More Portland Eats; Mirakutei, Davis St. Tavern, Laurelhurst Market, Beaker and Flask

Quick reminder: I only post about food that you should put in your pie hole.   Do you really want to hear about food that makes you say “Meh”?

Time for more PDX eats and even though he has been freshly NutDusted and aware of his surROUNDings, Schmank Schmawtelle is not feeling good in the belly area.  So our dining plans are detoured to target some noodle soup to attack the demon living in his gut.  We are off to Mirakutei on E. Burnside.  Hiro Igekaya, formerly from Hiroshi Sushi, is performing in gangster sushi chef style in his Izakaya.  Japanese Tapas style menu, sushi, sashimi, and ramen is what you will stuff your mouth hole with here.  Fromthe outside the place looks like a strip mall teriyaki shop, the food is Money.   They were out of bourbon at the time, so our server allowed me to build my own Manhattan with Japanese Whiskey.  Please note… Japanese whiskey makes you drunk like a Japanese business man on the streets of Tokyo on a Friday night.  Seared Tuna, I change the name to Seared Too-Nummy  I like veggies like asparagus, especially when wrapped with pig parts  Next up was extremely simple, but amazingly delicious Blow Torched Octopus with Jalapenos and Chili Oil  When going to a Japanese bar or Izakaya, I have a very strict rule… eat the Kara Age  Scrumptious nuggets of fried chicken are like Japanese gold (made out of chicken).  Now lets try to kill the SchmankBelly Demon…  Shoyu Ramen time  Crabs with edible shells are yummy, especially when Hiro rolls em up Top off the dinner with Chicken Wing Yakitori, Wagyu Rib Eye Yakitori, and these cute little abductor muscles  Arigato Hiro

Happy Hour with WillisSchwab at Davis Street Tavern.  

5^th Street Manhattan and some oysters with fishy eggs!  Duck Confit is a dish that I take seriously.  Probably because i pretty much perfected it by cooking 7 cases of duck legs every week for 4 years.  I am still bitter that the bastards didn’t let me take my duck fat with me when I left.  Anyway, these Duck Wings are a dish that isn’t for everybody… but I love em.  Theyre duck drumsticks that are confit, then dipped in egg batter and fried, then tossed in spicy chili sauce.  They totally remind me of the Fried adobo spareribs my Filipino Grandma used to make. 

Now time for a serious dose of menu happiness.  After reviewing numerous menus to decide on a dinner spot, we choose Laurelhurst Market solely on the amount of excitement the current menu delivered.  I’ve been there many times, but keep going back because they will never let you down, and you will always have an incredible dinner.  Caught off guard, we were sat immediately upon entering the restaurant.   There is always a wait for a table but im okay with it because the drinks are amazing and it allows your nose and eyeballs to be teased with everyone elses food being prepared and delivered.  So we sit and right away, me drinks “Smoke Signals”.  You should too.  It’s the best when they carve your gigantic ice ball in front of you, right before they smoke it.  Time for food, I believe I must have a slab of sweetbread with pork belly and Oaty cake thing  Frisee au Lardons with a happy runny egg  I like eggs, think I will get one tattooed on me.  Laurelhurst Market is a Steak House/Butcher shop, so you should probably order some meat when your there.  Heres a goddam perfectly cooked rare Flat Iron Steak with French onion soup as a sauce, and cheesey chip garnishWe got the Turf, so lets have the Surf, the nightly special of Polenta with shrimpies, mussels, and Scallop  Back when I first started coming to Portland for work/eating, I was taught a great trick by Mr. and Mrs. WillisSchwab: After a large and incredible dinner, go to Le Pigeon one minute before they close, and top off my fat belly with Foie Gras Profiteroles and Sauternes  Ice Cream, made of Fat Liver, say no more.

Teardrop Lounge has a new menu!  I think I may have had a couple beverages there during the week, but the winner of the week is…. Bonfire of the Vanities!!

Holy crap there’s more food.  Small stop at the Rum Club where we had some drinks and had our olfactory system stuffed with the odoriferous wafts of bacon or ham or some sort of pig parts.  Now time to order a large percentage of the menu at Beaker and Flask start this all off with the star of the menu… Sweetbreads  Ohhhhh, Sweetbreads….  Pig Face Parts make me smile, so we got some Pork Cheek with little baby octopus  (Baby animals make me smile too)  Oh happy belly likes Boneless Hot Wing Sandwich and Fried Chicken  More?  Pork Belly and a roulade of Bunny Rabbit  More?  There’s Mascarpone in the risotto, so we can call this one dessert  To top of an dinner created by the hands of Chef Ben Bettinger, Chef Ben showed up at the barstool next to us after dinner, where we all behaved like chefs for the rest of the night.  Apparently I will be bowling with him soon?

Now back to drinks, if you all don’t know, my little brother “little(r) Truby” has a Blog as well, There Will Be Bourbon.  Well my Barfriender for the week was taking such amazing care of me as I ordered “his choice” through the week.  As this was happening, many bottles of booze were placed in front of me and samples were distributed.  Here is one that should make Little Truby “envious”  Hey, look at my bill!!

Until next time Portland and Friends, im going to stay home and cook for myself for a while