Dan Balmer, John Stowell, Mike Pardew and bassist Scott Steed play Jim Hall.
photo by richard pelletier
The Mike Pardew trio does its thing Friday night, Feb. 26, 2011 as the Max train shoots past.
Potato and Celeriac Puree with Fried Celery Root and Fennel Pollen
Roasted Apple, Pancetta and French Brie Pizza
Fennel Crusted and Seared Ahi Tuna with Moroccan Blood Orange and Olive Salad
Grilled Local Sturgeon with Winter Greens, Baby Carrots and Cipollini Onions with a
Hazelnut, Meyer Lemon Sauce
Veal Osso Buco with Saffron and Hedgehog Mushroom Risotto and Fresh Horseradish Gremolata
Meyer Lemon and White Chocolate Profiteroles with Strawberry Coulis and Pistachio Praline
and
Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe with Frangelico Creme Anglaise
This year our Gregorian calendar has granted us all something very special: A four day Valentine’s Day Weekend. The love commences on Friday, February 11 and runs through the big day, Monday, February 14. Reserve your table at Nel Centro, and we’ll make sure you have an elegant, romantic and memorable night with your favorite person. Friday and Saturday nights we feature jazz in the bar area starting at 10 p.m.
As Producing Sponsors of this year’s 34th Annual Portland International Film Festival, Nel Centro and Hotel Modera, are proud to host the PIFF’s rocking opening night party. The PIFF is one of Portland’s signature cultural events and we’re thrilled to be playing a role. Nel Centro is a designated PIFF Lounge, the place that film goers hang before and after screenings. Look for special film festival pricing at our famous happy hour. Check out the PIFF schedule and make sure you catch a few of these great films. Most films are being shown at the nearby Regal Broadway Cinemas and at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium. Both venues are a short walk to Nel Centro.
Jazz Guitarist Mike Pardew at Nel Centro
The 2011 Portland Jazz Festival begins February 18 and runs through February 27. Nel Centro is proud to be part of this year’s Jazz Festival roster, anchored by our Friday and Saturday night house band, led by Mike Pardew and friends, in duo, trio and quartet formats.
For the festival, we’ve booked a Sunday jazz brunch with Brooklyn Street Jazz. And on Thursday, we’ve added the Andre St. James Trio. Jazz at Nel Centro gets started right after the big name shows wind down. There’s no cover, and we’re only three quick blocks from the Newmark Theater. Right around midnight, Nel Centro is one cool place to be. All ages are welcome.
Andre St. James Trio
Thursday, February 24th at 9pm
Jazz Brunch
Brooklyn Street Jazz
Sunday, February 27th at 11am
The rooms are chic and comfortable, the food is fresh and exciting and the service is genuine.
Nel Centro would love to host your next private luncheon, reception, client dinner or meeting. We have five private dining rooms that are fun and versatile. We can accommodate an intimate dinner for 12, or a stand-up reception for 150, so please consider reserving your next event with us. For more information, contact Michelle Glass at 503.484.1099. Or email Michelle at michelle@nelcentro.com. First time customers who mention this newsletter will receive a 10% discount on their first booking.
Happy Hour at Nel Centro is hip, delicious, and a great value. From 4 pm to 6 pm, you can sip a Nel Centro Negroni or a Nel Centro Manhattan. Sample our Fried Calamari with Rouille & Remoulade, or our Mediterranean Mussels in Saffron, Pastis & Cream or, our Lamb Burger with Peperonata & Feta. Take a seat at the bar or the banquette, relax and unwind with friends.
Nel Centro chef and owner David Machado, will be at Steamboat Inn, on the North Umpqua River, Saturday, April 9, 2011. David’s food will be paired with the wines of Earl & Hilda Jones of Abacela Vineyards. For Steamboat Inn lodging and dinner reservations, call 800.840.8825, or click here>>. David will also be chef for an evening, Wednesday March 2, 2011 at the R. Stuart and Co. Wine Bar in McMinville, OR. His dinner is part of the restaurant’s Winter Supper Series. For details and reservations, please email rebekah@rstuartandco.com. Or, call 503.472.4477.
