1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
503-517-7770
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Menu
Why aren't more of you going to Otto? sacdad was in town tonight with his wife, me and mine and he and his went to Otto. Me and my wife had been last week, so we knew the food was good. We also didn't want to hit any place downtown, because we were feeling particularly crowd-phobic.
Lucky us. It was great. And inexpensive; the whole menu is part of Dining Month Portland.
They started us with an amuse of warm herbed gougeres. They were not made entirely of soft flour, having a more rustic bent.
But they were herby and cheesy and fresh. Great way to start the meal.
Here's a "perennial cooler," which is a nonalcoholic drink made with fresh lemon and rosemary honey mixed with ginger beer. Very refreshing.
My dad started with the sausage and potato blintz with fresh horseradish. I had this last week, and it's excellent. The crepe sits in a pool of demiglace, and is stuffed with flavorful sausage. It's a smallish dish, just about the right size for an appetizer. Were it larger, it'd probably be a little too heavy.
This is their salad-as-appetizer offering: baby spinach, treviso, sorrel, hazelnuts, gruyere, and a verjus vinaigrette. Big thumbs-up from those who ordered it. Very fresh, and the dressing was well-balanced.
I ordered the gravlax, and was presented with this beautiful plate. The fish is cured in-house, and presented atop a buckwheat blini with sour cream, dill, whole-grain mustard, capers, and pickled onion. Also on the plate is a miniature salad with a small pool of vinaigrette. This was also delicious. The fish had a nice, clean taste - not terribly salty.
There was also some citrus rind draped across the top of the cream.
The bread is from Little T.
This is the grilled prawn dish, served with vegetables, sesame, jasmine rice, and saffron coconut milk. I didn't try it, but it got raves from the person who ordered it. The shrimp were very large and meaty.
We also ordered the tamarind-braised oxtails. I had this last week, too. The dish is rich and meaty, and is served with lentils, Swiss chard, and mushrooms. Total comfort food. It's fork tender, as you'd expect. The tamarind didn't overwhelm the dish. A definite winner.
For the heck of it, I decided to order the lobster roll. It's served a la carte on a warm brioche roll. It's filled with big chunks of lobster in a mayonnaise-based sauce. Very good.
My wife ordered the lamb shank. It was also superbly tender, and was accompanied with a braised cabbage that was spiked with san marzano tomatoes. The lamb was excellent, no doubt. Surprisingly, though, the vegetables are more memorable to me. They were slightly soured, and very rich - almost decadently so. A great dish with loads of flavor. Loads, I tell you.
I forget what this was actually called on the dessert menu, but it was basically a cream puff stuffed with strawberries on a rhubarb puree. Pretty good, if not astounding. Tasted like it looks, and it looks pretty good.
For the gluten-free crowd, there's a poached pear dessert on the menu. It was served with fresh raspberries, candied lemon peel, creme anglaise, and a whiskey caramel sauce. It got an enthusiastic response from my wife.
The best dessert of the night, though, was a chocolate mousse cake. It was presented with fresh strawberries, a scoop of sherbet, whipped cream, and more of that yummy whiskey caramel sauce.
Service was very good again. How could it not have been? We arrived at 7 pm and were the only customers. Three other tables came and went while we ate. When we left at 8:45 or so, we were again the only customers. Why?
The quality of the food is very, very good. It's also very consistent. It's also (at this moment, at least) very inexpensive. They should be packed, right? Maybe not right. I do have some thoughts on that.
There does seem to be a lack of focus on the menu. There are loads of European items on the menu: gravlax, pate, blintzes, duck confit, gougeres. Why, then, is there the Thai-influenced grilled prawn dish? And how about the tamarind-braised oxtails? Also a SE Asian-tinged dish. It's not really fusion, because there are lots of straightforward, non-fusioney dishes on the menu. And where did the idea for a brioche lobster roll come from? Don't get me wrong; this was all appealing and delicious food, but I could see how it might be called confusing by some.
In fact, my stepmother asked me several times before we arrived to describe Otto to her. And I had a hard time doing it. I asked the server a little later how she'd answer that question. Her answer was sorta kinda like mine: "Well, it's seasonal modern American cuisine with some twists," or something like that. Maybe that's accurate, but who says to their spouse, "Hey, you want to go out for some seasonal modern American cuisine with some twists?" Is this making any sense? And also: the name itself conjures up the idea of something similar to Gruner.
Let's also not forget that the chef is brand-new to Portland. There's no recognizable name associated with the restaurant. The chef/owner is Francis Stanton, who moved from Michigan to Oregon specifically to open Otto.
But anyway, we had a fabulous meal. Want a comparison? Think of it as sort of a slightly downscale Metrovino, with a more limited menu. The wine list is also a little limited, but there's a full bar.
Total, including tip, a bottle of wine, and one nonalcoholic drink, was $165. For four people. Such a steal. And they didn't add the auto-grat this time, so I guess we've joined that club at long last.
-sacman
