Lagniappe

On a recent trip to PDX we drove by the new SPORTS BAR CARCASS of where Lagniappe used to be and wept openly for the fall of one of Portland’s best. Seriously.
We found Lagniappe on an innocent search for cajun/​creole restaurants in PDX, and fell in love. The restaurant was never packed when we went there, but it benefited us because it meant being able to talk to the chef/​owner about all of the details of the place.
If I remember correctly, the walls were low-​lit and painted an earthy gold with purple trim, and the artwork hung varied from locally-​themed, highly illustrated maps of New Orleans, to posters of music events from the area. The owner could tell you all about each piece, over samples of New Orleans’ Abita brand beer on tap.
My personal favorite Lagniappe dish: their chicken, shrimp, and crawfish gumbo! The chicken was mesquite smoked on site using only authentic (and therefor imported) wood for the job, as the owner said he would have it no other way. I miss that meal, with it’s spicy rice and generous servings of crawfish!
Damn you, Portland!– For letting such a wonderful place go out of business! A pox on your… stuff! You bully! Though I suppose their leaving was in part my fault too– for not sharing them with everyone I knew when I still had the chance.
They are missed.

Bummed to see this one go… nothing like a good Hurricane to wash the worries away.
But word on the street says that a new breakfast /​late-​night diner named Rock’s will be opening within the month, run by unknown chef Ben Phillips…
cha-​cha-​cha-​changes!

I ate here Sunday 09÷23÷07 and ordered the pulled pork sandwich which was good although a tad bit dry. The roasted red-​pepper-​and-​chicken soup was great. I was surprised to see no mac-​and-​cheese on the «sides» menu.
My date got the sausage po-​boy which he rated at three stars. He was disappointed that they weren’t serving their famous brisket, which they recently discontinued due to complaints from the neighbors.
The sauces they offer are delicious and made up for the slight dryness of the meat. Great atmosphere and nice bar… also a good happy hour menu which I would like to go back and try.
Dessert: chocolate buttermilk cake. Fine, but nothing to write home about. There were four layers of cake with tons of frosting in between them and tons of frosting everywhere else… I am actually looking for the perfect piece of chocolate cake with the proper cake-​to-​frosting ratio. Lemme know if you find it.

«Eh!»
Flavor isn’t anything spectacular, just okay. Ran out of cornbread, so that sucked. No mac & cheese as a side? Doh! Good hurricanes and nice outdoor dining area get this place a couple stars though.

Laginappe was much more enjoyable when it was a tiny dive on Broadway. With the move to the lame Alberta «Arts» district came the increased prices and I think a loss in quality. Some things are better kept secret.

I was very excited when I saw the phone number painted on the side of the restaurant as 249-​PORK. Sadly there was no pork on the menu. I ordered the crawfish étouffée. It was okay. Could have been a lot spicier and more flavorful. Our waiter was very friendly and won huge bonus points for chasing me down when I left my sunglasses on the table. I would be willing to try this place out again.

Crazy delicious sample platter of fried hush puppies, catfish, shrimp and oysters. If you can’t make up your mind, this is the way to go. Everything is resaonably priced. I had the pulled pork sandwich and side of collard greens for dinner and had a taste of the crawfish sandwich. It was all lip-​smacking, finger licking good! Parking is also fairly easy in the area but I was warned that last Thursdays it’s a mad house due to the Art walk. I sat in the corner bench booth and note to management: «Get some cushions!» Although bearable, it would have been nice to have a comfortable seat. I’m definitely coming back but next time, I will take a table seating. I just love what’s happening in the Alberta area.

Sometimes you have dining mishaps and when that happens you improvise. The restaurant we had originally planned on eating at was closed due to roof leaks and so we found ourselves at this new southern place on Alberta.
We sat at the outside patio which was nice but the chairs were a little cold and uncomfortable, put some pads on those things. But this might be due to the newness.
They have very traditional and standard southern food fare. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with a side of collard greens. We also ordered the fried shrimp po’boy sandwich, hush puppies, cornbread, rice and beans, black eyed peas, and cole slaw. And two beers.
The sandwich was very nicely done, just some good ol’ pulled pork on a bun and they brought out a traditional sweet sauce and a mildly spicy mustard sauce to put on it, and of course some super hot hot sauce. I also tasted a hush puppy, it was very good, not too greasy, but I was expecting a little hot dog in the middle and there wasn’t any. The rice and beans were nice and dirty. The collard greens I did not like but I am not sure if this is just because I don’t like them as I have never had them before. I didn’t taste the other items but it was said that the cole slaw was heavy on the horseradish but that wasn’t a complaint.
The service was very good, she was attentive and did extra things such as bringing out some ketchup for the 5 year old who was with us ’cause «sometimes the kiddies like ketchup». I will be back to this one.