Don’s Favorite Foods
By David & Susan Greenberg
davidandsusangreenberg@gmail.com
Don’s Favorite Foods is a culinary Superman disguised by a Clark Kent storefront in downtown Beaverton. In a room entirely transplanted from the 1970s (including tableware, wall decorations, and music playlist), its owner-chef, Don Salamone, dishes old school, prix fixe menu Italian food.
We started with two charcuterie-appetizers that included housemade mozzarella cheese, warm sesame popovers, cured meats, olive salad, pepper-anchovy salad, and impossibly thin breadsticks. Next came housemade Bucatini Carbonara with housemade pancetta. Often this dish turns into a giant cheesy glump, but for all the richness of the sauce each strand of bucatini came away by itself so the dish was light and lyrical. Next, perfect Braciole which is beef (flank steak, in this case) pounded thin and rolled up with breadcrumbs, Pecorino cheese, bits of salami, and anchovy, braised and sliced. It was fork tender, sauced with gremolata and accompanied by a vivid tomato sauce.
Next, a luminous cherry granita with a brandied cherry on top. So intense was the cherry flavor it was like being pulled through the vascular tissue of a cherry tree.
We finished with a panna cotta that alluringly wobbled, decked with peach coulis and sesame crumble. Each course was accompanied by a curated wine. This is not a restaurant run by kids wearing baseball caps, who cook based on kitchen hacks and tik tok videos. There are adults, with serious culinary knowledge, in the kitchen. And the meal was reasonably priced! They change the menu every month. The meal was a tour de force, the best we had in Beaverton. We highly highly recommend this restaurant. It’s vital you go.