Oven and Shaker: A New Portland Pearl

We are huge fans of pizza, Italian food in general and anything Nostrana owner Cathy Whims does. Anything. Nostrana is one of our favorite restaurants because everything is just really damn good (review here). We go there when we want pizza, when we want a reasonably priced nice dinner, and to check out fresh olive oil every year for their Olio Nuovo (link to the 2010 version we had) series of dishes that highlight the flavors.

So when we found out Whims was opening a new place, a small plates bar with pizza, in Portland's Pearl District, OF COURSE it went to the top of our neverending list of restaurants we need to try. While Oven and Shaker, on NW Everett between 11th and 12th, took much longer to open than many (including I'm sure Whims herself) expected to open, it was well worth the wait.

Wifey and I checked it out on a Tuesday around 4:30pm (open daily 4-midnight). When we got there there were only a couple other tables taken - it's a decent-sized space, much bigger than it looks from the outside - but by the time we left an hour later it was probably well over 3/4 full. It's an open space, with some tables, bar seating, and communal tables as well. The kitchen is open at one end with the pizza oven dominating the area, not unlike the setup at Nostrana.

Food is served as the kitchen finishes it, just like at Toro Bravo and Tasty N Sons, rather than in traditional courses. We ordered three dishes to share and the first one that came was the cazzilli - potato and parmagiano croquettes that are then fried.

Yum! Despite the frying these weren't greasy in the least and the potato mixture inside was soft, practically melting in your mouth. The parm and chives made these little bites quite tasty, and for the $5 price you get seven of them, roughly the length and thickness of two-three fingers.

Our second item was the arancini with saffron risotto, pork, and pea ragu. We had our first arancini at the Garden State food cart. Those were small - golf ball sized - and stuffed with mozzarella and a bit of veggie of some sort. The O&S version is similar, but it's the size of a baseball.

Again, very nicely balanced and even the peas were tasty. The pool of olive oil at the bottom was a nice touch. When we were finished this plate was clean. At $4 this was also a solid value.

Lastly, we had to order pizza, choosing the wild fennel sausage pizza with potato, tomato, chilies, scallions and smoked mozzarella.

Unlike at Nostrana, this pizza comes from the kitchen cut into six slices. It also seems to be a slightly sturdier crust than the Nostrana version. That's not better or worse, just nominally but noticeably different. The middle, for example, isn't nearly as soft and holds its form better at O&S.

We weren't sure about potatoes on pizza at first - and honestly, I'm still not sure - but this worked. The sausage had great flavor and overall the pizza had a great balance. The smoked mozzarella really shined. At $16, this is the most expensive thing on the menu (four other pizzas are also the same price, but many are less also).

All of that for $25 was a very satisfying meal. Between the two of us we polished off everything but two of the cazzilli and one slice of pizza. The service was attentive and seemed to have a solid understanding of the menu, which is always appreciated.

Funny side story: Our waitress took our leftovers back to the kitchen to be wrapped. After what seemed like unduly long amount of time, plus us having to ask for them because the restaurant became very busy, we saw her talking with the manager, who then came over to our table and handed us our wrapped leftovers. He was all apologetic (paraphrasing here). "I hate to tell you this, but I dropped one of your slices of pizza on the floor while wrapping it up. Can I make it up to you by firing a brand new one for you, at no charge?"

Um, yes. Of course you can. Absolutely.

But after he walked away to put in that order for a full pizza to go (remember, $16 value), Wifey and looked at each other funny. "Um," I said, "we only had one slice left over, right? And that's it right here, all wrapped up?" Wifey agreed. Oh, and I seriously doubt it was him who dropped anything, because I never saw him off the main restaurant floor, let alone wrapping up food. That's a strong managerial move, even if it's a blatant misdirection. As a customer I appreciate the manager, who presumably can rectify anything, taking the lead.

So what happened? Did they drop the one piece and wrap it up anyway? Or did they drop someone else's and think it was ours? If we get a free pizza, do we care? Heck, if we are worried about it, we could just throw the one piece away, because we are getting a whole new one, right? No matter what - score!

As it turns out, there must have been something lost in translation. When we opened up the leftovers at home, there was only a single cazzillo (singular of cazzilli?) instead of two, so we assume the one piece of pizza is fine and the other cazzillo was what fell to the floor in the kitchen and likely thrown away. If you are keeping track of home, a single cazzillo cost us about 72 cents...and one dropped on the floor netted us a $16 pizza.

That is more than anyone should reasonably expect, but you can't deny it's awesome customer service. We would have made it a priority to return to O&S anyway because the meal was excellent in every sense, but free pizza? Can't top that can you?

Pizza At Via Tribunali

If you've been coming to this blog for awhile now you know we love pizza. All kinds. American style, northern Italian, New York, Napoletana - anything. And between places like Ken's Artisan, Apizza Scholls, Dove Vivi, Nostrana and Lovely's 50-50 Portland has quite a nice mix of pizza varieties.

