Still at Tales of the Cocktail 2008, so I’m in no condition to write about anything. These people can drink! On the other hand, it’s so hot and humid here, you pretty much have to drink; only way to keep cool, you know?

I went to a whiskey tasting at 10:30 this morning, this after spending too much time at last night at The Carousel Bar in the Monteleone. It’s one of those slowly revolving places, which can get a bit disorienting at times; especially late at night if you are standing next to friends who are actually sitting. Sip, take a short step to the right, sip, step, sip, step. It’s like dancing and drinking at the same time in slow-motion. It helps that the cocktails are pretty good, even if they do keep running out of the proper glasses.

There is a large Portland contingent here. Jeffrey Morganthaler (technically Eugene), some of the teardrop guys, and a bunch of other people I’ve seen around town but don’t know their names.

The “swag bag” is huge; filled with little bottles of booze. I had to keep switching it from one side to another so that I don’t walk with a limp for the next few months. I’m saving it for further research when I get home. Anyone want the T-Shirts?

I’ve been attending a few interesting tastings and seminars. One interesting seminar yesterday was How to Develop Aroma in Your Cocktails with Audrey Sanders. Fascinating. Knowing how to play with bitters and different ingredients to develop cocktails with subtle but complex aromas is both an art and a science. I also went to “Making your own Spirits - A look into modern Nano-Distilling,” attended a moonshine tasting, and did a loop at the official “cocktail hour” where several dozen bartenders made inventive cocktails based on chosen liquors at Tales. Lots of rum drinks, but my favorite was the simple Improved Whiskey Cocktail, with Bulliet Bourbon, bitters, rock candy syrup, Luxardo Marachino Liquer and a dash of absinthe. The Mother’s Ruin Punch created by legendary Phil Ward was also terrific - Tanqueray gin, Vermouth, Champagne, club soda, with grapefruit and lemon juices. In lesser hands this could have been a sticky mess. In Ward’s hands it was excellent.

Now then; I really have to stop typing and get to more of these seminars. You wouldn’t want me to miss one! In the meanwhile, below is Kevin Allman’s excellent coverage from 2007 - nothing’s really changed, just a bunch of people getting drunk in the name of education. Once again, Throwing Myself on a Grenade for you.

Hi from New Orleans. I’m down here covering the 5^th annual Tales of the Cocktail, a five-day drinks convention where thousands of chefs, bartenders, spirits writers, and drink geeks come to gorge on seminars and tastings. Convention organizers estimated 12,000 people were braving July humidity to attend 75 panels, seminars, and dinners. And Oregon is mos def in the house - represented by people from Karen Foley of Imbibe magazine to Dewey Weddington of the Saké One Sakéry in Forest Grove to Mint/820 mixologist Lucy Brennan. The place to find Portland was at “Saké to Me,” one of the convention’s most popular panels, where Weddington was pouring samples for the crowd, while Brennan was behind the bar, shaking up batches of one of her signature “sakétinis.” Weddington poured samples. We sipped. We swished. We made notes on a tasting/scoring sheet (at least, other people did; I was totally at sea). And then the very enthusiastic Beau Timken, owner of San Francisco’s True Saké, America’s first all-saké store, took the mike to take us newbies to saké school.

“I am a saké savant; I am a saké freaker,” he said emphatically, and then we were off on an entertaining tour of saké history, as Waddington just kept circulating and pouring. Son of a gun; after the third sip, I began to taste subtle differences in Weddington’s Oregon-brewed Japanese wine, a product which ranged from near-clear to amberish to a cloudy, rice-watery fluid.

Among Timken’s other notable quotes:

“The saké flavors we’ve tasted in Japanese restaurants has been heinous. We’re used to crappy saké that gets overheated as a masking agent.”

“The saké industry in Japan is going down the toilet - young Japanese drinkers see it as their grandfather’s beverage. In America, this is not a trend. Saké is not the Macarena! Saké is not a cigar bar!”

“Pairing saké with Western cuisine represents the future of the beverage outside of Japan.”

And then we got to the Momakawa Diamond sampling, which was a revelation that made me realize that I rather liked saké. Still, I couldn’t tell the difference between several of them, which was probably due to a combination of my uneducated palate and the fact that we were sitting in a conference room at 11 in the morning.

