Portland – Blue Star and Bamboo Sushi Redux

Hit up our favorites on Sunday.

Blueberry crunch and lemon poppy

Hoki Poke Box: sushi rice “pressed” with red crab salad, and layered with tuna, avocado, green onion, togarashi, and poke sauce

Pork Belly Bun

Grilled shishito peppers tossed with miso butter and bacon, topped with bonito flakes

Spicy tuna roll

Avocado and truffle salt

Anago

Usuzukuri, thinly sliced whitefish with finely chopped fresno chiles, ponzu, green onions, tobiko, sesame seeds and tataki yasai

Garden of Eden: spicy albacore, cucumber and apple inside topped with tuna tataki, basil and pickled mustard seeds, with a touch of spicy aioli on the plate

MSC highway 35: east coast red crab mixed with spicy sesame aioli, avocado, cucumber and asparagus, topped with sake poached pears, eel sauce, tempura crunchies and tobiko

coconut panna cotta: coconut custard, accompanied by yuzu sour cherry reduction and a sesame granola tuile

gingersnap and salted caramel powder with chai ice cream and caramel sauce

“demons heat” ippongi hannya: following the initial full-bodied sweetness enjoy the bold spicy flavor that spreads through your mouth. (it really was like syrup at the beginning then transitioning to spicy as it goes down your throat, very different sake.)

Portland – Ox

After spending the afternoon recovering from the onslaught of food for lunch by walking around the Pearl District headed over to Ox which would turn out be a very late dinner. Fitting I guess as it’s an Argentinian inspired restaurant and sitting down for dinner at 9pm is normal there, even early. To kill the two hours we had before we were seated, hopped back into the car towards Pok Pok and grabbed a drink a few doors down at their Whiskey Soda Lounge. Got a few snacks, I ate one of the dried peppers that the peanuts are tossed in then spent the next 15 minutes breathing fire, thought it was over until my stomach felt like it was going to burn a hole through my body and fall out. Thankfully pain subsided by the time we went back to Ox.

Huu Muu Thawt: crispy deep fried 5 spice pig ear

Our friends got the Uruguayan ribeye and skirt steak, both were excellent. Made me wish I had gotten a steak but I love blood sausage and it’s hard to find.

Cauliflower soup with celery

Empenadas: we got the beef and friends got the sweet potato with cheese

Fried oxtail terrine: Orange & Picholine Olive Relish, Avocado, Potato Causa, Cilantro Leaf, Aïoli

Roasted Broccolini, Charred Poblano Romesco, Toasted Pecan, Pickled Red Onions

Spicy Braised Beef Tripe and Octopus, Mint Aïoli, Crispy Sunchoke

Blood Sausage

Portland – Pok Pok and Desserts

Quick trip to Portland for the night just to eat, some friends were able to get down on Friday to get a few more meals in. Thankfully they left room for amazing Thai food for lunch. It was properly spicy but the spice didn’t overpower the other flavors in the dishes. Felt like I was back in Thailand siting on a beach. Ice cream across the street was a nice cooling and somehow made room for some mini-donuts.

Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings: marinated in fish sauce and sugar, deep fried, tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic

Deep fried tilapia

Flank steak salad

Bean salad

Boar collar rubbed with garlic, coriander root and black pepper, glazed with soy sugar, grilled over charcoal

Salt & Straw Icecream: gooey chocolate brownie and Lumberjack Stack (We use an amazing maple syrup from a small farm in Vermont to give this ice cream a super maple-y flavor. But this ice cream wouldn’t dare stop at just a great maple flavor, in the S&S kitchen our pancaking skills are matched by few. Sweet, fluffy, blueberry-y stack-loads of pancake yumminess is the key to making this flavor truly Lumberjack worthy.)

Pip’s Original: Mini donuts of nutella and sea salt, meyer lemon, and bacon jam

Seattle – Chinese Laundry @Bellini

The third dinner was so popular had two seatings. This time it wasn’t Mexican-Chinese fusion but:

Welcome to part three of The Chinese Laundry. This menu is a playful expression of a combination of heritage flavors, reimagined takeout food, and good old Pacific Northwest ingredients.

Prepare yourself for an evening of flavor bombs, social dining, and Chinese-American dishes never seen before.

Another great meal from Chef Yang. I was able to talk to him for a minute and let him know I ate at Ko recently, he left in 2010 so hasn’t seen the new space they’re in and hopes to get back to NYC soon.

SCORCHED RICE: szechuan peppercorn cured gravlax, pickled mustard seed, furikake (the rice cake was a bit too thick for my liking, took a fair amount of chewing to get through it and taste the salmon)

GENERAL TSO`S SWEETBREADS: braised broccoli neck, caramelized florets, charred leek (I’m normally opposed to General Tso’s but this was amazing and wanted the whole plate instead of having to share it)

STIR FRIED CAVATELLI: soy-beurre noir, gai choy, smoked salmon floss (coworker in earlier seating said this was his least favorite, the only thing I found lacking was the amount of lap cheong, wanted double)

LION`S HEAD MEATBALL: Dad’s secret sauce, salt cured egg yolk, water chestnut (I want to get to know Dad, the sauce was great and we unsuccessfully tried to figure out the ingredients)

BROWN BUTTER ~ MATCHA TART: green apple, five spice ice cream, burnt sugar (the five spice was quite strong tasting and it worked in this dish, never had it in a sweet application before)