Well, that’s done: our paper’s biggest annual special section project (Finder, that beautiful beast, excepted) has hit the streets. Pick up your copy of the Restaurant Guide at a blue box near you (find one with our handy search tool ) or read the whole thing online .
We visited around 115 restaurants in the course of putting the guide together this fall (no, I won’t name the ones that didn’t make the cut), and we noticed a few running themes. It seems like just about everyone in town is doing house charcuterie —good news for the meat eaters among us. Not so great is the odd proliferation of vanilla in places it doesn’t really belong. The worst example of this is the insipid vanilla leek fondue that marred a halibut dish at Lucier (okay, I lied before—Lucier didn’t make the top 100). Other restaurants used the fruit of the orchid to better effect: the duck breast with vanilla at Gilt Club is a sure winner.
Neighborhood joints with wood-fired ovens are sprouting up all over town. Firehouse and Tastebud are just the latest two of a trend that goes back to (I think) Lauro. We love it.
Padron peppers, an exotic treat in the U.S. as recently as 2004, when I first encountered them at the Farmer’s Market, have become ubiquitous on Portland menus, usually fried and salted. I couldn’t be happier—I actually smuggled a dozen of these tiny, mild Spanish peppers back from a stay in Galicia in 2001, though I failed to get them to grow. My favorite preparation of pimientos de padron this year was not fried, but pureed with peach and paired with tuna and paper-thin lardo, at Micah Camden’s recently opened D.O.C.
An aside: there’s a rhyme in Galicia about the erratically spicy peppers, which originated in the town of Padrón in the province of A Coruña, that goes, “pimientos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non.” Loosely translated, that’s “Padron peppers: some bite you, and others don’t.” There’s your useless trivia for the day.
We ate a lot of carpaccio, carne cruda, steak tartare, sashimi and ceviche this year. I don’t know what to say about that, other than that Portlanders seem to have gotten over any worries we had about downing raw meat and fish by the shovelful.
A number of restaurants opened (or were made known to us) after our deadline for consideration for this year’s guide in early July. Among them are Radio Room on Alberta, Oscar Albert wine bar and garden store on Division, Terrace Kitchen in Lake Oswego, Del Inti Andean restaurant on Alberta, Bete-Lukas Ethiopian restaurant on Division, H50 Bistro on Southwest Morrison, Cafe Nell in the old Hurley’s space, Meat Cheese Bread on Stark, Evoe on Hawthorne, Nasca Peruvian on Sandy, Chez Joly on NW Broadway, Indish on NW 21st, Hash on Hawthorne and the Blue Pig Cafe on Division. Look for reviews of these restaurants in our Dish section in coming weeks or in next year’s Guides.
Another side note: If you have the opportunity to buy property on Division, do it . As far as I can tell, we’re about six months from the boom peaking.
There are also a bunch of restaurants opening in the next few months. Andy Ricker, the genius behind Pok Pok, will open a sort of Pan-Asian bar called Ping in the Hung Far Low building. Al Forno Ferruzza will open a pizza restaurant on Alberta this month or next. Urban Farmer Steakhouse will open in the Nines on top of the downtown Macy’s tomorrow. Tapalaya , a cajun tapas joint, will open in the former Taquería Nueve space on Northeast 28th in November. EaT: An Oyster Bar will open someday soon on North Williams Ave. Beaker & Flask , Kevin Ludwig’s much-anticipated bar-with-good-food, will open someday (it’s been delayed twice already). Masu East will reopen as Bamboo , and all-sustainable sushi restaurant, in November. Aaron Adams is planning to open a vegan Italian joint named Portobello in the next year. An Indian restaurant , the name of which has yet to be revealed, will open on NW 23rd at an unspecified date, in the former Revive coffee house (previously Three Lions Bakery, previously Tully’s). Kenny and Zuke’s is preparing to open a second location, or perhaps a spinoff business, on NW Thurman (maybe—the owners haven’t confirmed anything). Benjamin Dyer of Simpatica is planning to open a meat-centric restaurant on East Burnside in the next year. Matador will open a second location on East Burnside, in the former Los Baez space, soon. Tommy Habetz is working on a sandwich shop on Southeast Morrison, set to open in November. The unpromisingly named Ibiza Portland opens tomorrow in the former Wallbanger’s space. I’m probably leaving out a few.
