Equilibrium Regained...regularly!

I try to surround myself with people who care about me as much as I care about them. People who can take one look at you and know how you're feeling, and do their best to make you feel better. Hopefully they know that given the chance I would have their back, too. One person who plays that role in my world, and probably doesn't even know she's that important...talk about altruism....is Suzanne, the master of mixing and my favorite bartender...EVER...who plies her witchcraft at Café Castagna here in PDX. I can stop by after a crazy night at our Friday tastings at the wine shack, and she instinctively knows exactly what I need to regain equilibrium (read: blood alcohol level).

She started me on the perfectly potent, tart-sweet Hendrick's Gimlet a couple of years ago, and it has rocketed to near the top of my favorite refreshing adult beverage list, coming in right behind the national drink of wineguyworld, the Negroni, and pushing an exquisite Tanqueray martini hard for second place. Mine at home don't quite reach the levels of perfection that I have at Castagna. After all, Suzanne has set the bar...and her bar...pretty high. But in a pinch at home when the need strikes, these work just fine!
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Hendrick's Gimlet

ingredients:
2 oz. Hendrick's Gin
1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz simple syrup ( to make syrup put 1/2 cup water

method:
Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well, and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Note: You can use any gin, but Hendricks just seems to have that perfectly balanced floral-herbal character that works magic here.

Highs, lows, and Noble Rot

There's a difference between a full "review" of a restaurant and a lot of what I report. Most of my commentary of my all too frequent eating adventures are more in the "slice of life" category. Kind of a review of one evening. I have to say in my experience I think one evening at a restaurant can tell you a lot about what future visits might hold for you. Last night we made our first visit to the new Noble Rocket...oops, I meant Noble Rot that inhabits the old Rocket space on East Burnside. My first impression, whether it was Rocket or Rot, is that I really love this space. The unique view view of the west hills, unfortunately marred by the giant billboard on top of the Hippo Hardware building across the street (and no blame to Rot for that. Last night's giant Egg McMuffin right in our face was quite comically surreal), and the light that pours into the space gives it a sleek, elegant feel. The spacious booths are comfy, and the bar is a great spot to sit and take in the view...although an inconsistent place to drink.

We were going with our friends J&K, and I called ahead to find out if they took reservations. As expected the answer was no unless we were a party of six, which I have no problem with. The girl who answered informed me I could come in and get on the list and the wait probably wouldn't be too long. I in turn asked if I could call and get my name on the list, which is a system that seems to work really well for Three Doors Down. I mean if someone calls with their name and no shows, how hard is it to go to the next name on the list (from the restaurants perspective, they want you there and drinking while you wait for your table). I was curtly told no, you have to sign up in person, and when I said no problem, I'd be there, I got a somewhat condescending "yippee" in response. Gee, thanks for your professionalism.

w and I got there early, put our names down and sat at the bar to wait. I ordered the Dark and Stormy off the cocktail list, a Tiki classic. w, who was laying off the hooch this night asked for a non-alcoholic...and I hate to use this term..."mocktail" (btw- she had an amazing one at Beaker and Flask...of course). My D&S, which is basically rum & ginger beer, was, and I can't believe I'm complaining about this, way to rummy, the balance was way off, the booze obliterating the ginger beer. w's strawberry daquiri-like drink was way too sweet, so much so she took about 2 sips and left it. A drink in dire need of citrus. Our friends arrived and we were promptly led to a booth along the windows. They had just navigated the B&T crowd that prowls the 1st Thursday art scene in the "Pearl" like black-clad, hip-urban wannabes and were in desperate need of refreshment. Sadly our server, who spent the entire evening seemingly uninterested in her job and should have had "whatever" printed on the front of her shirt, was in no hurry to gather our order. When she did show up after ten minutes they ordered margaritas, and I had a Hendrick's gimlet (one of my bar competency tests). This time all the drinks were excellent, the margs letting the smoky tequila seep through, and the gimlet just a notch below mine and the Café Castagna version. We snacked on two of their signature apps, an onion tart (right) and the onion rings. The tart was too mushy, the flavors mish-mashing together, which was too bad as the crust was perfect. The onion rings on the other hand, were the best I've had in town, lightly battered, beautifully golden, with some bite left in the onion itself.

