Cruise In Offers More than Mere Burgers

Normally, when I think of diners, I think of greasy spoons, but the Cruise In Country Diner is doing things a bit differently, taking the grease out and replacing it with locally sourced, healthy products instead. Alright, there's still a little grease, but it's organic, grass-fed beef juice that'll be dribbling down your chin.

On a recent exploration of some of Oregon’s small producers, Sylke Neal-Finnigan and Allison George of the Washington County Visitor’s Association wooed me with the wines from Ardiri Wines, Beran Vineyards and A Blooming Hill Vineyard (reviews to come soon). While navigating the countryside on that beautiful Friday afternoon, we passed a little diner I had previously noticed, advertising their selection of local beer and wine. I casually, and half-jokingly, said we should go… I could have sworn I heard those burgers calling to me, a whispering voice floating on the breeze… "Eat Me". Sylke must have heard them calling too, because after our tasting, she suggested we go grab burgers. Fantastic idea, I wish I had thought of it.

I don’t typically write about restaurants (there’s already more than enough restaurant reviewers out there), but every once in a while, something special jumps out at me, gets me really excited, and I just have to spread the word.

The Cruise In Country Diner, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, on the busy corner of River Road and Farmington, was founded by Terry (nicknamed Mr. Organic) and Nancy Newman Hummel just over a year and a half ago. Aside from the extensive selection of mouth-watering beef and buffalo burgers to choose from, like the Hemi-Challenger (3-patties) and the healthier Convertible (no bun), Cruise Inn is taking things to new heights, offering natural, organic and local produce, gluten-free buns and beer, 13 local micro-brews on tap, local draught root beer, four neighborhood wines (from Oak Knoll, Beran Vineyards, Helvetia Vineyards and Forest Grove Cellars), handmade shakes, even organic coffee and ketchup… all at affordable prices and good for the whole family. I've lost track of how many wins that is.

The owners, who were were being the very best hosts as they circulated the restaurant, and mingled with guests. Nancy told us how the addictive bottomless fries we were devouring were picked up that very morning from Hoffman Farms, just down the road; it doesn’t get much fresher or more local than that.

The premium quality is to be savored in every bite, and though they insist they’re not fast food, our orders were delivered so promptly, it was like they knew what we were going to order before we did. Next time you’re anywhere near the Hillsboro area, squeeze in a visit to the Cruise In… the 1950's car memorabilia will catch your interest, but it's the burgers that will capture your heart.

Lose Yourself In Time at Helvetia Vineyards

If you’re looking for a break from fast-paced city life and seeking some long lost country-style hospitality, you’re sure to find it at Helvetia Vineyards. Established in 1982 by one of the friendliest men in Oregon’s wine industry, John Platt will guide you through his wines, talk to you about the farm’s rich history and, if you’re lucky, he might even hop in your car for a ride up the road to give you a tour of his winery.

Founders John Platt and Elizabeth Furse Elizabeth planted grapes in 1982 originally to supply home winemakers and actually hadn't considered making wine at the time. Their intent was to grow something to satisfy the requirements of farm tax deferral, and wine grapes seemed the likeliest of crops. Later, when these very same home winemakers started winning awards, John's interest in winemaking was sparked. 1996 brought about their first commercial crush and they’re now producing 1,300 cases of estate wines from their 10-acre vineyard located on a southwestern face of the West Hills at the northern tip of the Tualatin Valley (which is actually still within the Willamette Valley).

Winery mascots Jake and Coco are the real greeting committee at Helvetia Vineyards, and even on a spring day that was as soggy as breakfast cereal after sitting in milk a bit too long, who could possibly resist sloppy, wet kisses from a face like this?

The winery’s visitor center is located within a 100-year-old historic farmhouse which now features a display of some of the original winemaking equipment found in the cellar as well as hammocks, horseshoes, croquet and picnic tables to help make your country retreat complete.

While admiring an old framed photo of the original residence, John relayed the story of how this photo was actually a postcard sent to the owner, Jacob Yungen, from his daughter Elise expressing her troubled situation as a single mother while trying to raise her young children. She had mailed it from Reedville, Oregon with a message scrawled on the back asking for help. Looking at that ancient photo of Jacob sitting on the front deck while his daughter Elise gathers her children at the back door moved me in a way which seemed to send me whirling backwards through time. I wondered who took that photo. I could imagine how drastically different her life must have been—to be a woman in 1900. Can’t you just feel their struggle? As I looked into their faces, I tried to understand their relationship. Why is Jacob sitting on the front deck while his daughter and grandchildren stand out back? The house’s air was thick with stories of labor and love, of people and time and I wanted so much to just breathe them all in; yet their secrets remained as elusive as the apparitions themselves. John brought me back to the current century by offering me a tasting of his wines.

