Best of 2014: Restaurants

The D.C. restaurant scene continued its dynamism this year. Last year, I wrote about how 2013 was a landmark year for new restaurants; this year felt no different as D.C. welcomed places like DBGB, Fiola Mare, The Partisan and Rural Society. The slate of openings, however, was also accompanied by a number closures, most notably one the city's four-star restaurants, CityZen, and a beloved personal favorite, Palena.

This year we visited restaurants in D.C., New York, Portland, Dallas and Santa Fe, and found gems in all of them. Here are some of our very favorites.

Fried Green Tomatoes, Macon Bistro & Larder

Best Starter: Fried Green Tomatoes, Macon Bistro & Larder (D.C.). I'd never had fried green tomatoes before trying them at Macon Bistro and Larder, but I'd always wanted to try them. I quickly became a fan of Macon's thick slabs of green tomato fried to perfection and served with smoky chunks of meaty bacon and tomato aioli. Although Macon has plenty of interesting starters, this has become our must-have when we go there. Honorable mentions: Roasted Butternut Squash with Pumpkin Seeds, Le Verdure at Eataly (NYC); Pickled Beet Soup with Cherry Compote and Dried Corn Crumble, Mitsitam Cafe at The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (D.C.); Tableside Guacamole, Oyamel (D.C.).

Best Salad: Insalata di Mele con Gorgonzola, Coppi's Organic (D.C.). I love apples in salad, and this creation featured roasted spiced apples with pine nuts, gorgonzola cheese and bitter mesclun was a spot-on balance of flavors. Honorable mentions: Caesar Salad with Fried Oysters, Aggio (D.C.); Roasted Carrot and Kale Salad with Chestnuts, Pistachios and Buttermilk Dressing, Bread Feast at Bread Furst (D.C.); Grilled Bitter Greens with Pine Nuts, Currants and Aged Balsamic Vinegar, Le Verdure at Eataly; Black Kale, Apple and Warm Pancetta, Lupa Osteria Romana (NYC); Bibb Lettuce with Red-Wine-Poached Pears and Burrata, Thally (D.C.).

Best Pasta: Mafaldine with Pork Ragu, Lupa Osteria Romana. Lupa has been our favorite New York City restaurant for years. The Greenwich Village outpost in the Batali-Bastianich restaurant collective excels at making great pasta and this hearty pasta special we enjoyed early this year continues to uphold its tradition of quality. Honorable mentions: Chittara with Meatballs and Ragu Pomadoro, Aggio; Strip Steak Lasagna Béchamel, Coppi's Organic.

Salt Air pork chop

Best Entree: Grilled Sweet-Tea-Brined Pork Chop, Salt Air (Rehoboth Beach, Del.). We enjoyed a lot of good entrees, so it's hard to choose a favorite, but we were particularly taken with Salt Air's flavorful pork chop topped with charred scallion honey-butter and served with the wonderful accompaniments of smoky bacon beans, collards and corn bread. We've been going to Rehoboth Beach for years, but just visited Salt Air for the first time this year. It won't be our last. Honorable mentions: Shenandoah Valley Pork Shoulder with Potatoes, Mushrooms and Braised Red Cabbage, Bread Feast at Bread Furst; Grilled Chinook Salmon, Clyde Common (Portland, Ore.); Barbecued Brisket, Lockhart Smokehouse (Plano, Tex.); Fried Chicken with Waffles, Macon Bistro & Larder; Steak Fajitas, La Plazuela (Santa Fe, N.M.); Wine-Braised Beef Shortribs with Mushrooms and Parsnip Puree, Tía Pol (NYC).

Best Pizza: The Smoky, Comet Ping Pong (D.C.). We rediscovered Comet Ping Pong this year as a really great place to spend an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon for great pizza and beer. It's hard to pick a favorite pizza. I mentioned The Smoky, made from bacon, smoked mozzarella and smoked mushrooms, a pizza that teases your nose before your taste buds. But we also love the sausage and potato pie Time-Out, the sausage and pepper Stanley and the meatball and tomato Jimmy. Honorable mentions: Gorgonzola Pizza, Arcuri (D.C.); Everything but Anchovy Pizza, Nicola Pizza (Rehoboth Beach, Del.); Salciccia Dolce, Vezzo Thin Crust Pizza (NYC).

