Laurelhurst Market: Restaurant Guide 2014

Laurelhurst Market
By Matthew Korfhage

3155 E Burnside St., 206-3097, laurelhurstmarket.com

[OLDER SALT] The original butcher house restaurant in town, Laurelhurst Market steak house is now in transition, rolling in a new head chef—Ben Bettinger of Beaker & Flask—as this guide goes to press. If anything, this offers reasons for confidence that the place will get even better. Under chef Shannon Preble, Laurelhurst Market has evolved into Portland's premier high and holy shrine to grass-fed meat. In particular, the restaurant is in possession of the worst-presented and best-tasting steak tartare that this reviewer has ever eaten; with its pre-mixed egg and capers, it looked almost cabbagey, but the vodka-cured dish struck a divine balance of salt and fat that was almost impossible in its richness. The cold-smoked Brandt rib eye ($41), meanwhile, is porn in meat, well worth the nearly double cost over the bavette in the steak frites ($22), which, though splendid, tasted pallid in side-by-side comparison. But in an old steak house tradition the veggie sides have been unmemorable, whether overcrusted fried green tomatoes or a tepid green bean side. Bettinger has traditionally excelled in this department, so this criticism may date itself immediately. But, up to now, you might have been better off getting your other food groups via the excellent cocktail list, in particular a Smoke Signal cocktail ($10) that mixes sherry, Tennessee whiskey, pecan syrup, lemon and an ice cube imbued with smoke as deep as in any Texas barbecue. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.

Pro tip:

 Start with the raw beef then graduate to the medium-rare beef for your entree. 

  

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