Miss Kitty (the resident floozy) affectionately swirled around my feet as I swirled my wine in my glass. She kept me company while I enjoyed a 2007 Chardonnay that was a bit like that tropical vacation I so badly need. With notes of banana cream pie and kefir lime adding a nice twist of tartness, it was like eating dessert while on that tropical vacation… double bonus, all for the value price of $13.00. Ka-ching!

The 2008 Pinot Noir had just been bottled three weeks prior to my visit, and though very young and fruity (put that baby to bed), amidst the sweet strawberries and tart cranberry smell, I detected a bit of barrel funk that’s sure to add elements of intrigue as this wine develops. John offered me a bit of smoked salmon, which brought out a lovely earthy component in the wine, similar to freshly dug truffles. He said he gears his wines towards smoked salmon, and I don’t know how he does it, but he’s right, the combination was very complementary.

John didn’t have to twist my arm to convince me to drive with him over to the nearby winery for some barrel tasting. Jake and Cocoa apparently didn’t want to miss the opportunity either as they ran alongside the car trying to keep up. I thought I lost them, but apparently, they knew just where we were headed and caught up with us before I could even park the car. The wines in the barrel room were listening to some Jazz a la NPR’s Prairie Home Companion (so that’s where that funk in the wine came from) while we tasted an 09 Pinot Noir already developing some nice complexity showing similar moist earth and truffle notes as the 2008 vintage. Sensing I must be a rosé fan, John went to great lengths to siphon off some 2009 Pinot Noir Rosé for me from the Rose Vineyard, a one-and-a-half acre block that doesn’t ripen up quite like the rest. The wine was vibrant and teased my nose with smells of comforting memories of childhood—bubble gum, watermelon and strawberries. Like a fountain of youth, too bad it wasn’t bottled yet.

I dropped John back off at the old Victorian estate and it occurred to me how history has a way of shaping perspective, molding thoughts on your own reality like a lump of clay. Looking up at the windows of the house, envisioning whose faces have looked out of that glass over the years, it occurred to me how closely connected we all are no matter how much time separates us. When Jacob Yungen wrote home about his new life in Oregon, he said, "The North wind howls here every time it frosts. However, the grapes often ripen full and wonderful." So, the house is still here, there are just new faces peering out the windows. The grapes are still ripening, wine is still being produced and families are still gathering on the farmhouse estate where time has a way of just slowing down so much, it’s almost as if it never existed. I guess things haven’t really changed all that much. Until we sip again…

Cheers!

Reflections on a Glass of Oak Knoll

Driving the Oregon countryside on the weekends has far and away become one of my most favorite times for quiet contemplation, so, before I even began my wine tasting at Oak Knoll, one of Oregon’s oldest producers, I sat down at a cozy little cocktail table to download a bunch of thoughts accumulating in my brain before they flew away with the speed of a hummingbird (because that’s how quickly I forget things lately). The lovely Nadine came out from her post behind the wine bar to deliver me an extensive wine menu, providing me with tableside service while she talked me through their selections. In a nutshell… down-to-earth, gracious and friendly hospitality.

Oak Knoll Winery, founded in 1970 by Ron and Marjorie Vuylsteke, was the very first winery in Washington County. The Vuylstekes started their foray into winemaking back in the early 60’s after a bumper crop of blackberries led to the production of blackberry wines. A few years later, they were securing contracts with early regional grape growers and founded some of Oregon’s first wines, and by 1978, one out of every three bottles of Oregon wine sold was from Oak Knoll Winery. Today, the wines are crafted by the Vuylsteke's cousin, Jeff Herinckx, who joined the winery in 1984.

Their wines were certainly more respectable than I had honestly ever given them credit for. I never realized (or admitted?) how susceptible I was, but I kind of had it drilled into my head, from back in the day when I earned a paycheck from a certain winery, that a certain county’s wineries were basically subpar (with the exception of one, of course). That being said, I wish I could have actually tasted the wines blind, because as much as one’s surroundings can affect how the wine tastes, so can one’s personal experiences (in this case I was seriously trying to overcome a negative impression)—and can you ever really obtain an objective impression of a wine?

One of the wines I truly enjoyed was Oak Knoll’s 2007 Pinot Gris ($14). With a nice, rich and creamy mouth feel, the wine made it’s entrance with the typical apple and pear you’d expect at the surface, but underneath I detected entrancing layers of melon and tropical star fruit notes while the mouth offered additional exotic flavors of grapefruit, mango and a spicy, zingy ginger finish; it was a delicious, intriguing and complex white wine, great for summer with a nice acidity and a moderate price point.

