There are some childhood memories that are nearly universal, but definitely cultural. In many parts of America including the south, family dinners at Grandmother's house is one such childhood memory most of us share.
When I sat down at my seat in the backroom of Old Salt Market on NE 42nd in Portland where chef Maya Lovelace hosts and prepares dinner on Monday and Wednesday evenings in her pop-up joint simply called , it was memories of those family dinners around Grandma's table that came to mind. Pitchers of water and sweet tea on the table with Mason jars in place of water glasses and gingham napkins helped complete the setting.
What pulled it together and made this a night to remember was the amazing menu and grasp of not only southern traditions but ways to bring classic flavors into a modern setting and keep them fresh and exciting in a town full of great restaurants.
We had dinner with Maya on a Wednesday night, where she serves a seven course tour of southern tradition that will make anyone who grew up with southern cooking homesick and anyone who thought everything in the deep south was heavy and fried sit up and take notice. If you get a chance to get tickets to eat dinner at Mae, snatch them up and save room for desert. You can thank me later.
Our first course was chilled sweet corn soup with marinated cherry tomatoes, tomato leaf oil, toasted benne & black pepper
Our next course was dragon's lingerie beans, thin sliced and raw, with pluots, tangerine marigold, purslane, crispy country ham, toasted pecans and a sorghum vinaigrette
Maya followed the green beans with cornmeal fried eggplant served with a sungold tomato emulsion, black garlic and heirloom cherry tomato relish, lemon basil, fromage blanc, and roasted padron peppers.
Next came a refreshing salad that featured antique cantaloupe melon, crispy bacon, thinly sliced sweet bell peppers, torn mint leaves, and a salty housemade feta
Our final plate before the main course was little gem lettuce wraps, pickled ramp pimento cheese, sweet pickled cucumbers, allan benton's smoky tennessee bacon, and toasted benne on gem lettuce leaves
The Wednesday dinner main course featured four dishes, three of them pictured here:
maya's death row meal: crispy angel biscuits, too much duke's mayo, thick sliced tomato, bourbon barrel smoked salt, black pepper
three fat skillet-fried chicken: mary's chicken, buttermilk brined, anointed with schmaltz, bacon fat & good old-fashioned lard
baby summer squash: roasted and caramelized, pickled cherries, fresh onion, lovage and sherry vinaigrette, and topped with cornbread crumble
The final dish of the main course was hoppin' john: sea island red peas cooked in rich garlic parmesan broth, trinity, creamy carolina gold rice grits, cornmeal and chive tempura petite onion rings
Our evening concluded with one of my favorite desserts growing up, white corn spoonbread: cornmeal custard souffle, peaches, vanilla buttermilk, lemon verbena