Ox: Believe the Hype

Few restaurants have seen as much hype over the past year than Ox, an Argentine-inspired mecca of meat on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Northeast Portland. The kitchen - and the restaurant itself - are run by a husband and wife team, Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quinonez. Formerly in charge of the kitchen at Metrovino (where we had a nice brunch last summer), this is the restaurant they have dreamed of creating.

The space is about average size and fills up quickly. We arrived not long after they opened and were able to walk right in, but be prepared to wait if you arrive after 5:30pm. It's impossible to miss the focal point of the open, elevated kitchen: the wood fired grill/roaster/spit/meat cooking machine of awesomeness. The design of the space makes sure you don't miss it, but it also doesn't dominate.

Service starts with bread, butter and chimichurri. This was the first time I've ever had chimichurri and now I have no idea why. Delicious.

Next came a small taste of soup, with drops of olive oil. (I'd tell you what kind, but truthfully it's been six months and I'm just now catching up on the blog.)

Our first item was a small salad. Very crisp and clean, it was a nice balance to the rest of the dishes we ordered.

Fried potatoes, aioli and dill. Very much like potatoes bravas (if not the same, just with a different name), these were crispy on the outside and soft and smooth on the inside.

The star of the meal was the Asado Argentino. On the menu this meat plate - consisting of grilled short rib, housemade chorizo, morcilla (blood) sausage, grilled skirt steak and sweetbreads - says it is for two, but there were three of us and we took half of it home for later. The salad and potatoes come with it and the bread and soup were complementary, so while $60 seems like a lot for one dish, it was a pretty good deal.

I grew up in a typical American household where we didn't eat more than your typical beef cuts. I've learned along the way on this food journey Wifey and I have undertaken that I've missed out on a lot. I was a bit wary of the morcilla and sweetbreads, but while everything on that plate was excellent those ended up being my two favorites. 

So many other dishes on the menu looked good and maybe on another visit we'll try them out, but this was well worth the visit.

For dessert - we were stuffed beyond belief but had to try this out - we ordered a blueberry buckle with ice cream. Again, very, very good.

Verdict? Go. Enjoy. Ox gets a lot of hype and it's all deserved. Service was excellent, food was magnificent - what more can you ask for?

Dog-friendly? There are a couple outdoor tables, but not sure if dogs would be allowed. The only access point may have been through the dining room.

Waffle Window: Savory and Sweet Wonderfulness

A couple years back we read about this place on SE Hawthorne called the Waffle Window. There was no seating, just a window on a side street serving all sorts of sweet and savory liege waffles. We went, we tried many things, and we loved them all.

Last year they opened a second location on NE Alberta, this time with actual indoor seating and with the additions of housemade ice creams and a coffee bar to the menu. We went during the week for an early lunch/snack and didn't have to wait at all. In fact, we parked on the street right in front of the door.

Unlike the Hawthorne location you order inside at the counter and wait for your food. The Alberta location has outdoor seating, which was nice on a warmer fall day, so we took advantage of that.

We had a friend with us from out of town so the first waffle had to be what is, in our opinion, the best: the Three Bs. What are they? Bacon, brie and basil. 

The waffle had a crunchy outside, fluffy inside, and you can see they didn't skimp on the bacon at all. 

Our second was the blueberry cheesecake: blueberry compote, cream cheese, whip cream, and a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs.

Heavenly. 

These two waffles were plenty for the three of us to share, not to mention being pretty to look at and just damn tasty. Next time we go back we'll try out their ice creams, which are reportedly also very good.

Dog-friendly? We didn't ask specifically, but it seems like the seating outside, just off the Alberta St. sidewalk, should be fine for a well-mannered dog. The tables aren't too close together and (at least when we were there) foot traffic wasn't heavy. Misaki wasn't with us that day, but she will be next time.

Loved a Vegetarian Dinner at Natural Selection

In the past couple weeks Wifey and I have made a concerted effort to eat healthier, which, if you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that healthy isn't necessarily a requirement for us when we eat out. But this is Portland, a mecca for not only just about any kind of food you may want but also vegetarian and vegan options coming out of your ears.

