Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About Cougar print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1976-1977 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1976)
Mt. Hood dining: snails, steaks, and down home cooking It's a cozy, cotton-candy world at Mt. Hood, when the red sun falls to its knees at the end of a winter's day. You'll want to sit on the edge of the sunset and watch the white-frosted moun tain blush pink. But when the spirit of dark ness snaps up your shadow, it's time to snuggle up for dinner. Forest Inn and Chalet Swiss received the highest ratings in a survey of Mt. Hood restaurants where owners or managers of each establishment were asked where they would dine out -- other than their own restaurant. For more casual dining, the Log Lodge and Zigzag Inn were rated the most popular. By Lenna Fitch Staff Writer Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and other clas sical pianists accompany the European decor at the Forest Inn at Aldercreek. Most of the customers who patronize the Inn drive from the city to warm by the stone fireplace and make an evening of the con tinental cuisine. The Forest Inn is cradled in a valley 8 miles east of Sandy on High way 26, and proprietors are Hans D'Alessio and his wife Ulla. Evergreens in the forest beckon in the wind as Ulla greets you at the door. With your cocktails, hor d'oeuvres of tiny Japan ese baby lobsters are a suggesting prelude to a symphony of primed aged meats and delicacies of the sea that have recently won D'Alessio a five-star international rating by Michelin's magazine, a French publication. Other awards bestowed on them are the Holiday five-star and the Mobil Travel five- star. Many celebrities and public figures make the Forest Inn a must when in Port land. You'll dine beneath a coat of arms, or shadows of moose horns silently scaling the Page 16 cedar walls. Soup of dill, curry, spinach or other potage creations precede a crisp salad. An entree of stuffed abalone seduces even the modest appetite. Australian lobster tem pts you from a tantalizing orange shell. Steak dishes transform the most abstemious into gourmets. The "sauce" is the secret. While skis and toboggans sketch the mountain sides, D'Alessio and his assistant spend the day in the kitchen interweaving spices and other choice ingrediences har moniously into a variety of piquant com positions. With his gourmet training in Zurich Switzerland at Hotel Merkur, Totdhar and Jungfrau Joch, D'Alessio adds the sauce and transcends tender cuts of fillet into Tournedos Rossini, Medallions of Beef, Cream Ou Morrelles, and other pleasures that will bring you back again and again. Reservations are necessary. Prices start at $7.40 for complete dinners. The restau rant opens at 5:30 p.m. and is closed on Monday. The D'Alessios also own the Ivy Bear next door where the quality food draws the younger set and those with modest budgets. When dining out, Hans and Ulla D'Alessio eat at the Chalet Swiss. Anytime you'd like to have dinner at a remote herdsman's hut in the Alps without going abroad, dine at the Chalet Swiss on Highway 26 in Wemme. While winter's bride rides the night winds, spinning cartwheels up the highest peaks, take refuge in this mouth like manna from heaven. Ify| to cook your own meat to perfectid table, order Fondue Bourguignonnt be served a variety of sauces to d] pieces of beef in. Dinner is not complete withoj Toblerone (Hot Toblerone chocolatl over a scoop of vanilla ice cream andl It is superb. Prices start at $7.00. The restauran at 5 p.m. and closes on Monday an day. It is also to be closed Dec. 13l 29. Where would Mezgar dine out? "At the Forest Inn," he said. Ft casual dining he would eat at the Log "You don't have to go to a fane to get good wholesome food," I Log Lodge is the most popular restaurant among owners for the qua food and congenial atmosphere. And all restaurant owners agreed that tb for breakfast was Log Lodge. It's cabin located on Highway 26 in Rho dron. So by the time the mountain bln come to rest on the first morning suil it's time to head out for breakfast, want to enjoy the splendor of the nr before the fresh snow blossoms will the roadside. Log Lodge opens at: Why do the local people go thl breakfast? "It could be the old-fashioned pi potatoes," said owner B.J. Kim. Hesa he uses no ready made or frozenl . when the red sun falls to its knees... whi the spirit of darkness snags up your shadow it’s time to snuggle up for dinner.’ gleaming little fortress. Reserve a seat. The restaurant accommodates only fifty. Among the selections of hors d'oeuvres to give you strength, as you relax with cordial spirits served in bell-shaped glasses, are Buendnerfleishch (paper thin dried beef) and a Roclette Taster (Swiss Raclette cheese broiled over a roll). Kurt Mezger, owner of the Chalet Swiss, served his apprenticeship in Bern and in "season hotels" in Switzerland -- his home land. In the Mt. Hood area he converted an old community church into a restaurant where he ministers to the hungry red-nosed skier and the weary traveler as well as the connoisseur of the culinary arts. Swiss wheat, cauliflower or cucumber soup warms the heart. Antique bells and copper pots hang above Swiss farm furni ture. Back in the kitchen that glistens as clean as the fresh fallen snow, Mezger works alone, with only the aid of a dishwasher. While you're trying to persuade the wait ress to reveal the secret ingrediences in the green colored salad dressing, Mezger is pre paring you one of seventeen entrees. If you like snails. Steak a L'escargots (served with herb butter on rice) could be your choice. You may want to try Zurcher Geschnetzeltes (a dish of delicate veal scal lops blessed with a rich cream sauce and mushrooms). It is served with Spaetzli -- tiny home made noodles that melt in your "Ninety five per cent of everyth made from scratch," he explained.“ I fry potatoes, I start by peeling the toes." Kim said that almost all of his custi are regulars. He opens the restaurant for breakfast and dinner on Thursdays days, Saturdays, and Sundays. Amos selections offered for dinner by ths side are steak sandwiches, a ham and« sandwich that is popular, and completal dinners along with an oriental sped! Thursday evenings. Kim is from Kl The Log Lodge is known for its I made pies of huckleberry, blackberry,! berry, and pumpkin. Kim's wife Eoo! does most of the cooking. "I think my prices are lower than! body elses'," said Kim. Complete dl range from $4.50 to $6.95. Zigzag Inn in Zigzag is another rests I favored by owners for casual dining.RI hopscotch merrily along an old log it I fireplace on the back wall. Fromthfl dow, customers can watch the snoifl For dinner they are served everything soup and sandwiches to chicken andi lings and steak and lobster. Home pies follow. They do a tremendous bul Owners are Merrill and Collette Bal Chefs are Salvadore Hernandez andl Redding. They are open 7 days a week! II a.m. Monday through Thursday! 7 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Clackamas Community Cl