Wines; Tasted!

August 23rd Galician Wine Dinner at Caiola's

I'm just back from a fantastic Galician dinner at Caiola's and I don't know where to begin.  Chef Abbie really went all out on the dinner.  I presented five wines: one Basque and four from the different regions of Galicia, but we had 6-7 courses of very authentic Galician cuisine.  More and more food kept coming out until it was overwhelming; that really took me right back to my expiriences in Ribeiro last year. 

The table set and ready to go!

Chef Abbie spent a lot of time researching Galician cuisine and imported some specialties from the region, such as Pedron peppers, tetilla cheese, and pork from the black footed Galician pigs. We had some good talks about Galician cuisine and food culture leading up to this and the dinner brought back a lot of fond memories of when I was there last year.

The dinner was amazing (thanks to Chef Abbie and her passion)

The wines were incredibly vibrant and really demonstrated why Galicia is one of the hottest (excitement wise) and terroir driven of all Spain's regions.  

The wines we presented were:

Xarmant Arabako Txakolina

Vina Mein Ribeiro

Do Ferreiro Albarino

D. Ventura Do Burato Ribeira Sacra

Dominio do Bibei Ribeira Sacra

One of my favorites was Vina Mein was an excellent complex white from the DO of Ribeiro.  The old vines, decaying granite, and low yields create a really vibrant white up front with citrus and minerality followed by a dense smooth finish.  The combination of these flavors really threw some people for a loop, but were extremely tasty; like some loire whites!

Here's some of the amazing food Abbie turned out.  This was a layered baked potato slice on the right, pickled and preserved spicy peppers, and a dish of melon wrapped in serrano ham!

Wine making is pretty traditional in Galicia.  Lots of small family producers making wine that is just consumed in the locality.  And because of the distinct culture here and the mountains that separate the region from the rest of the country; the wine culture is totally different.  Galicia never really replaced it's traditional grapes after phyloxera as other regions did.  Many vineyards in the rest of Spain were replanted with alicante and palomino, but Galicia stayed true to it's heritage.  From Do Ferreiro to Vina Mein, and Dominoio do Bibei to D Ventura the wines were all extremely deep and complex as well as very unique.

In my opinion some of the most exciting wine and food in Spain comes from Galicia.  I'll post tasting notes on Dominio do Bibei and vina Mein soon.  These are some of the most authentic, terroir driven wines I've had over the course of the year.  Very worth the hunt to find them.

Out Door Dinner Party 7.9.11

I'm overjoyed it's summer; ecstatic!  Really, I'm not complaining about the oppressive, sticky heat.  But I'm not going to cook inside in this.  Or eat inside.  Why anyone would eat inside of their own free will, when it's gorgeous outside and stays light till nearly nine, I don't know.   Saturday I took my dining room table and chairs down to the sculptures by the east end running path and had a dinner party.  It really wasn't that much work and we went light on silver ware and whatnot anyway.

This looks pretty awesome, right?  It was.  Actually it was better than awesome.  Why aren't you doing this?  It's pretty easy, light foods are better in summer anyway.

I smoked three chickens for the main course; people also brought an orzo and fresh vegetable salad, a delicious salad of local greens, pie, gelato, a huge bowl of fresh strawberries, and of course plenty of fine wine.

We were there for about 4 hours and wound down a bit after sun down.  You don't have to get this involved, but really, you ought to eat outside more often.  It's not that much work and the reward is worth it.

Put your Red wines in the fridge!

I think there's still some resistance to the idea of drinking red wines chilled.  Look people, the French have been doing it for as long as there's been wine.  It would be kept in caves that were often down around 50' F, so don't feel like it's weird.  Some reds, such as my Jura Trousseau, St Pourcain, and Domaine Grisy Red Burgundy, really are better with a slight chill on them.

Putting aside whether some reds are better chilled down, there's a bigger issue here.  We're going into summer and before long the air temperature is going to be 80-90 degrees.  Drinking reds at air temperature is fine in autumn and early spring when air temperature is around 60.  You do not want to serve your 14% Zinfandel at air temperature if it's 2pm in mid August and it's 95' out.   The wine will taste hot, alcoholic, and disgusting.   Plus it will make people want to go to sleep.  If you serve your reds at air temperature in the summer it's like throwing them in a frying pan and cooking them!

Don't do this!!!!

