Ryan Magarian's Pearl Tavern Matures

It's not all food system issues around here, y'know. I also get a chance to write profiles of restaurateurs and visits to museums thanks to kind editors like Andrew Collins of Portland's The Pearl magazine. Recently I drove across the Willamette to sit down with cocktail guru Ryan Magarian to talk about his latest venture with former University of Oregon and NFL footballer Joey Harrington, called Pearl Tavern, which Magarian described as an "American sports bar meets neighborhood tavern."

After a slightly bumpy beginning, this lively neighborhood space has found its footing—and a loyal following.

It seemed like a recipe for a hands-down success: combine a highly visible corner location in a burgeoning business and residential neighborhood with the expertise and energy of a sought-after bar expert opening his fourth establishment, a Michelin-star chef, a hugely successful restaurant development group, and a national sports celebrity. Throw in a can’t-miss concept: American sports bar meets neighborhood tavern. And you’ve got an instant winner, right?

“When we started out, we let ourselves get a little undisciplined,” says Ryan Magarian, the man behind some of the city’s most successful bar programs, including neighboring Oven & Shaker, which he runs with chef Cathy Whims. His newest venture, the comfortably masculine Pearl Tavern (231 NW 11th Ave, 503-954-3796), which he opened almost a year ago with former University of Oregon and NFL footballer Joey Harrington, took a few months to hit its stride.

“We were trying to do too many things,” he says. “We were kind of looking at doing steak, we were sports, we were a restaurant, and honestly—it just didn’t connect with people at first.”

Steadily, however, Magarian and his teammates have put together a winning venture, with star chef Thomas Boyce helming the kitchen. Pearl Tavern maximizes what Magarian refers to as the neighborhood’s desire “to find comfort and community in one space.” Indeed, you’ll find an unexpectedly high level of service, food, and beverages that’s quite uncommon among sports-concept restaurants.

Magarian claims, in his humble opinion, that the tavern turns out the best burger in town. Other top dishes include a healthier version of classic nachos, featuring pulled pork, tomatillo salsa, and cotija cheese, and an unabashedly decadent mac and cheese. Chef Boyce, known for his commitment to local farms, ranchers, and fishing families, plans to feature Dungeness crab cakes when the season opens, and his fish-and-chips and shrimp with hazelnut romesco are already fan favorites.

Magarian also designed his cocktail menu with fresh ingredients in mind. Consider the Whiskey Ginger From Scratch, with freshly extracted ginger juice (“people go bananas for it,” he says) and Thumper’s Revenge, which he describes as “somewhere between a Bloody Mary and a mojito with carrot juice as a primary foundation—so fresh, but savory too.”

Read the rest of the article about his groundbreaking whiskey program, curated by the phenomenal Tommy Klus, and the tavern's "complete celebration of Oregon athletics."

Photos by Paul Wagtouicz for The Pearl magazine.

"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup."

My pet peeve when it comes to wait staff in restaurants, the thing that makes my skin prickle with irritation? It's when a staff person comes to the table, glances at the mostly-finished food left on my plate and utters the phrase, "Are you still working on that?"

Working on that? As in constructing a scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of the bones from the rabbit stew?

So it was with some amusement that I read the first installment of "One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do" by Bruce Buschel in today's New York Times. The first five are:

1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.
2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, “Are you waiting for someone?” Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to sit at the bar.
3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.
4. If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer a free drink and/or amuse-bouche. The guests may be tired and hungry and thirsty, and they did everything right.
5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.

If you have a pet peeve, please leave it under "Comments" below and GSNW readers will vote on the best one submitted. The winner will receive a prize yet to be determined.

The Bites Have It!

We all have our accept-no-substitutes, go-to foods that we simply must have when the craving strikes. So when Karen Brooks of the Oregonian's A&E section asked me for a list of my top faves for their Best Bites '08 section, I fired off my picks faster than a Corgi can down her dinner.

And the picks that made it in? Here they are:

Best Waffles: Belgian Waffles at the Waffle Window, SE 36th Ave. at Hawthorne. Phone 503-239-4756.
Forget the gooey, cloying versions around town. These are the genuine yeast-raised street waffles found in any Belgian city. The secret to their unique taste and satisfying crunch? Pearl sugar. Have them plain or with nontraditional toppings like hot apple pie, pumpkin pie or sacher torte. Either way be warned: One taste of the real thing and there’s no going back. Available on weekends (look for the blue Dutch door) - or packaged at the attached Bread & Ink restaurant for $9.50.

