Opa! Join us for a Pre-Table-For-Twelve Lamb 'n Ouzo Feast and Skinny Dip with Apollo* (*Optional)

Dear Friends Who Love Food,

This afternoon, Michelle and I were sitting around like little old Greek ladies, sipping Ouzo and roasting a lamb in our toaster oven and complaining about the neighbor’s brash new donkey and bragging about who had skinny-dipped the most in the Aegean Sea with that village boy up the lane who pretty much is the spitting image of Apollo (the Greek God of Sexy Hotness) and moaning about how much we miss our beloved supper club Table For Twelve.

And while we’re planning to revive Table For Twelve next month with a yet-to-be-announced supper, it occurred to us that we might not be the only ones who’d like to eat lamb and drink Ouzo and skinny dip with Apollo. Serendipitously, it just so happens that Olympic Provisions Southeast is hosting a fantastically delicious lamb dinner THIS SUNDAY, complete with lots of lamb that has not been roasted in a toaster oven, salami of the Gods, and complimentary Ouzo for all our guests. Because like any good Greek, we hate to get blotto alone. Opa! There will also be a kiddy pool provided for skinny dipping but you’re going to have to woo Apollo on your own. We’ll be too busy gossiping about your donkey.
Join us this Sunday, July 24th at 5pm at Olympic Provisions Southeast for some roaring good Greek times and chef Alex Yoder’s (whose often been told he is the spitting image of Apollo) brilliant Greek-inspired lamb-riffic menu.

Baby romaine lettuce, tarragon vinaigrette

Olive oil-poached Albacore tuna, cranberry beans, pickled vegetables

Salad of grilled lamb leg, fava beans, sugar snap peas, watercress, feta cheese

Braised lamb shoulder, corona beans, basil pesto

Chocolate salami, orange marmalade, salt and pepper shortbread cookies

And if that weren’t exciting enough, Michelle and I will welcome you with a shot of Ouzo and a hearty supply of Loukanika (Olympic Provisions’ signature Greek salami and the official food of the Gods) on the view-endowed rooftop of the Olympic Mills building. If that doesn’t make you scream Opa!, frankly we don’t know what will. (Insert Apollo joke here, I can’t or Michelle will censor it.)

Details, Details

When: Sunday, July 24, 5 pm

Where: Olympic Provisions Southeast, 107 SE Washington St.

What: Lamb, Loukanika, Ouzo, Memorable Memories

Cost: $65 (optional four-course wine pairing $20 additional)

Why: Because Sundays are for feasting and skinny-dipping with Apollo

RSVP: To michelle@olympicprovisions.com or call 503.351.9094

See you at the table,

Jen & Michelle

Jen likes the tacos in SF

Happy New Year

Our resolution is to be more fun!

Jen loves her chub!

Sex and the City with Champers

Brian and I have Crabs

At the Astoria Crab Fest!

Table For Twelve Returns With A Big, Fat Fibula

Hello Everyone! Table For Twelve is back! Just so you know, I'll be managing the dinners through my website Under The Table With Jen, and henceforth all invites will be communicated through my newsletter, Table Scraps, so if you want to be in the know, sign up here!!

Dear Food Friends**,

Once upon a time sis Michelle and I had a supper club. It was called Table For Twelve and it was a rollicking good time. We ate, we drank, we met fun new people who also loved to eat and drink, sometimes we conducted ourselves with grace and dignity like our governess Nonna taught us, sometimes we flashed our wunderpants to the occupants of Le Pigeon and ran home barefoot. It was the best supper club in Portland.

Then, Hollywood came calling.

I remember it well. We were sitting at a tiny sidewalk table outside Kir, with a beautiful view of the Oregon Artificial Limb Company, sipping a rosé flight and playing rock paper scissors Indian burn for the last piece of charcuterie, when director Rob Marshall called Michelle, whom he’d seen modeling in ads for NE Alberta Street boutique Garnish, to offer her the part of sultry sexy mistress Carla in Nine. Her volatile first reaction was “Fellini-who?! How did you get this number? Only my masseuse, God, and Tiger Woods have this number!” But, as you can well imagine, she and her D&G knockoff sunglasses were on a plane to Rome before you could say Dolce Vita.

