Farmers Market II

After meeting with a general contractor we went to the downtown Portland farmers market again on Saturday. There weren't many new mushroom varieties yet. I asked the "Mushroom Man" when the white truffles will come in, and he said that they don't start coming out until around mid October. We did see Maitake mushrooms this time though.




Here's one of the mushroom guys. Same dude we took a picture of right around the same time last year. On that table is a mound of Chanterelles. No one has found a way to cultivate these mushrooms yet, so they're always harvested in the wild. Oregon harvests 500,000 pounds of these every year. They also happen to be the state mushroom. Chanterelles are prized in European cuisine, and they're known as "girolles" in Italy and "pfiferrling" in Germany.





Pictured above is Maitake. I've seen a lot of herbal supplements made from Maitake, although I'm not sure what they're supposed to promote, healthwise.





Downtown Portland's farmers market is situated right on the park blocks of Portland State University. Pictured in the background above are several vendor tents next to the university's alumni house.



Dishes:

Below are two dishes we made from some of the mushrooms we bought.



Sometime last year, fish fish, had recommended we prepare mushrooms as tempura. So here we have tempura Lobster mushroom with stir fried vegetables and crispy tofu.





Here we have noodles with brussel sprouts and three kinds of mushrooms: Shiitake, Maitake, and Chanterelles. Everything tasted so fresh. Nothing's better than organic vegetables and wild mushrooms straight from the farmers market.



Restaurant Update:

We sent the lease contract addendum to the landlord and hope to be able to sign the lease later this week. Several construction contractor bids came back this week and the numbers look good for the most part. We'll meet with one more general contractor this Wednesday.