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| The
100 Best Restaurants in Portland |
Two
Great Tastes... BY JEFF ALWORTH Until relatively recently, "pub food" meant whatever sopped up beer: greasy, starchy food with no promise of flavor. There is, however, a long tradition of pairing beer with fine food; in Belgium there's even a term for it, cuisine à la bière. Led by the microbrew movement, Americans have begun to experiment with this marriage in recent years, and brewpubs have appropriately taken the lead. While the norm is still a focus on more traditional fare like burgers and fish and chips, many brewpubs now offer more refined choices as well. I recently visited four brewpubs that have led the way in creative menus: the BridgePort Ale House, the Widmer Gasthaus, Portland Brewing's Taproom and Grill and the Alameda Brewhouse. Because all of these restaurants were breweries first, I paid close attention to how well the beer accentuated the food. Was any consideration given to the interplay between the two? The only real way to determine this is to try food and beer together, but there are some basic guidelines for probable matches. Basically, one should select beers likely to compliment the food (as in dark, malty beer with beef) or pleasantly offer a contrast (dry stout and fruit). If the match isn't appropriate, it will be immediately evident; the beer will overwhelm the food or seem too thin. The BridgePort Ale House (3632 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-6540) has chosen an Italian-influenced California cuisine with dashes of Northwest flavor and almost none of the usual brewpub trappings. The menu seems to have been chosen on its own merit rather than with an eye toward highlighting its beers, which are classic English ales. I chose a wood-fired chèvre, roasted red pepper and caramelized-onion pizza. To complement the garlic and chèvre, I began with Blue Heron. Not a bad choice, but it was a bit too delicate and tended to be overwhelmed by the food. Later, switching to IPA, I found the opposite: the pizza's flavor could not stand up to the cutting edge of the ale's hop signature. While most of the entrées, with accents on garlic or seafood, are suitably greeted by Blue Heron, ESB or Amber, there isn't any one among them perfect for the food. In fact, wine, with a more cutting acidity, would have been the best choice. Nevertheless, the food is excellent, the beer is excellent and the ambiance makes it easy to overlook that they're not an ideal match. At the Widmer Gasthaus (929 N Russell St., 281-3333), the Brothers W have crafted a mostly German menu of traditional beer food, with entrees like sauerbraten, sausage, goulash and schnitzel. Unlike at the BridgePort Ale House, this was clearly an intentional move, designed to highlight the tradition of the German-influenced Widmer brews. And for those beers--Ray's Amber Lager, Oktoberfest and Altbier--the match is ideal (due to its yeastiness, Hefeweizen is more suited to salads and appetizers). An excellent example is the way the sauerbraten and Oktoberfest work together, with the spicy notes of the Oktoberfest contrasting the sour notes of the meat. Widmer's British-style ales are more out of place with this menu; this was underscored when I tried the sauerbraten with Big Ben Porter. Although the two combine well enough, with the black malt pulling out the meaty notes, the sweetness of the malt was not the best match, and I lamented that it wasn't a drier schwarzbier or rauchbier. With its rathskeller-like interior, replete with steins and German copper brew kettles, Portland Brewing's Tap Room and Grill (2730 NW 31st Ave., 228-5269) has chosen a menu quite similar to the Widmers'. It features German-influenced schnitzel and sausage and spit-roasted and grilled meats prepared on an applewood rotisserie and grill. While the food is equally good (especially items prepared over the applewood smoke), it is less clear why Portland Brewing, with its history of producing Scottish- and English-style ales, decided on this theme. Finally, the Alameda Brewhouse (4765 NE Fremont St., 460-9025) has gone for an eclectic mixture of styles, with entrees ranging from the expected, such as burgers, to the fairly exotic, like andouille and crayfish rotella. It has a far less cohesive theme to its menu, but this works to its advantage over the restaurants of the three much larger breweries. Because it is likely to have any number of different beers on tap, the Alameda can accommodate a selection of vastly different styles of food. Furthermore, it offers a 10-ounce glass of beer at a reasonable price, giving diners the opportunity to change beers with each course. I began with a crab and shrimp quesadilla. With its subtle cheese notes and more overt seafood flavor, it required a subtle but crisp beer. Klickitat Pale Ale, a light beer with peppery hops, was a very nice match. With an artichoke and mushroom fettuccine, the Irvington Juniper Porter was less compatible. Its malt should have matched the texture of the artichoke and mushrooms, but didn't. Instead, this dish would be better suited for a contrasting, hoppy beer like the Turk's Head English Bitter. With daily specials and a nice range of appetizers and desserts, Alameda may provide the best opportunity to experiment with food and beer. It certainly offers the most diversity.
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