Last year Wifey showed me the menu at Natural Selection, a small restaurant on Alberta in northeast Portland. Chef Aaron Woo (read about him on Oregonlive here and here) puts together a weekly menu focusing on ingredients currently in season and local that is 100% vegetarian and mostly vegan and gluten-free. At the time I thought it sounded good, but really? Vegetarian? As in no meat? How good could it be, right?

Then we made our decision to eat better (more on that later) and the restaurant came up again. Oh what the hell, we decided, it definitely sounded good...we'll give it a try. So we made a reservation (highly recommended if not required) and spent Leap Day stuffing ourselves with vegetables.

Natural Selection is a small place, seating around 30-40 (I'm horrible at estimating), with an open kitchen. You step inside and the atmosphere is dark but inviting, lots of warm colors and friendly people. The kitchen, manned by Chef Woo and three others plus one person working the front desk/mini bar, is on the left and the tables the right, extending all way to the back of the space. Our table was almost to the very back, facing the impressive wine rack. (It may not show up in the pic, but if you click on it and blow it up you may be able to see the 40oz of Olde English 800 in the top right - there has to be a story there because it absolutely doesn't fit anything else in the restaurant.)

The menu is comprised of eight dishes (the one we tried is below), divided into two possible four-course meals, one being completely vegan. The prices vary, but there are two starters, two salads, two entrees, and two desserts. You can mix and match or, if you want to try more things, you can order one of each for $35 (this is about a $11 savings from ordering all four a la carte, the price of the first course). Optional wine pairings/flights are available as well as several other wines and a limited amount of mixed drinks.

We were hungry and everything looked good...so screw it - we ordered two four-course meals. That means literally one of everything on the menu. Yes, each of these dishes was pretty healthy on their own, but the sheer amount of food we ate makes it not necessarily a healthy meal. Shrug. (Click on the pic below to read the menu.)

We started off with a non-alcoholic mixed drink - a cherry fizz with ginger ale, cherry juice and a dash of vanilla. Quite tasty. Then we were presented with an amuse bouche of pita topped with a chickpea and chickpea puree (or, hummus). This picture didn't turn out, but it was a tasty beginning to the evening.

The first dish was black truffle and tagliatelle pasta with brussels sprouts, baby turnips and crispy shallots.

I had never had anything with shaved truffles before - amazing. This "never had ___ before - amazing" became a theme of the evening. This was probably the least healthy dish of the night because the sauce was a little on the creamy side - nope, not vegan - but the truffles added so much depth.

The other half of the first course was a spring leek and white bean soup with parsnip, thyme, red onion and lemon. We aren't entirely sure what the item in the middle was, but it was nice and crunchy and contained whole chickpeas. Also damn good.

The second course began with this treviso and kohlrabi salad with medjool dates, pistachio, Meyer lemon and green olives. Treviso was something new to us - I know Treviso as a city in Italy - and while the greens were bitter, the lemon balanced it nicely.

The other salad was a citrus and frisee with arugula, fennel, goat cheese and radish. Again, perfect balance between the sweet of the oranges and the bitter of the greens. And that cheese? Oh my. I could eat that all night long.

Next came the entrees. This is a black trumpet (new to me) and sunchoke hash with butternut squash, rapini and roasted peppers. The squash is wrapped up inside the cabbage leaf.

The other entree featured pine nut crusted cauliflower with nettle pistou, quinoa, carrots and saffron oil. I am on record as not being a fan of cauliflower, but this was really, really good. And the quinoa? This was another new food to us we both enjoyed. Might have to pick some up. Everything in this dish just worked. I will say, though, the knives we were given with our meal did a poor job of cutting either the cabbage leaf or the cauliflower. And yes, that's my worst criticism of the night.

After the entrees we were served a light palate cleanser, a pomegranate and lime granita. Pretty, isn't it? And tart. Wow that was tart. Consider my palate cleansed.

