First Meal for Portland Dining Month: Paley's Place

Well, I am actually a little bit embarrassed to admit this but, Saturday’s dinner at Paley’s Place was the first time either jwa or I had been there. I know, right? Crazy. And it’s totally been on our list of places we wanted to go to for like, uh, the last 10 years, but there you have it. I guess the main excuse is that we are lazy people and they are way over in the NW and we are way over in the SE (#firstworldproblems).

Well, no more! About a week ago, Downtown Portland offered me a gift certificate to go out and sample the dining menu at a participating restaurant and Paley’s Place was my first choice. So, we fought the Rose Parade traffic Saturday and were rewarded with a wonderful meal at a restaurant we should have tried many years ago!

The evening started (like most interesting evenings do), with cocktails — mine was this awesome pea shoot infused gin cocktail with lime and a little simple syrup. Wow. I loved that. So much so that I had two. And then I mentioned jokingly how it had a nice “pea-ness” to it, completely oblivious to what I was saying. True story.

Anyway, fabulous dinner and a great way to kick of June’s Dining Month. Before we both ate our way through the three course meal, we started with some Mediterranean Blue Mussels, hand-cut fries, and mustard aioli. Because why not? The fresh basil in the salad was lovely and we both loved the grilled pork loin. Dessert was a scrumptious olive oil cake that I was lucky enough to get the recipe for. I’ve posted it below.

What about you? What restaurant are you the most excited to try? So, hey, if your answer is Oven and Shaker have I got a deal for you! Just leave a comment here by June 4th at noon and I’ll pick a random winner for a gift certificate for two for the dining month menu!

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Paley’s Place
1204 Northwest 21st Avenue
Portland, OR 97209

Paley’s Place Dining Month Menu:

First Course: Early summer greens – breakfast radishes, warm goat cheese croûte, lemon-chive
Second Course: Grilled pork loin – bacon and heirloom bean stew
Third Course: Olive oil cake – warm blueberry compote, roasted hazelnuts

Amuse bouche: ham salad on a little rye cracker.

Mediterranean Blue Mussels, hand-cut fries, mustard aioli. Best. Fries. Ever.

Early summer greens with breakfast radishes, warm goat cheese croûte, lemon-chive .

Grilled pork loin, bacon and heirloom bean stew.

Olive oil cake – warm blueberry compote, roasted hazelnuts.

After dinner little chocolate cookies.

Paley’s Place Olive Oil Cake
Posted with permission.
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1 2/3 cups sifted flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour 14 individual muffin cups.

Whisk together eggs and sugar until pale golden in color. Whisk in olive oil. Sift together dry ingredients. Whisk dry ingredients into the egg-sugar-oil mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Portion the batter into the buttered and floured muffin cups. Bake until light golden brown and just springy in the center.

Thank you Downtown Portland and Paley’s Place for a delightful meal. We will definitely be back!