But until now Portland did not have a pizzeria with a pizzialo certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. What is that? The short version is they train and certify pizza makers (pizziali) in the making of pizza Napoletana - that is, pizza styled in the history of Napoli (Naples). Why there? Because, it's the best in the world. Anyone who tells you differently simply has not been there to experience it. (Full disclosure: I have. I spent the summer between my junior and senior years at the University of Oregon study at the Universita di Perugia per Stranieri (University of Perugia for Foreigners) and on one weekend trip we took the train all the way down to Napoli where one of my roommates, who had been to Italy before, took us to this tiny whole in the wall pizza place that was simply amazing. I don't know the name, I could never find it again, and I have no idea how it compares to what is considered the best in Napoli, but I will tell you the quality was simply amazing. It's difficult to put into words, to be honest. It's one of those things that when you put it in your mouth you just know you are having a transcendent experience. So yes, I'm a big fan of anyone who gets certified and will never say it's just another certificate. Well, maybe it is - a certificate of being awesome.)

Enter Via Tribunali. Via Tribunali started in Seattle and just a couple weeks back opened their first restaurant outside of Washington with a spot in downtown Portland next door to VooDoo Doughnuts on Second Avenue.

We tried Via Tribunali a while back on a food tour through Belltown in Seattle and really enjoyed it, so when the rumors started up almost two years ago about Portland getting their own outpost, we were of course excited, so on a recent weeknight when we didn't want to cook we checked it out.

First impression? Via Tribunali Portland is dark. Very dark. You walk in off the street and the building is long and narrow, with a bar to the right and booths on the left. At the far end of the bar sits the legendary pizza oven and a few more tables are to the left. In the very back is a stairway that leads up to more tables in a balcony (this is very similar to the setup at Little Bird Bistro and Mucca Osteria, so apparently this style of buildings is common in the older part of downtown Portland).

The tables are lit with candles and are the only thing with which to light the menu. I get the vibe they are going for, but it could be just a tiny bit brighter.

On to the food. We ordered two pizzas (sadly, no pictures since we forgot the camera, but the lack of light would have made it problematic). First was the MARGHERITA (pomodoro, fresh mozzarella, grana padano, olive oil, basil) for $13 (grana padano is a hard cheese, comparable to parmesan, and pomodoro is Italian for tomato, which in this case refers to the sauce).

To be blunt, this is one of the absolute best pizzas we've ever had. It's simple, but perfect. The crust had a nice char, thicker around the edges and thinner, almost soft, in the middle. The sauce also was perfectly seasoned and the cheese was spectacular. We'd get this again in a heartbeat.

Our other pizza was the VIA TRIBUNALI (pomodoro, smoked mozzarella, cherry tomato, ricotta, bufala mozzarella, grana, basil) for $17. This has an interesting presentation. Imagine a normal pizza with toppings. Now, imagine a quarter of it folded to the middle on each side. Then, sprinkle down the middle with bitter greens - that's the Via Tribunali namesake.

Just like with the other, the flavors were were very, very well done. If we had one beef it was with the topping distribution. The sausage and tomatoes didn't make it all over and clumped in spots. Again, the crust was nicely charred and hit the perfect amount of chewiness.

That crust...it's perfect. I told Wifey it transported me straight back to Napoli, it was that good. And really, that's the key to a real Italian pizza - the crust. Toppings are just there for flavor, not as the focus, and at Via Tribunali they take that to heart and execute it very, very well. It's no surprise their pizziali have the Napoletana certification.

Is this our favorite in Portland? Well...who knows, really? I tend to be most excited about whichever I've had last and each one of our favorites (mentioned at the top of the post) has something that is unique about them. This one, I will say, is closest to Italy and brings back those memories of a great two-month stay back in college. I really, really need to return so I can bring Wifey and so we can experience the flavors of Italy together. Until then, Via Tribunali, Nostrana and Mucca Osteria are going to have to be good enough.

We will absolutely be returning and can't wait to go back.

Oh, and one more thing. Keep in mind a key piece of physics if you sit in the balcony as we did: heat rises. And that pizza oven? Super freaking hot. I was wearing a sweatshirt because it was cold outside and by the end of the meal I was sweating. Not good or bad, just something to keep in mind. If you wear something warm, make sure it's a layer and you can take it off. I wasn't comfortable with the shirt under my sweatshirt, so I just suffered.

Have to Mention

If you order a pizza and don't finish it, or take your leftovers to go, they will be boxed in this:

(Photo via Scott's Pizza Tours)

Apparently these boxes are made by a company in Italy and Via Tribunali buys them for their stores. Their logo is nowhere on the box (a sharp departure from any pizza place I'm familiar with), but it definitely is...memorable, isn't it?

Do Not Miss: Mucca Osteria

A new Italian restaurant is open in downtown Portland, Mucca Osteria, on SW Morrison between 10th and 11th, right on the westbound MAX tracks. The chef, Simone Savaiano, is a native of Rome, but moved to the U.S., married an American from Los Angeles, worked in Santa Monica for five years, then they traveled. On that trip they came to Portland, loved it, and moved here.

I am, selfishly, glad they did. The restaurant is two levels, with stairs that go up to the second floor balcony (you can see the railing in the picture below). There are tables on the main floor and a few seats at the bar of the open kitchen. (As always, click on the picture for a larger version.)

