As I was saying yesterday, we’re on our last beautiful days of Summer here in Portland and starting early next week we go into the rainy season, only to come out of it on the other side of winter in many months. With that in mind, I had some spare time and knew I needed to get out and about.
My first stop of the day was a great little spot that I’ve talked about several times before called The Love Shack, a cool little cocktail bar in the Slabtown part of Portland. This place ends up on morning news a lot. Not sure who they know but they are featured every couple of months and get great exposure. It’s normally hard to get in without a reservation, but showing up right when they open at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon got me first in the door with no wait and a seat at the bar.
During Happy Hour they have great drink and food specials, and I had to start out with a One of These Nights, which is made with chai-infused George Dickel Rye, mango juice and sweet vermouth. It is addicting to say the least, and had I stayed longer I could have easily gone another round. To go along with my cocktail I decided to get a couple finger sandwiches, settling on two (The pictures were taken up close. The sandwiches are really only about 2 inches long at most). The first was the Croissant Banh Mi, made with Viet pork, pickled carrot, cilantro and jalapeno. The second was The American Dream, a mini-Chicago dog covered in fresh onions, relish and mustard on a sweet roll. Just a little something to soak up the elixir.
While I was waiting for the food, I saw a bottle of Malort on the shelf and asked the bartender, “You have a half bottle. Do people drink that on a dare, or do you actually make a cocktail from that?” You see, Malort is an extremely bitter liquor that some say is the absolute worst tasting thing you can put in your mouth. The bartender said, “No, I just have it there in case people ask and I give them a shot”. So, having heard about this wormword-based Swedish liquor for years I said, “Sure, I’ll try a shot”.
I tried the shot and found it to be exceedingly bitter with a lingering aftertaste, but it was not unbearable. I don’t know that I would drink it again by choice, but honestly it wasn’t as bad as everyone I’ve seen online make it out to be. It might even make a good mixer in a sweeter drink to tone it down. Anyway, not sure that was a bucket list item, but in the spirit (see what I did there) of this site’s title, I no longer wonder what Malort tastes like.
After that experience, the food came out quickly, each sandwich was about two bites, and within 25 minutes I was walking two blocks over to visit the Bull Run Whiskey Distillery to try out some of their products. I’ve driven by many times and have always wanted to go in check them out, and today was the day.
The tasting room is cramped, warm and offers no seating or area for relaxation (I guess I am a bit spoiled, being a member of the outstanding Westward Distillery). I was immediately a little put off, but it had a cozy vibe and the gentlemen behind the counter was friendly enough, so being the only one in there after he offered me his chair I sat down and opted to taste their flight of five premium whiskeys and one of their Vodkas.
In talking with the worker, it turns out that Bull Run sources a good portion of their spirits from Midwest Grain Products (MGP) a major spirits manufacturer for many of the brands you have grown to love and may not know where they come from. Bull Run merely bottles it under their brand, versus actually participating heavily in the process of grain selection, barrel selection, aging etc. to produce a truly unique in-house spirit. After tasting the whiskeys and Starka vodka, I wasn’t super impressed, but I did like the 16-year barrel aged whiskey finished in pinot noir casks for an additional 37 months and their Starka Vodka that is also aged for 7 years in pinot noir casks and ended up getting a bottle of each.
Ok, again, not necessarily a bucket list item, but I now no longer wonder what Bull Run is all about, and unless I have a very curious out-of-town whiskey-loving guest that wants to check it out, I don’t think I’ll be going back, and I won’t be looking for their products on any local area menus.
After wrapping up there I still had a couple hours to burn and decided to head home to drop things off and indulge in a quick nap. Upon completing my short siesta I prepared to head out for my 5pm reservation at Higgins, a former (2002) James Beard award-winning (Best Chef Northwest) restaurant. Spoiler alert, I think they have been living on this laurel for far too long.
It’s a nice modern outfitted restaurant designed in a split-level format inside an old downtown Portland building (I think we’re at the point now where we don’t really need to make the distinction that the building is old, as pretty much everything in Portland is vintage, in a good way). I was the first one in for dinner service and was quickly seated by the window. I had seen the menu online and pretty much already knew what I wanted, but the waiter was proud of the specials and wanted me to hear them all. I must say that I was intrigued and as I’ll mention later, it’s likely that I’ll have a chance at a future time to try other things on the menu, but today I had my heart set on the Filipino Braised Pork Shoulder and Belly Adobo with longganisa sausage, atchara pickles, choy and basmati rice.
Before that would arrive though the waiter brought me a complementary amuse bouche that he described as a sunchoke and potato gallete. I looked at it and thought, “Huh?” (I mean, look at that picture. It looks like a worm or something. And did someone already take a bite off it?) I tried it and it was mostly tasteless and mushy. When he came back over and asked me what I thought I told him that it needed some crispy pancetta sprinkled on top to give it both texture and some saltiness, as it was very bland and didn’t have a good mouthfeel. He didn’t seem to take the criticism well and I started to suspect where things were about to go for the rest of the meal.
One of the items he rattled off was a Dungeness crab “slider” on a mini croissant with a frisee salad. He made it sound like the sliders were large and that I might not be able to handle three with the other food I was getting so he was willing to cut it down to two… Ok. When the plate arrived I had to laugh, as there were two tiny nubs in a nest of green on the plate. I tried one and the bread was overly crunchy and crackly and it was gone in one bite. It had a hint of crab, but mostly it was sandwiched in wet chopped up daikon and other veggies. I ate the second, and set the plate aside completely unimpressed.
