After visiting Portland for over 15 years and driving by this vaunted restaurant on Hawthorne, we finally ate at Castagna. Chef Kevin Gibson put Castagna on the map and went on to create amazing restaurants Evoe and Davenport.  Justin Woodward, who received the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef Award in 2013, is the executive chef at Castagna now.

At least for a time, you can find the menu here.  Early seating at 6pm meant daylight spilling in the window next to us which revealed the dishes much better than after-dark seating. We started with some amuse bouche:

And there were more:

And another:

And one more:

They counted the bread as an Amuse Bouche but…..let’s go to the next instead:

The tenderest sturgeon ever….

And let’s not forget desert:

The wines were incredible pairings and as different from one another as the east is from the west. This was a fantastic visual and gustatory experience. It was worth waiting 15 years!