Wifey and I visited on a Friday night, arriving just as they opened at 5:30pm (they are also open for lunch). We were first, but the restaurant had tables available for anyone who may have walked by. The staff was very knowledgeable, helpful with questions, and gave us space while at the same time very attentive. Mucca's menu is online, but don't take it as gospel - the actual menu was slightly different, and they have chalkboard specials.

First we were brought housemade bread, two slices each of a ciabatta, a sourdough, and a dark, nutty bread. All of them were excellent, and even tastier with the wonderful olive oil provided for dipping.

We decided on an appetizer of burrata (see here for a definition of burrata) with heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar.

This entire dish was fantastic. The balsamic, in particular, really made everything pop, and the burrata was a revelation. I may never be satisfied with "normal" fresh mozzarella again. See the dark spots on top? A black salt, perfect for the dish. I could eat this all day.

Wifey ordered gnochetti with gorgonzola cheese, Italian sausage and walnuts (watch Simone make it!) These small puffs of pasta were not overpowered by the flavor of the gorgonzola, a mistake many restaurants can (and do) make. The sausage had plenty of flavor, providing welcome bursts of spice.

I ordered the spaghetti amatraciana with guanciale and San Marzano tomatoes. Again, fantastic flavors. The sauce had a pleasant creaminess to it, with the guanciale providing punches of meatiness.

I knew I wanted a glass of wine with dinner, but looking at the long wine list all in Italian I didn't know what to choose (well, actually, by the glass there are only two whites and two reds to choose from). At the suggestion of the staff based on the pastas we ordered, we went with a red: Cannonau di Sardegna d.o.c. Feudi della Medusa 2007 (from Sardegna). This was the smoother of the two and it was very pleasant on the tongue, almost velvety. Great flavor as well.

One note about the pastas: Depending on how much you normally eat and how hungry you are, it may not be enough. They are created with fantastic flavor and an exceptional level of skill, but the servings may be considered small compared to other restaurants. Don't worry about it - order an appetizer too.

Or two desserts, like we did.

The first was a vanilla bean panna cotta with fresh blueberry sauce. Panna cotta is something we love to order (especially if it's vanilla bean) and so fancy ourselves amateur experts; this may be the best we've had in town. Look at the picture below - see how the panna cotta holds its shape? Usually it seems to be served in a dish and if I had to guess there is no way it would stay together served on a plate like this. And yet, it still has all the soft creaminess necessary for a great version of the classic. The blueberries were a nice addition and the vanilla flavor was, well, perfect. I'd go back just to eat one of these. Or two.

The other dessert, almost as good, was a flourless chocolate cake with strawberry reduction and balsamic vinegar drizzled around the plate. Dense and moist, the chocolate tasted of high quality and the strawberry added the perfect amount of sweetness to go with the rich dark chocolate. One bite of all three flavors is about as close to the perfect dessert as one can get.

With our desserts we were also served complimentary glasses of a white dessert wine. It was a moscato called Dinderello from the Maculan winery in Veneto. We were told it had fig flavors, which I am not a fig person so I don't know, but it has a wonderful smell and a flavor to match. Sweet, but not too sweet like most dessert wines, especially the local ones. Oregon has a great, young wine industry, but it's going to be a long time before they can realistically compete with the centuries old vines from the old world.

Dinner wasn't cheap, but not crazy either. $69 for an appetizer, two pasta dishes, two desserts, and a glass of wine isn't that bad, but I would pay this gladly every single time. There was not one thing we didn't like about the meal or the service and we plan on making this a regular stop.

There's just one thing that's bothering me. They need more customers! We walked in on a Friday night in downtown Portland and were seated right away. Sure, it was early, but when we left over an hour later, we still would have been seated immediately. Mucca is quickly becoming a food favorite and has been written up in The Oregonian (see above), but they still aren't that busy. Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily want a line out the door of my favorite restaurant so cumbersome I decide to go elsewhere or work my schedule around it (like, say, Toro Bravo or Tasty n Sons), but more customers to assure Mucca's continued success would be nice.

By writing this and telling people about the virtues of the restaurant I'm doing what I can do to help them out - even though the number of people who will read this I can count on my fingers and toes (yep, toes too, moving on up...) - so hopefully it's enough to convince people to give Mucca a try. I guarantee if I help get you in the door, Mucca will do the rest to ensure you return and tell your friends.

January Tasting Notes

EAT!

Olympic Provisions - Strata of kielbasa, yukon gold potatoes, apples, onions with sauce mornay; Smoked chicken salad, apple-fennel slaw on baguette: This strata wasn't as good as the one we had the first time we visited last summer, but it was still good. The apples were large chunks which was a little offputting in such a dish. It was also a little short on the mornay sauce. The sandwich was good except for the vicious amount of horseradish, which was not noted on the menu. Yikes. We like this place, but will probably order something else next time.

