Taste Unique

This review is only for their tiramisu: IT’S DELICIOUS, AUTHENTIC, HIGH QUALITY, FRESH MADE, and a great deal: at only $ 6 for a small (enough for 2 – 4 people), or $ 12 (for 4 – 6 people), it’s the best value tiramisu in all of Portland.
Keep in mind traditional tiramisu has no alcohol in it, so it’s also not present in this recipe, but otherwise it’s everything I look for in a good dessert.

This is my go too when I want great truly legit Italian food that my mother and grandmother would approve of and I am just too tired to cook it my self! It is all amazing and home made, just ready for you to heat up at home!

This is a fairly authentic place with to go uncooked pasta dishes which is interesting and nice. But I have never been sold on the food, despite the owner being authentically Italian.

Magic on a Fork!
There’s something very comforting about Italian food, that no other cuisine can match. Add a layer of homemade Italian food, you’ve really got something special. Having homemade Italian food made from scratch in a kitchen owned by an engaging woman from Italy… well not only have you got my heart, you’re tickling me in places to shy to mention on Unilocal.
I’ve tried this out on 3 separate occasions and each was in a single word… sublime! Keep in mind this is not a place to go eat. I think many get that confused. It’s a place to buy frozen or fresh entrees and catering.
The first time I tried it, a friend’s wife picked up multiple trays of catered Italian classics. The other 2 times we stopped and got a fresh lasagna to go. You simply purchase the finished product, cook it at home, and you’re in for an amazing and mangia. Lasagna seems to be the signature dish here, and a family size easily feeds 3 – 4. We usually go for the veggie with white sauce, which has the most incredible tasting mushrooms I’ve ever eaten.
What’s most impressive about this place is the amount of love and care put into their food, along with no skimping on top quality fresh ingredients, and that means putting their wood table in back to good use, i.e., fresh handmade pasta in everything. Service is also good here and every question explained without the slightest hint of snobbery.
The store also offers some fine Italian kitchen products to buy, so it’s well worth spending some time looking around. You’ll be very glad you did, and while the prices are certainly higher for their food, you get exactly what you pay for, and it makes a date night at home with a glass of wine and a movie pretty special.
Negatives? Hard to find any. It’s a very small shop, so if it gets busy can be difficult to look around. The tiramisu we had one time was not the best. I’ve been to Italy a few times and, although it’s very hard to match the ingredients over there, it still could have been better, especially for the price.
Still keeping 5 stars from this reviewer. You just cannot get anything better in this city. A sweet little secret we’re keen to have around in SE PDX. Those chumps across the bridge don’t know what their missing!!!

A small slice of italy tucked away in SE PDX. I had gone their seeing that they were a good place for lunch on Unilocal,turns out its actually a place where you can buy frozen pre cooked food and then go home and cook it for lunch! Fair enough, should have read their site more carefully.
That being said, the Lasagna was really good, and their tiramisu was the best I’ve had in Portland (which sadly I haven’t found any good ones yet). Their freezer is stocked with some other very tempting dishes from Italy which I think I will be back to try out. Also, the owner is super nice and helpful as well.

This time of year, lasagna just hits the spot. It’s warm, and comforting when the seasons are starting to flip on us. I need something classic, something to keep me grounded, and this lasagna is it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had lasagna so I walked out with a large for some reason. You can get it frozen or freshly refrigerated, which was pretty nice. I got the refrigerated one because I wanted it as soon as ovenly possible. The service was great, the woman at the counter was really nice and helpful.
The lasagna wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it was quite good. It was A LOT better the second, third and fourth days though.
The next time I feel like putting 5 lbs of lasagna weight on my body, I’ll be back here. I really regret not getting the tiramasu… I make REALLY poor decisions sometimes…

OMG. I just brought home the Eggplant Parmigiana. Smooth, buttery, and so delicious… the best I’ve ever eaten. The marinara is bright red with fresh tomatoes. It’s topped with cheese — but not too much. Unlike lots of take out food, it was not too salty. Service was awesome. I was given a big sample of focaccia (which is awesome with the eggplant, btw). I can’t wait to try the veggie lasagne in the freezer. As Ahnold says, «I’ll be bahk.»

Absolutely delicious made from scratch Italian food. You can buy trays of prepared food to bring home and cook or freeze for a later date. This is some real impress-​your-​guests type of fare. Some must try’s are the Orechiette Ricotta & Pancetta, Potato Pie, Eggplant Parmigiana and any of the sauces to take home and serve over pasta. Darn good comfort food!