But my taste buds woke up when Lucy Brennan took up a shaker and began mixing one of her signature cocktails, the “G sling.” According to Brennan, one advantage of saké cocktails is that they can be made from less spendy bottles: “I make sangría, too, but I don’t use my best Bordeaux,” she pointed out. Her G-sling sounded less-than-appetizing on the recipe card (saké and Cruzan banana rum?), but turned out to be both delicate and seriously delicious, with all the taste of the tropics but no Hawaiian Punch sicky-sweetness.

Then came the saké pairings, overseen by Dina Cheney, a writer and professional “food pairer.” Out came some carefully chosen nibbles to complement the drinks: a ramekin of rich turkey-andouille gumbo, one raw P&J oyster, and a single perfect Michel Cluizel chocolate. (Chocolate, it turns out, pairs marvelously with saké; as a confirmed non-chocoholic, I found myself finishing the dense little square when there was saké to wash it down.)

Also on hand was Ryan Magarian of Portland’s Aviation Gin, who conducted a panel on the “distologist” trend - cocktail experts who are becoming spiritsmakers - and another on how chain restaurants are moving toward top-quality drinks ingredients. Surprisingly, there were no Portlanders on “From Farm to Glass,” a red-hot panel discussion about using sustainable, organic, and local ingredients in cocktails, which was sponsored by Square One organic vodka and Whole Foods Markets. (The sips at this one were organic milks, along with a New Orleans delicacy: organic Creole cream cheese.)

Tales of the Cocktail also included dozens of “spirited dinners,” where some of the city’s best chefs paired with master mixologists to create some extremely reasonable multi-course grandes bouffes. I ate at the Rib Room (panko- and porcini-crusted redfish over bitter greens and truffled whipped potatoes!), where each course was paired with 19^th-century cocktails prepared by bar chefs from the New York mixology school Milk & Honey.

To answer a question I’ve been asked (a lot): The restaurant scene in New Orleans has rebounded faster than most of the rest of the city, though every restaurateur with whom I spoke stressed a need for experienced servers; there are good jobs to be had here. I had gumbo, grilled drum, and lemon icebox pie at Mr. B’s, the last of the old-line restaurants to reopen (just a few weeks ago), as well as the traditional rich, cocktail-laden breakfast at Brennan’s, a public institution in New Orleans. On the casual side was a huge brunch at one of New Orleans’ fine Vietnamese restaurants, Nine Roses, and endless java and Wi-Fi at the city’s many locally-owned coffeehouses (Starbucks still hasn’t made many inroads in this most European of American cities).

Tourism as a whole os another story; major conventions have yet to recommit to New Orleans, which is great news for individuals, particularly in the budget-busting 2007 travel season. In downtown New Orleans, there are still bargains galore, leaving you more to spend on food and drink. I spent one night in the Hotel Ste. Marie, a small French Quarter inn; for a Motel 6 price ($62), I had a private courtyard with fountain and an antique-filled room with 14-foot ceilings. At the other end of the scale is the completely refurbished Windsor Court, the grande dame of the city’s luxury hotels, which feels like the Queen Elizabeth, down to personal assistants, chandeliers in the elevators, and a club lounge with round-the-clock food and drinks served by uniformed butlers. (At the moment, rooms are only $229, with a fourth night thrown in free, which comes out to $171/night, and has got to be the best hotel deal, in one of the best hotels, that I’ve ever experienced.)

The next Tales of the Cocktail won’t be until July 2008, but don’t wait. New Orleans has always been a great food and drink destination, but the hospitality industry there still needs help; why not do your part for the recovery effort by taking advantage of the flood-sale hotel prices in the Crescent City and support some locally-owned businesses? It’s got to be the easiest relief money you’ll ever spend.

– Kevin Allman is a writer who relocated to Portland from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. His website is www.kevinallman.com.

LUCY BRENNAN’S G-SLING

2 oz. G saké (from Saké One in Forest Grove)

1 oz. Cruzan banana rum

1 oz. fresh lemon or lime juice

1 oz. fresh simple syrup

Shake over ice in a large cocktail shaker. Strain and serve with a lime slice and tropical flower garnish.

