12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
Clemente’s, at once upscale and humble
Rating:
Review and photos by
THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
175 14th St., No. 180
Astoria, Ore., 97103
PHONE: 503-325-1067
HOURS: Tuesday through
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
PRICE: $$ — Entrées range
from teens to mid-20’s
SERVICE: Upbeat, person-
able
VEGETARIAN/VEGAN OP-
TIONS: A few odds and ends,
but no meatless entrées
DRINKS: Full bar, coffee, tea
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
never made it to the old
Clemente’s.
When they packed up
from the Carruthers Build-
ing in early 2015 and moved
a few blocks northeast to the pier
next to the Pilot House, two rea-
sons were given: to become more
intimate, and approachable.
And while they’ve ditched the
white tablecloths and a reportedly
cavernous dining room, Clem-
ente’s Cafe & Public House is still
pretty spiffy for a “public house.”
It inhabits a kind of blurry line
between laid back and fancy — a
place you’re more likely to find a
steak than a burger.
The burger, servers told me, is
tremendous, but it only appears
occasionally. The majority of Clem-
ente’s entrées change from night to
night. But there are a few standbys
you can count on: fish and chips, ci-
oppino, and a NY strip. The specials
of the day are listed on a chalkboard
near the kitchen. Over the course
of my trips, they included salmon
(grilled and fried in sandwich), phở
and fried asparagus.
Altogether, the night-to-night
choice of entrées was neat and nar-
row, reflecting the lean, essential
Clemente’s aesthetic. After going
big before, the current Clemente’s
seems something of a distillation,
simplifications of flavor and mood.
I was drawn to the bar and
wanted to wring even more view
than the tight Columbia-river
facing windows would allow. The
interior, formerly a boat repair
shop, is a reclaimed, handsome,
refashioning of retro space — the
bright varnished wood of the tables
and bar set against the aged, dark
beams of the high ceiling.
While the approach and entry
to the restaurant can feel a lit-
tle daunting, odd or awkward (I
can’t quite put my finger on it,
but felt it numerous times), once
CLEMENTE’S CAFE
& PUBLIC HOUSE
Bristol Bay Sockeye with clams,
sweet peppers, onion, bacon, bas-
mati rice and fiddleheads.
KEY TO STAR RATING SYSTEM
Above: NY strip steak with grilled green beans, kale rabe and
root mash. Left: Spicy poke, consisting of albacore in citrus, soy
and ginger marinade.
you’re seated it quickly turns easy,
relaxed, welcoming. Credit to the
young and attentive staff, who do
indeed proffer a personable “public
house”-type atmosphere.
I was delighted to find poke (a
raw fish salad) on the menu which,
as far as I can tell, doubles the
number of restaurants on the North
Coast that serve it. Clemente’s
offers two variations: regular and
spicy. I opted for the Spicy Poke
($14) and was blown away — not
so much by the flavor or heat but by
the sheer weight of tuna steak there-
in. It was downright hefty, a lunch’s
worth of ice cube-sized bites.
The melty chunks of Albacore
were smothered in a sambal-like
sauce, enlivened with lime, ginger
and soy sauce. Cucumbers provided
a crisp cool. It was nicely presented,
served in a ladle-like bowl with an
arching handle on a white plate, the
reds of the sauced fish contrasted
against vivid green onions and
lettuce, and dotted with
black sesame seeds.
I had to go easy on
it so as not to spoil my
appetite. But the main
course — Bristol Bay
Sockeye ($24) — was also teem-
ing. In a shallow bowl the salmon
steak, the size of a fat wallet, was
served atop rice, surrounded by
clams and sautéed veggies, topped
with fiddlehead fern tips, which
were foraged by the chef himself.
“He’s always out there,” a
server told me, “trying to always
feature something from the forest.”
The fiddleheads, young ferns,
were tight, spiraling adherents to
the golden ratio. They looked a bit
peculiar and tasted more so. There
was a bitterness and a whole lot
of earth, kind of like green dirt.
The rest was familiar. The peppers
and onions were cooked in bacon
grease and smacked of it. The
clams were unadorned, and the fish
could’ve been more seasoned.
Altogether, the dish was very
elemental: a handful of familiar,
mostly regional ingredients in their
most basic, healthful preparations.
On my second trip, I began
with the House Salad ($7), of fresh
mixed greens, minced hazelnuts
and too much of what is otherwise
a fine sweet maple vinaigrette. I
most enjoyed the blue cheese, from
Madrona, an Oregon-based cream-
ery. It was less shy than the usual
restaurant blue cheese, unafraid to
be pungent and funky.
Sampling the ever-present NY
Strip seemed the thing to do, and
when I ordered I asked for it to be
cooked at the chef’s discretion, as
if he were having it himself. That
information was relayed to the
letter, and verified thereafter. A
message from chef Clement came
back: He was thankful for someone
to trust his judgment, for once.
Ordering it his way was very
much the right choice. The strip
was lightly crusted, sealed, and
purple and buttery inside. And
once again: It was much larger
than I expected. Said to be some-
thing like 12 ounces, it was nearly
the size a boot print, and thick as
the heel. Shoe metaphors aside,
it was tender, not chewy. In the
Clemente’s aesthetic, it was very
minimally prepared, almost like on
a BBQ. If there’s a way that hunt-
Below average
Average
Good
Excellent
Best in region
ers eat steaks, this is it: Big. Not
overly fatty cuts, no dainty filets,
but hulking slabs of beef.
With the steak again, I got to try
new things: a “Kale Rabe,” which
closely approximated a broccoli rabe
by using mature kale stalks after the
leaves have been picked, and would
otherwise go to waste but are still
packed with nutrients; and a root
mash that whipped together celeriac,
purple and regular yams. I appreci-
ated how the celeriac dialed down
the sugars of the yams, which I often
find too sweet to enjoy much of.
Despite the clever refashion-
ing of sides, in the end the dish
amounted to the known classic:
meat and potatoes. Nothing wrong
with that, of course, and bless
the enormity of that steak. Apart
from the flourishes of novel and
local ingredients, though, Clem-
ente’s hewed closer to a traditional
aesthetic. It prizes unobtrusive,
healthy, back-to-basics preparation,
and the essential over the down-
right irresistible. It is, at once,
upscale and humble.