For the Carnivorous Foodie in all of us….by Jessica Chang


Ox Restaurant
May 28, 2012, 1:00 pm
Filed under: Argentinian, Hoity Toity, Northeast Portland | Tags: , , , ,

2225 NE MLK Blvd., Portland, OR 97212

503-284-3366

oxpdx.com

A new restaurant that has a lot of meat choices!?!? You can bet we were there as soon as possible!

After watching Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Uruguay episode, we are thinking this will be our next vacay…South America here we come! But in the mean time, we’ll take what we can get in the States.  When we found out about how Ox is Argentinian influenced (their giant oven for meat grilling is pretty sweet) and has a lot of meat choices, it was a no brainer.

What we ordered:  Green kale salad with feta ranch dressing, fired chickpeas, kalamata olives and strawberries / House Chorizo and Blood Sausage / Mote con habas: heirloom hominy, braised pork belly, fava beans, chiles, olive oil-fried duck egg / Beef Skirt Steak / Maple-brined pork loin chop (comes with chimichurri dipping oil) / and finally for dessert – grilled pineapple with coconut milk sorbet, toasted cashew, rum raisins and fleur de sel.  (it was the Meat-O-Meter’s birthday, so we celebrated in good form!)

How we ordered it: Everything was ordered as is.  We consider this place Hoity Toity.  You may have heard me mention this before, but the more expensive the restaurant, the better quality and the better the food is prepared.  To eat Paleo or close to Paleo, Hoity Toity restaurants are the way to go if you can afford it.  You can’t get any more organic, locally raised, gluten-free, grass-fed than this!!

What we got:

Green Kale Salad

Blood and Chorizo Sausage

Mote con habas (hominy, pork belly, fried duck egg)

Beef skirt steak

Maple-brined pork loin chop

chimichurri (oil based deliciousness of a dipping sauce)

Grilled pineapple w/ coconut milk sorbet

Cost: Green kale salad – $9, Blood Sausage – $9, Chorizo Sausage – $9, Mote con habas – $8, Beef skirt steak – $19, Maple-brined pork loin chop – $19, Grilled pinapple w/ coconut milk sorbet – $8

Quality:  You can just take the skit from Portlandia’s “where does your chicken come from?” and there you have it.  The server told us it’s all grass-fed and local. All of it was very well made, tasty in every bite, what you would expect from a nice restaurant.

Quantity: All of this was enough for the two of us and a little extra.  I wouldn’t say that the skirt steak was a great amount of meat, but the pork chop was a good size for a hoity toity restaurant.  Sausages were super tasty! Blood sausage was my fave.  Though both were disappointingly small for $9.  The Mote con habas had a disappointingly small amount of pork belly.  3 pieces of meat maybe in the whole dish.  Would not get it again, but very tasty.

With the extra side dishes, this meal was incredibly satisfying and we were stuffed. The chimichurri sauce was AMAZING!!! A suggestion from the Meat-O-Meter:  ”Sell that shit at New Seasons and I will buy it in bottles!”

Meat-O-Meter says!

Yes this place was good.  However, he wasn’t over the moon.  It’s all about the price and amount of the meat.

On a side note, the dessert was perplexing.  It didn’t blend well together.  We felt like we were eating some pineapple, then some sorbet, and then a cashew and a raisin.  The dessert wasn’t “composed” well together, I guess you could say it was underwhelming for 8 bucks.  Also couldn’t help but think that we could have made it at home with pineapple/Coconut Bliss and some cashews and raisins.  On a positive note, it is Paleo.

Overall, pretty good though for a birthday dinner!  Ox restaurant is nice.  The food is great and there are lots of meat/veggie choices and combinations to choose from.

We give it a thumbs up!