Ken's Artisan Pizza - amatriciana pizza, fennel sausage pizza, blood orange galette with vanilla gelato, chocolate espresso tart with pistachio and whip cream: The last top pizza place we go to in Portland ends up being what I think is my favorite. Apizza Scholls, Nostrana, here...it just depends on what's most recent in my memory. Both of the pizzas were excellent, with nice char on the crust, good flavor in the dough, fantastic sauce, and well-made and flavored meats. The desserts were fantastic, which shouldn't be a surprise because they probably came from Ken's Artisan Bakery on the other side of the river. The gelato was very rich and creamy with a nice Madagascar vanilla flavor. The tart's crust was extremely tough and coated with ground coffee for a fantastic after-dinner wake up call, but it's a good thing we shared both desserts; a whole chocolate espresso tart for one person could be a death blow with the richness of the chocolate.

Taste Unique - pollo mediterraneo, orecchiette with aged ricotta, Sicilian cannoli: Wifey and I have been faithfully visiting Taste Unique since not long after it opened, but we had never stopped in for lunch, so we rectified that. The sauce on the pollo mediterraneo (chicken with a garlic tomato sauce) was very good, so good you could taste the freshness. The chicken, though, seemed a tad cold - not sure why. It also came with a side of pan roasted cabbage, which was excellent. The orrechiette (pasta, translates as "little ears") was thoroughly enjoyable, as all of Stefania's pastas always are. The cannoli was stuffed with a pistachio cream I'm not sure either of us were too excited about. As usual, the focaccia was fantastic - the olive oil tasted like it had been pressed earlier in the week it was so fresh.

St. Jack - eclair, chocolate cake (gateau chocolat), latte with chocolate: We can't get enough of this place. This time we just stopped in for treats. The eclair had wonderful vanilla cream and was covered in a decadent serving of dark chocolate. While the pate a choux (the dough) was thicker than we've had elsewhere and gave it a distinctly different flavor, it was still well worth the few bucks. The cake was very good, but not everyone here likes hazelnuts. And the latte? With the housemade chocolate it really is just a mocha, and it was fantastic. Perhaps one of the best around, honestly. St. Jack also makes their own caramel sauce (and vanilla too, I believe - fifty cent add-ons to any coffee drink), so I think a caramel latte will be on the order next time. And sometime we need to go for dinner - the menu looks fantastic. Doesn't that gratin de macaroni sound heavenly?

DRINK!

Beer

New Belgium's Frambozen: In contrast to one further down this list, New Belgium does a raspberry-flavored beer just right. Not too sweet, not overpowering the rest of the flavors, this ale was a nice change. I couldn't sit and drink more than one probably, but I'd recommend it.

Goose Island's Demolition: Shrug. The Demolition is a very citrusy, very pale ale, with a lot of bubbly. The flavors were, well, fine I guess. Probably wouldn't buy another one.

Fire Mountain's Oregon Pale Ale: I grabbed this bottle off the shelf on a whim. I needed to grab a pale ale for a cheddar-ale soup (which was awesome!) and this just happened to be in the right place, plus I got to try something new. First off, this is not pale at all - it's more of an amber. I suppose that's how it gets called "Oregon Pale" - we don't do the super pale beers. The flavors were excellent and I can't wait to try their other brews - would definitely get this again.

Dogfish Head's Black and Blue: This ale was made with the puree of blackberries and raspberries, hence the name. Using fruit in beer has to be done just right, otherwise the fruit either overpowers everything else or it becomes a syrupy mess. This one must have had bad puree or something - to me the fruit flavors were a bit rancid. I poured out half the bottle, it was that bad. After trying and not liking three different Dogfish Head brews, I think I'm done with them.

Also, a return to Deschutes' 2009 Abyss got it's own review here.

Wine

Pacific Rim - White Flowers Sparkling Riesling: Ugh. We picked this up as kind of a New Year's drink, but like a previous bottle of Pacific Rim we bought a few months back it simply tasted bitter. There was none of the promised sweetness and came out tasting like a weak champagne.

Coffee

Water Avenue - El Toro Blend: I'd heard of this place but never been there, so when we saw their offerings at Whole Foods we decided this one sounded good. The Toro blend has chocolate and caramel notes - if you have been reading for awhile you know that's what we go for - and is very, very smooth.

Stumptown - Columbia Las Mingas: Whole Foods and New Seasons were out of my favorite Hairbender on the same day - what are the odds of that?! - so we decided to try this one. Like the Water Avenue Toro it is very smooth and brought some chocolate (and supposedly a fruit I can't recall), but it fell short on giving a morning kick.

A Last Dinner at Alba Osteria

Earlier this month we got some bad news: Alba Osteria, an Italian restaurant in Hillsdale, would be closing it's doors at the end of this year. Considering Alba is one of the top Italian places in Portland and one we've been to multiple times, we decided to give it a proper goodby - by spending money and stuffing our stomachs.

What better way to say goodbye to a favorite restaurant? Wifey and I decided we wouldn't do gifts this year, but instead we decided to pick out some restaurants. We each chose a new one and one we wanted to revisit - with the news Alba was closing, my revisit choice suddenly became very, very easy.

We didn't bring the camera this time - this was a meal to be simply enjoyed, savored. No cameras needed.

