Life is good!
Not to be redundant, but how lucky am I? Two dinners out in the last two days, both absolutely spectacular!! Following hot on the heels of Wednesday's stellar meal at Autentica, w and I celebrated her birthday last night with dinner at Le Pigeon (738 E. Burnside, 503-546-8796), a cozy little bistro just off the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The buzz has been hot and heavy about this joint, and based on my experience it is all too true! The food from beginning to end was fresh, new, and exciting. We settled in to a couple of seats at the counter, always my preferred choice. The seats look right at the cooks who are working it hard, and allow some give and take and timely advice from the ones who are going to be kicking out your food, never a bad thing.
We started with three appetizers, in order:
-Trotter cakes with a creamy, intense aioli: shredded pig foot meat in a potato cake that was crisp and delicious.
-Duck Nuggets, which were as good as they sound, with a plum dipping sauce...so sublime.
-And foie gras on a crostini with a peach topping that was everything I could have hoped for. Decadent, rich, perfectly seared foie gras that had me silently blessing that goose and his fatted liver...yum!
Then on to dinner, in w's case a fabulously savory dish of monkfish medallions, in my case an amazingly creative combination of prawns and pork belly on the best, sweetest creamed corn that had me swooning. We reluctantly passed on dessert, but you can bet I'll be back to tackle that portion of the menu.
This place is a great spot, cute, cozy, great vibe, and the food is among the most creative, satisfying, and well prepared in town. One visit and I'm hooked...you will be too!