Guest Blogger

Unlike Jessica, I am not a lover of the sweets.  I much prefer to fill my stomach space with raw, red meat and crisp, sauteed vegetables.  But, for the sake of expanding my horizons(and writing this blog!), I ventured out of my comfort zone and gave myself a 1-day crash course in dessert appreciation.

The restaurant I decided to visit was Higgin’s, located on the corner of Broadway and Jefferson.  Higgin’s is known for their philosophy of supporting farming techniques that are sustainable, organic and regenerative.  They recently hired a new Pastry Chef, so I figured this was a perfect opportunity to test both my palate and the skills of the newly appointed pâtissier.

 

Higgin’s Dessert Menu for the Week of June 18-25, 2011:

 

 Tapioca Pudding 

malted vanilla tapioca, oven roasted strawberries, chocolate pine nut biscotti 

Strawberry Shortcake 

honey macerated local strawberries, chantilly cream, toasted pistachios 

Chocolate Cake 

chocolate lambic framboise mousse, crème fraiche, cocoa nibs 

Hazelnut Torte 

caramel-hazelnut torte, hazelnut ice cream, hazelnut florentine 

House-made Ice Cream or Sorbet 

served with a selection of cookies and sweets 

 All Desserts $8.75 

(For the sake of open-mindedness and education, I ordered one of each dessert, omitting the ice creams and sorbets.)

Rating Scale: 1=save yourself the expense; 5=you better buy two!

 

First up was the Tapioca Pudding.  Texturally, tapioca can be similar to cottage cheese, and isn’t one of my favorite things to put in my mouth.  This version was no different.  While the malted vanilla was an interesting take on the original, it was undercooked and therefore a bit toothier than it should have been.  Even though the menu says ‘oven-roasted’, I wasn’t expecting the strawberries to be served warm.  Cold pudding calls for cold toppings, in my book.  But alone, the berries were ripe and flavorful with a nice firm yet soft texture.  The pine nuts were a safe and predictable topping, but it was the biscotti that stole the show.  Crispy and chocolaty, it would have been an amazing complement to a hot cup of espresso, had I the foresight to order one.  Rating: 2

 

Next dish was the Spring-time classic, the Strawberry Shortcake.  The Organic, honey-macerated Oregon strawberries were AMAZING!  Cheers to the chef for substituting honey for sugar.  Anyone can sugar-macerate strawberries at home, but honey? Yummy!  The shortcake was served slightly warm and was flaky without crumbling to pieces on your plate.  It was lightly flavored with lemon zest and you could faintly detect the butter notes in the background.  The chantilly was also lightly flavored with lemon, but was over-whipped and somewhat grainy.  Organic toasted pistachios and a fresh mint sprig finished off what would have been a perfect dish, had the cream been ‘creamy’.  Rating: 4

 

On to the dessert I was most looking forward to: the Chocolate Cake.  The Pastry Chef struck gold with the chocolate Lambic framboise mousse sandwiched between three layers of chocolate cake and topped with chocolate ganache.  Delicious!  The cake was moist and rich and the mousse was dense and velvety.  All the things you want your cake to be, this one was!  The puddle of vanilla creme fraiche and the drizzle of framboise syrup were just icing on the (chocolate!) cake.  It was easy to eat every last bite of every ingredient on the plate, even the cocoa nibs suspended in the hardened corn syrup garnish.  Rating: 5

 

Last on the list was the Hazelnut Torte.  With hazelnut ice cream.  And a hazelnut florentine.  And toasted hazelnuts.  The only thing on the plate with out hazelnuts was the drizzle of strawberry coulis underneath the torte.  Everything together was overkill.  But, deconstructed, you could taste every component and you could tell the high quality of ingredients.  I can’t even imagine the cost of the organic hazelnuts used in this dish alone!  The torte was small for the price but, factoring in the organic nuts, it seemed fair.  It was warm, rich and flaky, with ribbons of caramel throughout.  The caramel was definitely a nice touch.  You could tell the hazelnut ice cream had real hazelnuts in it, not the hazelnut flavoring used by so many restaurants.  Cold and salty, it was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the torte.  Aside from the redundancy, it was a beautiful dish that is sure to be a popular one.  Rating: 4

 

All in all, Higgin’s new Pastry Chef did a great job utilizing the fresh ingredients of the season and turning them into amazing desserts.  While not everything on the menu was stellar, it was definitely solid and I’m sure the individual items will improve as the chef settles into their groove.  A small bit of advice to the chef?  Skip the pudding and double up on the cakes!!!

