud of whipped cream. Talk about heaven!

They're saying the ridiculously inexpensive price of $40 includes three courses and two glasses of wine, but I'm here to tell you the servers were sure not keeping track at our table. The three remaining dinners in the series are:

• Aug. 2: Rosés from the Cotes du Rhone featuring roast strip loin of beef with black olives with wine from Segries Tavel and Campagnol Costieres de Nimes.
• Aug. 16: Rosés from Provencal featuring a Grand Aioli dinner and wines from Commanderie de la Bargemone and Chateau Miraval.
• Aug. 30: Rosés from Bandol with bouillabaise in two courses with wines from Pradeaux and Mas de la Rouviere.

Details: Castagna, 752 SE Hawthorne Blvd. (corner of 18th); Phone 503-231-7373 for reservations.