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| The
100 Best Restaurants in Portland |
Bank
on It BY ROGER J. PORTER We might say that a restaurant keeps banker's hours if it closes before dinner or forces customers to finish dining by 7 o'clock. But bankers tend not to come to these casual lunch environments to close corporate mergers, and consequently they're missing out on some fine meals. Ken Gordon insists that his storefront establishment is neither a restaurant nor a store. "Call us a shop," he says, hoping to keep things in between. His self-image (and 75 percent of his business) is as a caterer, a maestro of take-out, but 20 people can find tables at Ken's Home Plate (1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 236-9520) from 11 am to 7 pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays, and sit down to one of the most satisfying lunches in town. It's a simple place, with nothing but a couple of deli cases fronting a large and busy kitchen, six or seven tables, several shelves filled with cookbooks and antique utensils and a l930s stove displaying several bottles of wine. Those cases are filled with treasures. The offerings change daily, from a master list of some 25 meat and fish entrees, 10 vegetarian dishes, another 20 sides and 15 desserts. What to have? The seafood and andouille gumbo is intense and thick, the curried lamb redolent of the Magreb, the roasted vegetarian lasagna smooth and filling and the panzanella (Tuscan bread salad) chock full of farmers market tomatoes. Menu items are thoroughly international, and most are classics: Moroccan bastilla pie (made with chicken instead of pigeon), Cuban roast pork and black beans, moussaka, seafood paella, Southern buttermilk fried chicken and osso buco Milanese. Gordon's tastes are thoroughly ecumenical: Israeli couscous salad, Chinese chicken salad, German chocolate cake. But the global sensibility aside, what distinguishes the food here is its fidelity to authentic recipes, as well as a perfect sensitivity to harmonizing spices and flavors. Gordon, a veteran chef and one of the mainstays at In Good Taste, the best cooking school in town, is deeply knowledgeable about ingredients and techniques. This is not just an ordinarily good lunch spot. It is a place for a splendid palate education, an opportunity to mix and match interesting combinations. Gordon is a real pro, and his unabashed enthusiasm shows. "Try these brownies," he pleads, largely because he proudly wants to show them off. "They may be the best you've ever tasted." He's just about right. "No skate boarding on the deck," reads the sign on the erstwhile loading dock in front of Little Wing Cafe (529 NW 13th Ave., 228-3101). Culprits might run into customers munching grilled eggplant and Mozzarella sandwiches made with the bread du jour as they sit at dockside tables. Inside, the cafe-cum-bakery occupies a high-ceilinged warehouse space, with monster pipes and vents exposed, nuts and bolts showing--a look that's pure Pearl. A few sweet touches soften the raw industrial feel, including an exhibition of framed drawings by children, Little Wing's answer to the Brasserie Montmartre. There's even a children's menu to match (PBJ and a "grilled cheese sand."). The heart of the menu is the fine homemade soup du jour--I like their curried roasted vegetable version with plenty of puréed peppers--and the excellent sandwiches. Be glad if the roasted lemon chicken cobb, slathered with blue cheese on crusty peasant bread, shows up on the specials board. Forget the pastas, however, which tend to be on the bland side with too many incompatible ingredients thrown together (linguine with broccoli rabe, marinated tofu and ginger black bean garlic sauce, for example). But salads and the entire run of hefty sandwiches, mostly familiar combos, are always satisfying. Best of all at Little Wing are the pastries. Recently I had a pear tarte glistening with a patina of golden glaze atop a swirl of fruit slices; it tasted as good as it looked and would have done a Parisian baker proud. The crowd is classic Portland, with advertising types in jeans, artists from old neighboring lofts, trendy shopkeepers from newer ones and, to add a Norman Rockwell touch, the local mailman and mailwoman. The best bakery in Portland, whose sandwiches showcase the bread even more than the fillings, is headquartered a few blocks away from Little Wing. Pearl Bakery (102 NW 9th Ave., 827-0910) is less a restaurant than a bakery with a scattering of tables. It can get mobbed at noon, but the line is deceptive, since a majority of the customers take their lunch off the premises. Each of Pearl's sandwiches is made on a different kind of bread or roll, so when you eat here you automatically receive an education in leavening methods, yeasts and sponges. If you're not a sandwich lover, you're out of luck. Except for drinks and desserts, that's the whole game, but those sandwiches are wonderful indeed. Smoked prosciutto comes on a sour levain spiked with walnuts, which adds an interesting taste and texture; a hunk of roasted eggplant swells the ciabatta beyond the slender slipper shape; and a few slices of mozzarella tuck tightly between the halves of a crispy roll made of pain poolish, a springy, open-grained, moist French bread. You can even get a peanut butter and jelly on paesano, for the tastiest version of the all-time favorite you've ever had. With high ceilings, a view deep into the bakery beyond that looks like a factory, white tile floors and walls painted in brown, olive and deep purple tones, Pearl Bakery feels right at home in the warehouse district. You may have to take your lunch standing at the counter (stools would help), but lots of folks do, and you can easily strike up a conversation there. And finally, saving room for the pastries baked on site is a good idea. You won't go wrong with two perennial favorites: orange poppyseed cake with a light orange glaze and the intense lemon crème fraîche cake. There are also good juices and mineral waters and immense cups of outstanding coffee.
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