Stefania is one of the most interesting Italian chefs I’ve evert met. You are Italian or you have been to Italy you will find Italy here. I love food, make food and talk about food (ItalianMondays com is my blog) and I can assure you she has the rare — if not unique — ability of adapting home cooking recipes to work extraordinary well with local ingredients.
People: real lasagna does not flow in sauce and it’s not 5″ tall like the fake-​italian restaurants make you believe.
I know a bunch of people that went to Italy and was disappointed with the food and that will happen if you go to Japan or China or India, too… NOT everyone is ready for the real thing!
:)

Like Papa Murphy’s but gourmet. Great for feeding small groups. Call in, pre-​heat to 350, walk to pick up, place in oven, have a drink then dinner is deliciously served.

Please note that this is mainly a catering business. I was unaware of this and took my mom (a vegetarian and Italian food-​lover) to lunch here for her birthday. I discovered that there were only three dishes available for lunch, and only one of them was vegetarian. Definitely not the place to come if you want a full, sit-​down restaurant experience.
However, the food we received was delicious. And the owner (a very sweet Italian woman) even brought us free vegetarian appetizers that were not on the menu. When I told her it was my mother’s birthday she brought us a plate with four heaping spoonfuls of tiramisu (one for each of us at the table).
I’m not sure how many people have or are often around grade-​school children, but we were also tasked with taking pictures around Portland of my nephew’s «Flat Stanley» paper doll for his school project. The owner (a mother herself) saw and recognized Stanley and brought us out a tiny plate of pasta with a tiny fork just for him!

Taste Unique offers fresh, delicious Italian food that you bring home to bake. The service was also really friendly, enthusiastic, and attentive.
Why the four stars? Based on all the great reviews, we excitedly brought home spinach cannelloni and vegetarian lasagne. The lasagne was delicious, as everyone on Unilocal has said, but, we were disappointed by the ample amounts of cream and cheese rather than marinara or red sauce. Why are there no vegetarian entrees that have marinara or other types of red sauce?
Taste Unique is awesome, and it would be great to see a red sauce vegetarian entrée on the menu!

So freakin-​A, we had an bona-​fide 18^th Century Italian dinner. I’m reviewing a private dinner, which you too can set up here for a mininum of 8 people. The chef has an old cookbook from italy, she researched into the meanings of the different types of terminology, had to adjust cooking times for modern techniques, look up history and get a sense of what was going on and incorporated the essence of the times. At this time in Italy the food was very «french» and simple, yet rich.
Ok, the food was awesome. Read more about it below. But the best part really was the «event» of it all. You felt like you were in a villa having dinner with a charming Italian couple who wanted to please their esteemed guests with dinner, and stories about the history of food in Italy, the wine, the caffe. Bellisima!
First course — Zuppa ‘Renna Bianca’ — a creamy/​brothy soup with a piece of crusty bread in it. Um, not my fave, but ok.
Second — Lasagna Princisgrass — OMG!!! Lasagna with prosciutto and truffle. Super buttery, creamy, and rich white lasagna. I’ll say «pump it into my veins, baby!!». Yeah, that good!
Third — Grilled lamb chops with a pine nut sauce. Tender, balanced, just really excellent.
Fourth — Peas with sage. They were cooked thrice I believe, in the old world style. And holy cow, you can’t believe how much the peas rocked my world. I had this dinner months ago and I still think about the peas.
Fifth — Pasta alla Militare — they had a cute name for it there too, I can’t remember. Its a fried bread thing with spinach/​sweet custard. Interesting for sure.
You end it with an espresso, just as they would in Italy today. All for $ 30, and $ 6 wine by the glass.
After just being in Italy a few months before, I wasn’t disappointed with the home cooking flavors, fresh ingredients, superb techniques, and hospitality of the owners/​chef.
Molto buona! Delizioso! Ciao bella!