It's worth mentioning that you will not get a fast meal, but that's by design. We were there for two hours from start to finish and while that seems like a long time, the pace of the dishes coming out seemed just about right. There was a little downtime between each dish, but we could watch everyone at work in the kitchen, something we find interesting. In other words, plan to relax and enjoy your meal, especially if go the four-course route.

Then it was time for dessert. At this point were both pretty full, but the desserts are on the small side, though that doesn't mean they are simple by any means. This orange and rhubarb cake with white chocolate mousse and vanilla sauce? Amazing. It also came with a slice of blood orange, some toasted walnuts, and a hollow chocolate stick. So good.

The other dessert was cinnamon and fennel beignets with Meyer lemon curd, creme fraiche and marmalade (tart, not sure what the fruit was). This dish wasn't marked on the menu as vegetarian. The beignets were so light and fluffy and everything together was simply amazing. Have I said that enough yet?

We're converts. Well, not to being vegetarians - no chance of that - but to the fact vegetarian food can not only be tasty but also every bit as intricate and flavorful as any other kind of meal. Heck, maybe even more so. Wifey and I agreed we'd go back to Natural Selection in an instant, though four courses probably isn't necessary - that was a lot of food. The service was friendly and good, we never felt forgotten (this happens to us a ridiculous amount of times, as if we are ninjas and they can't see us or something), and the food was just plain excellent.

So go visit Chef Woo's restaurant of awesomeness and see what we mean. Us? We'll probably go back later in the spring when berries start to come into season to see what he'll do with those.

Well Crafted Brunch at Ned Ludd

Ned Ludd, a restaurant in northeast Portland calling itself an "American Craft Kitchen," has been on our list of restaurants to try for quite a while. Each time we came close to choosing it, though, something else looked just a little bit more interesting. Part of that is because it's really difficult to nail down just what kind of restaurant it is. They are big on local and sustainable ingredients and there are influences of many different cuisines in their menus.

This past Saturday we decided to try it out; many pictures of dishes from the restaurant looking fantastic convinced us it was time to go. Here are a couple pictures of the menu and it help to illustrate why Ned Ludd is so hard to categorize (click the pic for a larger version).

Located on NE Martin Luther King Boulevard in a tin shed of a building set back from the street, the restaurant doesn't exactly announce itself. The name over the door blends in with the restaurant's colors. There is a courtyard out front with picnic tables and various plantings, making it seem like a pleasant place for a summer dinner outside (which sounds like a reason in itself to go back). The inside of Ned Ludd is small, seating maybe 40 diners or so, with some tables and some bar seating. The kitchen is open and dominated by a brick oven which keeps the place toasty warm.

On a Saturday morning around 10:30 there was only one other couple there when we arrived, but it started to fill up the closer it got towards noon. The decor is eclectic, a mixture of rustic country with rich curtains giving it a very welcoming feel, as if the chef was inviting you into his home. Large windows let in copious amounts of light.

We decided to start off with two smaller plates from the "bits" section. The first was the deck crisped muffin with honey and butter for $6.

Served on a wooden cutting board, one well loved in a good way, what it looks like is a quartered muffin that has been burnt, but it didn't taste that way at all. It was crisp, as promised, but it was very, very moist inside with a variety of sweet and savory flavors, including some apple, cloves and cinnamon. The cup in the picture is filled with warm honey and the butter flecked with large flakes of salt. The muffin didn't even need he accompaniments, but they definitely didn't hurt. We've never eaten a six-dollar muffin before, but this was fantastic.

Next up was the pork rilletes with mustard and volkhorn brot (that's the bread) for $9. It also came with some slices of pickled apple.

The rillette was smooth, rich, flavorful, and easily spread on the bread. The jar is topped with a layer of fat, which our waitress explained is the traditional way to store a rillette. See the crosshatch design in the top? That's an example of the attention to detail you find at Ned Ludd. It has to be a challenge to top something with a quarter-inch layer of fat and have it look appetizing, but they did it. This was fantastic. The mustard wasn't too hot and worked well with the bread and the pork. The apple also was a nice palate cleanser, though I don't feel it was necessary.

Wifey's main course was the "bird in a nest" over meat ragu for $13. The nest is a polenta cake, with a circle carved out and replaced with an egg.

