They get first choice of the best cuts of steak available from Portland vendors. If your bread cools to the touch, a waiter will immediately replace your basket of bread. Flaming meals are prepared table-side. It's the best restaurant in Portland. My husband and I were listening to Collin, a waiter serving us at the The Nine's 12th floor Club Lounge, describe his second place of employment, El Gaucho restaurant on Broadway. We asked him to reserve us table.
That he did very well. We arrived at 6:30, which is a bit early for dinner, but the restaurant was already pumped, primed and full. Dimly lit, dark paneling, open kitchen at the back, lots of white linen tables in the center and puffy, red, half-circle booths along opposing walls. Formally attired waiters, not quite old enough for Social Security but well past the age of mouth-breathers, dotted the room. The experienced waiters snapped to attention when summoned by guests. With one hand behind his back, our waiter presented Harry from Seattle a flaming sword laced with steak.
Customers were dressed much like I was -- denim pants, t-shirts, sandals, and some wore cut-offs. Very casual attire. Others wore more suitable attire for an evening out but overall the crowd was relaxed.
Collin had indeed reserved us a great table. If you have a choice between a booth on the right or a booth on the left, choose the right. It has less glaring lighting overhead and is much more intimate. In fact, if you were planning to break up with somebody and wanted to do it in public, this is probably the place to do it. Or propose, take your pick.
I couldn't decide if the background music was flamenco or tango, but it was decidedly Argentinian. The passion stirred depends on one's mood, I suppose. One could leap on the table to belt out Don't Cry for Me, Argentina or . . . stab a bull.
Our waiter brought complementary appetizers, lightly breaded Dungeness crab cakes. Magnificent. Melted in our mouths. Because this was our first trip to Portland, and we like to sample local fare, we tried to order a sparkling wine from the Willamette Valley. Our waiter returned from the cellar to say they were out. Did I want to try an Italian sparkling wine or French champagne? He brought me a small glass of each to try. The Zefrio Prosecco Brut, at $12 a glass, was interesting, but not nearly as fabulous as the Perrier Jouet Grand Brut Champagne Epernay, at $30 a glass.
I paused to think about a couple of Sacramento short sales that are closing escrow this week -- 2 particularly tough short sales to negotiate, both with external and internal sets of problems: difficult buyer's agents, out-of-state sellers, time-sensitive bank deadlines, dashing to the finish line with moments to spare -- and I announced to our waiter that I would have the French champagne.
Not only that, but I'd also take the Russian King Crab legs. Now, I have no idea whether it was Sarah Palin-inspired crab legs because I don't really know where the line is drawn between Russia and Alaska, and they might even be the same king crab legs for all I know. But I do know that it's rare I dine at a place that serves king crab at all, so whether it's Russian or Alaskan, bring it on.
The service was slow. It wasn't the fact that salads take much time to prepare, our waiter explained, as it was that they didn't have enough salad carts to go around. My husband ordered a salad with the same green mix as mine but his had candied walnuts and minced pear, while mine was tossed with large bay shrimp and Roquefort dressing . . . and an unripe tomato wedge. I asked the waiter about the tomato. It seemed strange to do everything else so well and leave one item unattended, to overlook the lonely tomato. It's not like Portland is that far from Sacramento or they couldn't order cherry tomatoes, which are almost always in season.
Our waiter said his boss has been in business for more than 30 years and he's not about to change his ways. Tomatoes are, apparently, unimportant to him. Pity.
After dinner, our waiter brought us a big platter of fruit, nuts and cheese. It looked suspiciously similar to the platter he had previously delivered to the booth in front of us, which was rejected by the customers in favor of El Gaucho's trademark desserts prepared table-side: Cherries Jubilee or Bananas' Foster. My husband stabbed the pear and sliced it. It was not very ripe. But the cheese was room temperature and good.
By the time we rolled our big fat stomachs out of El Gaucho, we had spent twice as much for dinner as we did the night before at Fenouil. It was an experience to dine at El Gaucho, and I'm not sorry we tried it.
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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.
The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.
Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.
Photographs: Elizabeth Weintraub
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
I can see you are never really on vacation...even when you are here in God's Country.
I may never take another one either.
Tell me, do you mention to these restaurants that you are going to do a review? Do you carry some kind of credential...let me know your little secret on this ...if you have one.
You can POST the answer ... or just tell me.
Sounds wonderful. Don't know that I will ever get to Portland, but if I happen to, I shall have to try this place. Making a note in my blackberry with the name. One never knows where one might fly off to with a great air fare.
Elizabeth: Can't imagine tomatos being unimportant to anyone in food service. Silly comment.
Sounds like a great meal and a wonderful time. Now back to work on one of the short sales so you can pay for it.
We have an El Gaucho here in Seattle but we've never been. I've heard it's amazing! Are you headed further North this trip?
Hi Jim: Naw, I don't tell any of the restaurants that I may do a review. Besides, until I actually sit down at my computer in the morning, I don't know what I'm going to write. I might not even write a review. I might write about something else.
Hi Colleen: This trip is just to see Portland. My husband is still yakking about hunting around Squim for a second home, though.