So I actually came to Hiko for a birthday treat from Smooth Obturator and Triple T. Hiko had been on my radar for some time after some really rave reviews from Ghetto Booty Talks A Lot. This was many years ago, when he said Hiko was some of the BEST sushi he has ever eaten. So finally I had an opportunity to try this place, which oddly enough is closed on the weekends. To me, it seems strange to close on the weekends (the busiest dining time), but maybe that means the sushi is super fresh since fisherman aren't working on the weekends supposedly.
Tuna
I've never been a huge fan of tuna since its pretty tasteless. To help offset the bland nature of this fish, it is often bathed in a sea of ponzu, topped with finely chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds. I thought this preparation was pretty standard, but I still think Sugarfish edges this one out. There is just something so tasty about their ponzu sauce.
Yellowtail
Luscious and delicious.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Hiko Sushi
Sunday, July 17, 2011
J&J
For all of those tired of the updates about Thailand, this one's for you...
The San Gabriel Valley has no shortage of dumplings. In my experience, most of the dumplings are just OK, never really achieving that yum-inspiring lip-smacking deliciousness of Luscious Dumpling, which I am convinced has to use MSG. Most taste like something you could have whipped up at home. As for soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung simply reigns supreme. J&J makes a good attempt at putting out regular and soup dumplings that taste better than something home made.
Snow Pea Leaves sauteed in garlic
I would love it if I were able to buy these vegetables in any market, Asian or non-Asian, at the same quality as the restaurants. I've purchased these once in NYC Chinatown and while I did not prep them properly, they still did not have that same freshness or tenderness. Here the veggies were plentiful, and although not top quality like at the pricey Chinese seafood restaurants, still pretty delicious.
Niu Rou Mian beef noodle soup
I thought the concoction at this particular place was a tad on the bland side but Dumpling Man likes his food to be tame and simple, while I tend to lean toward food with kick and punch. The portion was certainly more than generous for the price, not an uncommon finding in the SGV.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
Nara
So from Phuket, we headed toward Bangkok. Here we would partake in the wedding festivities of my dear friend Bruin Bear. Bruin Bear is NOT Thai, but she got married in Thailand. Awesome, I know. Awesome for us guests, since we got to eat and party for a couple days straight. Because the wedding took up most of our time in Bangkok, we didn't eat out much. On our one night when we were on our own for dinner, I managed to find a pretty good restaurant that was just walking distance from our hotel. Nara was reviewed on Trip Advisor as being liked by tourists and locals alike. It was a pretty hip trendy looking restaurant with pretty good prices. My only complaint is that the portions were on the smaller side but we just ordered more food.
Papaya Salad with Crispy Fried Pork
This was a pretty standard, but delicious papaya salad, topped with some crispy, fatty, tender cuts of pork. I wish there was more of this to go around. The spoiled brat in me was upset I had to share.
Tapioca Balls with Ground Pork
Panda Bear felt a special bond for the "blue balls" so he just had to order them. We were all very suspect of the possibility that any "blue balls" could be good "blue balls" but these were in fact very tasty. It consisted of ground seasoned pork encased in mochi like goodness. Again, they were so small and I wanted more!
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Thursday, July 14, 2011
Savoey
So after the previous nights less than impressive seafood, I got lazy and did not take pictures of the ONE meal with what ended up being the best tom yum kum soup I've ever tasted and freshest most tender prawns in red chili sauce. What I believed to be Aroonsom Food Park, was actually probably the Patong Seafood Park that was serving this amazing food. In any case, what's done was done, and I only have the memories in my head to remember that meal.
For our final dinner in Phuket, we really wanted excellent seafood even if we had to pay out the nose for it. We were tempted to walk back to the Patong Seafood Park, but instead opted for something different and went with Savoey at the recommendation of the concierge. We had an inkling it would be pricey especially after seeing it was an indoors, air conditioned, bright, and clean dining establishment. By the time we had braved the ladyboys and ping pong show offerings of Bangla Road, we were hot, tired, and hungry and just wanted to eat.
Prawns in Red Chili Paste
Dumpling Man, Panda Bear, and Token Bear went off to hand select our seafood that was to meet its doom at the hands of boiling water and vats of scalding hot oil. The prawns were good, but they just weren't as amazing as the previous night's prawns. They seemed a bit tougher, perhaps from being overcooked I suspect. The sauce also didn't seem to penetrate the meat as well, just lacked that punch.
