getting lucky at le pigeon

After two plus years I finally made it back to Le Pigeon, the hot spot on East Burnside here in Portland. My first visit there, which was probably right after they opened, was pretty unremarkable. I went back a  year after that and I remember it being better, but still not deserving of all the praise it regularly receives. This week, I was thoroughly satisfied. Maybe it was my company, but the whole experience seemed better, with the menu selections more appealing, the wait less long, and the food just tasting better. We started with the rabbit over salami risotto, gouda and fennel, which was excellent... I easily could have eaten the entire dish myself. Then we moved onto the pork with latke, green beans and almonds. It was a decent sized portion (as it should be for $23), the pork was super tender, the latke has a nice crust and beans were well dressed.  We also had the corn spoonbread with squash, oyster mushrooms, and tomato vinaigrette, which I liked even more than the pork. For dessert we wrapped things up with a blueberry apricot crisp with a basil popsicle, which was good, but not not great in my opinion. I also make A LOT of berry crisps so I'm fairly picky about them. I felt theirs was a little too tart for me, there wasn't enough topping, and that the crisp part lacked in texture and "crispiness".  All in all, it can be an expensive outing, but fun to try for a special occasion. I didn't whip out the camera at dinner, so no pics this time, sorry.

From the Le Pigeon website.