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BY JAMES McQUILLEN |
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Laslow's Broadway Bistro 3135 NE Broadway, 281-8337 Lunch Tuesday-Friday, dinner Tuesday-Sunday, brunch Sunday Moderate-Expensive Picks: Roasted poussin, lamb shank with white bean ragout, crab cakes, house-cured salmon Oregon's wine country has been contributing to Portlanders' gustatory pleasure for three decades, providing a steady stream of the beverage that makes food worth eating and, for that matter, life worth living. Recently the region's generosity has gone a step further, as McMinnville, capital city of Oregon wine, has begun sending its culinary talent our way. A little more than a year ago, Claire and Shawna Archibald moved Café Azul and its outstanding authentic Mexican menu from McMinnville to the Pearl District. Close on their heels was Eric Laslow, who defected last summer to open Laslow's Broadway Bistro in Northeast Portland. Devotees of innovative, carefully prepared Northwest cuisine should send thank-you notes, if not cards of condolence, to the citizens of Yamhill County. Laslow ran the kitchen at Eola Hills Winery and later at McMinnville's Third Street Grill before buying what was formerly Elizabeth's on Northeast Broadway, a space above a hair salon in an old house. He and partner Connie De Silva, who used to work at Sokol Blosser winery, have given the place a facelift and a new direction. The menu derives from the same principles that guide the kitchens of Higgins and Wildwood. That is to say it's another representative of the Northwest variant of California cuisine--emphasizing fresh, mostly local ingredients, eclectic combinations and, here and there, wild produce such as berries and mushrooms. The French inflection is more pronounced here: A certain intensity of method and technique informs virtually every dish, which arrives at the table with the most carefully worked presentation this side of Couvron. Laslow is an imaginative chef, and some of the dishes are florid--literally, as in lavender-cured salmon and hibiscus-rubbed duck breast. He combines myriad ingredients with inventiveness, missing no opportunity to play flavors off one another. Take, for example, a recent dish of langoustine. The large roasted prawn curled around a mound of woodland mushroom risotto topped with a cool coulis of onion and smoked tomato. Nestled alongside was a tapenade seasoned with roasted garlic and eggplant; long stalks of chive propped against the rice leant bold color and a stroke of architecture. And that was just an appetizer. Other appetizers, though simpler, show the same kind of care. Roasted heirloom potatoes come with osetra caviar, wild mushrooms and crème fraîche. Succulent crab cakes--made mostly of crab, with only enough binder for structural integrity--are garnished with smoked tomato coulis, with pesto drizzled about. Even the combination of organic greens, blue cheese and hazelnuts, the official salad of the Pacific Northwest, is given a twist: It comes with grilled pears and, in place of the usual vinaigrette, a dressing of pinot blanc ver jus, the tart juice of unripe grapes. (The aura of connoisseurship extends beyond the food and wine. Ask for water, and you'll get three choices: tap, still water from France and sparkling from Italy.) Entrées follow suit. Roast poussin, moist and maple-glazed, sits in a nest of mashed potatoes made with chevre and presented in a ring of crisp potato slices, with chanterelles on the side. The duck breast is accompanied with both the chevre-mashed potatoes and a striking vegetable spring roll (one of the occasional Asian gestures, like the use of lemon grass). Salmon, de rigueur on Portland menus, arrives atop a delicious truffled pumpkin risotto with vinaigrette of apple and smoked bacon. This last dish is a good representative of Laslow's style. Salmon is so ubiquitous locally that winning over jaded palates with it is a challenge; in the course of an innovative preparation, a chef can easily overcook or oversauce it. Not only was this fish perfectly cooked, but its flavor was nicely complemented by a wide range of others. The combination of smoky and tart flavors in the vinaigrette seemed unusual, but as De Silva pointed out, you find it in barbecue sauce. Not every dish is uniformly successful. The roasted vegetable risotto with fennel jus, though a good combination of hearty flavors for a winter dish, came in a pool of broth, and it wasn't piping hot. As it's one of only two low-priced (and vegetarian) entrées, it should be up to the standard of the rest. Lapses from this kitchen, however, are thankfully few. De Silva works the floor with an intensely friendly style, as though welcoming diners to participate in an ever-exciting enterprise. Her wine counsel is very good, reflecting her extensive experience, and freely given. The staff is kept well informed of what goes on in the kitchen, though they can be over-enthusiastic (the use of the word "wonderful" in the description of a dish makes me cringe). Laslow's biggest shortcoming is its location. The picture windows offer a view of Broadway--highly commercial in that area and not particularly pleasant--with relentless traffic noise that's hard to ignore. It's great to have another good restaurant in that part of town, but Laslow's deserves better digs. Then again, things could be worse for Portlanders who want what Eric Laslow has to offer--they could have to go all the way to McMinnville.
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