Our entrées off the limited menu (and that's not a rap; I actually like a menu that doesn't need to be everything to everyone) were next, and they showed the same inconsistency as our drinks and apps. K had the rib eye (left), which was easily the best thing on the table. Tender, perfectly medium-rare and topped with a rich shallot butter. The fries were credible if unremarkable, but the arugula salad was too stemmy, as if the prep person was in a hurry to get through his admittedly mind-numbing task. J had the pasta special (below right), which had ham, carrots, and radishes in a light lemon-cream sauce. This dish just missed, the individual ingredients fresh and flavorful (or they could have been), but over-whelmed by the too lemony sauce. For her plate w ordered the ham and cheddar panino with a mango marmalade and that was actually quite good with a generous side salad for $9. Then we came to my plate of food, which of course I had high hopes for: "Grilled pork shoulder, rice & lentil croquettes; green bean, rhubarb & red mustard salad" (below pic). Sounded so good, and the salad part was. But I didn't order it for the salad, I was in it for some pig, and that fell so far short. It was sliced pork shoulder, tender but overcooked (as were the too-crusty croquettes), with an insipid pan sauce that shredded the page out of the book that said "food should never be boring". This was the Guy Lombardo of entrées. Another of my pet peeves when I eat out is that when a server sees my empty plate, please come and pick it up. Nothing is worse than having an empty, dirty plate sitting in front of me. Our server made eye contact with me when I had finished, looked down at our table, and walked right by. Again, at least show some interest and professionalism, if it's not too much trouble.
Which just drove home my whole impression of our evening, and what I came away with was a feeling of a place that is still struggling to find itself and some consistency. The food prices are in the high-moderate range (BTW- the wine list does offer numerous values and is one of the more well-priced, interesting lists I've seen lately), and as with every restaurant consistency, in both service (and I don't mean consistently bad service) and food is paramount. Especially when a place is working with a limited number of menu items, there is no excuse for anything to be less than excellent. I was surprised, because I had heard from several people that after a rocky start things were turning around. With so many good options out there in our local dining scene, places that always seem to nail it time after time, dish after dish, inconsistency isn't to rewarded.
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After this experience we all headed down the street to Beaker and Flask to rehash and regroup, and once again Kevin, Tim, and the VERY professional and nice servers were spot on. This is exactly the kind of place I'll be rewarding again and again!

A web of refreshment: the White Spider cocktail!

I was remarkable thirsty last night as I was pondering getting dinner ready. I had just cleaned up after a post-work run (How do you think I eat and drink as much as I do? Pact with the devil? Good genes help, but man, you gotta exercise!) and was in a cocktail mood. How unusual, I know. I'm in that mood as often as GWB is in a democracy spreading mood. Anyway, I knew I had some extra lemons laying about needing juicing, and something tart and slightly sweet sounded just about perfect . None of my usuals were what I wanted. Negroni? Nah. Martini? Not now. Hendrick's gimlet? Close, but I had lemons, not limes. So I jumped on one of my favorite drinks sites, drinkboy, where you can look up drinks by ingredient. I scrolled through their "lemon" suggestions, and came across this little gem that sounded just about perfect. A White Spider? I know, I've never heard of it either. I did a little further research and found this (with a slightly different recipe than below) on the Saveur magazine website: "London-based fashion journalists used to order this old-style cocktail at the Blue Bar of New York's famed Algonquin Hotel." Hm, anything good enough for old-school fashionistas has got to be good enough for me. And it turned out to be exactly what I wanted! Of course, any cocktail starting with gin gets me halfway there. And the slight citrus sweetness from the Cointreau and simple syrup perfectly offset the lemon juice twang. Fast, easy, and delicious. Here's to the old school!
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White Spider

ingredients:
1 ounce Gin
1 ounce Lemon Juice
1/2 ounce Cointreau
1 tsp Simple Syrup (for syrup boil 1/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water until sugar dissolves, then cool)

method:
Combine ingredients with ice in cocktail shaker. Give it a few vigorous shakes and strain into a cocktail glass.

