The Real Northwest
(early may. number two)
For the second dinner, riding on the strength of working within our comfort zone (something we hadn't done much of during the practice phase), we decided to serve an extremely Northwest/Spring menu, bringing a few Japanese ingredients into what would otherwise be a menu that could have been at Paley's Place in the 90s.
The Menu
• Asparagus and cream soup
Topped with a long slice of dill havarti and deep fried asparagus heads.
• Wild Coho salmon
Flash fried, then broiled, speckled with wild rice and drizzled with a maple/mustard/wine/herb reduction.
• Wild rice
with butter, sea salt, and cracked pepper
• Tartlets
Fresh rosemary and almond pie crust. stuffed with fresh fennel and spring onion, garlic, shitake mushrooms, bok choi, and a local semihard goat cheese
• Pecan chocolate cake
Layered with a pecan/brown sugar/butter goo in the middle, dressed in whipped cream, nuts, and pungently delicious cinnamon.
Beverages
(from Jenny Mosbacher)
2007 Sokol Blosser, "Dundee Hills," Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills AVA Oregon
A return to a very classic Oregon style, this was a must for any dinner featuring salmon. 90% estate farmed certified-Organic Pinot Noir, and all of it grown on the volcanic Jory soil of the AVA that lends the distinctive dusty, earthy character to the wine. Elegant red fruit and floral notes into funky forest-floor and truffle.
2006 St. Innocent Winery, "White Rose Vineyard", Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills AVA Oregon
Grenadine and dried rose petals lead to juicy, fresh cherries and raspberries, mixed in with warm soil and pink peppercorns. Mark Vlossak contracts the fruit from White Rose Vineyard, a high-elevation planting with 25-year-old own-rooted Pommard vines-- a rare treat.
Loweyn's camera was not in attendance at Secret Restaurant Portland #2, so we leave you with these two mysterious film noir-ish images.