Baldwin Saloon Review: A taste of history with a delicious future
By Cole Goodwin
The Baldwin Saloon is under new management and anytime there is a changeover in restaurant management it’s worth taking a look at what’s going on in the kitchen. Three OSU grads have put a new spin on The Baldwin, offering what they call “A taste of history” and premium restaurant quality meals pre-made for take home baking. But I would argue what we’re actually getting is a taste of these young men’s bright futures in the restaurant biz.
To read more about that check out our article here.
Teaser:
The food was phenomenal. Straight up.
The best meal I’ve had all pandemic.
I haven’t eaten anything this good in months and months.
And I don’t know about you dear readers, but the coronavirus situation has me a bit bored with the same flavors and dishes. Having to do fewer shops and buy in bulk at the store to reduce exposure and social contact has lead to fewer fresh foods and a lot of bad habits in my diet. As a result, I feel like I’ve been in a foodie rut-nothing tastes interesting, all the creativity feels like it’s just been sucked out of food for me. Especially when it comes to plating.
But this was an awakening.
This is the future of bourgeois food.
This is fresh five-star food-FAST.
Get out of the way Michelin, now you can have five-star dining made in minutes in your own home, or in my case, the office microwave.
The Process:
Orders are placed online at Entreez.com.
In order to prevent over ordering of food and subsequent food waste food is ordered ahead of time and then prepared and picked up later in the week on Thursday or Friday.
Choosing what to order was hard, but I decided not to order the obvious crowd-pleasers, like Peanut Butter Pie, plus I’m allergic to eggs and suspected there might be an egg in it. Some allergens are listed on the site but for more obscure allergies I'd ask before ordering.
Plus I figured I was on a fact-finding mission to find out: was this food any good? So I better not bring too much bias with my love of PB and beef to the table. I needed a bit of freshness in my life anyway and if they could impress me with the “healthy” options they could impress me with anything. I also decided I'd order two entrees and make it a date with my partner. After all, it’s not every night fine dining is on the table, and for me, fine dining is an experience that is best shared with the ones I love.
My Order:
Baldwin Salad $8.00
Baldwin Saloon’s Famous Clam Chowder $8.00
Two Roasted Salmon Entreez $46.00
And Pecan Praline Bread Pudding for Dessert $9.00
I was stoked to see that a house sampler with stuffed mushrooms and bacon-wrapped dates of delicious and roasted garlic came with my order, FREE of charge.
(You can also order from a decent sized selection of wine, beer, and margaritas but I was hoping CCC would comp me for this and wasn’t sure they could pay for alcohol.)
Order Total: $79.00
The Pick-Up Experience
I placed my order on Monday, got my confirmation email, and forgot all about it.
Then Thursday, pick-up-day for my order rolled around.
My order came in this fancy brown shopping bag which will be perfect for putting recycled cans in at the office and if I hadn’t got some food on it-would have been a great re-useable gift bag.
I ignored my phone all day, wrapped up in the daily bustle of news reporting and running around. But the new staff was not perturbed, they left friendly happy-sounding messages on my phone letting me know my order was ready and about 5 minutes until their closing time (5:30 PM) I checked my phone and thought “Oh, NO, THE FOOD” I had totally forgot!
Hungry as a hippo, I gave them a callback and jumped in my car. The three gentlemen who are now running Entreez.com were all there to greet me, masked and ready to hand me my order in a stylish brown bag with handles, a sort of boujee lunch bag, with some friendly cheer and a happy holidays.
I wasn't sure if they knew I was about to review their work or not but I was glad to see their friendly faces regardless. They seemed like genuinely nice guys and I didn't get misgendered (I'm transgender) so that was a big plus and made me feel really good.
I grabbed my bag, feeling posh and headed down the Baldwin steps to my car.
That’s when I found Joe Slusher standing by his truck with the hood up. I asked him if he was broken down and needed a hand. Slusher said he’d left his lights on and the battery was dead.
Slusher had a jump box but it had lost its charge. He seemed like he'd brush off my help out of politeness if I didn't push a little so I persisted. One thing I love about this town is we do our best to help each other out, especially when it's cold outside.
I didn’t have any jumper cables but he did. And after a little banter about the Baldwin and some good-hearted cheer about the holiday season, we got his truck started and we were both able to get on home for dinner. I included this experience here because it was just another one of those many interactions that I've had that continue to deepen my love for The Dalles.
And truthfully I felt that the food The Baldwin served up, helped me facilitate that interaction as well. If the food I’d picked up was warm-I might have worried about it getting cold. But because the meals come cold and are quick to reheat I felt completely able to be present in the moment and help Slusher out without having anything to worry about in the back of my mind.
Anyway, back to it.
I was excited and feeling in the holiday spirit now.
