Normandie has so much of the best food I've ever eaten
Holla, thanks for checking my post where I'm gonna try to get Normandie some of the recognition I think it deserves, because it's IMO a unique (in the best sense of that word) combo of quality+price.
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Need some qualifications/background info in first because for all anyone knows maybe I've never eaten anywhere else but Chili's, or maybe this is an ad:
A) I live 25 min away in WA. and I don't know anyone that has ever worked there. Just a rando, non-food industry person that has eaten there uh 24 times in the last 5 years. B) finding and eating the best food is a huge part of what my life is about because very little else makes me feel that good. So I'm really passionate about this stuff.
The first time I ever had food that's as good as food can be was pizza in Naples when I was 14, it totally blew open my mind & changed my life, spent the next 5 years planning to be a chef. Nowdays I've had like 150 things I think are similarly life changingly good across the world & Normandie has 10 (!!) of those. The type of stuff I take a bite of and just have to close my eyes and try to make the moment last as long as it can. So I'm here to post about how amazing that # is, given Normandie costs 2-4-7x less than the type of restaurant I've come to expect to have food that good (finding a 12/10 in something like a 7 euro pizza at Gino e Toto Sorbillo is exceptionally rare in my experience. Perfect tomatoes are basically cheating. But it'd be great if that changes when I visit Thailand in 3 months)
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This'd be a useless post without some attempts at evidence, & photos are nice to look at, so look here:
Describing dishes that aren't on the menu anymore wouldn't be interesting but on the current menu as of 7-1-26 the burger (which never leaves), the asparagus, the oxtail croquettes, the hamachi, and the beets are all world class imo, 11s and 12s/10. Generally whatever they're doing with vegetables is very special - lots of the best asapragus/carrot/broccolini/etc dishes I've ever had have been here. Lots of the best seafood I've ever had has been here too. and meat.
Here's a pic of my ranked list, because I like making lists, of all the 12/10 dishes I've ever had. Normandie in green. Best thing I ever ate at the top (the signature dish at Acquerello in SF).
Here's a pic of my top 10 restaurants (based on flavors and ignoring price. don't care about service/location). See how big of a price outlier Normandie is (the other outlier is Baga in Jaen, Spain which I could do a similarly glowing post about). But most places on my ~130 restaurant ranked list fit relatively in line with where their price says they should, besides a few overpriced disappointments in Seattle (maybe I should stop giving Seattle chances...)
FWIW Nodoguro is the other Portland restaurant on this list at #7
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An imaginary tasting of the best 15 things I've ever had at Normandie is just as good as the best meal I've ever had, which was at Oriole in Chicago. I just think chef Heather is an absolute genius when it comes to flavors and flavor/texture combinations, and I don't know how long Normandie will be around but my wife & I are gonna keep going often enough that we can't possibly regret not going often enough when it's gone. 👍
I do think, to be fair, their desserts and drinks are def. weaker than their food. Always nice and good but not as transcendent, with the exception of a gruyere bread pudding and current smoked beet n/a drink.
Hope this inspires at least one person to go try it :-) Peace out sorry if anyone has been and didn't like it, that's valid too