[Markovitch]

http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf..._eating_at_evoe

Quote

Coming soon: Eating at Evoe
by Michael C. Zusman, special to The Oregonian
Tuesday August 05, 2008, 1:27 PM
The OregonianKevin Gibson

Former Castagna chef Kevin Gibson will have a new gig soon, running the show
at Evoe in the former Pix Patisserie and Bar Pastiche space on Southeast
Hawthorne Boulevard, next door to the Pastaworks food market. Evoe --
scheduled to open in two weeks -- is owned by Pastaworks boss (and local
Slow Food pioneer) Peter de Garmo and his son, Kevin. The idea is to feature
products available at Pastaworks and allow Gibson to field-test raw
ingredients he likes for possible inclusion in the Pastaworks inventory.

Gibson -- who quietly left Castagna's kitchen last year -- is still a
part-owner of Castagna, but he has no current day-to-day involvement with
its operation.

According to Gibson, Evoe will be an enlightened "snack bar" featuring
salads, sandwiches and soups, with prices on the all-small-courses menu to
be in the $10-$12 range. Likely offerings on opening day: octopus salad with
haricots verts, cherry tomatoes and fried shallots; freekeh, smoky-flavored,
roasted green wheat berries with gravlax and celery, and a grilled shrimp
with chickpea puree sandwich. Some breads will be baked on site, others will
come from Grand Central and Pearl bakeries.

Expect opportunities to gather around the old wooden table that formerly
served time at Pastaworks and Delfina's in Northwest Portland. Gibson sees
wine dinners, tastings and readings in Evoe's future.

Although the name sounds like an abbreviation for olive oil, it is,
classically, an invitation to bacchanalian revelry -- sort of a Latin
equivalent of "party on." If that is the attitude at Gibson's Evoe, expect
ample good times with good food.

Evoe is scheduled to open Aug. 23 for lunch and dinner, Wednesday-Saturday,
at 3731 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-232-1010

My friend made the curtains, says the space looks like fun. I think they also may have bumped up the opening date, but don't quote me.

[Cat Lancaster]

I've been in and checked out the space while they were doing the re-do and it looks nice. Very clean looking.

This past Saturday I was trying to decide where to go for a late lunch and thought to myself that I can't wait for this place to open. Peter had told me what they were planning on doing food and wine wise, and that was *exactly* what I wanted this past weekend. Glad to see that the opening date is soon.

Cat

[Egads]

I was in Pastaworks today and wandered over to the new Evoe space to check out the menu (written above the counter on a huge chalk board). Lots of great looking stuff, but the thing that excited me most was that they're going to have Hoegarten on draft. Woot! I'm reallly looking forward to this place.

[Cat Lancaster]

From what I was told today, they are opening next Saturday. I'll be there at noon...


Cat

[oldbaldfart]

Egads,

You will likely find many more spots in town with Hoegaarden on tap now that is is not in the Mt. Hood book.

Egads, on Aug 16 2008, 04:28 PM, said:

I was in Pastaworks today and wandered over to the new Evoe space to check out the menu (written above the counter on a huge chalk board). Lots of great looking stuff, but the thing that excited me most was that they're going to have Hoegarten on draft. Woot! I'm reallly looking forward to this place.

[polloelastico]

oldbaldfart, on Aug 16 2008, 08:01 PM, said:

Egads,

You will likely find many more spots in town with Hoegaarden on tap now that is is not in the Mt. Hood book.

Egads, on Aug 16 2008, 04:28 PM, said:

I was in Pastaworks today and wandered over to the new Evoe space to check out the menu (written above the counter on a huge chalk board). Lots of great looking stuff, but the thing that excited me most was that they're going to have Hoegarten on draft. Woot! I'm reallly looking forward to this place.

This is excellent news.

[Cat Lancaster]

I've stopped in for lunch at Eveo the last two Saturdays and am beside myself with joy that they have opened. They are everything that I wanted out of the prior tenant in that location that just failed so miserably to deliver. Granted Eveo is sourcing from Pastaworks, but regardless, the quality of what they are putting in front of the customer is outstanding.

I've ordered some standards: A cheese plate and a charcuterie plate that were both top notch and a wonderful selection of unique cheeses;
Deviled eggs that were made fresh in front of us and not some dried out crap eggs taken from the walkin and made two days before.

I've also ordered a glacier lettuce salad with peaches & prosciutto, that introduced me to glacier lettuce for the first time and knocked my socks off. I had never even heard of this before. And a grilled zucchini & shrimp fritter that was delicious.

The only thing so far that I think needs a little work are the house made pickles. There is a touch of sweetness there that to my taste doesn't quite belong. They are missing a certain boldness that pickled onions & cornishon need to be an active accouremont to the cheese, figs, and cured meats that they are served with.

Also the wine list while limited, is exciting and well priced. Totally an opportunity to try some wines that I normally wouldn't have taken a chance with by buying a bottle blind.

I'm very happy!

Cat

[uzideth]

Anyone have the hours? I can't find them for the life of me........

[Cat Lancaster]

uzideth, on Sep 11 2008, 04:44 PM, said:

Anyone have the hours? I can't find them for the life of me........

Wednesday through Sunday - I'm not sure what time they open, but it's either 10:00 or 11:00 and they close at 6:00.

Cat

[whippy]

I don't know what it is, but there's something about the name and location here that suffers a glamour of forgettability.

I had a dynamite little lunch here the other day which helped dispel that. Pork belly, tender as a cloud atop succulent beans and wonderful fresh peppers. Seasoned with underappreciated Savory, altogether delicious.