There's the egg.

Simply put, this was amazing. The polenta cake by itself had plenty of flavors, not just corn, and had a nice crunch. The egg was cooked perfectly. And that ragu? Oh my - melt-in-your-mouth goodness. I don't know how long that had been reducing in the brick oven, but it's totally worth the time.

I went with the "hangtown bake" of eggs, leeks, bacon, mushrooms and oysters served with toast for $14.

Again, all of the flavors perfectly complemented each other. I don't even like mushrooms, but these were tasty and added a level of umami to the dish that was just right. The oyster pieces melted in your mouth and the bacon chunks added a rich, salty profile. These eggs were also done just right.

That's quite a bit of well prepared food that added up to a spendy brunch. While the cost was more than I would typically prefer to spend for brunch, I can't say any of this was overpriced. Considering the attention to detail and exceedingly high quality of the meal, I can only compliment Ned Ludd on a job well done. The service was good also. I will absolutely recommend Ned Ludd to others and can't wait to go back for dinner. Maybe in the summer we can and eat outside, with Misaki curled up at our feet.

Another Visit to Bakery Bar

Wifey and I have a place we really like to hit up for brunch on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It's a small place out on NE Glisan called Bakery Bar, just a block up from Cuban restaurant Pambiche between 29th and 30th. They have a wide array of baked goods, an espresso bar, small and tasty breakfast and lunch plates, make cakes and things for special events, and also serve drinks.

Bakery Bar is in a bright, orange-red building set back from the road with picnic tables and plenty of outdoor seating where one can bring a well-behaved dog (Misaki hasn't been...yet). Service can be a little chaotic. Closer to noon on the weekend there may be a line out the door to sit and eat, though anything can be ordered to go. Inside they have seating for around 35-40 people. (Apparently I wrote about them two years ago...well, they are still yummy.)

We've been enough times now I think I can make some more comments on them. The service is, just about always, not in a hurry. It takes time to be seated, time for a waiter to take your order, time for your food to come, time for boxes and the bill to come, and time for payments to be processed. This is, of course, normal, but at Bakery Bar it's always twice as long as necessary - or more.

So if you are in a hurry and want a quick bite, Bakery Bar is not the place for you. However, if you want to sit back, relax, and enjoy some good conversation because you don't have much planned that day - or nothing planned at all - this is a great place. The atmosphere is lively, the service is friendly, and the food is pretty dang good.

On our last visit I ordered the D-Bear Bowl. I have no idea where the name comes from, but it's their tasty rosemary hash browns topped with sausage gravy, two eggs, and two strips of bacon (optional add-on - of course I said yes). I ordered my eggs over easy (why I'm not sure, since I prefer medium).

All of this together I enjoyed, but by itself some of the elements weren't great. The eggs, for example, didn't have much flavor. Maybe they aren't cage free and the chickens don't enjoy a well-rounded, healthy diet? I have no idea, but they just tasted a tad weak for me. The bacon, also, wasn't anything to write home about, and I would have liked a tad more rosemary in my hash browns (I think they have started using less than they used to). 

But when all of the elements are mixed with the sausage gravy, which is always super damn fantastic...let's just say it's a satisfying meal.

Wifey ordered a special, the eggs Benedict with ham with a side of the rosemary hashbrowns.

This was also a solid dish. The Hollondaise was well done, the eggs cooked well, and their English muffins are always pretty tasty. However, like with my plate it needed a little more...something. Seasoning? Salt and pepper? Not sure.

Also, if you ever go, always order a bourbon caramel latte (which you can add an actual shot of bourbon if you like) - you will never, ever regret that.

We'll go back despite the little things, but I think it's slipped just a bit on our list of places we love in Portland.

Pine State Even Better Than Before

It's probably been mentioned in this blog once or twice, but Wifey and I are huge fans of the breakfast food. Last year we went to Pine State Biscuits on Southeast Belmont because supposedly they had some of the best biscuits anyone has ever made in history. This place started at the Portland Farmer's Market a few years back and continually rock a giant line every Saturday.

