March memories, 2008, with swell food, my sons, and my little Mama.

Lamont got invited to participate in the Chef's Blackbox Competition, and he asked his brother Leland to be his assistant--they've worked together many years at the same restaurant, several ones, in fact, starting in Jackson, Mississippi, and ending up here in Portland, Oregon, at 3 Doors Down Cafe where they both worked in 2008. Decision-making time meant looking around at what's available and making notes for a three-course menu. What to select from the ingredients to prepare dishes for the judges at the Taste of Tillamook competition held March 15, 2008, in Tillamook, Oregon. That's Lamont on the right, Leland on the left. The secret ingredients, yet to be revealed.



Available produce, fruit, spices. Lamont selected prawns and cod from the secret ingredients--I don't remember what else was available, nor do I remember what the competing chef chose. The teams had one hour to prep and cook their three dishes.



Leland works on leeks; Lamont works on salsa verde.



Leland works on fennel; Lamont works on salsa verde.



Leland and the mandoline slicer, part of prepping for the salad.



Prep, an important and on-going step to creating tasty plates.



Leland and the spinach. I'm not sure what Lamont is opening in this photo.



Busy cook.



Left hands.



Still busy cook.



Right hands.





Memorable appetizer--sautéed prawns (a secret ingredient), freshly made salsa verde, and sautéed leeks with bacon.



Memorable salad--quarter-sized cucumber slices surround a mound of match-stick-sliced fennel and Granny Smith apple, topped with paper-thin slices of red onion.



Memorable entree--pan-roasted cod (a secret ingredient), spinach sautéed with garlic and capers, and roasted fingerling potatoes.



The five judges.



Getting up close and personal with the judges. Those extra people also bid on plates and ate the ones prepared by the other chef. More about Lamont and Leland's plates later.



A bit more with the judges.



My little Mama, smiling her special smile, enjoying this time with my sons and me just as much as we enjoyed it and being with her.



In review, the requirements were to make three demonstration dishes, using a different secret ingredient in two of those dishes, then prepare more of the same for the five judges to taste. At the end of an intense hour for the four cooks, Mama and I won the bidding competition for the demo dishes (a fundraiser for Food Safety in Tillamook County) and got to pick which chef's dishes we wanted to eat. That's a no brainer, right. While their food was delicious--we cleaned the plates in no time--the judges made the other guy the winner by 11 points.



And here they are, the two most important men in my life, Leland and Lamont, one-hundred-per-cent their father's sons.

Our Friday, August 19, dinner at 3 Doors Down Cafe

Milton, Kay and I rode the bus to the restaurant for dinner. We were tired from all of our sight-seeing fun and very hungry. Leland joined us there, and Lamont was in the kitchen, cooking away--the only way it would have been better would be to have Kailey and my brother Howard and his wife Vanessa up from Mississippi with us. Turns out that's for another post.

We four shared the first appetizer: Grilled peaches topped with shredded duck made special for us by my older son, sous chef Lamont


Leland and Milton shared this appetizer: Steamer clams, pan-steamed with white wine, basil, garlic & parmesan cheese


Kay and I shared the two salads.
Organic greens, raspberry poppy seed vinaigrette, hard cheese & toasted almonds


Panko-crusted fried eggplant with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella


Milton and Kay each had this entree: Grilled Painted Hills flat iron steak, potato pave, Romano beans, and roasted garlic butter


My entree, the evening's special: Braised rabbit with house-made capellini pasta and mushrooms, onion and maybe bits of bacon--I forgot to ask.


Leland's entree was the house-made ricotta cheese cavatelli pasta with pork and beef sugo. The photo did not turn out very well, but it's a wonderful dish. I've had it a time or two.

Milton, Kay and I decided on dessert--we have our favorites from the dessert menu at 3 Doors Down.

Kay's banana cream pie


Milton's bread pudding


My bocca negra

I'm back. Here are Friday's 3 Doors Down Cafe delicious dining and drinking delights.

Since Thursday, June 9, I've been either taking lots of photos, uploading lots of photos, and/or having a time with Flickr with lots of photos, not a totally horrible time with Flickr, but not the most fun I've ever had either. Now things appear to have come around to where I want and need them. Thank goodness.