Steamed Mussels with Thai Herbs
These were kind of bland. The Thai herbs like lemongrass and garlic added fragrant flavors but I think this one needed some salt. They were great after dipping them in the crazy chili garlic fish sauce dipping sauces.
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Thursday, July 7, 2011
Baan Hat Rawai
After a long day of doing absolutely nothing at the hotel (ie: gym time, pool time, beach time, jet skiing, massages...torturous I know!) we figured it was time to get out and headed 45min south toward the tip of Phuket Island to Promthep Cape to check out the beautiful sunset. The long hot muggy ride felt longer than it actually was, since it was NOT in the luxury of an air conditioned taxi van, but rather an oversized tuk tuk like this
Unfortunately, this time of year is rainy/monsoon season in Thailand so that day was particularly cloud and not good for trying to watch the sunset. We made the most of it and stopped by a restaurant nearby. Our tuk tuk driver wanted to take us some place else but we were distrustful of his intentions, however this restaurant ended up being my least favorite of the trip, so maybe we should have taken him up on his recommendation.
Shrimp with Red Chili Sauce
Not so plentiful on the shrimp, but good nonetheless.
Fried Rice
Nothing spectacular
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sea Hag
Apologies for my absence from the blogosphere. I've found myself at a bit of a transition in my life, ending one chapter and starting a new one. Hopefully, this next chapter will leave me less overworked and underfed, which will allow for new and different food adventures. To kick things off, I'll be blogging about my recent vacation to Thailand. We (Dumpling Man, Care Bear, Token Bear aka Random Bear, Panda Bear, Little Bear, and myself) hit up Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai (just Dumpling Man and myself). Yay! for hot as balls humidity, fun in the sun, more temples and buddhas than I could count, and elephants that paint flowers and trees. As for the food, I tried my best to find authentic Thai eats but we could only do so well without speaking the language. We definitely relied on pictures and English translations, so we couldn't go too far off the beaten path.
Sea Hag is probably one of those restaurants frequented by tourists since its in a pretty busy/touristy area of Patong Beach on the island of Phuket, but it was pretty solid start to our exotic vacation.
Squid Salad tomatoes, onions, lime, chili, cilantro, glass noodles
Complements of the house! The squid was a bit chewy, but I never met a Thai salad I didn't like. I love the combination of salty, sweet, tangy, and spicy.
Larb Gai ground chicken, lime, chili, onions, rice powder
Another Thai favorite of mine. It was sort of a paltry serving, but I enjoyed it.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Osteria Mozza
Behold! One of the BEST restaurants in LA! My first trip to Osteria Mozza was a mindblowing experience, but my camera and my inexperienced skills resulted in some pretty mediocre pictures. This time around, I came prepared with the H.o.P. and an SLR camera in tow, courtesy of Running Man, of course.
Osteria Mozza is known for its handmade fresh pastas and mozarella bar. The main entrees are good, but certainly less impressive than the aforementioned foods. Even if you don't like cheese, you should try items from the mozarella bar. You will NOT be disappointed.
Now dining here twice, I would say to avoid dining here in a large group. By large I mean more than 6. There's only about 4? tables that accomodate groups that large. Both times we waited close to 1 hour past our reservations because some squatters were endlessly shooting the shit at our reserved tables. You could imagine how disgruntled a bunch of hungry foodies could get in this situation. My sister and I were throwing angry stares like poisoned-tipped daggers at the people still squatting at our table. We would casually walk by, make eye contact, and proceed to give the dirtiest of all dirty looks. I blame the hunger for my rudeness! After being seated, we were handsomely rewarded for our long wait with some free food.
Mozarella with Four Sauces salsa verde, romesco, olive tapenade, caperberry relish
I probably would not order this if I had to pay for it, but since it was free, it was delicious. It was pretty simple, just a blob of smooth creamy mozarella and different accoutrements on crispy grilled bread. I think my favorite was the romesco or the salsa verde.
Burrata with Bacon marinated escarole, caramelized shallots
Since Smooth Obturator and myself have been here before, we suggested the best way to order: 1 mozarella and 1 pasta dish per person. We pretty much all had to order this particular dish. It is a mini bite of heaven. The bacon provides a smoky saltiness, the caramelized shallots brings a rich sweetness, the escarole brings texture and slight bitterness, and the burrata is unparalleled in rich creaminess. It is probably the most satisfying thing off the mozarella bar menu.