Their place on Belmont - a very small place - also has a long line, always. In our first trip we spent about 30 minutes in line to order our food. It was definitely good and we would have gone back sooner, but that line...sheesh, who has time for that?

Then a couple months ago Pine State opened a second store on Northeast Alberta, one we've been meaning to visit.

It just never fit into the schedule, though. Then last Friday we read on Eater PDX Pine State (this location only, I believe) was going to start opening at 9pm on Friday and Saturday for late-night eats. Typically only open for breakfast and lunch, it seemed like an interesting time to check them out. And we didn't have any leftovers and didn't feel like cooking, so decided to check it out.

We ended up getting there at 9:10 pm. I was a little worried it might be busy, but apparently no one got the memo about the new hours. There was no one else there and for the entire 30-40 minutes we were there the only other customer they had was someone who had apparently forgotten their wallet. No line, no wait = good times in my book.

The inside of the space is clean and open, a very common style for places in Portland these days. Compared to the Belmont location, which has horrible customer flow, few tables, and just generally feels old and inefficient, this location was clean, fresh, new, and seems to feature plenty of room both for customers and for the cooks.

We ordered biscuits and sausage gravy and a sandwich called the Reggie Deluxe. I should note, not everything from the normal menu was available - most of it was, just not all, including one thing we had planned on ordering (the hash ups).

The biscuits are excellent - soft, fluffy, with a good crust and smooth flavor. The gravy has both a sweetness and a spiciness to it, which give it very good depth and range of flavor. Interestingly enough the last time we went to Pine State that spiciness wasn't present, so either they tweaked the recipe or last time someone left out an ingredient. It could be the paprika sprinkled over this dish, but it seemed more to me it was within the gravy itself, the spice, rather than just something topical.

Before we also weren't sure if this sausage gravy was as good as others we have had around town (like The Country Cat or Screen Door), but with the spiciness it's definitely in the same class - and the sweetness makes Pine State's gravy completely unique (and probably not appealing to everyone for that exact reason, but we liked it).

The Reggie Deluxe is what we ordered before. It's bacon, cheese, egg, a piece of white meat fried chicken, and sausage gravy between the famous biscuit. Yes, it's as good and as unhealthy as it sounds. Last time we ordered our food to go so we didn't really get a feel for the epic size of it when piled high on a plate. Wow.

The yellow is the cheese - the egg yolk was a little soft so did leak out when it was cut as well. Look at the picture below - see the crunchiness right below the top biscuit? What looks like hardened sugar? That's the edges of the egg. Yum.

I could eat one of these every day. I'd be dead in less than a year, oh man are they good. Dinner was fantastic - and cost less than $20 with tip - but even so I'm kind of questioning the choice. Why? Well, this is very, very heavy food. For someone who likes to get to bed by 11, it's not the best choice for 9pm eating. Perhaps if you had a big night on the town planned, hitting up some bars and clubs and parties, then having this late could be a good idea. But to eat this and come home and start thinking about bed? I don't recommend it at all.

We will absolutely go back again and recommend Pine State to anyone that asks, but for breakfast or brunch, not for late night. And considering how there was no one else but us there at that time, either they need to do a better job getting the word out they are open, or they did that part just fine and it's just what people are looking for Friday's for a late dinner.

A Return to Screen Door

There is a fantastic southern comfort food restaurant on East Burnside called Screen Door. I wrote about it way back at the beginning of this blog, but a short while ago we made a return trip that was a long time coming - and we took pictures!

We weren't necessarily planning to go here and we had Misaki with us, so we parked about a block away and made a call to the restaurant. We knew they had outdoor seating, but didn't know if that meant it was okay for mild-mannered little puppies like her. Apparently it is!

The below pictures if of the front door area, on Burnside. The outdoor seating is to the right here (Screen Door is on a corner) and consists of some full size picnic tables and a few more two-seater tables. Misaki laid down under the picnic table and was generally a model little Shiba. Our server also brought a little dish of water, which Misaki appreciated because it was a warm day and we had been out walking a bit.

