It is very possible that this post is exactly one month after my actual dining experience.
(It is.)
On October 9th, I went to Portland, Or. for five days as a field trip for one of my classes, Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment. Sure it sounds cool and fun and yay travel, but the $850 price tag was a bit of a buzz kill. I basically spent my entire first month of this semester fighting the department of Design, Construction and Planning trying to show the how unfair and classist it is to expect (read: demand) students to pay for such an expensive trip with little more than a week's notice. They said it was mandatory if I wanted to still be eligible for my Sustainability and the Built Environment minor...the one that I'd be getting in May, the one that I've already spent hundreds of dollars on and poured hours upon hours into. So basically, yeah they ran my up against the payment deadline and I was ultimately forced to pay to keep the minor I'd already worked so hard to get. Wow. That was extremely tangential. Yes, long story short: I was in Portland last month.
I figured since I was out there anyway, I'd make the absolute best of it. I did have a great time, and I treated myself to an amazing dinner at a French-Arabesque restaurant called Levant. Originally I'd made a reservation for just myself, but after one of scheduled sustainable business tours that day, this girl from my class came up to me and bashfully asked if she could join me for dinner. She'd heard that I was taking myself out for dinner that night and although I was looking forward to my solo date, I'm really happy she ended up tagging along. Unlike a bunch of the kids in my class who were generally very obnoxious, immature and loud, she was simple and pretty reserved. I warned her I was finna splurge on dinner; she was cool with it and was down to treat herself, too. We were in Portland so why not.
The atmosphere of Levant was sexy and cozy (in the same way a baggy ol' sweater is). Follow the open and impressive bar down and you'll find yourself toasting up in front of a grand wood-burning stove. The stove leads to the open, unconcealed kitchen area; I always like watching the cooks work on their art.
We started at the bar while waiting for our table to open up. Our impressively bearded, crisply dressed bartender handed us the cocktail list and I fell in love. The flavor profiles of some of their drinks looked insane. After much debate, I decided to order a Gin Rummy #2, an elegant and refreshing concoction made of hibiscus gin, light rum, black lime syrup, pineapple drinking vinegar and lime. Something that surprised me -- and I was definitely not expecting to be impressed by this -- was the ice cube that was used. It...I don't even know. It was a singular ice cube that resembled a miniature rugged boulder. It didn't seem like it even melted, and when it started to, it didn't make my drink any less smooth.
Other tempting cocktails were The Only Way Up (tarragon vodka, pamplemousse rose, creme de peche and lemon seltzer) and the Rabat Mule (genever, carrot reduction, lime and ginger beer).
The dinner menu was intriguing as well. I wish I could've tried everything, but alas. I decided to start with the shaved pear + celery salad, the delicate slivers tossed with savory za'atar (a spice mixture of sumac, toasted sesame seeds, thyme, marjoram and oregano popular in Middle Eastern cuisine) and a light sprinkle of hazelnut granola, dressed in a creamy shanklish cheese dressing. I went with our server's recommendation on this one and thoroughly enjoyed it. It could've used more celery, though. Too much pear made it a little too sweet and mono-textured; the thin slivers of celery were welcomed punctuation.
For my entree, I ordered the grilled sardine, which rested in pureed black olive and a small spicy roasted pepper salad. Presentation was beautiful, and the sardine was cooked to perfection, but over salted. Plus, it was incredibly difficult to eat around all those fine bones. Now, I don't know if that struggle was due to my inexperience eating smaller fish whole like this one. Very well could've been, and I'm sure there's some kind of pro-fish-eater trick to elegantly de-bone and dissect the thing....but, uh, I just kind of went for it. Good thing I wasn't on, like, a date or anything otherwise I'd have been lookin' real cute fishing bones out of my teeth and all. Lauren was chill with it though. Actually at this point we were both pretty tipsy from our drinks, we found my tableside dentistry quite hilarious. But lack of elegance aside, yes, the sardine overall: nice crackly, crispy skin, tender meat, too salty, should've been accompanied with a tiny side of rice to help mitigate the salt from the fish and the olive puree.
Ok, but let's talk dessert though. Lauren was stuffed from the creamy ras al hanout hubbard squash soup and eastern spiced fried game hen (served with warm Turkish hummus, spicy preserved lemon, and collard greens lightly drizzled in honey) she ordered, but I talked her into sharing dessert with me. "C'mon, it's goat cheese and I'll buy." The honey whipped goat labneh accompanied an airy ginger molasses cake and a few slices of Moscato roasted figs. It was heavenly. The cake was perfect and not too sweet. It was light and served with the perfect amount of goat labneh, which is basically a thick goat cheese/yogurt spread. Behold:
Our evening out was a huge success; it's incredible how happy food, good company and good vibes makes me. Oh, wait...that gin rummy, too. True. yeah that was incredible. I'd say that and the dessert were the highlights. Lauren's soup was delectable, too. Perfect way to forget how the chilly the night outside was. I think it's entirely fine (slash necessary) to treat yourself like this from time to time. Man, I deserve this. Plus, even just seeing their menu inspired me to experiment with different spices, flavor and texture combinations when I cook at home. I'd never tried French-Arabesque cuisine before and the food, the service -- attentive, knowledgeable and well-prepared to answer all my questions, unobtrusive yet friendly -- and the atmosphere all swept me off my feet for the night. I'd definitely recommend Levant for a special occasion or intimate dinner, or a solo date. Because -- as I reason many things -- why freaking not.
Levant
2248 East Burnside
Portland, Oregon
97214