Dinner at A.O.C. (Los Angeles)

In May, Los Angeles Magazine published it’s annual “L.A.’s 75 Best Restaurants” issue.  It’s always my favorite issue of the year, because it gives me ideas for new places to try around the city.  I was happy to see that I had already been to numbers 2, 3 and 4.  However, I had yet to try the #1 place on their list this year, A.O.C.  Naturally, I had to check it out.

First things first, what does A.O.C. stand for?   Well, this is a wine reference for a restaurant that started off primarily as a wine bar with some small plates, and has since evolved into much more.   
A little history on the meaning of A.O.C...  

Back in  the 1900s, France was suffering economically under the cost of two world wars, which was  contributing to a significant decrease in the quality and availability of prestigious French wines.  Around the same time, the A.O.C. (or Appellation d’Origine Controlee – meaning “regulated origin name”) was devised. The A.O.C. outlined the standards for today’s modern wine regulations and laws that serve both to define grape growing regions as well as protect the quality of wines. The A.O.C. served to redeem the country’s wine reputation and determine a structured protocol for quality and consistency within the French wine market.  I digress.... back to the restaurant...

A.O.C. can best be described as contemporary, California French cuisine.  A.O.C. is primarily a small plates restaurant, which is centered around locally grown, seasonal ingredients.  I really like the whole trend of small plates, since it allows me to try more things on the menu, rather than limiting me to only one entree.

A.O.C. has been in L.A. since 2002, however, it recently moved to its current location on 3^rd Street.  The new location is small, but they have a lovely, outdoor patio, which was absolutely perfect on a mild L.A. evening. A.O.C.is helmed by chef Suzanne Goin, who was named one of Food & Wine magazine's "best new chefs of 1999", and was nominated for James Beard awards in 2003 and 2005.  In 2006, she won a James Beard Award for Best Chef California. 

A.O.C. has a great "by the glass" list for wine, but I was primarily focused on the food.  The cheese boards change on a daily basis, and guest s have a choice of one, three or five different cheeses.  We decided to start with a three cheese plate.  We chose three distinctly different types of cheese, one was an aged gouda, one was a bleu, and one was a hard Italian cheese, which was less like a parmesan or reggiano, and more like a Spanish manchego.  The cheeses were accompanied by some dried figs, walnuts, and a couple of fruit pastes.  The board also came with come good, country bread.  All of the cheeses were delicious, and I especially liked a perfect bite with the bread, the bleu, and a bit of the lemon paste.  The combination of the sour bleu with the tart lemon worked really well together.

Along with the cheese board, we ordered the coppa and soppressata plate, to have some meat to go along with our cheese.  What is coppa? Coppa is a muscle of the pork right behind the back of the head, at the top of the shoulder.  Soppressata is an Italian, dry salami.  The coppa was salty and cured, with just the right amount of fat.  The soppressata was spicy, with just the right amount of heat.  I probably would have been happy just eating cheese and charcuterie all night, but everything else sounded so good, we moved on the the "small plates" part of the menu.

For my "small plate", I chose the clams with sherry, garlic, and toast.  The clams were briny, buttery, and luscious.  The sherry and garlic added just the right touch of flavor.  The broth was so good, I loved mopping it up with the grilled toast.  I had a great glass of sauvignon blanc with this dish, which was the perfect pairing, due to its crispness and minerality.  This was definitely one of the highlights for me.

For his "small plate", my husband ordered the duck cassoulet.  Now, a cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked casserole, originating in the south of France, which usually contains a dark meat (i.e. pork sausage, goose, rabbit, or duck), and generally, has some type of white beans.  This was a great example of a rich, slow-cooked duck, which had good, well-seasoned skin, on top of an array of beans, with a crispy, breadcrumb topping.  The duck had that soft, braised, fall off the bone texture, and the beans were perfectly cooked.  The bread crumb topping gave a nice crunch to the dish.

We each decided to order one more "small plate."  My husband ordered the parpadelle with asparagus, chanterelles, and parmesan.  The fresh, home-made pasta was perfectly cooked.  The sauce was rich and creamy, which was highlighted by the asparagus and mushrooms.  The asparagus was bright, crispy, and had an excellent "vegetality" (a term coined by him to describe well-cooked, vegetable flavor).  The chantrelle mushrooms added a nice, earthy quality to the dish.  Together, the vegetables and sauce married perfectly together. 