Another stand-out wine was the 2005 Pinot Noir Vintage Reserve ($29). It’s light ruby color tinged slightly brown hinted at a touch of age opened up as slowly and surely as a hare in a race to reveal surprising depth and unexpected characters of leather, sweet red cherries, ripe juicy strawberries, violets and an intriguing spicebox finish of spicy clove and sexy cinnamon—ooo la la.

While meandering about outside, soaking up a bit of spring's welcome but early sunny offering, I savored a bite of dark chocolate with Oak Knoll’s 2006 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was all dark fruit and pepper in a glass, and thought long and hard about my own predilection for the unpretentious that often directly competes with an equal desire for high quality; it’s not easy to achieve both, yet Oak Knoll continually strives to do so and that’s probably why they continue to remain such major players in this wild game of Winopoly. Until we sip again…

Cheers!

A World Beyond Saké Bombs… Finally!

“Kanpai,” we shout a little too loudly as we joyously clink our baby teacups together shooting the warm yet slightly bitter rice wine quickly to the backs of our throats and down to our waiting and eager bellies. Another,” Kanpai”, followed by the token glass clink, but this time, the mini teacups full of steaming hot wine are dropped into our ice cold, tall glasses of Japanese beer (we called it a Saké Bomb), which we guzzle as if we’d been wandering a dry, dusty desert for days, our mouths parched with thirst. Our livers swollen with alcohol, we always added a bit of rice, seaweed and fish to the mix, just to keep things from sounding liked a badly dubbed Kung-fu movie where nothing moves in synchrony, and ultimately, to keep things down. Yes, those were my early experiences of rice wine—gloriously long high school and college meals of cheap sushi, saké and beer that typically got a bit out of control and were never much about food or wine appreciation. Such is high school and college, I guess.

Flash forward nearly 20 years and I’ll be honest, I haven’t consumed much saké since those earlier and more reckless days. Recently however, my good friend and winemaker for Anne Amie Vineyards recommended I try saké and encouraged me to specifically visit Saké One in Hillsboro to taste both their wines and their imported specials. So as a part of my quest and journey, I set out for the education of a lifetime; Tony from Saké One gave me my first and very valuable lessons.

Lesson #1: Drink your saké room temperature to slightly chilled. The piping hot saké served in sushi restaurants is served that way to mask the flaws, making it more palatable.

I then learned Lesson #2: Current leading experts agree, using a wine glass instead of a thimble is the preferable way to imbibe. Men, you’ll be pleased to know you don’t need to feel like you’re at a child’s tea party with your dainty pinky finger hanging out in Nowhereland. Wrap all of your manly digits around a real glass and enjoy. Saké stemware is available for sale and if you’re hosting a sushi party, it can add that fun level of authenticity (kind of like chopsticks verses silverware, I suppose), but it’s not necessary and any old white wine glass will really do.

Tony went on to teach me how saké is made with only four ingredients: water, rice, yeast and Koji-kin (a mold which helps convert the rice into fermentable sugars). Saké One uses domestic U.S. rice with Japanese yeast, while more traditional Japanese sakés use different varieties of rice to produce different flavor profiles. The water is another key component, brewers look for both purity and mineral content to impact sake’s flavor.

Although called rice wine, it’s probably a closer relative to the beer family since it’s made from fermented grains instead of fruit. And like beer, saké is best when consumed fresh, while in its youth, as opposed to being aged.

Saké One offers a food pairing flight, which I highly recommend. Similar to wine (and beer), the saké tasting experience is enhanced by thoughtful and complemented food pairings. I personally tasted through their portfolio without the food, but I wonder if my experience might have been different if I had tasted the different sakés with their suggested combinations. Would I have come away a saké convert?

Sake One is the only American owned sakery in the world. Their wines are bottled in eco-friendly glass, with bamboo labels, making them an excellent example of the Oregon wine industry’s commitment to being a part of the environmental solution. In addition to their Ginjo Junmai (pure rice) sakes, they also make fun infused sakes of Asian pear, coconut lemongrass, raspberry and plum. They encourage fans to experiment with their elixirs, and invented a series of Sakétinis adding a whole new dimension to mixology.

If you’re ever anywhere in the vicinity of Hillsboro, Oregon, I emphatically encourage you to visit Saké One —even if you don’t like saké… and sadly and admittedly, I don’t even though I enjoyed every minute of my stay. So, after visiting and tasting the real goods, I can wholeheartedly say, sorry Thomas, I’ve still yet to acquire a taste for rice wine. I did equate it to what it would be like drinking a real, handcrafted ale for the first time though—discovering there was a world beyond MGD—and I will certainly try saké again. With sakery tours daily, Saké One is a must-visit… look forward to both an education and an experience you won’t soon forget. Until we sip again…

Cheers!

For more information about Saké and a great read (except for the wisecrack comment about wine being made by monkeys) check out Joe's SixPack.