Olympic Provisions
(503) 954-3663
High end meat seller
Sort of like Tappas place.  You know how we feel about Tappas.  Booo…expensive, little food.
We tasted one of their cured meats at a potluck, Thanks Madoc!  It was great!  I had never heard of this place and so we of course had to try it!
What we ordered: We tried to order a taste of a lot of different stuff.  Because let’s face it, for tappas, it’s unlikely we’ll make it back here in the near future.  Maybe distant future though.  I’ve labeled the pictures, but honestly I can’t remember what the dishes were called.  The menu changes, so you may not see these dishes ever again.  However, as long as you can get a gist of the quality of the dishes, I think you’ll get my point.
How we ordered it: As is.  The stuffed pepper had some cheese in it, and the breaded pancake thing….well that was just a moment of weakness, there was meat in there somewhere, I swear!
What we got:
fish

pork shank

stuffed peppers, yes w/ cheese
lamb leg
pancake thing
Cost: Their menu is ever changing, and I forgot to write the price down.  But let’s just say that each small tappas was between 11 and 14 dollars.  Thasalotta dolla dollas for da meat!
Quantity: Considering the Meat-o-Meter’s past hatred of tappas restaurants, I think you know where this is going.
Quality: Olympic Provisions is a MEAT specialty store.  So you can expect the best.  Luckily the meat met our expectations.
MEAT-O-METER says!
So even though this place is super expensive, it’s nice to go once in a blue moon.  (Hence the not so smiley face, but with a thumbs up!)  Being Oregon’s first USDA ceritified meat-curing facility, they have all the highest quality meats and local too!  They were very tasty, flavorful, and well cooked. Everything tasted great, even my cocktail :)
When you go to a hoity toiyt restaurant such as this, don’t try to scrounge through the experience, you just have to go for it, commit, and drop some dolla dollas.  Just enjoy it and try not to be frugal with what is there on the menu.  If you’re going to eat at this place, try to embrace it; get a cocktail, window shop at their cured meat, order a couple tappas and heck even dress up a little.  It may just be worth your while.  We ended up buying a quarter pound of a pistachio-meat-loaf-type-thing!  It was mmmm delicious!!!!


Clyde Common
January 18, 2010, 3:41 pm
Filed under: Hoity Toity, Southwest Portland | Tags: ,

1014 Southwest Stark Street, Portland, OR 97205-2610

www.clydecommons.com

503-228-3333

Going out to nice restaurants kind of makes me giddy.  I love good food!  At first glance, this restaurant is definitely Hoity Toityt fo’ sho’.

It’s nice to splurge every once in a while.  Clyde Commons has huge tables downstairs, so you could possibly be sharing the table with strangers and upstairs there were smaller tables w/ a balcony style upstairs.  The environment and feel of it is modern, European style tavern, and pretty shi-shi.  They are located across from the Living Room Theatre.  This whole side of the street has really improved since I moved here!  It’s been a while since I’ve been downtown apparently.

What we ordered: Oh geez, we tried a bunch of stuff…..Appetizers:  which I unfortunately did not get pics of, were great too.  They had a wide range of meat from rabbit to octopus.   Entree:  Pork Shank w/ brussel sprouts and carmelized onion w/ tiny pieces of dough (i’d never seen this before.   I tried not to eat them…..), Lamb sugo (shoulder) w/ farro (some type of ancient grain…), mint and ricotta salad.

How we ordered it:  This place was pretty shi shi and usually restaurants like this don’t take substitutions.  So we had to live with it and just order what we could.  It did narrow down our choices a bit, but if it was a truly great restaurant, it would already have great Paleo choices.

What we got:

Lamb Shank

Lamb sugo

Cost: Pork Shank – $21. Lamb sugo – $15

Quality: Fantastic!  The pork shank was falling off the bone!  The lamb was super tasty and moist.  It was pretty amazing how good the mint tasted with the lamb.  An unlikely pairing, but totally tasty together!  The Farro in the lamb was soooo good.  I’d never heard of it, but apparently it is a grain:(  Oops!

Quantity: For a really nice restaurant, you really don’t get a crap load of meat.  There is less meat at really nice restaurants period.  But the taste of the meat was FABULOUS!

MEAT-O-METER says!

Clyde Common was definitely a pleasant surprise.  I am glad we came here.  For the quality of the meat, the prices were really not that bad.   The menu is ever changing so it may be difficult to get the same thing we did, but looking at their menu online, it looks like there’s always a good Paleo choice!  All the food was really well made.  I highly recommend this place when friends or family come in from out of town or when celebrating a special occasion or just for a nice night out. I know I will!!!  We may have to do a Happy Hour review of this place too cuz the drinks were pretty amazing too….



