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Portland is a gustatory phoenix, reinventing and adding to its culinary repertoire again and again. In the ’80s, the city was the epicentre of the microbrew craze; this past decade saw a surge of small-batch artisan distillers making award-winning spirits. Recently, the buzz has been about Portland’s food-cart explosion: there are over 600 carts now, offering up an array of thrifty food from escargot (made in a repurposed school bus) to authentic Northern Thai khao soi gai noodles (from a mid-century Airstream trailer).
Portland’s funky carts and trendy distilleries, may be getting all the love, but it’s the city’s restaurants that blow us away. Perhaps it’s because Portland is a perfect culinary storm: take a plethora of organic farms within 40 minutes of downtown, forested foraging just outside city limits, scores of top-notch wines a stone’s throw away, a community of intrepid young chefs and an avid dine-out culture. It makes for a big city restaurant scene where you don’t have to spend a mint to get a great meal, and you certainly don’t have to dress for dinner.
Here, three new restaurants that celebrate to the buy-local ethos and serve up some of the city’s best fare, from casual to elegant.
Tasty n Sons
3808 N Williams Ave., Suite C, 503-621-1400, tastynsons.com
Enter the cavernous industrial-chic space of Tasty n Sons and the first thing you’ll see is a 10-foot-tall blackboard listing the restaurant’s local purveyors. Take a few steps up to the long wooden bar overlooking the bustling open kitchen and grab a seat at the row of stools; it’s the best way to preview all the dishes on chef John Gorham’s long, breakfast-centric menu.
Gorham, who made a name for himself at the venerated Spanish tapas restaurant Toro Bravo, creates a similar vibe-low key, long menu, shared plates, stellar locavorian fare. Instead of tapas, though, Tasty n Sons takes an around-the-world-in-40-breakfasts tack. Dishes like sweet savoury Burmese glazed pork curry on sticky rice and the shakshuka, a rich Israeli red pepper and tomato stew with baked eggs, can spark wanderlust in just one bite. There’s a behemoth of a Bloody Mary menu (go for the Belladonna-made with locally crafted Krogstad aquavit) and bite-size chocolate doughnuts drizzled with vanilla-laced crème anglais for dessert. One might loll about all day if it weren’t for that permanent line of hungry brunchers waiting for your seat.
The newly added dinner menu includes the same breakfast fare, plus a long list of starters that are perfect for sharing. Standouts include the Mexican seafood salad with tender octopus bathed in a briny, mild chili-tomato sauce, and the light-as-air hush puppies with nippy jalapeño dip. But the dish most Portlanders come for is the legendary Toro Burger-a big, beefy grass-fed burger topped with housemade bacon, Manchego and smoky red pepper romesco sauce. A solid two-napkin affair, and at $9 a certified steal.
Castagna
1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-231-7373, castagnarestaurant.com
Castagna has been operating from the same spare, sophisticated space in the bohemian Southeast’s Hawthorne District for years, but things changed dramatically when lauded chef Matt Lightner took the helm in the fall of 2009. In a town where fleece sportswear is normal dinner attire, highly conceptualized plates of gastronomy might sink like a stone on anyone else’s watch. But Lightner’s work is positively buoyant here. The 30-year-old trained in stellar kitchens, including Mugaritz in the hills outside San Sebastian and Noma in Copenhagen, and the modernist influence is easily detected. Still, Lightner’s careful local sourcing (and foraging) gives his food a definitive sense of the Pacific Northwest.
Once seated in the hushed cream and mink-hued dining room, you’ll be presented with a rather cryptic menu listing four courses with off-the-wall descriptions like "Herbs: Dungeness crab, seaweed, herb infusion." The conceit is mildly irritating in its vagueness, but to the servers’ credit, they are expert at patiently answering questions (trust us, you’ll have many). It’s best to just let go, dive right into the four-course tasting menu, and watch the theatre unfold.
The "Herbs" dish, for example, is a stunning arrangement of wild ice plant (a rare succulent) and other herbs you’ve never heard of bathed in a herbal broth that suggests both a facial and the most restorative soup you’ve ever tasted. "Pickles" is a vibrant mix of tart and crunchy vegetable ribbons set on end in a shallow bowl with rich brown butter infusion. "Figs" is actually a rare roasted elk loin on a slate slab surrounded by flavours of the forest: crushed licorice root, juniper and juicy fig pulp. The menu changes constantly, but you can count on each dish being clever (if occasionally a tiny bit twee). The wine list is likewise wonderfully eclectic in its selections.
Laurelhurst Market
3155 E Burnside St., 503-206-3097, laurelhurstmarket.com
Not your typical steak house. Wunderkinder Benjamin Dyer, Jason Owens and chef David Kreifels are taking the traditional steak house model and turning it on its ear: an old-fashioned butcher shop by day, casual eatery by night. Whole steers are sourced locally, broken down into primal cuts at the restaurant, and served in an unfussy, industrial space that feels more convivial brasserie than suit-and-tie venue.
The beef dishes here are astounding; from the brawny bavette steak with Belgian frites and sticky-rich marchand de vin sauce to port and prune-braised short ribs, expect the lush, carnal pleasure of perfectly cooked meat. Non-bovine fare is just as memorable: the salt-cured foie gras torchon is a buttery revelation when spread on brioche toast points with a dab of housemade peach preserve. Seafood lovers will dig the giant bowls of briny mussels steamed in Belgian beer.