Seems like they might be figuring out what kind of service they want to offer, though. Is it a restaurant or an adjunct to a grocery store? Actually resulted in some rather terrible service issues, but I'm confident that will get worked out with a more time.

I'll be back. I like the casual vibe and if the other food is as good as the pork then it's a winner.

[philthyanimal]

what happened to pix?

[averilpdx]

Pix has 2 locations:

3901 N Williams Ave, Portland - (503) 282-6539




3402 SE Division St, Portland - (503) 232-4407

[MaBell]

Had a wonderful lunch at Evoe today. I agree with Cat - this space is exactly what I want it to be. I ate here a couple of weeks ago and was excited to take Pat to check it out today.

We had the charcuterie plate - we were asked if we leaned more towards spicy or sweet - and we went spicy. On the plate were coppa, toscano, prosciutto di Parma and two others I'm now forgetting. Four slices of each. Along with three types of pate. One was a country style pate, another was rabbit and the third had duck liver. Served with some great pickles. I really liked the red pepper pickle - it was a little sweet but the copious amounts of fresh bay leaves in the brine solution gave it a heady aroma. The pickled plum was possibly the sourest thing I've ever eaten.

We also split the muffalatto sandwich with was nice and briny with olives, capers and pickled carrots and cauliflower.

It's such a comfortable and fun space. And great people watching as well.

[Bernard Stone]

Evoe has very quickly become a favorite lunch place for me. They have a wide variety of delicious and interesting salads. I cannot think of any where else to go for that. The Ice Lettuce salad was really good. I had never heard of or seen that vegetable before. - will post a picture soon. Raddichio salad with walnuts and apple was terrific. The deviled eggs are amazing, they are fried for just a tiny bit of crispness. Pickles are delicious too. There is a pickled plum which is similar to Japanese Umeboshi but with more euro herb flavors. The staff is friendly and the service was fine, the room is so small you just have to speak up if you need anything. My only wish would be larger glasses for water.

[uzideth]

If they would expand dinner hours, I'd probably be in twice a week.

Closing at 6 is a bummer for those of us who work 'til 5.

Definitely becoming one of my fav weekend lunch spots, regardless.

[Cat Lancaster]

uzideth, on Nov 25 2008, 03:38 PM, said:

If they would expand dinner hours, I'd probably be in twice a week.

Closing at 6 is a bummer for those of us who work 'til 5.

Definitely becoming one of my fav weekend lunch spots, regardless.

I have complained about this issue as well. From how I am interperting the responce, they are trying to figure out when is the best time to be open and staffing leveles. I have no inside information, but I wouldn't be surprised if once they get their sea legs, the hours change.

Cat

[Cat Lancaster]

In case anyone is interested, I noticed in today's Pastaworks newsletter that the hours for Evoe are now - Wednesday - Sunday, 12:00 - 7:00 PM.

Cat

[ExtraMSG]

I took a while to get here because none of the descriptions of the place spoke to me. I rarely get cheese or charcuterie plates unless they're doing something special in-house. I can go next door to Pastaworks and buy cheese and salumi myself and save some cash and not lose much in the process. I'm surprised it hasn't really been emphasized how huge their menu is with substantial food items, rather than "snacks", for such a small place. Screw the deviled eggs, even if they are good. I wrote down most of the menu on last visit. I used my Blackberry so excuse some shorthand, like the use of the Spanish "y" for "and" and "o" for "or". Don't feel like going through and changing them. There may be some abbreviations as well.

Quote

Prosciutto panino $8
Speck y asiago $7
Muffaletta $7
Salame manchego y roasted pepper $7.5
Parisienne $7
Autogrill $7
Grilled cheese on brioche $7
Pate with frisee on petit pain $7.5
Croque madame $8
The highland $8
The dansk $8

Cheese plate $11
Charcuterie plate $13

potato leek soup w black trumpet mushrooms y scallions $6

Radicchio apple walnut frico $8
Delicata squash balsamic y seeds $6
Beet ricotta salata y orange $8
Chevre chaud w arugala $8
Braised leek y black truffle vin $8
Artichoke fennel guanciale $8
Belgian endive pear hazelnut y bleu cheese $7
Coquiues st jacques nouvelle $10
Oysters (hurricane bay y malpeque) 6 for $12
Chanterelle y gruyere omelet 9 Special pork loin y umbrian lentils $10

Prosciutto di parma $7
Deviled eggs $5
Quince y manchego toast $6
Mixed olives $4
House made pickles $5
Bread y oil o butter $1.5
Spice marcona almonds $4

This really should have been mentioned in the WW along side MCB, Bunk, Petisco, and the new K&Z, imo. It's the most gourmet (not knowing what Petisco will be), you might say, or European or whatever. The least pedestrian, perhaps. This is wine food, not beer food, despite just being sandwiches and salads, for the most part.

The sandwiches and salads that I had were all very good, though, especially the salame, manchego, and pepper. However, has anyone mentioned the pickles? Damn! They're great. Sweet and tangy cippolinis, spicy and fragrant scotch bonnets (or something related but less spicy), lip-seizingly tart plums, etc.

Note: this place seems to be a hang-out for local industry and celeb foodies.

[Amanda]

The food sounds wonderful. I may have to make a special lunch trip there this weekend. Do you know if they are open on Sundays? Doubtful, but wishful thinking on my part.

Best regards,

Amanda

[Cat Lancaster]

Amanda, on Jan 15 2009, 08:01 AM, said:

The food sounds wonderful. I may have to make a special lunch trip there this weekend. Do you know if they are open on Sundays? Doubtful, but wishful thinking on my part.

Best regards,

Amanda

Amanda,

They are open Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 7:00. I have eaten here pretty much every single weekend since they opened and can attest that the food is excellant.

Cat