I decided to order the Spanish fried chicken with romesco aioli, & chili-cumin butter.  I am a sucker for fried chicken, especially, if it is well done. This chicken was crispy and crunchy on the outside, and moist and juicy inside.  The chicken was packed with a punch on its own, and the chili-cumin butter was a bit over-powering.  The breading on the chicken was very cumin-heavy on its own.  I ate most of it without the sauce, and felt it was unnecessary since the breading on the chicken was so full of flavor.  

Now, by this point, we were both pretty full.  However, as a duty to my loyal readers (all 4 of you), we felt obliged to order dessert. We went with the butterscotch pot de crème with fleur de sel & salted cashew cookies.  It was a delicious, rich butterscotch pudding, with a bit of added salt to balance out the sweetness.  We both enjoyed it, but each only had a couple of bites before we were too full to take anymore.

Overall, we both thoroughly enjoyed our experience at A.O.C.  Each of the small dishes we ordered were very enjoyable, packed with flavor, and well thought out.  The atmosphere on the patio was very nice, as well as, the "by the glass" wine list.  We will definitely be back to try more of  chef Goin's dishes.  Do I agree with L.A. Magazine, that A.O.C. is the "best in L.A."?  Probably not. There are certainly places I have enjoyed more.   However, the food was absolutely solid, and I would without a doubt  come back for more.  It is a place that all foodies in L.A. should have on their lists.

Dinner at Connie & Ted's (West Hollywood)

So every year on my birthday, my husband picks a place to take me for a special dinner.  This year, we had the good fortune to go to a great steak dinner the night before my birthday, so when he asked me where I wanted to go on my birthday, I told him to pick a “seafood place.”  We have both been getting more and more adventurous with trying different kinds of seafood, so I knew he would pick something good.  His choice was the fairly new, and very popular West Hollywood hotspot called Connie & Ted’s.  

 

Opened in 2013, Connie & Ted’s is the brainchild of chef Michael Cimarusti, who helms L.A.’s   pre-eminent seafood mecca, Providence.  While Providence is upscale and contemporary, Connie & Ted’s has a much more relaxed, casual vibe.  Chef Cimarusti has re-imagined the New England clam shacks he frequented as a kid growing up in Rhode Island.  The restaurant is named after the chef’s maternal grandparents.  His grandfather, Ted, was an avid fisherman, and obviously passed his love of seafood down to his grandson.  

The interior of Connie & Ted’s is quite large, and loud, with an open view of the kitchen, where you can watch all of the cooks hard at work at their stations. 

 

It is not the kind of place to go is you want a quiet, intimate meal.  It is a bright, open dining room, with touches of a fish house everywhere you look.  The light fixtures are even made from re-purposed lobster traps.  There is a very large, raw bar with a huge, ever-rotating selection of different types of oysters, with chalk boards highlighting the daily offerings.  The oysters are supposed to be some of the best in the city.  That being said, I need to include a caveat before I can continue my review, and that is that neither my husband, nor I, are big fans of raw oysters so we did not partake in any.  

One of the few negatives I can say about Connie & Ted’s is that even with a reservation, we still had to wait almost an hour for our table on a Friday night.  However, that gave us time to sample some interesting cocktails on the list.  I had a Narragansett Cooler, which consisted of bourbon, orange juice, and ginger ale.  It was a light, refreshing cocktail that I was able to enjoy during our lengthy wait.

By the time we were finally seated at our table, we were pretty hungry, so we went straight to the starters.  We ordered two of the house specialties.  First, we had “Stuffies” which were chopped quahog clams mixed with breadcrumbs, linguica sausage, garlic, and butter, and then stuffed back into their shells and baked until piping hot and crispy on top.  There was no shortage of sausage, and the spicy kick from the linguica seemed to dominate the oyster flavor.  I thought they were delicious, mostly due to the fact that the oyster flavor was hidden underneath all of the other ingredients.  

If you are looking for the complete opposite end of the oyster flavor spectrum, I recommend ordering the “Deviled Oysters” starter.  We decided to put our reservations concerning oysters aside, and go full throttle with this next dish.  The order came with three, giant cooked oysters, which were both salty and spicy.  The spice helped to balance out the brininess, but overall, the oysters themselves were a bit too large for our liking.

Next, we could not resist ordering the hot, soft, buttery rolls.  They arrived fresh from the oven, baked in a cast-iron skillet, and topped with butter and a dash of sea salt.  Delicious!