I was hungry, thirsty, tired when I arrived. I left mellow, satisfied, ready to make it through shopping at Freddy's and then riding the bus on home with my rolling black bag stuffed with necessities like milk and saltines and such.

Here you can see why I left in grand state of existence.

Rhubarb Rita: Blue Agave Tequila, LIme, Lemon Juices, Rhubarb Syrup & Orange Liqueur. This was SO good that I really, really wanted a second one, but I knew I needed, above all desire, to be sure-footed while shopping. I only drank the one.


First appetizer: fromage de chevre mini pyramid, roasted beets, toast points. I smelled the toast when the plate was set down on the table, that's how quick the appetizer made it to me. Imminently spreadable cheese, which is, according to the menu, a classic French crumbly ash-covered goat cheese. Ash-covered? Didn't taste anything but smooth, creamy goat cheese. Thank goodness for goats and their milk and folks willing to make cheese with it. That cheese, combined with the sweetness of the roasted beets and the crispy, easily bitten and chewed toast--my, my. I am a blessed woman. Still wondering about the ash, though, so here's what I found at artisanalcheese dot com: Ash-Coated Cheese--Many goat cheeses, or chevres, are coated with a sprinkle of ash. Originally, the ash often came from oak charcoal, as was the tradition of cheeses from France's Loire Valley. Today, a recognized food grade activated charcoal ash is used which is sometimes salted and generally tasteless. The ash is helpful in mellowing the acidity to promote the affinage and produce a more delectable cheese. It also helps make the cheese surface more hospitable to the growth of molds that add to the complexity of the overall flavor.


Second appetizer: Potato gnocchi, Fava beans, duck confit, chicken stock with olive oil, and sauteed spring onion. Here's the back story: At lunch I called my older son Lamont who is sous chef at 3DD and asked, "Is duck confit on the menu tonight?" Since he is off on Thursdays, he wasn't sure but said there was a good chance that it would be since it had been part of a "3 for $21" special currently running at 3DD. (More about that below--don't miss it.) Oh, joy! Oh, boy! He was right. Suffice it to say that by the time I had finished, that bread to the left of the photo had helped me completely clean the entire bowl. Crunchy skin, meaty flesh, combined with the plump gnocchi and the dense Fava beans. Every morsel satisfied me more than the one before. To tell you the truth, I wasn't one bit sad when I had finished because it was perfect in proportion. Oh, and you can see there in the background that I didn't leave any of my first appetizer, either.

Here's the promised info about the "3 for $21"

Friday Night Delights, a la 3 Doors Down Cafe

Cardamaro Soda (Cardamaro soda & twist of orange)--a light, summery cocktail. There to the cocktail's left you see a bit of the Pugliese bread and the White Bean Spread, a 3 Doors Down favorite.




Appetizer: prawns, baby artichokes, basil, lemon, white wine--so delectable that I had to post two photos, trying to do it justice.

Suffice it to say that when I was done, the only thing left in the glass was ice and the twist of orange--there was nothing left in the bowl because I used all of the bread to clean it out, well, except for what I ate slathered in White Bean Spread. Yummy, through and through.

If you are new to my blog, please know that my older son Lamont is sous chef at 3 Doors Down Cafe.

And here's the recipe for the White Bean Spread, for you from the 3 Doors Down Cafe Web site:

What you'll need:

2 Cups Cannellini Beans
1 Medium Onion, Finely Diced
4 Tbl Butter
1 Tbl Fresh Rosemary, Finely Chopped
2 Tbl Fresh Garlic, Finely Chopped
2 Pinches Red Chili Flake
2 Tbl Parsley, Finely Chopped
2 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Italian Bread With A Nice, Crunchy Crust

Instructions:

Cover beans with water by two inches. Soak for 4 hours. Drain beans. Put beans into saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook beans until tender. Drain. In separate saucepan melt butter and add all remaining ingredients. Cook until onion is translucent. Add cooked beans. Mash. Add salt and pepper to taste. This can be reheated, just add a little more olive oil. Makes four cups.

