"Ask us who makes the best French food in Portland, and we’ll say Le Pigeon every time. At this Lower Burnside restaurant, traditional French technique transforms hyper-seasonal ingredients and integrates unexpected flavors like apricots and shaved truffles on Chinese-style shrimp toast and huitlacoche syrup drizzled on sweet corn panna cotta in ways that feel thoroughly modern. The $140, seven-course tasting menu (with a vegetarian option) is served in a rustic sage green space that has bare brick walls and a tiny open kitchen with pots and pans hanging above it. If you’re celebrating an engagement or new job, this intimate restaurant that’s beloved by splurging locals and culinary tourists will always be the right call. photo credit: David Reamer Food Rundown The menu at Le Pigeon changes frequently, but here’s an example of what you might be served. Foie'nte Cristo You’re probably not going to see this exact luxe play on a monte cristo since the menu switches up day to day, but there’s usually a $25 tasting menu supplement featuring foie gras, which you’re going to want to try even if it kills your appetite for the rest of the meal. Foie Gras Profiteroles Le Pigeon’s iconic foie gras profiteroles with caramel are always served as a meal-ender, and we now refuse to eat duck liver with heated sugar any other way. Sturgeon Pastrami This reuben-like dish of seared pastrami-spiced sturgeon, surrounded by a swiss cheese sauce dotted with caviar, garnished with pickled ground cherries and marigold petals, is our new favorite autumnal addition." - Krista Garcia
