Springtime in a bowl at Nel Centro

Our mission continues — working our way through all the restaurants in the line-up for Dining Month Portland.

This stop: Lisa dines at Nel Centro, Dave Machado’s Riviera-inspired restaurant in the Hotel Modera.

Highlights: Bright, robust seasonal veggie soup (minestrone), loaded with plump  favas and English peas with a dollop of garlicky pesto in the middle.  So spring-like and delicious,  and the kind of soup I love to eat in restaurants because it represents hours of chopping…that I didn’t have to do!

Huge portions for the main dishes, and memorable blood orange and mandarin sorbet.

Lowlight: Cookie plate dessert option was straight from the meeting planners menu.  Lots of classic cookies piled on a plate, nearly all lacked interesting, distinctive flavor — except the pistachio macaroon, which was flawless.

NW Portland’s Serratto is one of my favorite spots in town – it doesn’t get a ton of buzz, but it’s been around forever (over 25 years!) and is one of those old Portland staples with great food, excellent service, and an upscale yet warm and cozy ambiance. They also happen to have one of the best happy hours in town, and being that the restaurant is a little pricey, it’s not the kind of place I generally go to for a 3-course dinner. So I was really excited to get the opportunity to check it out for Dining Month, and was very pleased with the meal – all of the dishes were beautifully prepared, the wine pairings were thoughtful and on-point, and the service, as always, was impeccable.

I started off with a chilled asparagus soup, served with crème fraiche and micro-greens set atop a mini crostini  - a combination that gave each bite the perfect crunchy texture and refreshing creamy mouthfeel.

In my opinion, the main course was the standout dish – a house-made spaghetti served with sautéed prawns, English peas, cherry tomatoes and watercress, dressed in a lemon-dill cream. This dish was spot on in many ways – you could taste the freshness of the pasta in the first bite, and the spaghetti’s thick but airy texture made it difficult to put my fork down. While the prawns were cooked to perfection, the dill was a bit strong for me and took away from the simplicity of this otherwise perfect plate.

For the third course we enjoyed a Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée served with a shortbread cookie…rich and flavorful, but with a bit of an overglazed top.

Hope you enjoy my photos from the evening – as always, I had another very pleasant experience at Serratto. There’s just something about this place that draws me in and makes me feel right at home, and even if I only go back for happy hour, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Serratto.

Chilled Asparagus Soup

House-made Spaghetti

I lucked out and snagged reservations at one of the newest restaurants on the Dining Month list before any of my colleagues, and wow… I’m glad I did. Aviary opened up on NE Alberta St. less than a year ago, and I’ve been hearing the buzz so the $25 menu was all I needed to leap over the threshold and into a seat in the industrial chic restaurant.

The regular menu is arranged in a list like tapas – no departments or courses – but the Dining Month menu was set up more traditionally, separated as three courses and two options for each course, so my companion and I ordered it all and shared. There’s a lot to rave about here, including an exciting wine list with great values, so I’ll stick to our favorites.

Bread was served with bagna cauda, a cream-based olive oil and anchovie dip that reminded me of a thin fondue. I knew I was in for a sophisticated food adventure after my first bite of an ox tail croquette with tomato jam. A thin, crisp breading cracked open to reveal a nugget of tender oxtail with exotic flavors. Amazing. I paired this course with a glass of Cameron Pinot Blanco and it had enough muscle to hold up, and even accentuate the warm spices in this dish.

For the entree, our favorite was a glazed black cod that was so tender we swore it had to be sous vide, though we were informed it was not. It was served with Japanese eggplant, chorizo and fennel. Just when I thought it couldn’t get better, dessert arrived. Our favorite was the buttermilk panna cotta topped with mango gelee and passion fruit sorbet. Tangy, sweet and addictive enough to already have me pondering my next visit.

Tabla Bistro is located off 28^th and Davis, nestled in between chocolate shops and old Portland houses, the location makes the experience feel unique and relaxing. There were some excellent things to note about our experience at Tabla Bistro. The Dining Month prix fixe was three dishes off of the regular menu paired carefully for the best flavor combination and value. Each portion was well thought out, the flavors of each dish did not supersede the one before. The ambience was comfortable, and nice. The service was excellent and for a Tuesday night Tabla Bistro was bustling with business.

What I don’t normally care for with 3-Course menus is the requirement to make one dish of the prix fixe your dessert. Tabla Bistro recognizes this; their 3-Course menu offers an appetizer, pasta, and entrée, which allowed for me to opt into the dessert in the end. For my Dining Month three-course prix fixe I began with the Farmer’s Market Lettuces, followed with the Tajarin truffle butter house-made pasta, and closed with their delectable Forbidden Rice Risotto. The food was rich with flavor, fresh, and well thought out. My guest veered a little with her salad selection, and tried their Spring Vegetable Salad, which she elegantly licked clean from the plate.