For our main courses, my husband ordered the Portuguese Fish Stew.  The stew consisted of hake, manila clams, mussels, linguica sausage, in a spicy tomato broth.  My husband is a big fan of cioppino, so we thought this would be right up his alley. There was definitely no shortage of seafood in the bowl.  It turned out to be more like a cross between a bouillabaisse and a cioppino.  It was quite tasty, but we both generally like the broth to have a stronger tomato flavor.

My main course was the grilled halibut with lemon, herbs and oil.  The fish was very fresh and cooked perfectly, but it was completely smothered with the herbs, which tended to overwhelm the taste of the fish.  The halibut was enjoyable, but I would likely choose a different preparation if I were to return.

Finally, since it was my birthday, we ordered a Blondie for dessert (it even came with a candle).   The Blondie was basically a brownie without the chocolate, and it came topped with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce.  I am a sucker for desserts, and thought this one was scrumptious.  

Overall, I would say that we both enjoyed our meal at Connie & Ted’s.  Although the service was not particularly great, every part of our meal was quite good.  It is still a hard place to score a reservation, so I don’t think I’d be in a big rush to return.  However, if you enjoy the offerings of a typical New England style clam shack, and specifically, if you are a raw oyster fan, you should definitely check this place out!

Dinner at Hinoki & the Bird (Century City)

Being the "foodies" that we are, my husband and I love when exciting new restaurants open up around the city.  I especially love when Los Angeles Magazine publishes its annually "Best New Restaurants in L.A." issue and provides us with a list of great places to try.  The most recent of these issues came out in December with its list of the "Top 10 Best New Restaurants of 2013."  Fortunately for us, we had already tried out the #1 (Trois Mec) and #2 (Bestia) places on the list.  Then, a Saturday night came about recently where we had no plans, so we picked up the magazine, looked at the list, and decided to check out the #3 restaurant called Hinoki & the Bird.

Hinoki & the Bird is located on the ground floor of "The Century" building in Century City, which is known for being the most expensive condominium building west of the Mississippi.  As for the name, hinoki is a type of cypress tree that is meant to represent the spirit of Japan, and the hinoki wood is used to perfection in one of their signature dishes (more on that later). 


The interior is a mixture of both wood and industrial design.  We were seated outside on the enclosed patio, which had a large fireplace as its centerpiece.  The ambiance was both cozy and noisy.

The place was packed, and the tables were very close together, which made it a little difficult to hear each other across the table.  However, we had no trouble overhearing the conversations of all of the other diners seated around us.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy everything that was brought to their tables.


Hinoki has a specialty cocktail list, and since I've been trying to expand my horizons when it comes to cocktails, I ordered a Classic Negroni, which consisted of gin, sweet vermouth & Campari, on the rocks, with an orange twist.  The drink had one of my favorite new cocktail trends, the single, giant ice cube, used because it melts slowly and keeps your drink cold, but without watering it down.  The drink was delicious and really helped whet my appetite.

Hinoki has an eclectic menu, full of Californian and Asian influences.  The menu is divided up into various sections including a raw bar, fun bites, inspiration, simply grilled, and vegetables and grains.
We started off by sharing a couple of small plates.  The first was fried clams with black garlic aioli.  The clams were quite large, and the batter was crispy and crunchy.  The side of black garlic aioli was an interesting touch, and the richness paired well with the brininess of the clams.

 
The second small plate we shared was the chili crab toasts. In this dish, the sweetness of the crab was a bit overwhelmed by the chili spice, however the fresh strip of cucumber on the bottom helped cool down the heat quite a bit.


Next, we ordered a "main" dish which was the hinoki scented black cod.  With this unique dish, the chef ignites paper-thin sheets of hinoki wood and lays them, still smoldering, over charred clumps of oyster mushrooms and a crispy-skinned piece of black cod. The wood perfumes the restaurant, so you can always tell when somebody across the room has ordered it.  The hinoki wood imparts a delicate smoky scent to the dish.

This was definitely the stand-out dish of the evening.  One of the best preparations of cod that we've ever had.  It was super flaky, tender, and buttery.  The earthiness of the mushrooms was a great accompaniment to the fish.  The mound of mashed sweet potatoes were a tasty, yet completely unnecessary, component of the dish.  Just the cod and mushrooms alone would have been more than satisfying.