I’m in New Orleans, but am keeping an eye on things here, and hope to have a review out late this week. Now then:

If you change your screen name every time you post a comment, I’ll delete every comment you’ve ever made.

If you put in fake email addresses, I’ll delete your comments.

An article that relates to the current poll: on MSNBC.com, “Organic Food Industry Faces Financial Squeeze“.

Toro Bravo's John Gorham

“My grandfather was a big foodie. He owned a crab shack in Baltimore and I would go stay for like a month of my summers with him. He was a bachelor who always had a new girlfriend so he was always wining and dining,” reminisces Toro Bravo’s John Gorham. Though he fondly remembers summers in Baltimore, Gorham says his near obsession with food started way before that. “I remember even before kindergarten saying I wanted to be a chef. I remember playing restaurant, and I would cook all my friends food. I knew I was going to do it, and if I went to a restaurant I would order something funky just to try it. I never, never have turned food down.”

Gorham doesn’t look as though he’s never, never turned food down, but he is robust and has a large frame. You can almost imagine his strapping stature as the product of his determined enthusiasm. Sitting at the bar in Toro Bravo at nine thirty in the morning, Gorham’s blue gray eyes shine clear and bright as he enlightens me about how he’s come to be the proprietor of one of Portland’s favorite restaurants - Willamette Week’s restaurant of the year in 2007.

“I grew up in a restaurant culture at a young age,” he says. “My step-father’s job was to remodel Kroger’s grocery stores and we’d always be moving closer to the stores. By the time I was out of school I went to twenty two different schools. We ate out a lot because a lot of times we never set up, and we acted like tourists if we were only going to be there for a few months.” With food as a constant, at seventeen, Gorham enrolled at the American Culinary Federation in Williamsburg, Virginia. At a pivotal moment in his career, just before finishing the program, Gorham was turned down for a job on the basis that he didn’t have enough charcuterie experience. “So I was like - alright - so that’s what I have to do - next thing. So anytime I could find that and someone who could teach me charcuterie, I went to work for them.”

After acquiring the necessary skills to cure meats, Gorham came to Portland as a co-owner of Viande Meats in N.W. 21^st Avenue’s City Market, the makers of creative sausages and pâtes. “I loved doing charcuterie, but I needed an outlet to cook, so on Sunday nights we did Simpatica. We were doing it as an experiment. The idea was, let’s push ourselves as cooks and chefs.” On different nights, Gorham would focus on different regional cuisines. “I started doing tapas dinners and the first one I did, people flipped out, and everyone was like this town needs this, and on like the fourth one, the food critic from USA Today came in. It was really random. He walked in the back door and looked really confused. We thought he was just some wandering guy looking for dinner, so we sat him down. He said he had a really magical time as far as the table went that night, but then he rated us the number one meal in the world for 2006.”

Though presumably a momentous occasion, Gorham’s passion is clearly with the food, and he discusses the USA Today honor as if it was just another day in the life - a midwife for the next opportunity to cook. “I was like, alright, we’ve got to do the restaurant.” So he and his wife, Courtney, bought plane tickets to Europe. They spent time in Germany with Courtney’s family and then jetted off to Spain while their three year old daughter got to stay with her grandmother and great grandmother in Germany.

“From everything I’d studied and everything I knew, I wanted to look at Barcelona. Everything that is going on there is so eclectic and out there, and it made sense to look at those restaurants and take what I wanted to learn from them.” The most notable restaurant on Gorham’s trip to Barcelona - maybe beside a place called Puerto Rico that serves chicken, French fries and baguettes - was Cal Pep. “It’s a Michelin one star restaurant, but it’s crazy in there,” says Gorham. “People line up for an hour before for the first seating. They open up the doors and instead of kicking people out, all of a sudden you’re sitting at the bar and there are people packed in behind you waiting to get your seat from the second you sit down. And the waiter is like ‘red wine or white wine?’ No choice really. And then he asks, ‘what do you like to eat?’ Seafood, meat and veggies, and then they just start bringing food,” explains Gorham. “They say, ‘tell us when to stop.’ It’s a lot like here. There’s a confidence to the way the mechanics are working, but the place is totally crazy, and the food is non-traditional but very traditional at the same time.”