Meanwhile, I was left home, alone and bored, so I decided to write a website called Under the Table with Jen. All day long, I huddled in my damp drafty garret wearing naught but a Snuggie in an unpleasant shade of blue, nibbling a few Two Tarts peanut butter creams and drinking weak chamomile tea, talking only to my micropig Jeffrey Steingarten II, until lo and behold, the website was born. In celebration, I took a shower, bought myself a dozen Sahagún Luscious Caramels, and gave Jeffrey Steingarten II a new toy in thanks for all his support.

Jeffrey Steingarten II loves his new toy.

Then our story took a tragic twist. After filming her first scene in Nine, Michelle jet-setted to Paris to buy more Agent Provocateur bustiers, because the besotted extras kept stealing hers. But when disembarking the Concorde, she tripped over her Louis Vuitton carry-on and broke her left fibula, leaving her incapable of performing the intricate dance numbers required by her role. So, she was forced to concede her part to Pénelope Cruz and return to Portland, where she poured all her grief and frustration into a constructive new pasttime–co-owner and meat mistress of Olympic Provisions.

And here we are. To commemorate our exciting evolution, we are going to hold the inaugural Table For Twelve dinner at none other than Olympic Provisions, next Wednesday, January 21, at 6:30pm. Executive Chef Jason Barwikowski and team have agreed to make us a marvelous $25 family-style prix fixe meal, for which Jason’s lovely wife and brilliant OP wine director Carly Laws will pour an optional wine pairing. PLUS, supercute OP Meat-Curing Chef Elias Cairo has a very exciting surprise in store, which I will just blow right now–he has promised us a charcuterie plate like Portland has never tasted before, featuring a sampling of his brand-spanking-new cured meats. He will also show you his new tattoo. For a dollar. It’s an owl.

Who needs Hollywood when you’ve got Portland?

Well, you know what to do. Or maybe you don’t! Here is how it works: we’ve got 12 seats at the table, so if you want to join us, email me right this instant at jen@underthetablewithjen.com and claim your spot. First come, first serve, and we do keep a little waiting list in case of cancellations. When we’ve filled the dinner, we’ll send a confirmation to the group. Need more details? See below for the Ten Commandments of Table For Twelve.

Yours truly,

Jen & Michelle

**Note: A lot of what you read following this genuinely cheerful greeting will be a big fat fib. Just so you know.

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF TABLE FOR TWELVE
1. Table For Twelve is put on by underthetablewithjen.com, a food review and discussion website, thus be aware that thy food-related table chatter and photograph may end up on the blog/website/YouTube channel.

2. Thou shalt be punctual for Table For Twelve, and if catastrophe should occur, thou shalt call the restaurant and ask them to inform us of your plight.

3. Thou shalt bring cash to cover your portion of the check (to avoid frazzling the server with 12 separate methods of payment).

4. Honor thy waitstaff with a friendly demeanor and positive attitude and please tip 18-20 percent, provided the service is worthy.

5. Thou shalt embrace the convivial vibe of Table For Twelve and be willing to share thy food with others. Thus, thou shalt not have communicable diseases.

6. Remember to have an open mind about unfamiliar cuisine and food preparations. In other words, try not to gag when Michelle orders sweetbreads.

7. If thou must cancel on us (BOO!) for some cataclysmic reason, thou shalt provide at least 24 hours notice or risk exclusion from future Table For Twelve events.

8. Thou shalt not be a fuss-budget, loud-mouth, potty-mouth, picky eater, gelato hater, non-drinker, or vegan. Just kidding. Sort of.

9. Thou shalt read underthetablewithjen.com religiously, and pass the good word to others.

10. And most importantly, thou shalt have a marvelous time eating, drinking and being merry with other fantastic food-lovers!

We hope to see you at the table!

And the Eat Goes On....