Best Brownies, Cakes and Cupcakes: Almond Cake at Bar Avignon, 2138 SE Division. Phone 503-517-0808.
This newcomer to Division Street’s burgeoning restaurant row is known for simple meals and wine savvy, but insiders come for the almond cake, a small round of light, sweet cake surrounded by a fabulously crunchy crust with a perfect almond flavor. The formula changes - recently, that meant a topping of citrusy balsamic orange reduction. Be sure to ask owner (and former Wildwood wine director) Randy Goodman to recommend the perfect foil for its airy richness.

Best Gelatos and Ice Creams: Ice creams at Bread & Ink Cafe, 3610 SE Hawthorne. Phone 503-239-4756.
Owners Bruce and Mary Fishback love conjuring up new ice cream flavors for their Hawthorne cafe. The dream du jour might be orange blossom crunchy with Guittard bittersweet chocolate chips or perhaps the herbal sophistication of lemon verbena or even a refreshing grapefruit spuma, an airy type of sherbet made with sugar syrup and egg whites. Mary also is pastry chef at Rimsky-Korsakoffeehouse, so inspirations usually come with a bonus: a specialty cookie.

Best Chocolate...To Drink: Chocolate milk at Pine State Biscuits, 3640 SE Belmont. Phone 503-236-3346.
Forget Ponce de Leon. If you want to drink from the fountain of youth, just pop into this outpost of biscuit deliciousness and order the rich, thick, luscious, not-too-sweet chocolate milk made with a magical mix from Portland chocolatier David Briggs of Xocolatl de David truffle fame. One sip, and you’ll be skipping down the sidewalk in no time.

Best Sandwiches: Hot and melty Beecher's Flagship Cheddar at Foster & Dobbs, 2518 NE 15th Ave. Phone 503-284-1157.
Luan Schooler and Tim Wilson have an advantage over most sandwich shops: Their Irvington cheese-shop-cum-gourmet grocery is stocked with local and international cheeses, condiments and artisan-made charcuterie. The seven or so daily options, made to order with Pearl Bakery bread, feature scrumptious combinations like molé salami with cheddar and chili jam. Our current fave: Hot & Melty Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar (a Seattle cheese) with mango chutney and sweet hot mustard. Grab a glass of wine or beer and settle in at a table.

Report from the Real 'Couv

Occasionally I ask guest commentators to join the fray here at GoodStuffNW and write up reports from their travels. Here are some notes from friends GnH who recently made a whirlwind trip to Vancouver, BC.

Vij's. Grab a glass of wine next door at Rongoli (Vijs' cafe and take-out place next door). Buy a tin of garam masala while you're at it. Reason enough to go just to have dinner here (friends flew up to join us on Sunday & Monday, but dinner was the focus). The best Indian food outside of India (not that I've been). 1480 W 11th at Granville. Phone 604-736-6664. Opens at 5:30 daily, no reservations.

West. Beautiful space. Have an after dinner drink. Great bartenders. 2881 Granville at 13th. Phone 604-738-5909.

Hapa Izakaya. Cool little Japanese spot. Amazing grilled squid, sashimi & small plates. Open late. 1471 Robson. Phone 604-689-4272.

49th Parallel Coffee. Killer coffee, roasted in-house. Clover drip machine. Mod version of our beloved Stumptown. 2152 W 4th Avenue, between Arbutus and Yew. Phone 604-420-4901.

Les Amis du Fromage. Killer cheese (the gooood stuff!). Try Salt Spring Island goat cheese
or the "naughty" triple creams from France. 1752 West 2nd Ave. Phone 604-732-4218.

Chambar. [Belgian Restaurant] It was late. A bit trendy. Beautiful space and great bar. Belgian beer. Killer fries. 562 Beatty Street. 604-879-7119.

Jade Dynasty. Dim Sum "yum yum." Great, authentic, not too many round eyes. More food than we could eat. $15 per person. 137 East Pender St. Phone 604-683-8816.

Lucky Us!