After reading all of these stellar reviews, I’m wondering if I went on an off-​day. I’m wishing I’d tried the white lasagna instead of the regular meat lasagna. I got it fresh, as well as a frozen potato pie.
I didn’t have my hopes set too high, because I make the best lasagna in the world. However, it’s super fattening and I don’t make it very often. My husband always orders lasagna when we go out, and we know not to expect it to be like ours. It’s ok, we eat it, it’s usually pretty bland, sometimes bad, but this took the cake.
First off, please don’t think I’m a snob about lasagna. We eat frozen Marie Calendar and Michelina, or store brand lasagna on occasion to get our fix. This was worse than a $ 2 frozen lasagna. And I paid $ 20… for something my husband spit out, saying it tasted like dog food; and was thrown in the trash. He ate chips with melted cheese instead.
I wasn’t quite as dramatic about it as he was, but it did taste bad, and the meat just tasted unseasoned. I hate wasting, so I trudged through another serving at work the next day, then threw the other half in the trash. I defended it the whole time, saying it could have been a bad day.
Fast forward 4 days later, when I’m tired, and cook up the potato pie. It was OK, tasted kind of like a dry twice baked potato, but I couldn’t eat much of it, and my husband pouted because he hated it. I meant to throw it away, forgot it sitting on the counter, and 2 hours later our whole kitchen smelled of dog food. We have no dog…
Again, maybe it was an off day. It was a cute little shop, I love the IDEA, Stefania was very nice, and some things I was looking at looked delicious. Maybe I just shouldn’t have grabbed lasagna or potato pie, and opted for the $ 7 tiny container of pasta sauce, or the homeade noodles. Maybe the white sauce is better, but I’m not spending $ 20 to find out. Sorry guys, my experience just wasn’t the same as yours on this one. $ 35 later plus tip and we had 2 ruined meals.

Hands down, some of the best Italian food outside of Italy I’ve ever had. I’m a huge Italian food fan so I’m extremely picky about what I eat. The ingredients from Taste Unique are fresh and it’s nice to know that the owner is actually in the kitchen using her family recipes to make delicious food for her customers. I give his place five stars and highly recommend everyone to stop by.

Let me start by saying: I have never been a pasta person. In African-​American households (well at least in mine) the only Italian dish that is ever regularly included in the meal is spaghetti and is usually served as side dish to a traditional soul food dinner (i.e. fried chicken and greens). SO when I say I’m not a pasta person, I could go a whole year not having a taste for it or craving for it at all.
SO when I found myself strolling into Taste Unique one day right before my dance class around the corner at Barre3 and realized that the menu was Italian I initially dismissed all interest in actually trying the food and did the polite fake-​interest thing so that I didn’t look foolish for walking in. In typical Portland-​friendly fashion, the woman behind the counter greeted me politely and asked if I needed assistance. I humored her and said I just sauntered in and was curious. And then all of sudden, whatever intention I had to just quickly browse and then exit was instantly changed as the mouth-​watering scents from the kitchen wafted over to my direction and filled my nose with their olfactory goodness. My fake pretenses quickly submitted to the intervention happening to my senses.
I asked a few more questions to who I later discovered was the head chef, Steffana, about the menu but then asked the all-​important question that sealed the deal for me: ARE YOU ITALIAN? She shook her head and said yes. And that was it. My mind was officially changed and I was definitely going to try something from this place! I decided to go to my class first and before I returned I quickly referred to Unilocal and saw that Taste Unique had a perfect 5-​star rating. Amazing. Now, I was excited. I decided on the Lasagna Umbra and even picked up a bottle of my favorite Moscato. About an hour later, after a quick drive home and only 40 minutes to heat up the prepared dish, I bit into what was the best Italian food I had ever had in my life and there and then I became a pasta person.

This place is mind-​blowingly good. We stopped into this grab-n’-go Italian place on a Monday evening to check out the selection, and we were informed that they get their shipment in that day, so they don’t have a lot made fresh. We picked up some of the meaty lasagna and we baked it up that evening.
… OMG.
Needless to say, we were back the same week to get more to share with friends, so they could understand just how fabulous this stuff is. We kept talking about it all week long. And for just $ 20, you can feed four people this amazingly high-​quality pasta.
We also picked up a frozen polenta to try, but many of the frozen items don’t have cooking instructions on it, and it just didn’t turn out right at all. We gave them a call to ask how we should have done it when they were open again, and they offered to give us another polenta for free to do it the right way.
We currently have a package of their tiramisu in the fridge that we haven’t tried yet. I have a feeling I may need to edit this review later to add another «OMG» based on the other reviews. I’m so excited.
This place is a MUST try, and certainly a must-​go-​frequently for anyone in the inner-​SE.

How can I not like a place that makes lasagna that tastes as good as (or better) than the ones that mama used to make? It really is that good! I’ve only had take out from here once, but I’m already in love with the place.
Maybe it’s the immediate feeling of warmth upon stepping inside. Stefania definitely knows her way around the kitchen, and she’s adorable to boot… I could listen to that accent for hours. It makes me want to brush up on my Italian.
I only wish I could be in the area at lunch time more often. Luckily they have the excellent meals ready to take home and bake.
Oh, and others have mentioned, be sure to try the tiramisù.

