Kir Blog Readers Get $5 Rosé Flights!

As Portland wine bars go, Kir is one of my favorites. Tiny, intimate, gracious, great wines and simple tasty small plates, warm & wise proprietress Amalie--all of these things make Kir the perfect place to unwind after a tough week.

And to sweeten the deal, I found this on the Kir blog:

Hello Sunshine!

May 14, 2009

Sunny days are here and with those sunny days comes the new and expanded Rose wine list. We will carry ten Roses by glass for the entire summer. Right now we have Italian, Spanish, Oregon, and of course, French. Mention this blog post and get a flight of roses for only five dollars (this offer precludes previous offers.)
Thank you Kir patrons! Amalie and the KIR cru

A flight of rosés for a mere $5? You had better believe I am heading to Kir as soon as I've freed myself from work on this fine sunny Friday.

Don't believe me that this marvelous deal is true? Read it for yourself here: http://www.kirwinebar.com/2009!!

-Jen

Special Correspondent April Lives In a Tuscan Castle These Days

Special Correspondent April is wrapping up her incredible edible European vacation with a stay in magnificent Tuscany. I hope she brings me back something nice, like a Lamborghini or dreamy Prince Emanuele Filiberto. 

Under the Tuscan Influence

April  to me

May 11 (1 days ago)

Reply

Greetings from Toscana! The last few days have definitely been the highlight of our trip. We are staying in an old castle and have had the entire place to ourselves. Everyday we go out for some sightseeing and then return to sip some wine on our terrace. It is fantastico! I've attached some of my favorite pics. The last couple of pictures are of the meal we had last night in Monterosso, one of the villages in Cinque Terra. The pesto pasta was out of this world! Oh, and I could not forget to attach the picture of the mounds and mounds of gelato - that one is a framer!

Ciao!

See you soon and fly home safe, Special Correspondent April and Prince Emanuele!

-Jen

Get Your Sexy On at the Bye & Bye Tonight!

NE Alberta's Bye & Bye Bar...Sexy! Mondays...Sexy! Vegan Meatballs...Sexy!

The first Sexy Tuesdays of Spring is here, and on a Monday night no less! What a lovely way to start the week. In case you forgot, Sexy Tuesdays brings together like-minded people to socialize and learn more about Planned Parenthood, and raises funds for PP too.

Come to NE Alberta Street's beloved Bye & Bye bar tonight to mingle with nice people, drink enticing cocktails, eat vegan food that you sometimes can't even tell is vegan food (try the "meatball" sandwich) and play some trivia if you like (I don't like, but am more than happy to spend all my time drinking and eating unvegany vegan food). The good (and super sexy!) folks at the Bye & Bye have generously offered us a portion of the proceeds from tonight's sales, so all you have to do to help Planned Parenthood out in these turbulent times is EAT and DRINK. So easy!

Hope to see you tonight at Sexy Tuesdays...Sexy Mondays...whatever we're calling it, it's going to be a good time for a good cause! More info below.

-Jen

Join PPCW for Trivia Night!
Monday, May 11th
Bye & Bye
1011 NE Alberta St.
6 - 8:30 pm (trivia starts at 6:30)

Join PPCW on a Monday (sometimes Mondays can be sexy too) for Trivia Night!

Play on your own or gather a team of up to 5 and get ready to play Sexy Jeopardy!

Enjoy an entertaining night with trivia master, John Doyle. You might know him from trivia night at Vertigo Pub or 5th Quadrant. He was named Best Trivia Host in Willamette Week's Best of Portland.

$10 enters you in the contest and our raffle! Prizes will be given to the winner(s) of each round and grand prize will go to the individual or team that wins the final bonus round. That's three chances to win cool prizes plus the raffle drawing! Trivia will start at 6:30.

Bay Shrimp, Asparagus, and Spring Onion Salad at Tastebud

We are dining this evening at Tastebud on SE Milwaukie, and while waiting for our sausage, spicy kale, tomato and mozzarella pizza to cook in the wood fired oven, we shared the bay shrimp, asparagus, and spring onion salad. Wow. Sweet, tender little bay shrimp, paper thin slivers of raw asparagus and Red Heart celery, spring onions, and a sprinkling of paprika, tossed with olive oil and sea salt. I've ceased caring if the pizza arrives, I could eat these all night.

-Jen
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Flying Cat Coffee Company on SE Division Street

Enjoying a Caffe Vita mocha, a Kettleman's bagel, and an uncharacteristic bout of Sunday afternoon productivity on the patio of Flying Cat Coffee Company, 3041 SE Division Street.

Flying Cat has a cozy inside vibe, a relaxing brick patio out front, free Wi-Fi, and a large photograph of a naked fairy in the bathroom, aka the 'litter box' (cat theme carries heavily throughout the coffeehouse).

