Portland Monthly - February 2006

Second Helping - Wildwood Restaurant & Bar

The restaurant that pioneered the notion of "cooking from the source" has aged well, the cracked yellow veneer on the bare pine tabletops attesting to the years (closing in on a dozen) like the dog-eared pages of a favorite novel. Service remains as polished as the silver; when your waiter whispers conspiratorially that "the razor clams are excellent tonight, just truly superb," believe him. And the kitchen? Still smoking. Not from a minor stovetop conflagration that recently summoned Portland's Bravest, but from the fire blazing in the brick oven. The mesquite-roasted Draper Valley Farms chicken may serve as the house specialty (in sandwiches for lunch, plated over apple bacon-braised cabbage and stewed vegetables for dinner), but it's also aromatherapy, a high-desert campfire inviting animated chatter. Otherwise the menu is always a surprise, a never-ending story plotted by the purveyor's daily ranging from farm, ranch and fishery. Like any great classic, Wildwood becomes richer, and more nuanced, with every retelling.

© 2006 Portland Monthly