Bûche de Noël, Bread Feast at Bread Furst

Best Dessert: Bûche de Noël, Bread Feast at Bread Furst. I didn't write a post about Bread Feast--the pop-up from former Palena Chef Frank Ruta that set up weekly dinners this fall in my neighborhood bakery Bread Furst--because I didn't visit until its final night. This is good news though: Ruta has a new gig next year in Georgetown cooking at Capella. Since this post is about looking back, I'm happy to share that Bread Feast was fantastic and has me primed and ready for Ruta's next act. This dessert was one of the evening's standouts: gingerbread rolled with cream cheese frosting and served with cranberry ginger sauce. Absolutely divine. I'm not sure if Ruta, his sous chef Aggie Chin or the bakery was responsible for this--perhaps it was a collaboration, which might explain why it was so divine. Honorable mentions: Hazelnuts and Mascarpone in Chocolate with Coffee Orange Gelato, Aggio; Twix Mousse Pie, Ripple (D.C.). Honorable mentions: White Chocolate Ice Cream Pie, Clyde Common; Raspberry Tiramisu, Coppi's Organic; Blackberry Cobbler, Macon Bistro & Larder.

Best Cocktail: Smoked Sage Margarita, Secreto (Santa Fe, N.M). This cocktail has just about everything going for it that I like in a cocktail. First off, it's a margarita, a drink I can pretty much never turn down. Second it's full of smoky flavors, which I love, and third, it's got an herbal component, which I find so refreshing and fun in cocktails. That Santa Fe's Secreto is just an all-around great bar with friendly staff and other great drinks makes this easily our favorite cocktail experience this year, and we had a lot of really great ones. I even tried making this myself. Honorable mentions: The Chairman, Aggio; Cima Coppi, Coppi's Organic; Avocado Margarita, Meso Maya (Dallas); Amaretto Sour, Pepe le Moko (Portland, Ore.); Ms. Rosemary Bulleit, Thally.

Macon Bistro & Larder

Best Service: Macon Bistro & Larder. Macon is a busy place, but every time we visited we felt welcomed and cared for. The servers don't just bring food, they offer helpful suggestions, show enthusiasm for the food and, importantly, a desire to please. Honorable mentions: Aggio, La Plazuela, Salt Air, Thally.

Best Overall Experience: Macon Bistro & Larder. We have felt so fortunate to welcome this Southern-meets-French bistro to our neighborhood. I love its style and its food, which so far has always been excellent. It's become one of our new favorite hangouts, especially for celebratory occasions. Honorable mentions: Aggio, Bread Feast at Bread Furst, La Plazuela, Salt Air. 

Restaurant and Bar: Clyde Common and Pepe le Moko (Portland, Oregon)

There are various reasons I choose to visit a restaurant: it's new and buzz worthy; it's older and well-regarded; there's a particular dish I just have to try. While cocktails are certainly a reason I've made trips to particular bars, this was a first in choosing a restaurant.

Over the last year, I've become a big fan of Jeffrey Morgenthaler, who writes a blog I enjoy reading and published the excellent cocktail technique book this year, The Bar Book, that I wrote about during my summer cocktails week. So when it came time to choose a restaurant for our recent Oregon trip, I immediately thought of Clyde Common, the upscale-casual downtown restaurant where Morgenthaler has worked for 5 years. As its bar manager, he's developed a cocktail menu that stands out from the pack, showcasing a range of expertly executed classic and original drinks.

Bourbon Renewal cocktail

Of course this meant that I had very high expectations for our drinks, and I was not disappointed. I started the night with a Bourbon Renewal, which Morgenthaler has said is the bar's most popular drink and is an original recipe (you can get the recipe from his blog). It's made with bourbon, lemon and creme de cassis--a great example of a refreshing summer bourbon drink. I also loved the Manhattan our server brought when I wanted a second drink but decided to leave the selection to him. Made with a rye whiskey, it was perfectly balanced--not to bitter, not too sweet--and went down easy.

Chris opted for a couple of great classics. His first was the Dark and Stormy, the classic trio of rum, lime and ginger, which is all the more potently gingery when it comes with house-made ginger beer as it does at Clyde Common. His follow-up was the French 75, the classic Champagne cocktail with gin and lemon.

Top: gnocchi: bottom: smoked duck

While the cocktails were what drew us to Clyde Common, its excellent food is no less a reason to visit. I was skeptical at first when our server told us--multiple times--about how fresh and local their ingredients are. Clyde Common, which has been around awhile (since 2007), may have pushed that concept in Portland, but it's pretty ubiquitous today--i'd be surprised if a restaurant of this caliber wasn't sourcing much of its ingredients locally.

But he wasn't overselling their fare. Almost everything we ate was quite tasty. The kitchen has seen some turnover lately: Clyde Common welcomed a new chef,

Two of our party's entrees were particularly noteworthy. Chinook salmon arrived perfectly grilled, tender and flavorful but not undercooked. It arrived atop beech mushrooms and snap peas given a nice char on the grill. A topping of shaved fennel and chives was a nice crowning touch of freshness (and inspiration for today's salmon dish).

