Corvallis, Oregon, Restaurants

A hit and a miss

Our one-night stay in Corvallis included dinner at del Alma Restaurant & Bar, and breakfast at New Morning Bakery.

del Alma

del Alma is located in downtown Corvallis along the Willamette River with a menu influenced by Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain. Ingredients come from local markets, farms, and ranches in the Northwest. The dining room and bar overlook a promenade that runs along the river - it's a lovely and calming view. Patio seating is available. There are tiered seating areas inside overlooking the bar and enjoying the same view.

An extensive wine list includes Old and New World wines by the glass and bottle, and there are beers on tap and by the bottle. We felt the wines were very reasonably priced. Even more fun are the cocktails with twists on familiar drinks, like the Spanish Sazerac that uses chocolate bitters. We tried a del Alma margarita that included tequila, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, mandarin blossom, and fresh lime. It was a bit sweet, but the St. Germain added an interesting flavor. We also tried their Mai Tai made with gold rum, orgeat, orange curaçao, fresh lime, and a Meyer's rum float. It was also sweet, but not a typical Mai Tai. Presentation is done well here on drinks and plates.

Mai Tai

We started with their bacon guacamole which contains their house-cured bacon in fairly thick chunks, ground hazelnuts, chipotles, and tomato. We're not big fans of tomato in guacamole, they seem to break down quickly and lose their fresh flavor. The bacon and hazelnuts gave the guacamole an interesting texture, and the chipotles gave it an earthiness. It was served with chips and fried plantains. It wasn't as good as we were hoping (bacon in guacamole - who wouldn't get excited?), but still enjoyable. It made us want to try making it in our own way.

The menu includes quite a few tapas, a couple of salads, and a nice selection of larger plates. We chose to stay with tapas. The Hazelnut Picadillo "Crunch Wrap" was the most Mexican-tasting. It wasn't actually crisp, yet the ground beef and hazelnut picadillo, and nacho cheese sauce overcame that minor issue. It was served with pico de gallo which again had some tomatoes that didn't quite meet the fresh mark. Again, still enjoyable.

Moving on, we tried the Pork Belly and Scallops served with aji Amarillo gel (mango), roasted sweet potato pico de gallo, spiced quicos, green onion, and radish. The scallops were cooked perfectly and were killer with the sweet potato. I always think it's great to put a small bite of each item in a dish on my fork and get all the flavors at once. It didn't work here. The pork belly and scallop didn't work together, but the dish overall was quite good.

Tequila prawns

Next we had Tequila Prawns with sautéed wild mushrooms, sweet corn, tomatoes, and blackening spice, served with corn tortillas. The sauce was savory yet mild. Prawns were cooked just right. While each ingredient seemed to be complementary, as a whole it wasn't a "wow!" dish.

Our final tapa was the Beef Tenderloin Pinchos - grilled beef tenderloin skewers, sweet potato ketchup, chimichurri, and sautéed greens. This was probably our favorite. The beef was tender, the ketchup and chimichurri were both really good with the meat. The sautéed greens didn't have much flavor, the only disappointment in the dish.

Beef tenderloin skewers

As the tapas arrived, they also brought bread and three dipping sauces to the table. This was a nice touch, with all sauces being quite good. Piquillo and goat cheese, white bean and garlic (their version of hummus), Spanish olive tapenade.

Dipping sauces

Dulce del Ama is their wine and dessert bar in the same building that normally offers wine flights, tapas, and flatbreads. Due to the pandemic, those have been suspended, but they are serving the del Alma dinner and bar menus, along with the full wine and cocktail list.

Our trip was a journey to search out the magic in food, places that are doing something different with high quality ingredients and taking their food and beverage up that extra level. While del Alma didn't always hit the mark, they are really trying to make magic. Between the interesting cocktails, large wine list, innovative dishes, excellent service, and a warm and pretty look/feel, we were happy to experience this restaurant and would go back again.

136 SW Washington Ave, Ste 102
Corvallis, OR 97333
541-753-2222
delalmarestaurant.com

New Morning Bakery

NMB has been a go-to spot in downtown Corvallis since the 1970s. They offer cooked-to-order breakfasts like French toast, Hazelnut pancakes with marionberry syrup, biscuits with sausage gravy, organic oatmeal. You can add items to make a combo ($9.95) or chose several sides. They make cakes, cookies, and bake their own bread. Pastries include scones, bagels, muffins, sweet rolls, Danishes, croissants, muffins, coffeecake, pull-aparts, butterhorns, flips & crispies. Coffee and espresso are available.

Ordering seems a bit confusing, although they have probably set it up this way to move lines along quickly. You can order a pastry from the case, but the person helping you can't take a cooked-to-order choice. You have to move down the line for that. The day we were there, a back up at the register (not the fault of the staff), had everyone backed up and waiting too long, especially for those who just wanted a coffee or a single pastry.

Overall, this was a miss. The sausage links tasted like a frozen product from a large distributor, the bacon was crispy on one end, less so on the other. Pastries were dry and full of white flour (we know, we seem to be in the minority on this - people love white flour).

Combo breakfast

The interior was nice, with a brick wall, indoor umbrellas, nature photos for sale on the walls, and nice-looking lighting fixtures. Unfortunately, the lighting was extremely bright. Small tables along one wall had sconces at the tables, but the bulbs were higher than the sconce and the brightness made it impossible to sit there. This should be an easy fix, but clearly it hasn't been looked into. One woman sat at a table and put her tall purse in front of the sconce to block the light. Whatever works!

219 SW 2^nd Street
Corvallis, OR 97333
541-754-0181
www.newmorningbakery.com

Seattle DINING!/May 2021