PDX Veg

VegFest (uh, a little late...)

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 03:10:00 +0000

Where does the time go? Discovery: having a child on the way consumes free time. Just imagine what could happen _after_the_child_is_born_.

...

After that bombshell, you are probably barely able to sustain any more news. But good luck, this is old news. Back in mid-march, something called VegFest took place. This appears to have been the second annual event. Unfortunately, I only saw news of it in a Willamette Week ad...two days after it took place.

But in the interest of giving them a little early publicity for next year, I mention it here. With any luck, I'll make it next year. If vegetarians (and sympathizers--you know who you are) show up for these events, local chefs will believe there's a market for more veg dishes on their menus. Good, sí?

Regardless, the sponsors of VegFest were Northwest Veg, who dutifully report on VegFest on their home page, and membership information, newsletters and what have you. Check 'em out...

Vegan "fish" sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:13:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, those of you trying to get closer to the flavors you taste in Vietnamese & Thai restaurants will want to check out Longan Brand Dipping Sauce at Nam Phu'o'ng Market. Nam Phu'o'ng is located at 6834 NE Sandy Blvd.

Pho Hung

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:47:00 +0000

We went to Pho Hung on 82nd for supper last night, to meet some friends halfway. I had hopes when we saw the fairly nice decor as we entered. Three strikes: glacial service, no beer, and only 1 vegetarian choice. Pho Hung offers the standard Bun Cha Gio Chay, vegetarian spring rolls over rice vermicelli noodles. Which was fine, except that their sauce reeked of fish. Getting the Longan Tree Brand vegetarian dipping sauce available at the Vietnamese market on NE Sandy would be an improvement. Offering a few more dishes would give them a chance that I return. And for god's sake, don't restaurants make most of their money on alcohol sales? Where's the beer?

We could, perhaps, add Pho Hung to the growing trend of restaurants that seem to have spent more energy on decor than food: Fenouil, Balvo, and Rafael's among others.

I'll check the name of the market that carries that vegetarian "fish sauce" and post once I have it. It occurs to me that many people may not know of it. The market is on the South side of NE Sandy, in the Vietnamese area.

veg tv

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:23:00 +0000

A NY Times article on narrowcasting--creating a video-centric web site for a niche audience--includes reference to Veg TV I took a look at this site today, and it reminds me more of one of those celebrity gossip TV shows than anything useful about vegetarianism.

When the site loads, it automatically loads video of Pink expressing her doubts about receiving an award from PETA. So be warned, if you're at work. Most of the main page video clips offered seem to come from that same show. Clicking on the "Recipes" link offers video recipes for basics like Kung Pao Mock Chicken, but flog online vendors with infomercial-quality actors before getting to cooking.

I am glad to see this site appear and hope its success will lead to more sophisticated competitors. But perhaps I'm too snooty. Check it out for yourself and comment away...

Once you go vegan...

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 04:32:00 +0000

Tabla continues two traditions with their latest email: special vegan suppers and a bewildering black font on dark grey background. Stylistic concerns aside, the first dinner sold out, so call Tabla soon if you want a table. This one takes place Sunday, March 12th at 6pm, and features North African (!) cuisine. Four course meal, $35 per person. Don't blame me for the short notice, I just got their email last night. :-D

Mini-review: Fenouil

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 01:45:00 +0000

I hesitated to do this after all the controversy about service at this restaurant, but I went there before all that started, so... Actually, I went to Fenouil knowing little more than "chi chi new restaurant in the Pearl." My work group has a tradition of going out to eat for each person's birthday, and a birthday girl back in early Febraury chose Fenouil.

Wow, what can I say. My first impression walking in was "Arizona." Not that I've been, but the light colors and too-clever interior design struck me as everything that Portland isn't. While they get good initial marks for friendly hosts and having our table for 10 ready to go (why does a restaurant ever fail that test?), the experience started its steady slide toward mediocre soon after. First, with two vegetarians in the group, we had asked whether they had vegetarian offerings and were assured there were "many." Restaurants: I will say this succinctly: do NOT add your 4 salads to your mental list of veg entrées. Salads are nice, but is that how you want to compete for vegetarian business?