In the summer you should really be putting all your reds in the fridge for half an hour or so at least before you serve them.  Pay attention to temperature; just like whites, red wine will taste totally different at different temperatures.  Simply making sure your red isn't too hot in the summer will make them a whole lot more enjoyable.

Devenish 2011 Spring Trade Shows

Spring's an exciting time.  It's a big transition from the slower, chilled down winter months into the awakening, freshening up of Spring.  Rebirth and all that jazz.  It's a particularly exciting time for Devenish wines and the wine industry.  We kind of view wine as seasonal and work with very different wines in the cold dark months of winter as opposed to the freshness of spring and the ripe heat of summer. 

So we're in this transitional time right now.  Life's rythms are changing, the days are longer, different produce is around, and peoples tastes in wine are changing.  We need to get out and be aggressive at this time of year, working to get all the new wines we've accumulated out onto the market and make people aware of them.  To that end we hold big spring trade shows annually and I'm just recovering now from the two we held on Monday and Tuesday this week. 

If you've read this far you may be asking why you should care?  That's a fair question.  If you're into wine, at least enough that you read my blog and want to enjoy wine, you should care because this is how new wines get into the state.  Allow me to explain:

So we're always looking for new stuff, but it's hard to get the word out about new wines and let all our customers know.  We just picked up an Oregon portfolio called ORWA.  ORWA is actually Wayne Clark, a former southern Maine native who moved out to the other Portland and got really into the wine scene.  Eventually he came to the realization that he was spending so much time and energy on it and enjoyed seeking out unique little wineries that he might as well start a business to justify his passion and bring some of these things back to ME.  Eventually we got put in touch by a mutual friend and after some tasting and back and forth we were in business!  Wayne has some awesome wines.  The largest outfit her works with is Illahe.  They produce about 5000 cases annually.  That's tiny!  Most wineries can't even make money at that tiny size! 

So we're excited about Wayne and many other new acquisitions but we can't just walk around portland shaking hands with everyone on the street.  So we do a trade show.  Basically we get together all the wines we're really excited about, put them all in one room, and invite our friends from retail shops and restaurants to come drink them.  And we did it for two days running with about 100 wines.  It was crazy.  But it's the best way to quickly get the market to sit up and take notice of new things.

The scene at Cinque Terre.  It sounds like a good time, and it actually is, but it's serious too.  Look at the faces.  No one's laughing and joking around; this is serious business!

More reflecting on the wines.

Trying to sort through 100 wines and figure out what's right for you isn't easy.

The following day we did it all over again at Old Vines Wine bar in Kennebunk.  It's a great attractive space with an excellent, creative wine list.  (I might be a bit biased).

It's intense being on your feet all day engaging people and trying to explain why they should care about these quirky new wines.  But we do it because we're really passionate about them!  These are excellent wines that I believe in.  So keep your eyes open.  You'll be seeing a ton of new wines in the next two months!

 

Maine Wine Industry Update (We have it pretty good in Maine)

Sometimes I tell people that in Maine we're so far behind the curve that we end up ahead of it; like with local food and farmers markets.  In other states with big dense populations super markets totally replaced farmers markets and put a lot of family farms out of business.  In Maine we have such a low population density that in a lot of places the big super markets didn't move in, preserving the farm to table connections that were there.  Now we're reaping the benefits with delicious local pork, greens, squash, you name it.

Wine in Maine is in a similar situation.  Yes, sometimes our helpful state legislators make laws like David Webster of Freeport's protecting impressionable children from seeing adults responsibly tasting wine.  Doing shots at a restaurant bar was ok, tasting wine was a no no; it might turn them communist?  His excuse?  He thought it would be selectively enforced, which of couse makes it all fine.  Maine's, ehem, eccentric legal environment for alcohol has helped to keep large corporate behemoths out.  In recent years the rest of the country has seen a consolidation in the wine business.  Huge companies such as Southern Wine and Spirits have the deep pockets to pay off restaurant owners and give kick backs to control what gets sold.  Luckily, Maine is too small and weird a market for them to bother with us!

Maine is one of the only states that has bucked this trend and seen a lot of diversification and proliferation in small, grass roots wine distributors.  Wine distributors such as myself, SoPo, Crush, and Easterly have built businesses built on unique quality wines and passion.  Mark-ups in Maine are also lower than in places like NY, both on restaurant lists and retail.

