Mole baby? As in those blind, digging rat thangs? No! I mean moh-lay, as in Oaxacan mole, the delicious, smoky sauce from Mexico. And I mean bay-bee as in a “baby” that you create from filling your belly with food! Such was the fate of one of our intrepid hashcapade tweeps.
Matt ordered Meriwether’s eye-popping Huevos Rancheros whose foundation is a mole casserole topped with eggs and guacamole. After the meal, he rubbed his distended belly, smiled and pronounced the immaculate conception of his mole baby – priceless!
I had never heard of Meriwether’s even though I ran right by it during this year’s 40th Portland Marathon. Fortunately, Lisa was a veteran of this charmingly warm, spacious and inviting restaurant that happens to serve a mean hash. It also boasts an absolutely splendid outdoor area. Can I just say that I cannot wait for warm weather to return for a chance to sit outside?
And it gets better – Meriwether’s grows its own produce at Meriwether’s Skyline Farm for a true farm-to-fork experience that’s hard to beat! So as our hungry crew sat down, we were salivating at all of the sumptuous choices on the menu. True to form, I zeroed in on the Corned Beef Skillet Hash – potatoes, kale and sunny-side eggs. If you’ve ever wondered why it’s called “corned” beef, let me enlighten you. Before refrigeration, hard grains of salt were used to salt and preserve meat. In Old English, a hard grain is call a corn. Now you know!
When my corned beef hash arrived, the skillet was fresh-out-of-the-oven hot – excellent first impression. As I started to dig into the corned beef hash, my eyes bugged out at the big, chunky, succulent morsels of corned beef. Are you kidding me?! The potatoes were full of flavor, as though they had been brined before being roasted. Farm-fresh kale provided a splash of green and a perfect, toothsome bite while the sliced, roasted garlic helped amp up the dish. Don’t even get me started on the other dishes…
…too late. I included the other dishes at our table – instant food porn entrees. We scrambled like forty-niners going for the mother-lode as we pulled out iPhones, Droids and Nikons to capture this epic hashcapade! Thanks to Lisa, Matt, Jenn, Dave, Lars, Matt and Lisa – rutabegas! Oh, and to the patient staff for putting up with our unruly table, thank you!
Happy Hashcapades,
Clark
This looks so fantastic! Gosh, I’m sad I missed it. I’d never heard of Meriweathers either, but I will definitely have to try it. Great write up!
Thanks, Lindsay! Would love to have you and Nich at our next hashcapade 🙂
Such fun! Thanks Clark!
You’re very welcome, Jenn! How was the rest of PDX Cocktail Week? From your tweets, it looked like a blast 🙂 Rutabega, mwah!
Grade A stuff. I’m unquesoitanbly in your debt.
ohmygawd. I knew I shouldn’t have clicked the link. I was already super sas to miss it, and now THIS! Photo proof of Meriwether’s delicious offerings. (I meant sad, not sas, btw… for some reason I can’t edit this on my ipad…).
Hee hee. I think you’re sassy self needs to attend the next hashcapade! Thanks for the lovely comment 🙂