I also really liked the smoked duck, which was also quite flavorful. Our server told me to expect it to be more cooked than usual, due to the smoking, but I found it to be quite tender, not at all tough. Grilled cabbage, peanut aillade (basically peanut-garlic sauce) and candied cherries enhanced the dish with a mix of pungent and sweet flavors. The gnocchi, while not up to the caliber of the salmon or duck, was a decent dish as well, served fried with zucchini and an eggplant puree reminiscent of Thanksgiving.

Top: zucchini and snow pea salad; bottom: charcuterie

Although the entrees outclassed the appetizers, we still enjoyed the latter, especially the zucchini and snow pea salad with almonds, greens and a milky fresh ricotta. We don't often order charcuterie, so we decided to give it a try. We liked the cured meats, pickles and mustard, but were a bit perplexed by a pork shoulder spread mixed with bacon fat. I love bacon, but I don't want to eat pure bacon grease. I scraped off as much as I could to enjoy the pork shoulder underneath it, but ultimately we didn't eat much of this part of the spread.

White chocolate ice cream pie

We did, however, devour the white chocolate ice cream pie, about as perfect as an Oregon summer dessert can get. The ice cream, on top of graham-cracker crust, was topped with a browned meringue and served with a blueberry sauce. Every component was nicely done.

In addition to the great food, we also enjoyed expert service at Clyde Common. Our server copped a bit of attitude, but not in a bad way. Rather, he was playful in a fun way that fits the off-beat style of the restaurant. All of his suggestions, particularly for the cocktails, were fantastic. In an era where servers can be over-the-top serious about the food they serving, it's refreshing to come across someone who manages to have fun while still be professional.

Fun is definitely the atmosphere at Clyde Common. There's a definite energy to the place. It's also loud...very loud. I don't usually notice that, since it's pretty much the default setting at casual-upscale restaurants these days. But Clyde Common's decibels were so high that it made normal conversation difficult. I think they could address the noise level a bit to make it easier to be heard while still giving off that "buzzy" vibe restaurants shoot for these days.

Sated as we were by our meal, our even didn't end with dessert. After having mentioned to our server that Jeffrey Morgenthaler's cocktails were what drew us to Clyde Common, he suggested we go around the corner and check out Pepe le Moko, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that opened earlier this year by one of Clyde Common's owners that also has a menu of cocktails designed by Morgenthaler. We were game and checked it out.

Pepe le Moko cocktail bar; Hotel Nacional Special and Amaretto Sour

After the pumping rock music of Clyde Common, the mellower vibe of the bar was a nice way to end the evening. Underground Pepe le Moko's curved ceiling and old-school jazz radiate retro-cool, but its tasty craft cocktails are the reason to go. Chris sprang for the Hotel Nacional Special, a sweet-and-sour tropical blend of aged rum, lime, apricot brandy and pineapple. I briefly considered a gin & tonic, although I was surprised that Pepe le Moko doesn't stock Oregon-made gins (especially given Clyde Common's emphasis on local sourcing). So instead, I sprang for an Amaretto Sour, knowing that it's one of the classic drinks that Morgenthaler is most proud of. It didn't disappoint. The drink was frothy, sweet and refreshing.

Building an evening out around a bartender turned out to be a lot of fun and, admittedly, rather intoxicating. If you like quality cocktails, there's no better craftsman than Jeffrey Morgenthaler, and I was pleased to find that the food at Clyde Common, is mostly a good match, providing a range of original, fresh tastes in an upbeat, spirited atmosphere.

Clyde Common, 1014 SW Stark Street (between 10th and 11th, one block south of Burnside), Portland, Oregon (downtown). (503) 228-3333. Reservations: Open Table.

Pepe le Moko, 407 SW 10th Street (between Stark and Washington Streets, around the corner from Clyde Common), Portland, Oregon (downtown). (503)546-8537. Call for reservations (we walked in).

Best of 2013: Restaurants

Without a doubt, 2013 was a hot year for new restaurants in D.C. So much so, that, given my focus on cooking over restaurants, I really couldn't even begin to keep up. New D.C. restaurants I would have loved to visit this year, but didn't get to include Rose's Luxury, Doi Moi, Etto, Ghibeilina and Thally. There's always next year! That said, we did enjoy a number of great meals this year in new and established D.C. restaurants. We also ate well during sojourns to New York City, Portland, Oregon and Rehoboth Beach, Delware. Here were our most memorable bites:

Best Starter: Corn Bread with Bacon Marmalade, Range (Washington, D.C.). The first morsel I ever tasted at Bryan Voltaggio's sprawling Friendship Heights outpost was one of my all-time favorites. The sweet and smoky bacon marmalade was sinfully delicious and unforgettable. Honorable mentions: Bread Basket, Le Diplomate (Washington, D.C.); Chilled Pea Soup, Blue Hill (New York, N.Y.).