The little town of Hillsdale is just up the hill out of downtown Portland, and Alba resides just off the main road in a converted house (I think - it sure wasn't designed for a restaurant) along with a spa, a salon, and at the opposite end of the building Caffe Autogrille, run by the same owner as Alba.

I believe the first time we went to Alba was for one of our birthdays a long time ago. We had been a couple times since, always for special occasions, but probably not nearly as often as we really would prefer. With so many other options in Portland, it's hard for us to go back to a place. Not that we don't, just that we aren't as likely. So many new and enticing places open all the time, so much goodness to try...

When we arrived, perhaps the first customers of the night at 5:30pm to avoid the dinner rush, we were given freshly baked crostini, long and thin like a breadstick. Then came fresh bread and butter.

Dinner at Alba is at once all about the pasta and not only about the pasta. All of the pastas are made by hand at the restaurant and always a delight. We each ordered a first course and then shared: gnocchi in a leek and cream sauce, and agnolotti dal plin filled with ground pork, veal, and rabbit in a light butter sauce.

Both were magnificent.

The gnocchi at Alba are always so light and fluffy they seem to simply melt in your mouth like little fluffy pillows. Clouds on your tongue. The ones I made at home in the past - I've about given up on them with so many options out and about who do it way better than me - never get that lightness.

And the agnolotti? While tiny, they pack a serious amount of flavor, meaty goodness hand-wrapped with care. I could eat these for days.

But at $16 each, neither dish is cheap nor is it filling. Unless one has a very small appetite it's simply not enough. Then again, when I think about making the dough for the agnolotti, cutting them out, scooping out little mounds of meat, and then wrapping them up one at a time, I get it. Considering all of that $16 sounds like a good deal.

Quality costs money, right?

Our main course was a grilled pork loin on a bed of celery root mash and pickled cabbage, then drizzled with basalmic vinegar. Our waitress asked the kitchen to split the order in half (it comes as two pieces of pork - it wasn't cut in half specially for us) and it came on two separate plates, each nicely made up, and each with a serving of pork that was plenty. The mash had great flavor and while I don't normally go for pickled cabbage, when combined with a little mash and a piece of pork dipped in the puddled basalmic, that was a little taste of heaven. The pork was perfectly cooked, with a nice crust on the outside and cooked through with plenty of moisture.

While $16 may seem steep for a small dish of pasta, $19 for an entree big enough for us to split and still have a small amount of leftovers is a steal.

We weren't going to get dessert...but decided to look at the menu anyway, figuring it's probably our last visit so what the heck. And we ordered a apple crostata - basically a free-form apple pie - topped with a small scoop of ice cream. Oh my...oh my. So good. Baked to order, this dessert just had the perfect balance of apple, ice cream, and crust. We have a recipe at home we've been meaning to try - might have to finally do it, see if it's anywhere near as good.

For $8 it wasn't a bad deal - it fed both of us, satisfying our sweet tooth and ensuring we would leave the table stuffed.

In no uncertain terms I love this restaurant and it's sad the city of Portland's food lovers will lose it. The good news is the pasta Portlanders love so much will still be available at Caffe Autogrille - fresh to go - and reportedly will also be coming to local grocery stores.

If this is our last visit to Alba, we truly will miss you.

Night Out At Taste Unique

I'm a huge fan of Italian food. Huge fan. Growing up my favorite food was always spaghetti, and then when I got to high school and college I found a fascination for fettucine alfredo. I love pizza. I love pasta.

In fact, I loved Italian food so much that when it came time to pick another language in college I chose Italian and then studied in Perugia (north of Rome) for a summer. Okay, not completely because of the food - I do have a quarter of my blood from Italian roots. My dad's mom's parents hailed from near Genoa, a city on the northwest coast known for great seafood and seafaring. My "pilgrimage to my homeland" (or, well, one of them, since as a white citizen of the United States I'm really a mutt) was a little about language, a little about travel, a little about food, and a little about finding my history.

It would take a novel to recount what I learned in Italy - maybe someday... - but when it came to food I found out one thing: I really didn't know what Italian food was at all.

I mean, sure, Italians do eat pizza, and they do eat pasta, but it's nothing like here. The also eat a ton of different meats, seafood, and vegetables, and apparently what passes for Italian food here in the States really is just 1% of the Italian diet. After a couple days of just pasta and pizza, I figured out you really can't live on the stuff (I won't lie though, during my time in Italy, I sure did try).

Before my trip to Italy I always wanted to go out for Italian food, but afterwards? I did at first, hoping to find some of the yummy things I ate there. But you know what? Italian food in Portland - at least the places I went to then or had liked before my trip - simply didn't measure up. I know, I know - like it's some kind of big shock the Olive Garden doesn't do things like a real Italian.

So for awhile I just didn't eat that much Italian food, unless it was spaghetti, lasagna, or something alla carbonara we made at home. (Pizza is a different story, which has so many variations and styles as I've recounted in a couple posts here.)

Then about six months ago we read on some foodie forums about this new Italian place on SE Division called Taste Unique. It's a hybrid restaurant/take-out place, specializing more in the takeout. Stefania is the chef - her husband Lawrence also works with her - and she makes all sorts of wonderful creations, including real fettucine, wonderful Tuscan onion soup, saffron risotto (filled with mozzarella, when she can find Italian saffron), fresh breads, and tiramisu that will make your eyes roll back in your head like...well, you know.

