Higgins Restaurant in Portland

Portlanders are not a dressy bunch (generally, putting on a new flannel is considered sufficient), but people get dressed up to go to Higgins. I can see why. Food this good makes you want to pay respect. Also, make reservations.

The restuarant is located in a small, old brick building -- probably a former small factory or workshop -- in the heart of downtown, and it an easy walk from MAX. Inside, the atmosphere is polished wood, false windows, plush chairs and linen tablecloths ... a sort of "Savoy style", in keeping with the name. There's not much of a bar, so fortunately, we were quickly escorted to our table, where we were greeted by our waiter, John.

You want John as your waiter. Oddly, I visited Higgins twice over the last 2 years, and John served me both times. He's efficient, highly knowledgable about the food and the beer list, and has a dry British humor and quick wit which will come out with friendly patrons.

Higgins has and impressive-looking wine cellar, but honestly I don't know what wines they have. I get the beer from Higgin's two page beer list.

They even have dessert beers.

Higgins' famous appetizer is the "blue cheese flan" which is served with a little salad and additional cheese. Wow! You must order this. We were tempted to order two after finishing off the first one in less than a minute, but it's very rich and we wanted to have dessert.

The tomato salad with burrata was pretty good as well, although mainly because of the richness of the burrata.

Higgin's menu is very locally-based, and changes weekly with the availability of ingredients. Since is was October, one of these items was a pumkin risotto. While this tasted very good, it was a bit soupy which really hurt it's presentation.

And of course they have fish (it's the Northwest!). This was grilled Escolar with a blackeyed pea, tomato and pepper stew.

Higgins pretty much always caters to the local vegetarians/vegans with some very strange-sounding creative veggie entree. These were blackeyed pea and squash cakes on a corn "salsa", and were absolutely delicious. So give the veggie option a try.

On the other end of the scale, you can get the charcuterie plate. I recommend splitting this, maybe with a couple of salads, if you get it.

While Higgins is more about the entrees than the dessert, it's still worth staying for. This "chocolate ganache tart" was incredibly rich and I'm glad I split it.

Gingerbread and pears make a good, and very Oregon, combination.

My wife had to try the "apple-rhubarb" cobbler on the menu. She said it was more interesting than great.

So remember ... Higgins, your chief splurge restaurant in downtown Portland. Much better than the restaurant in Big Pink, which has a great view but nowhere near the food or service quality.