The Country Cat in Portland

Our weekend trip to Portland was successful on all accounts.  In addition to picking up our beans at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market, we also spent time with some of our closest friends, picked up a Harsch crock at the Mirador Community Store, and ate dinner at The Country Cat.  The Country Cat was a recommendation from Eugene friends (thanks Brian and Caroline!) and it did not disappoint.  We thought that it was a bit like Belly in atmosphere, menu, and price.  And in case you don’t know how we feel about Belly, read about it here.  Matt ordered their special which was a flat iron steak sliced thin with chanterelles, andouille sausage, and potatoes.  I ordered two starters – a citrus salad with avocado and chesnut and potato dumplings.  We also placed two orders of their braised greens for the table.  They cooked the heck out of them, which is not my style, but they were good, good, good.  Another standout dish at the table was the fried chicken.  The only complaint was not getting any dark meat.

In summary…  I was more blown away by Belly, but our meals were delicious.  If there weren’t so many great restaurants in Portland, we would probably return soon.  And like many Portland restaurants, it is kid friendly.

Overall, I am really liking this trend (can we call it a trend?) of restaurants serving good local food at reasonable prices.  Do you know of other places in the Northwest doing the same?  Please tell us about it in the comments!

PS – If you are wondering about the Harsch crock, we already have a batch of sauerkraut brewing in it.  I am sure you will be hearing more about that later.  I learned about Harsch crocks from Culinaria Eugenius, another Eugene local food blog.  I have to say these crocks are really cool.

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A Holiday Party at Adam’s Place

Being the local food junkies that we are, its odd that we rarely go to Adams Place, and have never actually eaten in the dining room.  We sometimes meet friends there on Fridays after work for a little bite to eat and a drink or two, but never dinner.  Adam’s Place gets great reviews and is a perennial “Northwest Best Places” listee.  They do a great job of using local ingredients and was one of the first restaurants in Eugene to source directly from farmers.  So, you ask, what has taken you so long to go to Adams?

The prices for one – it’s not a place that you go to if you realize that you just don’t feel like cooking dinner.  It’s really a place you go for special meals, like anniversaries or birthdays.  The dining room atmosphere has also felt a little formal for our taste.  So enough with the lame excuses…

We finally ate dinner at Adam’s Place for the first time ever.  Matt’s company holiday party was held there last night and it was the best food and service I can remember at a holiday party.  They have a great room for hosting these types of events for small-ish groups (30 or so people) which we were in last night.

The passed appetizers consisting of butternut squash mousse on a homemade potato chip, various bruschetta including roasted chanterelle mushroom and white bean with sundried tomato were enough to send me home a content woman.  Not to mention the cheese and fruit plate with shropshire, chevre, cambozola, dried figs, apples and pears.  Oh yum.  And we hadn’t even sat down for the four course dinner.

The four courses all hit the mark equally as well.  The first course was a simple mixed green salad with a cranberry vinaigrette, hazelnuts and sugar crusted cranberries. The pasta course consisted of bolognese fettucini  and roasted chanterelle mushroom and spinach fettucini.  Even though I knew the main course was still coming, I had to have an extra couple of bites of the bolognese.

The main course was equally delicious – chicken piccata, beef skewers, and roasted fall vegetables.  I was particularly taken by the chicken piccata.  Normally I don’t think of chicken as being a special meal, but this fit the bill.  It was covered in a light, fluffy parmesan crust and served with a lemon caper beurre blanc sauce.  I want to go back just have another meal of the chicken piccata.

Finally, we ended the feast with an eggnog pannacota and chocolate volcano cake.   They were both amazing, but I was so full (imagine that) I couldn’t properly enjoy them.

All in all, I am sorry it took us so long to enjoy a meal at Adams.  We have been missing out on some great food.  It will definitely be considered the next time we have a special meal opportunity, despite the formal-ish dining room.  It may be a little easier on our pocketbook too.   I read in the Register Guard that they are reinventing the restaurant to lower prices a bit, while maintaining the high quality of ingredients.

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