I am warming up to Portland part 2

On Thursday Apr 10th we headed back to Portland to see The Avett Brothers. Before the show we had dinner at Park Kitchen. We ordered the chef's tasting menu. The menu regularly changes and the food just kept coming and coming so I lost track of what we at. I know there was a nettle soup in there somewhere, chickpea fries with pumpkin ketchup, sunchokes with new potatoes, crackers with sheep's milk cheese and rhubarb compote, squash with greens rice and mole and a bunch of other stuff. I am telling you, we ROLLED out of there. Here's the thing though. The sublime mixing and blending of flavors and textures we had at Wildwood were too fresh on our minds. Something just didn't gel all the way at Park Kitchen. Maybe we just ate too much and our palates got muddled and confused. Dessert didn't help. That is the one area Park Kitchen did not excel. The desserts they sent out with the tasting menu were a mediocre chocolate cake with kumquats in a simple syrup and and also a lime custard with rhubarb sauce. See these desserts sound great and look good on paper but the execution just didn't work. Unlike the heavenly turnovers at Wildwood that sounded so-so but ended up rocking my world. I ordered the turnovers there on the waiters suggestion. I hadn't planned on selecting them. Yay for helpful waiters.

We had a short walk from Park Kitchen to the Crystal Ballroom for the show. Man alive were we uncomfortably full. Neither of us wanted to go to the concert anymore. We just wanted to get home and get our fat selves into bed. I am glad we didn't bail. The Avett Brothers are good stuff. I highly recommend that you pick up a CD or catch a show if you can. Here are a couple of videos to set you on your way to Avett fandom.