Seattle sojourn, part 1

Does everything feel better today or am I just imagining it? I brought home a glow from a recent overnight trip to Seattle where the oysters at left were joyfully consumed, then today's inauguration has seemingly illuminated the world. I'll leave everyone with their own reflections on today's incredible events in the District, but shed a little light on Seattle, because for one night out, we had an incredible time with two fabulous meals. Part one today, part two tomorrow.

Living in Portland, Seattle has always been the perfect one or two night escape. Far enough way to not be too accessible, but close enough that with an approximately 3 hour drive you're there and kicking it in one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Now I'm a huge fan of my hometown, but with the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and the Olympic Mountains just across the water, and especially on two sparklingly clear days like we miraculously had, this is really an incredible setting. For me it's a classic "LOVE to visit, wouldn't want to live there" kind of places. To kick off our visit, w had made reservations at the Alexis Hotel as we wanted to bring our young lad Chopper along with us and they are very dog friendly. They even brought a dog bed, a dog dish, and treats to the room. Chops was living large. If it wasn't for his inconvenient lack of opposable thumbs and a certain inability to speak, I'm sure he would have been giving room service a workout when w and I were out to dinner and he was in the room alone (yeah, he's also the perfectly behaved dog, too)! Everyone at the Alexis was incredibly friendly, helpful, and seemed intent on defining the word "hospitality". Great place in a superb location.
So after settling in and putzing around the neighborhood, we headed out to dinner at Crow (with a stop for a cocktail at Palace Kitchen where I had their addictive deep fried olives and a perfect sidecar), where I had eaten once before a few years ago and have continued to read superlative reviews of since. Down on Lower Queen Anne, Crow is set in a large open space that still retains a lot of warmth, with a bar on the right when you walk in, tables scattered around the middle, and toward the back an open kitchen with seats along a counter, which is of course the choice spot for a little smack talking with the cooks. To get in the right frame of mind i ordered a half-dozen oysters. I can't remember exactly what kinf they were, but they were maybe the best I've ever had. Kumamoto-sized, with a meaty texture, these definitely set the right tone! Then we hit the apps menu with a pomegranate and date salad, grilled manchego cheese (left), and potted pork rillette (pic above this paragraph). All three were delicious. The salad was lightly dressed bibb lettuce with candied walnuts to go with the pomegranate seeds and dates. The manchego was wrapped in grape leaves, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and grilled to a slightly softened texture, then served on top on ratatouille. Awesome! Can you say "steal that idea" for my next dinner party? And of course the pork rillette was rich, savory shredded shoulder, ready to be spread on crostini, with a frisée salad alongside. All three were generously portioned, and went all too well with a crisp bottle of Vermentino from Italy.

For our entrées all w had to hear was "scallops" as the fish of the day and she was in. The reason I love sitting at open kitchen counters: I was wavering between their braised beef short ribs and the duck and pork cassoulet. I could see several plates of both going out, and they both looked awesome. So I consulted a conveniently located, meaning three feet in front of me, line cook and got his opinion. A slight hesitation, then he said what I was hoping he would..."cassoulet"...one of my top three favorite foods in the world. While we were eagerly waiting the arrival of those two, we had our waiter pop the cork on a bottle of 2001 Thomas Pinot Noir "Dundee Hills" I'd brought along. Have you heard the term "sublime pleasure" before? This was that. I'll expound more on a later post, but suffice to say this was incredible. So how were the two mains? Um, stellar? How about fabulous? How about I wish I was still sitting there eating? w's scallops were absolutely spot on, crisply seared, surrounding a pile of roasted brussel sprout hash that was remarkably similar to this one, and was a just right counterpoint to the scallop. My cassoulet, you ask? Well, just let me say that it was everything I could have asked for. Rich, steaming hot, the pork and duck juicy, the beans just tender enough, topped with a crust of broiled bread crumbs, and so satisfying on cold winter evening. It's a classic for a reason, ya know?

w was ready to give up at this point, but if everything else was this good up this point, how could you possible NOT have a dessert? Or two? She's heard all of my rationalizations before, and kindly indulges my overindulgences, so we finished with a pistachio cream napoleon and a bowl of cubed ginger cake topped with whipped cream. All I can say is they did not disappoint! Just like the whole Crow experience! A little drunk, full, and happy, we stumbled merrily back to the Alexis and Chopper's resentful glare!
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one year ago yesterday @ E.D.T.: you must try The Perfect Hendrick's Gimlet!

