Audrey’s Kitchen

1429 SE 37th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 236-6886

With all the wonderful restaurants in Portland, it was really difficult choosing just one for Valentine’s Day. I had my eye set on some of the newer restaurants in town but thankfully, I didn’t have to make that decision. Instead, E followed his friend’s advice and booked our date at the delightful 3 Doors Down Cafe on Hawthorne. I’ve passed by this little brick restaurant more often than I can remember, and while it delicious aromas have always emanated from it, this was the first time I actually went inside. I vaguely remember reading some really good reviews for it years ago and have always meant to try it, but it took a back burner to the shiny and new places in the Pearl.

I guess one really shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover because I have found a new favorite in 3 Doors Down. Once we stepped inside the restaurant, we were greeted by an energetic hostess who immediately led us to our table. Since it was Valentines Day, red puckered lips were stamped all over white paper across the table. To our right was a canoodling couple posing with a giant picture frame for a server to take a polaroid picture. The servers did it for every table that night and the effect was cute and kitschy. There’s a certain nostalgic quality about polaroids and it was nice to have a picture as a momento from the evening. The waitstaff was excellent, although probably not that knowledgable on wines as other places, but their enthusiasm made up for it. E asked our server to recommend a wine, and while she seemed unsure of what to recommend, she did bring out tastings for him to try. A for effort, if not knowledge.

As soon as we ordered, the server brought out a huge hunk of bread with a pureed bean spread. Let me just say, the bread was delicious, and I loved that they provided a healthy alternative to butter. Rustic, with a wonderfully chewy texture, it was a great way to start out meal.

We planned on ordering their cheese plate with tomato jam, since it came with high praise from E’s friend, but they did not have it on the menu that day. Instead, we ordered seared sea scallops. It was very well done! Naturally sweet, it was well seared, with a crispy golden savoriness that paired well with the silky texture of the scallops. It sat atop a bed of pureed chickpeas and surrounded by a pool of a buttery, lightly sweetened sauce.

For our entrees, I selected the sole stuffed with crab. It was amazing. The sole was buttery smooth, and the stuffing was full of sweet, fresh crab meat and little bits of zuchini and onion. It was served with a heavenly burre blanc, each drop of which was thoroughly mopped up by the roasted fingerling potatos. The potatos were delicious on their own, but add on some of the sauce, and it was truly sublime. Even the spinach that came on the side was delicious! Piping hot, it was simply flavored with garlic and a sprinkling of salt.

E ordered the Veal Cheeks with Polenta. It came stewed in what looked and tasted like a mushroomy ragout that had a slight smokey bacon flavor. The polenta was thicker than what I’m used to, and had a cheesy texture and taste to it. They were very generous with the veal and it was truly like nothing I have ever had before. The veal was unbelievably tender-so soft that it seemed to melt, but I think the sauce may have overpowered the delicate taste of the meat.

By now, we were stuffed but we had to try one of their desserts. I had wanted to try their famous banana cream pie, and judging by the number of patrons who ordered it around us, we really should have done it. Instead, we opted for the cannoli because it was supposed to be one of the lightest desserts that night. I’ve never had cannoli before, so I can’t say if I do or do not like it for sure, but I probably would not order it from 3 Doors Down again. It had a nice citrusy flavored ricotta filling, but I was hoping for more of a pistachio flavor. Note to self, when in Rome, do as the Roman’s do. Next time, I will definitely leave room for their banana cream pie.

Overall, I had really nice time. The interior was painted in warm and cheerful hues of red, and was very inviting. The service was excellent, the food is truly outstanding, and the restaurant, housed in a humble brick building 3 doors down from Hawthorne, is truly deserving of favorite status. I will be back and look forward to it.

1001 SE Water Ave
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 235-2294

What can I say? I passed by a sketchy industrial street on the way to OMSI late one night and was startled to see soft lights emanating from what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. I did a double take and turned around to pass it again, and was immediately charmed. On what looks like glass garage doors are rows and rows of softly lit candles placed stragetically on each beam. I realized then that it was clarklewis, a restaurant that has had a lot of buzz in the past year or two, but I have yet to try.

It was stored away in my “must-try” files until I found a suitable occassion. This occassion arose when I decided to plan a dinner party for 16 guests. This is quite a feat in Portland, since many of the restaurants here either charge room fees or they just cannot accomodate such large groups. After getting off the phone with the 4th restaurant, I remembered clarklewis and was immediately granted space, providing that I gave them my credit card as a guarantee. I asked about separate checks and was told that they’d split the bill in 6 for us without any problems. We arrived a teeny bit late for our reservation (10 late instead of a few minutes early) but keep in mind that it is very hard to find if you are not used to the east side, and there’s no real sign that tells you the restaurant name. The hostess was very anxious to get us seated and asked to take our drink orders almost immediately. We just got seated and were waiting for the last car of people to arrive, so we weren’t ready yet. When I told her to give us another minute, she said in a worried/vaguely annoyed tone that another party is arriving at 9:45 that evening. That didn’t really start us off on a good start because we then felt rushed as if we were intruding even though it was very early in the evening.