 

Links to Check Out

http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/

This is my school website. OCI is a great place, with lots of knowledge that they share related to food. They also have a great restaurant that is by reservation only. Check them out.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/c/24/Portland-restaurants.html
Urbanspoon is a great place to look for reviews, hours, and location of food places. It’s a great page to look for restaurants that do not have their own web pages.
http://www.foodcartsportland.com/
The place to find local food carts in Portland and reviews is this site.
http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=desserts&find_loc=Portland%2C+OR
Yelp is a page where you can check reviews from everyday people on places. It’s nice to hear from non bias people before spending your money.
http://www.slashfood.com/category/food-news/
Slashfood is a new page I have found that shares food related news. If you are a foodie, it’s a great resource to keep up-to-date on the current food news.
http://portland.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/2010/dessert
Citysearch is a page like yelp or urbanspoon that gives ratings of different places. You can search tons of cities, for anyone you would like.
http://www.restaurant.org/
For those of us that are more interested in the industry side of the places we eat, check out The National Restaurant Associations web page. They have a combination of articles, news, links to possible jobs in your area and much, much more.

Sweet Brulee

Sweet Pea’s Brulee:

A food cart located at the pod on SE 43rd and Hawthorn serves these amazing little custards called crème brulees. For those of us who don’t know what a crème brulee is, it is custard made up of sugar, egg yolks, cream, and flavorings, and covered with a light coating of sugar that is torched. Brulee means “burnt,” although it should just be caramelized, not burnt.

With a choice between a plain brulee and the flavor of the day, and I went with the special. It was hazelnut flavored.

The man pulled it straight out of the fridge, sprinkled sugar on top with a salt shaker, and blow torched it right there.

The caramelized top was perfect, caramelized all the way through and not burnt at all. The custard was perfectly cooked, with no runny bottom. The texture was creamy and cool, with the warm and crisp sugar on top.

The custard was over flavored though. If you have ever tasted vanilla extract, you know there is a weird taste, almost like soap you get. Flavorings, in my opinion, are for aroma more than flavor.

You may have noticed that I have done posts on other carts in this pod. This is a place to check out, they have great food and great pods, and there is always parking.

Sweet Pea’s Brulee’s hours are:
Wed – Thurs: 12:00 pm-8:30 pm
Fri – Sat: 12:00 pm-9:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm-5:00 pm

Petite Provence

Petite Provence

Again this is a cute little spot on 4834 SE Division. I did both… Mainly because a cute man offered to buy me lunch and I couldn’t refuse a free meal before my dessert.

I got two desserts. The second one was a Cream pastry. It was a rounded chocolate shell filled with ganache, pastry cream, banana, and coconut macaroon as the base. Again, I think this must be a Portland thing, because I love chocolate, but when I bite into a dessert that has other components, I want to taste them. The ganache was creamy and chocolaty, but it was all I could taste unless I ate each component separately.

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There was a light rim of toasted coconut around the edge, and a beautiful piece of chocolate coming out of the top. It was pretty, and it was good, but it was rich. I don’t think one person could eat a whole dessert from here by themselves.

I would recommend getting some of their fresh baked bread, or doughnuts over one of the desserts, unless you are a big dessert person. They also make beautiful cakes for sale, as well as candies. I hope you check out one of their locations.

Petite Provence

Petite Provence

Quite the date spot is located at 4834 SE Division in Portland. The name of this beautiful French restaurant has one of the best set ups I have ever seen. When enter you can choose to sit and eat or go straight to the bakery counter and order a coffee and/or a pastry.

I did both… Mainly because a cute man offered to buy me lunch and I couldn’t refuse a free meal before my dessert.
My first dessert was the Chunky Monkey: an eight layered cake. Within the eight layers it contained chocolate, caramel, cream, and banana flavors, with a possible hint of cream cheese. The chocolate overwhelmed the dessert for me.

Again, I love chocolate, but when I get dessert with other flavors, I want to taste it all. The dense chocolate, although creamy and tasty, overpowered and ruined this dessert for me. It was simply too rich.