Open for about two months now, Flying Cat's official Grand Opening party will be held June 5, and will commemorate both the owner's birthday and the coffeehouse's acquisition of a beer and wine license, which will allow them to allow you to sip fine Northwest wines and microbrews on the premises whilst reading the house copy of James Herriot Cat Stories.

-Jen
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Sun Drops and Oregon Kisses From Sahagun Chocolate Shop

I woke up this morning with the awfullest of awful feelings: there was no chocolate in the house! Lucky for me, however, I live but three blocks from Sahagun Chocolate Shop.

In honor of the glorious sunshine, I bought a Sun Drop--a dollop of sweet nutty sunflower butter enclosed in a bittersweet chocolate shell. These are a brand-new Sahagun creation, and have only been in the store since Thursday!

I could not leave without a Luscious Caramel, my favorite caramel in the city, a peerless composition of deep rich slightly burnt and buttery caramel touched with just the right amount of savory fleur de sel, surrounded by a crisp crust of bittersweet chocolate

And since every girl can use more kisses, I asked for an Oregon Kiss--an exquisite bite-sized marriage of Oregon hazelnuts and Valrhona milk chocolate swirled in a tiny chocolate cup.

It was a short walk from chocolate rags to chocolate riches this morning. Thanks to Sahagun's lusciousness, sun drops, and Oregon kisses, I am now the happiest girl in Portland.

-Jen

Sahagun Chocolate Shop  *  www.sahagunchocolates.com * 10 NW 16th Ave., Portland, OR 97209 * Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm * sublime chocolates, tempting hot chocolate and coffee drinks

MetroVino: 99 Bottles of Bubbly on the Wall...Maybe...I Wish

For the past year, I've walked past the desolate old DF location at NW 11th and NW Northrup every day on my way to work, a lump in my throat welling as I remember the days of delicious DF pork tacos and fresh raspberry mojitos in a cozy booth after a long day at work.

In accordance with the ways of spring, however, new life has blossomed in my old stomping grounds, as MetroVino Bistro Bar & Bottleshop pulls the brown paper off the windows and opens the doors this week. You can celebrate with them tonight at their "Our First Thursday" First Thursday celebration.


There are quite a few reasons I'm interested in checking out MetroVino. According to this article in Oregon Winepress, MetroVino owner Todd Steele is utilizing state of the art European technology that will allow him to pour multitudes of wines by the glass (the article says up to 80!), even super expensive rare bottles, and plenty of bubblies (my favorite, if you haven't noticed). Metrovino's executive chef is Gregory Denton, formerly of ill-fated fancypants restaurant Lucier. MetroVino also has a tasting area in the works, and will sell bottles to go.

I peeked inside this morning, and the interior is inviting, with a Pearl-posh feel.


The one page menu contains a smattering of basics--grilled salmon, red wine braised short ribs, slow-roasted pork shoulder, and also veers all over Europe--showing a German/Swiss bent with a raclette appetizer and alpine cabbage and bread soup; Scandinavian influences with salmon gravlax bruschetta and a smoked trout and cucumber salad with dill vinaigrette; and some more traditional European fare like roasted marrowbones and crispy sweetbreads. Then there's a side trip to SE Asia, with the scallops in green curry with pickled red onion and cilantro. Should be interesting.

Sorry, this picture is pretty fuzzy. I'll try to take a better one later.

MetroVino is located across from the Pearl District's lovely Tanner Park at 1139 NW 11th Avenue (corner of NW 11th & Northrup). The telephone number is 503.517.7778, and the partially functional website is at metrovinopdx.com/contact.html. MetroVino has also partnered with OpenTable to offer online reservation-making capabilities.

See you there tonight!

-Jen

Nostrana Happy Hour

We try to stay on top of food happenings here at TableTalk Portland, so when I found out Nostrana had been offering a late night happy hour for over 3 month I was totally gobsmacked! I love it when a restaurant as high caliber (Cathy Whims is a 2009 James Beard finalist) allows diners on a budget access to wonderful food at affordable happy hour prices!

You can get their Pizza Margherita, which totally rivals the infamous Ken's Artisan pizza for a bargain price of $5. It's a perfect thin crust pizza topped with fresh mozzarella and basil cooked to a perfection in a wood fire oven.

Not only is the pizza on the Happy Hour Menu, but the Nostrana salad is on there too. This is a perfect radicchio salad tossed in a traditional caesar dressing, which is also for the bargain price of $5! We started with that and added a meat plate from Salumi and it was as you can guess priced at $5! Their wine is also $5!

After our meal we had a scoop of housemade rum raisin gelato, which was perfection. The total bill for two people to dine with wine, two appetizers, meat board, pizza, and dessert was $35! I love Portland!