Best Salad: Beans Salad with Sugar Snap, Green and Yellow Beans, Toasted Hazelnuts, Eataly (New York, N.Y.). On a sweltering hot summer day, a recharge lunch in Manhattan Italian food mart Eataly turned into a surprisingly delightful lunch, the highlight of which was this salad of contrasting textures. Honorable mentions: Misticanza, Casa Luca (Washington, D.C.); Salad of mixed greens with idiazábal cheese, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.).

Best Pasta: Smoked Potato Gnocchi with Duck Ragu, Casa Luca (Washington, D.C.). After having been wowed by last year's visit to Fiola, we were just as impressed with Chef Fabio Trabocchi's new casual downtown restaurant, where Chris had this incredible gnocchi. Honorable mention: Tagliolini with Porchetta and Smoked Mozzarella, Osteria Elisir (Washington, D.C.).

Best Meat Dish: Pork Chop for Two with Stuffing, Ma Peche (New York, N.Y.). Chris teased me for a long time about my interest in Momofuku. Then I took him to one of David Chang's restaurants. He doesn't tease me anymore. We were both smitten with Ma Peche and especially this amazing pork dish, which was the inspiration for what I served us on Christmas this year. Honorable mentions: Pork and Foie Gras Canelones, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.); House-Made Bratwurst, Grüner (Portland, Ore.).

Best Seafood Dish: Lobster with Heirloom Tomatoes and Eggplant Puree, a(MUSE) (Rehoboth Beach, Del.). There was a lot to love about the tasting menu we enjoyed last summer at a(MUSE), but I chose this lobster dish because I loved its artful presentation and the honey-paprika sauce that accompanied it. Honorable mention: Arctic Char with Summer Squash, Table (Washington, D.C.).

Best Pizza: Salsiccia Dolce, Posto (New York, N.Y.). We've enjoyed the pizza at Posto for years, but I didn't write about it until this summer. We've tried several pies there, but we always come back to this sausage, caramelized onion and basil pizza, which is our favorite pizza anywhere these days. Honorable mention:  Luigi (ramp pizza), Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Roast Chicken: Roasted Barbecue Chicken, Blue Duck Tavern (Washington, D.C.). Although roasted indoors, this juicy bird had all the flavor of outdoor barbecue thanks to its brine. It inspired my own experiment with Smoke-Brined Oven BBQ Chicken. Honorable mention: Peruvian Roast Chicken, Del Campo.

Best Dessert: Dark Chocolate Napoleon, Le Diplomate (Washington, D.C.). The beginning bread basket and closing dessert were the highlights of our meal at Le Diplomate. I loved this architectural wonder of a dessert, a chocoholic's dream. Le Diplomate still has this on their menu, although their pastry chef, Naomi Gallego, is now cooking at Blue Duck Tavern. Honorable mention: Coffee Mousse with Hazelnut Dacquoise, Del Campo (Washington, D.C.).

Best Cocktail: Vegetal Gin & Tonic, Jaleo (Washington, D.C.). Spanish-style gin & tonics have become very popular this year. One of the best places to enjoy them in D.C. is at the Jaleo bar, where you can watch the bartenders craft them with assorted aromatic touches. Honorable mentions: Agave Stinger, Commerce (New York, N.Y.); Playground Meltdown,  Range (Washington, D.C.); Martinez, Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Service: Del Campo (Washington, D.C.). I ate at Del Campo several times, and during each visit I was impressed with the friendly, knowledgable service from a staff that was clearly interested in what was coming out of the kitchen and made me feel right at home. Honorable mentions: Blue Hill (New York, N.Y.), Graffiato (Washington, D.C.).

Best Overall Restaurant Experience: Range (Washington, D.C.). In theory, Range shouldn't succeed. It's a giant restaurant in a shopping mall with a menu that covers every base from Italian to seafood to steak (it even has a cigar lounge). But both diners we ate at Range were remarkably good, proving the restaurant's name could aptly apply to how well it pulls off such varied dishes.  Honorable mentions: Del Campo (Washington, D.C.).a(MUSE) (Rehoboth Beach, Del.).

Restaurant: Grüner (Portland, Ore.)

Update: Gruner has closed.

Enduring restaurant talent is a remarkable thing, something I got to enjoy recently at Grüner, where Chef Christopher Israel has found the latest outlet for his amazing cooking.

Although you may have read my restaurant reviews on Cook In / Dine Out, only a select few of you may have read the reviews I wrote 20 years ago as the restaurant critic for my high school newspaper (cushy post, but as I was editor-in-chief, I had an in with the boss). The most memorable restaurant I wrote about at that time was Zefiro, a standout in the trendy dining scene that sprouted up around Portland's 21st and 23rd Avenues in the early '90s.