Some of the more eclectic, less traditional dishes on Toro Bravo’s menu are inspired by what’s fresh and in season. “I like to think about it like, how would a Spaniard think if they grew up and lived here and embraced our farmers and our wine makers and what’s going on here.” Toro Bravo orders fresh meat and produce from local farms and ranches in the area. Gorham prides himself on those relationships. “Viridian Farms is really Spanish based in what they like to grow. We work with a lot of farms, but they’re a really big focal point of what we’re doing.” Toro Bravo gets padrón peppers, which are popular as fried snacks in Spain, from Viridian Farms. When I ask who influences whom - the farmer or the chef, Gorham says, “I think it works both ways. They were already playing with padróns, but after they saw what I could sell last year they quadrupled their crop.”

The other major Toro Bravo flavor factor is, of course, Gorham’s personal sensibility as a chef. “I am who I am. I cook how I cook. I study and read. I make myself grow as a chef every year. That’s my goal in life. But I still have a style and I think my style will always come out in what I’m doing.” He also attributes a large part of the restaurant’s success to his staff. “I have a phenomenal crew. My crew hasn’t left me since day one, so we just get tighter and tighter.” Gorham encourages his chefs to educate themselves about Spanish food and to really grasp the aesthetic of the cuisine. “You need to go read, I tell them. Go open a book and learn to think about it in a Spanish way.” Last winter, Gorham sent one of his chefs to Barcelona to experience the food culture first hand. He says, “I think traveling is one of the best things a chef could do.”

As Gorham gives me the royal tour and shows me around the open kitchen, with a large stove and a decidedly small prep area, he explains, “I’m a cooking chef, I always will be. I could never have a really big restaurant where I couldn’t cook.” He proudly shows me to a custom made grill and oven. “When we first opened, we had an under counter dish machine and there was no way we could keep up with it. And we didn’t have a walk-in. We just had a double door fridge.” The restaurant is clean and new, but when he leads me down the steps to the basement with antiquated brick walls, the character ratchets up. “We added the walk-in down here like the sixth week we were here because we were just dying,” he says. He opens it up for me to see the fastidiously organized and spotless shelves beautifully displaying a large selection of cheeses and racks of curing meats. “I think we buy more cheeses than probably anyone in town.” Shockingly, the freezer at Toro Bravo is tiny, a fact that appears to amuse us both. “Our anchovies and octopus come in frozen from Spain, but there’s really not a whole lot going on in here - some Limoncello,” he says.

Gorham says he thinks about what he will do at Toro Bravo “constantly - seven days a week.” He changes the menu daily, and is continuously on top of what produce is coming in and busy adjusting traditional dishes. He imagines in the future he’ll do other projects, but he says, “I love this restaurant. For now I’m pretty happy. Extremely happy. We have a good time. That’s what’s important. The whole idea of a restaurant was to throw a party every night.”

Elizabeth Lopeman recently earned an M.A. in writing from Portland State. She writes book reviews and regular articles for Eugene Magazine and has contributed to various other local and regional publications. She’s also been known to write cd liner notes, web content, press releases, and of course her passion — fiction.You can read more about her at ElizabethLopeman.com

A message on their website reads,

Due to the current economic climate, we have made the difficult decision to close our store. We are considering an internet-only option, but we will have to see how that develops.

The past three years have been filled with many happy memories, and we will miss those of you who made up our loyal customer base.

(guess they won’t miss the rest of us)

“From a café in Des Moines to a deli in Baltimore, these 10 spots serve the country’s best sandwiches.”

#7

Portland, Oregon
This Jewish-style deli has a reverence for all the classics—pastrami on rye, chopped liver, chicken soup with matzo balls, and even egg creams.
1038 SW Stark St.; 503-222-3354
kennyandzukes.com

You can see the whole list at Bon Appetit.com

It’s been a while, but good things come to those who wait! News, News, News (and gossip!)

Lots of openings: Cacao has opened their 2nd location, this in the corner of The Heathman. It’s a charming shop in a perfect location (and I almost never use the word “charming”.)

The eagerly anticipated Lincoln Restaurant will be opening on NE Williams this Friday. We hope to have a sample menu posted soon.