The wine list includes a mix of fairly priced wines from France, Spain and Oregon, including Andrew Rich’s elegant ’07 Malbec, a gem that was born to partner with beef. And, this being Portland, there’s a killer cocktail list-check out Smoke Signals, a bourbon highball with smoked ice and pecan water. wl
and of course, the Food Trucks
Yes, everyone knows about Portland’s food trucks-but that’s because they’re awesome. Here’s four not to miss.
Garden State is classic locavorian Italian with exceptional meatball heroes and mozzarella-risotto fritters. 4237 N. Mississippi St., gardenstatecart.com. If homemade lefse wraps with Swedish meatballs or cured salmon is your thing then Viking Soul Food is your source. 2737 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., vikingsoulfood.com. The Northern Thai khao soi gai (curry chicken noodles) at Gin Northern is deliciously non-standard. SW 3rd Ave. between Washington & Stark Sts. If it’s melt-in-your-mouth porchetta or pulled- pork sandwiches with toppings like rhubarb jam you’re after then head to the People’s Pig. On the corner of SW 9th Ave. and SW Alder St., thepeoplespig.com
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RECIPES
California Prayer Book Cocktail
Adapted from Evan Zimmerman of Laurelhurst Market
 2 oz cranberry-infused
bourbon*
½ oz (scant) Clear Creek
cranberry liqueur
¼ oz sweet vermouth
¼ oz Amaro Averna
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir with cracked ice to chill. Strain mixture into a chilled old-fashioned glass without ice and garnish with an orange twist.
*To make cranberry-infused bourbon, steep one 750-ml bottle of bourbon in a jar with 1 lb of dried cranberries for 24 hours. Strain.
Roasted Rock Fish with Raw and Roasted Sunchokes and Mussel Vinaigrette
Adapted from chef Matt Lightner of Castagna Restaurant
2 ½ lbs rock fish fillets,
trimmed and skinned
8 cups cold water
4 tbsp salt
2 ½ lbs mussels, scrubbed
and debearded
¼ cup plus 1 tbsp grapeseed
oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ lbs sunchokes, scrubbed
well
¼ cup Oregon hazelnuts,
roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
Leaves from 10 sprigs fresh
chervil
Leaves from 10 sprigs fresh
dill
Leaves from 10 sprigs fresh
tarragon
Cut fish fillets into six 6 ½-oz portions. Combine water and salt and stir until dissolved. Add the fish to the brine and allow to soak for 15 minutes.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with 2 layers of paper towels. Pat the fish dry, place on the baking sheet and cover with another layer of paper towels. Place fish in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.
Make the mussel vinaigrette up to two hours in advance: Heat a quarter-inch of water in a 4-litre sauté pan over high heat. Add mussels to the pan, cover and cook until the mussels have opened (about 3 to 5 minutes); discard any unopened mussels. Strain the cooking liquid and reserve; keep mussels for another use. In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup of the mussel cooking liquid, ¼ cup of grapeseed oil and the lemon juice-the vinaigrette should have a broken appearance. Season to taste and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375°F with convection on. Using a small paring knife, remove any of the small knobs on the sunchokes, thinly slice them and reserve in ice water. Peel the remaining large part of the sunchokes, cut them into equal-size pieces and place them in a large bowl. Toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper and roast on a baking sheet for 15 minutes. Add the hazelnuts to the pan and continue to roast until the nuts are golden brown and the sunchokes have formed an outer crust and are tender when pierced with a fork (about 5 to 10 minutes more). Set aside in a warm place.
Coat the bottom of two 10-inch cast-iron skillets with olive oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Meanwhile season each side of the fish with salt. Once the pans are lightly smoking, place the fish in the pans. Sear on one side, then carefully flip fillets over. Transfer pans to the oven and roast until the fish is cooked through (about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness the fillets). The fish will begin to separate and almost fall apart. Remove the cont. on page 59 cont’d from page 56 pans from the oven and carefully flip fillets over onto paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Drain the thinly sliced raw sunchokes, pat dry and toss with the roasted sunchoke-hazelnut mixture. Spoon the sunchoke mixture onto a serving platter, arrange the fish on top, and drizzle with the mussel vinaigrette. Garnish with herbs.
Shakshuka
Adapted from John Gorham of Tasty n Sons
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ medium yellow onion,
thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and
thinly sliced
1 cup thinly sliced roasted
green peppers (about
2 peppers; see note)
1 cup thinly sliced roasted
red peppers (see note)
¾ tsp paprika
¾ tsp piment d’Espelette or
red pepper flakes
½ tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp granulated sugar
1 small bay leaf
1 cup whole canned
tomatoes, with juice
Salt and freshly ground
pepper
4 large eggs
Crusty bread, for serving
Preheat oven to 400?F. Heat olive oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion and the garlic and cook until the onion becomes translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the green and red peppers and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the paprika, piment d’Espelette, cumin, sugar and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 2 minutes longer).
Add tomatoes and their juice to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Discard bay leaf and season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Crack the eggs evenly over the surface of the simmering sauce and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the egg whites are set and the yolks are still runny (about 7 minutes). Serve immediately with crusty bread for dipping.
Note: To roast the peppers, place them on a hot grill or hold them with tongs over a gas flame on the stove until black and blistered on all sides. Transfer the peppers to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and steam for 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, rub the blackened skins off of the peppers and discard, along with the seeds and stems.
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