Le Pigeon, in southeast Portland, has a warm, pleasantly disorganized atmosphere with its open kitchen, stacks of preserves on the wall and dessert menu on a chalk board. The room has several tables, some clearly communal and shared by several parties. About 1/3 of the seats are at the bar.
My husband David, and I arrived without reservations relatively early this Friday evening, and were seated at the bar (our favorite spot). From there we watched dishes prepared by two sous chefs under the watchful eye of chef Gabriel Rucker, pigeon tattoos and all.
For an appetizer, I had a creamy rich chanterelle soup accompanied by a “sandwich” of foie gras and candy cap mushroom jam on a pancake-y biscuits. The soup was wonderful and earthy; the sandwich was a bit greasy, and the foie gras flavor got lost in the sweetness of the mapley candy cap mushroom, but nonetheless it was the fanciest soup and sandwich dish I’ve ever eaten. The surprising match for the dish was the Rogue Brutal Bitter beer I’d ordered upon arrival. David had ricotta gnocchi with a rich roasted goat ragu for starters. His comment: “Takes me to Italy.” Say no more.
For mains, David savored fall-off-the-bone lamb neck (another entry in his braised meat culinary library) served over lentils. Very flavorful and wonderfully cooked, the dish also sported an eggplant ragu and a tangy yogurt sauce (like tzatziki without tons of garlic) which matched well with the richness of the lamb and lentils. I’m inspired to use lentils as a base for braised meats – a nice change from rice, pasta, and polenta.
I had a leek bread pudding served over a fennel puree topped with roasted cauliflower and a few shaved white truffles. The bread pudding was satisfying, but could have had more leek flavor. The fennel puree was really wonderful. The surprise for me, being black truffle-averse, was the pleasing taste added by the white truffles (when I saw them on the plate, I was worried, and almost sent it back — I would not have ordered it if I’d known it came with truffles). The flavor is much milder than black truffles and contributed to, rather than dominated, the flavors of the dish. Even white truffles, however, have a pervasive character, as I tasted a certain truffle note the rest of the evening.
We drank a 2006 Cornas (Granit 30, Vincent Paris) from the northern Rhone region with the meal. The wine was thin in body, but had some delicate earthy notes matched with red currant.
This restaurant is highly recommended. Service was prompt but not intrusive. When we said “no” to dessert, the server assured us that if we wanted to wait a bit and let our meal settle, that would be fine. We didn’t, but I found the comment gracious. While the dessert menu was interesting, alas, there was no room. Perhaps another day.