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Counter
Culture
3000
NE Killingsworth St., 249-3799.
Dinner:
5 pm to whenever, Tuesdays-Saturdays. Brunch 8 am to 3 pm,
Saturdays-Sundays.
Picks:
seitan ropa vieja, crepes, grape-leaf-wrapped
tempeh sticks, sweet potato ginger cakes.
Nice
Touch:
The "Life by Chocolate" cake.
Counter
Culture offers vegan cooking classes the second and fourth
Monday of each month. Current classes concentrate on baking.
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While the gore-stained mouths of the "Got Meat" crowd
crow over the proliferation of steak and chop dives thriving
in Portland, there's a quiet revolution taking place on
the restaurant scene that promises to profoundly change
the city's palate and offer an intelligent challenge to
the abattoir nostrums of Dr. Atkins and other high-protein
faith healers.
The reasons for adopting a strictly vegan diet--that is
to say, a diet that excludes all animal products including
dairy, eggs and even, for some, honey--are many and just,
and Portland, being the politically progressive and green-conscious
city that it is, plays home to a growing number of vegan
adherents.
The Portland restaurant scene has long been a haven for
vegans, with an eclectic mix of cafes catering to purer
tastes. Perhaps the most famous is Jim DeFeo's Paradox Palace
Cafe on Southeast Belmont Street and his newer Vita Cafe
on Northeast Alberta Street. Other vegan outposts include
Nicholas' Restaurant on Southeast Grand Avenue and Dogs
Dig on Northwest Davis Street. But even though the vegan's
philosophy is widely honored in Portland, from Cory Schreiber's
Wildwood to Accuardi's Old Town Pizza Company, there's been
no restaurant that is totally vegan or offers a high-end
cuisine to counter the culture of butcher chic.
Counter Culture started life as a neighborhood restaurant
on the far end of Northeast Killingworth in January 1998.
But when owners Eric Blegen and Matthew Melendez went completely
vegan in June of this year, their restaurant became packed
with diners, which is hardly surprising as they've succeeded
in marrying an adventurous menu with a coolly sophisticated
dining space. The myth that vegan fare must resemble mast
or gruel is dismissed with one glance at Counter Culture's
offerings.
However, before diving into the food, it will help the
uninitiated to know that vegan menus are filled with irony.
One finds quotation marks around common words like "egg,"
"bacon," or "crème frâiche." Naturally, these
faux animal by-products are usually soy-based creations,
though as vegan cuisine develops, one hopes these words
will lose their usefulness and that new, untainted terms
will be coined. (Still, for novice vegans, this transitional
terminology may help in the same way that methadone curbs
smack cravings.)
As an introduction to the possibilities of vegan cuisine,
the diner can create a small smorgasbord of appetizers.
Start with the seasoned tempeh sticks, marinated in a spicy
oregano pesto, wrapped in tender grape leaves and then lightly
baked. Served on a bed of red cabbage, this is one of the
finest dolmathes plates in Portland. Equally impressive
are the sweet potato ginger cakes: three grilled patties
of caramelized sweet potato and slivers of ginger topped
with dollops of herb-tofu "sour cream."
Moving onto dinner, the seitan ropa vieja is a must.
Two corn tortillas come filled with seitan (a solid form
of high-protein wheat gluten) that has been cooked in a
mole of bittersweet chocolate, tomatoes, cinnamon, cumin
and garlic. The explosion of both cinnamon and garlic on
the tongue leads to one of Counter Culture's true strengths,
which is the almost alchemic transmutation of sweets, sours
and savories into startling hybrid flavors.
The seitan sate with Thai fried noodles is less
successful as the gado-gado sauce lacks character. However,
the seitan (here grilled on skewers) is very tasty.
The restaurant has also developed a discerning clientele
for its weekend brunch. The French toast with summer berry
compote is exceptional. The compote is simmered in port
wine and cloves, and the bread is topped with fresh mint
that keeps this dish from becoming cloying--a perfect balance
of sweet and savory. The biscuits and gravy is another rewarding
find. Whereas the Paradox's almond gravy tends toward heaviness,
Counter Culture's cashew equivalent is creamy and deliciously
redolent of garlic.
While its saffron bearnaise-style sauce could use more
spice (perhaps a dash of dijon), the Benedict is worth trying,
though its insistence on aping its egged namesake makes
this seem more of a novelty dish than an inspired creation.
The crêpes, however, are excellent, with a hearty
(for crêpes) filling of smoked tofu and vegetables
with cashew cream and fresh marjoram, or a delicate filling
of the port-stewed berry compote served with tofu "crème
frâiche" and fresh mint. All breakfast items are served
with potatoes lightly fried with rosemary.
The stylish furnishing of its airy space, its tasteful
wine list and the quality of the wait staff should insure
Counter Culture's continuing success. Now, your reasons
for not being vegan are...?
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