Ahem.

So we two vegetarians wound up having the risotto, which was fine, but nothing special. Point 2: anyone who can cook can make risotto. If you're going to offer that, do it well. The server offered up the possibility that the chef could make a pasta with vegetables, but point 3: pasta primavera? See point 1. But more relevantly, we order. The server does not know how to pronounce many of the wines. No bread arrives. Water arrives after perhaps 10 minutes. Our glasses of wine arrive perhaps 10 minutes after that. The food takes most of an hour to arrive. We are seated near the fireplace, I at the end of the table closest to the server bar. Which affords me steady opportunity to watch chaos ensue. Confused orders, the sous chef telling the server how to place orders next time, etc etc. The bread, from La Provence Bakery, was wonderful.

But out of all this, I had this sense that whatever they had focused on for this restaurant, it wasn't daily operations. I note, months into their life, that the Fenouil web site still says basically "coming soon." It lacks even basic information like days and hours open.

What I find, in many areas of life, is that where people are strongest, they place the most emphasis. I have a sense with Fenouil of a person who had a vision of making a (to his/her eyes) beautiful building and worried little about the restaurant within. I hope to find reason to go back with my wife, but have not heard that reason yet.

Tabla vegan meal review?

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:21:00 +0000

If anyone attended the Tabla vegan meal last night, please send me a link to your review or feel free to post your thoughts/review/menu in the comment section for this post. I was not able to attend, but I am plenty curious to hear how the evening was!

Portland Food and Drink blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:32:00 +0000

From the PastaWorks January newsletter (PDF), I learned of the Portland Food and Drink blog. While it's true that any idiot can start a blog (ahem), these people actually hold restaurants to high standards, don't reveal that they are food critics, complain when the restaurant sucks instead of leaving it to be understood between the lines, and interview chefs. If they would do a decent job of explaining the vegetarian options, I'd probably close this blog.

And if you're asking why the January newsletter in late February, it's because that's what's there. I assume one has to subscribe to see the most recent newsletter.

PastaWorks newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:29:00 +0000

I just noticed that PastaWorks has a newsletter now. You can subscribe by entering your email address right on their home page. You'll see one of the things I learned from that newsletter in my next post...

Tabla goes Vegan...

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 06:40:00 +0000

...for a night, anyway. Tabla writes to tell me "Join us on Sunday, February 26 at 6pm for our first Vegan Supper." And "This four course meal is $35 and advance reservations are absolutely required." I would swear Tabla used to have a web site, but I see no sign of it now. Please let me know in the comments if you have the URL. One or two folks have posted to this web site asking for information on vegan options as well as vegetarian. Well, I think Tabla does a pretty good job with vegetarian food, even though I still hold it against them for not having any vegetarian main course. But I suspect that for vegans, this could be one of the finer restaurant dinner experiences you'll find this year.

Uh...

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:33:00 +0000

Currently advertising on this Portland vegetarian blog:

Christini's Restaurant
Indulge in our world famous veal chop, home made pastas and more.

Not just meat, but veal. And not Portland, but Orlando, FL. Eeenteresting...

Adéu, Café Dacx

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:15:00 +0000

Café Dacx mysteriously closed up sometime around September or October of 2005. I don't remember exactly, but I would swear my wife and I had just dined there a month earlier. The place was busy enough and the food was great as always. The omnipresent Lisa always brought happiness with her wonderful service. I see a restaurant named Filbert's has opened or will open any time now in that space. I hope they offer as many interesting vegetarian dishes as Dacx did.

