One of the restaurants I was most looking forward to eating at while in Portland is The Farm Cafe. As their name describes, they get their ingredients fresh from local farms whenever possible and offer a rotating seasonal menu. It’s known for having great local microbrews and an extensive winelist along with plenty of ambiance, but not for having a lot of vegan food as there’s only one vegan meal offered as an entree.
It’s this one entree though that’s been driving vegan Portland eaters wild with glee, the Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala which also comes with some bad-ass garlic mashed potatoes. I’d heard it was excellent and I was all set to try. Once we got there though, I was thrown a curveball in the form of a nightly specials menu which listed something which sounded even more enticing…
Tempeh Masala: Tempeh marinated in East Indian spices, pan-fried crisp then served with braised summer vegetables, tandoori jasmine rice, stela cherry chutney (also served with dilled yogurt which isn’t vegan so they left it off for me).
This was so good, and not really at all what I expected it to be like. I was thinking it would have a more recognizable Indian food taste to it but I didn’t get that from it, but wow, what I did get was awesome. The texture was almost meatloaf like, though with a nice thick and crispy crust. Juicy and delicious with all kinds of exotic spices I wouldn’t be able to identify. The cherry chutney was both sweet and tart at the same time, a divine jam covering all the bases. I’d just had these stela cherries fresh at the farmers market earlier that day, how nice to see something like that moving from farmer to plate. The vegetables were tasty though relatively simple. The serving was huge, with two GIANT tempeh slabs and a healty mound of rice. I barely got through one portion of the tempeh and had a lot of leftovers to take home. My friend’s reaction to this dish was that it reminded her of Thanksgiving with cherries instead of cranberries.
Along with our main courses we’d also ordered the appetizer which OrganicGirl (who’s been here a number of times) was very excited about getting, and I can see why:
Rosemary-roasted Hazelnuts: Special house recipe involving brown sugar and tabasco. And that’s all they’re telling. These were amazing… just perfectly roasted and coated in this yummy sticky sweet hot goodness, all infused with an almost overwhelming taste and sent of rosemary. These were flavors I’d never think to put together, which is why I don’t run a great restaurant and they do.
p.s. Here’s the recipe for Farm Cafe Roasted Hazelnuts at Let’s Get Sconed!
I mentioned the ambiance, and as you may have noticed by the dark and blurry photos, it was rather dark in there. The restaurant is in a small converted house and it’s lit up inside by lots of candles and low lighting. The effect is magical and romantic and this would be a fantastic place to go on a date or with a small group of friends for special occasions. It’s very open with a small patio in the back where we initially waited to be seated. Apparently they get very busy but we didn’t have to wait long at all, though we did get there pretty late at around 10:30pm.
The Farm Cafe definitely lived up to and exceed my expectations, even though my expectations were to eat one thing and I left eating something else entirely. If I lived there this would for sure be on my list of places to eat when feeling fancy or flirty, or both.
www.thefarmcafe.net
Stayed tuned for ‘Foodeater Does Vegan Portland’, Pt. 5!
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This whole dinner looks amazing but those hazelnuts sound insane (to my hazelnut-addicted self)!!!
Giant slabs of tempeh and roasted hazelnuts!!! Wow, it sounds like The Farm Cafe was definitely worth the trip. It’s nice that they made sure the few vegan choices they had were more than decent. :) And an extra shout-out to them for knowing how to work with tempeh so that it actually tastes good!
Liz: The hazelnuts were off the hook. I ate way too many and wanted more.
ruby red vegan: Yeah, they really know how to work the tempeh for sure, it didn’t taste like any other other way that I’ve had it prepared before. Now I just need to go back and try their tofu!
So how quickly are you going to start your attempts at recreating the hazelnuts? I’ll volunteer my services as a taste-tester!
Vegyogini: psssst… check my updated post for the recipe!
Those Rosemary-roasted Hazelnuts alone would make me want to dine at the Farm Café - yum!
Stop making me want to go to Portland!! We can’t travel for the time being ($$ and sick kitty)…
Looks like you had a wonderful trip, at least gastronomically.
Mmm, I loved eating at the Farm Cafe when I was in Portland. Lucky you they had a vegan special! Oh, and since you didn’t get to try it, the tofu mushroom marsala recipe is up on everyday dish and I can attest that the home version was just about as good as what I had in the restaurant! Looks like you had a great trip….
Vegan_noodle: Thanks for the tip on the tofu mushroom marsala recipe! I might just need to wait till I get back to Portland so that I can try the original :)
I regret skipping The Farm, next time!