Samantha Wohlfeil photo
The financier dessert was one of the highlights from Inland Pacific Kitchen's Restaurant Week menu.
With Inlander Restaurant Week in full swing, we went to check out Inland Pacific Kitchen on Friday and were treated to a delicious meal full of complex flavors and nostalgia-inducing bites.
The starters that appealed to us most were the potato leek soup and rillette. In true Inland Pacific Kitchen style, the soup expanded on what you might expect, with a nori leaf adding a unique chew to each spoonful of the creamy, savory base.
Unlike a pâté, the smoked chicken rillette was very subtle when spread on the extra crispy crostini (we weren't the only diners looking around to see if anyone could hear us crunching away on it). That made the homemade bread-and-butter pickles the surprising star of the show, with the herb salad lending some freshness to each bite. After a moment though, the smoky flavors of the soft shredded meat came through as a pleasant aftertaste.
Samantha Wohlfeil photo
The bread and butter pickles end up being the star of the chicken rilette at IPK, until the subtle smoky flavor of the chicken shines through at the end.
For the main course, the pork loin and rockfish had both of us happily chowing down.
The pork loin, served on a chickpea panisse (kind of like a polenta cake) with a vegetable demi glace and parsnip mostarda, is delicious on its own, but even better when you assemble a bite combining all of the complex flavors on the plate. The sauce added a welcome saltiness, the panisse offered the carb-y vehicle, and the parsnips in mustard added a bright crunch.
Samantha Wohlfeil photo
The unique polenta-style chickpea cake under the pork loin, plus the sauce, plus the parsnips, made for a complex and delicious bite.
Meanwhile, the chefs were somehow able to pack an insane amount of flavor into the rockfish. Take one bite and it feels like the smoked garlic cream sauce is embedded in the fish itself, with the risotto, mushrooms and pickled fennel balancing the entire plate. Among all the savory food we had on the menu, this dish was by far the favorite and devoured in record time.
Samantha Wohlfeil photo
The rockfish packs a punch of flavor with the sauce singing through each forkful.
Both of the desserts we had offered nostalgic flavors with an adult take on them. The float pairs a subtle graham cracker ice cream with a cinnamon chocolate milk stout. Our server made sure to warn us that this was a beer ice cream float, as those too excited to read the full description might not see that detail. As someone who'd never tried a beer float, I enjoyed the sweetness from the ice cream and the unexpectedly bubbly beer, which, while sweet, was far more savory than the soda my brain was expecting.
Samantha Wohlfeil photo
The float features beer and ice cream for an adult end to the night with a nostalgic twist.
For me though, the ultimate star of the night was the brown butter financier (pictured at the top of this post). Served with mascarpone, honey and poached pear, the almond-based cake would already have had me smiling at the end of the night. But it was the puffed wild rice and freeze dried strawberries sprinkled on top that had me literally doing a happy dance at the table, as each bite reminded me of my favorite fruity cereal from childhood. Who knew you could elevate pebbles into rice puffs?
Inlander Restaurant Week continues through Saturday, March 4, and you can find IPK's $45 menu, plus dozens of other three-course menus from this week's participants for $25, $35 or $45 per person online at InlanderRestaurantWeek.com.
