Quick Hits: Showing Off PDX

I love taking visitors to see the sights as much as anyone. A drive to Timberline or the coast. If it's clear, going up to Washington Park for that fabulous view of the mountain looming over downtown. If it's not, a tour of the Pittock Mansion or a walk through the Japanese or Chinese gardens. Regardless, thanks to national media like the New York Times (and my own proclivities), food is always on the agenda.

When people ask me what the best restaurant in town is, Evoe is my hands-down favorite. Despite its nonstandard hours (Wed.-Sun., noon-7 pm) and absence of even nominal restaurant equipment—just a slide-in electric stove/oven and plug-in pancake griddle that would have been at home in the kitchen of my childhood—chef Kevin Gibson (top, holding some red mole from Mexico) makes magic. Give the guy a mandoline and a pot and he's golden. It doesn't hurt that he's got years-long relationships with top local farmers who bring him the best of the best of our local produce. Or that he's a master charcutiere of the highest order (I'm still working on him to let me take a picture of his walk-in).

Suffice it to say that his deviled eggs—such a simple, yet, in his hands, sublime mouthful—were divine. The tomato salad with chevre and a sprinkling of olive oil, the duck salad (kill me now), the chistorra (Basque sausage) sandwich, even the pickle plate (left, with "mouse melons" and aji dulce peppers), all over the top. If you have friends who love food, you can do no better than to go here. If not, you can sit at the counter and make new ones.

Details: Evoe, 3731 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 503-232-1010.

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After our late-ish lunch at Evoe, it might have been easy to simply have wine and snacks for dinner. Except for the fact that we were meeting a half-dozen or so friends at the back table at Bar Avignon, another of my under-the-radar (at least as far as national press) PDX hits. When Randy and Nancy opened their first restaurant after years serving at the likes of Wildwood and Café Azul, it was going to be "just a bar" for neighbors to stop in, have a beverage and a snack and move on. An idea that lasted about three minutes.

Now, with chef Eric Joppie behind the counter of the tiny open kitchen, this place is on a roll. From appetizers like the freshest of NW oysters (so clean!) and to-die-for lamb rolls to a drop-dead delicious pork chop, locally sourced wild mushroom risotto, crazy-tender bavette steak and so much more, there is virtually nothing on the menu that isn't a great choice. Combine that with a deeply deep, moderately priced wine list and beer selection (courtesy Monsieur Goodman) and awesome cocktails (merci, Ms. Hunt), and our evening was long and luscious. And that back table? Private but alive with the bubble of conversation from diners in the restaurant, it was the perfect spot to spend an intimate evening with friends old and new.

Details: Bar Avignon, 2138 SE Division St. 503-517-0808.

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Portland is, to put it mildly, a breakfast town, and the bigger the better, it seems. So much so that a new restaurant can't be open more than a few months without adding brunch on the weekends. Me, I'm more of a coffee-and-pastry-in-the-morning gal, even better if it's at home in my jammies with coffee and a slice of Dave's toast topped with Ayers Creek jam. But I digress.

Our out-of-town friends wanted to have brunch and, it being a novelty in our little world, we were happy to oblige. We could have gone to Mother's downtown, the Waffle Window (inside…it was threatening rain), the Tin Shed on Alberta or a huge fave, Toast on SE Steele, but we chose Ned Ludd on MLK since it was close to home and we hadn't tried their brunch yet. And yes, put this on the list of undiscovered gems.

Jason French's wood oven does all the cooking and baking here. Period. He butchers his own meat and the restaurant makes most of its own charcuterie and cured products, sourced as close to PDX as possible. And the food is amazing. Homey yet elegant, to me it's quintessential Portland. Vegetable hash with smoked trout and a poached duck egg. Pork confit with creamed kale on a rosemary biscuit topped with a gently fried egg. Whole trout. French toast. It's all great.

I have to say our friends got a real taste of Portland, and by that I mean food grown here, prepared by people who are passionate about showcasing the flavors of this place. I think they were pleased. And full.

Details: Ned Ludd, 3925 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 503-288-6900.

Quick Hits: Bar Avignon, Verde Cocina

When Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman opened Bar Avignon in June of '08, I was thrilled. Taglined "Just a Bar," they'd planned to have a place where neighbors could drop in, have a pint or glass, maybe a quick nosh, then go about their day. Pretty soon it was evident that people were interested in far more than just bar snacks, and with the hiring of chef Jeremy Eckel the menu amped up not just a notch but into a whole new dimension.

With the recent departure of Eckel and the hiring of former Sonoma-based chef Eric Joppie, the upward trajectory continues, if my visit over the holidays is any indication. From their standout sardine salad (left), with crisp, sweet apple wedges, celery leaves, pickled onions and a perfect six-minute egg, to the bronto-sized lamb shank braised to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, everything was not only perfectly prepared but showed a fresh take on flavor and textural combinations. As an example, the sounds-so-wrong but tastes-so-right crazy lusciousness of the…get this…crême brulée bread pudding (top) was knee-bucklingly delicious with its custard-infused, soufflé-like body sided with the ideal foil of tangerine confit. Still priced for the I-don't-feel-like-cooking weeknight dinner where two can comfortably have a glass of wine each and share an entrée, it also makes a casually intimate special-occasion spot for do-it-yourself multi-course dining.

