date night | Hot Off The Dress

Miek and I wandered into Caiola’s this week for our Wednesday Date Night. Located on the West End, it’s a cozy, neighborhood gem boasting antique pendant lights, warm wood accents, and a bustling kitchen serving up thoughtful, inventive dishes.

It was very busy for a weeknight (next time we will make a reservation) – a testament to Portland’s strong foodie contingent.

After a root ginger beer Dark and Stormy and Miek’s usual Stoli soda, we were led through the kitchen to our table near the back patio. We decided to order a bunch of appetizers to sample the menu: a Gorgonzola sformato accompanied by a sweet-tart cherry compote and date shavings, polenta fries with a sinful cheddar-parmesan cheese sauce and red pepper and tomato fresh relish, the braised beef taquito with tempura fried peppers, mussels in a tomato broth spiked with toasted garlic and grana padano, and a caesar salad topped with fried oysters.

Every Wednesday night is date night. I like having something to look forward to as I trudge through Monday and Tuesday, and it allows Miek and me to connect mid-week over the many delicious culinary treats this city has to offer. It started out informally; we realized that for several weeks, we had been meeting for Wednesday dinners out at our favorite spots — slurping oysters loaded with horseradish and lemon, sitting elbow-to-elbow at our neighborhood spot called JPs for creative cocktails and specials, scarfing down po’ boys at Hot Suppa! or getting our fried pickles on a Silly’s. We realized we had a list of restaurants to work through, and have found that “Wednesday Date Night” is the way to do it.

Tonight we had ramen and appetizers at Pai Men Miyake, a noodle bar that specializes in fresh ramen and soba, sushi, yakitori, and sake cocktails. Miek started with their pork buns, which were steamed bun pillows filled with unctuous pork belly, pepper relish and spicy mayo. I had the pan-seared pork and cabbage dumplings. For the main event, I had the vegetable ramen; although it was a vegetarian dish, it was rich and “meaty” with a dark mushroom broth, cabbage, seaweed, tofu, spicy garlic paste and peppers. Miek had the miso ramen. We shared crispy fried Brussels sprouts kissed by fish and soy sauces – a textural delight of crispy caramelized bits and soft, salty centers. With sake cocktails in hand, we toasted to another Hump Day success and crossed another Portland restaurant off our list.