As it turned out, Stefania is actually from Perugia (Lawrence is American). She was excited when she found out I had been there, but it had been 10 years for me and even when I was there, I was studying or, um, hanging out - so I knew very few of the places she wanted to talk about.

Wifey and I have been into Taste Unique probably 15-20 times since our first foray, basically choosing what sounds good out of the fresh and frozen cases, but we had never actually eaten there. And we wanted to. We frequent this messageboard and veteran members there will occasionally have dinners, but we had never gone. Stefania had even offered up her place a few times for dinners, meals that had looked pretty good. We just had never gone, not being all that social and all.

However, a few weeks back Stefania posted on the board and offered up a pasta dinner...and the demand far outstripped supply for her tiny place, which can only hold 12 for a dinner. So she opened up a second date and I signed up Wifey and me. A five-course pasta meal with fresh sauces? Yes, please!

And it was quite the experience. She informed us when the meal began we would actually be having seven pasta courses, pictures of which you can see here halfway down the page courtesy of another diner. Her pictures are much better than the ones I would have taken with my cell phone camera.

The first two, the frittatas, were served cold on the same plate and we were told they are considered picnic foods because they don't need to be heated. Her bolognese sauce was fantastic (with her fresh fettucine), with a wonderful saltiness. My favorite, by far, was the carbonara. It featured guanciale from Olympic Provisions as well as pancetta, and the creaminess was by far the best I have ever eaten. Mine never turns out this good. The pesto trapanese was surprisingly sweet, which is something you don't expect from a pesto to be sure. A week later I'm still not sure how I feel about the broccoli dish - which also had anchovies, though you couldn't really pick them out in the flavor profile. I think I liked it.

The dessert was intriguing. Chocolate pasta? It shouldn't work, but it did. I'm not sure it'll make it high on my dessert list - definitely not past her tiramisu - but it was an interesting dish to try.

I'm positive no Italian would ever eat this way, but all of these small dishes were a great representation of pasta side dishes from all over the nation and a great way to try a ton of different flavors.

I will say, that was a crapload of pasta. Both of us rolled out of there with leftovers, and I didn't even really feel like eating breakfast the next day. The scale wasn't kind to me either. And I don't think I'd do a seven-course pasta meal again, but once was fun.

Taste Unique is absolutely a place to stop in and visit. It's an easy way to pick up dinner on the way home from work, and Stefania also teaches various classes (pizza making, pasta making) as well as she is starting to do theme dinners open to anyone who signs up. We definitely recommend it.

Nostrana

A few months ago I posted something about a couple pizza places we visited and detailed how I feel about pizza, having spent a couple months in Italy eating the real stuff.

I'm not necessarily someone that has to have authentic Italian pizza to consider it good, but there are key things I do need: fresh ingredients, great crust, and a hot hot hot oven. Now, I loved Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan Pizza, but I don't know that I would necessarily call them authentic - close and excellent, but they didn't give me the same Italian experience I remember from Perugia.

Enter Nostrana. This has been near the top of our list for months, and we finally made it there for lunch the other day. The pizza is supposed to be excellent as well as the rest of the food. When you enter Nostrana you don't necessarily get an Italian feel - instead, it seems more like a mountain cabin, with high windows, a cavernous open floor plan, and a huge bar.

Well, until you look to the back and see the wood burning oven:

The Official Nostrana Oven

By the way, did you know some restaurants don't like it when customers take pictures? Wifey asked and Nostrana didn't mind, but apparently some places don't like free advertising on blogs like this. Odd. The only thing I can think of is maybe they don't think everything is their best presentation... I don't necessarily care that much about perfect presentation, but I wouldn't think they'd serve anything that would embarrass them.

And Nostrana did not. Not in any way. First thing we got was some bread and olive oil.

Fresh Bread, Fresh Olive Oil

Good Italian bread is very airy, with a crunchy crust and soft insides - this was perfect. I will also confess to not being much of an olive oil snob, but after this stuff I might change my mind. It was so fresh I could literally taste the freshness of the olives, something I've never gotten in olive oil before. Apparently I shouldn't buy just any olive oil - duly noted for the next shopping trip.

Our first dish was a meatball fettucine with tomato butter sauce, topped with fresh parmigano (apparently Mondays are Meatball Mondays - which probably means grinding up the unused cuts from the weekend, but again, I really don't mind at all).

Meatball Fettucine

This was excellent. The meatballs (which were beef and pork, if I remember correctly) literally melted in your mouth and the noodles were light, not like the thick fettucine you get at American Italian restaurants. And the sauce...wow. I have never had tomato butter sauce before, but it was very, very good.

Secondly, we had to get pizza. We decided on the classic margherita, a simple tomato, basil and mozzarella. Both Wifey and I used to be all about packing pizza with toppings, but recently we've decided we prefer the simplicity of a pizza like this - all the better to enjoy the flavors.

