Irving St. Kitchen Is Open in Portland, Ore.
New Restaurant Brings Soulful Menu, Barrel-to-Bar Wines, Charcuterie Station and Front Porch BBQ Cart to Portland's Pearl District
Portland, ORE. (June 16, 2010) - Open since May 7th, Irving St. Kitchen is a vibrant new addition to the Portland dining scene. Rustic juxtaposes with contemporary in this 1909 corner warehouse -- high steel-beamed ceilings and broad windows are warmed with weathered barn wood, hand-crafted fixtures and vintage antiques, while a sleek column of custom-designed wine taps line the front bar and the series of wickedly whimsical animal sumi ink prints hanging from the ceiling feel decisively energetic and stylish. The soulful American menu offers many dining options highlighting the best ingredients of the Northwest, lightly accented with Southern overtones.
Irving St. Kitchen is the fourth culinary venture of Bay Area restaurant trio, Doug Washington and brothers Steve and Mitch Rosenthal. Their other restaurants, Anchor & Hope, Salt House and Town Hall, are located in the South of Market area of San Francisco. At the helm of Irving St. Kitchen is Executive Chef Sarah Schafer, who has worked with the trio since the opening of Anchor & Hope in 2007.
Food
Whether popping in for a casual bite at the bar or settling in for a leisurely feast, diners will be wowed by the flavorful seasonal menu created by Chefs Sarah Schafer and Mitch Rosenthal. Terrines, pâtés and salamis are house-made as well as from specialty producers like Portland's Tails and Trotters and North Carolina's famed Johnston County Hams. Meats are sliced out at the bar on the hand-cranked Berkel slicer and served on rustic wooden platters accompanied by crostini and pickled vegetables.
First courses include Viridian Farm's Asparagus Soup spiked with preserved lemon and Schafer's signature "Angels on Horseback" -- bacon-wrapped Stellar Bay oysters fried to perfection, served with creamy rémoulade sauce -- listed by San Francisco’s 7x7 Magazine as one of the "100 Things to Eat Before You Die." BBQ Shrimp, Worcestershire Sauce and a Chive Drop Biscuit is another favorite choice.
Two main-course options are Oven-Roasted Chinook Salmon, Sorrel Broth, Melted Spring Onions and Baby Carrots and Roasted and Braised Baby Lamb, English Peas, Spätzle and Garlic-Rosemary Jus.
Desserts are both seasonal and classic -- Rhubarb Cobbler with White Cornmeal Johnnycakes & Strawberry Ice Cream; Warm Sugar and Spice Donuts, Stumptown Coffee Semifreddo with Chicory Streusel and the ultra-rich Butterscotch Pudding served in its own mason jar, with Banana Caramel, Crème Fraîche and Oregon Walnut Pralines.
Weekday lunch is served from a BBQ cart set up by the loading dock. House Smoked St. Louis Ribs and Sausage Sandwiches are made to order and served with sides of beans, cole slaw, brownies and cookies.
Before Anchor & Hope, Chef Sarah Schafer headed the kitchen at Frisson in San Francisco and was Sous Chef at Tom Colicchio's Gramercy Tavern and Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park in New York. Working in close collaboration with Chef Schafer on the opening menu, Chef Mitch Rosenthal, a New Jersey native, launched his culinary career at K-Paul's with Paul Prudhomme igniting his lifelong passion for Southern and Cajun cooking. After working at Le Cirque and the Four Seasons, he and his brother were lured to California by Wolfgang Puck, eventually becoming the Executive Chefs at Puck's Postrio in San Francisco.
Wine & Cocktails
Sommelier Nicole Burke, beverage director of all four restaurants, has created a program for Irving St. Kitchen that showcases exciting small producers in the Northwest with selections from Chehalem Wines, Andrew Rich, Westrey, Belle Pente, Stoller, Mark Ryan and others. Irving St. Kitchen's revolutionary barrel-to-bar wine program pours these wines through a custom designed tap and barrel system that brings the freshest, highest quality wine to the table using the most environmentally sustainable technology. Doug Washington designed the taps and barrels and personally drives throughout the wine areas of Washington and Oregon to fill the barrels directly from the wineries' cellars -- no corks, foil or bottles. The wines are held with argon rather than oxygen so from the first glass to the last, the wine tastes just as the vintner intended. Not only is it the best choice for the environment, the savings on the packaging is passed on to the customer, making these hard-to-find wines both available and more affordable. There is also a list of 60-plus wines by the bottle, with selections from Europe and the U.S., including many priced under $45. The rotating selection of Oregon beers on tap currently offers choices from Hopworks, Laurelwood and Deschutes Brewery, among others.
The cocktail program offers all the classics but also puts emphasis on the culinary, with drinks such as the Lovejoy -- Organic Nation Gin combined with tarragon, muddled lemon and Reed’s ginger beer, or Boxcar #9 -- Aviation Gin and grapefruit with Molokai red salt and Korean Five Element Pepper along the rim.
Design
Owners Doug Washington and Steven and Mitchell Rosenthal worked shoulder to shoulder with Portland craftsmen in creating an interior that both respects and enlivens the industrial bones of the spacious former warehouse. There are three bar areas -- vintage gold velvet couches and chairs surround low tables in the area around the entrance; bar stools frame the long L-shaped repurposed hickory counter anchored by the wine taps; and chairs line the sushi bar-like charcuterie area. Original brick frames the southside black-paned windows while the bar's fireplace, interior walls and booths are paneled with weathered red and gray locally reclaimed barn wood. All areas are illuminated with artisanally crafted lights designed by Washington -- a row along the east side are fashioned from clusters of white milk bottles; over the couch seating, salvaged chicken feeders are gathered together into an upside-down bouquet, while the main dining area is lit by four massive forged iron-spoked chandeliers. Tables in the main dining area are generously spaced with four burlap-curtained booths anchoring the north wall and dark walnut bookcases create cozy dining nooks along the front east windows. Washington's wife, Freya Prowe, painted the twenty-four farm animal silhouettes with sumi ink on large sheets of creamy Rêve paper, boldly crowning the wine and charcuterie bar areas.
Facts
Location: 701 NW 13th Avenue at the corner of Irving Street
Reservations: www.irvingstreetkitchen.com, www.opentable.com or call 503-343-9440
Seats: 25 in the bar, 90 in the dining room, up to 75 in the private dining room
Prices: appetizers $8 - $13; entrees $17 - $25; desserts $8; bar menu $5; charcuterie $9 - $18
BBQ lunch sandwiches $6 and rib platter with 2 sides $11
Happy Hour wine $5, beer $3
Hours: Happy Hour nightly from 4:30 to 6 p.m.; dinner served from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday - Wednesday, until 11 p.m. Thursday - Saturday.
Takeout Lunch BBQ on the front porch 11:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays only.
Weekend Brunch starting soon.
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