As overseen by Israel, Zefiro was, at the time, exotic and revolutionary for its eclectic international tastes and simple, fresh ingredients. Certainly as a young person who, up to that, had not been a very adventurous eater, it was a revelation. I can still remember what I ate and loved when I visited: grilled chicken skewers with an Algerian spice marinade and Turkish coffee ice cream with cookies. It was so good! (Here's a nice look back from Eater PDX).

Whereas Zefiro drew its inspiration from the countries that ringed the Mediterranean Sea, Grüner heads north a bit into Europe's Alpine region, blending flavors from southern Germany, northern Italy, France and others with a foundation of locally sourced Pacific Northwest ingredients.

Shaved delicata squash salad with ricotta salata, pumpkin seeds, cider vinegar, pumpkin seed oil and herbs

We began the evening with cocktails. I enjoyed the Hangman's Nüsse, a potent bourbon cocktail flavored with the Italian aperitivo Cocchi Americano and walnut liqueur. As good as it was, I was more impressed with Chris's Roots of Auvergne, a gin cocktail with Salers, a liqueur made from the root of the Gentian plant that grows in the French region of Auvergne (hence the name). With white vermouth and lemon verbena balm, the drink had a wonderful vegetal quality.

Tarte flambée with sweet onions, bacon, fromage blanc and chives

Among our starters, the shaved delicata squash salad was the most beautiful, with the yellow-orange squash shaved into pasta-like ribbons and topped with ricotta salata, pumpkin seeds, a mix of herbs and a dressing of cider vinegar and pumpkin seed oil. Our favorite was the tarte flambée, a sort of flatbread pizza with wonderfully meaty bacon and sweet onions. In contrast, the "Grüner" salad seems a rather tame mix of fresh garden vegetables, but I loved its heavy dose of red wine vinegar. I should also note the delicious bread basket that came out about this time, featuring a pretzel roll and whole grain bread, both of which were great.

House-made bratwurst and saucisson sausages with sauerkraut and potatoes

For our entrees, we turned our attention to pork big time. Hard to say what was my favorite here, although probably the house-made bratwurst sausages my mom had (yes, my mom was with us, which was great fun), which were served with (also house-made) sweet and sharp grain mustard, sauerkraut with pickled peppercorns and yukon gold potatoes. Chris's choucroute garnie plate, which featured a mix of meats (including the bratwurst),  included a sweet-glazed piece of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. I enjoyed a refreshingly not overcooked pork chop with red cabbage, herbed spätzle (which is like pasta if you've never had it) and wild plum preserves. My Bavarian mixed grill also included a weisswurst sausage, which was the only thing that didn't wow me, since it's comparatively bland next to the other more flavorful meats we enjoyed.

Bavarian mixed grill: pork chop, weisswurst sausage, spiced red cabbage, spätzle and plum preserves

We concluded our dinner with a slice of hazelnut and brown butter cake with goat cheese accompanied by a pear sorbet quenelle, bits of hazelnut brittle and a swirl of caramel. The tasty treat was just as satisfying as the dinner that preceded it.

Hazelnut-brown butter cake with goat cheese, pear sorbet, hazelnut brittle and caramel

My lunch at Zefiro as a teenager was one of my earliest memories of enjoying a really good meal at a time when I was learning to care about good, quality food. Fast forward about 20 years and Chef Israel wowed me again, proving himself a master at manipulating cuisines of various provenance into a unified, delicious meal. The dinner was one of the best restaurant outings we've enjoyed in months.

Grüner, 527 SW 12th Avenue (at Alder Street), Portland, Oregon (downtown). (503) 241-7163. Reservations: Open Table.

Recipes to Celebrate Portland-Area James Beard Award-Nominated Chefs

I’ve lived in the D.C. area for 14 years now, but there is a part of me that will always call Portland, Oregon home. It was a great place to grow up, and I take pride in the fact that it’s among the group of U.S. cities that elicit an “ah” rather than an “oh” when you tell people that’s where you’re from.

It’s no secret that Portland has a wonderful food scene and has for a long time. For the fourth year in a row, three of the five nominees for the Best Chef Northwest James Beard Award are from Portland (and Portland took four of the five slots in 2009).

I take a special pleasure in knowing that Portland consistently gets more nominations in this category than its larger neighbor to the north, Seattle (Portlanders are naturally competitive with Seattle; we can’t help it). When earlier this year people were declaring the Seattle food scene “in” and Portland “out” I thought “puh-lease.” You have no idea what you’re talking about.