Next, we ordered another small dish which was the crispy marinated chicken lemon sauce. The chicken was good and crispy on the outside, yet juicy and tender on the inside.  They tasted like really good chicken tenders.


Finally, we decided to order one dessert to split. We chose the miso donuts with caramel dipping sauce.

Although the donuts were perfectly fried, and not greasy, we both thought that the coating of miso was a miss because it made the donuts too salty.  The caramel dipping sauce was good, but we both couldn't really handle more than just a couple of bites of the dessert.

Overall, we had a great meal at Hinoki and the Bird.  I would definitely recommend the hinoki scented cod dish, as it was one of the very best fish dishes that either of us has ever had!  The menu was innovative and very creative, the atmosphere was nice, and I would encourage all adventurous diners to give this one a try.

Eating our way through Portland

For the first time ever, I traveled out of town, with my husband, for Thanksgiving.  Usually, we have a lot of family over to our place, and we prepare the Thanksgiving meal.  However, this year we decided to travel to Lake Oswego, Oregon to visit my husband’s brother’s family who lives there.  Lake Oswego is a beautiful suburb about 10 minutes south of Portland.  After enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving, and spending a few days with family, we decided to spend the end of our trip exploring the fantastic food scene that Portland has to offer.  

 

Before we left L.A., I did some “serious research” into some of the must-visit, foodie places in Portland.  I read reviews on yelp, scoured the food blogs, and watched a lot of food network.  I took notes and gathered a nice list of places that I wanted to try.  With our limited time, there were only so many places from my list that we were able to get to, but we had some really great food.  We only had two days in Portland, but I felt like all we did was eat for those two glorious days!  So, here are the highlights, as best as I can remember, after I woke up from my food coma:

The Country Cat (7937 SE Stark St.  Portland, OR 97215): 

For our first dinner, we decided to check out The Country Cat.  This place has been featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives”, on an episode entitled “Meat-Lover’s Paradise”, so we were immediately intrigued.  They serve brunch and dinner daily.  Everything at this place is made from scratch, and they are big on the farm to table movement which is quite popular around the Portland food scene.  The place is owned by a husband and wife culinary team, Adam and Jackie Sappington, and the eclectic menu highlights various flavor profiles from Adam’s southern upbringing, balanced out by classic Northwest styles. 

 

We were pretty hungry when we arrived, so we each quickly ordered starters while we examined the menu.  I have a new found respect for gourmet deviled eggs, so I ordered those, and my husband has never met a soft pretzel he didn’t like, and these were described on the menu as “soft and buttery”, so he couldn’t pass them up.  

Now, the reason this place was on the “Meat-Lover’s Paradise” episode, was because of chef Adam’s love for all things pork.  He is known for his artful butchery, and he purchases and carves a whole 160-pound heritage pig, on-site weekly, utilizing everything available to create a pork lover’s dream menu. Perfectly punctuating this unique aspect of the restaurant is the popular Whole Hog plate which features  a brined pork chop, crispy pork belly, and braised  pork shoulder, served over white corn grits.  My husband decided to order the Whole Hog plate, and it was quite tasty.  I liked the braised shoulder meat, while he favored the pork belly with all its fatty goodness.

I ordered the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and country gravy.  Fried chicken, when done right, is one of my favorite comfort foods.  This chicken was done right, as it was nice and crispy on the outside, and really juicy on the inside.   It was one of the better fried chickens I’ve had in a while.

 

Overall, we were quite satisfied with our meal at The Country Cat, and could understand completely why it is so popular with the people of Portlandia.

The next morning, our goal was to find one of the “pods” of food carts which have become all the rage in Portland.  There are a couple of locations in the heart of the city that have dozens of these food carts to choose from.  Well, we found the place, but were disappointed to discover that most of the food carts are closed on Sundays.  Bummer!  We looked to our trusty cell phones to find another breakfast location.  Luckily, we figured out that we were only a few city blocks from the top breakfast place on yelp, Mother’s Bistro & Bar, so this is where we headed.