In my opinion, not including the dessert in the prix fixe was well thought out, because the second I heard that they offered a Chai Gelato I had to order it. I was able to try more during my dinner, and still jumped at the chance for dessert even though I had already eaten three courses. The Chai Gelato was the perfect combination of something comforting and light to finish off my meal.

My photos from dinner turned out awful, given that they were taken via candlelight, however thanks to The Oregonian I can show off the Tajarin that I was able to enjoy during my Dining Month experience. Let the salivating begin!

Our Dining Month Portland challenge is in full swing at Watershed HQ and that means the opportunity to share our reviews with each other, and with you.  We’ll be posting mini-reviews from some of our restaurant visits on our blog throughout the week.  The list of Dining Month participants can be a little daunting at first, so my personal strategy was simple – start at the top of the list and work my way down.

I should probably mention that I have amazing friends and family who were amused, and slightly baffled, at the idea of trying to visit all of the participating Dining Month restaurants.  Thankfully, they’ve been good sports who are willing to take one for the team (er, waistband?) so I get great meals and some pretty awesome company to boot.  Last night my Dining Month posse visited 50 Plates.

Our first course was iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, bacon and scallions.  It was simple and delicious. So delicious in fact, that we dove right in and I forgot to get any pictures.

The second course of the evening was a half Draper Valley chicken served with grits and greens.  The portion was more than generous and the dish reminded me of something my Grandma in Missouri would have made, if she were a better cook.

The third course was a chocolate devils food cake with brown sugar ice cream.  You can’t really go wrong with chocolate cake and it was rich enough that we could have easily shared one portion.

As a team we’ve visited 10 restaurants so far, with 51 to go.  Has anyone else checked out the Dining Month Portland deals?  What did you think?  Let us know which ones have been your favorites in the comments below.

I like to do my part to help out – especially when the work involves eating.

For Dining Month I chose to go to Metrovino, located off 11th and Northrup in the Pearl District.  There are many great things to say about this place – the classy ambiance made me feel underdressed in my undershirt (it was the hottest day of the year when I was there) but the friendly staff made me feel welcome and at ease; and they weren’t irritated by my pesky vegetarian questioning.  As a self-described “peskytarian” every dining opportunity is like walking through a minefield mouth first.  That’s why I’m appreciative of the patience exhibited by the fine folks at Metrovino.

For the Dining Month three-course prix fixe I inhaled their pea soup (forgetting any sense of time and place, and forgetting to write down the proper name), followed by their Roasted Alaskan Halibut Fillet and topped off with their Meyer Lemon Panna Cotta for dessert.  I also stole some mammoth bites of the Chocolate Espresso Cake but anyone would have done the same.

While Metrovino is well known for their wine selection – I couldn’t resist the allure of an old flame called Guinness.

It was a lovely day for a Guinness, and a lovely day to enjoy the Dining Month deals at Metrovino.

Oh, glorious June in Portland! The sun is shining, the flowers are flowering, and most glorious of all, the restaurants are treating the city to Dining Month Portland — three-course menus for a measly $25.

At Watershed, we’ve decided to embrace this opportunity enthusiastically, in fact we’ve set ourselves the challenge of dining at every one of the 61 participating restaurants. We’re ambitious, but we’re not insane, so we’re dividing and conquering. With eight of us bringing our appetites to the project, we’re pretty confident about achieving our goal.

And most importantly, we’re not just feeding ourselves, but helping feed others. When you make a reservation at a participating restaurant using the OpenTable link on Dining Month Portland site, a donation will be made to the Oregon Food Bank.

In the first week, we’ve hit these spots: Serrato, Otto, Tabla, Departures, 50 Plates, Cafe Nell, Yakuza, Paley’s Place, and Gracie’s. Up next, clarklewis,  Fratelli and who knows where else.

Here’s what Katie had to say about Yakuza:

“Downtown Dining steal… Seriously good deal! Started with their refreshing cucumber and avocado salad with sesame and tagarashi.   Then their stunning scallop tempura with shredded filo that sits on a bed of rich spicy mayo aioli.  It reminds me of punk rock sushi — definitely a mohawk sort of look.  Perfectly cooked and delicious with or without the spicy mayo aioli.  I like it without, so I can taste the seasoning that’s dusted over the filo…might be a lime salt?  Then dungeness crab rolls with crème fraiche. Wish I could have had the burger in the mix, but hey, you can’t have everything! Swanky vibe – dark, perfect place for a mid-week date night.”

