I don't know how I missed these questions... very awkward...
Anyway, the Bistro Montage is the place under the morrison street bridge that
sells great creole cajun food. Like, catfish jambalaya or real mac'n cheese.
Here are some links to get you a feel for the place. I am pretty sure my crew
(which is now up to 12 people) will be there, so you can meet us if you like!
http://www.montageportland.com/Here are some reviews:
"This is a place that serves Cajun style food -- jambalaya, gumbo, gator, frog legs, etc -- but try their mac & cheese. I had the Spold Mac (spicy and old), a combo of spicy (duh) and old-fashioned. Pretty good. Try it.
The place is a little quirky, with interesting art on the walls. The tables are cafeteria-style, you sit at long tables with other guests, very few individual tables. Be sure to have leftovers, since they wrap food in crazy foil sculptures: we saw foil birds, flowers, a sword and something else interesting last night.
If you want beer, don't go here. Their cocktails are a bit pricey, you can find better prices elsewhere in pdx. The servers aren't stellar, but get the job done."
"We got there around midnight last night. The restaurant wasn't very busy but they only had one waitress running around. There was another waiter, who wasn't running around, and two other staff members on the floor. There were only 6 or 8 tables and at least 2 tables were already done, but the staff (except the one waiter) were running all over the place. Just kind of makes me wonder.
One of my friends commented that the staff were dressed very strangely in a very cool way. See!? I'm not the only one who noticed the funky and cool attire of the Montage staff.
Our server, the waitress, only smiled once. The whole time we were there, we noticed none of the staff members really smiled. I'm getting more used to that part of Montage now. Maybe they were too tired or busy to smile. Oh well, the food was still awesome!
We ordered the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Drumsticks, Crawfish Linguini with White Wine/Alfredo Sauce, and Red Bean and Rice. The Buttermilk Fried Chicken Drumsticks were crispy, juicy, tender, and sweet. The pasta was deliciously creamy. The Red Bean and Rice was hearty and had a good kick in it.
We also ordered a few oyster shooters. MmmMm! My friends said the oysters were too big, so they had to chew for a long time which wasn't very pleasant. I didn't have that problem. Perhaps because I jabbed the oyster several times, the way I was taught, before I downed it. I never questioned if that was normal, but my friends were looking at me weird...
I really appreciate the prompt and frequent refill on my water. The guy probably refilled my glass at least 7 times while I was there. Maybe next time I should order a bucket of water. I felt a little bad, so I asked him if he would like to just leave the pitcher on our table, but he didn't catch what I said. He did turn around to ask me if I needed something. I only managed to get two words out before he gave me two thumbs up then ran off. o_O"
It was definitely better than "A-OK" but I'm not quite a "fan.""
Basically, it's a really ecelcitc family style seating place with good food and wierd staff. I love sitting by the cash register because whenever they have to use the
credit card machine they bang on it as loud as they can. It's kinda funny, and kinda cool... very portland.
~Allykat
