Tag: Portland

Restaurant Review: Bollywood Theater

June 4, 2014February 10, 2017

If you live in Portland and you have not yet discovered the pure joy that is Bollywood Theater, you are missing out, my friend. Troy MacLarty opened the first location on NE Alberta (right next to Salt & Straw) a couple of years ago, and they expanded last year to another location on SE Division. It is seriously difficult not to order the whole menu full of very reasonably priced, fun, unique dishes that are packed with flavor.

Since I’m in SE fairly often these days, I decided to visit the new location for lunch one day with a coworker. The wonderful thing about Bollywood Theater (aside from the food – I’ll get to that) is that as soon as you walk into the building, you are inundated, just like you would be in India, but only about a fraction as much. There’s a lot to see – brightly colored walls, hanging photos, old light fixures. It’s perfectly kitschy and brings back memories of my trip to India 8 years ago. The new sprawling space on SE Division boasts lots of tables (compared to the NE Alberta location), and even a little market where you can buy ghee, cardamom pods, and various other Indian ingredients.

My coworker had never been before, and after glancing over the menu we decided to share the bhel puri and the kati roll with paneer. I also got a mango lassi – rich and creamy, perfect for washing down the spicy chutneys and dipping sauces. When the bhel puri arrived, it looked like a party on a plate, and offered everything you could want in a mouthful of food on a warm spring day: crunchy puffed rice and peanuts, juicy mangoes, filling potatoes, and incredibly flavorful chutneys with the perfect amount of heat.

The kati roll with paneer has been a favorite of mine at Bollywood Theater since they opened – almost like an Indian burrito, stuffed with the creamiest house-made paneer I’ve ever tasted. The paneer was accompanied by egg, onion, chutneys, and rolled (or stuffed, really) in paratha, an Indian flatbread. One kati roll is large, and I can only ever eat half of one by myself, so it was the perfect dish to share.

They have some more traditional fare – thali meals, pork vindaloo, and samosa, but I recommend trying some of the items you haven’t seen before. A few months ago I had some incredible roasted butternut squash, topped with spiced yogurt, pumpkin seeds, and spices. Next time I’m going to get the dahi papri chaat. With a menu this authentic and flavorful, I want to try every last dish on the menu.

Weekend Finds 6:1:14

June 1, 2014February 10, 2017

Well friends, today marks the beginning of June. That’s a pretty crazy thing. This year is flying by, and it seems like if I blink, it’ll be Christmas. But I’m working on taking things a little slower and enjoying what I’ve got going on. These finds are what I’ve been liking this week.

1. Davenport

Davenport, PDX // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — The fried octopus atop frisee. (Photo from Portland Monthly.)

When family is in town, we eat. And we eat well. Last night, after finally winnowing down our list of places to dine, my dad, Darla, Jonah, and I went to Davenport. The kitchen is helmed by Kevin Gibson, of Evoe, and they’ve been open for about 6 months. I’d been wanting to go for all of those 6 months. Located in the old June space on E. Burnside, the restaurant is cozy and clean. Last night it was warm enough that the big garage door was open. Our servers were so kind, the wine was perfect (a red sancerre) and the food was impeccable. Highlights included: roasted fava beans with pancetta, fried octopus over frisee, asparagus with porcini/breadcrumbs/parmesan, and grilled duck breast with a walnut aioli.

2. Pro Pie Tips

Pie Tips // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — Some key pie advice will lead you to pie nirvana. Pievana? (Photo from Bon Appetit.)

It is officially pie season. The rhubarb is here and the strawberries are starting to trickle in. So do a little prep work and check out these tips from Bon Appetit. I’m especially keen on the recommendations to put the pie at the bottom of the oven and to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes before you bake it. So smart.

3. Rachel W. Cole

Rachel W. Cole // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — A screenshot from Rachel Cole’s website – all about figuring out what you’re really hungry for.

Now don’t get all judgmental on me here. Rachel Cole is a life coach who focuses on feeding your true hungers. Via her social media outlets (which I follow), she talks a lot about body image and how we fill ourselves, with food and other things in our lives. I recently signed up for her newsletter, and spent a few hours on Friday doing her fulfillment pyramid activity (you can get it too if you sign up for her newsletter on her site). Think of it as making a food pyramid for yourself, but putting all the things you need in your life in it, not just vegetables and grains. It was a really fun, reflective, positive activity, and I definitely recommend it. Trust me, cooking for friends and baking pies definitely made it on to my pyramid.

4. Foodie events in and around Portland

Summer Foodie Events in Portland // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — Why yes, I will spend my summer drinking rosé out of mason jars in a beautiful field, thank you. (Photo from Feast.)

Perhaps my favorite thing about summer in Portland is all of the foodie events. Seriously: Oregon Brewer’s Fest (plus so many more beer festivals), Portland Monthly’s Country Brunch (and Bloody Mary Smackdown), so many Plate & Pitchfork dinners, and of course Feast. Some blogger friends have rounded up more events on their sites, Pechluck’s Food Adventures and Bakery Bingo, so check them out. There’s no way you can be bored and hungry this summer.

5. Pork Belly

Pork Belly prep tips // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — Why does cooking pork belly make me so nervous? (Photo from Food52.)

I’ve been itching to try cooking with pork belly, and I think once my schedule becomes normal again, it’d be a great day-long kitchen activity. I’m picturing it seasoned with thyme, and served with a rhubarb chutney. I’ll definitely be re-reading these tips from Food52 before I go for it.

