Skip to main contentHere it is at last: The first authentic, chef-owned French bistro in Portland that serves the kind of sophisticated home cooking that could almost tempt you to forgo a flight to France.
Why spend euros when dollars at Carafe will get you the dishes you'd search for on the Left Bank? Now here in Portland you can tuck into such classic French fare as a salad of frisee with poached duck egg and lardons, or rabbit with plums and bacon, or a perfectly made steak tartare.
Pascal Sauton, late of Lucere, has opened a seductive new place just across from Keller Auditorium, so finally there's a great spot in the neighborhood to satisfy post-performance hunger. Sauton, a Parisian, knows exactly the bistro feel and voice: a joyful, earthy informality, local ingredients, simple preparations, generous portions and an environment pungent with aromas from the kitchen.
Almost every element of Carafe's decor has been imported, and the place feels warm, animated and comfortably casual. Parisian details include the embossed-tin ceiling, the black-and-white tile floor, the genuine art deco fixtures, the wicker chairs, the mirror inscribed with dinner and wine specials, a 19th-century marble chest and the zinc bar. Even the design of the menu is artful and elegant.
A wide cement courtyard graces the front and side of Carafe, with bistro tables filling the ample space; nothing could be more French. This attraction could become the choice alfresco dining space in town, and there are plans to install a glass awning with heat lamps for inclement weather.
Bistro cooking is composed of stews and ragouts, savory roasts, creamy gratinees of potatoes, with lots of smoky bacon, mushrooms, and onions flavoring the hearty dishes. The food at Carafe might have come from the kitchens of a country grandmother, as some of Sauton's recipes, in fact, do.
In the style of southwestern France, there's a plate of scrumptious braised rabbit with prunes, infused with bacon and shallots ($17.50). Or one of the restaurant's signature dishes, skate wings in the style of Grenoble ($14.50), pan-roasted with a tart lemon-butter sauce, capers and tiny croutons, the classic preparation of this meaty yet sweet fish. The skate is accompanied by a stunning puree rose--carrots and potatoes whipped together with lots of good butter.
The perfect example of this style of bistro cooking is Sauton's stewed chicken infused with pinot noir, tomatoes, wild mushrooms and onions ($16), and the meat, which is almost creamy in its tenderness, tastes ripe. Carafe offers a set daily special (Monday couscous, Tuesday boeuf en daube, Wednesday sweetbreads). On a recent Friday I tried the bouillabaisse, which was unusual for the abundance of seafood taking up more space in the large bowl than the broth, which was laced with aromatic saffron.
As for appetizers, the outstanding item is a brace of fresh broiled sardines on grilled bread quickened by Basque chilies and peppery leaves of arugula ($8.25). I also recommend the superb omelette ($8.25), puffy yet light and bursting with flavorful herbs of Provence. Plump snails, another classic, are offered here with a local turn, garlic-parsley butter crunched with hazelnuts ($7.75), a satisfying combination.
If you want to feel completely French, or at least Francophilic, you might order the charcuterie plate ($10), or a cluster of delicious braised endives wrapped in ham and sauced with cream and cheese ($7), or a steak tartare ($6.25)--though I prefer this item for late-night dining along with the frisee ($8.75).
Desserts are satisfying for their simple, straightforward manner: thus, profiteroles with warm poured chocolate dousing the delicate cream puffs ($6); a Platonic crème caramel ($5); and a thin clafoutis ($6.50), a warm custard, showing off the last of the season's Bing cherries.
There's a lovely French expression--je me sens bien ici, "I feel a sense of well-being here"--which captures my Paris state of mind at Carafe. This is true in large measure because Pascal Sauton feels so comfortable in his own inviting new home. This sweet place might well become a Portland treasure.
200 SW Market St., 248-0004.
11 am-10 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday, 5-11 pm Saturday, 4-9 pm Sunday.
Credit cards accepted.
Children welcome but seldom seen.
$$ Moderate.
Picks: Tartine of sardines, Julie's omelette, endive and ham, rabbit with prunes, stewed chicken with mushrooms, skate with lemon, steak tartare, crêpes souflées.
Nice touches: Authentic French bistro cooking in a Parisian ambience. Complimentary valet parking. Excellent wines by the carafe, in addition to the list of bottle.
WWeek 2015