Sel Gris - Portland OR

Sel Gris is in a word, perfection. A small restaurant run by a chef who is ballsy enough to make good food that unapologetically stands for itself. What do I mean by this? Take his entrée, Lamb Two ways. It is a dish of two lamb chops and a small piece of lamb sausage. The lamb chops are simply seasoned with salt and pepper and the sausage is made fresh with just enough spice to enhance the lamb and formed into a patty. Both are cooked to perfection with the understated seasonings serving to enhance the lamb rather than cover it up. Not ballsy enough for you? Ok let’s try desert. Chocolate pudding on top of which sits a warm gooey chocolate cake and on top of that sits a small scoop of chocolate ice cream, to the side of which is a house made truffle. This dessert is apply named, Chocolate, just Chocolate. Still not ballsy enough for you? Want more brass? Ok here it is; I give you the Cookies and Cream. Three different types of cookies served with a Caramel Pot Du Crème. The real balls in this dish are in the Pot du crème. It is placed in a little cup and sprinkled with Sel Gris. So you say, “who cares? Everyone is doing caramel with salt, big deal!” and you of course would be right, everyone is doing a sweet, gooey caramel with a sea salt top; usually covered in chocolate. But here the difference is that the pot du crème is not cloyingly sweet. Actually, it’s just barely sweet enough that you know it’s meant to be dessert. It does not end here however, for the real surprise in this dish is not that it has salt or is not too sweet, but that the addition of salt and the lower sugar content actually enhances the flavor of the caramel, which should not be possible as caramel is basically sugar. But it does and in so doing enhances your perception of what caramel should really taste like. In short, the chef at Sel Gris does exactly as his name sake is known for doing, enhances the flavors of the food without overpowering them.