Welcome to ColemanWatch, a weekly feature in which we parse the particularly florid stylings of the Portland Mercury's resident food critic, Patrick Alan Coleman. Seen a sentence we've missed? Log on to your bright, burning email screen, and wend a grandiloquent email our way.
If it weren't for the swears, we'd swear Patrick Alan Coleman was feeling a little subdued this week as he takes on NE Alberta Airstream trailer/barn/shed/creperie Suzette, run by Jehnee Rains who used to work at Alice Waters' Berkeley farm-to-table paradise Chez Panisse (something Coleman is jazzed about) and Portland's Saucebox/Bluehour/23Hoyt aka BruceCareyWorld (something Coleman is, according to the review's bloggy sibling in which our mascot discusses Rains' fish-sourcing, kinda whatevs about). The chef is "lovely," the shed "tastefully appointed." There is "charm and quirk," also "congenial" staff. The space is "comfortable."
Snooze-a-tron, much? The discussion of the food is just as easy-peasy: the crepes are either "soberly savory" or "sweetly exuberant"; the quiche is "very good"; we're falling asleep.
But oh! Shazam! Wait! The sober crepes don't apologize! They are "thunderous and bold!" They ooze mushrooms! Also the sweet ones! Are! "Startingly rich!" and "nearly overpowering!" And then, wait for it, wait for it,
The coup de grâce, however, lies in the homemade cinnamon ice cream that offers bright, cooling respite, and incongruously cuts through the heavier notes with its horchata-esque tones.And we're back. Feeling, as Coleman says, "Fan-fucking-tastic."
· Suzette: Delight-Fold [Portland Mercury]
· The Curious Case of Chez Panisse, Chef Jehnee Rains, and the Cash & Carry Salmon [Blogtown PDX]
· ColemanWatch [EaterPDX]