I rushed back to the office to make dinner.
Late nights at the office are something of a regular occurrence in our world, we work hard to keep our town informed, and on top of that I had another business to run, so I hoped this would be a fast and delicious treat for us so I could get writing, get fed, and get on to the next big thing.
What's Inside
A sneak peak inside that delicious dinner bag!
The meal came with easy to follow instructions on how to prepare everything in my order!
HELLO my name is Chowder, delicious creamy, chowder.
The first thing I noticed when I opened up my brown bag was the amount of plastic. Now I wasn’t too impressed with that, although I figured some of this would be great to reuse as Tupperware and almost everything said microwave safe and recyclable on it. Unfortunately in our area-these things would end up in a landfill even if I did put them in the recycling. Later though I asked about it and it sounds like they may have some solutions in the works. . I’d for sure pay a little more for a biodegradable packaging option if and when they start offering it. UPDATE: The new owners have told me their end goal is to get use returnable/reusable packaging in the future.(Probably post-corona?)
The second thing I noticed was the color coding-I wondered if this had to do with the instructions but after going through the process I think the color coding is for the kitchen and not the consumer. Maybe to keep track of what’s refrigerated and not etc. It didn’t seem like the start of a fine dining experience. But I figured we’d give it a try and I was not disappointed.
Because the third thing I noticed was… just how fresh and delicious everything looked!
I set up my camera to take pictures of the food and got to work.
Pictured: Prepackaged and ready for preparation. The House Sampler, Pecan Praline Bread Pudding, Baldwin’s Famous Clam Chowder, and Baldwin Salad Greens,
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and then put that salmon bone down on the pan to get that salmon nice and toasty and roasted just right.
Reheated butternut squash puree and kale.
Let's Get Cooking
My Cooking Tools: A microwave, a toaster oven, and a mishmash of office plates and silverware.
That’s right, microwave warriors rejoice!
The meals come partially prepared and precooked and so putting them together takes literal minutes. If I hadn’t had to keep stopping to take pictures for this review-I would have had an appetizer, salad, soup, entree, and dessert for two done in ten minutes flat.
I knew the salmon was going to take the longest at 7 minutes, plus preheating the toaster oven, so I started there. The instructions they provided me with were super easy to follow. Things went swimmingly. (Pun intended.)
While the salmon was cooking I heated up the apple brined, slow-roasted butternut squash puree and sauteed kale in the microwave. 1 minute at a time.
I repeated the process with the stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped dates, clam chowder, and bacon bits. Until everything was literally the perfect temperature. It was so easy and fast and if I’d had a real oven to use instead of a toaster oven I probably would have been done even faster because I would have heated the clam chowder on the stove top.
I paid close attention to the plating instructions putting the squash on the plate first, topped with kale, then salmon, and added the sautéed lemon pesto to the top.
It looked PHENOMENAL. (I was so hungry just looking at it I barely managed to take pictures of the finished product for this review. So… sorry if the finished pictures seem rushed but my eyes and stomach were HUNGRY by that point so I hope you’ll forgive me.)
I then quickly tossed the appetizers and salad onto a plate and presto: fast 5 star office dinner for two was served.
Baldwin Saloon’s Roasted Salmon
Roasted Salmon Review
The sweetness of the squash perfectly blends with the hearty flavor of the kale and distinctly delicious flavor of perfectly cooked fresh salmon in butter and olive oil. The sauteed lemon pesto takes into something out of storybook legend, or maybe even to another world. Whatever the destination was that it took me too I felt instantly transported there through the magic of these flavor combinations. I was absolutely taking notes on how to recreate this dish. I think the plating of it also really takes this dish to a new level and makes it feel like a fine dining experience you can have at home or at the office. Just an absolutely wild and delicious experience. And it took literally seven minutes to make. Perfect for my busy schedule.
The portion size was reasonable but I could have eaten two of these all to myself truthfully. Literally licked the plate clean on this one.
Plating Tip: The plating of the salmon was super easy! Literally stack the ingredients and drizzle the sauce! You’ll notice however that the salmon filet pictured on the right flaked apart a bit when I was transferring it…I think this would be avoidable if you use a spatula instead of the office pizza cutter to transfer your salmon from the pan to the plate.
Baldwin Saloon’s Famous Clam Chowder, pictured here in that bowl that somehow everyone I knew growing up had at their parents house. Do you have this white bowl with the blue/green ring around the top in your house?
Baldwin Saloon’s Famous Clam Chowder Review
Delicious Bacon bits.
