EXPERIMENTAL

Every Wednesday Evening December 2016 – March 2017.

When we started our Experimental Dinner Series, we thought it would be interesting, and perhaps a little uncomfortable, to invite our guests to experience our culinary development process. In the process, I re-learned the lesson I surprisingly learned when we opened in 2005. The Painted Lady family and guests are some of the most adventurous people I am fortunate to know. We discovered a lot of terrific ideas over this winter that will shape our path forward through the summer. We are so grateful that our guests are always happy to follow us along any tangent and explore the possibilities of our creative process.

Make an Experimental Reservation

3/15/17

The coming of St. Patrick’s Day gave me cause to reflect. I realized I was not familiar with Irish cuisine. I got a lot of assistance from our good friend Eamonn Hughes. We found that mid-March, in Oregon, was a great time to celebrate Ireland. I decided to make my own version of a traditional breakfast, with blood sausage, pork brisket, Irish bacon, sous vide egg and roasted tomato. Some other inspirations were: oysters, cabbage, bacon, hollandaise, potato crusted monkfish with mussels and green garlic nage, and of course spring lamb encroute with spring vegetables.

-Chef Allen Routt

LA FHEILE PADRIAG – MENU

Canapes
Cheese and Potato Croquet
Duck Confit Pasties
Smoked Salmon and Roe on Soda Bread
Sour Cream and Chive Potato Chip

Amuse-bouche
Netarts Bay Oyster with Shaved Cabbage, Bacon, and Hollandaise

Mid-Course
Potato Crusted Monkfish, Mussels, Herb Nage, Sea Beans

Traditional Breakfast
Roasted Tomato, Blood Sausage, Potatoes, Pork Brisket, Brown Butter Egg Yolk, Irish Bacon

Main Course
Pastry Crusted Lamb Loin, Red Cabbage, Spring Vegetables, Lamb Jus

Cheese
Dubliner, Raisin Mostarda, Wholemeal Bread

Dessert
Guinness Stout Cake, Granny Smith Apple Tart, with Caraway Anglaise and Coffee Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Mignardises

Vegan 3/8/17

I wanted to try to understand the Vegan philosophy and see if I could develop a menu around those principles – without feeling as though it was a challenge or an omission. Though it was a challenge, I found some new dishes that I enjoyed quite a lot and discovered some interesting techniques. The Banh Xeo Jessica and I found recently at a Vietnamese restaurant is one of my new favorite foods, and lended itself nicely to being vegan.Once again, I realize, umami si at the center of my cuisine, and leaned on it heavily to give the dishes a well rounded depth and richness.

*Tip – You can make a delicious and flaky crust using coconut oil instead of butter. 

~Chef Allen Routt

VEGAN – MENU (EDIBLE MENU)

Canapes
Composition of Vegetables & Gazpacho
Bahn Xeo
Pasta – Garlic & Parsnip
Pot Pie
Pecan Cheese
Lemon Meringue

STEAMED 2/15/17

I think we all love the cooking process of steaming, and I think we should all do a lot more of it. There actually aren’t as many readily available equipment for steaming as you’d think. It’s an incredibly versatile, fast, and healthy way to cook. The process also requires a lot less natural resources. And it’s fun. So we steamed some cheddar biscuits for a canapé, Atlantic cod wrapped in cabbage leaves, reinterpreted chawanmushi with a bao bun crust, half of an avocado stuffed with Dungeness crab, and did a quasi crab boil in a banana leaf with fingerling potatoes, cippolinis, octopus and homemade chorizo.

It was definitely a challenge to set up the kitchen line with all steamers and no baking or sautéing! Another first for our kitchen.

~Chef Allen Routt

STEAMED – MENU

Canapes
Oregon Dungeness Crab
Lightly Steamed Avocado, Steamed Fresh Tomato Sauce
Chawanmushi
Steamed Bun Encrusted Custard, Diver Scallops
Cabbage Wrapped Cod
Steamed with Carrot Puree and Green Garlic Sauce
Chorizo & Octopus Stew
Steamed in Banana Leaf with Fingerlings, Cippolinis, Brussels Sprouts and Baby Carrots
Steamed Tart
Rhubarb, Pear, Brandy Sabayon
Mignardises

THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER 2/1/17

Our pastry chef Bethany came up with this one, and I instantly loved the idea. Admittedly, I knew very little about the background, but it was an incredible opportunity to learn and embrace the traditions of a rich culture. We place a strong emphasis on family and community. That resonated with us. We were able to take time to reflect on the successes of the year gone by, and celebrate new beginnings as the people we wish to become. We served a lot of dumplings and noodles, fish and chicken, all in the hopes of prosperity. We even pulled together a family style Peking Duck reimagined. The best part though, was having so many familiar faces of long time guests (our extended family of guests) join us for this celebration in our dining room. As well, we got an overly gracious welcoming with our new friends at Lan Se Chinese Garden for some inspiration.

~Chef Allen Routt

CHINESE NEW YEAR  – MENU

Chilled Wood Ear Mushroom Salad
Pulled Chicken and Rye Noodles
Dim Sum
Crispy Opakapaka and Fermented Black Beans
Deconstructed Peking Duck
Durian Nian Gao
(Chinese New Year Cake)

FROM THE WOOD FIRE 1/25/17

It’s always a treat to Oregonians when we get a little faux spring in January or February, especially when the winter has been particularly harsh. So, we seized the moment! Our wood fired ‘pizza’ oven is one of my favorite aspects of The Painted Lady, an one we’re constantly trying to include more into our arsenal. We enlisted the assistance from close friend and resident wood-fire expert, Kris Utz, owner o fRenaissance Catering, to collaborate and bring in his two ovens. We ran the entire menu out of the three ovens. The fickle flame is definitely a different animal from a control knob gas, but it lends flavors and penetrating heat are a thing unlike any other.