El Palenque

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 22:06:00 +0000

Like everyone living in Portland who has spent time in Mexico or the towns along the US southern border, I dream of finding 1 reliably great Mexican restaurant, hole in the wall or even cart. Unlike most reviewers, I find that the tortillas stand as the barrier to greatness here. My latest stop was El Palenque, which served as a convenient point for my wife and I to meet two friends from Spain. It was a quiet afternoon; the only other table seated held 4 Mexicans, including a typically curious young girl who visited our table regularly to stare at us and run away. We ordered a variety of entrees from their menu, which describes the food as Salvadoran and Mexican. I have never been to El Salvador, but the menu included pupusas, which many web sites cite as the country's national food. Also used in several dishes was loroco, a flower native to El Salvador and Guatemala. The beer list included many from Mexico, but none from El Salvador. With 3 Spanish speakers at the table, we were able to pass some time discussing with our very friendly server the details of the menu and the items unique to Salvadoran cuisine.

So we ordered with hopeful hearts, and received generous portions of food. I was the only vegetarian at the table, but as the Mercury review notes, many vegetarian options exist, and many other dishes can be easily changed to vegetarian if you ask. Overall, the food was...fine. CitySearch user comments show a similar range of reviews, suggestive of a restaurant that copes poorly with a busy night and with uneven quality control in any case. So many ethnic restaurants struggle to maintain quality and availability for the very specialty items that should make them worth the journey. El Palenque seemed to have everything available for our visit, but others report worse luck. Using the Michelin guide ratings (3 forks: worth a journey; 2 forks: worth a detour; 1 fork: worth a stop), El Palenque seems only worth a stop if in the area. And with the better and more lively San Felipe not far away, the area left to El Palenque is not large.

Willamette Week and the grain of salt

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 23:15:00 +0000

The lingering effects of "salt-gate"--the revelation that Willamette Week food reviewer Jim Dixon also supplies some ingredients to restaurants--continue to trouble my mind. This story arose when Dixon pronounced the food at Castagna as lacking salt, and the Castagna owners pointed out Dixon's conflict of interest in a letter to the editor. While I praise Willy Week for having the courage and honesty to print the letter, I sat flabbergasted at the idea that they would allow this practice. Worse, their editor had the nerve to advertise (free of charge, we assume) for Dixon's business in her response.

It seems to me that for Willamette Week to avoid cozying up to the Portland power structure as the Oregonian seems to do, they would have gone the opposite direction and a) required all writers to disclose any conflicts of interest, b) promised not to hire any new writers with conflicts, and c) looked very seriously at replacing Dixon and any other writers with conflicts in the near term. That they left it to Dixon to write about whether he has a conflict of interest tells me that's not the direction they're heading.

Already I have heard many rumblings of--and noticed myself a correlation between--advertising in Willamette Week and getting mentioned in reviews. I wonder if any newspaper rises above this practice. The Mercury and Tribune also show signs of this tendency. But for a paper to allow writers to work in the business they review goes a step beyond what I can accept. Dixon writes "Readers will either trust what I have to say or not."

Well..."not".

I call on WW here and in a letter I will send them to expand their disclosure to all writers, at the very least.

Underrated: Koji

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:52:00 +0000

As vegetarians who like to go out, my wife & I have noticed that some unlikely restaurants in Portland offer a decent variety of vegetarian choices. I will confess that I suffer occasional bouts of LookOtherWayism, a non-fatal malady related to notable disinterest in the ingredients in restaurant soup broths, beans, casseroles and so forth. A fine example of this malady in practice occurs when we eat at Koji. For sushi, I like getting kappa maki, inari, tamago and sometimes the vegetable rolls. But I also like tsukimi udon and vegetable ramen. Which is to say, I won't order anything that obviously has meat in it, but we all know that broth ain't vegan. My wife eats seafood, so she has most of the menu to choose from, but still often gets the salmon donburi. I also love the tofu steaks--only available some locations--the korokke (Japanesification of the word and dish croquettes), agedashi tofu and of course, edamame. Downtown location seems to have the nicest staff, but Macadam has the bigger menu.

Family Supper: This is Great! What??

