Another trip to Portland and another restaurant to try out, we love eating in Portland.   I have done two posts already about this city – Portland Paleo and Portland Paleo II from last year’s trips.   We headed to Portland last weekend to go look at a dog and decided to try something new.  Originally I was going to just head to Brooklyn House but felt it was better to explore.  Tasty & Sons had been recommended to us by a friend and their menu had potential but it was one the other side of the river so I found Tasty & Alder which is just a block away from our hotel in the Pearl District and looked to be very Paleo friendly.

We showed up around 5:00 when we thought dinner service started but found they start at 5:30 but get the list going earlier so we put our names on the list and headed into the bar area for a pre-dinner drink.   We’ve found this list thing at several Portland restaurants, if you don’t show up before opening you will probably not be getting a table for a while on the weekends at least so be warned.

The menu was so full of good looking food that we had a hard time deciding what to order.  Food is served family style so they bring out plates at various times keeping the meal going for a while.   We started with a salad and some Bulgogi Short-Ribs with kimchi (upper left in the photo) and both were excellent.   For mains we had the Gaucho Ribeye and Seared Scallops (bottom in photo) along with perfectly grilled asparagus (top right) and some tallow fried french fries (not shown).   All of it was amazing.  The ribeye was as good as the one at Ox, done perfectly and covered with chimichurri.  The scallops were incredible, perfect sear with many layers of flavor with citrus, the micro greens and the avocado cream on the side.   No dessert tonight, the dessert menu didn’t look too friendly to me but it never does except at Brooklyn House or Departure.   Oh well, we were stuffed anyway.   Overall one of the best meals we’ve ever had and again in Portland.   We are returning in a few weeks so will be checking out a sister restaurant, the Mediterranean Exploration Company, or MEC.  In the same neighborhood and the menu looks pretty awesome, expect another blog post.