A Peek at the Dinner Menu for Soon-to-Open Quartet

With just six days until its anticipated Valentine's Day opening, Quartet — the new restaurant taking over the South Waterfront's Lucier space — has started the leak of new details, starting with its bar and dinner menus. As previously reported, Saucebox alum Adam Kekahuna is the executive chef in charge of spearheading a menu featuring "Pacific Northwest cuisine with a Southern influence."

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the Quartet team's ownership of downtown's Portland Prime steakhouse, a sneak peek at the menu reveals a focus on seafood and steaks. To start, a raw bar offers two sushi rolls, sashimi (at opening, it's ahi with pickled ginger, yuzu-wasabi, and yamasa soy), and a seasonally changing raw oyster prep. Starters also include shrimp cocktail and five salad options, with an old-school tableside Caesar service. The steakhouse menu also borrows from old-school traditions, with four beef options (from a Filet Mignon all the way to a Chateaubriand for two) and sides served family-style (options there range from aspragus with roasted hazelnuts and aromatic butter to a truffled lobster mac and cheese).

Seafood entrees (the complete section listed below) range from $33 to $55 (the high end price point for Frank's fried lobster, presumably named after managing partner Frank Taylor). For those looking for surf-and-turf, an entree dubbed "The Quartet" nets guests fried lobster, filet mignon, crab cake, and a maître d' potato.

SAUTEED SHRIMP
winter greens, goat cheese chives grits,
garlic red fresno lime sauce

BLACKENED SALMON
roasted kabocha puree, shichimi-lemongrass beurre blanc,
mango-jicama salsa

SCALLOPS
pinot noir gastrique, tomato confit,
apple leek risotto, fig jam

JADE HALIBUT
fried vegetable sushi de jour, yuzu ponzu, jicama,
ginger scallion slaw

DUNGENESS CRAB CAKES
truffled risotto, house smoked pork belly haricot vert,
creole cream sauce

FRANK'S FRIED LOBSTER
asparagus, roasted garlic herb polenta, sauce etoufee

In the bar, Quartet will offer a six-item food menu (with beef sliders, chicken quesadillas, and pulled pork for $7 each during happy hour), and an all-hours burger for $16. For dessert and more tableside action, bananas Foster will be available for dining-room flame action.

Quartet will debut with its regular a la carte menu on Valentine's Day, February 14.
· Quartet [Official site]
· All Previous Quartet Coverage [Eater PDX]