PORTLAND MONTHLY
Introducing CAFE NELL by Camas Davis December 2008
ONCE INHABITED by the French restaurant Café des Amis, followed by the French-inspired Hurley’s, the ivy-covered building at the corner of NW 19th Avenue and Kearney Street has finally shaken its Francophile identity—almost, anyway. Its newest tenant? Café Nell. While this neighborhood eatery may resemble an open and airy French bistro (mirrored walls, an ice bucket next to every table), its menu, featuring classic comfort food in the form of braised lamb shank, or salt cod fritters, or hanger steak and fries, suggests it’s more of a continental hybrid. Judging by the impressive number of diners seated at the dozen or so tables in the main dining room during my first visit, Café Nell may be just what Nob Hill has been waiting for. It’s casual without sacrificing refined details like cloth napkins and wine by the glass served in personal carafes, and it’s at least somewhat affordable, which in these times means entrées for less than $20. Nothing on the menu is in any way intimidating (beet salad, anyone?), which is a plus for many diners, and there’s a breakfast and lunch menu to boot. The bar isn’t a bad place to eat either, especially if you’re trying to get away from the bustle of NW 23rd Avenue. In fact, Nell’s relationship to that street mimics the relationship between France and America in some ways. It’s as though the café’s location just east of NW 23rd makes it a somewhat exotic alternative to the district’s plethora of ugly-American eateries.
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/eat-and-drink/articles/introducing-cafe-nell/#
The Oregonian DOWNTOWN MONTHLY
Cafe Nell: Good Food. Good Energy by Janet Filips
September 24, 2009
The year-old Cafe Nell is a jewelbox of a restaurant that in the evening glows through its opened casement windows so enchantingly that you are drawn to it like a moth to light. From the sidewalk, it seems like you’ve stumbled onto a pocket of New York City, transported to a quiet corner of Northwest Portland.
None of this is by happenstance. Cafe Nell’s owners, 44-year old Van and 35-year old Darren Creely, are former New Yorkers who moved to Portland in October 2006 crystal-clear ideas. They envisioned a French inspired brasserie gone urban American, with a friendly atmosphere; simple, great-tasting food—light on the butterfat and dairy—using fresh, regional and organic ingredients; and a modern space that was simultaneously classic, casual, and elegant.
They found their location in January 2008: an ivy-covered brick building at Northwest 20th and Kearney Street where two French restaurants had preceded them—for 21 years, the beloved Cafe des Amis, and for five years, the haute Hurley’s.
The Creelys (who married in Vancouver, B.C. in 2006) set about remaking the building. they stripped ivy, renovated bathrooms, ripped out carpeting and walls. They added white subway tile and a sharp red fireplace. They put in new windows and doubled the seating, to 78 including the lounge.
And Van Creely followed a gut sense on how to create a good flow of energy for patrons and staff. “As we were working on the space, I would walk around, repeatedly, every inch of the restaurant” he says. “I would sit down and say, “How does this feel to me?” “People don’t only go out to eat; people go out for an experience,” Van says. “Food is an important part of it, but people are drawn to energy.”
Doubled Seating
Cafe Nell opened, intentionally with no fanfare, in late August 2008. Van and Darren wanted the Northwest neighborhood to discover them and make Cafe Nell their own place. They hoped it would appeal to those who appreciate fine dining but feel easy enough that guests would come in no matter what they were wearing—and even if they’d already eaten breakfast there. “We are thrilled when people respond to it as a destination restaurant, too,” says Van Creely.
The wait staff is polished, friendly and informed. At weekend brunch, the dining room crackles with an upbeat energy. At lunch, it’s chatty and relaxed. On busy nights, expect loud and lively.
The food is satisfying, attractive and flavor-packed—with menu choices that span the special (like the super-fresh, knock-your-socks-off chilled seafood platter for two, $35 served Friday and Saturday only) to simpler choices deliciously done.