“I confess, I went here as a gift from my boss. Trust Tom Douglas not to steer you wrong. From start to finish it was incredible. From Unctious Pork Belly Cassoulet to Warm Ricotta, Beets and Tangerine Salad through Truffled Prime Rib and perfectly cooked Ahi over Creamy Polenta. The only complaint was the impossibly hard freeze to the Almond Ice Cream on our Profiteroles. Happily, the rich Hazelnut Chocolate filling them more than made up for the mis-step. Not to mention, even in the midst of a mad busy New Year’s Eve, the staff remained cordial and cool. Fabulous.”
Nel Centro
New Year’s Eve Specials
December 31, 2010
Soup: Cream of celery root and apple puree with hazelnut gremolata
Appetizer: Chilled seafood salad with grilled shrimp, scallops and octopus
Pasta: House-made egg Trenette with fresh Oregon white truffles, butter, parmesan and chives
Fish: Grilled Mahi Mahi with truffled polenta, braised winter greens with pork belly lardons and Tuscan Olio Nuovo
Entree: Carlton Farms Dry Aged Rotisserie Ribeye with whipped potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts and red wine, truffle demi-glace
Dessert: Chocolate almond profiteroles with Bourbon caramel Sauce and almond ice cream
2010 Santé Restaurant Awards Winners Announced
Santé is pleased to announce that 88 stellar hospitality-industry professionals are winners of the 2010 Santé Restaurant Awards. Now in their thirteenth year, the Santé Restaurant Awards were created to recognize excellence in restaurant food, wine, spirits, and service hospitality. The Santé Awards program is the only peer-judged restaurant and hospitality competition in North America.
About the Awards
Santé Awards for each category are given to winners in eight regions nationwide (New England, New York City, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain/Southwest, California, and West Coast).
Seven Grand Awards also are presented each year:
David Holstrom & the Nel Centro Wine Program
Portland, Oregon — Santé, the Magazine for Restaurant Professionals has named Nel Centro a winner of the 2010 Santé Restaurant Awards. Now in their thirteenth year, the Santé Awards were created to recognize excellence in restaurant food, wine, spirits, and service hospitality. The Santé Awards program is the only peer-judged national restaurant and hospitality competition in North America.
Dave Holstrom, owner and President of Guy du Vin, is the author and director of the wine program at Nel Centro. Chef/Owner David Machado and Dave Holstrom have collaborated on many projects since the mid 1990′s. They worked together at the Heathman Group where Holstrom created a ground breaking wine list at Southpark Seafood Grill and Wine Bar. Holstrom has won numerous awards for his wine programs, including multiple awards from Santé for the Southpark program; Best Wine Lists in America from the Monterey Wine Festival in consecutive years for Southpark and Bluehour; and Restaurant Hospitality’s Annual Best Wine Lists In America for two consecutive years.
Williamette Week has some kinds words for Nel Centro. In their newest Restaurant Guide that just dropped this week, they write this:
Southwest Portland is packed with hotel restaurants—most of them notably absent from these pages—but Nel Centro is the definitive article: the hotel restaurant’s hotel restaurant. Against the experiments of Clyde Common, the dining room of Hotel Modera isn’t trying to redefine the lobby bar into a neighborhood hot spot (this may be because it’s not really in a neighborhood, unless you think the PSU end of the bus mall counts). Instead, it takes its cue from the enchantingly retrograde futurism of the Wells Fargo Center and other surrounding office towers, and becomes the photo spread out of a vintage Condé Nast Traveler. That design ranges from the hanging lamps, which look like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Christmas baubles, to the corn chowder, whose array of primary colors opened a recent meal. The signature dish—peep those open ovens—is the rotisserie chicken, remarkably moist and tender, perched over a tomato-and-bread salad that soaks up the bird’s juices. There’s roasting of a different kind on the porch: three raised fire pits, for three times the romance of the Doug Fir, with none of the crowd. This is the date spot to take the squeeze you don’t want any of your friends to meet. Hey, if things work out, there’s room service. AARON MESH.
Ideal meal: New York steak with porcini butter and sharp broccoli rabe.
Best deal: The crème brûlée gestures enticingly from the dessert menu at $7. It’s worth splurging on.
