Country Breakfast Benefit for p:ear

This morning Wifey and I went to the World Forestry Center in southwest Portland for a benefit for p:ear, an organization focusing on mentoring transitional and homeless youth (basically they teach job skills to those who need the education and turn them into contributing members of society while helping them stand on their own two feet).

That's a great cause, but the real honest reason we bought tickets was for the food. Sponsored by Portland Monthly magazine, the Country Breakfast brought together four top chefs to produce dishes in that theme. (There were also five bartenders doing a bloody mary challenge which we did not buy tickets for because neither of us can stand them.)

There was also a country band, plenty of picnic tables and tables to stand at, sponsorship from Google Places, coffee from Three Sisters Coffee (check them out in Sisters, OR - good stuff), and yogurt from Sunshine Dairy.

For those wondering, yes, this is an odd way to spend a Sunday morning considering my previous post, but in my defense the tickets were bought before the epiphany. If I hadn't already bought them we probably wouldn't have gone, because for damn sure this was not healthy and not on my diet. I consumed way too many calories, but if we take Misaki for a long walk this afternoon maybe I will be allowed to eat dinner. Maybe.

Our first stop was to check out Chef Chris Carriker of The Gilt Club, a restaurant we haven't been to yet.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? Check out the spread:

Here's the catch: you only get to choose one of those four things. Lame. I chose the cherry strudel (stuffed with cherries as well as cherry sauce on top) with a small scoop of creamy foie gras on top.

The pastry was very well done and the cherry sauce was excellent. Wifey thought it was a tad sweet because she prefers savory flavors for breakfast, but I thought it worked. But the foie? It literally tasted like nothing but butter and didn't fit the rest of the dish. It was just there to be foie, not to add anything.

Wifey chose morcilla sausage benedict.

Did you know that's a Latin American version of blood sausage? We had no idea until we Googled it later and neither of us had ever had blood sausage. Guess what? It was damn tasty (tastes nothing like blood). The egg was the consistency of jelly and unfortunately none of the rest of the dish stood up to the sausage.

Both plates were good eating, but it almost seemed like there was too much going on and perhaps too many dishes. Or maybe we watch way too much Top Chef...

Next up was Chef Jenn Louis of Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern.

Here was the biscuit and gravy.

Louis' biscuit and gravy is fantastic, but it looks a little sad on the plate, doesn't it? We loved the flavors, but there just wasn't anything special here. Perhaps we think that because we've eaten twice at Sunshine Tavern (and will recommend it to anyone who asks). Or, maybe we watch too much Top Chef.

Next up was Chef Cathy Whims of Nostrana and Oven & Shaker (two of our favorites, long-time blog readers will recognize).

This dish had a ton of potential and looked very pretty.

Under the polenta is the egg and a layer of parmagiano, but surprisingly the overall dish was just a tad bland, as if the flavors fought rather than complementing each other. Neither of us would order this dish were it on the menu though. (It's worth noting neither Nostrana or O&S have a breakfast or brunch menu.)

Last up was Chef Gregory Gourdet of Departure. Gourdet was recently named Portland's hottest chef (not in a rising star kind of way, though he is, but actually hot). I think the fact that exists is kind of odd and even odder is the fact I know about it. Whatever. (By the way, the pic in that link is on the patio of Departure, which has one of the best happy hour views in the city.)

That sounds pretty tasty, doesn't it?

It was - very. The biscuit was excellent, the chicken fried up just right while not being greasy, and the kimchee mayo and slaw were excellent. Loved this. The smoothie was pretty tasty as well and matched it nicely. It is apparently time for us to go to Departure for dinner.

At the end of the meal we were both pretty full (okay, I was stuffed). And yes, my completely ballpark estimate on calories is "a shitload," but it was a good time. Our vote that is completely meaningless for the best dish goes to Gourdet.

What did we learn?

1 - We need to go to Departure.

2 - p:ear is a good program.

3 - We watch too much Top Chef. (shrug)

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.