6. Grocery Shopping

Groceries // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust — We all shop for and cook our food differently, but what’s important is that it works for us. (Photo from The Kitchn.)

I like this little meditation on grocery shopping. Jonah and I have been trying to do more meal planning and making enough to have leftovers for lunch and then committing to actually eating those leftovers… It’s all harder than it sounds. But here’s what I’ve realized – as long as we are all feeding ourselves well and trying to be conscious about where the food is coming from, then we’re “doing it right.”

Meyer & Black Lemon Sorbet

May 9, 2014February 10, 2017

My mother gave me some spices for Christmas. Three little bags from Oaktown Spice Shop: cinnamon, juniper berries, and ground black lemon (also known as Omani). I was able to find recipes using the cinnamon and juniper berries (still working on making some of my own gin…), but the black lemon was trickier. It’s a traditionally Persian ingredient, and I don’t know a whole lot of Persian cooking resources.

I wrote in to a few places, asked some intelligent minds what I should do with it, and I mostly came away with meat and fish. Rub it on meat and fish, put it in a stew with meat or fish. And even with those suggestions, I couldn’t really find any jumping off points, or recipes to start from or be inspired by. So the ground black lemon had been sitting sadly on my pantry shelf. Until last week, that is.

Last week, Portland had a little heat wave. Like, 93 degrees kind of heat wave. Yeah. I was itching to make ice cream. I have a flavor I’d been brainstorming, but decided, in the end, that instead of buying a bunch of heavy cream I would just buy Meyer lemons instead. So that’s what I did. And I decided to finally try using that lonely looking black lemon. And so today I give you Meyer lemon sorbet with black lemon.

Now, if you don’t have black lemon, don’t worry. You can still make a lovely Meyer lemon sorbet and it will be delicious. But if you are feeling curious, or you magically somehow do have black lemon sitting around, use it. It brings a nice, dare I say it, depth of flavor to this sorbet – something unique and hard to describe. The best words I can think of are that it’s a kind of dark citrus flavor… not necessarily sweet, but more complex than that. It lent a lovely je ne sais quoi to the sorbet. And I love that.

Meyer & Black Lemon Sorbet

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground black lemon (optional)
1 tsp Meyer lemon zest
1 cup Meyer lemon juice (from about 5 Meyer lemons)

Instructions

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and black lemon if you’re using it. Bring to a boil over medium heat, allowing the sugar to dissolve and the black lemon to steep. While that is cooking, in a heat-proof bowl combine the lemon juice and zest. Place a sieve over the bowl. Once the sugar is dissolved and syrup has become amber in color from the black lemon (again, if you’re using it), pour through the sieve into the lemon juice. Stir to combine, and place over ice bath to cool. Once cool, churn in your ice cream machine according to instructions. I churned mine for about 20-25 minutes. Pour into a container to freeze. Enjoy while sitting in the sunshine. Or with a bunch of friends, in your living room, playing Cards Against Humanity, like I did.

Restaurant Review: Fogo de Chão

May 6, 2014February 10, 2017

Fogo de Chão, PDX // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Eater PDX.

Last week, Jonah and I were lucky enough to attend the complimentary media preview dinner of Fogo de Chão, the Southern Brazilian steakhouse that has just opened in downtown Portland. Taking over what used to be the Niketown on SW 6th, Fogo de Chão has transformed the space into an elegant dining room with space for 250 diners. At the center of the dining room is a beautiful salad bar with some neat pillar sculptures on either side.

In case you don’t know, because I certainly didn’t before reading about this event, here’s how a Brazilian steakhouse like Fogo de Chão works: you are seated at your table, and each diner has a little disc that is green on one side and red on the other. Green side up tells the gauchos to continue service (aka bombard you with beautiful cuts of meat), and red side up means you need a break (otherwise you’ll explode from a serious case of “meat baby”). In addition to unlimited amounts of perfectly cooked steaks, there was also a salad bar full of various kinds of green salads, chicken salad, potato salad, pickled cucumbers, grilled vegetables, hearts of palm, scalloped potatoes, rice… the list goes on and on.

Upon arriving, we were directed to the bar, where we chatted with one of the bartenders while he made us each a caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil. We were then seated, and hit up the salad bar before sitting down and flipping our discs to green. As soon as we flipped them, there were gauchos everywhere! Seriously! How were there so many of them?!

We started with a slice of picanha, a bacon-wrapped filet mignon, and some other slice of steak I can’t remember. The gauchos are incredibly kind and very skilled with their knives. The discs went back to red, and we dug in. Every piece of meat was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The fat was melty and soft, and the meat was perfectly tender. While we were digging into the meat extravaganza on our plates, we were given a basked of pão de queijo (pão bread!), caramelized bananas, crispy fried polenta, and garlic mashed potatoes. My favorites of these sides were certainly the caramelized bananas and the pão de queijo – I have serious weaknesses for both.

The caipirinhas kept flowing, the gauchos kept coming with more skewers of meat, and then there was dessert: caramelized pineapple and chocolate molten cake. We met Ron, one of the managers, and spoke with a few of the servers and gauchos. My favorite part of the evening by far was the service – everyone was so kind and friendly. It truly seemed like the servers were having as good of a time as all of us diners. We were very well taken care of and attended to, which was lovely.

Now, down to the nitty gritty: dinner at Fogo de Chão will run you $49.50 per person, but keep in mind that the price comes with all you can eat salad bar and beautiful cuts of meat. If you’re a vegetarian, all-you-can-eat salad bar is $26.50. Dessert and drinks are separate purchases. I recommend the caipirinhas 😉