The fire braised short ribs with pan roasted Wagyu steak were the clear favorite, though octopus was a surprising hit. Guests at the Painted Lady may see a Chef at the Patio Wood-Fired Station this season.

~Chef Allen Routt

WOOD-FIRED – MENU

CANAPES Cyril Zangs, Easy Cider
FLATBREAD Rogue Creamery blue cheese, carmelized onion, spinach
CHILI FIRE ROASTED OCTOPUS Puy lentils, Our Table Farm potatoes, watercress, 2015 Les Capriades, Pet’Sec Rose
SEMOLINA CANNELLONI Oregon Dungeness crab, ricotta, leeks, parmesan, 2011 Foureau, Brut Reserve Vouvray
CARLTON FARM PORK BELLY Manila clams, confit fennel, red pepper stew, 2015 Marie Thibault, La Roue Qui Torne Rose
BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS/NY WAGYU Israeli couscous, eggplant, pesto, sesame, Le Sot de l’Ange, Red is Dead
CALVADOS PINEAPPLE PITHIVIER Pine ice cream, salted caramel cashews, Gio Dmoinico Negro, Birbet Brachetto

POTATO 1/18/17

Very few ingredients have such a vast diversity or as much versatility. An oxymoron of humility and decadence, and a canvas to accompany the spectrum of flavors. We wanted to touch upon as many varieties as we could, and utilize as many cooking techniques as possible. On a side note, potatoes have always been one of my favorite foods.  ~Chef Allen Routt

POTATO – MENU

SOUP
Sweet Potato, Curry, Dungeness Crab, Our Table Farms Purple Potatoes
Sage Val de Mer, Brut Nature Rose

SALAD
Garden Potato, Quail Eggs, Egg Yolk Sauce, Lentil Soil, Celery Foam
2011 Jean-Marc Burgaud, Les Vignes De Thulon, Beaujulais Villages

SCALLOPED POTATO
Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette Fluid Gel, Black Garlic Potato Puree, Shellfish
2014 Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon, Macon Village

SHEPHERD’S PIE
Dry Aged New York, Brisket Sausage, Cipollini, Turnip, Carrot, Cheese Curtain
2014 Bedrock Wine Company, North Coast Syrah

POTATO PUDDING
Sweet Potato Ice Cream, Carmel Apples, Ricotta Cake

Charlie Trotter – 1/4/17

Experimental Dinner 2.3

What I thought would be one of the easier Experimental’s, became one of the more challenging.

THE BACKSTORY
My friend Andrew Turner from valley wine merchants across the street, gave me a mint condition menu from Charlie Trotters for Christmas. It so happened it was from a Wednesday in aug of 95, and we thought, why not recreate it? Coincidentally that was where Jessica and I had our honeymoon dinner, and I was always, of course, a huge fan of his work.

I thought using a menu another chef had written would be easier, but trying to take a great chefs collection of dishes, and trying to give them justice and make them our own is incredibly challenging. Throughout the creative process of something isn’t organically coming together there’s always the flexibility of going in a different direction, this was taking a seven to ten word description and realizing how those elements come together for us.  ~Allen Routt, Owner & Chef

CHARLIE TROTTER – MENU

• Marinated yellowfin tuna with caviar creme fraiche, preserved papaya, daikon pulped avocado & spice herb sauce
• Sea bass with manilla clams, oven dried tomatoes, butter radishes, fennel sauce & mustard vinaigrette
• Sonoma foie gras & Maine lobster with yucca, tiny beets, braised collard greens & red wine essence
• California pigeon breast with truffled potato ravioli, tiny carrots & sweetbreads
• Honeydew melon soup with lime-yogurt, cantaloupe & watermelon sorbets
• Vanilla creme brûlée tart with peaches and bing cherries
• Mignardises

PASTA -12/28/16

Experimental Dinner 2.2

PASTA- MENU

Canapes

Terrine of Dual Flavored Pastas
Duck Confit, Foie Gras, Perigord Truffles

Ciabatta Gnocchi
Roasted Pork Broth, Collard Greens, Cippolinis, Pesto

Hand Rolled Orecchiette
Homemade Italian Sausage, Rapini, Garlic, Olive Oil

Lobster Gratin
House Made Penne Pasta, Gruyere

Pork Cheek Ragout
Chevre Girelle

Ricotta & Golden Raisin Gnudi
Honey Rosemary Ice Cream, Tomato Pear Chutney

Mignardises

IZAKAYA – 12.21.16

Experimental Dinner 2.1

Sometime in the late fall, Donnie (who has been running our lead station in the kitchen for a while now) asked if I had seen ‘Midnight Diner’ on Netflix. I hadn’t, and when I did I loved the premise. A bar/ diner in Tokyo, run by an interesting and dynamic cook. Open from midnight to 7 am, only runs one dish at a time. He can prepare whatever his guests want, as long as he has the ingredients.

We decided we should experiment with some of Japan’s traditional bar food, and some of the dishes highlighted on the show. Food so close to Donnie and my hearts and some of the food we enjoy the most. Transcendent bar food.

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