Clyde Common
1014 SW Stark St., Portland, OR 97205
(503) 228-3333
They say that interviewers decide if they’re going to hire you within the first two minutes. That’s about all it took for me to decide I loved this place. I went there (eagerly) on an assignment and fell in love with Clyde Common for so many reasons, but oddly, the food really wasn’t one of them… yet. Let me explain.
First, it’s perfectly gorgeous. I just want to go back there to sit at one of the tables again. If I had to design a restaurant, it’d probably turn out pretty close to this one – except chop up those community tables. The ceilings are monstrous, with windows to match. The wood interior is hardly an original idea, but the reality isn’t monotonous. It’s all various types, shades, grains, and it doesn’t get boring to look at like a lot of trendy wood crap can these days. They (i.e. the owners) designed it themselves and took an ancient cookbook and turned its pages into wallpaper. They’re even thinking of making some of the recipes from it and featuring one cookbook-wallpaper item on the menu per day.
Second, the menu is creative but doesn’t totally loose you in pretentious-ville. The majority of the meat came with mysterious titles, but not only did my friend/server enthusiastically explain everything, but there was still plenty of things I would’ve liked had I not gotten the boutique-meat break down. The meatiness of the list also reminded me of Le Pigeon, but without as many organs involved.
Third, the bar and location is reason in itself to go back. Oddly enough, the downtown-West Burnside-Powell’s area has very little to offer as far as decent bars go. Clyde Common fills this void easily. They have all the local liquor anyone cares about and have a lot of good wines by the glass.
Okay; now on to the food. Here’s the part when I’m way too honest (but hey, I am being totally honest, and isn’t that a crucial part of reviews?). I was feeling kind of sick that night, and I knew my tongue was a little, well, broken. My Oregon pinot was delicious and that may have been part of the problem too, because I just couldn’t taste the food all the much. We got salted-cod croquettes, which were crisp on the outside and melty-good on the inside. Amen to them being covered in rich sea salt. We also got the hamburger sandwich with sweet-potato fries served with house-made tomato compote. Other items, which found a way to our table, were the pimento popcorn (sweet and hot, kind of like a Tex Mex kettle corn), spiced nuts, focaccia with infused olive oil, house pickles and carrot gnuddi (a vegetarian dish similar to gnocchi, except that it’s made with ricotta cheese instead of semolina flour).
Another Clyde Common trip will happen without a doubt. Except next time I’ll drink one less glass of wine, and hopefully taste the food. In the meantime, let me know if you go.
UPDATE: I went back last night and loved it all over again. I had just closed out Powell’s with the partner and we were looking for a good night-cap/snack. Clyde Common fit the bill effortlessly. Trend report: I had my second watermelon infused cocktail in two days (the other one came from 820). I have a feeling I’ll be drinking a lot more of those in this town this summer, and I’m not complaining.
-Catherine
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