OCTOBER 2008 ARCHIVES
This week's email
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 by Ben
Howdy. First off, I want to thank all of you so much for the outpouring of support for our new project that I was talking about inlast week's email. I really appreciate the good wishes and extensions of assistance. As I said last week, we would be nowhere without all of you who have supported us for the past five years, and look we look forward to embarking upon the next stage of our business with all of youalongside us. As promised, I will divulge more info as time goes on. I'll havemore for you ina month or two.
Well, it looks like we've got some fans of Spanish food in our community; the dinner we're doing on this coming Saturday with Viridian Farms was met with resounding enthusiasm. We are currently full, with a small waiting list. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, call or email us. Things happen, a few spots usually open up, but I can't make any guarantees. All I can say is, if you haven't yet made reservations, good luck to you. Apparently we'll have to do this thing again sometime. Here's the full menu for Saturday:
Saturday, October 11th
Basque Dinner with Viridian Farms
Pintxo Duo of Piquillo Pepper Stuffed with Oxtail
and
Savory Dungeness Crab Crepe
Alubias de Tolosa (Basque Beans) with House-Cured Chorizo and Piparras
Simple Greens with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Pacific Cod a la Vizcaina with Braised Fennel and Potatoes
Cream-Filled Almond Pastel Vasco with Apple Compota
Price is $40 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations. If you find yourselves without any dinner plans late in the day on Fridays or Saturdays, it doesn't hurt to give us a call, we sometimes have some last minute cancellations or spots open up, and we'd love to have you come in and eat with us.
Sunday
Brunch
Brunch is served from 9am to 2pm, and no reservations are required. We are now accepting reservations for parties of 8 or more people. To make reservations, call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 or RSVP with your name, party size and the time you would like to come. Your reservation will be confirmed by phone or e-mail.
Thanks again, everyone. I hope you have a great week. I'm pretty excited to be going to the first Blazers' pre-season game tonight. I'll finally be able to see some of these new guys in action (Great Oden's Raven!)
-Benjamin Dyer
This week's email
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Ben
Good evening, folks. I hope this missive finds all of you well. It was a nice sunny day today, wasn't it? Too bad it's supposed to drop into freezing temps tonight. But as my wife Megan was kind enough to point out, "At least the trees are going to turn pretty colors." True enough, thanks for the dose of optimism. I'll try not to distract all of you from thoughts of pretty leaves and figuring out what to wear for Halloween, so I'll keep this email short.
We only have one dinner this weekend, on Saturday. But, we've tried to come up with something extra special for all of you who get into this week's dinner. The folks in the kitchen were thinking Alsatian, which is perfect for this time of year. We've got a bunch of goodies in the works for the dinner, including our housemade sauerkraut, some Boudin Blanc and some smoked pork sausages. Actually, this menu could either be a celebration of Alsatian cuisine, or it could just be a celebration of the miracle animal know as Pig. Pig really is the magical fruit... check out the menu and you'll see what I mean.
Saturday, October 18th
Warm Housemade Pretzels with Emmenthal Fondue and Spicy Mustard
Heirloom Beets and Endive with Hard Boiled Egg, Pickled Onions and Parsley
Alsation Choucroute Garnie with Viande Meats' Boudin Blanc, Smoked Pork Sausage, Braised Pork Belly, Smoked Pork Shoulder, Housemade Sauerkraut and Potatoes
Apple Strudel with Creme Anglaise
Price is $40 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations. If you find yourselves without any dinner plans late in the day on Fridays or Saturdays, it doesn't hurt to give us a call, we sometimes have some last minute cancellations or spots open up, and we'd love to have you come in and eat with us.
Sunday
Brunch
Brunch is served from 9am to 2pm, and no reservations are required. We are now accepting reservations for parties of 8 or more people. To make reservations, call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 or RSVP with your name, party size and the time you would like to come. Your reservation will be confirmed by phone or e-mail.
Man, that menu is nice. If I wasn't spending the weekend at the Wild About Game event, I would be there. Maybe I'll see some of you up at the Inn at The Mountain, though. If so, I look forward to seeing you there. Have a great week, I'll have more for you next week. Much love.
-Benjamin Dyer
This week's email
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by Ben
Hi! Another week down, it's hard to believe the holidays are creeping up already. My kids have been all-aflutter over their Halloween costumes. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, what does it mean that my 6-year old boy wants to be a zombie- chef for Halloween? Should I be flattered, or just weirded out? I'm going with flattered. And my 8-year old daughter is staying the course, as usual... if you dress as an angel, and you have a wand and wings, does that make you really all that different from a fairy, or a princess, or a fairy princess? And I know that the American Dental Association CLAIMS to be against all that sugar and hard candy, but don't you think there's a few dentists out there who see Halloween as the opportunity to finally get that new Beemer or plunk down the down payment on that sweet tropical getaway bungalow? I'm just musing aloud here, pay me no mind.
