I recently discovered that there is a semi-old school restaurant (They’ve been around 48 years) inside Union Station called Wilf’s. When looking at my calendar and aligning to Wilf’s entertainment calendar it turned out that this was their Third Thursday Concert Series with Dame Linda Lee and the band doing a tribute to Peggy Lee and George Shearing.
I say Dame, because apparently Linda was recently “knighted” by the Royal Rosarians which is a Portland thing. The entrance fee to the “concert” supported their charity which provides funds for less fortunate school children to attend local area school field trips, and they support the busses that take the transient homeless (those without permanent homes or living in hotels) to school.
I had a 6pm dinner reservation and the show was at 7. I arrived around 515 and was immediately seated. The space was fairly dark and dated, but charming. I ordered one of their Dark Manhattans and found it to have the perfect sweetness mixed with bitters and bite from the Knob Creek Rye. Looking around at the clientele I was reminded of the entertainment room of a convalescent home, but I perused the menu and plowed on anyway.
John was my waiter, and apparently the pastry chef, and who knows what else as he was all over the place talking to everyone and keeping things moving. Absolutely phenomenal service throughout the evening.
They have a pre-fixe three course meal with three options for each course. I chose a cup of French Onion soup to start. The soup was laden with umami and the cheese was stringy and playful. I loved it.
For my second course I ordered up the 8-hr red wine braised lamb shank with herbs, carrots and onions served over a bed of delicious, whipped potatoes and some tasty slightly crisp asparagus on the side. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender but slightly under seasoned requiring a dip of each fork full of meat into the super tasty jus.
For my third course I went with the Grand Marnier and blood orange brulee, topped with fresh berries and a side of fresh whipped creme. As I may have said previously, I really tend to judge a restaurant by its creme brulee. It is rare that I can take a bite and be completely surprised as they are generally all the same flavor profile. However, tonight I was surprised when I took a bite and it bit me back with that tart blood orange that permeated the dessert and allowed it to be refreshing and not rich at all.
I paired the brulee with an outstanding 20-year-old Tawny Port.
So, come 7pm sharp the show started, and I stayed for the first set to enjoy an hour of music, encapsulated here in a quick 6 min video. I asked John about halfway through if I could move up a seat since the entrance to the kitchen was between me and the stage and everyone kept blocking my video. (If the old school music isn’t your jam skip ahead to 2:46 for the soulful guitar riff at least)
Yet another magical Portland weekday evening and I will definitely be going back to Wilf’s for some more music and food in the future.
