IZZE Event: A Spark of Spring on Friendsday Night

What: A Spark of Spring on Friendsday Night
When: March 19th, 2014
Where: Rooftop of the Eastside Exchange
Honeys Heart: The whole night!

At family gatherings we often played a little game of "High-Low" where you share the best and worst part of your day. Last week at IZZE's "A Spark of Spring on Friendsday Night", my high was getting to attend and sample amazing food from Naomi Pomeroy of Beast and cocktails by Kyle Webster of Expatriate. It was apparent that these two are extremely excellent at their crafts. My low was not having Katie there with me! My lovely co-blogger had a prior engagement and most of the time I was thinking "Katie would love this!"

This was my first experience at the Eastside Exchange and the venue felt very urban and trendy. Attendees were welcomed by a fun living wall with the IZZE brand inviting you towards the elevators.

While waiting to head to the fifth floor, Kyle was preparing shots of Becherovka and IZZE Peach on a pretty fantastic ice sculpture (Katie, I suggest you consider this for your wedding...). It was a great way to set the tone for the evening.

Once on the fifth floor, there was a tented and beautifully decorated, though chilly, rooftop with assigned community style seating and a bar. I started my IZZE cocktail experience with the IZZE Granada Cocktail featuring IZZE Pomegranate, Plantation 3 Star Rum, Lemon Juice, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, and Campari. Really nice.

Before settling in, I wandered around the intimate venue which was decorated with IZZE bottles as vases and included a DIY candle station where IZZE bottles had been cut down to make homemade candles. I went for grapefruit! 

The menu needs no explanation. Read the below photo and drool. It was pretty amazing. 

Carrot & Clementine Veloute with family style garnishes of herb sauce verte and candied hazelnuts started the food experience. There were family style dishes that followed the soup which were equally as fantastic, but it's the soup that stands out to me. It was creamy, rich, and flavorful, plus the DIY garnishes added a special and engaging experience. I'm certain everyone pretended to be a fancy chef and twirl the herb sauce verte in decorative circles- or was that just me?

While I got lost in my soup, Naomi demonstrated how to make the BBQ sauce featured on the upcoming ribs out of IZZE Pomegranate. She whipped that up like it was no big deal, obviously.

I don't have a good pic of the ribs and tuna so you should definitely scroll down in Jane's blog, In the Pink and Green, and get a visual. The tuna was perfect.

The family style vegetables included Broccoli Raab, Maitake Mushrooms, and Fregola and Currants. The mushrooms were my favorite part of this dish and I'm pretty sure Naomi picked these up at a local farmers market- cool!

The incredible food being passed around was a strong distraction, but I suddenly realized I had only tried one of the cocktails (this is another benefit of having both of us at events, we can try double the amount of cocktails)! Next up, the IZZE Irish Whiskey Bramble with IZZE Blackberry, Jameson, Lemon, creme Yvette, and Angostura Bitters. I was assured I would like the whiskey, and I did. 

As the band, Fort Atlantic, began playing, Naomi and her team dished up this little Blackberry Trifle Cake with blackberry and lime IZZE sorbet and candied violets.  

I listened to the music, waited for my candle, and then headed home, but not before getting my IZZE swag bag. You know how sometimes the gift bags at events are a bunch of branded stuff that you don't really want and quickly Goodwill? That was not the case here! What a thoughtful bag of useful and quality items!

A huge thank you to IZZE for a fun evening and a re-introduction to their sparkling juices. Major thanks to Naomi Pomeroy and Kyle Webster as well. The evening would not have been the same without their involvement and special food and drink menus!

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Portland Bar: The Richmond Bar

What: The Richmond Bar 

Where: 3203 SE Division St

When: 4pm - 2am every day, 4-6pm HH ($1 off every item)

Honeys Heart: Justin, our bartender

Lesson learned: Monday night is not the best night to explore new bars. Katie and I planned a date night to Expatriate for cocktails. We double-checked that they would be open and after reading their assertion on their website that they're "open 8 days a week", we thought we were good to go. We stopped at Life of Pie to share a Margherita pizza ($10) and then headed to Expatriate. Upon arrival we discovered a "Closed for a Private Event" sign. Shit. 

Back in the car we did some quick searches and settled on Oso Market and Bar, open until 11pm. As we drove by Oso 10 minutes later we were again confronted with a "Closed" sign. Feeling a little defeated we headed to SE Division determined to find an open bar that we hadn't tried. Katie suggested The American Local, but of course it was also closed. Don't worry though, Katie's knowledge of the Portland bar scene is vast and she suddenly remembered wanting to try The Richmond Bar. It might have been our fourth stop in a driving night tour of Portland's eastside, but our rocky road lead us there and we were thankful. 

We sat at the bar and started with cocktails off the menu. I went for the Beet Down ($9) with gin, beet, lime, simple syrup, and bitters while Katie chose the Juice Box ($9) with vodka, grapefruit juice, orange juice, cherry heering, and grapefruit bitters. So far we were off to a good start.

 

With our empty glasses on the bar, Justin, our trusty bartender, asked if we wanted to stay on menu or go off. We declared that off menu sounded like more fun...for us. Some bartenders act inconvenienced when you say things like "I like boozy drinks with gin and savory flavors" and then expect them to craft the most delicious drink ever. Luckily for us Justin had the opposite opinion. With abundant enthusiasm he encouraged us to go off menu because it's more fun for him too! 

He stayed on the grapefruit route with Katie's next cocktail but took it a little more bitter and used gin versus vodka. We preferred this variation to the first. For my cocktail we went more boozy and he made a Martinez. Predecessor to the martini, it's made with gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and angostura bitters. Justin used Old Tom gin which is aged in barrels and that definitely gave the drink a deeper flavor, more reminiscent of a whiskey cocktail. Garnished with an orange twist and a giant ice cube, I was feeling pretty fancy. My tendency would be to order a cocktail more like Katie's so I appreciated the nudge to try something classic.

Following our libations Katie had to pick up Doug at the airport so we accompanied our cocktails with a snack. Though the Cheese and Toast ($5) with white cheddar cheese spread, toast, and red onion marmalade came highly recommended, we opted for the Nº2 Hand Pie ($7) with butternut squash and goat cheese.

The hand pie was definitely sharable and was served with pickled veggies and two sauces: spicy mustard and a homemade malt sauce. The sauces were good, but we concluded they probably go better with the meat hand pies. 

Cool ambiance, great cocktails, and a totally affordable and (from our minimal experience) tasty food menu. Plus, The Richmond has a great happy hour too. $1 off all items from 4-6pm everyday. We'll definitely be back!