The corner of NE 24th and Fremont has had a checkered history since its run as the second of the Nature's natural grocery stores in Portland (the first was on SW Corbett). It was redeveloped as the eastside branch of Multnomah's landmark Marco's Cafe but never really caught on with the neighborhood. Then the unpronounceable Aja Pacific Kitchen moved in with its fusion menu, confusing the heck out of everyone and closed within a short time.

But now a strong contender, Lucca, might just win the day and take the hex off this corner. With a wood-burning oven and rotisserie grill, it's described as "a neighborhood friendly, Italian influenced restaurant and bar" with a high comfort factor, all good things when you live within walking distance and don't feel like cooking.

If anyone gets in there before we do, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Details: Lucca, 3449 NE 24th Ave. on the corner of NE 24th & Fremont. Phone 503-287-7372.

More Lunchin', Ladies!

There are some restaurants you go to and you know exactly where you are. Bread & Ink Cafe on Hawthorne feels exactly like a Portland cafe should. Open room, great local history (it was the original location of Fred Meyer's first store in the 30s), comfortable chairs, good solid food with clean flavors. L'Auberge back in the day, or Castagna now. On the opposite end are the corporate restaurants all the way from fast food drive-throughs to places like Chevy's where the one here will have identical siblings in Anchorage and Miami and Kansas City.

Then there are those places like Fenouil that are perfectly lovely but make you feel like you could be in San Francisco or Palm Springs. It's not that they're corporate so much as they somehow lack a sense that they're made from the fabric of the place they are in. Is it just me, or am I missing something?

Regardless, the food here is quite good judging by the lunch I had, a duck confit with flageolet beans, one Armagnac prune (not the advertised plural) and a strange little bit of undressed frisee. The duck was outstanding, the skin crackly and rich with fat, perfectly salted and meltingly tender. The beans had a nice al dente quality and a slightly smoky tinge that made them irresistible.

My dining partner KC ordered the Niçoise salad, a nice version with a big piece of seared tuna on top of greens and surrounded by haricots verts, potatoes, olives and a hard-boiled egg. She was even kind enough to let me pull out my camera and take pictures of the food, a kind of occupational hazard when you agree to dine with a blogger.

Last but not least we had coffee rather than dessert. The only reason that this is worth mentioning is that their coffee service is quite charming, a little set piece of coffee (in a cup, not a mug) with lumps of sugar (brown and white) and a little thimble-full of cream on a white platter.

This is an ideal place to bring your mother, your auntie or your just-graduated eighth-grade niece for lunch. And the large new Parisian-style outdoor dining area facing Jamison Square park looks like the it's going to be a popular place to sit outside on a warm night and survey the denizens (and denizen wannabes) of the Pearl. I just wish I knew where I was.

Details: Fenouil in the Pearl, 900 NW 11th Ave. Phone 503-525-2225.

More Lunchin'

OK, I know I've dissed the ladies who lunch in the Pearl, but this is a place you can take your auntie, your mom or your friends for a very nice and very different lunch experience. It's Andina, a much ballyhooed entry in the hot-new-cuisine sweepstakes nationwide, and they feature "nuevo Peruvian" cuisine. That means lots of fresh fish, meats and vegetables, plus plantains, Andean grains and peppers. If you've been there for dinner, you know how good it is, and at lunch the price is a bit less and the selections are almost identical.

I met friends Monique and Sylvia there, and we sampled the menu starting with several small plates including the yucca rellena, cheese stuffed yuca with an aji Amarillo cheese sauce and a causa mixta nikkei or potato cake filled with spicy tuna, crab salad and shrimp. They have several cebiches, the national dish of Peru, usually made with raw fish marinated in lemon or other citrus juices along with salt, chiles, onions and garlic. We had the tuno nikkei, a tuna, aji amarillo, soy, pickled ginger and Japanese cucumber salad-like dish. The tuna was some of the freshest I've had and meltingly tender, in a truly unique preparation that I can't wait to have again.

They have great cocktails and a nice selection of wines, but if you want to have an authentic Peruvian beverage, go for the chicha morada, a non-alcoholic blue corn-based spiced drink that is pleasantly refreshing and different than anything you've ever had.

This place rocks with a difference that's worth experiencing. Too bad it's not on the east side!

Details: Andina Restaurant, 1314 NW Glisan, Portland; Phone 503-228-9535.