Dining Month 2015: The Bent Brick
This is my winner for Restaurant Month so far this year. After a busy day hitting all the in-town stores for the 2015 Rose City Yarn Crawl, mom and I went here for dinner. And it was FANTASTIC. Also, having hit four dining months in the last week, I really need to slow down. Oof!
Appetizers:
Heirloom beet salad with goat cheese terrine, tarragon and candied hazelnuts: I mean, again, I'm happy with beets. But the terrine was very pretty and fancy, and the candied smashed hazelnuts were _delicious._ Loved this dish.
Potato leek soup with brown butter and crème fraîche: A touch salty (which I think was the brown butter), but the creme fraiche was a lovely note. Very good.
Entrees:
Cocoa-braised beef cheeks with port demi-glace and winter vegetables: OMG. OMG, you guys. This was SO GOOD. My mom doesn't really eat beef much at all, and she practically attacked me with a fork to get a few more bites of this. SO GOOD. The beef was falling apart, but had a breaded and kinda fried outside that was crunchy, and it was all rich and lush and so, so good.
Anson Mills rice grits with foraged mushrooms, celery root, radish and parsley: A bit too mushroom-centric for me, though mom says it's very good if you like mushrooms. The celery root was a nice touch for a more interesting texture.
Dessert:
Chocolate cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust and chocolate sauce: We didn't get this one, because the other option was...
Rice pudding with coconut milk, almond milk and huckleberry: SO GOOD. Not very sweet - mostly just the natural sweetness of the coconut milk, so it didn't feel sugary, and then it had huckleberry sauce under it, and also more of the delicious candied hazelnuts on top, and this was SO GOOD.
Other:
* Chicken Liver Mousse: Pretty good! Came in a little jar, with a layer of quince jelly on top, which really was a lovely pairing. More than I'd want to eat myself, but I think a 3 person split would be nice.
* Beet and orange shrub (aka drinking vinegar): I love me some shrubs. I've made my own. This one tasted like, well, pickled beets. But in the best way! Mom and I love beets, pickled or not, and we love drinking vinegars, so we were happy. Beautiful to look at, too.
* bay & brine cocktail (vodka, bay leaf liquer, lemon, olive): Beautifully presented in a narrow glass with a vertical bay leaf standing up in it. I loved this drink. It was odd in the mouth, but once you swallowed, it was refreshing and had different flavors that kind of chimed in one after the other. Loved it. Want to make my own bay leaf liquor, given I have a bay tree, so I can make this.
* the bearded lady (bourbon, strawberry shrub, angostura, salt and pepper): Sweet and sour (being strawberry and vinegar), and overall good, but a bit of a letdown after the Bay and Brine.
Winning Dishes: Beet Salad, Braised Beef Cheeks, Rice Pudding.
Appetizers:
Heirloom beet salad with goat cheese terrine, tarragon and candied hazelnuts: I mean, again, I'm happy with beets. But the terrine was very pretty and fancy, and the candied smashed hazelnuts were _delicious._ Loved this dish.
Potato leek soup with brown butter and crème fraîche: A touch salty (which I think was the brown butter), but the creme fraiche was a lovely note. Very good.
Entrees:
Cocoa-braised beef cheeks with port demi-glace and winter vegetables: OMG. OMG, you guys. This was SO GOOD. My mom doesn't really eat beef much at all, and she practically attacked me with a fork to get a few more bites of this. SO GOOD. The beef was falling apart, but had a breaded and kinda fried outside that was crunchy, and it was all rich and lush and so, so good.
Anson Mills rice grits with foraged mushrooms, celery root, radish and parsley: A bit too mushroom-centric for me, though mom says it's very good if you like mushrooms. The celery root was a nice touch for a more interesting texture.
Dessert:
Chocolate cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust and chocolate sauce: We didn't get this one, because the other option was...
Rice pudding with coconut milk, almond milk and huckleberry: SO GOOD. Not very sweet - mostly just the natural sweetness of the coconut milk, so it didn't feel sugary, and then it had huckleberry sauce under it, and also more of the delicious candied hazelnuts on top, and this was SO GOOD.
Other:
* Chicken Liver Mousse: Pretty good! Came in a little jar, with a layer of quince jelly on top, which really was a lovely pairing. More than I'd want to eat myself, but I think a 3 person split would be nice.
* Beet and orange shrub (aka drinking vinegar): I love me some shrubs. I've made my own. This one tasted like, well, pickled beets. But in the best way! Mom and I love beets, pickled or not, and we love drinking vinegars, so we were happy. Beautiful to look at, too.
* bay & brine cocktail (vodka, bay leaf liquer, lemon, olive): Beautifully presented in a narrow glass with a vertical bay leaf standing up in it. I loved this drink. It was odd in the mouth, but once you swallowed, it was refreshing and had different flavors that kind of chimed in one after the other. Loved it. Want to make my own bay leaf liquor, given I have a bay tree, so I can make this.
* the bearded lady (bourbon, strawberry shrub, angostura, salt and pepper): Sweet and sour (being strawberry and vinegar), and overall good, but a bit of a letdown after the Bay and Brine.
Winning Dishes: Beet Salad, Braised Beef Cheeks, Rice Pudding.