A tea party revolt is happening across the pond this week in England and the subject is not taxes or the debt crisis. In fact, it’s a tea party revolt in the most literal sense: Twinings relaunched its classic Earl Grey tea as a new brand, The Earl Grey, and a chorus of sippers are not happy about it

The distinctive flavor of Earl Grey comes from bergamot oil. Bergamot is a kind of orange, and Twinings recently jazzed up the 180-year-old recipe with some extra citrus flavor.

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, comments on the company’s website describe the new tea as foul-tasting dishwater and say it tastes like lemon cleaning product. There’s even a campaign on Facebook urging Twinings to bring back the original Earl Grey.

The whole situation calls to mind the famous phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Twinings certainly isn’t the first company to alter a tried and true recipe to less than favorable results. Remember New Coke?

While Twinings figures it out, I think I will stick to my new favorite Earl Grey tea blend: Lord Bergamot from Steven Smith Teamaker; fragrant Ceylon Dimbulla and Uva are artfully combined with select teas from India’s Assam valley, then scented with the flavor of bergamot from the realm of Reggio Calabria, Italy. In a word: gorgeous.

Fred Fleming of Shepherd's Grain

Shepherd’s Grain is a co-op of 33 farmers in the Pacific Northwest who are changing the farming paradigm and possibly changing the world at the same time.  They have chosen to  opt out of the commodity wheat system, where prices are set by worldwide markets and production is mostly anonymous to the end-user, to instead produce wheat and other grain using a farming and pricing method that is sustainable in every sense of the word — environmentally, economically, and culturally.

The Shepherd’s Grain story has many facets, which we’ll be sharing as we work with them over the coming years, but one angle that is particularly fascinating is the way they have fashioned a relationship with agri-biz giant Archer Daniels Midland — it’s not a case of David and Goliath, but rather more like the BFG (for anyone who reads kids books…Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant). Read Helen York’s account of how this new relationship is leading to good things.

Sunday night we popped into Grain and Gristle to get a burger and a beer.  Their well curated tap list of 8 local beers made me stop and consider what I’m looking for in a beer on a rainy (really, Portland?) July night.

We tasted several options and landed on Upright Six, a farmhouse ale made from rye. What an incredible beer!  Classic Belgian yeasty sweetness but balanced with the sour depth and notes of rye.  It’s the kind of beer that you can’t ignore and throw back. That beer demands your focus.  Interesting on all levels, the color, aroma and complex taste. Love July for its endless selection of events and super happy to have new brewery’s exploring so many hybrid ingredients and styles.

We knew it would be a challenge when we set forth with fork in hand. 61 restaurants, 30 days and 8 people. As we wrap up our June Dining Month challenge we can look back at many amazing meals, but we will admit, we threw in the napkin. We can proudly say that we did dine at 21 restaurants! Nostrana, Aviary, Departures, Fratelli, oh the list of top tier restaurants goes on and on, and we enjoyed every delicious moment of it.

We will come back to this challenge next June when Dining Month Portland returns for its 3rd year. But for now, we diet…

Happy Fourth of July weekend from Watershed!

I always knew I loved Dining Month, but it wasn’t until I went out with some girlfriends on a Friday night that I realized just how good of a deal it really was!  Three of us, two cocktails, three courses each, great conversation – I got out of there for under $45 on ‘date night.’

Now onto the good stuff. Gilt Club took Dining Month to the next level by offering three different choices for each course in the prix-fixe. So being the food-loving friends we are, we naturally ordered all of ‘em.  So then it began, course after Dining Month course.  There were three standouts for the evening – Rabbit rillettes with toasty bread, nicely dressed greens and a creamy whole grain mustard; Salt and pepper fried quail with pea tendrils and arugula salad with Pedro Ximenez pickled red and green strawberries, fried peanuts and sherry gastrique; and a lemon poppy seed pound cake with fresh Oregon strawberries and a citron sorbet.

I’m glad to have had Dining Month Portland to lure me into the dining room, because I have to admit, you can usually find me cozying up to the Gilt Club bar with a bing cherry Manhattan.

Once again, a Dining Month success!  This is one menu I’ll be returning to.