-M

Nostrana*http://nostrana.com/*Dinner Sun-Th 5-10, Fri-Sat 5-11 Lunch Mon-Fri 11:30-2 * Happy Hour 9 to Close*1401 SE Morrison*503.234.2427

Special Correspondent April Like-A the Gelato and the Pizza and the Cappuccino and the Italy

Our dear Special Correspondent April has made her way to beautiful Venice, Italy, where she is eating her way through the canals!

An Email From Italy

	Inbox		X

April to me

May 5 (1 days ago)

Reply

Buon giorno! I am in Italy, and I've been living on gelato, cappuccino, and pizza slices that are the size of my head. So yes, I am having the time of my life! Today we are going to attempt to rent a car and drive from Venice to our next destination, Moteriggioni. Wish us luck.

Ciao!

Mr. T says

TableTalkPortland is the best!

Oh wait, that's just brother Eli.

Anyways, TableTalkPortland is the best! You too could broadcast this to the world with a tabletalkportland tshirt. Send us an email if you want one.
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We have found Sunday bliss

At Eat Oyster Bar on N. Williams. A bottle of cava for $18 and a dozen Wilapa Bay oysters for $13. The huge garage door on the side is rolled up to let the fickle spring breeze in.
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Michelle is drinking a strawberry bellini, and eating a mission fig, spinach and garlic paste crepe.
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Sunday Patio Quest

We are cruising NE Alberta looking for good Sunday happy hours that involve a patio. We stopped at Tour de Crepes, an excruciatingly darling creperie set in a colorful, kitschy old barn.
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Apizza Amore on Sundays!

Here is a quick, one-question quiz to determine how well you know TableTalkPortland.

Michelle and Jen spend most of their Sundays doing the following:

a) eating chocolate in the hammock.
b) wishin' & prayin' for more chocolate to fall from the heavens onto the hammock.
c) complaining that Apizza Scholls doesn't serve Apizza Amore on Sundays.
d) all of the above.

The answer of course, is D.

But now we have reason to rejoice on Sundays, because beginning TODAY, May 3, Apizza Scholls is switching from Sicilian Sundays to Regular Sundays, and will be serving their traditional pizzas from 4 - 8 pm every blessed Sunday.

We had absolutely nothing against the Sicilian pizzas, they're wonderful and we'll miss them, but we sure do love us that Apizza Amore. Apizza's rich tomato sauce, fresh whole milk mozzarella, pecorino romano, just chopped garlic, fragrant green basil, extra virgin olive oil, and the grand, glorious, incomparable capicollo.

Admit it, you're wishin' and prayin' for some to fall from the heavens onto your desk/car seat/bike handles/belly/hammock right now.

-Jen

Free Wine and Cheese Tasting At Square Deal TODAY 1-5PM

Times are tight, you spent all your spare pesos on cervezas yesterday at the waterfront Cinco de Mayo festivities, yadda yadda. We understand. Bottom line, you're looking for something fun, foodtastic, and FREE to do today, provided you aren't too hungover from yesterday, like Michelle.

It just so happens that I received a notice from Square Deal Wines and Steve's Cheese informing me that it's our lucky day, because today, Square Deal and Steve are holding a little open house promoting Northwest wines (and cheeses, of course), as part of Square Deal's quest to feature an increasing number of NW labels. There will be new wines from Zerba Cellars, a new release from Brad McLeroy of Ayres Vineyard, and wines from our beloved Torii Mor Winery (hi Steve!! The waiter's tool you so graciously gave Michelle at Taste of the Nation works great, thanks!!).


TODAY, between 1-5 pm, head to Square Deal/Steve's Cheese for a casual Northwest wines and cheeses tasting, which is FREE and FUN and FOODTASTIC too. Esteemed River's Edge Chevre cheesemaker Pat Morford will be there, which everyone is quite excited about. Local cheese guru Tami Parr will be there too, signing her new book "Artisan Cheese of the Northwest."


I had the pleasure of speaking with Tami, the creator and writer of the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project blog, for a vendor profile I wrote for the Portland Farmer's Market newsletter about Ancient Heritage Dairy (buy a round of their Valentine sheep's milk cheese at the Farmer's Market the next time you go, it's amazing). Tami's wealth of cheese knowledge is immense and carefully documented in her beautiful new book, and if you love cheese (and only weirdos don't), you should meet her and buy her book. Why not do so today, whilst sipping lovely new Northwest wines and surreptitiously sneaking glances at that super hot blue-eyed guy who works at Square Deal? Yep, I thought you might like this idea. See you this afternoon!

-Jen

Square Deal Wines and Steve's Cheese * 2321 NW Thurman * www.squaredealwine.com * www.stevescheese.biz