Skip to main contentThe wine bar is a French invention, and in Paris they often open at daybreak, when workers knock back a glass of Muscadet or a Beaujolais cru before everyone else has had his café au lait. Their advantage over ordinary cafes is that the wines are carefully chosen by the proprietor, who is usually passionate about wine and often travels the country searching out little-known but remarkably good bottles; sometimes the wine is shipped directly in barrels, to be stored in the bar's cave. Portland's recent explosion of wine bars may not have quite such romance, but they do serve exciting and sometimes unexpected wines, whether in bottles, full glasses or flights of two-ounce pours.
Where some Portland establishments distinguish themselves from many of their French counterparts is in their food: Instead of relying on the inevitable cheese, charcuterie and pâtés, local wine bars tend to show off the talents of devoted chefs who want to satisfy the customer seeking a modest meal that will complement the wines. Two new places nicely fit this model, and both are excellent choices whether you crave a light supper, a late-night snack or, in one case, a pleasant lunch.
Noble Rot (one of the progenitors of the East 28th Avenue restaurant row that's been much ballyhooed in these pages) is a comfy, easygoing place that makes you feel as if you're in a cave of wines. Bottles are everywhere--on tables, on breakfronts, on shelves--while votive candles cast a pleasant glow to create a homey atmosphere. The conviviality here is palpable, and you'll want to linger because the feeling in both downstairs rooms is so genial.
Dishes, courtesy of chef Leather Storrs, are beautifully conceived, with a range that allows for meals of varying complexity and scope. The ideal MO is to assemble a variety of different plates and seek counsel for the appropriate wines. The menu changes often, although some favorites hang on permanently. The best single plate is an onion tart ($4.50): The crust is thin and crisp, barely holding back the swollen confit of caramelized onions--almost puréed--whose flavor is deep and mouth-filling. A hearty vegan dish, the bean-and-kale stew ($5.50) is really a thick winter soup, with chunks of peppery polenta drifting through it like nuggets of gold.
Ever had a "short stack" for dinner? Here the pancakes are made from cornmeal spiked with jalapeños, chunks of pulled pork oozing between them ($8). These polenta cakes are really like moist crêpes; meltingly sweet, sauced with a rich tomato sauce, they drip into the meal and suffuse the pork with a luscious intensity. I also liked the winter greens gratin ($7), which allows you to feel virtuous even as you get a bubbling layer of cheese and cream atop the layers of deep-green vegetables. The shrimp baked with lemon, garlic and parsley ($7.50) is pretty straightforward, but a nice dish for sopping up with crisp bread.
Lovers of the cosmos, especially admirers of Saturn, will be enchanted by "Apples Carl Sagan" ($5.50), a fried apple ring surrounding a ball of ice cream; even if Noble Rot hasn't sold billions and billions of them, this dessert is a heavenly star.
In a very different key, the Pearl District's 750 mL boasts a Philippe Starck sleekness. Unlike Noble Rot's eastside feel, this is a big-city oasis, with elegant red walls and matching drapes, vases of imposingly tall flowers, and on one wall a row of dried birch branches silhouetted against a backlit space.
Appropriately for the chicly streamlined interior, the food here is more refined than that of Noble Rot. Thus oysters on the half shell ($8), a creamy foie gras served with spiced plum compote over toasted brioche ($12). But easygoing food makes an appearance, too. French fries ($5) arrive in a tall silver goblet, but although they're supposedly "truffle-scented," my nose didn't pick up the scent. And if it had, the accompanying garlic aioli would have overwhelmed the competition, even though for my taste it could have used a more assertive punch of garlic. In keeping with the notion that one does not come here to be stuffed, the main courses are not much bigger than the first plates. But they show sufficient art and are more than satisfying. I was drawn to a delicate whole trout served with caramelized onions, and a purée of potatoes and celery root ($7). And the sea scallops ($12), while few in number, are packed with a briny essence.
Chef Josh Shartzer has concocted a menu that's less a set of distinctively casual offerings than down-sized main courses, such as roasted pork tenderloin stuffed with cherries and prunes and served with mashed potatoes, or roasted loin of rabbit with barley, both $11. (You'll notice that the mode is definitely autumnal.) The theory is that good wine deserves fine food, but you just might want less of it in these belt-tightening days. His menu differs in this respect from Storrs', who leans toward dishes more casual in spirit but no less artful (his mac and cheese is indeed state of the art).
Even if you want only a single wine, at least have 750 mL's flight of sweets ($7). Two groups of four small tastes each compose the dessert menu, the better of the two the quartet of chocolates: a creamy mousse filled with hazelnut praline, a marzipan cake, dipped almonds, and an almond cake doused in coffee. Slow, pleasurable death.
Eastside, westside. Both places are tuned to the contemporary scale, and each, in its own way, puts care into making its clientele feel warmly welcome and as harmonious as the match of food and wine.
2724 SE Ankeny St., 233-1999. 5 pm- midnight Monday- Saturday. Credit cards. $$ Moderate.
Onion tart, pulled pork with jalape–o corn pancakes, apples Carl Sagan.
Wonderfully chosen and well-priced flights of wine.
Don't flinch at the name Noble Rot--the phrase refers to a natural process whereby mold attacks grapes yet produces the complex flavors and sweetness
necessary for dessert wines.
232 NW 12th Ave., 224-1432. Wine bar open 11:30 am- midnight Monday- Thursday, 11 am-1 am Friday-Saturday. Lunch 11:30 am- 2:30 pm Monday - Saturday. Dinner 5:30-10 pm Monday- Saturday. Credit cards accepted. $$ Moderate.
Picks: Truffle- scented pommes frites, braised lamb pasta, seared sea scallops, chocolate plate.
Nice touch: Variety of seating areas, including comfortable lounge chairs.
The mL stands for milliliters; 750 mL is the standard wine- bottle size.
WWeek 2015