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Monday, May 9, 2011
Cube Cafe & Marketplace
So it was my birthday a few weeks back and I wanted to celebrate with a week-long festival of eating. If you know me, you know that I don't like to dine in large groups with a few exceptions of course (Korean bbq, potlucks, etc). So I celebrated my birthday with separate groups of friends on different days. I guess I really pumped my birthday for all its worth, but I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves. Round 1 consisted of Care Bear, Token Bear, MC Bowtie, The Bottomless Pit, Macadamia Bear, Teety, Buff Bear, The Pouter and Grumpy Bear.
Cube doesn't seem like a place that is on people's radar. When I say people, I mean bloggers. I get a lot of my restaurant recommendations from fellow bloggers, but I found Cube on Yelp and had it on my to-try list for some time. It's an Italian restaurant focused on seasonal ingredients with a great selection of cheeses and salami. I'll try my best to describe all the foods, but I got pretty smashed (thanks to Teety for bringing the 5 buck chuck) that night so it may be more of a pictorial than a true blog entry.
Hook's 5-yr Cheddar cranberry
They started us off with a nice cheddar that went nicely with the tart dried cranberry. I don't know much about cheeses so pardon my lack of descriptors.
Formaggi e Salumi assortment (left to right) red cow parmesan, aged balsamic vinegar, dried cranberries, gruyerre, 4-yr gouda, candied pecans, some very soft cheese like brie, salchichon, roasted marcona almonds, tartufo salami
I was pretty impressed with the nice spread our waiter selected for us. I thought everything was delicious, and I'm not even a huge cheese fan.
Prosciutto di Parma
You can never go wrong with prosciutto!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Syrup
The problem I often encounter when I dine with friends, is that people are so full by the end of the meal that nobody wants to get dessert. Or out of guilt, they don't want to get dessert. Syrup Desserts has been on my radar since its early opening. But its location in Downtown and the aforementioned reasons, I didn't get to try it until recently.
The place was pretty packed, but I was able to snag a table. From my table, I eyed a shiny bright display full of treats. I knew better than to order anything from this window, since the place is known for their waffle creations.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Honda Ya Izakaya
Bacon wrapped scallop
Friday, April 15, 2011
Son of a Gun
Can you believe people are too busy to eat? For me, the world stops just so I can eat. Some how though, I have a hard time getting people to gather for a good meal. Always some ridiculous business about work, feeling sick, feeling tired, journal club, I mean the laundry list of excuses is endless. I mean, uhh, priorities people?? Anyways, I finally got a reservation for Son of a Gun and gathered a small party of people. Apparrently there is only 1 table that accomodates large parties so I had to keep my party small. Of course, The Bottomless Pit was first in line. Buff Bear, who is not as robust as his name would suggest, finally got over his umpteenth sinus infection and brought gf, Cher Bear along.
Shrimp Toast Sandwich herbs, siracha mayo (MUST HAVE #1)
WOW, best mother^%@!ing shrimp toast sandwich EVER!!! This was my FAVORITE dish of the night. I totally wished there were more of it to go around. We ordered 2 to split between 4 people and if I were to return I would suggest each diner get his/her own shrimp toast sandwich. Sadly, the sandwich is definitely smaller than a 4x4 gauze pad. The exterior of the toast was well toasted with the help of a generous slathering of butter I am sure. The bread itself was so fresh and soft. All the bread that night was perfect! Now the combination of the shrimp and siracha mayo was a harmonious combination of my favorite ocean protein with a dyn-O-mite creamy and spicy sauce. It dripped down onto my plate and I seriously wanted to lick it up! LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Lobster Roll celery, lemon aioli (MUST HAVE #2 per popular opinion)
Somehow I imagined this, and pretty much all the sandwiches to be much bigger than they actually were. This seriously was no bigger that a White Castle Slider, and again we only got 2 to share among 4 of us. Anyways, these didn't have as much kick as previous dish. Similarly though, the bread was super fresh and soft and toasty. The lobster was creamy without being overwhelming and heavy. The potato chips were a nice touch but didn't add all that much. I think it could have used a touch more lemon to balance out the cream. Don't get me wrong, this was another winner in my book!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Chowder Cook Off
Since Smooth Obturator moved to beach, he's been trying to embrace the true "California fun in the sun" lifestyle and culture. He goes running on the beach, bike riding up to Santa Monica and down to Redondo Beach, and occasionally surfing if he feels like looking like a fool. It's been nice to have a place to go to that's right on the beach, even though it's not my own place. On one gloomy weekend, my mom, Smooth Obturator, and Triple T rode bikes down to Redondo Beach to catch a chowder cook-off near the pier. Also in this area, there is a small seafood market that sells fresh shellfish like crabs, oysters, and clams and fry joint next door that sells prepared foods like ceviche, fried shrimp, french fries, fried oysters, etc.
