Blogtown, PDX

Monday, June 25, 2007

Food ten01

Posted by Alison Hallett on Mon, Jun 25 at 2:28 PM

After receiving horrible reviews from just about every publication in town, the Pearl District restaurant ten01 (owned by the folks behind Tabla and the Armory Cafe) took the criticism to heart and rebooted with a new PR firm and a new chef at the helm. They went all out a few weeks ago with a multiple-course press dinner, designed to show us media types that things have changed.
As was pointed out in a Portland Food and Drink review, the media dinner coincided with a busy regular dinner service (it was first Thursday—I overheard the hostess say that it was the busiest she’d ever seen the place), giving the kitchen and floor crews a chance to show how many plates they could keep spinning at once. It was a complete success: Great food (check the above link for more impressions of the press dinner, if you’re interested), thoughtful wine pairings, and some of the best service I’ve had in Portland. The A-game was in place for the media dinner, of course, so I went back on Saturday to see how the place fared when they didn’t know they were being scrutinized.

I can't actually afford to eat at ten01, and I don't venture into the Pearl district too often (mostly because it's got to be the worst part of town in which to be a pedestrian—the Pearl on a busy Saturday is terrifying), so I probably wouldn't care all that much what they were up to if it weren't for their seriously excellent happy hour. 3-7 Mon-Sat, everything $3 and under, including beef ($3) and pulled pork ($2) sliders, steamers ($3), oysters ($1/each), and fried green tomatoes ($3). $3 beers, $5 wine and house cocktails. We tried the pulled pork slider, the warm marcona olives (a huge portion for just $2), and some sort of fancy bacon tater tots. Everything was very good, including our cocktails: I sprang for the pele ($8), with tequila, lime, rhubarb, mint, and black salt on the rim, while my friend had the Proust (cognac, house grenadine, champagne, mint). Both were excellent, balanced and unusual. I can't speak for the rest of the menu, but chef Jack Yoss clearly takes bar food seriously, and the happy hour is handily one of the best in town. It's also a really beautiful space, with gracious, professional service—definitely worth stopping by, and worth keeping an open mind.

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Comments

I swear this review sounds awfully familiar...didn't they do a favorable review of this place at Willy Week a few days ago?

[wink]

Posted by torridjoe | June 25, 2007 3:08 PM

I swear this review sounds awfully familiar...didn't they do a favorable review of this place at Willy Week a few days ago?

[wink]

Posted by torridjoe | June 25, 2007 3:10 PM

That's it. I'm going tonight for happy hour.

Posted by Matt Davis | June 25, 2007 3:38 PM

look, I plagiarized myself, not two minutes after I'd written my original post!

Shame on me! I oughta apologize to myself immediately. Have I no shame?

Posted by torridjoe | June 25, 2007 3:59 PM

Damn, that's the most expensive happy hour I've been to in a while. For the same price we could have had a six course meal at Toro Bravo.

The sliders (pork and beef) were excellent, as were the oysters, and the $3 foie gras torchon (yes! $3 foie gras! superb!).

Sadly, the home-made tater tots were over-trumpeted by our waitress, and the fried green tomatoes were disappointing. Sticking horseradish aioli on the side was a nice touch, but again, if they're braving battered vegetables, I'd prefer tempura, and if they're trying to do classy happy-hour, 1001 needs to turn off the fryer. Especially when The Lowbrow, round the corner, is already the Pearl District's undisputed master of the deep-frying arts.

But I figured out you could have every item on the happy hour menu for just $39, which is amazing value.

We also strayed, drunk, onto the main menu and had the $12 steak tartare, which consisted of larger-than-expected chunks of what seemed to be chuck steak, with a raw quail's egg on top. It missed. They just need to buy better steak and chop it smaller. A work in progress...

The problem comes when you have to pay for the drinks. We had a few gin martinis and three cocktails with a sprig of fresh rosemary in the top. I'm terribly sorry, but by the time we were drinking those, I'd forgotten I was going to blog about the experience, so I can't remember what they were called.

Suffice to say they cost $8 apiece and had the Proustian transportation effect of feeling like one had just walked into the Coach store at the mall by accident, and started fingering their $4,000 bags, only to be told by an assistant they're out of one's price range.

Thanks for the recommendation though, Alison. Next time we'll probably just go for the sliders, pikey-style, and drink tap water...delicious!

Now, where did I put my Advil...

Posted by Matt Davis | June 25, 2007 10:08 PM

But Matt, you didn't say if the place was full of c***s.

Was it?

Posted by francine machine | June 26, 2007 9:18 AM

Heh. I'll add here that if you stick to one overpriced cocktail, or hit up the $3 beer taps instead, it is perfectly possible to get in and out of this happy hour without having any "Proustian" moments. I suppose I should be more clear in future happy hour posts: I view happy hours at nicer restaurants as an opportunity to try food I couldn't ordinarily afford, not to get drunk on the cheap (b/c needless to say, drink prices are where they get you...).

Posted by Alison Hallett | June 26, 2007 9:29 AM

Alison: Re.Happy Hours, I have learned a valuable lesson! Thanks!

Francine: The place was not full of c****s. Or c***s. Whichever. There was your usual Pearl District mix of out-of-towners, bridge-and-tunnelers, and urbanites. Possibly skewed slightly towards the b&t crowd, but it's early days, and PF Changs is round the corner so they're probably getting some overspill.

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