Thanks WW!
Chef David Machado
Autumn in downtown Portland always signals the opening of a new performing arts season. White Bird Dance takes the stage September 23rd at the Newmark Theater with BJM Danse Montreal/Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. The Portland Opera raises the curtain at the Keller Auditorium on September 24, with a production of Pagliacci & Carmine Burana. The Oregon Ballet Theater opens at the Keller Auditorium on October 9th, with Sleeping Beauty. The Oregon Symphony will host Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, and others for its 2010 season at Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Nel Centro is a strong supporter of each of these performing arts groups. Each venue listed above is conveniently located just a few short blocks from Nel Centro. Won’t you join us pre or post event for dinner or a cocktail?
Six New Dishes Grace the Menu
A cooler than usual summer delayed much of our local produce, which only makes September all the more inviting. Heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, eggplant and squash have arrived in our kitchen. They’re ripe and bursting with flavor. Here are six recent additions to our menu:
• Seared Pork Belly with Sweet Corn, Sugar Snap Peas and Saba
• Shaved Zucchini with Pecorino Romano, Almonds & Mint
• Heirloom Tomatoes with Fresh Mozzarella & Basil
• Lasagne Quattro Formaggi with Basil Pesto
• Risotto “ai Frutti di Mare” with Shrimp, Scallops & Calamari
• Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Ratatouille
Private Dining – Come Celebrate the Holidays With Us
This holiday season brings new opportunities to celebrate and raise a glass with friends, family and colleagues. Nel Centro’s five private dining rooms are fun, handsome and versatile. We have a wide selection of available space and menus; We can accommodate an intimate dinner for 12, or a stand-up reception for 150. Consider reserving your event early. For more information, or to reserve a space, contact michelle@nelcentro.com.
Rotisserie Chicken with Panzanella Salad
Downtown Swings From Four to Six – Happy Hour at Nel Centro
As we leave summer and pedal into autumn, be sure to take advantage of our beautiful patio while the weather is still pleasant. Downtown Portland’s hippest happy hour takes place on the patio and at the bar, every day from four to six pm. New dramatic awnings, designed by Holst Architecture have just been installed on our patio. They soften the late afternoon sun and help keep your outdoor dining experience comfortable.
White Bird Dance Moves to Lincoln Hall
Nel Centro offers a hearty congratulations to White Bird Dance on the completion of their new home, the stunningly redesigned Lincoln Hall at PSU. On Saturday, October 3rd, at 1pm, Nel Centro will host a White Bird Dance reception/fundraiser that will allow ticket holders to meet and mingle with women choreographers. Tickets are $30.00. All proceeds help support White Bird Dance. More information about this event can be found here: http://www.whitebird.org/women
Press We Love – The Vancouver Sun
From Nathan Fong at the Vancouver B.C. Sun – “Nel Centro is the latest restaurant from popular chef and restaurateur David Machado. Located in the uber-chic Modera Hotel, this contemporary retro-designed restaurant showcases Machado’s modern take of classic cuisine from Nice and Genoa using locally sourced, seasonal food.”
Open Table Customers Speak Up About Nel Centro
Open Table is a reservation system that allows diners to easily reserve a table online. After a diner has made a reservation, (via computer, Android or iPhone App) and had dinner with us, Open Table encourages that same diner to report on their experience. Click here to read what some of our diners have said about their recent dining experiences at Nel Centro.
It was a magical night at Nel Centro with honored guest Giovanni Pasquero Elia of the Paitin Winery joining 29 guests in Nel Centro’s gorgeous dining room, Genova. Chef David Machado prepared an authentic Piedmontese menu which was a perfect companion to the lush and delicious wines of Paitin. Below are some photographs from a very special night. A big thank you to those who joined us! An especially big thanks to impresario and wine consultant David Holstrom of Guy du Vin who hosted the night’s festivities.
Genova dining room just before guests arrive
Paitin Winery owner/winemaker Giovanni Pasquero Elia shares his passion
A beautiful Salt Cod Ragu under way for Polenta with Salt Cod
Giovanni and chef Machado chat about Alba and Nieve in Piedmont
Chef Machado with sous chef Matthew Bemis prepping short ribs.