Doubling the seating was part of a formula to control prices while keeping quality high. At dinner, a perfectly moist piece of line-caught Pacific King salmon—crusted with a cumin-honey glaze and tucked on the plate with grilled fennel and a goodbye-summer, hello-autumn mix of asparagus and brussels sprouts—is $20. Meat for the burgers—top sirloin ($9), Canby’s SuDan Farm lamb shoulder ($12) and house-brined turkey breast ($11)—is ground daily, on site. Sandwiches are automatically served with mixed greens unless you ask to substitute the hand-cut fries.
Zippy Lamb Hash
The variety of house-ground burgers and the default salad are part of executive chef Andrew Garrett’s efforts to set Cafe Nell apart from its peers. Garrett, who spent a year cooking with executive chef Chris Israel at 23Hoyt, joined Cafe Nell in January.
Garrett likes to take a French classic—say, steamed asparagus with sieved hard-cooked egg—and re-do it with a Nell twist. His grilled asparagus in brown butter, topped with thinly sliced Parmesan cheese and a fried egg ($9) is a wondrous combination of charred flavor, silky yolk and nutty brown-butter goodness.
His take on a caprese salad is a beautiful tower of rainbow-colored heirloom tomatoes ($11), splashed with arbequina olive oil and dotted with chunks of chevre, crumbles of Nueske’s bacon and thickly chopped bass from the restaurant’s container garden.
But ask for the dish that defines Cafe Nell, and Garrett will point to the spicy lamb hash with kumquats, egg and grilled toast ($10), available at brunch on Saturdays and Sundays—because the dish is so popular, even when kumquats are out of season in California. Garrett served an hors d’ouvre version in May at the Iron Chef competition at University of Portland. When the votes were counted, it won the Peoples’ Choice Award.
The dish is an example of Garrett’s approach: reading cookbooks, toying with an alternative to corned beef hash; wanting to make best use of the half lamb he butchers each week from SuDan Farm; experimentation.
In playing with lamb, spices, tomatoes and chipotle peppers, Garrett came up with a hash he liked but that lacked the right balance for the restaurant. He decided to eat it for lunch—and grabbed a spoon that was coated with gooey jam from kumquats he’d candied for a dessert garnish. Eureka. The sweet citrus was the ideal foil to the spice. “So I grabbed a new spoon.” says Garrett, “put a kumquat on it with the lamb hash, and I said, ‘This is it.’ “
Whether you’re after good energy or good food, have a bite at Cafe Nell, and you may say the same thing.
http://shopping.oregonlive.com/SS/Page.aspx?sstarg=&facing=false&secid=70279&artid=1172205
Restaurant review: Cafe Nell
By Doug Perry, The Oregonian
December 30, 2008, 1:10PM
As economists and fur-bearing mammals agree, it’s likely to be a long, cold winter. It’s a time for hearty food, a roaring fire and prices that won’t make you think about your overall financial situation.
A restaurant like that should be open for just about all meals, because these days, the need for comfort can strike at breakfast, lunch or dinner. That brings us to Cafe Nell, a new brasserie in Northwest Portland, and plausibly should bring you there, too.
There are times — and we’ve been through them recently — that call for multi-course tasting menus and Kobe beef carpaccio and pheasant guaranteed to have died painlessly while thinking artistic thoughts. Then there are times for braised beef and vegetables with a fried egg on top, and appetizers of deviled chicken thighs.
An entire account of gastronomic fashion and socioeconomic developments can be read in Cafe Nell’s replacing its building’s previous tenant, Hurley’s, a highly artistic restaurant of elaborate presentation and foie gras you entered with the uneasy feeling that you might never see your wallet again. By contrast, Cafe Nell (and isn’t “Nell” a homey, reassuring name, especially for fans of Dudley Do-Right?) is all about hanger steak with lots of excellent fries, braised pork shoulder and salt cod fritters.
Proprietors Darren and Van Creely have come a long way from the New York restaurants where they used to work, but they’ve arrived in a appropriate place. It’s not subtle or terribly imaginative food, but it can leave you with a warm feeling without burning a hole in your budget.