Alright, when anyone says their dish is “famous” I usually take that with a grain of salt. But truly- this chowder lived up to the hype. There’s a perfect amount of pork belly, crispy bacon, leeks, homemade oyster crackers, clams, carrots, celery, creamy goodness and comforting warmth to make this an instant favorite. Plus I somehow managed to not get a single grain of sand in mine?!?! I didn't know that was even possible? I just assumed that all chowder comes with sand in it. But apparently, there is a several day's long process that involves using only fresh clams that creates this result. Truly extraordinary and it felt healthy in a way that chowder doesn’t usually for me. I really enjoyed that it was not overly salted or peppered. Just a perfect balance. Also being able to cook it to the exact temp I wanted and those hearty homemade oyster crackers that taste like good homemade bread made this feel homey and nostalgic. This is something I would eat on the regular. Especially on winter days when the pacific weather has me wishing I was on the beach.
PRO TIP: Heating up the bacon bits took this dish to that extra level. Take the bacon out of the cups and put it onto a plate in the microwave for no more than 15-20 seconds. Don't heat it in the little plastic cups or the bacon will melt the heck out of the plastic in like less than 10 seconds.
Baldwin Saloon’s Baldwin Salad, pictured here on another random office plate….Do you and your family have all matching dishes or do you have an assorted modge podge like we do at the office?
Baldwin Salad Review
Even the salad was amazing and something I might even get my dad to eat! The freshness of it struck me as being exceptional. Like even if these mixed greens just came out of the bag I ain't even mad because it must be today’s bag you know? It was fresh and tasty- just so fresh I felt like I could taste living chlorophyll in it. And I loved the addition of artichoke hearts, thinly sliced cucumber, and radish. I also appreciated that the cherry tomatoes tasted ripe and came pre-cut. The lemon honey thyme vinaigrette was so good I was dipping the leaves in the dressing like it was chips and dip. No regrets.
Packaging Question I have: How the heck did they get it in there without closing any of the leaves in the lid seal and squishing it and keeping it so fresh? What is the secret man, you got to tell me because while I was taking pictures of it I re-closed the lid and ended up squishing the edges of my leaves in the seal no matter what I did. So many tiny details go into consistent high-quality food preparation so props to Baldwin Saloon for being so meticulous.
Baldwin Saloon’s House Sampler
The House Sampler Review
This sampler is the definition of what makes something five-star dining. Nobody has time to make appetizers at home you know? You get everything all at once and it goes from pan to plate to mouth. But this is a different experience. This is bacon-wrapped dates, stuffed mushrooms, roasted garlic and bread before dinner. What else do you need to know really? Something like this at home would usually take ages, so much prep is required to make a stuffing for mushrooms and time spent stuffing dates and wrapping them is usually just too much for a Tuesday night, especially when you know they’ll disappear in seconds into hungry mouths as the pre-dinner snack. But these come prepared ahead of time and ready to reheat. In a matter of moments you’ve got an appetizer that’s hot and delicious... and you can eat them in your own home or in the middle of the day for lunch.
That’s what I call bougie. But what's not to love about treating yourself once in a while?
This sampler plate, and in particular the bacon wrapped dates, have always been a favorite of mine from the Baldwin. That sweet fruity, cheesy, bacon combo just doesn't get old. And I was glad to see that the magic hasn't been lost with the changeover. They were as good as ever. Plus I feel like three is the right serving size for this. Enough to feel satisfied but not so much you take the flavor for granted or end up ignoring your meal because you stuffed yourself with this delicious treat.
The stuffed mushrooms were also incredibly good and only took like two minutes! AND I didn't have to actually stuff anything...except my face. I ate it so fast I didn't have time to properly review it's taste because well… it was too good, so I ate it.
I even ate one of those garlic's and liked it. I've never had roasted garlic on its own like this but it was good and I feel like maybe I got an immune boost from it or at least immunity from hungriness for sure.
The bread was also phenomenal. It tastes homemade and had olive oil and butter on it and was also perfectly toasted to the crunch factor of awesome.
Baldwin Saloon’s Pecan Praline Bread Pudding, plated on the office’s celebratory polka dot plate.
Pecan Praline Bread Pudding Review
Dessert was a true treat.
You know my first instinct was to go for the peanut butter pie- but I thought what the heck- anyone could probably impress me with peanut butter pie, I mean it’s peanut butter, you know? Nostalgia and comfort take over. But it takes a true artist to make me enjoy bread pudding.
Well say hello to Michelangelo, microwave warriors- because this pudding is FIRE (for those that don't know ‘fire’ is millennial slang that means it's hot, as in like smoking hot, as in very delicious delicious, double delicious, 10/10, very good.)
Definitely warm this one up according to the instructions. Eating it warm seems like the best way. Like I said I don't know what makes bread pudding good because I haven't ever had one I liked. So I just straight followed the instructions to a ‘T’ on this one. (Don’t heat the sauce in the little cup though or you might end up loosing some of it in the microwave and believe me you’ll want every last drop of that bourbon butterscotch tasty sauce!)