Fresh Seafood
You can select the different sorts of oysters you'd like to be shucked. You can also pick from a good selection of different crabs to be steamed on request.
Chowder Cook Off
I'm not really sure which "charity" they were raising money for and I forgot to ask. For $7 you got to have 5 samplings out of the 12 vendors serving chowder. Only one booth was offering Manhattan Clam Chowder. Everyone else was serving your regular New England Clam Chowder. In the end you vote for your favorite.
For the most part, none of the chowders were that amazing. The ones that stood out were the ones that had a nice use of herbs like rosemary and were chunky with plenty of potatoes, veggies, and clams. The one in the bottom middle was frankly offensive for being watery and salty. I was the only one that paid the $7 for the chowder sampling. Smooth Obturator would have preferred I sample all the chowders and then tell him which one was worth buying a big bowl.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Osteria Mamma
There are just too many Osterias in town. From Mozza, La Buca, Angelini, and Mamma, it's quite difficult to keep them all straight. The common theme for all these restaurants stems from the meaning of "osteria" which "in Italian literally means a place where the owner 'hosts' people, or an Italian-style eating establishment, similar to a tavern, usually in the country, less formal than a ristorante or trattoria, where wine is served as the main attraction and tasty food is served to wash it down." Since I have now been to all these Osterias, I can confirm that they all share a casual ambiance and serve food that is without frills.
Osteria Mamma is unfortunately the least impressive of all these Italian eateries. It's not that Mamma doesn't know her pasta, it's just that La Buca, and especially Angelini and Mozza know it a whole freaking lot better. It's not fair to compare since the price point is considerably more damaging to the wallet at the latter two places. Panda Bear, Little Bear, Luau Bear, Bubble Bear, and The Bottomless Pit (aka Hates Asian Food) gathered for the hope of good eats.
Polipolata grilled mediterranean octopus, fresh celery, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and potatoes
I was highly anticipating a warm salad of grilled octopus that was tender while toothsome on the inside and charred and crispy on the outside. Unfortunately, the octopus was just too soft and lacked texture. It also had a weird fishy taste which only added insult to injury. And as a final slap in the face, the dish was sorta room temperature. It was confusing. They certainly were generous on the protein, but the dish could have used more balance from the other elements, but maybe not the tomatoes which were disappointingly tasteless. I will admit, the olive oil was amazingly fragrant!
a
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Seoul Garden
There are few times in my foodie life when other people show me the good places to eat in town. Usually, it's the other way around since I make it my mission to know about and dine at all the best spots in LA. So it was really nice to discover something delicious in Seoul Garden at the recommendation of The Pouter. I've been here many times since and I've been able to share this place with other friends. On this occasion, I brought LoMa-Linda here to enjoy Seoul Garden's specialty, Korean style shabu shabu.
Salad
Nothing particularly special, but just your standard iceberg lettuce with tangy creamy dressing.
Banchan
Dipping sauce
Japanese shabu shabu is usually served with a soy based sauce and a peanut/sesame sauce. At Seoul Garden, you only get one sauce, which is a slightly tangy and sweet soy sauce. It can get a little tiring eating your meat with just one flavor, but the sauce tastes great with everything.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Lukshon
LA seems to be infected with "yellow fever" for Asian food, or some interpretation of it. With WP24, A-Frame, Red Medicine, Aburiya Torinako, Spice Table, and now Lukshon, the LA scene is blowing up with all that is deliciously eastern in flavors and foods.