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 02:57:00 +0000

Every year for my vegetarian anniversary, I have tried to go somewhere nice--and willing to cook vegetarian--to celebrate. This 18th year, with the tepid review of a friend still in our ears, we went to Family Supper. Not that I am hip enough ever to have gone while it was still invite only. But as a vegetarian, I couldn't see how it would work out going to a place where they only serve 1 menu to everyone. But anyone can go now, and to our surprise, the Ripe web site says to advise them of any special dietary requirements when you make your reservation. I assume, but did not ask, that this means even vegan. Only the first course was vegan the night we went. But just as Willamette Week's review, describes, you sit at communal tables and partake from shared serving dishes. The chef started with a beet and grilled endive salad that marked only the second time I've liked beets. The main course was pork, if I recall correctly, with sides of winter squash puree with browned butter, and lacinato kale gratin. The chef only had to substitute our main course to provide us with a vegetarian meal. Instead of the pork whatever others had, we had a green polenta topped with chanterelles--I'm forgetting a few details already. Nevertheless, it went well with the existing side dishes and we cleaned our plates, leaving no room for dessert.

Details that local critics seem to glide by caught our attention almost as much as the food. That communal table is surrounded by the industrial machines of the kitchen. Behind my wife was the dishwasher, and behind me to my left was the kitchen. Being in such a room, it was pretty loud. This was not a place for quiet conversation. Rather, making any conversation meant that we would both lean forward and yet still speak in fairly loud voices. Yes, dessert and coffee were available, but my years and spain often leave me wanting a carajillo --an espresso shot with liquor of your choice in it (--after a great, filling meal. Ripe does not have espresso or a full liquor license. Sure, one can chalk these things up to the snobbery of the spoiled, but when we had 4 friends over last night, half the group ended the night with carajillos. That for me *is* part of a family supper.

I give Family Supper high marks for food and breaking the rules about how a restaurant works. Perhaps in the future they will hang some textiles on the walls and ceiling to cut the noise, and we will have reason to return.

Low water mark: Hurley's

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 03:16:00 +0000

Okay, now this criticism should be taken as one opinion of many, but...

My wife and I eat out often, as do most of our friends. We go to nice places when our budget affords, and like many in Portland, more of our budget goes toward food and entertainment than does for couples in other cities. But as a vegetarian, I realize that not every restaurant staff holds its collective breath just hoping I might swing by. When making reservations somewhere new, we always ask whether the restaurant offers vegetarian entrees, or would be willing to make them for our visit. Some places--very very nice places--decline, and I respect them more for having the wisdom to tell me up front than disappoint me when I arrive. Mille Fleurs in San Diego stands in my mind as an excellent example, and I respect them for it, even if I cannot enjoy what surely would be excellent food. Which brings us to Hurley's. We usually wait a few months after a new restaurant opens--a few months, even, after the reviews appear--to let the crowds and buzz die down. We find this to be a better way to let the chef and servers shine. We did this with Hurley's, and we were assured during two separate phone calls that the chef would be happy to accomodate vegetarians.

Well.

First, the restaurant was unable to seat us for a full half hour after our reservation time, which does not suggest deep understanding of their clientele. But the capper came another half hour later when we finally ordered, and the server informed us that no, the chef would in no way be able to prepare items not on the menu. When I pointed out that I had called ahead to ask this precise question, the server responded that perhaps some sauteed vegetables would be possible as a main course. At this point I almost lost it, but managed to stay calm enough to suggest that $40 for a large order of a side dish was hardly the stuff of dreams. The server assured me that this would not be garden variety (ha!) sauteed vegetables, but wonderful. Ha. While cooked as well as sauteed vegetables could be, sauteed vegetables they were, and over $30 for the privilege. We will never return.

Rant: servers and the ingrates behind them

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 03:01:00 +0000

Okay, this one's such an easy and obvious shot that we'll keep it as short as possible. Too many restaurants with dreams of glory have servers without grace. In countries like Spain where being a server is considered a perfectly noble career--and paid as such--most nice restaurants have servers who take not only pride in their work but ownership for your experience in their restaurant. As well they should; in most cases, we diners talk with nobody else at the restaurant. Portland stands well above many US cities in understanding this, and our servers often do quite well. But I have had some experiences here in supposedly excellent restaurants that still stand out as some of the worst I recall. How can one enjoy well-prepared food while an ill-prepared, uninformed person jostles and offends me? Let's be clear: I blame the management more than anyone for this state of affairs. Have you served and all your wines to your servers and discussed them? Have you made sure they have tried all the dishes? Have you shown them how the dishes are prepared? Do they know what substitutions, additions or subtractions make sense? Do you pay for quality servers and give them reason to stay? If not, why the hell not?

