Anniversary

(new year's eve. number 12.)

This dinner was the 1 year anniversary for Secret Restaurant Portland.

We spent the first part of last year holding practice dinners that were smaller and more frequent than they are today, and we didn't officially "open" until spring (the first dinner documented on this blog). But the first time that Lucas and I ever cooked together for guests was new year's eve 2009/2010.

We made a dinner very close to the one you'll see below. It was a sort of Italian-inspired Northwest winter meal. We had an antipasto with roasted garbanzo beans and chard. We had bread with roasted garlic. We had salmon. We had gnocci with this nutty olive sauce, we had biscotti and coffee for dessert. Some of the guests for the anniversary were there for the original, and it was really fun to hear their reactions to our progress.

Lucas once joked "maybe someday we'll get to the point where you start doing ridiculous shit like letterpress menus." So I took that as a cue and I hand set type and letterpress printed the menus.

Pilgrims in Portland

(late november. number 11.)

We held a gathering of friends to share Thanksgiving food, five days before the actual holiday. We were able to practice some of the dishes, take some pressure off from the usual Secret Restaurant routine, and celebrate the season/each other's company.

We had no dining table at the time (the housemate switch mentioned in the Pizza entry), so the food was served buffet style on all the tables from around the house.

Secret Pizza

(mid november. number 10)

We took an enforced hiatus from Secret Restaurant-ing in October, for a multitude of reasons. We enjoyed making small autumnal dinners like savory pies and soups, and soaking up the odd amount of sun still left in Portland. We also had no dining table, or seating, or kitchen utensils, or glasses, or white china, or silverware, due to a roommate switcheroo.

November came, along with the rain, and we still didn't have a proper table. But we decided create a meal that didn't really require one! PIZZA SLAM. We hit up Portland Farmer's Market one last time before the season concluded, and crafted almost all toppings/sauces from what we found there.

We brought out pies two-at-a-time, every 20 minutes or so, for a couple of hours. There was an ongoing came of Pictionary between the pies.

Harvest Moon

(late september. number 9)

This Secret Restaurant was a simple celebration of the beginning of Fall– the days had been unusually hot again, but the afternoon turned blustery as we started to cook. The moon loomed high, the Neil Young album was slapped into the tape deck, and we all toasted to the harvest time.

A Pastoral Brunch

(labor day weekend. number 8.)

food:

Cher Mikkola Cream Scones

A famous recipe from the mother of Secret Restaurant close-associate and often ice cream maker/auxilary baker/shopping helper Aria, adapted to perfection over the years. Recreated here and topped with fresh blackberry compote. Served with local and organic watermelon, pears, strawberries. English Stilton cheese.

Roasted Potatoes De Provence

Pink-centered red fingerling potatoes, roasted with whole cloves of fresh garlic and chopped golden beets. Tossed with mexican rock sea salt, hydrated red rose and hibiscus flowers. Topped with a pureed spinach sauce, made with white onion, shallots, garlic, basil, and lavender. Served on rainbow chard leaves.

Home-made brioche with home-made sweet cream butter and a slice of yellow heirloom tomato.

Fluffy Egg Tartlets

Golden Oregon Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Soufflé (from farm fresh, market eggs) in a rosemary whole wheat pie crust, topped with a Stilton-infused Irish butter hollandaise sauce. Dusted with grated Italian black truffle and lavender flowers. Garnished with Ficoîde Glaciele– "an unusual French green. Delicate texture & lemony, salty taste."

Fried green heirloom tomatoes with a French Batard breading.

drink:

Bloody Mary's

Fresh heirloom tomato juice, hot peppers, organic bottled tomato juice, house-pickled pickles, rainbow chard stocks, Russian potato vodka, and plenty o' secrets. Sel gris rim.

Two Featured Coffees:

from Olympia Coffee Roasting Co., Olympia, WA

Guatemala Huehuetenange CODECH Cooperative. The rather accurate description from Olympia Coffee Roasing Co.'s website: "Aromas of ripe fruit and brown sugar perfume the sweet tangy acidity and well- structured body. Heady flavors of honey, strawberry, and orange are reminiscent of baked summer pastries."

from Espresso Roma Café, Eugene, OR

A mysterious bean known to many friends and acquaintances who have spent much time in Eugene, Oregon. My best answer to the often-asked question "how the hell do they make this midnight mind-slam coffee?" is that it is probably Mexican beans, done in a vienna roast and brewed very strongly. We decided to serve this coffee as a distinct contrast to the Guatemalan, and tried to recreate the intensity of the Roma experience with each cup.

Roman Holiday

(mid august. number 7.)

This Secret Restaurant was a "return to our roots." These dinners began, quite simply, as much smaller gatherings where Andrew and Lucas practiced their cooking. We decided to go back to that mode of operation and celebrate the height of summer with southern Italian food!

Primo

Baguettes from: Fressen (soft and dense) and Grand Central (crusty and airy), broiled with a brushing of olive oil

Wild lobster mushrooms sauteed in butter with fresh garlic

Pesto, made with almonds and an absence of cheese.

Blanched, then marinated broccolini and purple carrots.

Chopped dark heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil in a balsamic dressing

Insalata L'Estate

Red butter leaf lettuce, arugula, and massaged rainbow chard. Raw oregon filberts, heirloom tomatoes, summer bell peppers of various colors, and lemon cucumbers. A vinaigrette made using purple carrot juice, chopped basil, garlic, balsamic, and olive oil.

Piatto

Purple potato gnocchi

Yellow heirloom tomato sauce with saffron.

A slice of fresh mozzarella

Calamari, breaded with red quinoa and fried in coconut oil

Grilled summer squash

Dessert

Home-made, fresh peach gelato served with peaches prepared in brown sugar, topped with a crumble made from toasted almond cookies.

The Wine

Also "back to basics," we simply served our 'House Wine'– Evolution (white) and Meditrina (red) from Sokol Blosser of Dundee, Oregon.

Nostalgia Tripping

(the last day of july. number 6.)

The idea for 'Secret Restaurant Nostalgia Trip' was to take our favorite foods from childhood and update them in the style of our recent dinners.

We each contributed ideas for individual dishes, and then followed through with creating them. Lucas grew up eating a lot of tuna salad wrapped in lettuce leaves– so, sushi grade ahi and fresh mayonnaise and endive. There is no denying that nearly every child loves macaroni and cheese– so, conchiglie shells and macaroni shells with extra sharp vermont cheddar, gouda, mustard, garlic and a kiss of saffron. Andrew's favorite dish growing up was "hamburger gravy and creamed potatoes," which his grandmother made for him every time he spent the evening at her house– and she made 'world famous' (in the way all midwestern women make 'world famous' dishes) hamburger buns, so– veggie sloppy joes on made-from-scratch garlic/whole wheat hamburger buns with a side of country cream potatoes. One of Jenny's favorites (and, really, all of us) was the ol' peanut butter and jelly– so, grilled tea sandwich triangles with almond butter and homemade plum jam. Casey love's cookies and ice cream, and who doesn't have fond memories of absurd bowls of ice cream concoctions– so, banana split with 3 ice creams and a shortbread animal shaped cookie.

The whole thing also turned into a bit of a 1950s tribute, with the colors, the nostalgic music in the background...