Grolla
March 4, 2009, 12:22 am
Filed under: Hoity Toity, Northeast Portland | Tags: , , , ,

2930 NE Killingsworth St., Portland, Oregon 97211

www.grollarestaurant.com

We had high hopes for this restaurant.  On their website, they are described as “one of the country’s few celiac owned and operated fine dining restaurant”.  Celiac disease is those who are allergic to gluten.  We don’t have Celiac disease, but it bodes well for Paleo-ites!   They have an entire gluten-free menu and dessert list.  They also cater to vegan, vegetarian and lactose intolerant needs.  There is no flour in the kitchen, so there is no possibility of cross contamination.  

What we ordered:  Filet mignon with grilled vegetables, leg of lamb with vegetables, tomato and gorgonzola soup, gluten-free mushroom quiche

How we ordered it:  The chef and owner was our server as we were the only ones there on a Tuesday night.  He was extremely accommodating to our requests.  The menu was already pretty Paleo friendly.  The only sub we made was for the potatoes that were served with the filet mignon.  The lamb was as is as was the tomato soup and the quiche.  

What we got:  

 

Mushroom quiche

Mushroom quiche

 

Tomato and gorgonzola cheese soup

Tomato and gorgonzola cheese soup

 

Filet mignon with grilled veggies

Filet mignon with grilled veggies

Leg of lamb with vegetables

Leg of lamb with vegetables

Cost:  The entrees ranged from $23 to $27.  Appetizers were $8-$11.

Quality:  They use mostly Oregon grown meat.  Not sure where ours came from, but it was cooked perfectly.

Quantity:  The size of my filet mignon was tiny.  The leg of lamb was a good size portion for one person.  

MEAT-O-METER?

img_0180OK, there was another couple there…

The food tasted great!  We weren’t stuffed, but it was definitely tasty.  If you can splurge a bit, this restaurant is not bad.  All the possibilities for substitions and the flexibility in the kitchen is great.  No flour, that’s pretty sweet.  If we just got a little more per serving, it would have been fantastic! Hmm, I think this place definitely fits the description of hoity toity.  A big expense for not a lot of tasty food.  

(Another great use of a restaurant.com $25 certificate!)



Le Pigeon – French $$$
February 2, 2009, 9:18 am
Filed under: Hoity Toity | Tags: , , ,

738 E. Burnside St., Portland, Oregon 97214

www.lepigeon.com

Walking into a nice restaurant makes me giddy.  I love going out to eat at nice restaurants!  Though expensive, it’s nice to do every once in a while.  This time we had a gift certificate so the damage wasn’t too bad.  The reason why we came here was because there was a coupon on http://www.restaurant.com to get a discount.  (Refer to the post, “Gift Certificates, Gift Certificates, Gift Certificates..”)  Otherwise we never would have tried it!  

Le Pigeon is a very small, romantic establishment, with large tables so you’ll most likely be sitting elbow to elbow to another couple.  Fun!  The menu changes weekly and the items are listed very simply; chicken, pork, beef…Reservations are recommended

What we ordered:  Beef Heart Appetizer, Pork Chop, Beef Cheek

How we ordered it:  Substitutions are politely declined at Le Pigeon.  This was surprisingly not an issue since the meat entrees were all almost perfectly Paleo.  The main content of each dish was the meat with some veggies&fruit playing a supportive role.  I could eat like this everyday!

What we got:   

img_0070Beef Heart Appetizer

img_0073Beef Cheek with potatoes.

 

 

img_0076Pork Chop with mashed sweet potatos, maple and apples.

 

Cost:  Expensive; $24 – Pork, $21 – Beef Cheek, $12 – Beef Heart.  We had a $25 Restaurant.com coupon so that helped.

Quality:  Very fine preparation, wholesome flavors, and you can taste the skill and care that is put into each dish.  

Quantity:  Just the right amount for a “hoity toity” establishment.  You will not walk away stuffed to the gills but you won’t feel like you got jacked either.  The time and attention they put into each dish is obvious (you are literally sitting around the oven and prep area where the three chefs do their magic) and there is an artistic quality to each entree.  

 

MEAT-O-METER?

img_0080Trying to go for the discreet look…If you want to go on a date or need an intimate setting and you can spend a little more on food, Le Pigeon is the place to go.  If you are looking for a cheat dessert, they have a bacon-and-apricot-cornbread- and-maple ice cream that is amazing!  Sorry to tempt you if you’re not on a cheat day, but bacon in a dessert?  We couldn’t resist!




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