Hello TableTalk readers, 

It's been a while. Hope you're all healthy, happy, and eating & drinking well!

Just a quick announcement of sorts. You've undoubtedly noticed that the blog has been curiously silent this summer. This is because Michelle and I have been working on new and exciting projects, both of which are finally coming to fruition. 

I'm exceedingly thrilled to announce the launch of my new food website, Under the Table with Jen. This beautiful website was designed and illustrated by Portland designer Mette Hornung Rankin and was written by me. You can use the site to find out all sorts of information about Portland's best restaurants, bakeries, food carts, bars, coffeehouses, farmers markets, events, etc. There are cool features like the Cravings and Occasions sections, where you can find a place to eat based on what you're craving (Wine & Cheese? Chocolate? Comfort Food?) or by the sort of occasion you're planning for (Special & Splurgey? Romantic Date? Pre-Theater?). Every Thursday I'm sending out a newsletter, Table Scraps, full of food news and links, so be sure to subscribe! You can also follow Under the Table on Twitter and Facebook. And yes, there's a BLOG!   

Michelle has partnered with our favorite super cute chef Elias Cairo, Nate Tilden, Jason Barwikowski, Carly Laws, Elizabeth Bisegna-Gaston, Tyler Gaston and Marty Schwartz, to open Olympic Provisions restaurant, which will be located at 107 SE Washington Street, in the big yellow Olympic Mills building down on the Southeast waterfront. Jason, currently the chef at Clyde Common, will be at the helm in the kitchen, and Eli will be heading up OP's USDA-approved meat department, making all his phenomenal cured meats for both the restaurant and for retail. Olympic Provisions is going to open up in the next couple of weeks. Visit the website (still under construction), or stay up to date by becoming a fan on Facebook!

Thanks for following our edible exploits this past couple of years, and we hope you join us in our future endeavors by reading Under the Table and eating at Olympic Provisions! 

xoxox,

Jen & Michelle 

Jen You Look So Happy!!

Today Jen, Beth, and I decided that we were grown woman and deserved a decent breakfast before going to work, so we created a Friday Morning Breakfast Club. This morning we went to The Original. It looks like a bar/cafe from the 50s, so we felt very sophisticated having our ladies breakfast before scooting off to do our charity work... oh wait, I mean go to work.


Jen was being difficult AGAIN and demanded that they cook her the Voodoo Burger, which isn't on the breakfast menu for obvious reasons. The Voodoo Burger is a cheeseburger sandwiched between a grilled Voodoo glazed doughnut. It wasn't the most sophisticated woman's breakfast, but what can we say- we are modern women.

Jen was obviously excited and triumphant that she convinced them to make it for her breakfast.

I have to admit that it was an amazing burger and the sweet doughnut around it made it a great guilty pleasure breakfast!

I would totally go there again and I was surprised to find out that it has had some awful reviews. We are going to go and try happy hour and dinner soon, so we'll let you know how that goes.

The Original*300 SW 6TH AVE PORTLAND OREGON 97204 P: 503.546.2666

Kir Wine Bar

Drinking the Kir Royale

It's been awhile...

So, Jen is doin' it up at the Clyde!

My first tamale of the season at Farmers Market

We haven't just been neglecting the blog this summer... This is my first time at the market all summer. I have been busy with summer and opening a restaurant with partners called Olympic Provisions.

We couldn't handle Beesaws garlic breakfast, so we headed to Cafe D'arte for cappuccino.

Seriously 19 Cloves of Garlic

This morning I decided to stop at Beesaws for breakfast with my niece. I ordered the salmon scramble and the potatoes had 19 cloves of garlic. Are they worried I am going to get attacked by vampires?

Oregon Summer Food Adventures

Well, Jen and I have been gallivanting all over Oregon this summer and have lagged on posting... as I am sure you can tell! I have been having my own culinary adventures, so in the interest of efficiency I am going to tell you all about it in one loooong posting.

The summer started out with camping at Trillium Lake by Mount Hood.

