-M-'s Last Dinner in Portland

For –M-‘s last meal in Portland, she picks Le Pigeon, one of our all time favorite spots in Portland, hell, one of our favorite spots anywhere. On the way over, we drop some boxes off with a fellow Reedie who has agreed to carry them down to SF for –M-, whose car is way to full to fit anything else into.

We plan to get there at around 7. I am a little worried, you know, the most popular dinner hour, the fact the they are always packed, it’s a Friday night, and they were just written up in Bon Appetite. We walk in and they are, in fact, packed. (this is a far cry from my birthday dinner back in August shortly after their opening, when we had no problems getting a seat, which is actually a good thing. Gabe and his food deserve all the recognition they are getting, and then some). Tonight, the wait for a two top is 2 hours. We have no option; we have to eat there. It is –M-‘s last night in town, after all.

Gabe, Erik, Bryan, and Leif wish us happy new year as we walk in. They’ve expanded seating as much as they can (it is a small space, after all), and totally revamped the menu for the new year (only two old menu items remain, the beef cheeks and the cornbread dessert).

They take our cell number and will call us when our seats are ready. We walk down to Rontoms for a drink while we wait. We are hungry so we get an order of deviled eggs and an order of Swedish meatballs along with my terminal Gravity IPA and –M-‘s Mai Thai.

We settle up and head over the Ozone to kill more time by browse CDs. We’re about to walk in when –M-‘s phone rings. Dinner time!

We take our seats at the Chef’s counter. M wants the beet/meyer lemon slaw as a starter, and gets talked into oysters as well. They are beautiful together. The beet juice that spills onto the rock salt turns a lovely scarlet color.

I get a frisee salad with pine nuts and cheddar. Dressing is a little strong, but overall, very tasty.

We order up a bottle of 2004 Jasmin Cote Rotie. I fear it may be a bit young, but we are pleasantly surprised. The wine is supple and elegant, with just enough funk and fruit. Very nice.

For the main course, -M- gets the beef cheek Bourguignonne with crispy potato and glazed vegetables and I get Grilled Strawberry Mountain flat iron steak with brandied peppercorn butter, wilted spinach and garlic roasted potatoes.

Cheeks are one of M’s favorite cuts of meat [Last minute correction, she says they are UNDOUBTEDLY her MOST FAVORITE cut of ALL TIME]. She has gotten this dish the last 2, maybe 3 times we’ve been to Pigeon. As mentioned above, this is one of two old menu items left after the new year, perhaps due to it’s mention in Bon Appetite. At any rate, it lives up to the press description ‘so tender they’ll fall apart with a good hard stare.” -M- makes several comments about the melted collagen, and then makes sure that I know I will never find anyone else with such a love a collagen. She’s probably right.

Although they recommend medium rare for the steak, I have it cooked medium; it arrives absolutely perfect. The steak itself (tender and juicy) sits atop a bed of wilted spinach and potatoes. Atop the steak, a lovely pat of pepper butter. I watch Gabe melt it a little with a blowtorch. It’s a little showy, but it certainly does the trick.

I need to backtrack a little here…

As we are about to order our main courses, we hear Bryan (-M-‘s favorite server of all time) tell a table they are out of the cornbread dessert that we have come to know and love. We pull him aside and tell him that we MUST have this dessert. He assures us there is more in the oven.

Jump forward again…

When we are ready for something sweet, the cornbread is done. We get both this and the crème brulee with espresso pot au crème. A couple glasses of Moscato d’Asti make dessert compete. (We get Moscato EVERY time we are here, and they know it; so much so that both Bryan and Leif make sure to let us know they have switched from Elio Perrone to Vietti).

Dessert is lovely, and as usual, the apricot cornbread with bacon and maple ice cream wins out. This is the other item that was held over from last year (again, it was mentioned in the BA article).

On our way out, everyone wishes us well, and says a bittersweet farewell to M, whom they make promise she will stop back in whenever she is back in PDX.

Next up, our road trip to San Fran...