So what did we order? We started with the praline bacon. It's a house-made bacon they pralined (I think that's a verb - pretty sure) and is pretty damn yummy. The first time we visited Screen Door I meant to order it but forgot when we actually ordered, then didn't rectify it because we ended up with a ton of food. This time we made a point of getting it.

Sweet, crunchy, bacony goodness. I wasn't sure about nuts on my bacon, but it was fantastic. I'm not sure if it's better than the bacon at The Country Cat - it's different - but I recommend this.

I ordered the traditional eggs benedict for my main course, with a side of grits:

I'd never had grits before and neither had Wifey, so I figured what the heck, why not? You always hear grits mentioned somewhat derisively like it's a throwaway dish (at least I have, spending my entire life in the Northwest), but these were actually really, really good. The menu didn't say, but I swear I tasted a little bit of cheesiness to them and the texture was nice. I'd go back and order one of their grit dishes as a main course.

The eggs benedict were very good. The Hollandaise sauce was much thicker than I've been able to manage at home (that is to say, normal, while mine is runny), the eggs were cooked just right so they spread in a puddle when cut into, and the grilled ham and English muffin was very good.

Wifey ordered something called Fried Chicken Cathead Biscuit Sandwich with sausage gravy and a side of roasted potatoes. Does that sound odd to you? Did to us. We had to ask the server what that meant before ordering, and she assured us that all it meant was that the dish was bigger than a cat's head. Southern people are weird. Here's what it looks like:

I didn't have a cat around to measure, but that certainly looks bigger than a cat's head to me. Or two cats heads. I love the knife stabbed in there holding the whole thing together.

The gravy was very good with a creamy texture and sausagey-yummy flavor, the fried chicken very moist and crunchy, the biscuit amazing, and the potatoes were also pretty tasty and well-seasoned. All in all this dish hit all the marks as far as taste and comfort. What more could you ask for? If anything we wished the potatoes were cut just a little bit smaller so there was a little more crunch, but that's a personal preference.

I believe our total bill was less than $30, but that also included an extra order of sausage gravy to go with our leftovers. That might seem a tad steep for a brunch, but considering we got five servings out of the food it's really not.

Just for fun, I decided to take some pictures at home with an actual cat's head (still attached, of course) to truly test Screen Door's claim about the dish. Below is one of the leftover servings - the only difference from what was originally served is a little of the extra sausage gravy and a fried egg.

Lilo graciously volunteered for the cat's head test. Actually, I lie - she didn't volunteer at all, but she's the one without claws and a little more calm when being held, so we can get her to do a lot of things we can't with the other two.

As you can see, the leftover chunk of chicken in this dish could possibly be the size of Lilo's head:

Or something.

Admittedly she is the smallest cat we have, and probably a tad smaller than average, but again, this was the leftovers and only about a quarter of the actual chicken.

So not only did we have another fine meal at a decent price, but Misaki also enjoyed the outdoor dining and we also learned that yes, indeed, the Fried Chicken Cathead Biscuit Sandwich is really, truly, bigger than a cat's head.

No cat heads were harmed in the production of this blog post.

Taming the Beast

When Wifey and I went to Simpatica in the past (detailed here for dinner and here for brunch) it was our first experiences with communal dining. And for dinner, it was our first experience going to a place where you signed up for a meal time to sit and eat whatever was put in front of you.

And we loved it.

Well, there is another place like that in town, called Beast. Honestly, I'm not sure there is a better name for a restaurant. At once it evokes images of strong animals, while at the same time letting you know exactly what's going to be on the menu. Helmed by Naomi Pomeroy, one of Food and Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs of 2009, the emphasis of the menus - created fresh weekly - is pure FLOSSiness (Fresh, Local, Organic, Sustainable, Seasonal).

Here's a quick blurb about themselves:

As the name implies- we are frank in our appreciation of meat. Our food is simple, refined, and-dare we say- feminine. We let our moods and our sensual appreciation of what the fields, forests and oceans are yielding dictate our weekly menus. We are inspired by French Grandmothers, but our days are spent prepping to the sounds of our favorite rock-n-roll bands- we work just like we would in our home kitchens, and as our guests- we hope you can tell, and that our ease translates to your comfort and enjoyment.

