Cava

Last Saturday Grandma Jerri came up to give us a night out on the town. We chose to try a place in one of the most interesting locations I've been to in Portland. Cava is on Foster just south of Powell. The restaurant sits just a stone's throw from Devil's Point Tavern (strippers) and across the street from Pussycat's (24-hour adult video and lingerie shows). If you Google "Portland Oregon gastropub," this is the place that pops up at the top of the list. It is cozy and grown-up inside (although there is a kid's menu). Basically, you're choosing between a few sandwiches, a special entree or two, and a couple of choices involving pate. The wine choices are NOT local - most are European and have names that make choosing one more of a guessing game. Their website says that they only take reservations for 6 or more, and yet when the two of us showed up, they asked us if we had called ahead. When we said that we hadn't, they sat us at the "island" which is an elevated counter in the middle of the dining area. Sitting at it (alone with Jay) made me feel like we were the one couple who had failed to make a reservation. That all said, this place rocked.

When Jay mentioned that I was having a hard time choosing a wine, our server asked what kinds of wine I liked, made a recommendation and offered to get me a taste to make sure I liked what she had suggested.

When another server came to take our order, I mentioned that we had looked at their website and than hadn't called due to what we'd read there, she offered (happily and apologetically) to get us seated at the next available booth (which was good because I was not enjoying having my legs dangling off the kind of narrow barstool).

Jay ordered a burger with blue cheese and sauteed onions and a butter lettuce (with avocado) salad with green goddess dressing. I went with a special and got the pan-seared halibut with a corn and tomato salsa which seemed to have just a little mint in it. I also had their fresh green bean salad, which had fennel (I think) and bacon and a peppery vinaigrette. So yummy and creative and beautiful..... We split a piece of warm peach pie with ice cream and called it a night.

Best dinner out we've had in my recent memory. So glad Jerri's willing to come up once a month and give us a chance to head toward civilization for an hour or two of grown-up conversation.