Yes, I camp, but I do typical Michelle style- bringing my posturepedic queen side mattress pad, amazing food, row boats, and tent warmers. The BF catches fish and I love to cook them over the camp fire with just simple slices of lemon and salt and pepper.

Camping is the type of vacation that I always need a vacation when I get back, so the BF and I decided that we needed to explore Oregon's wine country more.

We booked an amazing B&B called Tuscan Estates in McMinnville and they had the best full breakfast prepared by chef, author (The Food Encyclopedia and The Cooks Essential Kitchen Dictionary) and sommelier Jaques Rolland. We really lucked out that Jaques was a sommelier from France, because he gave us his opinion on where to go for the best wines of Willamette Valley. The following were some of his suggestions:

• Walnut City WineWorks


• Winter's Hill


• Cana's Feast


• Beaux Frères


• Partricia Green Cellars


• Laurel Ridge


• Chehalem


• Owen Roe


• Domaine Drouhin


• Domaine Serene


• Argyle (for bubbles)

We knew we couldn't hit them all, but we made an all out effort!

We started with Winter's Hill, because Jaques said they had one of the best rosé at the best price and to top it off he said that the winemaker Emily was a young genius from France. This is a darling family run winery and Emily is the daughter-in-law who met the owners son while working at a winery and now they live happily making wine. We ended up purchasing a case of the rosé for $8 per bottle (I love rosé in the summer) and a bottle of the Early Muscat. I am not typically a fan of Muscat, but this one is very dry and it smells like a bouquet of flowers.

We moved on to Walnut City WineWorks, which is housed in an old Walnut Factory and they partner with other wineries (Z'IVO Wines, Robinson Reserve, Bernard Machado and their own Walnut City Wineworks) to make world class Pinot Noir. We bought a bottle of the 2005 Piont Noir Reserve.

After all the tasting we were feeling famished and the onset of slight intoxication, so we decided to head of to Cana's Feast to get some lunch. The meal consisted of cold spring pea soup, chicken liver pate, and a bottle of their rosé and a beautiful view of the vineyard.

After lunch we headed to Beaux Freres, which is a winery owned by Robert Parker and two brothers. This was by far our most expensive winery that we visited (bottles ranged from $50-$90) and Jacques told us that this is one of his splurge wines. They did produce amazing Pinot and the BF and I did splurge on a special occasion bottle.

We decided we could hit one more winery and chose Laurel Ridge, which they do everything from bubbles to Tempranillo to Port at incredibly reasonable prices. The lady who runs it is a hoot and we ended up spending hours tasting and talking. We loved the Port, Estate Reserve Pinot Noir, and Dry Gewurztraminer.

Well after the long day of tasting it was off to a nap and then a late dinner at Bistro Maison in McMinnville. This place is adorable and has an amazing patio.

It was a relaxing dinner, where we dined on house made mozzarella with tomato salad.

Then followed it up with braised duck with an orange cognac sauce and the most amazing pomme frites served with saffron aioli.

We ended up having to take our desserts (creme carmel and lemon cake) to go, so we could catch the July 4th fireworks.

The next morning we awoke with slight hangovers and decided that we just wanted to sit somewhere quiet and relax and we found the PERFECT place...Red Ridge Farms . It happens to an herb and plant nursery, but they also do their own olive oil and serve lunch. The grounds are absolutely amazing.

We ended up ordering a meat and cheese plate and sat for hours under a canopy of vines drinking a bottle of rosé.

It has been a great summer so far... much better than last summer when Jen broke my foot!!! (Just kidding sis!) This coming weekend Jen and I are headed back to wine country for Plate and Pitchfork at Domain Serene.

Put Your Vote Where Your Mouth Is--Portland Farmer's Market is the Best!!

We received this email this morning from Amber at the Portland Farmer's Market.

We are hoping to win America's Favorite Farmers Market this year. Voting is easy and quick, just voted myself!

If you think we are the best, please vote!

Amber

http://action.farmland.org/site/PageNavigator/Americas-Favorite-Farmers-Markets/best_local_farmers_market_vote

I was voter Number 37, and it only took me approximately 45 seconds to complete the voting process...take a break from your morning perusal of tmz.com and VOTE!!