It can comfort you as you munch through openers like the meaty chicken thighs, working through the crunch of bread crumbs, or with the equally crisp and somewhat tangier salt cod fritters. Salt cod itself is an elemental food, and this version makes it almost creamy within the batter.
Lamb skewers over white beans have a powerful lamby flavor, reflecting the kitchen’s fondness for preparations with meat juices. Sardines on toast may be a little too elemental, but with the right beer they could set off an evening. But the liveliest occasion might be marked by a half or whole Dungeness crab, roasted in butter and chili, which is messy but endearingly sweet and fresh.
Entrees also run to the fundamental. The hanger steak with fries is a direct expression of meat and potatoes, with the meat juicy and the potatoes’ outside crispness protecting an inner softness. Pan-roasted chicken, again invoking the meat juices, is moist and actually tastes like chicken, featuring a good bird’s clean notes. Duck confit pasta offers vivid poultry morsels, as well as some cracklings to liven things up.
The lead entree is an entire stuffed trout, which manages to remain fresh and riverlike in an atmosphere of leeks and stuffing. And, in a mandatory presence, Cafe Nell offers an admirable burger, crowned with grilled onions.
Desserts emphasize homemade ice creams, notably an assertive hazelnut, and one evening the kitchen offered a pomegranate sorbet, tasting almost Grecian. A more ambitious effort combines a thick log of frozen chocolate ganache with a pile of sauteed banana slices, which lacked a theme but didn’t lack cocoa impact.
This same heartiness theme applies in other meals, such as a brunch offering of braised beef and vegetables topped with a fried egg. Besides standard eggy options, Cafe Nell sets out winter-defying options like oatmeal with brandied cherries (which rather take over), and baked apple with gingerbread crumbs and dried cherries, which couldn’t be more of a comfort food if your mother fed it to you.
At dinner, brunch and other meals, Cafe Nell keeps its economics appropriate to this economy. Just about all dinner entrees are less than $20, with a reasonable number of wine selections (mainly Northwestern, the rest from California) under $40. Most brunch options are less than $10.
The fire and warm colors contribute to a cozy atmosphere, which gets an assist from encouraging servers. Things may be livelier in the bar, but the dining room is all about comfort.
Portland has a range of restaurants designed to celebrate a boom. What’s useful now is a restaurant just right for waiting out a recession.
Where’s the Beef?
Portland’s Best West Side Happy Hour Burgers by Jeremy Lloyd
Best Value: Cafe Nell
Cozily tucked into the corner of NW 20th and Kearney, Cafe Nell gives off a friendly neighborhood vibe that belies their serious commitment to top-notch Northwest cuisine. At the helm of it all is Executive Chef Andrew Garrett, who knows first-hand the importance of good beef.
“The secret to making a great burger, in my opinion, is grinding it yourself,” says Garrett, who in the past has worked on farms raising cattle. “So I take the top sirloin, grind it in-house, add just a little bit of the sirloin fat to it so it’s just about an 80/20 mix of lean to fat, and then I add some shallots, garlic, thyme and a little bit of rosemary to tie it all together.”
The resulting masterpiece is the Happy Cheeseburger, a deftly-seasoned and prepared burger with unique, earthy undertones and balanced herbal flavors, offset perfectly by a crisp and caramelized potato bun fresh off the flat top. This tasty treat comes with hand-cut fries for just $5 and is offered during Cafe Nell’s Saturday night happy hour.
But perhaps the best burger value in town is available only on weekdays—Cafe Nell’s $2 Sliders. These little 2 ounce bundles of pure meaty goodness come three to a plate and in three varieties—jalapeno blue cheese, BBQ bacon cheddar, and fried onion and pickle—and are served on a traditional flour slider bun which is also nicely caramelized on the flat top. It’s not often that a chef will give so much thought to such an inexpensive item, but Garrett is all about the details.
“Sometimes restaurants get lost in the idea that, oh, it’s just happy hour,” he says. “It’s still a product that we’re delivering, it’s still a product that I’m putting my name behind, and I want it to be the best that it can be.
PORTLAND TRIBUNE
Trout at Cafe Nell
BY ANNE MARIE DISTEFANO
Jan 29, 2009
A fireplace and large windows facing south and east fill Cafe Nell with warmth and light.
Never sneak up on a moose. Never gossip about someone who is in the same room with you. Never order trout in a restaurant.
That’s my advice, but there are exceptions.
I admit that when I ordered the trout at Cafe Nell, it was more as a test than because I was sure I would enjoy it. But a steady hand in the kitchen delivered trout’s delicate, elusive flavor and texture to the table, bolstered by a filling of fennel, sautéed shallots and almonds. The fish is cooked whole, and served on a bed of fresh arugula.
Cafe Nell opened in September in the spot that once housed the super-premium, francophile destination, Hurley’s. Chef Tom Hurley left town last year to focus on his Seattle restaurant, Coupage, which has since closed. The $28 Hurley burger is gone, replaced with a simpler menu of American favorites, with touches of Europe in the form of salt cod fritters, duck confit, and an omelet served with fries.
The term “comfort food” is pretty worn out, but there’s no way around it here. With a Cobb salad for lunch, braised meats and pan roasted chicken for dinner and rustic fruit pies for dessert, Cafe Nell clearly wants to make you feel at home. For added warmth, there’s a red-tiled fireplace in the dining room, and during the afternoon, sunlight pours through two walls of mullioned windows.
The place is owned by a couple of transplants from New York who did their homework before opening their doors in early September of 2008. Darren Creely, who co-owns with his husband, Van Creely, says that they walked pretty much every street of Northwest Portland with their dog, getting to know the neighborhood and looking for just the right spot.
“We wanted to live and work in the same neighborhood,” he says.
They’ve already weathered their first upheaval: the original chef decided to leave town. Andrew Garrett, who did time at 23Hoyt and Clarklewis, picked up the reins just two weeks before my dinner there. I wouldn’t have guessed it from the solid, assured meal, although dishes arrived a bit slowly.
Salads at Cafe Nell are simple, almost to a fault. Mixed greens are barely touched with dressing (mine had a single small crouton). A verdant pile of arugula with a little bit of shaved fennel seems underdressed for $9. But salt cod fritters hit the spot – crunchy outside, creamy and savory within.
The duck confit is moist and rich, served over sturdy ribbons of pappardelle. Braised lamb shank – lots of meat on a huge hunk of bone – is simple, succulent and comforting. It rests on a pile of mashed potatoes that could use a bit more seasoning. A side of brussels sprouts, by contrast, is flavorful and unapologetically studded with chunks of bacon.
For dessert one night, I tried a chocolate walnut torte, which was rather dry. Much better was a fruit crisp I had on a different day. Mild baked apples were zested up with sweet-tart dried cherries and a sweet, buttery, crumbling topping full of walnuts, and topped with vanilla ice cream.
Entrees at Cafe Nell currently run from $11 to $21, with a range of sides available for $5 each. You could spend a fair amount of money here, if you wanted to, but it’s not a requirement. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and feels like the kind of place where you can just drop on by. For peak dinner times, though, I recommend making a reservation.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/print_story.php?story_id=123318379256709500
MIX MAGAZINE
PORTLAND’S HOT HAPPY HOURS by Grant Butler, May 2009
Maybe they had some sort of smudging ceremony, because the bad-vibe ghosts of previous tenant Hurley’s have been banished at this new neighborhood cafe. The mood is friendly and bright, and during happy hour, you can sample from a chalkboard menu of inexpensive options. If you’re hungry, settle in with an impressive cheeseburger or an omelet, which come with french fries for $5. For a lighter touch there’s a salad of mixed greens and red onions ($3) or a starter of toast points topped with chilled duxelles ($4). Don’t miss the triangles of grilled polenta topped with zesty tomato sauce, a steal at $4.