Another great trip to Portland full of incredible Paleo food yet again. This place amazes me, it is the only city I feel totally comfortable traveling to without worrying about what I can or can’t eat, it beats Seattle hands down for food options. In February we ate at The Imperial, the restaurant of Top Chef 3rd place finisher Doug Adams, which was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten and at Cultured Caveman which was good old Paleo comfort food. This time we added a few other places to our list.
Cultured Caveman Downtown Food Truck
This time I was on my own during the weekend days so I roamed the city a lot. On Saturday I walked up to the Alphabet District to do some shopping stopping at the Prana store and The Meadows where I picked up a good selection of 100% Dark Chocolate. I then headed downtown and to the waterfront but stopped first at the Cultured Caveman Downtown Food Cart to grab some lunch. I got the Brazilian Pulled Chicken on top of a mix of Brocolli/Brussel Sprouts Mash and Collard Greens. A huge 16 oz container of this was $10. I also go a bottle of Tulsi Ginger tea. The chicken was great, very filling, and not too spicy, not really AIP either but I was willing to have a bit of spice.
Ox
Saturday afternoon I picked Catherine up from her workshop and we headed to Ox, an Argentinian inspired Northwest restaurant. I had high hopes on this place after reading the review of it on Nom Nom Paleo, Michelle usually picks good places to eat. We got there early, got our names on the list and still had to wait for 30 minutes to get a table. This place is popular, if you want to eat there any given night get there before 5 and get your name on the list, by the time they actually open they are full for the evening already.
We sat at the grill and were greeted by the grill cooks as soon as we sat down, they weren’t busy yet but soon would be going like crazy cooking a mound of meat like I’ve never seen before. I ordered a glass of wine, the chef’s Cab/Malbec blend which was satisfying enough just to smell let alone drink. For meal Catherine ordered a salad to start and a scallop/halibut risotto dish. I ordered the mushroom/foie gras/wilted spinach to start and the grass fed ribeye for my main. They came out with an amuse bouche of a cauliflower soup which looked incredible. I asked if it had dairy and was assured it was full of dairy so Catherine got two small cups of soup. The waiter soon came back with a non-dairy/non-gluten option for me, a shot glass of their squid & octopus salad.
Catherine said the salad was one of the best she’s ever had and the mushroom/foie/spinach dish was incredibly flavorful. I ate way more mushrooms than I should have but they were so good I couldn’t stop. The main dishes came and were both amazing. I didn’t get a shot of Catherine’s dish but did get a shot of the steak, it was the best steak I’ve ever eaten far and away.
Overall this was one of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had. The atmosphere was great, the food out of this world and it was definitely worth the little wait. We’ll be back on a future trip to Portland I’m sure.
Cultured Caveman Restaurant
On Sunday after dropping Catherine off in the Alberta neighborhood I roamed around there a bit to see what was going on and then drove over to Kenton to eat at the sit-down restaurant of Cultured Caveman. There was a street fair going on along Denver so I was wondering if they were even going to be open but they were open extra hours even so I got in for an early lunch after checking out the street fair.
I’d been there before and had the Shepard’s Pie on the first visit in February. This time I opted for the Zoodles with Meatballs with the pesto instead of marinara sauce, some Carrot, Parsnip, and Cauliflower Mash and a cup of bone broth. The Zoodles were excellent and it was actually almost too much food for me to finish. While there I chatted with the guy at the counter about nutrition, weight lifting, iPhone apps, etc… since I had the place to myself for a while, it was fun. I couldn’t leave without buying the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, some more 100% chocolate and a box of coconut milk so I could make pancakes in the morning.
Departure
Ever since seeing Top Chef we’d wanted to check out Departure, the restaurant of runner-up Gregory Gourdet. I had also just listened to a podcast interview of Chef Gregory by Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo so was very interested in trying his food. Departure is on the top floor of the Nine’s Hotel and has the weirdest entrance of any restaurant I’ve been in, seemed more like a nightclub than a restaurant. Sort of a space-ship/sci-fi theme, I guess you are departing to a new world of flavor but I was really wondering what Chef Gregory was thinking.
There were private dining rooms, a large dining room indoors and then seating on the terrace. It was a perfect day so we opted for the terrace where we could look out over the city and the Willamette River, the view was pretty hard to beat. They had a standard menu plus a special gluten free menu and vegan menu to choose from. All food was Asian fusion so a lot of fermented soy on the gluten free menu, something I normally don’t eat but decided to try anyway.
We ordered several dishes from the GF menu and just decided to share it all, trying lots of different flavors. We ended up with Spicy Carrot/Avocado Salad, Wok Fried Brussels Sprouts, Miso Cod and Charred Skin Chicken along with some rice. All of it was full of flavor and excellent. I was still a bit hungry so ordered some Crispy Pork Belly too which was on the normal, not GF menu but didn’t seem to bother me.
I had heard that all his deserts were dairy and gluten free so decided to go for it with desert. I got a strawberry ice “cream” with coconut ice and lime, it was incredibly full of flavor and so nice to actually get to eat a restaurant desert for once.
Another great dinner and so different than the night before. We both agreed that we liked Ox more but had we not been to Ox we would have been blown away by Departure I’m sure. Not as Paleo but the GF menu has plenty of options and if you don’t mind a bit of rice and soy is fine, makes an excellent cheat night if nothing else.
Dick’s Kitchen
Finally on Monday after my doctor’s appointment I wanted to grab lunch before the drive home. I had thought about going back to the Caveman but decided to hit that other Portland Paleo standby Dick’s Kitchen. This is a burger place but they use 100% grass-fed beef, bison, venison and even water buffalo plus cater to Paleo with yam no-fries and naked burgers. I went to the location in the Alphabet District since it was close by and ordered just a naked Classic Burger, yam no-fries and a Blueberry-Ginger Kombucha.
Pretty good basic burger and fries, sort of like what I eat at home quite a bit of the time for a quick lunch. A bit more than your average burger place but not expensive by any means for good quality food.
We still missed a few spots that were on our list but that is what the next trip to Portland is for. I’m heading back down in a few weeks for the SIBO Symposium and plan to check out the Brooklyn House on that trip with a large crowd os SIBO buddies.