G-Love New American Kitchen
New American restaurant · Northwest District
1615 NW 21st Ave, Portland, OR 97209
Highlights
Vegetable-centric New American with creative cocktails
Vegetable-centric New American with creative cocktails
"The blonde wood touches and California vibes of this Slabtown restaurant evoke images of Venice Beach date night spots, particularly when paired with dishes like seed-coated avocados with tamari yuzu, or beets with goat cheese snow. Its four-course tasting menu — more of a family-style meal — is a tour through some of chef Garrett Benedict’s current favorites, which may include things like fingerling potatoes with citrus trout roe, or milk chocolate with butterscotch, honeycomb, and popcorn. The meal is $85 per person, with an optional $55 wine pairing. Make a reservation via Resy." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden
"Portland’s eclectic vegetable-centric restaurant, G-Love, has put its ample front patio space to good use ever since the pandemic allowed. Like the dining room, the patio is bright and minimalist, with the white tables providing a stark contrast to G-Love’s vivid culinary creations and colorfully-garnished mixed drinks. On select days, pairs of lucky diners can even enjoy dinner in chef and owner Garrett Benedict’s tricked-out bus, complete with a lava lamp." - Thom Hilton
"A Portland restaurant features a signature candied hazelnut preparation called Black Hazelnuts: Oregon hazelnuts are toasted until golden, then candied with in-house black citrus powders (made by charring fresh citrus at low heat for days) in a sugar syrup, producing an intensely aromatic, nutty-fruity result. These candied nuts are served alone, used as a salad component with sweet herbs, appear on desserts such as a hazelnut semifreddo, and are incorporated into savory dishes—substituting for pine nuts in pesto or as hazelnut salsa macha for roasted pork or beef—demonstrating a wide savory-to-sweet versatility." - Elena Valeriote
"Check averages are usually between $60 and $70 per person. Labor costs are about 38 percent and overall costs are described as within industry standards. Prices have risen substantially since 2020; pre-pandemic there was no food item on the menu that cost more than $20, and now '45 to maybe even 50 percent' of dishes are over $20. The restaurant reports protein prices have gone up exponentially and notes it is vegetable-focused. The restaurant recalls nitrile gloves went from costing $70 a case to over $400 a case in 2020. The menu includes a $25 roasted pork dish that is served as 4 ounces rather than a standard 12-ounce pork chop. Summer revenue, because of outdoor space, is around $270K to $300K per month and is much lower in winter. The restaurant estimates that about 10 percent of past guests might be alienated by price increases." - Jaya Saxena
"With high-backed chairs at both a communal dining counter and at its cocktail bar, Slabtown’s G-Love is an ideal spot for solo diners to glance at a neighbor’s plate for inspiration. G-Love embraces seasonal, locally grown produce with proteins typically used as an accompaniment rather than the bulk of the dish. Depending on the season, highlights might include crusty avocado dusted in a coco-blackspice seed mix and topped with ahi tuna and asparagus a la plancha, dressed in miso hollandaise." - Nathan Williams