I have a feeling that this movement to higher quality, exciting, hand made wines has hit a critical mass.  There are enough of us passionate wine professionals and excited open minded consumers like you that Maine is starting to attract national attention as a great market for exciting, unique wines.  Most of the top importers in the country; the ones that really generate excitement and are sought after, are working in Maine now and sending their national sales people here to promote their wines.

My reaction: it's about damn time!  When I first started 8 years ago people couldn't even get their heads around the fact that I was independant from the big beer distributors.  Dry French Rose was still a rarity.  The times have changed and I predict that change will continue to speed up. 

To that effect I am re-focusing on doing more exciting educational events.  I'm planning more wine dinners, wine classes, and getting my hands on crazy extremely limited wines.  A couple weeks ago I held a private vertical tasting of a Cru beaujolais vineyard.  I had 4 vintages of Christian Bernard Fleurie that we tasted side by side; the 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009.  All the vintages tasted totally different!  It was a revelation; and this from an appellation that most people would never think to age!  (the Rosemont Mothership, RSVP, and the Freeport Cheese and Wine shop each have a few bottles of the older vintages and they're under $20)

I am planning on teaching a wine class specifically on ageing wine.  I've actually been in this business long enough to have built up multi-vintage verticals of a bunch of exciting wines.  More info on this soon. 

Devenish Wines has also moved into a new larger warehouse space to make room for all the new French, Italian, and Oregon wines that are comning!

The new, larger Devenish Wines warehouse!

So in conclusion we have an amazing selection of wines in Maine.  Yes, there are some high end cult wines that you can't get, but I have news for you, you generally can't get them anywhere.  My Domaine de Bel Air 2003 organic Bourgueil, though?  You can only get that in Manhattan and here in Maine!  Check it out for $15 at the Rosemonts, or the Cheese Iron, or Provisions.

Perfectly mature loire Cabernet Franc, Organic, and only available in Maine and Manhattan.

You ain't seen nothin' yet!

 

 

The Eastender

Norm's East end has been closed now for...um.. I don't know how long.  A while.  No one expected the space over in the little restaurant ghetto of Middle St to remain empty long, and it has in fact not.  The Eastender was opened in early January by Megan Schroeter and Mitch Gerow; both formerly of Evangeline.  Put comparison thoughts out of your heads right now.  The only thing the Eastender really has in common with the old Evangeline is that I enjoyed them both very much.

I made it in for a full dinner just over a week ago with a friend.  I may regret making such an absolute statement as this at some point, but I'm going to anyway: best buffalo wings ever.  There, I said it.  If your idea of a good wing is something so spicy you can't taste it, this isn't that.  The wings, East of Buffalo wings as they're called on the menu, were meaty, perfectly moist, and had a lovely crispy crust.  I was told they get whole chicken wings, break them down themselves, and then "French" them: that is they remove the extra bone of te outer segment and push all the meat down to one end before flouring and frying them.  This results in extremely easy to eat wings with this lovely crunchy, perfectly seasoned fried shell.  And they come with a house made blue cheese dip.  The wings were so damn good they loom over large in my memory, but the rest of the meal was great too.  Preceeding the wings I had a duck consume that was a tasty, satisying, interesting combination of the gameiness of duck with the fresh zing of a consume broth.  Following on the heels of the wings was an egg salad sandwich.  In this case it was the chicken that came before the egg, Doh!  Who puts an egg salad sandwich on their menu?  It's not exactly as impressive sounding as a skirt steak or salmon.  So I ordered it thinking Mitch must be a brave chef who really believes in it.  And I think I was right!  It was a big thick sandwich on house made bread with capers and bacon mixed in.  It hit the spot perfectly.

I augmented my dinner with a bottle of sorghum beer.  It was clean and lighter and naturally gluten free!  I was also impressed at what a low markup they're taking on their beer and wine list.  They had really nice 750ml bottles of Belgium farm house ales for $12!  Gadzooks!, that's almost retail pricing.  I also noticed and enjoyed the mix of music; it moved seamlessly from the Pixies to Florence and the Machine and many perfect selections I didn't even recognize.

Anyway, you should go check it out.  They're obviously new and are still putting art on the walls, and the bar stools are a bit hard to get up to the bar; but those are the only nits I can find to pick.  The wings alone are totaly worth the trip, in my humble opinoin.  The beer/wine prices are also a huge draw in their own right.  And the prices are good.  The bill for my friend and I, including multiple courses, beer and wine; came to only about $60.  I'll be back to eat again soon!