Mother’s Bistro & Bar (212SW Stark Street in Portland, Oregon 97204):

The chef/owner of Mother’s Bistro & Bar is Lisa Schroeder.  Lisa was working in marketing, when she realized there was no place that served the kind of food she would make if she had the time. She concluded that what the world needed was a place which served “Mother Food”—slow-cooked dishes, such as braises and stews, made with love. Lisa soon gave up her business career and enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America.   In 2000, chef Lisa opened Mother’s Bistro & Bar in downtown Portland.  Mother’s  Bistro claims to offer “refined versions of traditional home-cooked dishes.”  The menu is full of made-from scratch, slow-cooked recipes, utilizing the best available ingredients.  Mother’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, and also has a full bar.  

We went to Mother’s on a Sunday morning and the place was absolutely packed.  They told us that the wait was about 45 minutes, but we found a spot at the bar after about 20.  I started with their famous Bloody Mary, and my husband had a Manmosa, which is the same as a mimosa, only super-sized.  

The entire menu looked delicious, but I finally decided on the Eggs Benedict.  The eggs were perfectly poached, and it had just the right amount of Canadian bacon for my liking.  The Hollandaise was thicker than I like, and a little bit too lemony, but overall, it was a yummy dish.    

My husband ordered one of the daily specials, which was a Cajun Hash.  It had Andouille sausage, potatoes, and some kind of herby, mustard sauce.  It was served with two over easy eggs on the side.  The hash was good on its own, with a good amount of spice from the sausage and mustard, but once it was mixed with the runny egg yolk, the dish was delicious.

We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast at Mother’s Bistro, and would highly recommend it to anyone heading to Portland.

Since the portions were so big at Mother’s, and since we didn’t eat breakfast until around 11:00, we held off on any more meals until dinner.  For dinner, all my pre-trip research led us to a spot called Le Pigeon.
  
Le Pigeon (738 E Burnside St., Portland,OR 97214):

Le Pigeon serves up adventurous, French-inspired food, by Portland rockstar chef, Gabriel Rucker.  The entire restaurant is made up of a large open kitchen, about seven communal tables, and a chef’s counter where you can watch all the action happening in the kitchen.  It is fairly dark inside, so my photos do not do the food justice, but trust me, it was all quite beautiful.  

Chef Rucker takes classic French techniques, along with eclectic Northwest ingredients, and transforms them into carefully executed, and creative dishes.  He recently received the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year Award which goes to show that he is definitely doing something right.

Le Pigeon is only open for dinner, and the seasonal menu changes on a regular basis.  Guests have the option of ordering starters and entrees al la carte, or in the alternative, they can do either a five course or a seven course tasting menu.  Since so many of the items on the menu looked amazing, we decided to go all out and try the seven course feast.

Our first starter course was a Nantucket Bay Scallop Ceviche, with papaya habanero sorbet, cucumber, tomatillo, and trout eggs.  The scallop was super fresh, and by setting it on top of the sorbet, it stayed quite chilled and was very refreshing.  It had a nice citrus flavor, with a hint of heat from both the habanero and the tomatillo.  It was a great way to start off our meal.

The next course was Smoked Duck Breast, with yams, cranberry vinaigrette, oyster mushrooms, and a parsnip cream.  The duck was cooked perfectly.  Because of the cranberry vinaigrette and the yams, the whole dish had a very Thanksgiving-ish flavor profile, which I loved.  

For our third dish, we had Ricotta Cavatelli with a suckling pig ragu and sage hazelnut gremolata.  The cavatelli was a house-made pasta, with ridges around the outside of it.  This pasta was perfect because the ridges really helped the rich ragu stick to the outside of the pasta.  The ragu had a deep, intense flavor.  The gremolata, which is basically a condiment made of herbs, gave the dish some added texture.

Next came our first entrée course which was called Chicken Royale.   The dish consisted of a couple of small, perfectly cooked pieces of chicken which were accompanied by little pieces of lobster, foie gras, and shaved truffle.  The dish was incredibly decadent with all of those rich ingredients.  

 

The second entrée course was Grilled Venison with bone marrow pumpkin pie, onion chutney, and a brussel slaw.   The venison was tasty on its own, but with a bite of the bone marrow pumpkin pie, it was definitely kicked up a notch.  Truth be told, I felt that one of the only missteps of the entire meal was serving a cold slaw on top of the warm venison.  But overall, another unique and enjoyable dish.

 

We were served not one, but two separate desserts.  First was one of Chef Rucker’s signature dishes, a profiterole with fois gras ice cream.  This ice cream was silky and luxurious. 

 

Finally, the second dessert was another seasonal offering of gingerbread cake.  The cake was light and moist, and came with some fresh whipped cream on the side.  The cake had just the right amount of spiciness, without being too overwhelmed by the ginger. 

