Back at Sammy's

Ashland, Oregon, September 18, 2013—

ONE OF THE FIVE restaurants in the world — admittedly a mutable list — New Sammy's continues to combine unlikely grace and comfort with the casual and offbeat. It's a reassuring reminder that democracy has room for discrimination and taste, for Quality. Its chef, Charlene Rollins, is one of the most reliably consistent, well researched, and technically deftest cooks I know, and the kitchen has the authenticity and ethic that comes from its solid grounding in its garden and its awareness of its near community of farms and fisheries.

After a delicious little canapé — duck terrine on house-baked dark rye bread, with a sassy pickled yellow snap bean to snap the palate to attention — I went on to little profiteroles filled with brandade, served in a tomato-based Romesco sauce, smoky and complex, engaging the eye with intense red, the teeth with texture and grain, the palate with deep, rich flavors. This kind of complexity is very difficult to manage, simultaneously offering distinct and contrasting details and an integrating, almost transcendent unity.

My principal plate, braised slices of suckling pig, was simple and straightforward by contrast, relying on the succulence of the meat and the correctness of its cooking for its effect. It was set off by another knowing juggle of texture, color, and taste: a succotash adding diced onion, green beans and chanterelles to the usual corn, in place of the more usual peas, now out of season.

And the dessert! So impressive it deserves to enter the permanent repertoire, with a name of its own, like pears Helene or peach Melba or apple Charlotte — why not raspberries Charlene? As you see, the berries set off a smooth, bright ice cream, set atop a rich, meditative chocolate torte, drizzled with a syrup that bound all the parts into a work of art, both on the plate and, more important, on the tongue. This was one of the high points of the year's dining, hands down.

A glass of Champagne; "Les Coteaux," Mas Belles Eaux (Languedoc), 2008 (deep, very dark, yet supple and light on the tongue)

• New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro, 2210 S Pacific Hwy, Talent, Oregon; (541) 535-2779

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