Restaurant Guide 2013: Levant

2448 E Burnside St., 954-2322, levantpdx.com.

[BONZO FOR GARBANZO] Levant, chef Scott Snyder's new Buckman restaurant, seems to have invented its own genre: high-end French modernist takes on the food of the Sephardic Jewish diaspora—Arabic, African and Hebrew lands huddled around the Mediterranean Sea. The menu has some tremendous successes. A summer lamb dish offered the meat in full, riotous concert, from rack to loin to tender roast to spiced meatball. Citrus and rich jus blended for a depth and acidity a bit like a fine bourguignon gone herbal. A simple salad of baby artichoke, garlic vinaigrette and lamb bacon, topped with an over-easy egg, was similarly a thing of warmth and comfort, a blend of low, earthy notes that reads a bit like a string orchestra stripped-down to harmonies of bass and cello. Still, caution is warranted: The chef's wilder ideas sometimes drift into muddles, as with a brothy monkfish dish and deeply confused spot prawn crudo, a tendency to bury earthy notes in more earth. But for its ambition and newness it remains a restaurant to watch, if a bit warily. 

Ideal meal: Chef Scott Snyder has a way with lamb and octopus.

Best deal: The hearty-portioned entrees satisfy; a meal constructed from small plates climbs quickly into unmanageable territory.

Pro tip: Make full use of the bar. The cocktail program is stellar.

5-10 pm Tuesday-Saturday. $$$.

 

WWeek 2015

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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