Pardon me, good sir, but did you just sell me the best veggie lasagna I’ve ever had in my life?
Methinks so.
At least you didn’t have the gall to top that with some of the best Tiramisú to have ever passed my lips.
Oh wait. You did that too.
My god. What have you done?!
Bikini season is on it’s way, and aside from the periodic pub crawl and food cart flash mob, I’m trying to eat a little healthier. The last thing I need right now is to discover an incredible take-​home lasagna filled with perfectly-​cooked pasta, rich, succulent sautéed mushrooms, paper-​thin sliced zucchini, a fantastic creamy sauce, smoked white cheese, and a healthy dose of magical deliciousness dust*. Furthermore, this silky-​perfect Tiramisú business has got to stop. The fantastically perfect lady-​fingers soaked in the most delicious espresso, surrounded by a silken layer of cloud filling* and topped with a thick layer of cocoa powder balances a light, airy texture with a rich, deep flavor that I’m sure has the same effect on the pleasure centers of my brain as smoking a rock of only the finest crack has on your average crackhead**.
I know, it’s my fault that I listened to the Unilocal reviews and came back to try the oft-​lauded lasagna and similarly hyped Tiramisú in the spring. This food will be delicious all year round, but of course that rich creamy vegetarian mess will do a much better job of putting your winter coat on than of taking it off. I guess really the only thing I can hold Taste Unique accountable for is making ridiculously good food that you can take home and bake or take home and store in your freezer for one of those lazy days where you don’t wanna cook and you do wanna gorge on some sinfully rich and luxuriously delicious food. If I fail the swimwear competition, it will ultimately be of my own doing (or is that undoing).
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*I’m not sure if this is the technical name for the mystery ingredient, but it should be.
** I’m just guessing. I don’t know any crackheads.

Fresh high quality ingredients simply prepared and passion for food, for people, for life.
That’s what I seek when I eat Italian, and that’s why I adore Taste Unique.
It’s not a restaurant that you enter, it’s Stefania’s kitchen. Warmth radiates as she deftly prepares homemade pastas, sauces, breads, and desserts. Converse with her or Lawrence and realize that you’re more a guest than customer here.
Most that stop by are picking up take out. Freshly prepared trays of from-​scratch Lasagne, Orcchiette, and Cannelloni are ready to be taken home, as are sauces and soups like Amatriciana, Norcina, and Tuscan Onion. And it’d almost be sacriligious to leave without the Tiramisù.
As blissful as it is taking Stefania’s cooking home, what I truly love is spending my midday breaks here devouring the lunch specials. Available from 12p to 2p I’d eat here daily were it feasable (little things like work and finances sometimes get in the way). Dishes like Pesto Trapanese, a Sicilian specialty prepared with dried tomatoes, basil, and almonds, are difficult to find even in Italy, that I can have it here in PDX for eight bucks is, at least to me, epic.
So far I’ve tried her Lasagna, her fettuccine with homemade sausage, and the Trapanese. Each dish was perfectly executed, with just the right amount of sauce, al dente pasta, and distinct perfectly balanced flavors. Here nothing gets over sauced, over spiced, or muddled. Everything is simple and at the same time intriguingly complex.
Taste Unique like Stefania herself is stylishly modern, yet rooted in tradition. The décor sleek, yet accented by heirloom coffee pots (one has been passed down for over a century) and hanging fabrics from her family. The ingrediants are fresh and local, while the recipes are straight out of Italy.
Two more facets that make this place amazing: Cooking classes, where a limited number cook then eat together-​this month Pizza Making and Pasta & Sauces (Yeah, sign me up). Events, want to impress your friends? Let Stefania cook, seriously.
A few notes if you’re planning to dine in. It’s a kitchen, be cool if they’re a little busy. Seating is limited, if you get one awesome, if not be patient, it’s worth the wait. If you want to understand passion for food, ask Lawrence what he thinks of Sicilian cuisine. Lastly as I mentioned before, get the Tiramisù, the last time I had one this good was in Venice. Impossibly light, not too sweet, wondefully textured, and spot on flavors of coffee and dark cocoa, it’s hard to slow down and savor rather than just inhale.
Affordable authentic Italian within ten minutes of home, one of my foodie dreams comes true. I feel blessed to live in a city that has both this and Alba Osteria (
). Can’t wait to try the Tuscan Onion Soup (which I think predates its French counterpart), the Panna Cotta with Coffee, and the Polenta. And I especially look forward to taking a cooking class.
Taste Unique, comfort food for the Italian soul.
(Check out the pictures)