Your new favorite summer cocktail...no...REALLY!

Anyone can go the farmers market and shop for dinner ingredients. Even more fun is going to the market and shopping for cocktail ingredients! With that thought in mind and the impending arrival of friends for our pal Denise's birthday dinner that we were whipping up yesterday (many recipes to come from that off-the-hook soirée, I promise!), w and I hit the local Hollywood (yes, there's a Hollywood neighborhood in Portland. Don't ask me why.) farmers market to grab big green, fragrant, beautiful looking bunches of basil for this awesome Basil Vodka Gimlet to welcome our guests in refreshing style on a sweltering summer evening.

I saw this recipe last year in Food and Wine. Now I am a huge fan of the traditional gin gimlet, especially made with Hendrick's gin. This FW recipe caught my eye because it looked so delicious and made with such a seasonal ingredient. How often do you get to make "seasonal" cocktails? Anyway, we made them once last year to great applause, and I've been jonesing for them since. I'm telling you, if you want to wow your guests with an easy, perfectly balanced, incredibly flavorful, and absolutely delicious drink, this is it!
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Basil Vodka Gimlets
makes six drinks

note: the recipe calls for stirring them in a pitcher and serving them in an 8 to 10 ounce highball glass filled with ice. I much prefer them shaken and served up, so the nuanced flavors don't dilute in the melting ice.

ingredients:
1 cup basil lemon syrup (recipe follows)
3/4 to 1 cup vodka
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

method:
Mix together all three ingredients in a pitcher. Fill cocktail shaker 3/4 full of ice. Pour enough mixture to just cover the ice cubes. Shake the hell out of it. Strain into martini glasses. Repeat as necessary!
Garnish with basil sprigs or lemon twists if you want.
* * *

Basil Lemon Syrup
makes about 5 cups
ingredients:
4 cups packed fresh basil leaves
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
9 or 10 (3-by 1") strips of lemon peel

method:
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium sauce pan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let stand at room temperature, covered, for one hour, then transfer to refrigerator to chill for one hour. Strain syrup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on and then discarding solids.
* Syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 5 days.

Ginned up!

Not only is Portland the home to the greatest number of craft breweries in the world, but to metaphorically put the olive in the martini, we lucky denizens of this thirst ridden city are also fortunate enough to have a growing number of craft distillers whose vodkas, gins, whiskies, and other intoxicants are gaining nation-wide recognition. Stephen McCarthy and his legendary Clear Creek Distillery started the boom years ago. Now labels like Medoyeff, Aviation, New Deal, Ransom, and others are putting smiles on faces in bars across the country. We even have our own and the nation's first craft distillers guild. Being somewhat of a gin freak, when word of a new bottling of this most botanical of beverages comes my way, I have this uncontrollable urge to visit my nearest liquor store (which I always get a probably unhealthy pleasure out of going to in a grownup kid-in-an-adult-candy-store way. Even after all these years there is still a kind of illicit thrill to viewing those shelves of demon alcohol!) in search of my next martini mixer.

My latest find is the newly released gin from Integrity Sprits called 12 Bridges. As they say on their very nicely put together website, 12 Bridges is "aptly named for the number of bridges in our city, and for the 12 botanicals in its recipe". It ran a little over $25 an attractively packaged bottle, and it was with great anticipation I took it home to mix that first gin-and-tonic on a sweltering evening. I (along with my co-palate in pleasure w) first took a sniff and a sip straight up to get a feel for it. Definite floral, citrus, cucumber notes were very apparent, along with the usual juniper botanicals, on the nose and in the mouth. I know, it's kind of dorky to sniff your gin, but what can I say, I'm obsessed. Mixed with the tonic really brought out the cucumber flavors. It reminded me a lot of Hendrick's Gin with those same kinds of sensations. Like Hendrick's, I'm sure it would make a killer gimlet. Tonight I'll try a 12 Bridges martini, because I would hate to skimp on my research. I'm not sure about national distribution, but if you see it, it is definitely worthy of ice and tonic. Cheers!!