Mike did a lot of great restaurant research for our Honeymoon, and one place he was excited to try was Kingdom of Roosevelt. He read about them, yet again, in our great resource for all things dining out: Eater Heat Map. The description mentioned that the menu “features an adventurous, foraged menu teeming with game animals. Vegans need not apply, but rich flavors abound.”
Once again… sold!
The place is pretty far out of town and the cab driver wasn’t quite sure how to get us there. But GPS prevailed and we found our way to this hip version of a hunting lodge (check out the antler chandelier).
And the fox and game bird.
And the table stands.
Even though we had been drinking at craft breweries with some friends all afternoon, we (stupidly yet gleefully) opted for the wine pairing along with the 6 course menu. Apologies in advance for the slowly degrading story through this meal as we got drunker and drunker. This was not our finest hour, but thank goodness I took notes!
We started with “bread and fat” which was local bread along with duck fat that had potato and herbs in it. Awesome.
Next up we had oysters, which were Netarts Bay oysters with mignonette sauce and microgreens. (We actually wound up at Netarts Bay the following day when we went to see the coast… loving local)
The greens and sauce were complimentary without overpowering the delicate oyster flavor.
And the shells were absolutely beautiful.
It was paired with a wine that was from Southern Oregon. I believe it was called an Albariño. Great pairing.
Our next course was beet cured Chinoock salmon with pickled beets, steelhead roe, yogurt and a bit of fresh horseradish. The horseradish was not at all overpowering (which I usually find it even in small doses) and it all went very well together. The beets were cut into different sizes (shaved, quartered, and cubed) which led to a differentiation in textures and mouth feel. Very nice.
The wine pairing was a Rose Pinto Noir from the Patton Valley. This went very well with the salty roe, sweet beets, and salmon and brought out new flavors in both the dish and the wine when paired together.
Our next dish was confit (!) rabbit with an asparagus puree and veggies (asparagus, carrots, radish). This dish made me finally “get” rabbit. We’ve had it before (a few times actually in different forms: ragu, terrine, terrine sampler, and braised) and were underwhelmed.
But this was different. I didn’t know rabbit could taste that good.
And it was paired with a gruner veltliner from Johan Vineyards. It was a bit heavier than the gruner veltliner we have had in the past and, again, paired incredibly well with the rabbit, each bringing out flavors in each other that enhanced the dish overall.
Up next was quail stewed with morels, allium, acorn dumplings, and quail egg. The acorn dumplings were a lot like gnocchi and I loved the earthy flavor.
I was picking quail feet out of my teeth… and enjoying it. I wanted to suck every morsel of quail off of that leg I could. This dish was just great. We asked for more bread just to be able to lap up the sauce.
It was paired with a sour ale, which, again, was great. They told us it came from a brewery in Southern California and was a wheat beer that was barrel aged to have a sour finish. This dish tasted like it was made for this beer.
Our final dish was wood pigeon liver custard. It was topped with elderflower jelly, pickled huckleberry, and lettuce. I am very sad that I had overdone it as much as I had at this moment and have very little recollection of this amazing part of the meal, but I did write myself one very telling note, all in caps: “WHY IS PIGEON LIVER SO GOOD??????”
I guess that says it all.
This was paired with a dry hopped cider from Square Mile Cider Co. I forgot to write down what we thought of it, but I trust it was as good as the rest of the pairings.
Our final dish (surprisingly not a dessert, those are separate from the Tasting Menus) was deer saddle wrapped in lettuce with birch syrup baked beans and porcini syrup with mustard seed. You will notice something missing from this review… I have no idea how I managed to take pictures of every last thing (including the candles, the water bottle, the floor… which I didn’t include since they were simply boring photos) but not this last dish. I have a feeling that the amount of alcohol I had up until this point was the reason. I wrote down that we loved the baked bean texture and that it was paired with an Omero Pinot Noir, but sadly, the rest is lost.
At this point… I’m not going to lie… things were very blurry. I had far too many beers before starting on this adventure and while these pairings were some of the best I ever had, my head was swirling. I did have the wherewithal to note 2 more things, however:
1- The soundtrack at this restaurant was fantastic
2- How on earth was this amazing restaurant empty?
This was the only time I really overdid it on the honeymoon, and it was not a pleasant experience, but the meal was worth every uncomfortable moment.
I am still shocked that this place wasn’t packed. Sure, it’s on the outskirts, and sure “game meat” is a scary thing, but this was so damn good and so damn different than I can’t imagine why a place like Portland wouldn’t be all over it. I’m pretty sure it’s only a few months old, so I’m going to assume that the reason is that this is a well kept secret, but I highly recommend that you head to the outskirts and try some amazing, flavorful, incredibly paired, and well cooked dishes that you have never had anywhere else.
Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10
Hand decorating and assembling the chocolates. #nycnomnom #theaxelbaums #theotour by @