National Pie Day 2011 Guide/Email Newsletter

Hello All,

    this is my email newsletter from January 2011.  It lays out all the events I'm planning for National Pie Day and the week leading up to it.  Enjoy!

Congratulations!
     If you're reading this, you must have made it through another crazy holiday season.  I like a good party as much as the next man, maybe more, but at a point the holiday season can get overwhelmed by obligations to other people and events.  I'm glad Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are past; however, the holidays aren't quite done yet!  The best holiday is still to come: National Pie Day!  That's right, as declared by the National Bakers Council, Sunday January 23 is a day devoted to celebrating the sublime symmetry and tastiness of Pie. I expect some of you may be cocking an eye brow here at me and asking if this is for real.  Oh Yes!  Think about this: what else is happening at the end of January?  It's still cold, we still don't get much sun, more snow, but nothing big is really going on.  So why not get some friends together and have a pie party?  There are so many endless possibilities for different pies; sweet fruit pies, meat pies, shepherds pie, sweet potato, nuts such as pecan......

     I’ve essentially built my business this month around National Pie Day, because, well, why not.  To help you all prepare for National Pie Day I've organized a couple wine and pie tastings.  See below for wine and pie pairings, tasting details and promotions.  And I want you to know that I did a lot of hard work to make sure that my pie and wine pairings worked!  I had to eat a lot of pie and drink a lot of wines;  these recommendations are based on hard evidence!

Old Port Wine Merchant Tasting Wednesday the 19th 4-7:30pm
     I'm doing a tasting of some new French wines at the Old Port Wine Merchant on Wednesday.  These are small production, unique wines from family producers.  I have a great new sparkling wine from Vouvray in the Loire that's an excellent pie wine.  Among others, I'll also have a new naturally farmed blend from the Roussillon area of Mediterranean France and a great limited production old vine Cotes du Rhone made in Chateauneuf du Pape.

Aurora Provisions Wine and Pie Tasting Thursday the 20th 5-6:30pm
     Thursday next week Aurora Provisions is hosting me for a pie and wine tasting.  We'll sample out a couple of specially selected pies and taste wines I've picked out specifically to pair with them.  One of the wines I'm particularly excited about here is a new Priorat (which won't be nosebleed expensive!), also a beautifully balanced Pedro Ximenez sherry.

Rosemont Market Brighton Ave. Wine and Pie Tasting, Saturday the 22nd 3-6pm
     On the day before National Pie Day Rosemont Market and I will hold a Wine and Pie Tasting.  Rosemont is working on special pies that will be available for sale as well as to sample and of course I’ll have a line up of wines paired with them.  This will include a new Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder) from the Italian Alps that I'm really excited about, as well as an organic Cotes du Rhone, and a new Northern CA Cabernet that's one of those great one time deals.  The Cabernet is called Rock Face and it's a blend of high end juice purchased from a couple vineyards, sold under the requirement of anonymity. Regardless of where the juice came from, it's a concentrated, lush, slightly chocolatey Cabernet with great balance and underlying structure; just the thing for a nice pecan pie.

Bresca Sparkling Wine Dinner, Wednesday February 16th 6pm $65 per person
     This is one not to miss.  Portland has a lot of excellent restaurants, but Bresca consistently blows me away.  And I've finally talked Krista into doing a sparkling wine dinner!  This will be five courses paired with different sparkling wines from around the world; Txakolina, Loire Cremant, Cava, Champagne, and Moscato.  And the Champagne will be none other than Billecart Salmon's Brut Rose!  Two days after Valentines and for just $65 per person.  This will sell out quickly so call 207 772 1004 to make reservations.

Pie and Wine Pairings

     I considered making particular pairing suggestions, such as my lovely new Weissburgunder paired with cranberry, pear, ginger pie, but there’s just to much variation when it comes to pie to make blanket determinations like that.  Even the same recipe for, say, apple pie will taste totally different depending on who makes it, and how they cook it, and where the ingredients come from.  So I’m going to give you some basic ideas and leave you free to come up with your own pie and wine pairings. 

     If you’re having a fruit pie that’s not too sweet, primarily just cooked fruit and not added sugar, I like the idea of a dry focused white wine.  Something with more body and good acidity and structure.  Dry Riesling, Sancerre or Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire, maybe a dry Vouvray, the afore mentioned Weissburgunder.  Whites like that will balance the sweetness, cut it a bit, and should still have the structure to shine alongside the pie. 

     For a steak pie I’d go with a big, fuller, red wine that has a slightly gamey quality.  Perhaps something southern Rhone, some of the rustic California Cabernet blends, maybe a Spanish Monastrell?  Meat that’s been cooked, then baked in a pie with the butter of the crust, maybe some cheese added; it’s going to be pretty tender and flavorful so a big full red is needed to match the full flavor and balance the richness.  

     Really sweet pies are tricky.  You don’t necessarily want to pair a sweet wine with a sweet pie; cloying sweetness might result and leave you unable to get through more than a few bites!  And wasting pie is a tragedy!  Sweeter fruit pies might work well with something mildly sweet and sparkling like Moscato d’Asti, or something dry and very sparkling such as Champagne or a Champagne style wine.  Banana Crème?  Full bodied but un-oaked Chardonnay.  Chocolate cream pie?  Full, juicy Cabernet from WA state or maybe a round easier drinking Napa Cab. 

 

If you have a pie and don’t know what to pair with it, remember, Champagne goes with everything.

 

So that’s my pitch for National Pie Day.  I hope you enjoy it!  For the cost of a few pies and bottles of wine you ought to have yourself a great party!

 

 

Regards,

 

Ned Swain

Devenish Wines

District Opening Night

Once again I give the disclaimer: I sell District wine so I am not a totally uninvolved, unbiased reviewer.  I review because I enjoyed my meal.  And anyway you can't really judge a restaurant in the first week or so.  It takes some time for the kitchen and servers to all form a working relationship.

District is a large, open space; it has an upstairs and down, connected by a large opening in the second floor, which looks down on the bar of the first.  The connection between the two dining areas makes it feel larger and busier.  I sat upstairs at the small service bar and immediately noticed the art on the walls by Johnathon Bisbee, an artist and professor at Bowdoin who makes art with worked foot long spikes, they look great on the walls .

Here's how I'd categorize the cuisine: rich, hearty, earthy, substantial food.  It's not delicate food that you have to tip toe around.  It's very satisfying food that you can really dig into.

The menu was, to me, a really interesting mix of Italian, American, unintimidating comfort food, and more creative exciting options.  It has lots of meat, lots of rich food, although there were at least three vegetarian options for the main course.  I was excited to see things like baked halloumi, mussels with creme fraiche, chicken wings with goat cheese dip for appetizers, along with a raw bar with oysters, littleneck clams, and king crab claws.  There's also a selection of offal and charcuterie that includes buffalo chicken livers, steak tartar, roasted bone marrow, and foie gras.  The main courses included options like suckling pig for two, a grilled cheese burger, veal schnitzel, and roasted and buttermilk fried chicken.

I ordered the baked halloumi and veal schnitzel.  I liked the presentation, the halloumi came in a small cast iron sauce pan with toast and cornichons to go with it.  It was great, like id expect; I mean how can you dislike baked cheese?!  The cornichons were a great mildly acidic balance.  The schnitzel was very tasty, cooked perfectly, and served with a zingy lemon sauce and capers.  I've had a lot of bad schnitzel in my day.  It's pounded so thin and then breaded and fried, that it becomes easy to over cook and screw up the texture.  This was just right.

And for dessert: the dessert menu carried through the full flavored, creative theme of the rest of the menu.  I choose a bourbon flavored root beer float!  It was essentially a normal very good root beer float, but with a slight bourbon flavor added that gave it a smokey earthy quality and kept it from being too sweet tasting.  It was delicious.  I had the bartender and a passing server try it and we all agreed.

I would be really remiss if I didn't touch on the wine list.  The guy who put it together, Anthony, really knows his stuff.  He used to have Tropa wines up on Congress.  The list isn't huge to the point of being un-navigable, but it has depth and covers the bases, while including a lot of really cool under appreciated wines.  He's got three Valtellinas on the list!  Valtellina is a very tasty unique wine made from Nebbiolo that comes from Lombardy.  Most importantly the list looks well chosen to pair with the food.

Overall I think District will be a great placed to hang out over the winter.  It's warm and comfortable inside, but primarily its the food that makes me say that.  The satisfying heartiness will make this a useful antidote to the dark cold days of winter.

Thanksgiving Suggestions

Avinyo Cava

Extended aging on the lees makes this reserve cava crisper, fuller, and creamier.  It also has hints of toasted nuts under the aromas of citrus and pear.  This is a complex intriguing sparkler that could pass as a champagne if you closed your eyes.  The flavors are perfect to pair with Turkey and the effervescence will remove the fat and grease of gravy from your mouth.  This is under $20 and available at the Old Port Wine Merchant, Provisions, the Rosemont Market in Yarmouth, and I'll be showing at my tasting at the Freeport Cheese and Wine shop on Friday the 19.

Sybille Kuntz Estate Riesling Trocken 2008

This is a beautiful balanced dry German Riesling, biodynamic, and made by a woman wine maker.  This is NOT SWEET!  But it does have ripe fruit, powerful acidity and minerality, and a touch of spice.  If you like serious Loire whites you'll probably love this.  This is an ideal white wine for Turkey or ham.  It's under $25 and available at Browne Trading, Rosemont in Yarmouth, Provisions in Brunswick, and this will also be at the Freeport tasting.

Erste & Neue Pinot Nero 2009 

This Italian Alpine Pinot Noir is smooth, has ripe bright fruit, and a hint of smoke to it.  This is excellent with turkey and leaner cuts of pork.  Snag this for under $20 at the Rosemont Markets, Browne Trading, or the Freeport Cheese and Wine Shop

Le Mas des Flauzieres Gigondas 2008 Four Danuga

This Gigondas is a Grenache based Rhone blend that's bigger and sees some oak aging.  It's more powerful than the Pinots and has more pepper, earth, and a touch of sweet vanilla from the oak on the finish.  This is right about $20 and is a good choice for hams, pork roasts, and turkey if you simply prefer something bigger than Pinot Noir.  This can be found at the Freeport Cheese and Wine Shop or the Rosemont on Munjoy Hill.

Domaine de Grisy Bourgogne Rouge 2008

Perhaps you'd like something brighter, lively, and not too heavy?  A red that keeps drawing you back for another sip, but doesn't tire your palate out?  Look no further than the Domaine de Grisy.  This is bright racy Pinot Noir at it's best.  This is priced in the mid teens and is available at the Rosemonts, Freeport, Provisions, BlackCherry Provisions in Falmouth, Browne Trading, and Aurora Provisions in Portland

If you have any questions, Please ask!  eswain@maine.rr.com

Figa is Open!

Disclaimer:  I do sell Figa wine, so I do have an interest here, but I wouldn't write a review if I hadn't had a good time and thought it was interesting.  This is not a real judgment as I was there opening night and opening night is not when you really get a feel for a place.  Although everything went very well, it is only opening night and I still believe it is unfair to judge a restaurant this early in the game.  I did not take notes so this is just a general impression.

So tonight, Figa finally opened.  Three years after I started hearing about it the most anticipated restaurant in Portland history is open.  I actually held a candle light vigil for the restaurant last winter!  So I was excited to put on my limited edition Figa T shirt that commemorated the water connection being put in and head over tonight.

I think it's a bad idea to judge a restaurant on opening night, or even opening week, but that said, Figa was great.  I went with my brother and a friend of ours, so between the three of us we samples a lot of the menu.  I started out with an enjoyable shrimp patia appetizer: a shrimp tomato preparation over a pancake thin biscuit that was mildly spiced.  My brother had a wild boar dish that featured meat slow cooked all day in a tomato sauce.  The Boar was still very flavorful but a great texture that came apart easily.  For a second course I had Sev encrusted scallops with a pear and jicama slaw.  I don't know what Sev is, but it was damn tasty!  They were very large meaty scallops cooked perfectly with a sear on the outside but still a clean tender fresh center.  The jicama was a great fresh crunchy counterpoint to the scallops.  We finished dinner with a chicken roulade for me, duck breast with brandied figs (I think) and reduced brandy sauce for my brother and a gilled hangar steak for our friend.  All were very god and well balanced; I was particularly excited by the local asparagus that accompanied my chicken, which was moist, tender and well seasoned.

I didn't take notes and like I said at the start these are really just passing impressions from opening night.  But everything went very smoothly and the food was well prepared and creative.  In everything it's the details that tell the most and it was the details that really impressed here.  The coffee at the end came in a French press and was extremely fresh and smooth, the servers were very friendly and helpful, the bread that was put out was flavored three different ways and made a real accompaniment to the meal. 

Over all I think Figa is a valuable addition to the Portland dining scene.  It's a whole different cuisine, Lee is a talented experienced chef, and the prices were great.  We had multiple courses for three people, dessert, and two bottles of wine for just under $150.  All three of us agreed it was money well spent.  So check it out.  The wait was worth it.