Details: Bar Avignon, 2138 SE Division St. 503-517-0808.

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Not just places to pick up fresh produce, Portland's farmers' markets (60 and counting) have proven to be crackerjack incubators for new businesses. Relatively inexpensive vendor fees combined with built-in coaching and support have made them springboards for success for all kinds of start-ups from Ruby Jewel ice cream to Jacobs Creamery cheeses to Blossom Vinegars. Chef Noe Garnica and his wife, Anna, started Verde Cocina, making healthy Mexican-inspired food at the OHSU and Beaverton farmers' markets, and got such a huge response from customers that they expanded to the Portland and Lake Oswego markets. To no one's surprise they've now opened a café in the Hillsdale neighborhood in the former Caffe Autogrill space next to brand new Sasquatch Brewing that will also serve as a prep space for their growing catering business.

I had breakfast there the other day and was awestruck by the warm, woodsy room upstairs and the Buenos Dias breakfast consisting of two eggs scrambled with vegetables, then smothered in roasted peppers, some lightly pickled onions, beans and Ranchero salsa, and then topped again with big chunks of locally grown and smoked bacon. It was more than enough for two, but I manned up and chowed down the whole thing. Great for breakfast and lunch, I can't wait to get back to dinner where they pull out the molés, quesadillas and other specialties from Garnica's native Guanajuato, Mexico.

Details: Verde Cocina, 6446 SW Capitol Hwy. 503-384-2327.

Bar Food: No Longer an Oxymoron

Back in the day (or "B in the D" as a friend's kid said) you went to a bar to drink. And, except for a bowl of stale store-bought pretzels or nuts, that was pretty much all that was offered in terms of sustenance.

But these days, especially here in Portland, the newer drinking holes are going head-to-head with finer restaurants, building kitchens, hiring chefs to run them and offering patrons everything from small plates to entrées to desserts.

I can remember when Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman opened Bar Avignon on the then-nascent restaurant row at SE 21st and Division, its tagline was "just a bar." They offered a range of small plates to accompany their well-curated tap list, wine selection and Nancy's excellent cocktails. (Also at that time Randy swore they'd never, ever list a burger on their menu…but a little bird told me that chef Jeremy Eckel may have laced big R's coffee with a little sumpin' sumpin' and that may be about to change. Stay tuned!)

The plates that Ben Bettinger is slinging at Beaker & Flask have put it at the top of dining as well as drinking lists in town, and it's apparent that any bar worth its salt (or fleur de sel) seriously considers its food to be as critical a component of success as the creativity of its cocktail list.

When I had the chance to pick a spot for a happy hour meeting near downtown recently, Teardrop Lounge came up the winner. Word had it that chef Chris Degenhardt was putting out some mighty fine vittles to accompany the bar's top-notch drinks and, from the hour or so I spent there, its definitely a place to seek out for future HH action.

The Dungeness crab salad, a dollop of barely-adulterated crab topped by a hat of pink slaw (upper left) was not only pretty but plenty tasty. It was followed in a timely fashion by a slab of layered beet terrine drizzled with a balsamic reduction (right) that was impressive for its attractiveness while also treating the ingredients minimally, letting their flavors stand out. The same was true of the caramelized onion cazuela (top photo), a more complex flavor combination with the sweetly browned onions topped by a disk of chevre and a spoonful of olivada. I wanted to applaud.

Seems like, between the food that's hitting cocktail tables and the crazy food cart scene around here, if restaurants in town want to survive as more than special occasion choices they're going to need to look across the board at everything from their bar menus to their pricing, because any of the choices above would suit me fine for dinner any night of the week.

Details: Teardrop Lounge, 1015 NW Everett St. 503-445-8109.

Good Friends, Great Place

It's always exciting when friends realize a dream they've been working toward for years. And even better when that dream is to open their own bar. Better than that would be a bar with simple noshes located not too far from our house, maybe within biking distance.

Randy at the back-bar sink, not for the first or last time!
So we must have had some good karma stored up, because our friends Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman decided to open Bar Avignon on the corner of 22nd and Division. To say that it's changed from its days as the Red & Black Cafe is like saying that Michael Jackson had a little work done. With its storefront windows looking out on the street, a 25-foot-long standing bar and cozy banquettes ranged around the periphery, this place is friendly and sophisticated all at once.

Hey, Nancy, when can we get a t-shirt?

And the surprise, tucked away in the back, is a long dining table suitable for up to ten people for tasting dinners, parties, gatherings or what-have-you. The dark walls and sophisticated lighting could have been too uptown for this corner, but in this case they serve to make it feel like a place you could hang with friends, sipping and snacking. You can bet that's what we'll be doing. And soon.

Details: Bar Avignon, opening Friday, June 27, at 2138 SE Division. Phone 503-517-0808.