Echo Restaurant

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Note: Echo restaurant closed in September 2010. Too bad, it was a nice place with decent food.

Echo opened in 2006, and was quickly popular after a lot of positive reviews. After a long series of chefs and more hills and valleys than a roller coaster, a new owner is in place, and though the menu has stayed close to the original fare, the quality is much improved and seems consistently prepared.

Sometimes you just want to go out for an unfussy dinner. Good food, easy service, a lower price range and a relaxing feel. Echo fills those requirements quite nicely. The food is a bit eclectic, with something to please just about anyone, ranging from pub fare to more upscale entrées such as duck confit, and an inexplicable chicken mole. What sets it above many restaurants of the ilk is the quality of the food.

The 1892 building that once housed a brothel was completely renovated in 2006. Large windows spill light into the room from Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Old brick and mortar walls, arched brick doorways and worn wood floors give a rustic atmosphere; an old lantern in a high window casts a reflection back to the building’s early days. A little area along the old wooden bar gives you a place to sit if there’s a wait for table. Meals are plated on vintage china which furthers the classic feel. The noise level can be a bit high on very busy nights, but isn’t a huge problem.

Echo has a good choice of vintage drink specials running from $7.50 to $8.00. 14 cocktails, mostly classics, are available, and are generally well crafted with fresh juices. The vintage glassware contributes to the feel of older style drinks like a Makers Mark Manhattan, which was quite good, a deadly French 75 of lemon, Seagram’s gin and champagne, the Ward Eight of rye, pomegranate molasses and fresh juice, and a dark & stormy of ginger, lime and rum.  It is like working your way through a bartending guide from the 50’s. Overall they do a pretty good job at reasonable prices. The drinks are of higher quality than you’d expect from a small neighborhood place.

Five red wines and four whites are available by the glass for between $6.50 and $9.00. A selection of six bottled beers and a few drafts make up the rest of the choices. Five wines are featured on Sunday nights, with bottles at a $10 discount.

As before, the water is served with a slight cucumber taste, which is refreshing on a warm day. A few virgin drinks are available, such as raspberry lemonade, which tasted like the fruit had just been squeezed.

The owner’s commitment to local produce and local natural meats drive the menu, resulting in some pleasant surprises as the seasons change and items rotate on and off.

The menu is divided into “half-plates”, soup, salad & bread, sandwiches and “full-plates”.

The half-plates are the same as starters. Stuffed Spanish piquillo peppers with hazelnuts, cream cheese and spinach on crostini with a reasonable version of romesco sauce are just fine, though the accompanying bread would be better if slightly crisped. They come three to a plate – fine for splitting ($6.50). The Echo pâté is house-made, served with spicy mustard, cornichons, olives, sweet roasted garlic and toasted bruschetta. It’s a nice arrangement, easy to share with someone else. The dish is pleasant enough, but the pâté could use a bit more oomph ($10).

On a cold winter day, I go for comfort food, and mac & cheese fits the bill. The Echo version doesn’t suffer from an overabundance of ingredients; just Tillamook white cheddar, cavatappi – an s-shaped pasta and bread crumbs. It’s lighter than most versions, but still has lots of flavor. You can add andouille sausage if you want to spice things up ($6/7.5).

Salads are ample, again, easy to split. The greens are always fresh and crisp and properly dressed. The house salad consists of red leaf lettuce tossed in roasted shallot-sherry vinaigrette, topped with shaved radish, pears and Oregon blue cheese. It’s better than average ($6.5). Their version of the Caesar is fine, again better than average, but there’s room for improvement. Mine was a little under-dressed, but had a nice garlic flavor and good homemade croutons. The only discordant note was the addition of some spiced walnuts that just didn’t work and threw the salad off-balance. Add trout and you’ve got a meal ($7.50/$8.50).

If you are in the mood for another salad that can double as a dinner, go for the grilled petite sirloin. Medium-rare Painted Hills steak drapes over red leaf lettuce, with red grapes, crumbled Rogue River blue cheese and house-made blue cheese dressing. The meat is perfectly cooked; moist and tender. The overall combination of flavors makes for an enjoyable salad, and I’ve ordered it several times over the past six months ($13).