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Bonuses of this dessert were the caramel and banana creams (although they were over powered), the crunchy chocolate bottom layer that gave a crisp contrast in texture to the creams and cakes, and the slice of apricot on top of it all that added a hint of tang to the whole thing.

Over all, great experience. I would recommend Petite Provence to anyone looking for a good meal (or pastry and coffee) in Portland… Especially if a cute boy(or girl) offers to pay. They also have locations elsewhere in The Dalles, Lake Oswego, and on NE Alberta in Portland.

The Waffle

The Waffle:

Cigarette or cigar? Cake or pie? Soup or salad? Waffles or pancakes? You can have your own answers, but mine would be cigarette, cake, depends, and waffles please!

My search for waffles brought me to The Waffle Window. The name is completely accurate, because it is a window in a brick wall that some very sweet people serve delicious waffles from. Hidden around the corner from the restaurant Bread and Inc. (owned by the same family that owns The Waffle Window) on the corner of SE 36th and Hawthorn (3610 SE Hawthorn) you will see their neon open sign lit up every day from 8am to 9pm.

Some of the employees have worked there for 20 years or more, Megi my server told me. She herself has worded there every summer for the last three years. She explained to me that their waffles were not from a batter, but from yeast dough that resembles pizza dough. Megi included that they source locally as often as possible, and that everyone knows how to do every job there.

Their menu includes savory and sweet waffles, ranging from $2-$5, as well as sundaes and ice cream. They also serve local coffee from Kobos… my personal favorite.

The most amazing waffle I have had in my life is called “The Rose City.” It includes rose cream, fresh strawberries, Oregon rhubarb sauce, and whipped cream… and it tastes even better than it sounds. “The Rose City” was served in just a few minutes to me. I took it around the corner to the back parking lot where they have a quite dining area set up.
The rose cream was amazingly light, fluffy, and creamy with a mousse like texture, and a creamy, rose flavor. It sat lovingly atop a bed of ripe strawberries, and a drizzle of rhubarb compote/sauce. The waffle peaked at me from below the fresh fruit, calling my name with its beautiful golden brown crust. All of this was topped with a perfectly sweetened whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

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The waffle was the sweetest and most dense waffle I have ever tasted. It was crunchy and soft, almost like a doughnut or very sweet butter braid bread, and was cooked perfectly to where the sugar in the dough caramelized the outside making it sweeter and giving it crunch. The tart strawberries and creaminess of the rose cream and whipped cream all came together in harmony with the golden waffle.

Not to mention it was on a plate that you would find in a cabinet of a sweet great aunt, or grandmother.
I would suggest The Waffle Window to anyone who is looking for good service, a great waffle, or atmosphere.

Check them out at: http://wafflewindow.com/

Sweet Lemon Heaven

The Sugar Cube:

Located in a pod on se 43^rd and Belmont (4237 North Mississippi Ave.), the cute little pink, white, and brown cart is hard to ignore. As soon as I walked up, the adorable cart patron greeted me with a smile. Their billboard outside defines their desserts and drinks as “sexy,” “uplifting,” and “awesome.” I knew right away this was the place for me. And they receive brownie points for their name and great service.

I ordered the “luscious lemon panna cotta.” For those of us who don’t know what panna cotta is, it is custard that is molded, with a basic ice cream base and gelatin holding any shape you want. “Silky smooth lemon cream topped with farmers market rhubarb compote and a citrus, cornmeal, and poppy seed shortbread cookie.”(From their website description)

The panna cotta itself was very mild, but nice and creamy. You can get desserts for there, or to go. If you eat there the custard comes in a cute glass jar, but she can unmold it for you if you’d like it to go. The compote was flavor packed and tangy. The shortbread cookie was my favorite, with huge lemon flavor and a great texture from the cornmeal.

The combination of a crunch cookie, smooth and creamy cold custard, and the warm tangy compote was magical. The dessert cost $6, which I thought was a little pricy for a food cart, but you probably can’t find a better deal anywhere else.

If for nothing else, go to meet the cute cart patrons. Since it’s located in a nice pod, it’s perfect for anytime, if you’d like to get a meal at another cart, and grab dessert after.

Hours are Wednesday-Saturday from noon to 7pm, and Sunday from noon until 5pm. It’s a great spot, and they offer smoothies, fizzy drinks, and shakes, as well as their desserts, and also have a special order menu.

Check out their site in my blogroll.