Portland Restaurant & Wine Bar: Park Avenue Fine Wines

What: Park Avenue Fine Wines

Where: 626 SW Park Avenue, Portland 

When: Spatzle & Speck caters Tuesday - Saturday from 2 - 9pm (the shop has other hours)

First of all, if you find that you highly value our content and opinions (and if you really do, maybe reflect on that...), you should follow us on Instagram for more regular, but still mostly irregular, updates. You can find us at @happyhourhoneyspdx. 

It's been four months so I'm sure you're dying for an update. Good news: our throuple is going strong (the throuple being Katie, her husband Doug, and me). Don't get confused, it's not romantic, but it makes me feel better than referring to myself as their "third wheel" on many, many a date. 

Us at a rooftop movie this summer

Recently I joined Katie and Doug at The Color Purple at Portland Center Stage and we decided to check out Park Avenue Fine Wines prior. Karl Holl, chef of Spatzle & Speck cooks up delicious eats there Tuesday through Saturday, and we knew he wouldn't disappoint. I had been last winter before a writing class and was angling for a reason to return, plus Karl caters my cousin's member events at L'Angolo and Portland Monthly named him their chef of the year...

We started with a bottle of wine (not pictured) that was a good deal for the three of us and, as I recall, tasty. They have wine by the glass and featured wines, but you can also get any wine in the wine shop. We told our server what we were hoping to spend and let her make the call. 

For food, we started with Oregon bay shrimp ($9) with hazelnuts, sultana, and a rustic baguette, which I was a little hesitant on. I don't usually like bay shrimp or raisins and the combination wasn't necessarily calling to me, but as in all relationships, you compromise. And sometimes you find out you do like something! 

Their menu is fresh, seasonal, and often changing so this particular burrato/tomato combo isn't on there right now, but it was fresh and light. Also, everything was so pretty, it was just nice to have it arrive at the table.

Next up, a more predictable crowd pleaser, Tempura Vegetables ($14) with their garden ranch dip and dusted with smoke parmigiano reggiano. 

We ended with the 100 Layer Lasagna ($21) with wild mushrooms, ricotta, fonduta, winter truffles, and more parmigiano reggiano (do you see it there?). It was delicate and silky, and I'm glad we tried it. There are other pastas and vegetable dishes that I would try next time before having this again, but don't get me wrong, if anyone ever just set this in front of me, I would thank them. 

Overall a lovely fall evening that I would highly encourage you to replicate. It's fine, we like to be copied. Next up on the blog: Katie and I go from the present to the past and remember why we like the present.

Portland Restaurant: PaaDee

The November issue of Portland Monthly Best Restaurants 2012 came out recently and of course it made me want to try a new restaurant, or ten. I finally picked PaaDee to be my first PM recommendation, figuring a restaurant that's name literally means "to bring good things" can't be bad for a Friday date night. Also, it's the same people behind Kinara, which I like, and Mee Sen, which I've been meaning to try.

Working with a tight budget, I am only commission after all, we decided to keep our date night affordable. Luckily one of our favorite theaters, Laurelhurst Theater on Burnside, only charges $4 for tickets and $16 for a bottle of wine, which of course I only get when I'm sharing. We decided to see Safety Not Guaranteed and follow that with PaaDee's 9pm happy hour. 

What: PaaDee
Where: 6 SE 28th Ave
When: 5 - 6:30pm and Last Hour

We ended up arriving early, but that was okay since there were many items on the regular menu I was happy to try. We (really just me) didn't want to wait for happy hour to order a drink, so I went ahead and chose A Taste of 27 ($9) with Oregon vodka, guava, Luxardo Maraschino, lemon, rock candy syrup, plum bitters and soda. It was really a well balanced cocktail. A little sweeter than what I might typically order, but I still enjoyed it.

Off the regular menu we ordered the Gra prao muu grob ($12) which was a super tasty combination of pork belly, basil, chili, and green beans that we added the fried farm egg ($1) to. The pork belly was crispy and the green beans had crunch. I really liked this dish and would definitely order it again.

Once the clock struck nine Adam selected a happy hour Sunrose Derby ($6) with Four Roses bourbon, Dolin Rouge, triple sec, lime, rock candy syrup and mint leaf. He was impressed, and even I was happy with a sip or two of this bourbon delight.

Even though our main dish was a great size and we probably could have called it good, we had to order off the happy hour menu. I mean, it's what we came for, right?

We chose the Tom Yum Goong ($5) and the Squid Skewers ($2). The hot and sour soup with prawns and mushrooms was excellent and on a cold fall night, which this was, I would highly recommend this. The Squid Skewers ($2) were okay. They had a spicy sauce on them, but were just slightly more chewy than I had hoped for.

Finally, we went with the Pak Kee Mao Pak ($5) with sauteed rice noodles and veggies. This noodle dish was a great deal and the portion was generous. Don't forget to squeeze the lime on top!

Overall the night was a success! We even ended this night with leftovers, which was nice since  most of our meal was happy hour prices and portions. From Adam's seat he spotted a fellow diners ramen dish and couldn't stop staring. It was slightly embarrassing, but I would have to agree that it looked AMAZING. I'm already planning our next movie/dining date night.