Our story thus far: In 1978, the same year voters approved the creation of the nation’s first urban growth boundary and
WW
declared the Bee Gees artists of the year, Brasserie Montmartre opened
on the ground floor of the Esquire Hotel, around the corner from the
department stores and hotels that made up the heart of pre-Pioneer
Courthouse Square downtown. With its nightly live jazz and late hours,
the restaurant soon became the sort of place you could, according to a
1988
Oregonian report, spot Rindy Ross chatting up Matt Dillon.
Abdel Omar, a former
Benson Hotel busboy, purchased the restaurant in 1983 and ran it until
2006, when the building underwent a major renovation. The six-month
closure dragged on, and on, until it became apparent that the Brasserie,
which had long since drifted off the city’s culinary map, was kaput.
In 2009, Matt and
Sara Maletis bought the gutted Brasserie, added a downstairs lounge and
optimistically signed a 20-year lease. Their version of the restaurant
was a hit with fans of live jazz, but struggled to attract the attention
of Portland diners. In April, they sold the business to developer Carl
Coffman, who owns the building, and Pascal Chureau, the owner of West
Linn’s Allium Bistro whose local résumé includes stints at Tucci,
Fenouil and the spectacularly failed Lucier.
In the month between
purchasing the restaurant and reopening, Coffman and Chureau made some
smart changes. The awkward bandstand at the back of the restaurant is
gone, replaced by a wine rack, and the acoustic jazz performances have
been moved to the front of the dining room. They also ditched the cheesy
fireplace lounge, subbing bistro tables for armchairs, and roughed up
the decor with exposed brick and chalkboards.
More important, the new owners had the good sense to hire Michael Hanaghan to run the kitchen. A
veteran of Thomas Keller’s Per Se and Bouchon Bistro, Hanaghan was the
last of four chefs to helm Adam Berger’s much-missed Ten 01. He had an
excellent one-year run at that restaurant, where he created brilliant
small plates like fiery confit duck wings.
So far, Hanaghan
hasn’t had much opportunity to show the inventiveness that marked his
term at Ten 01—the Brasserie’s menu doesn’t venture far from the
expected—but his attention to detail is evident. His rabbit boudin blanc
($18) is impeccable: a fat, juicy sausage, mild in flavor but not
bland, the skin snapping slightly under the knife. An expertly boned
trout came under a hill of green beans dressed with brown butter and
capped with a sprinkling of toasted almonds, the sweet, nutty scent so
alluring I spent a good minute sniffing the fish before digging in. (It
tasted good, too.)
Brasserie Montmarte’s
menus (you can order from the dinner menu or shorter, cheaper bistro
menu in the front of the enormous dining room, but only from the dinner
menu in the back) are designed for comfort, offering four sorts of fries
(plain or with duck fat, pork belly or truffle dressings), good onion
soup ($9) and familiar entrees (roasted chicken, pork chop, mussels
frites). You’re unlikely to eat anything here that will broaden your
culinary horizons, but your meal will taste good and look great.
The re-revived
Brasserie is a pleasant, comfortable place to eat, its menu and
unrefined but congenial service unlikely to offend anyone. But the
restaurant is boring-, and given Hanaghan’s success at Ten 01 and
Chureau’s Icarus-like ambitions at Lucier, it should be anything but. If
any of the daring these chefs have shown in the past makes its way onto
the menu, Brasserie Montmarte could become a real destination; for now,
it is a nice, safe place for dinner and drinks with co-workers, where I
guarantee you won’t run into Matt Dillon.
- Order this: The fragrant trout, $19.
- Best deal: The huge slab of veal pâté, $10 or $6 at happy hour (2-6 pm daily and 10 pm-midnight Monday-Saturday).
- I’ll pass: Fried Parisian gnocchi ($6) look delightfully like Tater Tots, but the too-strong truffle flavor outweighs the novelty.
EAT: Brasserie Montmartre, 626 SW Park Ave., 236-3036,
brasserieportland.com. Lunch 11:30 am-2 pm Monday-Saturday; bistro menu 2
pm-midnight Monday-Saturday, 2-10 pm Sunday; dinner 5-11 pm
Monday-Saturday, 5-10 pm Sunday. Brunch 10 am-2 pm Sunday. $$-$$$.