The restaurant is wonderfully sleek and modern. The menu is not meant for vegetarians. It's full of meat and seafood starting off with a selection of raw and hot small plates. Since Soprano Man is adverse to anything uncooked, we stuck with mostly cooked appetizers. Our waiter suggested 2-3 selections from the "big" or entree sized category and then we supplemented with some rice, noodles, and vegetable sides. I think we, or rather I, did a good job at ordering for our group of 5. We found our meal quite balanced and everyone was full, but not ripping at the seams, at the end of the night.
Shrimp Toast rock shrimp, cilantro, chilies, tiny croutons
I would say our table is full of critics as tough, if not tougher, than the judges of Top Chef. Unfortunately, we are definitely lacking anyone as hot as Padma in a bikini. As soon as these lovely fried balls arrived to our table, some declared that these were not in fact toasts. Ball or toast, nothing would prevent any of us from shoving these into our hungry pie holes. The Attending (aka Tofu) did not appreciate much shrimp-iness. This is true, the balls did feel like loosely composed shrimp plus extra fillers. I still enjoyed the crispiness, overall flavor, and spicy tangy dipping sauce and would still order them again.
Beef Tartare pickled cucumbers, chiles, onions, herbs, aromatic rice powder
This reminded of the flavors found in larb, which is a dish of ground chicken, herbs, lime, chili, fish sauce, and rice powder. The seasoning was much more subtle and refined. Each bite was perfectly composed. Soprano Man really missed out on this one.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Fraiche
There's been a lot of buzz about Fraiche and its new chef Ben Bailey. Despite the 3 star ratings on Yelp, I had it on my list of to-try places even before Ben Bailey arrived because I really enjoyed their offering at Taste of Beverly Hills. Plus, Wontuan gave it his seal of approval. So with their new chef acquisition and all the blogger buzz, I just had to give it a try. Smooth Obturator and Triple T didn't have much expectations going in, so were pleasantly surprised by the solid eats.
Brussel Sprouts chorizo, manchego, dates, almonds, piquillo
Although brussel sprouts can do no wrong these days, I was underwhelmed by this salad. Smooth Obturator kept insisting the salad was good if you ate all the components together. Try as I may, I just didn't see the harmony in all the ingredients. I craved a bit more dressing to just bring it all together. I'll give the dish props for using an ingredient not usual thought of in salads!
Baby Beets house made ricotta, orange, pistachio
Triple T seemed to like her dish of beets. I'm always a bit put off when beets are not red, but yellow or orange. They're just not as "wow" because sometimes, like in this case, they look like sad apricots or orange slices. They tasted fine, slight sweet with meaty texture. Eaten with the ricotta and arrugula made for some flavorful bites.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Pambiche
After successive, yet delicious, New American meals, I was craving something with just a little bit more oomph and flavor. Perhaps some Asian fare? But of course, Portland isn't the place to be when you're craving a salty umami rich bowl of ramen or spicy cold Korean noodles. It was brunch time, and I think I had my fare share of Portland's dim sum. So what next? Well, I had yet to try Broder, which is a popular Scandinavian brunch spot. It really wasn't what I was craving, so I guess I was glad to see that, yet again, the wait was out the door. Plan B: Pambiche! Hooray for Cubans in Portland. How did they ever find their way here? I have no clue.
Bistec de Palomilla (Cuban Steak & Eggs) Thin cut top sirloin steaks, creole herbs and spices, pan fried red onions, scrambled eggs, fufú de plátano and Moros & Cristianos
I actually didn't get to try any of Zhu Zhu Hamster's dish because she looked like "death", and I didn't feel like catching "death." She seemed pretty happy with it though.
Pisto Manchego chorizo sausage, ham, bacon, gulf shrimp, russet potatoes, pimientos and petit pois, peppered egg scramble. Served with pan frito
I'm surprised Dumpling Man actually enjoyed this dish. It certainly has many components that he dislikes, but his original choice was all out. That's what happens when you come to brunch right when service is about to end. In any case, it was a mish mosh of proteins but it was very hearty.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Paley's Place
My tour of Portland's fine dining establishments continues with Paley's Place. It is owned by executive chef Vitaly Paley, who was awarded the 2005 James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest. It's located in a Victorian style house in the Northwest area of Portland. Reviews on Yelp complained about the place being small and cramped. I imagined the place would be quaint and full of "character." Surprisingly, it turned out to be quiet modern and decently spacious inside.
