I was in Portland the other day for fun and to hear Brian Clement from the
Hippocrates Health Institute give a lecture on raw food. It was lunchtime when I pulled into the big city, so I just pointed the car toward the Southeast part of town where the lecture was taking place. Well, ya know ya can't swing a dead cat in Portland without hitting a worthy eatery, and lo, one block from my parked car was
VegeThai, Portland's "only all-vegetarian Thai restaurant". That means no fish sauce, either. I ordered vegetable pad thai and I would be enthusiastic about this place if they hadn't skimped MAJOR on the veg. Spent the meal turning over rice noodles in a futile attempt to find more cabbage and broccoli. Reasonable price, though, at $7.50. I would give this place another shot -- and order something different.
4 hours later, it was time for dinner, which I had planned pretty meticulously. Back across Hawthorne from VegeThai, at 32nd, is
Belly Timber, the newish modern American place housed in a massive corner Victorian. I skipped the outdoor seating, as it was in the 90s, and went straight for the bar area. A bit muggy inside this joint, but I prefer that over blasting air conditioning. The service was awesome. I started with a taste of Hub Lager, a local brew. I'm still in love with IPAs, so this just tasted like Bud to me -- blech. So I went ahead and ordered a Puka Sahib (which is Victorian slang, male mixologist informed me, for "excellent fellow" and often used in colonial-era literature). It contains: Medoyeff vodka from Portland, lemon juice, and Trillium absinthe, from Portland). Our proprietors are leaders in the locally-sourced movement, it turns out, as I coincidentally read in the PDX indy-weekly, not only serving local alcohols, but featuring vegetables grown in the front lawns of Southeast Portland neighborhoods for
Sellwood Garden Club. Way cool!!
On to dinner, then -- the free bread was a treat, with its sourdough perfection and house-made salts: one a smokey anise flavored, and one a carrot salt. They also put some sugar in their salt, which was nice, but not subtle. Appetizer was the Dungeness crab cakes ($9) with fennel potato salad and red pepper oil. Though salty, there wasn't a crumb left on my plate, as I used the last of my bread to clean up the pepper oil. Potato salad was perfect little squares of potato, very al dente; ok, too al dente, but that didn't stop me from inhaling them.
My main was the Mushroom and Goat Cheese Torta (half order, $8), which I can't stop thinking about. On the bottom of the perfect pastry was a layer of caramelized shallots. The filling was overwhelmingly goat cheesy, in a good way, but with giant chanterelles to interrupt the creaminess. The slice was laid on chard and barley: again salty, but I love salt. Perhaps I should say "well-seasoned". The dish was finished with pickled celery and radish, which I could have done without, but whatever: pickled veg is good for you. The standouts on this dish are the generous and exotic mushrooms, the obviously quality goat cheese, and the perfection of the crust. I hope this place makes it for the long haul -- its enviro-heart is in the right place, and I truly enjoyed every bite.