After we ordered out selections, the server brought out 2 breadbaskets and brought out little plates for everyone. Most places in town provide bread and butter. Some super stellar restaurants such as Iorio even provide a delicious chickpea spread so this did not strike us anything extraordinary. Keep this in mind as I review the rest of the meal.

We started out that night doing individual/couple dinners instead of sharing it family style with the entire table. Among the items our group ordered were: butter lettuce salad, ravioli with black truffle oil, tagliatelli with game hen, pork chops, lambchops, and sturgeon.

The salad was very aggressive, topped with salty proscuitto, it was tossed in a salty/sour vinagrette along with olives, salty pickled onions, almonds, and goat cheese. I would have thoroughly enjoyed this salad if it was not so salty and overpowering. Food should be enjoyable to eat, not something you must grimace and swallow. It was so salty that I kept having to pile it onto my bread to eat it. I was hungry though, so I ate the whole thing, wiped the plate clean with bread even, but it was very very salty. I think this would be an excellent dish if they used only half of the flavoring.

I didn’t get to try the pork pictured below, but my friend ordered a half size and they brought out a full size unbeknownst to her until the final bill came. It wasn’t mindblowing, but it was a decent dish.

The lamb was very good-probably their best dish. It did not have a strong gamey lamb taste, and was perfectly seasoned and tender.

Here it is again-the abundant use of salt! The tagliatelli pasta was perfect-eggy, chewy, and cooked to perfection. I liked the thin shavings of cheese on top, and the chicken blended nicely with the dish. The only drawback was how salty this dish was. My dining partner kept scraping the sauce off and eating it with bread to make it lighter in taste. Great dish, ruined again by salt. I did not take a picture of the ravioli because it looked boring sitting there swathed in a thick white sauce. The truffle taste was not discernable at all, and the ricotta filling was salty and grainy.

Although the ambience was nice and the restaurant had a nice crowd, I just did not feel comfortable there. Maybe it’s because she told me that another group was waiting to take the table (although we finished eating around 8:30pm), maybe it’s the fact that she kicked over my COACH purse and didn’t pick it back up but I did not like it. After dinner, we geared up to unveil the cupcakes we brought for the birthday boy. The server was in the process of laying down plates (unsolicited), so I told her that there was no need for plates since we brought cupcakes. She looked surprised but said she’d give it to us anyway.

We were ready to leave by 9, and had our bill brought to us. We were all shocked to see a charge of $29 for the bread. Each loaf of bread was $8 each, and one of them was $5 (although I don’t know how or why). None of us specifically ordered bread–it was brought out to us. The server asked if we wanted bread, and we said sure. We ate it and they kept refilling it, simple as that. We did eat a lot of bread–much more than we’ve ever done when eating out, but that was due to the unbearable saltiness of the food! Now $29 isn’t much on the grand scheme of things, but it was the principle of it. I felt like it was very misleading the way the way the bread was presented. I told the server that I felt it was very misleading and her first response was, “Well, it’s on the menu.”

I should have read citysearch earlier, because another reviewer complained about the same thing happening to them. In fact, their most recent reviews have all been negative. I only read one fellow food blogger’s review, but he reviewed them before Chef Morgan left.

Anyway, I told her that we all felt misled and she apologized for it and went away. We continued divying up the bill when she came back, told me that she spoke with the manager, and said that they’d take 50% of the bread cost off our bill. I thought that was very nice of her and truly did not expect her to do anything about it but then she had to ruin it by saying, “And we normally charge for the cake-cutting plate fees, but we decided to comp that as well too.”

Okay…where does this cake plating fee coming from? I specifically told her that we did not need plates because we were serving cupcakes. Even so…what if we did bring a cake? Isn’t it a tad unscrupulous to bring out the plates, offer to cut it, and then present us with a tab for plating it after the fact? I hate that area restaurants in Portland do that. This is why I only bring cupcakes from now on.

Needless to say, we were all let down by what could have been an amazing dining experience. We went there expecting to love the place. The sleek atmosphere, the idea of homey italian cooking, even the cute play on name was endearing to us. I’m glad I tried it because I would have hankered over it until I had done so, but it’s not worth going back