Culinary Artistry

Last night, the cow and I joined 14 other diners at Culinary Artistry for a benefit dinner where all of the proceeds went to the Garden of Wonders at Abernathy School. I ran across the dinner as I was reading the Portland Food Dudes blog. I have been wanting to try one of these specialty dinners since the cow and I have moved but I have found it very difficult to land a reservation. When I saw that all of the dishes would be paired with Medoyeff Vodka or Aviation Gin from House Spirits Distillery, I jumped on the chance for a couple of seats.

There aren’t any pictures because the space was very intimate. I did not want to interrupt or disturb any of the other diners so I tried to put as much to memory as possible. Wish me luck on my descriptions….
We arrived at 6:00pm and the tables were starting to fill with guests. The walls were a lovely honeydew melon color with dark wood and stark white accents which made the space very cozy. There were large windows with the sunlight streaming in and a great old screen door. The table was dressed with white linen and enough silverware for an army. The centerpiece was edible and looked beautiful - an almond pistachio crunchy creation and breadsticks laid directly on the table for atmosphere.

We instantly found a place to sit and started to introduce ourselves to the other guests. Once all the guests had arrived Jenn Louis, the owner and chef of Culinary Artistry introduced herself, the two distillers from House Spirits, Lee Medoff and Christian Krogstad, and the pastry chef Anja Spence. Jenn was an eloquent speaker and a gracious host she made us feel welcome from the very beginning. The cocktails paired with each entrée were actually created and being prepared by the distillers themselves.

The menu was on elegant silver paper and read as follows:
Culinary Artistry Spring Dinner with House Spirits and Miss Zumstein’s delicious desserts
June 4th, 2006

Oysters on the half shell with grapefruit mignionette
Grapefruit tinged Medoyeff Martini (no description necessary)

Butter lettuce salad with radish, pine nuts and orange & tarragon vinaigrette
Southside royal (Medoyeff vodka, champagne and mint)

Porcini and chili marinated pork tenderloin, roasted onions
(Substitute: Scallops)
Negroni (Aviation gin, sweet vermouth, campari)

Crispy duck with sage polenta and asparagus
(Substitute: Halibut)
Oregon sage sour (Aviation gin, fresh lemon juice, sage, egg white, shaken)

Aviation sorbet

Buttery Pound Cake with housemade Seville orange marmalade with vanilla bean chantilly cream
Chelsea side car (Aviation gin, cointreau, fresh lemon & orange juice, bitters)

Light delights served with Stumptown coffee
Rosemary infused bittersweet truffles
Almond tuile
Butter shortbread
White chocolate fresh mint cookies

As the evening ended I felt like I had been at a close friends dinner party. I had chatted the night away with a suburbanite mom, watched a gentlemen eat the duck with his hands, listened to conversations about dream jobs and experienced a wonderful dinner, with lavish cocktails and inspiring desserts. On the way home the sun was finally setting over the west hills creating a sunlit dance on the few remaining clouds overhead. A wonderful visual end to an exciting gastronomic evening.