Portland Restaurant: Accanto

What: Accanto
Where: 2838 SE Belmont Street
Honeys Heart: Buckwheat Crepes

For the past three years, my sister Sarah has flown from NYC to Portland to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, and of course to see me. It is a tradition for us spectators to have "first breakfast" while we watch her run and then all head to brunch after. Usually Sarah's friend Isabel (we missed you!) takes part in the fun, but this year our parents were in town and Sarah's boyfriend Jon joined her from NYC. With a group of six to coordinate, I thought it best to make reservations and Accanto's brunch menu had the best variety for our group.

According to their website "Accanto is all about fresh, seasonal Italian food, wine and cocktails. Simple yet sophisticated, with the warmth and welcome of a true neighborhood corner café." I would say this is a pretty accurate description of the flavors and feel.

Of course we started with cocktails. Sarah earned us all a drink, right? (Thanks, sister!) While she went for the Morning-Groni ($7) with gin, Campari, grapefruit, and sweet vermouth, I opted for the bubbly breakfast cocktail special. A combo of St Germain, bubbles, citrus, and bitters drew me in. Adam threw a curve ball and ordered a green chartreuse cocktail which isn't on their website so I can't remember all the ingredients, but overall the three of us were happy.

The other three in our party ordered the Belmont Bloody ($7) with a serrano chile infused vodka and after seeing all those veggies and that crispy fried prosciutto, I questioned my original choice. It was pretty spicy though... but you just can't really beat how a bloody mary also doubles as a pre-brunch snack.

To get started, we ordered the Ricotta Donuts ($6) sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with lemon curd, which might be my favorite sweet treat spread.

Dad went for the Duck Hash ($15) which somehow, even though I was sitting next to him, I didn't steal a bite of, but the combination of asparagus, green garlic, potatoes, poached eggs, duck, and hollandaise looked pretty delicious and seemed to satisfy.

Jon and I, who had been making similar dining decisions throughout the weekend (great minds...), both opted for the Buckwheat Crepes ($14) with spring vegetables- which on that day included peas and mushrooms, gruyere, sunny eggs, prosciutto, and a side salad. I might be biased, but we made the best decision.

After some serious contemplation, Adam finally settled on the Smoked Pork Biscuit ($12) with cheesy eggs, smoked pork loin, bacon, and red onion jam served with potatoes. Their buttermilk biscuits have a perfect crispy edge and soft, flaky middle. I may have ordered one as a side too.

Mom ordered the omelette off the special's board, which I also didn't try. What the heck?! But Sarah did and they both seemed pretty happy with the cheesy, veggie combo.

Sarah's option is last because it's the least exciting, but still noteworthy because those biscuits are so dang good. A Buttermilk Biscuit ($5) with honey butter and jam is definitely meant to be paired with other sides to make a meal. Sarah decided to combine that with two poached eggs ($4) and call it good.

Their dinner menu also looks worth checking out. We'll be back!

Portland Restaurant and Happy Hour: Double Dragon Revisited

What: Double Dragon
Where: 1235 SE Belmont
Happy Hour: Weekdays 3-6pm, Everyday 10pm-Midnight 
Honeys Heart: Miso Disco Fries

Last week, Kel and I were invited to a tasting and Hot Toddy demonstration at Double Dragon. You might remember that Kel and Adam went there for dinner recently and tried the Banh Mi Burger, house chips, and Curried Coconut Ramen. Their meal looked delicious so I was happy to get to try some of Double Dragon's Vietnamese fusion cuisine for myself!

Over blogger small talk (How often do you post? How long have you been blogging? How come we've never seen you at one of these before?*), we sampled a number of dishes. My top three favorites were the Szechuan Burger ($9) with bacon and szechuan peppercorn relish, Miso Disco Fries ($7) with miso bacon gravy and queso fresco, and Kimchi & Bacon-Braised Collard Greens ($3).

Happy to see the burger and the fries are part of the happy hour menu!:

The evening also included a cocktail tasting and demonstration. We tried Double Dragon's Hot Toddy two ways- hot and cold. I was a little skeptical of how the drink would work cold, but with its added absinthe wash, it was really tasty. 

Unfortunately we had to leave before the demonstration (the Blazers were honoring the Winterhawks so you know, #rosebudproblems) but I'm sure it was lots of fun. Looking forward to reading about it on other blogs :)   

Thanks so much to Double Dragon for hosting us! 

*Our loyal readers (hi Mom!) already know the answers to these bloggery questions, but for the newbies:

• How often do you post? Whenever we damn well feel like it
• How long have you been blogging? Since 2008, 5 whole years. Yeesh! 
• How come we've never seen you at one of these blogger events before? What can we say? Sometimes it takes time for genius to be recognized...

Portland Ice Cream Parlor: Fifty Licks

What: Fifty Licks
Where: 2021 SE Clinton St
When: Sun-Thurs 3-10pm, Fri-Sat noon-11pm
Honey's Heart: Sorbet Cocktails (and Chad)

Katie and I are always flattered when someone wants us to come try their restaurant, bar, or in this case, versatile cocktail-serving ice cream parlor, so when we were invited to come sample Fifty Licks' dessert cocktails (available for $2 off during happy hour- 4-6pm) we jumped at the chance.