A new venture by Joe Rapport, owner of JoPa on Beaverton Hillsdale Highway, 50 Plates is getting ready to open, with media dinner on July 16th. We weren’t invited (snubbed!), but will have a few spies there anyway. They’ve been a bit closed lipped about what their focus will be; even the press invite is a bit obtuse. However, word has trickled down that they will have a killer bar staff, and a serious coffee training program.  It’s in the new Aveda building in the Pearl District.

Finally, Belly, the new restaurant going into the old Terroir spot, has a press dinner in late July. It’s getting busy around here!

I’ll write a bit more about M.F.K Fisher next week.

Many distill out of warehouses in an industrialized part of southeast Portland. Also on this corridor will be a few breweries, wineries and the much-anticipated September debut of a restaurant featuring Kevin Ludwig and Lance J. Mayhew, two of the city’s best bartenders. Talks have begun about creating tour signs and a catchy nickname for this area.

Hmm… maybe we can come up with a nickname. Drunken Flats? The Seattle Times suggests Distillery Row. Actually has a nice ring to it.

Artisan spirits in Portland are so sophisticated that advocates such as Oregon Distillers Guild President Lee Medoff, who also co-owns House Spirits Distillery, are convinced spirits can pair with food just as wines do. Some of the city’s top restaurants agree. Simpatica Dining Hall, Park Kitchen and Paley’s Place all occasionally feature tasting menus with cocktails and spirits.

That’s a sore point with traditionalists such as Clear Creek’s McCarthy who believe the alcohol content is too high to pair with food. That it’s a topic of discussion in restaurant kitchens and bars shows how big the distillery scene has grown in a city billed as “the capital of microbrewery.”

Although it was sweltering and muggy, the show was a cool oasis of thousands and thousands of food samples. A gourmet’s Eden, with over 180,000 food and beverage products, and 2,400 exhibitors from 77 countries in 60 international and domestic pavilions, most of them offering samples. All those little samples do add up - a nibble of Jamon Iberico from the Spain section, a generous cup of Gelato from Italy, baked goods, wonderful Indian chutneys and naan breads, Turkish stuffed pickled peppers, Feta and olives from Israel, Skewers of grilled meats with exotic spices, Artisan cheeses galore from every cheese making country out there, quality crackers and savory baked goods, Vinegars, oils and spices,Thai noodles, buttery smoked fishes of all kinds, jams, teas, coffees, exotic sodas, juices, and beverages of all kinds. cookies, ice creams, pastries, cakes, tarts, pies and more chocolate than I could possibly eat. If you ever get a chance to go, check it out. It is quite the experience!

Everything below this line is hearsay or gossip. None of it is verified.

From a reader,

Here’s a funny story for you:

A group of seven people including some Portland chefs went to Lucier for dinner last week. They ordered a bottle of wine. The waiter came back and told them that despite the fact that it was on the list, the staff couldn’t find the wine.

They ordered another bottle of wine. The waiter came back and told them that despite the fact that it was on the list, the staff couldn’t find the wine.

They ordered another bottle of wine. The waiter came back and told them that despite the fact that it was on the list, the staff couldn’t find the wine.

It happened two more times.

Finally, Donny Sullivan came over and kicked them out. He said they were harassing his staff and that he was paying their tab.

In all my restaurant experiences, I’ve never heard of a party of diners being asked to leave because they wanted to drink wine that was on the wine list.

I’d LOVE to know who the chefs were! They chefs are named in the comments below. Of course there are two sides to every story, and now I’ve heard both sides. It’s interesting.

(Y’all know why the original sommelier at Lucier was fired, right? What! It’s such a good story, but I can’t repeat it here

I’ve gone by several times, and there is definitely activity going on, but until another some industrious reporter confirms it, I’d say it’s just a rumor.

You can read her report (with photos!) here.

Another quick note, the Donated Adspace wasn’t getting much use, so I’m just switching it to a paid ad. If anyone is interested, contact me pdxfooddude@gmail.com.

Two Tarts Combo Plate

You two little tarts!