That’s all I’ve got. I hope you enjoy the guide. As always, send your suggestions for improvements to bwaterhouse at wweek dot com . Happy eating.
- Some Thoughts On Our Restaurant Guide Willamett
- Restaurant Guide 2001– other oregon [] think
- RESTAURANT GUIDE 2004 [RESTAUR
- Restaurant Guide 2001– thrill seekers [] two n
- Willamette Week Restaurant Guide 2002 [RESTAUR
First of all, how can you leave out Lucier. Sure, it hasn’t lived up to expectations just yet, but seriously, how can you omit Lucier yet include Puerto Marquez, Karam, and Masu? Second, do you actually believe that Carafe has the best happy hour in Portland? The food quality at Carafe has never been that good, and especially hasn’t been good lately.
We left out Lucier because the restaurant’s mediocre food (desserts excepted) doesn’t merit the $100+ per person cost. We will revisit the restaurant next year, to see if the cost/value ratio improves. Remember, this is a guide to our favorite restaurants—it’s a subjective list. You and I may look for very different things when we eat out.
As for Carafe, you’re just dead wrong. I’ve yet to try an unimpressive dish there.
Wildwood?
Our recent visits have been consistent with Heidi Yorkshire’s review last October: http://wweek.com/editorial/3348/9679/
We’ll visit again next year, but for now the house that Schreiber built just isn’t quite making our list.
As a frequent Wildwood customer I think you’re dead wrong on that one. what’s with all the hating on Wildwood lately? Also, say what you will about Lucier, mediocre it is not. I’ll "visit again next year" to see if this list improves any but I suspect hipster bullshit is an ingrained quality at the willamette week.
Not all of the City’s best eats are served in restaurants. How about a little serve-yourself snacking?
Three delicious Portland companies will be featured on the Food Network tonight at 8pm. For your dining pleasure, here’s a tasty press release:
Who isn’t highlighting Portland’s food scene these days? With seemingly
weekly appearances in the pages of the New York Times and Gourmet, the whole
world knows about all of the good eats going on in the city.
But this episode (running on 10/17) of Road Tasted with the Neely’s is doing
something different. Yes, it’s still singing Portland’s food praises, but
it’s also telling viewers from around the country how they can taste a piece
of Portland in their own home. This episode features Portland products that
can be shipped across the country!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/road-tasted-with-the-neelys/portland/index.html
Taped over the summer, the Neely’s visit, among others, Little Pots and Pans
Co., and sample their tasty tarts. They visited their kitchen and also
taped some great footage of the Moreland Farmer’s Market.
Even though this episode features products that can be sent across the
country, Portlanders can pick up tarts all over the city (and even have them
cater your next cocktail party or business lunch). You may have seen Little
Pots and Pans Co. tarts in the city’s many food co-ops, numerous coffee
shops and, of course, Whole Foods. These healthy, savory staples are also
available at several farmer’s markets. It’s grab-and-go gourmet that uses
local produce and products.
http://www.littlepotsandpans.com
Kenneth is completely right. How could Wildwood not make the list. Post Cory they have only excelled and raised the bar for that restaurant. The food is better than it has been in the ten plus years its been around…seriously
Not having Wildwood on the list is beyond ridiculous. The food Dustin Clark puts out runs circles around the plates/menus offered at the Mcwildwoods you have chosen to take it’s place in your guide. The positive national press it keeps getting makes your exclusion seem suspect at best.
Wildwood not on the list? This is more than ridiculous. Check out the post Wildwood on a Roll at http://thelunacafe.com.Their Sweet Briar Farms Pork Chop with Bodacious Hush Puppies is one of the best dishes I have eaten in a Portland restaurant this Fall. And the desserts have also been inspiring.
EaT: An Oyster Bar is now open and serving up excellent raw oysters, po’boys, Jambalaya, Gumbo, Etouffe.