Portland French Restaurant Bistro Alder Opens Downtown | Eater Portland

"Opened September 20 inside the Dossier hotel, I find Bistro Alder serves brasserie standards—steak frites, escargots, croque monsieur and madame—while remaining deeply personal to chef Aaron Dionne, formerly of Pacific Northwestern destination Higgins and the late Carafe Bistro. The frisée aux lardons (a salad with poached egg and bacon) was a favorite from his Carafe days, he’ll make moules Marinières for his wife on birthdays or anniversaries, and the pasta with pistou and sheep’s milk feta uses a dough he developed with his daughter. Housed in the former Rosa Rosa space, the restaurant leans heavily on Pacific Northwestern produce and meat from purveyors like Sauvie Island Growers, Pat n’ Tams Beef, and Taylor Shellfish Farms, because, Dionne says, purveyors drive his menus. Dishes are intentionally pared down—escargots arrive with classic parsley-garlic butter and oyster mushroom breadcrumbs, the steak frites get a shallot-tarragon butter, and the omelet is simply finished with house-made herbed farmer’s cheese—reflecting his focus on quality and letting ingredients speak for themselves. The cocktail program is more involved, including a French 75 with a house-made gin hydrosol, saké and marionberry simple syrup; a Shochu Collins using cucumber green juice, cucumber-rice syrup and cucumber-lavender bitters; and the 24 Carrot pairing cold-pressed orange-carrot juice with a house-smoked-alderwood-infused Espolon Blanco tequila, while nonalcoholic options range from a brown butter cherry “cola” to an apple cider spritz with Oregon berry compote. Bistro Alder is open for dinner and takes reservations online." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden