Background:
Nomad has been true to its name over the past several years--it started as a pop-up, and then had several temporary homes around Portland to serve its inventive 15-course tasting menu. However, as of February 2017, Nomad has a full brick and mortar to call their own on NE 24th Avenue.
Owner and Executive Chef Ryan Fox and his partner (in the kitchen and in real life, it would seem per their social media accounts) and Sous Chef Ali Matteis deliver a dining experience that is fancy, playful, and utterly delicious.
Our faces when we found out the boys surprised us with a trip to Portland (they told us we were going to Asheville until the night before). Swoon!
Eat This:
The menu goes right to an English teacher’s heart--the staff pairs each course with a quote that connects to the dish in some way. You may have already seen some of these dishes on our Best of 2016 Roundup
Amuse Bouche
carrots and crackers with butter
We started with an amuse bouche of carrots and crackers meant to be dipped into the most delicious butter. Operation Bouche: Amused
buttermilk meringue, cipollini onion
“A Squirrel is like buttermilk, once it’s out of the churn; the more you shake it, the more sour it grows.” - Irish Proverb
scallop, compressed cucumber, coconut kafir foam
“Two two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk.” -Dustin Hoffman
green garlic yogurt, trout roe, garden greens
“You can never have enough garlic. With enough garlic, you can eat The New York Times.” -Morley Safer
summer squash custard, walla walla onion
“A woman always has half an onion left over, no matter what the size of the onion, the dish, or the woman.” -Terry Pratchett.
wagyu beef tartare, smoked shallot
“Eat it raw before all else, then grill it, and boil it last of all.” -Japanese Proverb
sourdough rye roll, smoked beef fat, nutritional yeast butter
“Give me Yesterday’s bread, this Day’s Flesh, and last Year’s Cyder.” Benjamin Franklin
albacore ceviche, red currants, sorrel, lime
“Ceviche is an acquired taste, a phrase which means ‘something you don’t like the first few times you eat it’...” -Lemony Snicket
albacore, boysenberries, seaweed
“The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears, or the sea.” -Isak Dinesen
morel mushroom, charred onion jus, agastache
“The sudden appearance of mushrooms after a summer rain is one of the more impressive spectacles of the plant world.” -John Bonner
beef, chimichurri, nasturtium
“Give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils.” -William Shakespeare, King Henry V
Dessert:
carrot bread, fresh ricotta
“Once upon a time there were four little rabbits and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter.” -Beatrix Potter
Oregon berry sorbet, granola, coriander
“”Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.” -Wendell Barry
padron pepper ice cream, brown butter solids
“Destructions lead to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation.” -Red Hot Chili Peppers
chocolate brownie, almond ice cream, brooks cherries
“What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead.” -George Bernard Shaw
Rich Chocolate Covered Cherries
A bonus dessert of rich chocolate covered cherries
Drink:
When we visited, Nomad was in one of their temporary locations, so the drinks were limited to wine & beer. We enjoyed wines all around. Now they offer cocktails, which are no doubt divine!
Nanco enjoying some rosé and this tiny flower!
Atmosphere:
Well, as where we dined was their temporary spot and no longer where they operate, this is rather a moot point. However, the location where we ate was awesome because it was not only open to the kitchen, but about five paces from our seats to where the food was being prepared. You actually needed to walk through the kitchen to get to the restrooms--it was so cool to get an up close view of the magic.
Portlandia Hospitality:
Well, as this picture of us would indicate, we cozied up to the Nomad staff so well that within an hour we were trying to snag an invite to go foraging for mushrooms with Ryan and Ali that weekend. Needless to say, that invitation never really came through (though we did get as far as exchanging cell numbers), we appreciated Ryan and Ali’s brief foray into our delusion, and their prompting of the eternal question: “Does he like me, or does he like me, like me?”
Cause we're the fourteen best friends that anybody could have!
Frankie’s Notes:
You know dinner went well when you exchange numbers with the chefs afterward; But seriously though, why did they never call?; Maybe Nancy came on too strong; We are going to start adding quotes to everything we eat; What’s a good quote relating to the fact that Jason eats Chipotle 6 nights out of 7 during tax season?; We are going to inject Otto with beef fat; Otto is Ollie’s new name.
Rating: 5 out of 5 and Two Michigan Pugs
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf
