Clyde Common Review: Clyde Commons and subcutaneous fat
On Clyde Common‘s homepage, you are greeted with a pig. Would that not make you giddy as well? I learned about Clyde Commons when NY Times touched on the Portland dining scene last year. I had high expectations for the meal since it was to be the conclusion of what was a fantabulous day. Why was it so great?
Because the Los Angeles Lakers lost game 4 of the NBA Finals that day and it was glorious! Glorious I say! Watching basketball is always like this: no matter what happens, what my preferred team overcomes, I always think they will screw it up somehow. Especially if the other team has Kobe. Seriously, the dude can dunk over snakes. Anyway, after the crazy 20 point comeback by the Celtics, I was super amped and all I wanted to do was eat bunny.
Good thing Clyde Commons had rabbit on the menu! Great how life works out some times. I actually was not sure what the hell they were good at, and I just wanted to pick out-of-the-normal things. First up was an appetizer of braised beef tongue and grilled octopus. Usually my experience with beef tongue has been in thin slices and this was the first time the tongue came in a block form. When you cook tongue too long, it becomes really hard to chew… and this was quite the opposite. As far as tongue goes, I like a lot of it. Wait, are we still talking about food? Right. We are. I would say the tongue was not out of the world but it just really depends on your preference? Some other parts are more enjoyable than tongue.
Anyway… the grilled octopus was nicely charred but too black for my eating buddy, Jack. I liked it because octopus is another thing that is difficult to cook and easy to overcook. Overall, a solid but not mind blowing first dish.
After the beef tongue came the entrees. Jack had pork belly and I had mister bun-bun. The pork belly was super duper melty. Jack offered me a piece and when I stuck my fork it it to try and pick it up, the fork just lifted up without the pork belly. The pork belly was simply too soft to be picked up by that method; it required a scooping motion with the fork. Either way, it was a super tasty pork belly. Sometimes I want a dish like that to offer some textural contrast, perhaps they could have seared it at the end of the cooking process?
The rabbit dish was phenomenal. It had a piece of the leg, and beneath it were braised pieces from other parts of the rabbit. Mmmmm… flavorful rabbit. I really had no idea why eating something that reminds me of bunny is so delicious… maybe it is because I harbor ill feelings towards bunny rabbits everywhere. Who knows?
And after the main courses, I picked a crepe dessert because it had rhubarb in it. Apparently those things are in season right now? The crepe came with rhubarb ice cream in the middle and it was… just ok. Really, it kind of underwhelmed. Maybe I expected too much from rhubarb ice cream but duuude, if you are going to bother making ice cream out of it, MAKE IT TASTY!
I actually have a few more Portland posts that I will try to cram in this weekend, this way you all can read other stuff starting next week. And since I am home this weekend, this means haiku will come on Sunday! Weee!!! Ok, I am starving…
Clyde Common1014 SW Stark St.Portland, OR 97205503-228-3333