Isn’t it great when everything comes together at a restaurant? Good friends, good food, and fine wine to match. It doesn’t always happen that way, but it did last night at Jake’s Famous Crawfish, a 115-year-old restaurant in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon (www.jakesfamouscrawfish.com). Though I regularly write about restaurants for Main Ingredient magazine, I had never been to the locally legendary Jake’s. The group was buzzing about the place as we set out, and I wondered what all of the fuss was about. I’d find out soon enough.

Owned by restaurateurs Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick, Jake’s Famous Crawfish specializes in seafood (big surprise there, huh?), but includes other items on the menu as well. I had calamari for an appetizer, followed by a zesty caesar salad, topped off with a perfectly cooked filet and fresh vegetables. The place was packed, and I didn’t hear a soul complaining. Jake’s is the whole package, combining great food, atmosphere and attentive service. I would recommend it to anyone, even my Uncle Mike (refer to my last post for details).

As for the wine list, well, let’s just say it had a lot to offer, and we accepted. One gripe that I hear from Oregon winemakers is that many of the state’s restaurants overlook homegrown wines. I often hear that there are so many great products made in Oregon, but so few are listed on some establishments’ menus (more on this topic another time). This proved to be anything but the case at Jake’s.

The multi-page list included wines from around the world with ample space devoted specifically to Oregon wines. Since we had a dozen people at the table, I ordered a full-bodied red and a fruit-laden white to cover all bases. The first, a 2006 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc produced in Stellenbosch, South Africa (www.mulderbosch.co.za), was nice and crisp; a table favorite and nice complement to the calamari and other seafood appetizers. Mulderbosch describes its wine as: “clear, lively green apple hues. A tropical nose packed with guava, ripe and green fig, granadilla, litchi, gooseberry and a hint of green pepper - yet still maintaining a complex character of nettle and freshly cut grass.” I did catch a hint of the apple anyway, but the green fig and gooseberry slid right past me. Good fun aside, it was a nice wine that I wouldn’t hesitate to order again, even at $58 a bottle.

Though the Sauvignon Blanc was popular, my beverage highlight was the 2005 Beaux Frères, The Vineyard. Beaux Frères is co-owned by world-renowned wine guru and critic Robert Parker, Jr. I didn’t expect anything associated with the Emperor of Wine to disappoint, and this 2005 Pinot Noir lived up to my expectations. It was a very lively wine, the berries so clearly present that I half expected a black cherry to roll out of my glass and bounce into my neighbor’s bucket of crab. One of the things that I liked about this Pinot Noir was its smooth finish. The subtle aftertaste created some kind of magnetic bond between my mouth and glass that kept me from overeating. You can purchase this wine online at www.beauxfreres.com for $75 a bottle or $450 a case (as of this writing, July 13, 2007).

All in all, it was a very nice evening; one that I hope to repeat (maybe sampling two new wines) in the very near future. If it’s worthy of another story, I’ll provide you the condensed version. In the meantime, feel free to comment on your own restaurant favorites. Cheers!

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