The candied pecan toppings and bourbon butterscotch sauce really make the plating shine. The sugary crunch of the candied praline pecans is a perfect compliment to the warm soft bread custard, and the texture is like...well its bread but it’s got a custard like texture? I guess...I can’t even compare it to anything because personally, I’ve barely ever eaten that much bread pudding. (In fact full disclosure, and apologies to my loving and well-meaning friends and relatives, I’ve never liked bread pudding, yeah I know, sorry again.)
In any case it was so good. I was just like what is in this? Why do I love this bread pudding so much and hate every other bread pudding I’ve ever had? Is it magic? Is it the bourbon, the butterscotch, or candied pecans and custard texture combo? Is it the fact that it tastes like it came straight from a famous Cake Boss and yet I was able to heat it up in the office microwave and share with my loved one on date night in under a minute? I guess it’s probably all of those reasons combined. It’s about the experience after all. But again I’m just in shock with how good this ended up being and how it didn’t even feel heavy in my stomach even though by this point I'd eaten every last bite of the rest of my order. Like what are they putting in this stuff? It's so good, jeez.
Pictured: This is what the perfect bite looks like.
Was it worth $79.00?
My smiling face after having stuffed myself full of delicious food for this review.
Absolutely.
It’s probably not in my budget for every day as a poor journalist- but worth it if you've got the cash or are looking for a nice date night dinner during COVID that you can cook up in literally a few minutes. And truly I think I probably saved money because if I had tried to make this meal myself I probably would have had to buy a ton of special spices and ingredients and who has a week to spend getting all the sand out of clams and tracking down truly fresh greens in the middle of winter except a high quality restaurant like the Baldwin Saloon you know?
I really just wasn't expecting to be quite as impressed with this meal as I ended up being and frankly, I'm glad. These dishes were amazing and brought up so many delicious flavors and memories and creative cooking ideas for me that I can't wait to make more memories sharing this food with friends and family this season.
The cooking time instructions for heating all the items were all right on the money. I was actually kind of shocked by how accurate it was considering the office microwave is on the fritz. But I suppose some chef's have these super-accurate internal clocks or maybe just a lot of practice that allows them to just KNOW when food is BAM done at the perfect point.
I also really enjoyed getting to learn more about what makes food look good on the plate with the plating instructions and get back into feeling creative with cooking. And sharing it with my partner was such a gift as well, just seeing my partner's eyes light up when I put these beautiful looking plates of food down in front of her has inspired me to do better in the kitchen.
The two downsides I experienced were just the amount of plastic and the fact that when you plate stuff you still have dishes to do, but the plastic situation does sound like it’s being worked on and considering the whole process of actually cooking the food only takes like ten minutes tops- and that it was the best meal I’ve had all pandemic...I'd say doing a few dishes wasn't a bad trade-off for a high-quality five-star meal made with fresh healthy foods that was prepared so fast it may as well have appeared out of thin air or popped out of a star trek replicator.
I think this is a great for anyone who wants to splurge on a nice dinner for the holidays or want to give a great meal as a gift to someone they know.
Lily Dog was a big fan of those cooking smells and spent the whole time “supervising” me making dinner.
I also think is also a great meal prep option for the singles since everything comes pre-packaged in reasonable servings and you can save it to eat later. Also great if you're interested in learning how to cook but not sure where to start. For sure a great source of flavor profile inspiration for the foodies out there. Everything is so fresh and left my body feeling happy and healthy.
Also possibly a great family option for you megabucks types who can afford it-the one downside I see for that again is that everything is individually packaged so you'll end up with a lot of extra Tupperware until they come up with some other strategies for the packaging, but who knows maybe extra food storage containers are exactly what you need!
Overall I’m super glad The Dalles now has this as an option and I look forward to supporting the Baldwin Saloon as they continue to grow and share more of their food expertise with all of us. It also sounds like they will be starting up a delivery service in the spring. That’s five star dining, delivery! Please keep it coming ya’ll! Restaurants require a lot of dedication to detail and determination to make things work whether it’s timing, marketing, packaging, or meal prep so I wish you the best of luck, and here’s to all the hard work, passion, and grit you’ve put into this already!
Also I want to say thank you for reminding me about the importance of fresh ingredients in making good food, and inspiring me to get creative with my cooking. This was a delicious five-star dining experience for myself and my partner and the best meal I’ve had all pandemic. I can’t wait to try more of what the menu has to offer.
I’m especially looking forward to them starting up their delivery service in the sprint.
P.S. Please write us a cookbook! I will snatch that cookbook up from Klindt’s like hotcakes!
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