Despite the horked up name of this establishment (dinerant? really?), The Original: A Dinerant, cooks up crispy fries, stirs up an interesting gravy, and hides orange cheddar cheese curds beneath it all.
We arrived on a lazy Sunday afternoon to take advantage of the Original’s every day happy hour (3pm-6pm, until 8pm at the bar). Four bucks for a platter of poutine is a great deal! It was such a great deal we also ordered the scotch egg with mustard, and the pigs in a blanket made with a kobe beef frank and served with cheddar fondue(!).
Why yes, that is a scotch egg in the background.
In retrospect, along with our beer and punch, the poutine would have been more than enough for the two of us. Gah, I don’t know why we always order so much food. But the Original’s menu sports so many interesting items, it’s hard to resist.
This was the second time I’ve tried the poutine. The first time, months ago, I was put off by a slight maple flavor in the gravy. This time there was no trace of maple, just salty creamy goodness. The fries were fantastic. My only, slight, complaint is that the curds were largely clumped into a large mass beneath the pile. But a fork solved that conundrum.
The restaurant space is done up in an ultra modern mid-century modern. It’s open and high ceilinged, there’s a loungey mezzanine level too.
Heather especially liked the succulent garden beneath the stairs.
All in all a pleasant lazy afternoon happy hour. The service was great (perhaps because we were virtually the only customers there), and the food was interesting.
The poutine gets a thumbs up, especially the $4 happy hour priced version (regular price is $7.25, and you can add add foie gras for another $7). And you can even get the poutine with poached eggs at breakfast, though $11.50 seems kinda steep.
The Original: A Dinerant
300 SW 6th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: 503.546.2666
Web: www.originaldinerant.com
Portland Poutine’s first review: The Original | Dave Knows: Portland
on Oct 26th, 2009
@ 12:55 pm:
[...] Read the whole review: The Original: A Dinerant [...]
mary
on Oct 26th, 2009
@ 6:22 pm:
Hey, thanks for the link!
damia
on Oct 26th, 2009
@ 9:48 pm:
Thanks for the review! *drool* =)
Dave
on Oct 26th, 2009
@ 11:59 pm:
Maria – My pleasure! Just came upon your excellent poutine site today, and new immediately it had to be added to the blogroll.
Damia – Glad I could be of service
devlyn
on Oct 29th, 2009
@ 12:23 am:
How was the service when you went there? I’ve been 2 times, and the first was during breakfast, and the service was so bad that there were people leaving after getting cold food. The second was during happy hour, and it was much more pleasant. I’d love to go back there for an actual meal because they have an interesting menu, but I’m reticent to do so because of the first experience (which, btw, was a good 4 months after opening, so they should have had their sh!t together by then)…
Dave
on Oct 29th, 2009
@ 3:25 pm:
devlyn – Service was actually really good, but the place was almost empty when we were there – about 5pm on a rainy Sunday.
I had lunch there once when it had first opened, and service was pretty good then too, with a decent lunch crowd. But I’ve never been when it’s busy . . .
Portland Poutine on Twitter « Portland Poutine
on Mar 13th, 2010
@ 10:33 am:
[...] The Original: @theoriginalpdx [...]