The news that Duane Sorenson of Stumptown has sold 90% of the company to a NY investment firm has us stumped here at Watershed. Not stumped about why Sorenson would sell the company, but stumped about why some initial reactions locally were so negative, with phrases like “sell-out” peppering the conversation.

We hope that the quality and values of Stumptown remain in place as it expands, but frankly even if the quality slips a bit but I can get a Stumptown coffee in the Minneapolis airport at some point soon, I’ll be happy.

This seems part of the evolution of good food in our country – as the dedicated small artisans get  successful, they get bigger and expand their artisan-quality products to a wider audience, even if there is some dilution on the large scale. In my experience as a cook, Scharffen Berger chocolate is a good example…bought by Hershey’s, still good chocolate but easier for consumers to buy. Good food shouldn’t be just for the members of the insiders’ club.

The biggest stumper for us, however, was the obfuscation by Sorenson for the first few days. Maybe his lawyers told him he couldn’t talk, but haven’t we all learned that honesty at the outset avoids all kinds of bad feelings later? (just ask Rep. Weiner, poor pathetic dude).

Our PR philosophy is based on total transparency, accountability, and never backing away from a challenging discussion. If we had been advising Sorenson, we might have suggested a “Yay for me, don’t be envious, and yay for good coffee across the country” proclamation, and then let the discussion proceed from there. If people are looking to find fault with Sorenson’s actions, clouding the facts simply provides more fuel.

This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure of making the journey back to my hometown of Port Townsend, Washington for our annual Rhododendron Festival.

During the week-long celebration, this Victorian seaport of 8,500 people turns into a bustling village with expats returning from regional cities to associate with old friends and to partake in merrymaking.

(this is my buddy Dan making a pizza, using his homemade arugula pesto)

Long ago I lost the desire to watch the main event – a grand parade featuring marching bands, local politicians, boy scout troops, bagpipers, and princesses riding atop fantasy scenes crafted from paper maché.  Now it’s more about rekindling old friendships, having fun, and perhaps even taking a little break from reality.

(this sign was on the local Bank of America)

One of the things I love to do when I return home is to eat and drink all of my favorite foods from the 20+ years I spent living there.  I have a spot in particular where I don’t even really like the coffee, but one sip takes me back to an era in which I had dropped out of college and spent the winter digging cable trenches and weatherizing houses in the cold, rain and wind.  Ahhh, memories.

Another beverage – Port Townsend Brewing Company’s “Chet’s Gold” reminds me of an era in which my band, in its infantile form, played for courteous friends at Sirens Pub – fueled in part of course by said beverage.

While many of the foods available in my town are noteworthy for sentimental reasons – there are also fantastic exceptions that deserve their rightful place upon my personal culinary pedestal – including anything from Waterfront Pizza, and the Mushroom Poach from the Salal Café.

Yet, while enjoying the spoils I realized there was a piece of me missing at every dining occasion – I was without the people who would appreciate these food-related discoveries the most – my esteemed colleagues at Watershed Communications.

Therefore, before heading back to Portland I brought a few of my favorite artisan products from local companies to share with my colleagues including beer from Port Townsend Brewing Company, tuna and salmon from Cape Cleare Fishery and cheese from Mt. Townsend Creamery.  This afternoon we took a much needed break and relaxed over amazing cheese, beer and delicious smoked salmon from my favorite small-town artisan producers.

The Port Townsend Bitter and the Seastack were notable favorites, but I think everyone agreed that everything was delicious and I’m proud to come from such a strong, vibrant, artistic and beautiful little town.

Finally, I thought I’d show a photo I took of an actual landline phone that I came across in someone’s house.  Apparently retirees aren’t the only ones who go to Port Townsend to live out their golden years

Last Saturday marked the 7th Portland Indie Wine & Food Festival, and wow, was it a success!

We’d like to thank everyone involved from our generous sponsors, craft winemakers and chefs to our passionate volunteers and attendees who all exhibited their passion, love and support for Oregon’s craft winemaking community.

It’s after all the hard work is done (we’re happy it’s Friday!), that we have a chance to see the positive response from our media and consumer attendees.  Thanks for the support and here are a few highlights:

Paul Gregutt, Seattle Times
http://www.paulgregutt.com/2011/05/when-to-spit-and-not-to-split.html

Jennifer Heigl, The Daily Blender
http://www.dailyblender.com/2011/05/celebrating-independent-wines-at-portlands-indie-wine-food-festival/

Allison Jones, Portland Monthly’s Eat Beat
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/blogs/eat-beat/pourings-and-pairings-may-2011/#

Don Bourassa, Yelp.com
http://www.yelp.com/biz/portland-indie-wine-and-food-festival-portland