This year’s finalist list includes three talented Portland chefs who are no strangers to James Beard:

• Naomi Pomeroy of Beast, nominated in this category in 2010 and 2012. Beast was named The Oregonian’s favorite restaurant in 2008. 
• Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, frequently named as Portland’s hottest restaurant. Rucker won the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef in 2011. In 2010, he opened Little Bird Bistro, which the Oregonian named its best restaurant last year (Le Pigeon shared the honor with Beast in 2008), and which I had the pleasure to visit in September.
• Cathy Whims of Nostrana, who has been nominated several times in this category the last few years. Years ago she worked at Genoa, which back in the ‘90s I remember was frequently talked about as the best Italian restaurant in Portland.  

Buttery, herbed croutons for the Nostrana Salad

Unfortunately, apart from Little Bird, I haven’t gotten to try these chefs’ food in person. But I did recently get the chance to experience their talent, albeit indirectly. As luck would have it, all three chefs contributed to The Oregonian Cookbook: Best Recipes from FoodDay, edited by Oregonian FoodDay editor Katherine Miller. I received the book as a generous gift from one of my mother’s friends, a Cook In / Dine Out reader, and I thought there could be no better way to both dive into the book and celebrate Portland’s James Beard nominations than by cooking a dinner featuring all three dishes.

First up was Whims’ Nostrana Salad made with radicchio, a Caesar-like vinaigrette and buttery herbed croutons. She soaks the radicchio in ice water for 2 hours, which mellows its flavor. I actually forgot to do this, so it got maybe 15-20 minutes of soaking, which was enough time to crisp it a bit, but I actually rather like its bitterness, so I didn’t mind. The herb croutons are really great. I made mine with a rosemary boule from Whole Foods.

Bacon-flavored fresh bread crumbs

Next was Rucker’s Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Thyme and Bacon Crumbs. This is a simple, flavorful way to prepare pork chops. I love the bacon-flavored fresh breadcrumbs. Since I had to cook some bacon to render its fat, I tossed a few of the cooked bacon lardons into the Nostrana Salad. Be sure to use thick, bone-in pork chops for this dish. The thin, quick-cooking chops are actually challenging to cook well since they can become tough so easily.

I finished the meal with Pomeroy’s exquisite Chocolate Truffle Cake, which was so divine, I’m giving it a separate post.

A meal of good Oregon chefs’ dishes calls for a good Oregon wine, and nothing says “good Oregon wine” like pinot noir. I opened a bottle of 2009 Brandborg Bench Lands pinot noir, which heralds from the Umpqua Valley, a southern Oregon wine region near where my dear Great Aunt Eva lived. The light, smooth pinot was a nice match for this dinner and a perfect way to toast the success of these great Oregon chefs. I found it at Cordial in Union Market. I wish them all the best of luck at the upcoming James Beard Awards on May 3.

Nostrana Salad
Adapted from a recipe by Cathy Whims of Nostrana, from The Oregonian Cookbook

Note: I divided this recipe in half, omitted the (1 tbsp.) white wine and substituted about ½ tsp. of soy lecithin granules for the raw egg yolk. I also didn’t soak the radicchio in ice water for the full 2 hours, which would have made its flavor milder, but I like its bitter taste. For the croutons, I used an organic rosemary boule, which was delicious with the radicchio.

1 large head radicchio
¼ cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Croutons:
1 cup cubed (3/4-inch) focaccia or other open-textured, herb-flavored artisan bread
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. (total) chopped fresh sage and rosemary

Dressing:
1 garlic clove, peeled
Salt
1 ½ tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 oil-packed anchovy fillets, finely chopped
½ tsp. soy lecithin granules (a substitution for 1 egg yolk)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper

1. Tear the radicchio into 1 ½-inch pieces and soak in ice water while you make the croutons and dressing.

2. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake the bread cubes on a large baking sheet until toasted all over, about 10 to 15 minutes. In a medium to large skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter with the fresh chopped herbs until fragrant. Add the toasted bread cubes and toss to coat. Set aside to cool.

3. Smash the garlic clove then mash it finely with a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle (lacking that, I use a 1-cup glass measuring cup and the rounded end of a cocktail muddler). Add garlic to a food processor (or blender) along with the vinegar, mayonnaise, anchovies and lecithin (or egg yolk). Begin processing then slowly drizzle the olive oil through the feed tube until the dressing is emulsified. Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.

4. Drain the radicchio and spin it in a salad spinner to dry. Transfer radicchio to a large salad bowl and add enough dressing to coat it well. Toss to combine then add the croutons and a generous sprinkle of parmesan.

Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Thyme and Bacon Crumbs
Adapted from a recipe by Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, from The Oregonian Cookbook

Note: Like the Nostrana Salad, I divided this in half, since I was cooking for two. I didn’t make any other changes. To make fresh bread crumbs, use slightly stale good-quality bread (I used a few slices of sourdough). Tear the bread into pieces and add to a food processor. Pulse a few times until the bread is reduced to crumbs.

