Brunch at the Bird - Le Pigeon pt 2
After a stunning dinner at Le Pigeon on Friday night, lavendersoda and I headed back to bird for brunch on Sunday. Yeah, it was that good. We are slaves to the food.
This time, there were 5 people in attendance. We want to spread the good word, you know? We get a table near the back. lavendersoda and I meet the third in our party at 11:30 sharp. We have a reservation, but there is a little confusion what name it's under. No concern, there is a table ready and waiting. We get a large French press pot of dark, decadent Stumptown coffee and a couple of porto branco coolees (a house cocktail of Kopke white Port and San Pellegrino's Limonata, lavendersoda thought this tasted just like Lillet blanc) while we wait for the rest of our party... who show up not much later. We also get a 375 ml bottle of Moscato d'Asti for the table: a nice little breakfast treat.
lavendersoda and I checked out the brunch menu on portlandfoodanddrink.com that morning so we'd know what to expect (it left us salivating all morning). We both wanted the same thing, the breakfast sandwich (two eggs, bacon & cheddar, lavendersoda's with a salad, mine with potatoes). I'd been a big fan of the breakfast sandwich at Gotham, and this one didn't disappoint. Instead of Gotham's onion roll, this sandwich was on toasted bread, which I really liked. The eggs were a little overdone for my taste (I like the yellows a little runnier that they were), and a piece or two of the bacon could have been crisper, but the flavors were amazing. lavendersoda found the sandwich quite nice, she liked how the cheese melted on the bread, kind of like grilled cheese with egg and bacon (although she too wished for a bit crisper pork).
Guest #3 had the roque ranchero (a flour tortilla topped with refried beans, salsa roja, avocado, cheddar cheese and poached eggs). The felt if was good, but not great, and could have been recreated at home with little effort or imagination. I thought it looked great, personally.
Guest #4 had the Belgian waffle with berries. Again, the feeling was that it was good, but could have been crafted at home with no problems. I have to give a props for a syrup pitcher I saw at another table. It was a little white porcelain elephant. The syrup drizzled from it's trunk. Darling.
Guest #5 had a plate of potatoes. Same as were on the side of my sandwich. They were good but not great (nowhere near the delectable quality of the duck fat potatoes from Friday night). The plate was picked and prodded at, but not devoured, as the other dishes were. Potatoes are a side dish for a reason, I suppose.
On our way out, we stopped at the chef's counter to thank Gabriel for another fine meal. He was very nice and gracious. Since a) we both thought the bacon was of amazing quality (although we did wish it was a bit crisper) and b) good bacon is (for some reason) hard to find in this town, we ask about his source. He cures and smokes his own pork belly, of course. No wonder it was so amazing. He seemed really proud of it, too (as he should be). He showed it off to us like a proud parent.
As lavendersoda mention in her dinner write up, the service wasn't as seamless at breakfast as it was on Friday night. But it wasn't terrible either...
This time, there were 5 people in attendance. We want to spread the good word, you know? We get a table near the back. lavendersoda and I meet the third in our party at 11:30 sharp. We have a reservation, but there is a little confusion what name it's under. No concern, there is a table ready and waiting. We get a large French press pot of dark, decadent Stumptown coffee and a couple of porto branco coolees (a house cocktail of Kopke white Port and San Pellegrino's Limonata, lavendersoda thought this tasted just like Lillet blanc) while we wait for the rest of our party... who show up not much later. We also get a 375 ml bottle of Moscato d'Asti for the table: a nice little breakfast treat.
lavendersoda and I checked out the brunch menu on portlandfoodanddrink.com that morning so we'd know what to expect (it left us salivating all morning). We both wanted the same thing, the breakfast sandwich (two eggs, bacon & cheddar, lavendersoda's with a salad, mine with potatoes). I'd been a big fan of the breakfast sandwich at Gotham, and this one didn't disappoint. Instead of Gotham's onion roll, this sandwich was on toasted bread, which I really liked. The eggs were a little overdone for my taste (I like the yellows a little runnier that they were), and a piece or two of the bacon could have been crisper, but the flavors were amazing. lavendersoda found the sandwich quite nice, she liked how the cheese melted on the bread, kind of like grilled cheese with egg and bacon (although she too wished for a bit crisper pork).
Guest #3 had the roque ranchero (a flour tortilla topped with refried beans, salsa roja, avocado, cheddar cheese and poached eggs). The felt if was good, but not great, and could have been recreated at home with little effort or imagination. I thought it looked great, personally.
Guest #4 had the Belgian waffle with berries. Again, the feeling was that it was good, but could have been crafted at home with no problems. I have to give a props for a syrup pitcher I saw at another table. It was a little white porcelain elephant. The syrup drizzled from it's trunk. Darling.
Guest #5 had a plate of potatoes. Same as were on the side of my sandwich. They were good but not great (nowhere near the delectable quality of the duck fat potatoes from Friday night). The plate was picked and prodded at, but not devoured, as the other dishes were. Potatoes are a side dish for a reason, I suppose.
On our way out, we stopped at the chef's counter to thank Gabriel for another fine meal. He was very nice and gracious. Since a) we both thought the bacon was of amazing quality (although we did wish it was a bit crisper) and b) good bacon is (for some reason) hard to find in this town, we ask about his source. He cures and smokes his own pork belly, of course. No wonder it was so amazing. He seemed really proud of it, too (as he should be). He showed it off to us like a proud parent.
As lavendersoda mention in her dinner write up, the service wasn't as seamless at breakfast as it was on Friday night. But it wasn't terrible either...
- Food - good, but not as amazing as dinner
- Drinks - a fun breakfast cocktail, good Stumptown coffee... I say thumbs up (although a good bloody mary would have been nice too)
- Atmosphere - Still nice, even in the harsh morning sun
- Strikes - Riedel 'O' stems for Moscato, and the slight hiccups in service (and a 1/2 strike for some slightly limp bacon)
- Tally - still thumbs up, already scored for me!
posted by None if by Sea at 10:32 AM
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