Last weekend I stumbled across the new menu at
Andaluca in the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle – the end result of Chef Wayne Johnson’s “field trip” to Spain. The culture, the people and of course the food, caught his imagination. He spent many hours in four kitchens from Madrid to Marbella, where he worked on 10 paella burners producing a plethora of paella. He trained with chefs who can dish up classic Basque cuisine and became enamored with pintxos - two bites or so – that give you a way to chart your own course through a meal.
This “fateful/tasteful” trip and training has changed the look of Andaluca's menu forever. Now 22 pintxos, from croquettes to green beans, grace the menu alongside some larger salad selections and five all-time favorite large plates.
“I started thinking croquettes and the "wet rice" dishes vs the paellas,” Wayne says. “I was overcome by a dish they called "huevos roto con setas" which is eggs fried with mushrooms, which found its way on the Andaluca menu as broken egg with chorizo, mushrooms and potatoes. Fantastic!”
And fantastic they are….my question: How do you get a soft cooked egg inside a Lamb Burger Meatball?
Other notables include, and it’s hard to pick: the Dozen Mussels swimming in lemon and butter; Un Paella just the right size for a quick trip to Spain; the Assorted Marinated Olives, ‘nuf said; that Broken Egg Papas Frites with earthy roasted mushrooms and piquant chorizo; and Spicy Calamari crowned with saffron aioli.
There is a perfect balance of time-honored classics and cutting edge dishes so that the meat-and-potatoes eater can dine alongside more adventurous souls and have a most pleasant evening.
Following a re-design hiatus, Portland Red Star is open again. Celebrating the opening the Red Star crew hosted a swank party featuring the fire-licked foods the Roast House has become famous for. Regional wine, international wine, local craft beer (many on tap), fresh-juice cocktails and Region's largest bourbon wall round out the Red Star experience.
