Home Comfort

(early/mid march. number 28)

 The conclusion to a run of warming winter dinners. For this one we planned it pretty last minute and executed it as a duo for the first time in a while. This meant that the kitchen got a great deal wilder than usual, but the meal was pulled off smoothly. There was a glitch with the camera, then the other camera's batteries died– but before then, we got these few pictures. I'm going to try my hand at illustrating the other dishes. That's forthcoming. 

To Drink:

Homebrewed Blackberry Stout

This was brewed way back in August (using the blackberries from the back yard) and finally got a chance to shine. It was featured in dinner #25 as an ice cream and fudge sauce. This beer has a journey from being not-so-good when we first opened a bottle to completely delicious on this night. That's what a great deal of bottle fermentation can do with the right beer, we learned. 

Assorted Red Wines

Leftovers from the assortment chosen for cioppino night, and others brought by guests. 

French Press Coffee

Gifted by my friend Katy at Stumptown, served with dessert.

1:

French Onion Soup

A sweeter, smooth take on this classic. Served in tiny ramekins with a floated baguette and bubbling comté cheese. 

2:

Endive/Watercress Salad with a grilled Scallop

Half a head of Belgian endive, slice in half and grilled, then chilled. Served with watercress in a zingy, fresh dressing made of lemon, arugula, and horseradish. A juicy, simple scallop with argyle grill marks. 

3:

Steakhouse Special

"Meat"loaflettes, made in a texas sized muffin tin. I've been working on this recipe for years. It includes an entire slow roasted large eggplant, two marinated/sauteed portobello mushrooms, a batch of green lentils, oats, and secret spices to supplement the smartground fake ground beef. Topped with a maple ketchup glaze. 

Served on top of a square of golden buttermilk ranch mashed potatoes, drizzled with veggie gravy (shallot/miso based). Garnished with shredded asparagus. 

Accompanied by a small square plate featuring half a broccoli head, blanched, marinated, then grilled. Covered in Wisconsin style cheese sauce, featuring sharp Wisconsin cheddar and Danish style Havarti (also from Wisconsin). 

This course was served with a steak knife. 

4:

Cookies with dipping sauce

Snickerdoodles made in the style of my grandmother, served with our house-made authentic-style goat caramel sauce. 

Chocolate chip cookies using a recipe from my housemate Kellen's mom, who's in-the-mail chocolate chip cookies I have feasted on many times, served with house-made hot chilli-spiced fudge sauce. 

San Francisco, 1886

(early february. number 27.)

We dreamed up this S.R. on a rainy January afternoon, downtown, when we were all feeling the deep grey cold of the winter winds. One dish as the serious center of the dinner was a first for us. The constraint of "soup, salad, bread" was also really rewarding. The idea was sort of the "dinner special" at an Italian Restaurant in old world San Francisco. I hand-set and letterpress printed this poster/menu to round out this idea.

To drink:

Flowing red wine.

Bread:

Rosemary Round

My own rustic country bread a la Tartine Bread, but with lots of fresh rosemary and extra sea salt in the score of the bread. 

Ciabatta

From Ken's Artisan Bakery (We served Ken's bread at the first Secret Restaurant, and it is now the only non-house bread we serve.)

Served with Kerry's Irish butter. 

Salad:

Winter Ceasar 

Romaine hearts, ribboned dino kale, spinach, and broiled belgian endive. House anchovy-lemon heavy ceasar dressing, red-skinned jerusalem artichoke chips instead of croutons.

Soup:

Cioppino

All seafood from Newman's Fish Co. Lucas and I both have a long standing personal connection to this fishmarket. Started in 1890 (how many businesses have been around that long these days?) in Eugene, we've both been going there since we were boys. Their location at City Market in NW Portland is far and away the the best fish counter Portland has to offer. We used their freshly prepared fish broth. Two whole live crabs, and we used the crab broth as well. There were two pounds each of clams and mussels. Monkfish, which our fishmonger recommended as cooking up like lobster. He was right. It was exceptional. Old school Italian canned tomatoes. Loads of shallots, onions, fennel, garlic. We nearly filled a 5 galloon pot normally used for brewing beer. 

Dessert:

Semifreddo

An italian frozen custard dessert. Ours was simple, velvety, chocolate/espresso custard, folded with whipped cream, and processed in the gelato maker. We served it with shavings of belgian chocolate and entirely de-membraned tangerines. 

Tea for Twelve

(mid january. number 26.)

Our Anniversary

(new year's eve. number 25.)

  The first, unofficial Secret Restaurant Portland event took place on New Year's Eve of 2009/2010. We served a simple Northwest-style Italian dinner to a small group of friends. We had cheap champagne, winter greens, garbanzo beans, bread, cheese, roasted garlic, gnocchi, salmon, ice cream, biscotti, and espresso. 

  The following year, as an anniversary of sorts, for our 12th official dinner, we served a "remix" of that original menu. We took the menu's contents from the year before and expanded them in a way intended to showcase our growth. 

When the New Year started approaching this year, it seemed only appropriate to start planning a 3rd remix. A R-R-remix, of sorts.

Hallow's Eve

(the evening before halloween. costumes encouraged. number 24.)

This was probably the weirdest Secret Restaurant we've ever done. But it was successfully seasonaly appropriate and all the reviews from guests were positive– so we feel justified in having put together a dinner under the absurd umbrella of Belgian/Indian fusion. Belgindian.

Leaf Pile

(early october. number 23.)

In 2010, we did not get to do autumn the way we wanted to. Housemates moved out, taking the dining table and many kitchen tools with them- weekends were packed, and our cooking was limited to small, cozy, private dinners. So we took a bit of a break, then made pizzas because that wouldn't require a table, then we built our own table and started up again. This year, we set about to do three autumnal meals in relatively quick succession. This was the second, happening on the first weekend in October. 

Farm To Table

(mid september. number 22.)

We visited our friend Will Boal, who worked the 2011 farming season at Let Us Farm, located in Oakville, WA (about 30some miles from Olympia. He's the guy in the yellow mackintosh). 

Will was living in a delightful old farm house, with a well stocked kitchen and a large table cover that turns his modest 3 or 4 person dinner table into a proper feasting platform. All of these vegetables (and also the eggs) came from the very land we cooked the food on, and were gathered mere hours before the meal was served. 

Secret Restaurant Portland has been casually existing within the "farm to table" movement for a year and a half now. So this first weekend of fall, we went to the farm and we filled the table. We made a midafternoon lunch/dinner- a sort of old fashioned "Sunday Supper."