San Diego has awful service in general, and servers that rarely last a year, but Chez Loma on Coronado has the same excellent servers every time I go: a period now spanning ten years. They know the wines, the dishes, the preparation, and will comfortably ask the chef to come to your table in case of doubt. Imagine how that makes me feel as a diner. Why wouldn't you want me to feel that way at your restaurant?

Rant: the chef-to-vegetarian chasm

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 23:38:00 +0000

A few more general comments before we start dissecting restaurants...

Foremost on my mind as I think about getting vegetarian food in nice restaurants is the difficult chasm between producer and consumer. Namely, if I as a vegetarian call a restaurant and say "Hi, there are a few vegetarians in our party, will you be able to accomodate us?" I am speaking to a server or host who really is in no position to respond with anything more meaningful than a recitation of the menu. Now, odds are I have already looked at your menu and know that you have exactly one vegetarian entree, which makes for a dull evening if 3 of 4 people in my group are vegetarians. But I listen patiently as you try to make your salads sound like an adventurous option, totally off the culinary beaten path. I will then ask gently if your chef would be interested in making some extra vegetarian entrees, or if I could talk to him or her about it. Usually at this point, the person on the phone will get a little panicky and give me an excuse about the chef being too busy right now, and so I give up.

But the sad punchline to this skit comes from talking the chefs who are thoughtful enough to come through the restaurant. Almost invariably they show interest in making vegetarian entrees. I suspect part of the interest comes from an excuse to experiment within the confines of somewhat repetitive work making the on-menu recipes. However, reaching those chefs when it comes time to make a reservation requires more than merely repeating the chef's interest to the hostess. Obviously, the chef often really is busy, and those taking reservations have reason to keep every whiny diner from reaching the chef's ears. Which leaves me back where I've been for 10+ years of fine dining: wishing for a way to reach the wild diversity of vegetarian food I know Portland's chefs are capable of creating.

Maybe we need a Vegetarian Club card.

Historical high bar: Couvron

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 04:25:00 +0000

To avoid giving any current restaurant the fame or ignominy of being first, let's pour some liquor for a restaurant that last I heard shuffled off to New York to play in the big leagues.* I wish them well, although I kept thinking "big fish in small pond becomes small fish in big pond." Couvron offered the best 7 course vegetarian meals I have ever had, including wine pairings designed for the vegetarian dishes. I see some reviewer comments on eGullet and elsewhere that service remains a bit slow, but for the price, I wasn't looking for fast food. Given the troubles we have had getting vegetarian food in some of the nicer restaurants in town (and I assure you, I will name names), Couvron was a delight. What's more, the hostess (Maura) was very helpful on a few occasions, and never made me feel like I was not old or rich enough to be in her restaurant. we repaid that kindness by going back as often as we could afford.

* Update: sure enough, a bit more searching shows that Couvron New York has closed. Looks like the rap was that it was too pricey for the neighborhood and didn't compete with other high-price establishments like Daniel.

let's eat!

noreply@blogger.com (Mateu) — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 03:27:00 +0000

Hello hi hey,

If you are a news junkie in Portland, OR, then you have probably noticed that it is not so easy to figure out which restaurants are actually you know, good. Many of the restaurant critics seem to treat restaurants here like small town papers treat homegrown theater productions: low expectations and gentle encouragement. If you are vegetarian, you have also noticed that perhaps 1 of 3 reviews mentions whether there is anything for you to eat. Of those, perhaps 1 of 10 says whether the restaurant offers anything better than hotel pasta primavera.

So I thought I'd try to raise the standards for restaurant reviews in this town. Worse writing most likely, but hopefully higher epicurean standards, and at the very least a guarantee that vegetarian options will be examined. Interested collaborators can contact me.