Last Sunday evening's dinner at 3 Doors Down Cafe, yum-yum...

...as in, used to express pleasurable satisfaction especially in the taste of food.

And then some.

Appetizer, prepared for us by my first-born, Lamont: braised rabbit basted in duck fat, crisped duck skin a la sort-of-like crackling, carrots, pears, parsnips, Brussels sprout leaves. Leland, Mama and I did not waste a drop, pieces of bread in our fingers circled until the bowl was clean.

Leland's salad, prepared by the able Abraham: Bibb lettuce, chives, smoked bacon--Nueske by name, and creamy roasted garlic dressing.

Mama got an appetizer for her dinner, the pan-seared scallops on a bed of parsnip, pear puree, surrounded with a Prosecco, vanilla bean beurre blanc and sprinkled with chopped chives.

Leland's dinner, the risotto with rabbit, parsnips, carrots, Brussels sprout leaves, sprinkled with ricotta salatta. He asked Lamont to add Nueske bacon to it, and he did. He loves his little brother.

My dinner, the splendid meatballs and bucatinni, named Portland's best meatballs in August, 2007, by Portland Monthly magazine.

And here's Mama's favorite 3 Doors Down Cafe dessert, Creole Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce. She ate the whole thing!


3 Doors Down Cafe is at SE 37th and Hawthorne, diagonally across from the Bagdad.

Portland's Best Meatballs

So you know it from the get-go, my older son Lamont makes these meatballs on Sundays--he's sous chef at 3 Doors Down. I took this photo recently before happily digging in--I couldn't eat but one, so I ate the other one for lunch at work. You can read their provenance here, at my ABC Wednesday K is for Kitchen post.

Here's what Portland Monthly had to say about the meatballs in their August, 2007, Best Of issue: Spaghetti and meatballs should be much better than they are in this town. Frankly, we'd given up on the dish. But one recent evening, the bucatini and meatballs served at 3 Doors Down finally changed our minds. Of course, we should tell you that there are only two meatballs in the dish. But their quantity or size hardly matters--although, if you must know, each is slightly bigger than a golf ball. What really matters is that they're made from veal, pork and beef--the right way--and perfectly seasoned. And they're rich enough that you'll likely have to take at least one home as leftovers. The frequency with which these meatballs are served here (only on Sundays), however--now that's another, somewhat graver matter entirely.

P. S. Lamont put the ricotta salata on top for me because I am lactose intolerant. The usual cheese topping is a combintation of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

ABC Wednesday: K is for Kitchen

Here you see one of my favorite photos, ever. And I want to thank my brother Howard for inadvertently reminding me that I had taken it on March 12, 2006. Yes, CDPBers, it's not recent but it still shows the kitchen in one of Portland's favorite eateries--Three Doors Down Cafe, just north of Hawthorne on SE 37th.

Left to right, we've got Dave, owner/chef; Lamont, sous chef/my older son; Leland, line cook/my younger son--the one who now cooks at the Helvetia Tavern and attends Mt. Hood Community College.

The reason I remember the date so well is that Mama and I had just flown into Portland earlier that day, to visit the guys and their girlfriends one last time before our planned move to Portland in June.

It was a very special night for Three Doors Down Cafe, their first Sunday to be open for business--up until then it had been open Tuesdays-Saturdays. And it was the birth-night of Three Doors Down meatballs and bucatinni, recently named Portland's best meatballs by Portland Monthly magazine.

It was a very special night for me because I captured the intensity of three guys who know their way around the kitchen.