Kincaid's   

Arriving in Portland after Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, but before Morton's, Portland Steak and Chophouse, located in the venerable and beautifully restored former Multnomah Hotel, has a vintage look to complement the Edwardian lobby of the once palatial hostelry, now called the Embassy Suites. The look is of an English club, dark and masculine. The restaurant does a reasonable job with hearty meats, though it can't hold a candle to the two chains. The bill of fare is fairly conventional, catering to a hotel business crowd, but a few items do stand out. For an old-time appetizer, there are sauted chicken livers, bumbling along with onions, mushrooms, and peppery bacon. The crab cakes are not bad, and Chardonnay-sauced wild mushrooms are also worth sampling. The steaks are decent, the salt- crusted roast beef better, and the best of the entres is a veal chop surrounded by lemony artichoke hearts. But be careful of the seafood, which too often is masked with an unconscionable amount of thick sauce. Example: breaded jumbo prawns stuffed with Brie and glopped with barnaise sauce, a dish wrong in countless ways. Our counsel is to order simply, avoid anything that shouts "gourmet food," and save room for the Bing cherry and apricot bread pudding, smooth and rich and the stuff of sugar plum fairy dreams.