Restaurant Review: Noble Rot Gives Noble Effort in Portland

Noble Rot has a clever name. It also has a decent and fairly priced wine list. It does not however have a dinner menu that matches the wine list. And if you are headed there on a Saturday night, go early or there may not be any dinner to speak of.

Noble Rot is located a block off the main thoroughfare of East Burnside in Portland, Oregon. Named after the sometimes-friendly fungus, botrytis, Noble Rot is a wine bar first, and a restaurant second. And being in Portland, you can be assured of finding any number of Oregon wines on their somewhat limited wine list.

Let me explain that, for Noble Rot has many different varietals listed, but usually only two or three examples of each. But Noble Rot is not huge, so the list seems to fit the maybe sixty seats in the dimly lit restaurant. The website lists 450 wines by the glass or bottle, but frankly that seems to be a rather high estimate. When I asked for the wine list, I had to ask twice, so I never bothered to ask about a reserve list.

Now, it is mentioned on the wine list that things change, such as vintages and availabilities, so be prepared to have a second choice. That can also be said for ordering food items. Noble Rot is closed on Sundays, so I was told, and they do not prep more than the bare essentials for Saturday dinner service. One night, I felt badly for the gentleman at the door, as he had to basically tell me they were out of everything but the cheese and meat plates.

Luckily for me, I never mind filling up on cheese, meat, and bread. Oh, wait, they are out of bread. Miraculously, some bread ended up on my table, after being told by the host and the server they were out. Maybe they were out of the four-dollar bread, but had plenty of the cheap stuff.

But of course, I went back, because what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn't? This time, it was Friday and they had food. Which was a good and a bad thing. The polenta with Chanterelles was more like a soup with all of the olive jus the kitchen added. The pork was, well, pork, nothing spectacular, but moist. The onion tart, which was explained as a "favorite" was bland and confusing, as to why anyone would order it twice.

Now for the good stuff, they had a delightful ahi salad that I could have eaten three portions of. Not that it was terribly small, mind you, but it was really tasty. Radish slices complemented the tuna's texture, and with a light vinaigrette, I was finally happy eating. And then the chocolate brownie came. Ok, so a chocolate brownie is nothing special, and this one was really basic, with vanilla bean ice cream and a standard raspberry sauce, but I'm a sucker for brownies. And the crème brulee was a nice finish to a mediocre meal, so I have to give credit where credit is due.

The Noble Rot menu changes often, so don't go in expecting to find the same entrees available. Other than that onion tart, I think a couple of the salads remain the same, as well as the offer of a cheese and meat plate. The cheese plate offers generous slices of three or four cheeses, and the meat plate is fairly standard as well, but there was a nice slaw involved in the one I shared.

Luckily, my companion was not a fan of cabbage, so I had it all to myself. It wasn't your typical slaw, with that silly white dressing on it. It had julienned radicchio and a light mustard vinaigrette that went really well with the cured meats.

Strangely, with the dessert wine, I had a bad glass. Maybe someone left it open for about a week. But you'd think as a place named for the "rot" that produced some of the world's nicest sweet wines, Noble Rot would stay up on the quality control for dessert wine. Still, you never know, it could have been a new bottle that was just corked. The server was not paying much attention to the back room, so I had to wait to exchange it, but she was really nice about it. That's kind of how service goes there, really nice, but somewhat inattentive.

With the full wine program, you are in for a better time. They offer a very reasonably priced house pour that could stand up to most fine dining restaurants for half the price. Looking over the wine list pricing, I would say that Noble Rot doesn't believe in gouging its guests on the wine mark-up. Which I can always appreciate. They do have a nice cross section of a world of wines, coming from all the major regions and grapes therein.

The ambiance is casual, but it seems as though most places in Portland are "casual." I would better describe Noble Rot as intimate with lots of candles. The bar is long, mirrored by four or five dark booths, which leads back into a small dining area. The place seems smaller than it is, due to the walls that mark the kitchen and restroom, which creates a narrow corridor into the back room. But it does make it cozy, if that's what you are into. If you are into being seen, or seeing, Noble Rot is not really the place for that.