Fifty Licks opened its brick and mortar just a couple months ago and so far we are digging what we see. Offering innovative ice creams and sorbets, unique toppings, and our favorite, cocktails, Fifty Licks is essentially an ice cream parlor designed for grown ups. Love it!

We sat down with Chad, the creator, owner, and flavor developer, to try Fifty Licks' four sorbet cocktails while learning more about his vision.

Chad divulged that he has two main goals in mind when creating a new ice cream: The first is, if it's a classic, it must be the very best version of that classic. That's why you won't find a chocolate ice cream on his menu (at least not yet, anyway). As he explained, all the fat in ice cream dulls down the rich flavor of chocolate. So, instead of ice cream, Chad makes a chocolate sorbet as there's no cream to dumb down the flavor. Other classic flavor options include Stumptown Coffee, Tahitian Vanilla, and Blood Orange Creamsicle.

Chad's second goal is that if he's creating a new flavor, it must be utterly delicious in every way, so no novelty flavors for him (looking at you Salt & Straw turkey ice cream). Some of Chad's unique but very tasty creations include Jasmine Tea with Apricot, Toasted Milk, and Passionfruit with Schuan Peppercorns.

Fifty Licks' cocktails came about from Chad's desire to provide a place for people to go after dinner if they just don't feel like going to a bar. Fifty Licks is a great alternative if you want dessert, a drink, or both.

I have to admit, Katie and I were anticipating overly-sweet cocktails, which we are not a fan of. Instead, we tasted four perfectly balanced craft cocktails that would be delicious even without their complementary sorbets- though the combination of cocktail and sorbet was so out-of-this-world that I don't know why you would ever want to separate them.

Here's what we tried: 

Furacao- Passionfruit with Sichuan Pepper sorbet, Madeira, Brryh, bitters

Velvet Shiso- Coconut Lemon Saffron sorbet, plum wine, bubbly, fresh shiso

Nordic Palmer- Frozen Lemonade, iced tea sparkling mead, lemon peal 

Bitter Rose- Grapefruit Rosewater sorbet, Cocchi American Rosa, orange bitters

It's hard to choose a favorite because they were all so good, but we both loved how refreshing the Nordic Palmer was and Furacao really did have a great balance of sweet and bitter.

During our sampling, we also had the opportunity to try a bunch of ice creams and sorbets on their own. One stand-out was Cherry Bourbon (sorry kids, this one is only for adults...) which Katie immediately called it out as Adam's potential favorite. Adam does have a sweet tooth (and a bourbon tooth too) and upon visiting later that week and getting this in the waffle cone, Adam felt confident in stating that it was likely the best waffle cone and ice cream experience he's ever had. I can attest to this as he stated it no less than 6 times while we were there.

We also got to try Chad's Cuban Coffee. It was so good that we both drank two cups... and were up late into the night thanks to our mid-evening caffeine boost. It was worth it though!

The flavors at Fifty Licks are constantly changing and sometimes a flavor doesn't make it up to the board, so don't be shy to ask if your favorite isn't listed.

Plus, Chad just released three amazing-sounding fall flavors: Sweet Potato Toasted Marshmallow, Autumn Harvest (roasted butternut squash with a baked savory-spiced apple ribbon), and Cranberry Cherry Sorbet. Be sure to like Fifty Licks on Facebook so you can stay updated about all the new flavors.

P.S. A huge thanks to Chad for sharing his story and his creations with us. We had so much fun chatting with you!

Portland Restaurant: Genoa

What: GENOA
Where: 2832 SE Belmont St
Honeys Heart: Capellini con gamberi and the wine pairing

A few weeks ago Adam and I were lucky enough to be treated to a fantastic dinner at Genoa in southeast Portland. They have a set menu and you choose your main course. Don't worry, you can't go wrong! We also opted for the wine pairing which was a great decision.

I missed a picture of the beginning of the dinner. It felt too fancy, but I got over it after the crudo di bufalo that was a tartare of oregon bison, pickled green strawberry, cucumber, and black olive and began documenting. The second course was an amazing capellini con gamberi featuring oregon bay shrimp, old bay mascarpone and pan grattato. Rolling a little of the pasta through the dot of arugula-type pesto was SO good.

Next was the insalata di asparagi with new crop asparagus, cured iberico pork, black garlic and coddled egg. So fancy and tasty.

For our main course I went for the merluzzo of puget sound sablefish, charred artichoke, yogurt gnocchi and green garlic. I love fresh artichoke and the fish was perfect.

Adam opted for the manzo with seared beef striploin, spring onion, ashen potato, and crisp tongue. The sauces on the bottom of the plate were so good and, like the fish, the strip loin was cooked perfect.

We finished our meal with some cheeses. One was a cow's milk cheese with grapes and the other was a goat cheese with little dried fruits. YUM.

This is definitely a nice night out. Go treat yourself, enjoy, eat slowly, sip the wine pairing and let it drag out. Great night.