2 tsp. bacon fat (may substitute butter)
3/8 cup fresh bread crumbs (see note above)
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
2 bone-in pork chops, cut 1 to 1 ¼ inches thick (Chef Rucker recommends avoiding pork that has been injected with salt solution)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
6-8 thyme sprigs
Lemon juice

1. In a small frying pan, heat bacon fat over medium heat until melted. Ad breadcrumbs, stir to coat with the fat and cook, stirring frequently, until crumbs are golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Pat chops dry with paper towels and season liberally with salt. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot (it should shimmer). Place the pork chops in the pan spaced apart a bit. Add the butter and scatter the thyme sprigs in the pan. Cook chops until well browned, about 6 minutes, then flip them over and continue cooking until lightly browned and cooked through to 140 F (medium), about 3 to 5 minutes longer (mine took a bit longer to reach temperature, but I also cooked through over slightly lower heat).

3.  Transfer pork to serving platter, spoon some of the butter from the pan over the chops and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Just before serving, squeeze lemon juice over the chops and top with a handful of the breadcrumbs.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

I’m writing about Chef Naomi Pomeroy’s Chocolate Truffle Cake separately from the other recipes by Portland-area James Beard Award nominees because: 1) it’s amazing, and 2) it was my DIY birthday cake for this year.

I’d never made a flourless chocolate cake before, but after making this one, which is quite easy, It’s hard to imagine I’d need a different recipe. The texture was superb: smooth but firm, like a thick custard that’s somehow hardened. With all that dark chocolate (six and a half bars of Ghirardelli bittersweet), the flavor was pretty amazing too. Although it may seem strange to put mushroom flavor in a chocolate cake, the truffle salt provided a subtle savory note that nicely balanced with the cake’s sweetness.

Chocolate Truffle Cake
Adapted from a recipe by Naomi Pomeroy of Beast, from The Oregonian Cookbook

Cake:
1 cup water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
9 tbsp. unsalted butter, diced (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon)
18 oz. bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. plus a pinch of truffle salt (may substitute sea salt)
6 eggs

Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Make the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment. Wrap outside the pan’s bottom and sides in three layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

2. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs and 1 tsp. truffle salt to the chocolate mixture and whisk until well-blended. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Place cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan.

4. Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan. Sprinkle top of cake with a pinch of truffle salt.

Make ganache:
1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat, add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour ganache over top of cooled cake still in the pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over the top of the cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. The cake can be made up to 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

2. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Best of 2012: Restaurants

Outside Mintwood Place, dessert at Little Bird, Posto pizza, pasta at Lupa.

Although cooking is the focus of my blog, dining out is an important part of it too. I think the two go hand-in-hand, and I get a lot of inspiration from the restaurants we visit. My list is by no means comprehensive—I’m not a restaurant critic—but these were the meals I looked back on most fondly this year.

Best Starter: Goat Cheese & Beet Mountain Pie, Mintwood Place (Washington, D.C.).  I don’t know whether “mountain pie” is an original creation by Chef Cedric Maupillier, but the slab of roasted beet encased in goat cheese and then fried was an an excellent way to start a dinner that only went uphill from there.  Honorable mention: Roasted Beets with Rye, Agretti and Smoked Crème Fraiche, The NoMad (New York, N.Y.), Cauliflower Soup, Little Bird (Portland, Ore.), Smoked Cashew Salsa with Masa Crisps, Empellon Cocina (New York, N.Y.).

Best Pasta: Pappardelle with Chicken-Tomato Sauce, Lupa Osteria Romana (New York, N.Y.). Every pasta dish I’ve tasted at this Greenwich Village outpost of the Mario Batali food empire has been good, but this slightly spicy dish was expertly assembled with pasta cooked to perfection. Honorable mention: Lobster Ravioli, Fiola (Washington, D.C.), Lobster Roe Tagliatelle, Palena Café (Washington, D.C.).

Best Meat Dish: (tie) Eisenhower Stew, America Eats Tavern (Washington, D.C.) and Roasted Pork for Two, Mintwood Place (Washington, D.C.). Such a shame that America Eats Tavern was just a “pop up,” since I would really like to eat this deconstructed beef stew again someday. Perhaps Jose Andres will surprise us somehow. What makes up for it, I suppose, is the fact that I can go at anytime to Mintwood Place and enjoy Maupillier’s perfectly cooked roasted pork served with a rich, heavenly sauce. Honorable mention: Braised Pork Shoulder with Cabbage, Bacon, Apples and Chives, Little Bird (Portland, Ore.).