I was peeved that we had to wait an extra 30 minutes for your reservation. Finally they gave us teeny tiny glasses of some special apple cider to sip on. Seriously, it didn't taste any different than Treetop Apple Juice with some bubbles, but appreciated their effort to quell my brewing annoyance.
Amuse Bouche tuna salad
I was not so impressed with this little bite. It was a bit on the fishy side using cooked tuna. The addition of eggs and olives didn't make the bite any better.
Chilled Oysters on the Half Shell Hog Island (WA), Blue Pool (WA), Hamma Hamma (WA)
In choosing appetizers, Paley's Place has a selection of house made charcuterie and some French classics like steamed mussels, beef tartare, escargots, etc. While I would have loved to try some of the charcuterie and mussels, I decided to step outside my comfort zone and stray away from all my usual favorites. I'm pretty sure there would be no surprises to those usual staples. So instead, I went with the oysters, which I really enjoyed. Salty, sweet, briny, bright, with just a touch of lemon juice and we had us some good bites.
Monday, February 21, 2011
A&J
Even though Irvine is packed with Chinese people, the Chinese food is still inferior to that in the San Gabriel Valley. The SGV is more like bleeding Chinese people, so that probably explains the difference. This was my first time at A&J which is a Taiwanese restaurant, I think. They serve dumplings, noodles, small cold dishes, fried pork chop, etc. All the things that those little rascals from the island formerly known as Formosa love to eat.
Cucumber Salad hot garlic sauce
I think I was expecting a more pickled taste, but these were more sweet and spicy than anything else. Oh, they were also garlicky.
Spicy Wonton with Hot Red Sauce szechuan style
I absolutely love the version of this at Din Tai Fung. These were actually quite good here too. There could have been more filling to the wontons, but overall, pretty tasty with just the right amount of heat.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Daikokuya
Daikokuya makes up one of the Big 3 ramen joints in LA. I already posted about Shinsengumi, which probably ties for 2nd place with Daikokuya in my opinion. While I love their curly ramen noodles, I get more excited about the pork bowl than the ramen. Also, the wait time is simply atrocious. I thought I'd bypass a 30 minute to 1 hour wait by hitting up the Monterey Park location. The place is even more hole-in-the-wall than the Little Tokyo location and just as crowded. It's ok because I had lots to catch up on with Ho Bag to pass the time.
Ho Bag and I go waay back, back to the days when she actually wasn't a ho bag and to the days when I consumed carbs like a naughty diabetic. I couldn't think of 2 people who were more different but got along so well. Nowadays, you can find Ho Bag traipsing around the Big Apple living the "Sex in the City" life. Let's just say she's definitely NOT Charlotte.
Salad
The salad at Daikokuya is far from refreshing or light. The dressing, which drenches the shredded cabbage beneath it, tastes heavy, rich, and slightly fishy. I can only have a few bites before feeling overwhelmed. I'll give it credit for being one-of-a-kind.
Shredded Pork Rice Bowl
It is hands down one of the best pork rice bowls I've ever had. The pork is either extremely tender or extremely fatty because every bite of it just melts in your mouth. The sauce permeates through ever bite and wraps each rice kernel in a blanket of heavenly sweet umami flavor. Big winner here! Because we both ordered a combo of rice + ramen, I barely finished my rice bowl. I took the leftovers home but left it in my car overnight. What a waste!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Beast
Beast is a unique dining experience. It is a restaurant composed of a staff of 5 (2 chefs, 2 servers, 1 busboy) and 2 communal tables (20-30 seats) with a large open air kitchen. Dinner service is only offered Wednesday through Sunday with two seatings at 6:00pm and 8:45pm. Brunch is offered only on Sundays at 10am or 12pm.
Being one of Portland's fine dining establishments, it has garnered a reputation for simply and perfectly executed food in an intimate dining experience. The 6 course menu changes weekly depending on the availability of local seasonal ingredients.
Cream of Celery Soup meyer lemon salsa verde
I am usually not a fan of celery. I mean I like it in stuffing and chicken salad, but as a soup? I was really impressed with the simplicity and smooth texture of the soup. The best part was the meyer lemon salsa verde which added some nice unexpected acidity that rounded out the creamy sweetness of the soup. There were also some deep friend celery leaves I think? which brought a crispy earthiness. Very well done.