Down to business. As some of you may have noticed, we've been a little light on dining hall dinners. The reason for this is that people have been renting out the dining hall fairly often recently. While we do try to discourage this (we really enjoy doing our dinners), some people are very persuasive (see: dollar bills). To make up for it, we will be hosting an extra special bonus dinner this week, as we are wont to do when these situations arise. Be sure to check out Thursday night's menu... also be sure to check out how inexpensive it is. Then, be sure to make reservations. It's that easy. It should come as no surprise thenthat Friday we will not be doing a dinner due to a private party in the dining hall, but we will be back on Saturday with another fine menu (see: Mesquite-Grilled Ribeyes - Yum).
Real quickly before I detail this week's menus, I wanted to give a shout out to my good friends at Nicky USA who hosted the 2008 Wild About Game event. They were gracious enough to invite me to do a demo, and treated me quite nicely. Thank you all very much. Also, congratulations to my old friend John Gorham who took first prize in the Game Cook-Off competition.
Oh! One more thing. The holidays are fast approaching and we are quickly scheduling special events and holiday parties. If you are interested in having us cater an event for you or hosting a private dinner in the Dining Hall, give us a call soon at (503)235-1600 or email
inquiries@simpaticacatering.com.
Ok, here's the menus for the week:
Thursday, October 23rd
Potato Leek Soup with Creme Fraiche and Chives
Roast Chicken and Collard Greens with Housemade Bacon
Warm Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
Price is $25 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations.
Saturday, October 25th
Caramelized Cauliflower Soup
Treviso Salad with Roasted Pears and Warm Pancetta Vinaigrette
Mesquite-Grilled Piedmontese Beef Ribeye with Potatoes Robuchon and Red Wine Sauce
Chocolate Pots de Creme with Anise Shortbread Cookies
Price is $40 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations. If you find yourselves without any dinner plans late in the day on Fridays or Saturdays, it doesn't hurt to give us a call, we sometimes have some last minute cancellations or spots open up, and we'd love to have you come in and eat with us.
Sunday
Brunch
Brunch is served from 9am to 2pm, and no reservations are required. We are now accepting reservations for parties of 8 or more people. To make reservations, call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 or RSVP with your name, party size and the time you would like to come. Your reservation will be confirmed by phone or e-mail.
Take care, everyone. I look forward to talking to you all again next week. Much love.
-Benjamin Dyer
This week's email
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by Ben
Boo! Halloween's just a few short days away (by short I mean that it is dark soooo late in the morning and gets dark again soooo early. And just think! As of Sunday it will get dark even earlier! Yippee! Can you tell how excited I am? Awesome. Sorry if I'm a bit acerbic, I just got back from taking my kids to not one, but two successive pizza parties, one for Bjorn's soccer team and the other a 6-year old's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. I'm a little spun.
Pay attention to next week's email, I'll be discussing Thanksgiving in depth, talking Turkey, some foodstuffs we'll be preparing this year, and how to get your hands on some of it. Important stuff.
For this week, we've got TWO, yes two, dinners available in the dining hall. It's been a long time coming, but here we are. I'm not going to waste too much time, I'm just going to get right into the menus. Have a great Halloween, everyone, I hope you all stay safe and I hope you kids out there get enough candy to fill a wheelbarrow.
Here's the menus for this week:
Friday, October 31st
Chicken Liver and Sage Crostini with Frisee, Lemon and Green Olives
Risotto Con Funghi with Forest Mushrooms and Pecorino Romano
Roast Chicken "Porchetta" with Red Wine-Braised Chicories
Chocolate Upside Down Pear Cake with Mascarpone Mousse
Price is $35 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7:30 pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations.
Saturday, November 1st
Tomato, Fennel and Viridian Farms' White Bean Soup
Gathering Together Farms' Fall Lettuces with Celery Root, Prosciutto and Black Truffle Vinaigrette
Wood-Grilled Pork Loin with Provencal Squash Gratin
Pippen Apple and Puff Pastry Tart with Walnut Ice Cream
Price is $35 perperson plus wine and gratuity. Dinner begins at 7pm. PleaseRSVPor call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 to make reservations.
If you find yourselves without any dinner plans late in the day on Fridays or Saturdays, it doesn't hurt to give us a call, we sometimes have some last minute cancellations or spots open up, and we'd love to have you come in and eat with us.
Sunday
Brunch
Brunch is served from 9am to 2pm, and no reservations are required. We are now accepting reservations for parties of 8 or more people. To make reservations, call the kitchen at (503)235-1600 or RSVP with your name, party size and the time you would like to come. Your reservation will be confirmed by phone or e-mail.
Have a great weekend, everyone. Don't forget to turn your clocks back on Saturday night if you live in an area with Daylight Savings time. Until next week, take care.
-Benjamin Dyer
Pages:
1