Monday, July 2, 2007

Toro Bravo

"The Brave Bull" is walking distance from our place. Here's a quick rundown of our dinner the other night:

  • Green beans with lemon and tomato puree. Nothing but yum!
  • Fried Anchovies - came with fried lemon slices and fried onions with Romesco. Very good and fresh, not fishy. I liked eating the whole fish, the head and all. The fried lemons rocked.
  • Crab & Pork Croquettes - fried crab balls with a little bit of pork with olive oil and a small dice of tomato, onion and parsley. The pork dominated the flavor, which to me made them not as good as they could be, but very good nonetheless.
  • Scallops with Romesco - The Romesco sauce is great and went very well with the Scallops. Bf thought the scallops were a tad overcooked, maybe medium instead of medium rare. I disagreed. I love scallops, but there were nothing special about these, in that we could've had them anywhere.
  • House-Smoked Coppa Steak - came with carmelized onions and kalamata olives. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. At least 2 inches thick, pink in the middle, crusty on the outside. I found it chewy, and so smoked it tasted like ham. Bf thought it was great and it was his favorite dish of the evening. Me, not so much. The texture was so chewy it was hard for me to eat. There was quite a bit of connective tissue and fat that hadn't rendered. It was also hard to cut with the knife provided. The flavor was enjoyable, especially the middle pinkest part. I don't think I would order this again, but bf definitely would.

Very good service and timing. Dishes came out one at a time for the most part, and the ten minute or so break before the steak came was appreciated to get our tummies caught up. We came in just before 6:00pm when it was just about half full, but it was completely full when we left after 7.

Toro Bravo

120 NE Russell St.
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 281-4464

Open Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday 5pm-10pm
Friday & Saturday 5pm-12am
Closed Monday

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Rad, I didn't know you had a blog. I'mma subscribin'

I'm with you on the coppa steak...I didn't like it as much as some of their other standout dishes with brighter flavors. It seemed smoky to me and not much else.

You should try it later at night and see if that makes any difference in execution or service....I'm curious.

Anonymous said...

Flynn, maybe you should pay better attention to my blogroll. :P

The coppa has been my intended dish for my next visit. I'll be interested to see if I have the same results.

Unknown said...

ExtraMSG.com is for spammers!

It wasn't tender, and I remember it being a bit chewy, but that didn't bother me much. I figure it was intended to have some tear to it. I just thought it was kind of one-note. I'd try it again, but I don't know if I'd go out of my way to order it.

LadyConcierge said...

Rad, indeed, Flynn. Thanks for the props. I'm having fun.

I'll definitely be back to TB, just don't know if I'll order the coppa again. I'm not such a "steak-y" chick.

Anonymous said...

I loved the steak, but I love me some mandible calisthenics — allows me to shake off some of the emasculation that consumes me on a daily basis.

I did dunk it in plenty of romesco sauce (in addition to the white romesco it was served with) leftover from the anchovies.

Seemed as though "steak" is a misnomer in this case? Seems like it was cut from a roast. Steak to me is a raw cut that is cooked from raw, but I believe this is cut from a cooked roast and then finished/warmed.

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