I was recently at a dinner party when I threw out one of my favorite ice breaker questions “What are your top 5 go-to Portland restaurants?” Often it’s many of the same haunts – Clyde Common, Nostrana, Biwa – but a very trusted palate in the group broke out with “Fratelli.” I was intrigued…

When the Dining Month challenge was on, I staked my claim on this restaurant early on (well, one of my colleagues also tried it out for DM, but I won the honor of reviewing it). I’ll start by summing it up with this phrase, “an island in the Pearl.” For as hip and polished as the Pearl District is, there are very few top notch yet affordable restaurants, so Fratelli offers something rare for the region. Tucked into an old brick building and with limited street frontage, sneaking into the restaurant is a bit like discovering a hidden gem. Wood, drapes and tapestries create a warm and intimate environment, that feels both polished and well lived in at the same time. Service was spot on throughout the evening, and the food at times, both met and exceeded my expectations.

The Dining Month menu was different and fun. Rather than 3 courses, it’s actually 4! Guests can choose 2 antipasti from a menu of 8 for the first course(s). I selected grilled asparagus, shaved fennel, and egg salad with honey-lemon dressing and a cannellini beans, mortadella, and pistachio aillade. The grilled asparagus was still crispy and had a nice grassy olive oil that clearly said “it’s early summer, enjoy!” The cannellini beans were good, but not that memorable. What really stood out was what one of my companions ordered – the market inspired frittata. Wow, I must insist that you order this if you go, it transcends a standard egg dish. Then, for the main course, pan roasted Draper Farms chicken wrapped in prosciutto with polenta. Succulent, smokey and absolutely delicious, this dish was enough for two people but I just couldn’t share, nor could I stop myself. Needless to say, I left without a doggie bag. In fact, I did myself in on the entree, so when my cheesecake dessert arrived I barely toyed with it and abandoned half to the table. It was good, but it’s tough to live in the shadows of an excellent entree.

If you only have a chance to go to one more restaurant this June, make it Fratelli.

Tuesday night I headed out to Vino Paradiso, which translated into Portlandia means, “A little piece of wine-infused paradise in the Pearl District.”

I was joined by my folks, who I’d invited thinking they’d approve, after viewing a segment featuring VP’s chef whipping together a sformato on KOIN’s Studio 6 program.

We kicked off the evening with cocktails at the bar, and I got one called “Bridges Over Portland.”  The sprig of rosemary, combined with Cock & Bull ginger ale and a local Portland-made spirit was a nice balance to the sweltering evening heat (well, sweltering for Portland).

We then got to the meat of the matter, and I ordered from the Dining Month prix fixe menu – a mixed green salad, the sformato and a chocolate cake to make myself feel like I’ve truly earned my love handles.

This was my first encounter with a sformato and I wanted it to be special.  I carefully explained to my folks its Italian roots, and how the chef prepared the dish (based on what I remembered from the KOIN segment), shamelessly inventing steps for the parts of the recipe that I’d forgotten, and all the while dodging questions about who I may or may not be dating and what I’m doing with my life.

When the main course finally arrived it was a lot like love at first sight.  Only my love was a little airy quiche-like dish with flecks of asparagus & sweet onion, seemingly floating upon a bed of shrooms.  These were no Psilocybin’s, but the meal sent me on a magical trip nevertheless, and due to a mix-up with my mother’s order, we got a second order of the sformato on the house (which I enjoyed for breakfast Wednesdsay morning).

Overall, our service experience was not without a few hiccups and errors here and there – but they were overlooked as our waiter was friendly, courteous, attentive and more than willing to make all corrections so that we left feeling like we had another positive experience at one of Portland’s fine dining establishments.

For my 5-year anniversary with my boyfriend, we wanted something unique, upscale, and affordable. Dining Month made the latter possible and Departure went above and beyond our expectations. The restaurant, situated at the top of The Nines Hotel, was unlike any other restaurant I have encountered in Portland. We were seated out on the rooftop along the edge, among a crowd of trendys, happy hour seekers, and average Joes like ourselves.

It was our anniversary and we were prepared to pay the big bucks for dinner, but we were pleasantly surprised with the fair prices, and accommodating Dining Month menu. We ordered one Dining Month menu and three appetizers; everything went above and beyond our expectations.

Dining Month Menu

• Grilled prawns with long beans, avocado, papaya marinade
• Charred skin chicken with rhubarb, snap peas, shitake, jalapeno
• Kafir lime bar with ginger ice cream

Additional Appetizers

• Pork belly & kim chee fried rice

• Vegetable Udon noodles spinach, ginger
• Shaking beef chili, red onion, watercress

I could not have selected a better Dining Month menu. The three dishes paired perfectly together. They were original creations made especially for Dining Month participants and they were excellent. I had a dream about the Kafir lime bar with ginger ice cream; it’s amazing that food has that affect on me!

Highlights: Amazing view, excellent service, good prices, and a true Departure away from Portland’s typical dining scene! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

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