It was an excellent way to end a wonderful meal.  We left Le Pigeon stuffed, but very satisfied.

Tasty n Sons (3808 N. Williams, Portland, OR 97227):  

The next morning we headed into yet another Portland neighborhood to a local favorite called Tasty n Sons.  I first heard about Tasty n Sons on another T.V. show called “Unique Eats” which airs on the Cooking Channel.  The show was profiling places in Portland, and after watching the segment on Tasty n Sons, my mouth was watering, and I told my husband that we had to go visit this place on our trip.

After all of the rich food and wine pairings at Le Pigeon the night before, I decided that a nice, spicy Bloody Mary sounded like a great way to start off breakfast.  The Bloody Mary was delicious, and it had a whole smorgasbord full of garnishes including the traditional celery, but also a pickled carrot, beet, mushroom, and an olive.

I started my meal off with the “breakfast board” which included a soft-boiled egg, house-made beef jerky, chicken liver mousse, bacon, crusty bread, beets, apple slices, and labna, which is a strained yogurt.   The board arrived and we dove right in as everything on it looked fantastic.  It was a perfect breakfast charcuterie board.

Along with the breakfast board, my husband ordered a dish from the “smaller plates” part of the menu, which was potatoes with an over easy egg and aioli.  The potatoes were diced and fried, but they were then covered in a spicy sauce which made them a little soggy.  The eggs were perfectly cooked, and the still-runny egg yolks were great when mixed with the potatoes.

 

Now, our two starters could have easily been our entire meal.  However, I really came for a dish that was featured on the “Unique Eats” episode, which was the steak and eggs, served in a cast-iron skillet, on top of a cornmeal cake, with jalapeno butter.  The dish had three large pieces of steak, which was perfectly cooked, alongside of some cheesy, creamy scrambled eggs.  The steak and eggs were laid on top of a cornmeal cake, which tasted like corn bread with a bit more crispiness.  To top it all off, there was a giant slab of jalapeno butter in the middle of the plate, which could be used to spread on the pieces of steak, or just melted on to the cornmeal cake.  

 

We couldn’t come close to finishing everything, as we had clearly ordered way too much.  However, everything we had at Tasty n Sons was creative, unique, and most importantly, very tasty.  This was definitely a place I would recommend, and would most likely return to on our next trip to Portland.

 

Salt & Straw Ice Cream (2035 NE Alberta St., Portland, OR):

The last place we hit on our culinary exploration of Portland was the Salt & Straw ice cream shop.  They call Salt & Straw a “farm to cone” ice cream shop.  This is because all of the ice cream here is all hand-made in small batches, using only the best local, sustainable, and organic ingredients Oregon has to offer.  Their ice cream is made with 17% butterfat, which makes it some of the silkiest and creamiest ice cream you’ll ever taste.  

 

Another thing that makes Salt & Straw so unique is the crazy, gourmet flavor combinations they come up with, which constantly change with the seasons.  Some examples are:  “The Elvis”, which is banana pudding ice cream, with marionberry jam, along with homemade peanut butter cookie dough and pralined bacon;  “Pear with Blue Cheese”, which is a pear ice cream with aged crumbles of blue cheese mixed throughout; “Honey Balsamic  Stawberry with Cracked Pepper”; “Coffee and Bourbon”; and “Spiked Egg Nog.”

 

Our very favorite flavor at Salt & Straw is their Sea Salt Ice Cream with a Caramel Ribbon.  The actual ice cream is flavored with sea salt, and not overly sweet.  The caramel is home-made and abundant throughout.  It is absolutely, hands-down, the best ice cream I’ve ever had!  I also gave the olive oil ice cream a chance, which sounds like it would be bad, but was actually rich and decadent, and quite enjoyable.  The Salt & Straw has the ability to turn non-traditional ice cream foods into magical ice cream flavors.   This is definitely a must-try place for anyone headed to Portland.

Overall, we had a great time on our Portland food adventure.  Everywhere we went the food was creative, unique, and full of flavor. It's clear to see why Portland t is now being called the foodie capital of the Northwest.  From coffee shops, to artisan bakeries, to craft breweries, to James Beard Award winning chefs and restaurants, Portland has something to offer for all tastes and budgets.  It is definitely a very food-centric city, and a great place to explore.