On the road again: Portland, day 4

I forgot to mention one other interesting event yesterday: the fine folks at Intel filmed another of the videos of me answering questions about tech stuff. They even let me push Children No More and the child soldiers rehabilitation and reintegration work with Falling Whistles. I don't know when they'll finish editing the video and take it live, but as soon as they tell me it's available, I'll pass on the news.

Work is, as always, confidential, so most of the day must remain off limits.

Dinner was at June, a place new enough that, to my amazement, it still doesn't have a Web site. We went there because Daniel Monduk, the chef and owner of Sel Gris, a Portland restaurant I loved, was working there after he was unable to reopen Sel Gris after a series of disasters (as best I understand it, none of them his fault) kept closing it. Given how much we liked Monduk's food, we were hoping he had a big hand in the fare at June.

On a first reading, the menu was promising and very much in the style of many Portland restaurants: short, vague descriptions that sound enticing and that also clearly conceal something of what's going on in the dish.

The food we tasted, though, was uniformly not as good as we had hoped. Frequently, as in the noodles with spicy lamb, one ingredient (in this case and rather unfortunately, fennel) overwhelmed the dish. The corn chowder was superb, the crab meat stuffed in the large pepper sitting on it was okay, and the pepper itself was a non-entity. In almost each dish, we felt they went one ingredient too far. Sadly, nothing about the main meal left us wanting to use up one of our precious Portland dinners with a return trip.

The best things we tasted were the two desserts we tried, an apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream and a butterscotch pudding. Those would almost--but not quite--tempt us back.

I hope to read one day that June has reached the potential of its chef de cuisine, but right now, it does not compete well with the best Portland has to offer.

On the road again: Portland, day 4

My workday began with a 6:00 a.m. phone meeting, and I'm still working. Aside from a shower, thirty minutes on a treadmill, and dinner, work has been my day. Not my favorite, but so it goes.

Dinner tonight, though, was a treat at another marvelous Portland restaurant, Sel Gris. Chef Daniel Monduk, whom I've mentioned before, and his kitchen team served us a wonderful, four-course tasting menu--which we stretched to five courses with a cheese plate addition.

Well, to be completely accurate, we ended up with six courses, because Gabriel Rucker, Chef/Owner of Le Pigeon, was eating at Sel Gris as well, recognized us, and treated us to a plate of the most delicious calamari I have ever tasted. I was quite surprised and thanked him very much on the spot, but I'm also going to send him a few autographed books.

I'm heading toward my birthday and fighting my usual birthday depression, but I expect it to grab me soon enough. So it goes, I suppose, but I keep hoping to avoid it.

I have to get up in a little over five hours, and I haven't packed yet, so I'll wish everyone a great Friday the 13th and get to work.

On the road again: Portland, day 4

I'd love to have more to tell you on these business trips, but I work so many hours and our work is so confidential that about the only things I can discuss are the meals. I'm tempted to rant, but I need to reserve the writing time for the novel, which is slowly coming along, so you'll have to put up with short entries. Sorry about that.

I can tell you that if you're ever in Portland you absolutely must eat at Sel Gris. Chef Daniel Mondok worked at several other places, including the famed French Laundry for all-star chef, Thomas Keller, before he opened his own place. His menu was delightful, and every dish I tried was delicious, flavorful, and fun. The foie gras two ways was particularly lovely. I'll definitely be back.

The more I visit Portland, the more I like this place. I don't ever plan to move from my home in North Carolina, but if I were ever to consider it, this area would have to be on the short list.