Best Dessert: Apple and Fig Tarte Tatin with Frozen Yogurt, Little Bird (Portland, Ore.). You can hardly go wrong with figs in dessert, which Pastry Chef Nora Antene served two ways in this sweet confection augmented by the burnt taste of caramel and the tang of frozen yogurt. Honorable Mention: Chocolate Cake with Mole Dulce and Masa Ice Cream, Empellon Cocina (New York, N.Y.), Caramel Gelato, Lupa Osteria Romano (New York, N.Y.), Milk and Honey, The NoMad (New York, N.Y.).

Best Pizza: Posto Thin Crust Pizza (New York, N.Y.). Chris and I have evolved a tradition for our trips to New York: we eat our first meal at Posto, which serves the most delectable pizzas on crust so thin it has a crispy cracker-like texture with a bit of char but still a nice softness under the toppings. If you like caramelized onions and sausage, the Salsicca Dolce can’t be beat. Honorable mention: Armand’s Pizzeria, Washington, D.C. (Armand’s—we miss you), Wiseguy NY Pizza (Washington, D.C.), Ardeo + Bardeo (Washington, D.C.).

Best Roast Chicken: Palena Café (Washington, D.C.). Frank Ruta’s brined and roasted birds are the tastiest I’ve ever had. So much flavor packed into an appropriately simple presentation. Honorable mention: The NoMad (New York, N.Y.)

Best Dish from a D.C. Food Truck: Havana sandwich, SUNdeVICH. Still the best sandwich I’ve ever had from a food truck, perhaps even one of the best sandwiches I’ve had period. The roasted pork was just perfect. Honorable Mention: Indonesian Babyback Ribs, Chef Driven; Tacos, Chupacabra.

Best Cocktail: Pins and Needles, The NoMad (New York, N.Y.). If you could create a martini by pouring the drink through a Douglas Fir tree, it would probably taste like this. Really interesting and enjoyable concoction. Honorable mention: Darkest Corner of Oaxaca (Empellon Cocina, New York, N.Y.), The Scrooge, Mintwood Place (Washington, D.C.).

Best Service: Fiola (Washington, D.C.). You might think that at its price point the service at a restaurant like Fiola would be snobby. You couldn’t be more wrong. We felt so welcome by our server who expertly walked us through the menu and wine list, always seemed to be around when we needed him and gave us space when we didn’t. Honorable Mention: Lupa Osteria Romana (New York, N.Y.), Pig + Fish (Rehoboth Beach, Del.).

Best Newcomer: Mintwood Place (Washington, D.C.). Honorable mention: The NoMad (New York, N.Y.).

Best Overall Restaurant Experience: Mintwood Place (Washington, D.C.). Honorable mention: Fiola (Washington, D.C.), Lupa Osteria Romana (New York, N.Y.), Little Bird (Portland, Ore.).

Little Bird (Portland, Ore.)

It seems every chef from Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm on down the line is opening a casual cousin to their flagship superstar. For Gabriel Rucker, winner of the 2011 James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef, the adventurous French cuisine at his Le Pigeon is complemented by the more familiar flavors of Little Bird, a casual French bistro in downtown Portland serving beautifully executed takes on classic dishes like roasted chicken, braised meat and grilled seafood.

While Rucker’s first restaurant has been lavishly praised, attention seems to be turning now towards Little Bird, which was honored in June by Portland’s newspaper The Oregonian as Restaurant of the Year (an honor Le Pigeon received in 2008).

Nothing from Chef Erik Van Kley’s kitchen disappointed, although we had our favorites. Topping the list was the melt-in-your-mouth tender braised pork shoulder with cabbage, bacon, apple and chives. A salmon special featured two takes on each key ingredient: salmon both lightly grilled and tartare, whole peas along with pea shoots and cremini mushrooms and, lacing the tartare, truffles.

Soup du jour may not seem like the most exciting menu option, but a recent cauliflower soup was divine, featuring sweet and savory roasted and pureed cauliflower topped with tender strings of apple. A salad’s bitter greens are coated with zippy dressings and enhanced with sweet mix-ins, such as the butter lettuce salad with watermelon, cucumber and yogurt-feta dressing.

Dessert was just as impressive. Pastry Chef Nora Antene’s apple and fig tarte tatin with frozen yogurt was a sensation. The buttery pastry comes glazed with caramel, always a crowd-pleaser, but two preparations of figs--a gastrique and fresh slices--dominate the dish.

The decor mimicks the food perfectly--the long rectangular space with robin's egg blue walls, mirrors and a pressed tin ceiling is classicly elegant but there’s also a touch of whimsy, such as the little plastic birds in the bathroom “window.”

The service was prompt and efficient, but it’s the memory of the good food that lingers. The way it should be.

Little Bird. 219 SW 6th Avenue (at Oak Street), Portland, Ore. (downtown). (503) 688-5952. Reservations: Open Table.