New Posts!

Well, I wanted give you guys pictures of the restaurant, but the website seems to do a pretty good job of that already. They also post menus I've written and the like, so I think here I will talk about stuff that has me excited.

This Sunday, Nov 16th, I'm doing the second major wine dinner I've been involved with. The first was a 6 course meal with Robin's in Cambria, California, about 4 years ago. Now, with the weight of a glitzy restaurant behind me, we are doing a 6 course meal with spindrift cellars. Up top is a picture i converted from the pdf of my menu...so it's quality is a little suspect. If you can't read it, here's a break down: Pre-courses are two appetizers served with Spindrift's rose and pinot gris. They are home made goat's milk riccotta cheese with lemon zest on house crackers and Ian's own smoked andouille sausage with a house made massilla jam. These two apps kind of set the tone for my philospohy on cooking: that you'll get tired of seeing the word house made in the menu description. I think using high quality ingredient and dressing them up is all well and good, but it doesn't replace taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own. We can all appreciate good sausage, but try making it yourself. It's easy to pick out good cheese, but try making something yourself, so it's unique. Then I feel I'm actually offering a service to someone. The menu at Strega is entirely made in the the kitchen with our own two hands: pastas, sausages, bacons, pancettas, fries, jams, cookies, pies, cakes, sauces, etc. no bases, no outsourced desserts, no premade nonsense. Isn't that what you pay for when you go out to eat? Something you can't do at home?

Into the main meal. First course is Pinot Blanc to dirnk and to eat raw hamachi served with cucumber and tamarind vinaigrette. Second is a watercress and fall apple salad with hazel nuts and dijon creme fraiche, paired with chardonnay. Apples and chard, a classic combo. Ok, I'm still lazy at heart. Thrid is really great for fall in Oregon: home made gnocchi with duck confit and demi-glace, paired with a pinot noir. Last course is an Oregon Kobe Coulotte with fall vegetables (parsnips, celeriac, carrots) and a rich oxtail broth. and dessert, chocolate and ice cream, of course made by me. I hope people like it and I get to do many more of these. They are the most fun you can have clothed.