Friday evening at 3 Doors Down Cafe

Prickly Pear Margarita, so smooth, barely sweet, totally refreshing


Spring panzanella salad of asparagus tips, English peas, radishes, fried croutons, pureed almond and red wine vinaigrette, perfectly textured, a real taste of spring

Sarah from work and I stopped by for a cocktail and a bite to eat before going to the Hollywood Theater to see a movie. Besides each of us enjoying the Prickly Pear Margarita, we shared the salad, and two appetizers: fried risotto & parmesan arancini with Mama Lil's Hungarian pepper aioli and seared sea scallops, warm romesco and micro greens.

Perfect, sun-warmed dining followed by another side of life, no less satisfying in all of its dark, complex, emotional morality--director Cary Fukunaga's version of "Jane Eyre."

Quite the evening out.

On the appetizer menu at 3 Doors Down Cafe

Potato gnocchi, eggplant, mint, plum tomatoes--delicious, every bite, as I ate my dinner on March 4.


Soup of the day, March 4: Cauliflower, mushrooms, chicken stock, celery root and chopped flat Italian parsley. I ordered a cup and wished, when all was said and done, that I had ordered an entire bowl. The bowl is more the size of the one you see with the gnocchi. I'll know better next time. Oh, before I forget, the drink you see there by the edge of the cup is my swell New Fangled Old Fashioned, a bracing drink to enjoy on a Friday after work.

To keep this post on the up and up, I report to you that my older son Lamont is sous chef at 3 Doors Down Cafe. I also report how proud I am of him and everyone who works diligently and professionally to serve their customers at a restaurant I would frequent even if Lamont did not work there. The food and drink and service is that good.

Arancini, doing double duty at 3 Doors Down Cafe, SE 37th and Hawthorne

As an appetizer, served with tomato-butter sauce. As a Happy Hour item, served with aioli. Yummy, no matter what you serve them with.

This is an older photo of these creamy, lightly crusty, little balls of delight. Now the tomato-butter sauce is served on the side. I couldn't get a good enough photo when I was there recently, so I went to my photos on Flickr.

If you're new to my blog, in the interest of full disclosure, please know that my older son Lamont is sous chef at 3 Doors Down Cafe.

Cocktail, appetizer, salad--my Friday night at 3 Doors Down Cafe

Blackberry Daiquiri: blackberry puree, rum, orange liqueur and lime juice. Yummy summer libation.


Appetizer: Miticrema fresh sheep's milk cheese (Montesinos, Spain), grilled figs, 30-year-old balsamic vinegar, crackers. Cheese note on the menu: cream-cheese-like consistency, salty, acidic, creamy finish) Perfect combination, the cheese, as noted, and the lush, juicy fig bits, on top of a firm yet crispy cracker that held up well to having cheese spread on it before disappearing bite by bite. (I took this photo right at the bar where I sit on Friday after work, with my friend Richard holding up the huge white cloth napkin to my right as a reflector for the sunlight coming in through the windows from the left. I think it turned out just like I wanted it.)


Salad: duck confit, roasted beets, mache and creamy sheep's milk cheese. I had the same salad on Sunday, August 15, and well remembered the flavors and textures, the utter meatiness of the duck, my satisfaction doubled when my friend Danielle decided not to eat her duck confit, just her beets, mache and cheese. Yet, even though I only had the one duck leg Friday night, it's crispy skin and juicy meat demolished that memory, overtaking my senses. Who needs two duck legs when you've got one perfect leg to devour?

A lot of yummy appetizers at 3 Doors Down Cafe, 37th and Hawthorne

First, let me tell everyone how appreciative Mama is of all the birthday wishes sent her way! Happily she felt good enough to walk half a block to the car, then ride a block and a half to the beauty shop. A couple of hours later, with her newly cut and permed do, she rode home with me at the wheel. Later that night as we sat on the side of her bed for a minute or two, like we've been doing a lot lately right before she rests her head on the pillow and pulls the cover up to her neck, I said, "You got the best birthday present ever!" "A blood transfusion," she heartily agreed. Our next goal is to find out, if at all possible, what's causing the anemia, if it returns to debilitate her.

Please take a look at Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog for a way to help a blogger in need. Thanks!

Arancini, fried risotto balls, with a light, buttery tomato sauce


Dungeness crab cakes, satsuma mandarin orange & micro green salad, caper aioli


Potato gnocchi with Oregon black trumpet mushrooms, thyme, butter


Oregon Mushrooms, Madeira Cream Sauce, Goat Cheese Crouton