In case you’ve been living under a rock, Fin is the new restaurant in the old Sel Gris space. Trent Pierce will be taking the reins as executive chef, the owner is Joan Dumas. An important goal is to source locally, and sustainably. A couple of friends who were invited to private dinners have reported back that the food is excellent. From an earlier post:
The “eco-modern seafood restaurant”, will open July 30, 2010, Wednesday through Sunday from 5pm to close through the summer. Beginning early fall, they will switch to a seven day schedule.
FIN’s menu, subtly influenced by European and Asian cuisine, will include small to medium sized plates designed to take the diner through a myriad of preparations, ranging from crudo (raw) to lightly grilled. The menu will also offer dishes prepared on an imported Robotayaki grill, fresh picked greens, and house made pastas and desserts.
FIN proudly sources seafood from Pacific sources that honor sustainable fishing practices and partners with micro-local farmers including the Sellwood Garden Club and local farms such as Viridian.
FIN will feature a selection of international and regional boutique wines and sakes, as well as premium beers, and signature house cocktails.
Featured menu items will include:
Almost Raw
YELLOWFIN – Yellowfin Carpaccio, White Soy, Citrus, Olio Verde, Chive
ALBACORE – Kimchi-Infused Green Apple, Radish, Scallion, Celery Leaves, Ginger Oil
Lightly Touched
MACKEREL – Prosciutto Wrapped Ballotine of Mackerel, Nicoise Olive, Confit Navel Orange, Fig Gastrique, Baby Arugula
HAND-CUT PASTA – Korean Nori Tagliatelli, Sweet Corn Butter, Calabrian Chili Emulsion, Yellowfin Tuna
Barely Touched
HAMACHI – Grilled Hamachi, Charred Squid Consomme, Crispy Braised Endive, Pickled Onion, Salsa Verde
BLACK COD – PORK BELLY – Braised Pork Belly, Pan Seared Black Cod, Shaved Cabbage & Apple Salad, Squid Ink Sauce
Finpdx.com
sustainability_is_not_hype says
Green washing is the new green.
*Farming of Hamachi in masive pens damages coastal areas.
*Farmed Hamachi is laden with chemicals (anti-fungals and antibiotics). *
*Farmed Hamachi is known to have endemoic problems with parasites.
*Farmed Hamachi are fed threatened fish species.
morris says
Hamachi, almaco jack, yellowtail, Japanese amberjack, kahala, Kona Kampachi = farmed hamachi. Kona Kampachi ….
“is sustainable.”
“is fed high quality feed ingredients and nurtured from hatch to harvest in some of the cleanest water on Earth”
“has no detectable levels of mercury or PCBs” (Read that again, it’s a RARE thing.)
“is completely free of internal parasites”
“has no contaminants, making it a risk-free part of any diet.”
They’re farmed, half a mile off Hawaii, in a state of the art deep ocean site.
They eat zooplankton.
Endemoic isn’t a word, and even if it was, they’re still free from internal parasites.
And I’m sure the farmed hamachi business employs thousands of people to catch threatened fish species so their farmed fish can all have an unhyped and tasty breakfast every day.
Seriously? Who gives a crap about the Monterey Bay aquarium? This is Portland.
Best wishes FIN. I’ll put foie on my menu tomorrow so some nutjobs come to me instead.
Anne Marie says
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a really good source of information about sustainable seafood. You should definitely give a crap about them.
Wendy says
FYI the menu has changed considerably, but is still AMAZING!!!
Joisey says
Morris, If you put some milk-fed veal with that foie, I’ll come over and order two.
sustainability_is_not_hype says
Wendy, Fin definitely changed their menu. They replaced “hamachi” with the much less known synonym “amberjack”. The fact that a restaurant that bills itself as “sustainable” is serving the equivalent of farmed salmon goes beyond mere food fetishism, its an integrity issue.
polarwander says
Stopped by Fin on Friday night. Everything was very good. A smoked salmon with green tobiko eggs and creme fraiche was nice to start. The squid ink taglitelli with octopus was nice. The wine list is disappointed. No chablis or white burgundy at a seafood restaurant! Lots of inexpensive uninspired whites. I was surprised at how good the food was. Everything is small plates though which I don’t care for.
Food Dude says
Thanks for filling us in. I didn’t realize it was small plates.
polloelastico says
With the menu descriptions I assumed it was all (mostly) small plates. Also they mention this in their description.
Also going by the menu items, a selection of sake seems more appropriate than offering French white varietals. This seems like more of an Pac-rim raw bar than a seafood restaurant. Which for me is pretty exciting.
Stephanie says
I was at fin last night and it was AMAZING. Really bold flavors. I feel like seafood is always treated too gingerly, but not here. Must have the scallop!
The main reason I’m putting in a comment is about the wine, though. I think it was really awesome actually. The list is really small and is limited to coastal vineyards only. I get it: Chablis and Burgundy and all that stuff is delicious, but come on! It is so boring! And overpriced! People living in Mallorca, for example, make wines that are just as good if not better. Don’t be such a wine snob.
Oh, and they had a few sakes too. My server was nice enough to give me a taste of some sake called YUHO (sp?). Its made by like one of the only female sake distillers in Japan. Really beautiful.
Elwood says
Do they offer saké? Still, a good list is important. Too many restaurants don’t match their food’s quality with quality wine.
polarwander says
I agree with polloelastico that a selection of sakes would be nice for what they are offering and the style of cooking. By the by does anyone know when June opens? I heard from their distributor that the doors opened last Friday but other people have told me it is only for “practice” dinners for friends.