The wilted spinach salad is also a good option. The spinach gets a quick sauté in red wine vinaigrette with fennel, little cubes of butternut squash, bacon and shaved Romano cheese. Again, everything is balanced, the squash and bacon giving it some earthy depth and little explosions of flavor ($7.50).

Sandwiches are served with chips, or a side salad the soup of the day. The Echo burger is quite good; equal to the Slow Bar burger I’d had the night before.  It’s a ½ pound of Strawberry Mountain beef, pepper bacon, Rouge Blue or Tillamook white cheddar with all the requisite fixings. It arrives on an onion bun with garlic lemon aioli. The local tomatoes last fall were really good, tasting like they were picked that afternoon. I ordered mine pink, and that’s exactly how it was cooked, drippy, messy and perfect ($12).

On a rainy winter evening I ordered the Draper Valley chicken pot pie and was very happy with my choice. Flaky pastry covered the top of a generous-sized single serve baking dish.  Inside lay a crisp, wonderful medley of wild mushrooms and root vegetables which tasted fresh and was cooked to just the right point. Unlike most versions of this dish, the filling wasn’t dripping in sauce ($16).

I’ve had two different versions of the hanger steak. The first time it arrived cooked as ordered, but it had a soy-based sauce that masked the flavor of the meat. It was more the type of sauce normally found on steak bites. Good hanger steak can stand on its own and doesn’t need a strong sauce quashing the flavor. The second time it had a béarnaise, or at least an attempt at it, but the flavor was much better. Both times the meat was sliced and arrayed over a nice medley of cut potatoes, with squash and zucchini in the fall and root vegetables in the winter. It’s perfectly acceptable ($21).

One evening a Carlton Farms pork shank came on a bed of sautéed kale with excellent Chèvre polenta. The meat was slightly overcooked for my taste, but about normal for a restaurant. An accompanying tomato sauce is just fine, which is representative of the entire dish; everything is just fine, the polenta better than I’ve had in many fancier restaurants ($18). Grilled pork loin also rotates on and off the menu. The version I tried was simply seasoned and grilled, served with sautéed Brussels sprouts and herb spätzle and topped with a wild mushroom demi-glace (a brown sauce). Not my favorite version – again slightly overcooked and the sauce didn’t blow me away, but as usual, the chef had done such a good job with the accompaniments I left happy ($18).

One rainy night we ordered sausage pasta. It wasn’t quite what I expected; the house-made sausage was finely ground, making it more like a Bolognese with larger sized vegetables. It is mixed with roasted peppers, feta cheese, caramelized onions, basil and olive oil, and plated over fettuccine. Overall the dish was just ok, a bit more spice and the addition of a bit more flavor to the sausage would improve the dish ($15).

A market fish is always available. One evening ling cod was served over a bed of root vegetables. Everything was outstanding; the fish fresh and moist, the vegetables perfect; the quintessential fall dish ($market price).

Desserts are generally pleasing if you are in the mood for something sweet to finish your meal. I’m really picky about crisps; being a purist I don’t think they should ever have oatmeal in the topping, and they should be crisp! The Echo version violates my rules. However, they use whatever fruit is currently available at the farmers market, so it is full of flavor; I’m just being stubborn. House-made vanilla ice cream is on the side ($6). Their banana bread pudding is different from most. Instead of brioche, banana bread is used with dark chocolate and marshmallows. It is served warm with house-made ice cream. The dessert is moist without being sloppy and will make chocolate lovers happy ($6).

Service tends to be attentive and informed. One evening a member of our party was wavering on what wine to get, and the waiter brought a sample of three to taste before she ordered. The owner often makes his rounds, checking to see if everyone is happy.

Overall I like Echo. The appetizers could use improvement, and some of the other dishes need a little fine tuning here and there, but when taken as what it is: an unpretentious neighborhood restaurant, it’s a great option.

Grade: B-

• Phone: (503)460-3246
• Address: 2225 N.E. M.L. King Jr. Blvd., Portland OR. 97212 Google Map
• Hours: daily 4:30 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.
• Happy Hour: food: 4:30–6pm weekdays, 3-6 Sat & Sunday. Drinks after 10pm nightly. $10 off every bottle of wine SUNDAY nights.
• Website: EchoRestaurant.com

[Echo declined to provide any photos for this review]