Birthday Dinner at Beast

As some of you may know, my birthday recently happened. It was a day full of wonderful gifts and time with friends (and cousins!) out and about. Long before my birthday (on Nov. 1) Jonah texted me and said he was making plans for Nov. 2 (a Friday night), so to please reserve that night. I was really good and didn’t look up anything happening in Portland on that night. But as the day came closer, I started asking more questions. It went like this:

“Are we going to a concert?”
“Maybe.”
“Are we going to a restaurant?”
“Maybe.”
“Will any of our friends be there?”
“Maybe.”

The worst. Not actually, because I did really want to be surprised. But Jonah is usually not so great at hiding surprises, so I was impressed. He helped me dress (“Portland fancy”), and we headed out. I had no idea where we were going, and I almost feel like he took a complicated route just to mess with my head. But finally, we parked, and walked down the street to arrive at Beast for the 8:45 seating!

I could not have been more excited. I never thought I’d tear up at the thought of dinner, but it happened. The time came to be seated and we got to check out the menu and order a bottle of wine (it was quite warm in the restaurant, so we went with a bottle of Sancerre, which I recently read “really opens up the palate.” Maybe I know more than I think I do about drinking… Haha, not.)

I did not take any pictures of the food because lately, I’ve been working on enjoying experiences while I’m having them instead of documenting to reflect later. Sometimes, it’s better to have just memories instead of lots of pictures, you know? So I’ll tell you about our meal:

Course 1: Spinach veloute & shellfish mousse. A delightful start to the meal. A veloute is a stock+roux sauce or soup, and this one had spinach blended in, as well as spinach oil drizzled across the top. It then had a scoop of shellfish mousse plopped on top, which kind of melted into the warm soup as you ate it. It was creamy and smooth and had a very light but powerful flavor. Also, I want to steal their soup spoons.

Course 2: Charcuterie plate. Now, not everything that was on the plate was on the menu, so I’ll do my best to remember. Each of the following was in a little bite sized serving around the edge of the plate, almost like a clock. In the middle of the plate was a light salad of arugula, sliced radishes, and tete de cochon (kind of like a forcemeat made out of various pig’s head parts, then sliced very thin). Starting at 1 o’clock, we had a leaf lard cracker with chicken liver mousse and a pickled shallot slice. Next: a pickled carrot and green been; steak tartare with a quail egg yolk on a mini toast; duck rillettes; spicy pork crackling; a cornichon and mustard; pork & pistachio pate; and lastly, foie gras on a peanut cracker with some kind of (fruity) gelee. This was a pretty amazing course – all these delightful bites of unexpected rich flavors. It also was the first time that Jonah had ever had foie gras, so that was exciting.

Course 3: A cleanser course between the charcuterie plate and the main, not on the menu. A poached quince and lemon sorbet.

Course 4: Strip loin roast with duck-fat caramelized brussel sprouts (!!!), whipped potatoes, red wine-beef jus, and crispy celeriac (fried celery leaves). This was possibly the best meat dish I’ve had in my life, or at least a very long time. The roast was cooked perfectly. The brussel sprouts were amazing (I mean, duck fat, come on!). The potatoes were light and creamy, and the jus was lovely and rich in both taste and color. I could have eaten this dish and walked away from this meal happy. It was perfection. Sometimes I forget how important execution is, but this reminded me. Each element of this dish was cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and went together so well. Also, at this point, I was starting to get full. Uh oh.

Course 5: After a little break, we were brought roasted beets and bacon pickled celery with house cured and smoked trout, horseradish-tarragon cream and trout roe. While this dish was good, it felt a little underwhelming compared to the meat dish we had just been served. Visually, it was beautiful and very colorful. I am a big fan of fish, but smoked is not my favorite preparation, and because the beets were not sauced a whole lot (the horseradish cream was on the other side of the plate, and there wasn’t a ton of it), it sometimes got a little bland. All that being said, it was still good, just not as “knock your socks off” as the other dishes.

Course 6: Cheese plate with 3 cheeses, quince paste, fried marcona almonds, bee pollen shortbread, and wildflower honey. This cheese was goooood, and it was really fun to try all the different combinations on the plate. One cheese with the quince paste, one with the honey, a bite of salty almond, etc. It was fun and playful to try pairing things on my own, so I enjoyed that. Also, if you have never had marcona almonds, do it now. They are a little pricey, but they’re so amazing. The shortbreads were wonderfully buttery too, a nice sweet end to the dish.

Course 7: The only other picture I took at the restaurant was of this chocolate-ginger stout cake with candied fresh young ginger, cinnamon ice cream, all on a puddle of caramel.

Often at nice restaurants like these, the dessert can be a little lackluster. So, while I had high hopes, I was trying not to let them get too high. The waiter lit a little candle on my plate, and there was a small applause from the people sitting with us (Beast has communal tables – and happy birthday had already been sung at the other table, so I didn’t want them to sing again). There was no reason not to get my hopes up. This cake was perfectly moist and chocolatey. The ice cream was so cinnamon-y without being overpowering, and the caramel had a hint of this fruity-flowery taste, which was probably my favorite part of the dessert.

After 3 hours of eating the most carefully prepared, beautifully plated, cared for food, it was time to go. We lingered, finishing our wine, and ended up being the last folks to leave the restaurant. But I’ll admit, I never wanted to leave, I wanted that meal and that night to last forever. Now I’ve to to figure out what to get Jonah for his birthday that could ever compare.