I don’t want to love you, you wicked temptress! You are my Delilah, weakening me with your gooey chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt; cookies that called me back to the register at the coffee house, even after I’d sat down with my drink. My femme fatale, how well your alluring treats weaken my resolve to resist, they make love to my cappuccino - buttery, salty, crunchy - I must have one with every cup. You are a siren with your peanut butter delights drizzled with bittersweet chocolate, your cappuccino creams of cinnamon goodness, or your sassy pecan tessies. My diet has been dashed upon the rocks.

Two Tarts Combo Plate

However, I must chant a hymn unto you, my Cupid. I love that your little cookies are the perfect size; I can indulge myself without guilt. I am enchanted with every tart. You bewitch me; daily I buy two or three; talismans to seduce an unsuspecting friend.

Now it is time to share our love.

Suddenly, they are everywhere: Foster and Dobbs, Coffee House NW, Zupan’s, City Market, New Seasons… tiny little cookies, that are quite simply the best tarts I’ve had in some time. The brainchild of Elizabeth Beekley and Anna Phelps, Two Tarts Bakery has spread from their original stand at the Portland Farmer’s Market, sending their goodness across the city. In late September, they will even open a retail store at 2309 NW Kearney.

I love that a salesperson looked at me once and said, “dude… can you imagine getting stoned and eating this entire jar!”, and for a moment, I could.

marionberry-linzer

The tiny cookies are so inconspicuous it’s easy to miss them - I always look for them near the register. It’s worth your time tracking them down, and I promise, when you walk out of the store, you’ll still be thinking about them. Oh, and the extra ones I buy to share? I’m secretly glad when, after walking down those little side streets and back alleys and entering through the basement, I don’t run into anyone I know.

TwoTartsBakery.com

1. PIne Tavern - Bend
2. Merriwether’s
3. Andina
4. Amuse - Ashland
5. Lucier
6. Oba
7. Deep - Bend
8. The Melting Pot
9. Masu Sushi
10. 23Hoyt

They are, in order, Open Table’s top ten Oregon restaurants, as voted by users of the reservation system.

This is an interesting list, especially the order in which they appear. It seems to me, by publishing a ranking like this, Open Table is risking the wrath of the very restaurants that use their system. 23Hoyt ranked below Oba? Lucier ranked below Merriwether’s? This is precisely the reason online voting doesn’t work for things like this.

Tasty, inexpensive, real food for people on the go. It’s the return of the automat, filled with bite-sized burgers, mac & cheese, corn dogs, chicken fritters, grilled cheese and lots of other great stuff - made fresh throughout the day.

Where am I?

“You’d be hard pressed to find a barman who takes his work seriously who works in a joint with a blender,” said Duggan McDonnell, an owner of the bar Cantina in San Francisco. “I worked in one restaurant that did blender drinks and I’m telling you — the noise, the whirring, you’re going through blades in the middle of service, and craziness abounds.”

…So it’s something of a shock that a couple of bars are lugging the machine back up the stairs again, dusting it off and even giving it a place of honor.

…We loved them in the ’30s and ’40s, when the Waring blender washed ashore in Havana and was adopted by Constante Ribalagua, head barman at the Floridita. According to legend, Ribalagua made more than 10 million daiquiris. There is dispute about his precise technique, but for many drinks he seems to have used the blender almost as a cocktail shaker, pulsing the ingredients just long enough to chill them, but not so long as to turn the drink to slush.

He was known for filtering out even the tiniest shards of ice with a fine mesh sieve, [FD: Doesn't this sound like something those obsessive compulsives over at Teardrop would do?] and for the grapefruit-and-maraschino-liqueur daiquiri he served Hemingway. But Ribalagua had five versions of that cocktail, all worth a second look, particularly the Daiquiri No. 2, with its hint of oranges.

This is an interesting article, and includes serveral recipes, one called a “Spiced Colada” that is full of bitters, and a “Daiquiri #2“, which I will try tomorrow when the temperature goes above 80 degrees. They also have the recipe for one that has to be on the list of top best cocktail names, the “Missonary’s Downfall.”

I’m sad to hear this, as I always thought Eric had a ton of talent, and he was a heck of a nice guy. Unfortunately, I don’t think ASOBG had the business to keep him interested. The location never seemed to pull in the business it deserved.