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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2017)
12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM Coast Weekend’s local restaurant review Cannon Beach holiday food event off ered global fl avors, great dining Review and photos by MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM C Court Carrier’s idea for the Holiday Foods Around the World Celebration came from an event he attended a few years ago. It mixed food and music, pairing regional cuisines with matching perfor- mances. For example: Italian and opera. Carrier, the executive direc- tor of Cannon Beach’s Chamber of Commerce, sought to do some- thing similar. He invited the city’s restaurants to expand their inspi- rations for an evening and create a dish refl ecting a foreign country. Nine restaurants signed up. Largely the countries of inspira- tion were European. Some — like EVOO, which chose Sicily, and Newman’s 988 with France — played it safe, proffering the same regionally rooted cuisines on which the foundations of their restaurants are cemented. Howev- er, Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse (Mexico), Season’s Cafe (Thai- land) and The Bistro (Vietnam) reached beyond Eurocentrism. My fi rst trip was to The Bistro. I was excited to see what new owner and chef Jack Stephenson was up to. I knew he came with a pedigree as a corporate chef, as well as with a background in French and Vietnamese styles. (Remember: The cuisines are intertwined as the French colonized Vietnam in the 19th century.) For the occasion, Stephenson created a three-course menu including Bun Tom Xao (a shrimp noodle salad), Ga Kho Gung (a spicy caramel chicken) and a Ginger Lemongrass Panna Cotta. But on this evening I was prepared neither to eat nor pay for three courses ($45). I opted instead for the Ga Kho Gung, which is on the regular menu. (The starter and dessert, though, were created for the event.) It was a frigid evening a few days after Christmas. The streets were barren, but the Bistro’s bar was packed with revelers eating, Above: Seasons Cafe’s Red Curry married sweet and salty with forward heat and healthy veggies. Above right: The Wayfarer’s Spanish paella featured succulent prawns and bright bell peppers. Right:The salty caramel chicken of the Gha Ko Gung played well against the accompanying sharp kim chi-topped rice, but the dish at The Bistro could have used a little more kim chi. drinking and singing along with lively folk tunes (via Rose and Thistle). With candles twinkling, glasses clinking and tables teem- ing, it was an ideal of holiday spirit — a warm, welcoming, cozy and rosy-cheeked celebration. The Ga Kho Gung, spendy for chicken at $25, came as two clus- ters — one of white rice, crowned with kim chi slaw, the other a cup of chicken in sauce. The chicken was cut into fi nger-sized pieces, likely to maintain a proper sauce- to-meat ratio. The salty, caramel liquid had hints of many things — soy, ginger, nuttiness and so on. It played well against the sharp kim chi — so much so I wished there had been more slaw. When I ran out, the sweetness of the caramel started stacking up. Next I went to the Wayfarer, which had adopted Spain as its country of cuisine. I crossed my fi ngers that would produce paella and celebrated upon arrival. The dish will forever take me back to my fi rst trip to Spain at age 19: I remember dining in the open air of a centuries-old square and being taken aback by prawns, complete with heads, eyes and legs. The Wayfarer’s version includ- ed only the tails. But, my God, were they succulent, luscious enough to elicit moans, so fl avorful as to make me wonder if the others I’d been eating were some different species. They were surrounded by a buttery base of rice and a sprin- kling of other seafoods, including mussels, clams, calamari and a few coin-sized slices of Olympic Provi- sions sausage. Besides the prawns, though, I was most impressed by the bell peppers — yes, the bell peppers. Like the prawns, they were brighter than all the others. While I quite enjoyed digging through the open-faced pan, the dish never quite overcame the sum of its parts. But, all the same, the sum of those parts approached as- tronomical. Indeed, the Wayfarer’s pantry is fi lled with ingredients from exquisite purveyors. Like the inverse of the Ga Kho Gung, the saltiness of the paella kept creeping. It could’ve used more fat, perhaps, or vegetable seasoning. Nonetheless, I won- dered why we don’t see the dish more on the North Coast as it’s one of the premiere seafood showcas- es. Against cioppino, which I fi nd regularly, paella — more enticing and fi lling — whips its butt around the block. Indeed, if any chefs or restauranteurs are reading, I beseech you: paella with Oregon seafoods. Thanks, and you’re welcome. My fi nal trip was to Seasons Cafe, which took on Thailand. I appreciated the wholeness of the restaurant’s special concoctions for the day: an appetizer, two soups and two entrées. The Tom Ka Gai soup ($6 cup) reminded me of something my grandmother might have made — only if my grand- mother messed with Asian spices. The yellow curry broth cupped hearty, home-y chunks of chicken, carrot and celery. It was comfort- ing, fi lling and easy — almost a stew. The Red Curry ($17), which I had with shrimp, was a reason- able zag from the yellow curry soup. The red pepper-y sauce was mischievous with forward heat. Together with bean sprouts, zucchini, peppers and a plate of rice, Seasons achieved the most righteous balances. Not only did their offering perfectly mesh sweet and salty — which each stymied the Bistro and Wayfarer — the Seasons Cafe wed indulgent fl a- vors with healthy eating. As the week came to a close I shed a tear — it ended up being not only some of the better eating but dining I’ve done. The event invites both restaurants and diners to expand their horizons. Here’s hoping it not only continues in Cannon Beach but is adopted by other cities in the region. For in communities as close-knit as ours, there’s potential to come together and explore the world at large.