Pizza Margherita

You can see the crust looks properly blackened - it had an excellent crunch in all the right places, but was still soft and pleasing to the tongue. In fact, they served it uncut with scissors, which actually makes it pretty easy to cut. The mozzarella was very fresh - and doesn't it make for nice coloring? - and the fresh basil added just the right touch of "green" flavor.

To be real honest, I could take a bite of this, close my eyes, and imagine myself at a cafe in Perugia, enjoying the warm day and watching shoppers walk by in the main square. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

Nostrana, quite simply, is the best Italian restaurant I've been to in Portland - and the most authentic. (I have not yet been to Genoa, but if you have suggestions on places I should go, by all means leave a comment!)

I'm not going to say the pizza is better than Apizza Scholls or Ken's Artisan though - it's different. It's the most true Italian (you want better? go to Italy), but it all depends on your mood. If you want true Italian, go here. If you just want good pizza, any of the three will do.

Really, We Went Out For Pie and a Sandwich

A little bit ago Wifey and I decided it probably wasn't the best thing in the world for us to hit about 17 different food places every time we went out, so last Saturday we made a plan. We decided we wanted to go to Bunk Sandwiches for a, well, sandwich, then we'd hit the Bipartisan Cafe for some pie and coffee.

That was going to be it. Really. Needless to say, that's not what happened. Not even remotely.

We ended up making Bob's Red Mill our first stop, hoping to find baking powder in something less than 16 ounces. Neither of us had been there before but we buy their stuff all the times at New Seasons or Whole Foods, so we figured we'd check it out, see what else they had.

Well, they had a ton of stuff, but not what we were looking for. And the place was crazy busy! Apparently they serve food, which didn't look that great but was enough to practically fill up the parking lot. The only thing we bought was some hazelnut meal - for a recipe - and I decided to try a loaf of their cinnamon raisin oat bread made with all their special flours and the like. The bread was okay - not great, but not bad. A decent loaf at $1.99, but nothing I'm going to go out of my way for.

By this time it was after noon, we were hungry, and we were a long ways from Bunk, so we decided to hit up the Garden State food cart in Sellwood, which was on the way. We decided we would split a meatball sub at Garden State - which specializes in Sicilian food - and then split another sandwich at Bunk. We ordered the meatball hero - their signature item - and two round balls called arancine. The arancine are fried balls of saffron risotto, filled with some seasonal vegetables and mozzarella.

Both items were very good. The sauce on the sub didn't overpower the meatballs, and the arancine were fairly light and fluffy. At $1 each for those, three of them are a nice snack. Or one and a sub for a nice meal. Either way, good stuff - we'll be going back here.

The area where Garden State sits shares some tables with a couple other carts, so we sat and ate there. As we were looking around the area Wifey noticed a place called Jade Teahouse and Patisserie across the street. This is a Vietnamese place and she wanted to try Vietnamese coffee, so that was our next stop.

We ended up ordering the coffee and a slice of something called Vietnamese Wedding Cake. The coffee was okay - what makes it Vietnamese is mixing the coffee with sweetened condensed milk. It's sweet, but at the same time bitter. We drank it, but neither one of us were all that thrilled. Wifey said she'd be willing to try it again someplace else - mark that down.

The wedding cake we took home and ate later, but it was excellent. The cake itself has a green color, from a pandan plant (not real sure how it's used), but it was very moist. The frosting was nice, but what really made the cake was a layer of puff pastry in the middle of the two layers of cake, with a type of pudding. Honestly, this was one of the best cakes I've ever had, and I love me some cake.

The rest of the menu looked good, but we had just eaten. We'll be going back at some point to try other foods, some more cake, and probably not the coffee.

At this point we weren't exactly hungry but we were still planning on going to Bunk, so we headed into the core of the city to Bunk Sandwiches. This place has a rep and is always, always, always busy, but it was after lunch time by now so we thought we'd give it a try. We parked around the block and walked up to it - the line was about 20 people out the door. We looked at each other, agreed that another time would be best, and walked back to the car.

Note to self: Get there right at 11 when they open, no matter the day of the week.

So what next? Some driving, apparently. We drove out to North Mississippi again to check out where a new pod of 10 foodcarts are going to be near Mississippi and Skidmore. Supposedly it's going to be open in September, so we wanted to just get an idea of where it was. After that, we drove around a bit aimlessly, just to see what was around in Northeast, see if anything caught our eye.

We found ourselves driving up Fremont Street and past a coffee place called Jim and Patty's. You may or may not have heard of them, but if you lived in Portland in the past 10 years and liked coffee you will remember their old company - Coffee People. Unfortunately Starbucks bought them out, but Jim and Patty started a new company. Considering I consider the Black Tiger blend milkshake a legitimate contender to crack cocaine (in a good way), we had to stop.

It's a nice looking place - spacious, bright, and a goodie counter filled with all sorts of scrumptious looking coffee accompaniments. No shake today though, and no goodies - I don't need to gain weight every Saturday. We did get a mocha and from the bevy of flavors chose the peanut butter and fudge. Shrug...