-Jen

Whiffie's Fried Pies

The line at Whiffie's Fried Pies is something to behold. The entire city of Portland appears to have turned out for a fried pie tonight. Pulled pork, salmon with chipotle mayo, vegan bbq tofu, blueberry, lemon, strawberry and more. Come join the crowd, SE Hawthorne & 12th.
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Ping Now Serving Lunch

Beginning TODAY, lunch is now served at Ping, Monday through Friday, 11am to 2pm. I had the kuaytiaw pet pha lo, aka, duck leg stewed thai style with fresh wide rice noodles, big fat tender shiitake mushrooms, stewed pickled mustard greens, and sour yellow chile dip ($10). Delicious. Yet another excellent lunch time dining option in Old Town\Chinatown, just in case you need a break from the tuna melt at Davis Street Tavern.

-Jen
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When our plates arrived, it was almost worth the trauma of that long line. Flaky puff pastry topped with a salad of warm ribbons of asparagus, tender bright green pea shoots and sweet shreds of blue crab, two poached eggs, and a drizzle of tangy creme fraiche.
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Sweet Cream biscuit with homemade apple butter

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Thank goodness

Apparently if you don't want to wait in line at Screen Door on a Sunday, you need to head over just after getting booted out of your favorite neighborhood bar at 2:30 am, and get in line for the 9am opening. Despite arriving at the late hour of 9:02am, I slipped in with the rest of the waiting herd and made the first seating. I called Michelle and told her to turn around and come back.
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I left Jen in line. I am going to Broder!

Waiting at Screen Door

We are numbers 492 and 493. We expect to eat by noon.
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Metrovino Begins Happy Hour Today (Last Night For Some of Us)

Last night Jen and I decided to try Metrovino's new happy hour menu and upon arrival we found out it didn't actually start until today. Jen and I both started crying when the hostess told us that we would have to order off the regular menu and Jen started going on and on to Todd the owner about how this was the worst day of her entire life, because she wore two different colored flip flops to work and everyone kept starting at her and now she wouldn't be able to try the happy hour menu. Todd, being the nice gentleman that he was and wanting to avoid more of Jen's sobs told us that he would let us order of the happy hour menu. We were intstantly happy and ordered a bottle of the Prieure de Montezargues Tavel Rose ($25) to celebrate. It is a grenache Rose with beautiful with hints of strawberry pie and a light mineral taste.

We almost ordered one of everything to compensate for Jen's bad day...

We started with the delicious 3 Oysters ($3) served cucumber mignonette, ponzu wasabi and horseradish cocktail.

Tataki of hawaiian yellowtail with radish, meyer lemon and white soy ($9), which is the epitome of a perfect summer dish with the tender slices of tuna and the tartness of the meyer lemon, and perfectly salted from the white soy.

The charcuterie of the day, which was housemade pork and duck rillette ($3) with a pickled beet.

The perfect chilled cream of asparagus soup with cauliflower mousse and oregon bay shrimp $5.


After all that Jen and I were still feeling like we needed something small so we orderd a bowl of the new england style seafood chowder with bacon lardons and garlic croutons $6... I am going to say that it was the BEST chowder I have ever had. It was so chunky with clams, halibut, oregon bay shrip, and pototoes and topped with a pile of lardo on top.

As Jen and I were enjoying the patio and our very full bellys, staring out at the sun soaked Pearl we thought our Rose had made us look at everything with rose colored glasses when we saw this Pearlie couple walking by in matching pink shirts.

Metrovino* Happy Hour 4-6 everyday except Tuesday (they are closed)* http://www.metrovinopdx.com/ *1139 NW 11th Avenu* 503.517.7778

Michelle is back from a week and a half in Key West Florida, and is happy to trade her vacation diet of boneless Cajun chicken wings and nachos for good old Portland cooking. So we came to Belly Timber on SE Hawthorne for happy hour. Ah, home sweet home.
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