Doesn't really get much better than that, does it?

Beast does dinner (six courses) Wednesday-Saturday at 6pm or 8:45 pm, and brunch (four courses) on Sunday at 10am or noon. We hit up brunch at 10am to get a feel for the place.

Oh, and how could I forget this? Beast isn't the kind of place you go to and ask for substitutions - they will be kindly declined. In fact, their website states people who aren't complete omnivores would be hard-pressed to enjoy an entire meal. If I had a restaurant, that would be my policy too - I made it, it's awesome, eat it. See the last line in the pic of the menu below (click the picture for a larger version that is probably more readable):

We made our reservations online via an Open Table link on Beast's website. My personal feeling is more restaurants need to have this option - so easy that way.

Sunday morning we managed to get to NE Portland about 9:35, so had plenty of time to kill. Here is where we have one small beef. When Beast says 10am, that means seating BEGINS at 10am. If you get there earlier, you will wait outside, unless you are first and they let you take a seat on the small bench just inside the door. So really, getting there early doesn't do you much good at all.

Here's a quick picture (these were all taken with the cell phone - forgot the camera again - so the quality is decent, not great) of right outside the door. The lighting was completely wrong - sun was too harsh - to get a good picture of the entire front of the place.

Once inside, Beast is extremely inviting. There are two large communal tables and there is room for 25 people, if I remember correctly. The kitchen is open so the preparation for each course can be watched, and the walls are covered with chalkboard paint, full of tasty expressions, simple recipes (such as the one below), and plenty of wit.

Beast serves Stumptown coffee and Smith Teas, while fresh juice and morning cocktails are an additional fee. Another very tiny whine: the creamer for the coffee is served in a tumbler which no matter how you pour it, it spills. I didn't see anyone master this. A tumbler with a spout would have been nice. And yes, I'm done with the negatives, which admittedly are extremely nitpicky and ultimately unimportant...everything else was amazing.

Our first course was a cherry clafoutis with vanilla whipped cream and maple glazed bacon:

First off, that whip cream was to die for. Having never had a clafoutis before, testing the flan-like baked goodness over a couple of fresh cherries (watch out for pits!) was simply amazing. The bacon was also excellent, and a bite with each of the four flavors pure bliss. And no, I'm not overdoing it - it was that good.

The second course was a "Beast Hash" featuring duck confit, potatoes, corn, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes, topped with a poached egg and Hollandaise:

The brown line encircling the plate is aged balsalmic, and it really made this dish. I mean, it was yummy without it, but when you crack open the egg and swirl together balsalmic, yolk, and Hollandaise with the vegetables, the result was fantastic. We both may have wanted a few more potatoes, but at the same time I wouldn't want to mess with art.

Our third course was a plate of summer greens with three different cheeses:

This was fine. It was good, but to me I just don't get excited about a cheese course, even though I love cheese. I'm weird that way. I also am not entirely sure what the cheeses were - our waiter told us but it was hard to hear him and the descriptions were long, hard to remember. Too bad they weren't printed on the menu. I can say the one on the left was a cow's milk cheese and the one on the right was actually from a water buffalo. Surprisingly, I liked that one the best.

The last course, the dessert one, was chocolate truffle cake with wild huckleberry coulis:

Again, superb. And what's that on top? Oh yes, some more of that vanilla bean whipped cream goodness! If I hadn't been in unknown company - you know, if it was all family - I probably would have licked the plate after finishing off the truffle cake.

This next pic is actually from the bathroom, where there was plenty more wittiness on the chalkboard-painted walls. I thought it was hilarious (I mean, really, mouth brothels?!) and at the same time so, so true. Good stuff.

All in all we had a very fantastic meal at Beast, and can't wait to go back and try it out for dinner. That's more expensive - over twice the cost of the $28 brunch at $60 - so it may wait for a special occasion.

The freshness of the flavor of each element of each course can't be understated and the total meal didn't leave us feeling stuffed or still hungry - it was perfect. Highly recommend.