It was okay - but the peanut butter flavor came out of a bottle and it was very, very sweet. I would go back, but I'd try something else - perhaps something where the flavor is true. Or just get a Black Tiger shake and not sleep for a week. Definitely a thumbs down on the peanut butter and fudge mocha though, which was disappointing.

We were still planning on getting to the Bipartisan Cafe at this point, so we headed south towards Stark. After a detour to Mt. Tabor park (which looked like an interesting place to come back to and hike around), we were almost to Division and Wifey decided we MUST go to this new Italian place called Taste Unique, which happened to be next door to Tart. She found this place when looking up the area around Tart after our experience there two weeks ago.

Taste Unique is run by a couple by the names of Stefania and Lawrence who came to Portland from the fair Italian city of Perugia via Rome - about an hour or so north of Rome in the Umbria region. Those of you who know me know I love Perugia - I spent a summer there in college learning Italian. It's a very, very old city with a very, very violent past, but it's full of great people and pretty good food - though food wasn't super interesting to me at the time.

Taste Unique isn't really a restaurant, though they have a couple tables, but more of a take-out place. You can get various frozen Italian meals, sauces, fresh pastas, focaccia...just about everything yummy. Stefania makes everything herself, including the pasta, the tiramisu, and the sausage, with local ingredients.

Oh, and did I mention both of them are the nicest people we've run into in awhile?

We went in planning to get a little something for dinner, perhaps a lasagna. Local messageboards had been awash in praise for Stefania's cooking and as someone with some Italian experience, we had to see for ourselves. We settled on a freshly cooked eggplant parmegian and, of course, a serving of tiramisu (and by serving, I mean a huge amount that supposedly serves three but is more than enough for 6-8).

Why eggplant? Not sure really, since we haven't really had much eggplant, but it looked really good. Later when we ate it, it tasted good - but it was still eggplant. We have to go back and try something with meat...

We talked with Lawrence a bit because he wanted to know how we heard about them, especially when we told him we live on the other side of the city. Wifey mentioned I had lived for a short time in Perugia, so Stefania came over and talked with us too, ecstatic to find someone who had been to her town. Unfortunately, that was ten years ago and I confess to not knowing half the places she talked about (or more), plus I apparently missed out by not visiting the Perugina chocolate factory - all that means I have to go back.

After we paid for the food Lawrence asked us if we had a couple minutes to try something. Um, yes, actually. Yes we do. We aboslutely have time to try something. And if we didn't, we would have made time.

He asked us if we liked sweet things, we said sure. So a couple minutes later he came out with slices of focaccia with Nutella spread in the middle. In Rome they call it pizza bianca and the bread was just about perfect with a nice salting on the outside. Getting a bit of that with the creamy, chocolatey Nutella in the middle was fantastic, just a perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Oh yeah, we'll be going back.

After that wonderful stop - and now having tiramisu (which was creamy, espresso-y goodness!) and Vietnamese wedding cake in the cooler (yes, we drive around town with a cooler - and?) - we decided we probably didn't need pie from Bipartisan as well...so maybe another time. But, we weren't too far from a Vietnamese bakery called An Xuyen. They make a variety of Asian baked goods and sell at Uwajimaya (not too far from home), but I was looking specifically for Japanese shoku pan with raisins. It's basically just bread, but thick-cut square pieces, almost an inch thick. Uwajimaya used to carry it but then it disappeared, so I wanted to see if maybe An Xuyen still had it.

So we headed that way, but drove past this Asian mall called Fubonn. Given that out schedule was pretty open, we decided to check it out - and really, the place is amazing. They had various restaurants, a bakery, a candy store, an immigration office, an investment company, and a decent sized grocery store - all of it English optional. For us both it was interesting to just walk the aisles and see all there was to see. We didn't buy anything, but might go back at some point.

Then we made our way to the An Xuyen Bakery. Unfortunately for me no raisin shoku pan, but they do make Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and they did have Vietnamese coffee. And they had a special - the pair for something like $3.50. Considering the coffee was $2.50 on its own, that's a solid deal. We ordered a BBQ pork banh mi, Vietnamese coffee, a BBQ pork steamed bun, and an apple pastry - I think I spent less than $6 total or something like that.

Remember Wifey saying she would try Vietnamese coffee again? She didn't think it would be so soon! This one was, well, sweet. Sickeningly sweet. Unless you love, love, love sweet stuff, I wouldn't recommend it. The steamed bun was okay - nothing to write home about and there are better ones all over. The apply pastry was fine (had some kind of coconut taste to it), but the apple part of it was definitely not special.

The sandwich, though, was excellent. Their fresh french bread was very good, the filling was yummy, and at an average price of $2.50 you can't really go wrong. I'll probably be back to the bakery, but it will only be for a sandwich (well, unless they have my raisin shoku pan). This place actually isn't too far from work, so perhaps I can talk a co-worker into a banh mi lunch.

After that it was home - long day of exploring. Here's the summary:

Bob's Red Mill - shrug
Garden State - Thumbs up, will return
Jade Tea House - Thumbs up, will return
Jim and Patty's - Will return, but will order something different
Taste Unique - Thumbs up, will return (very soon)
An Xuyen - Partial thumbs up, will return