Visit Lovely Pacific City

Last week I posted about our Mother of All Storms trip to Pacific City, Oregon, but the trip wasn't all about the beer. Well, mostly, but not all.

We drove out on a Friday, which just happened to coincide with the first snow in the coast range, the hills/mountains dividing the coast from the Willamette Valley and the Interstate 5 corridor. The northern route, from Portland which heads to Tillamook, is a higher elevation and had snow on the ground, so we went south to Salem and headed west to Lincoln City, then north to Pacific City. We avoided any snow threats, but as you can see the clouds were pretty damn ominous at the coast. This is looking out at the ocean over Pelican Pub and Brewery.

And this is looking out at Haystack Rock.

Wait, I can hear you saying, isn't Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach? Yep, it sure is. And in Pacific City. And there is, apparently, another one further south in Bandon, Oregon. (Yeah, I didn't know that until I looked it up either.) These rocks are called sea stacks or offshore monoliths. They were created of basalt from volcanic eruptions in the Grande Ronde mountains 10-17 million years ago (thank you Wikipedia) and were once connected to the land, but years of erosion from the ocean now leave them standing as offshore sentinels.

Pacific City's Haystack Rock is actually taller than Cannon Beach's - and the second-tallest in the world - but doesn't get near the press as it's brethren to the north. Why? Our theory is because the Cannon Beach one is close enough to walk to at low tide, while this one is not. Or maybe it just had a better PR team.

This is looking north towards Cape Kiwanda. Just to the right of this picture are some towering dunes which would be very cool to explore were it not rainy and 40 degrees.

But you know what? It was Mother of All Storms weekend and this was a storm...it's impossible not to find some beauty. This picture below was taken just a little before sunset.

This is Misaki and I standing on the porch of Pelican Pub and Brewery the next day. It was still cold and windy, but the rain had let up. During the summer the pub has tables out here, right next to the beach, and dogs are allowed as long as they stay in the sand. When we went previously Misaki broke the rules and hid under the table on the concrete pad next to the stand, but she's so perfect no one cared.

The Wildlife

We found some unexpected wildlife near our hotel. I saw all these black shapes over in an RV park and though they were rocks. Until they moved.

Rabbits. Tons of them. And not the normal wild bunnies you see out here, but big, built bunnies that look like pets.

I asked the front desk at the hotel what the story was with all the rabbits. They seemed not exactly tame, but not as fearful as wild rabbits normally are. She laughed, which made me think they get this question a lot. Apparently there was a rabbit breeder in the area many years back who wanted to get out of the business and didn't know what else to do, so she released the bunnies to the wild.

Surprisingly to us, they have thrived. Usually released domestic animals don't do so hot with predators, but she said the population has gone up and down over the years and they have just always stuck around. Apparently they can be seen all over town as well.

And hey, we found the Easter Bunny!

The Hotel

Speaking of the hotel, we stayed at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, which is right across the street from the brewery. Check out that link. It's interesting because the Inn, the brewery, and a few other businesses in that immediate area work together to build packages for tourists. I'm not sure if all are owned by the same people or if this is simply a mutually beneficial partnership, but it makes planning easy.

The room was nice and we'd stay there again. It was clean and well managed, and our only complaint was neighbors down the hall being loud around midnight. Then again, we stayed at an inn across the street from a brewery on a Friday night...

Obviously dogs are allowed for $20 extra per night. That fee got Misaki a blanket so she could chill on the couch - which she doesn't get to do at home - and a bag of local dog biscuits, which she liked.

Food

Only being in the town for one night and having Misaki with us limited our food options, but we still had some good meals.

Stimulus Cafe - See the hotel pic above? This is the business in the lower right corner of the building. We had a few espresso drinks from there - eggnog latte, mocha, and caramel macchiato - and each one of them was a tad too sweet. I want to like them because they use Stumptown beans, but the sugaryness was just too much.

Pelican Pub and Brewery - The pub takes orders over the phone and does take out, so given the weather and the proximity we ordered dinner Friday night and breakfast Saturday morning from here.

Dinner (menu link) was fish and chips, made with cod, that came with beer battered fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce. I'm not usually one for tartar sauce, but this one had a great dill flavor. The fish was solid, not too greasy, but those fries were damn excellent. We'd order this again. We also ordered the risotto cakes, which came with a red pepper coulis, sauteed chard, and topped with a mushroom and fennel salad. The cakes, which sounded like an arancini, really didn't have much flavor and were a tad too oily for me.

For breakfast (menu link) we split an order of the crab cake eggs Benedict, served with hash browns. This was hands down the best thing we've had from Pelican (well, apart from Mother of All Storms, at least for me). The crab cakes were hearty and well done, the eggs cooked perfectly, the Hollandaise creamy goodness, and the hash browns crunched perfectly.

Greatful Bread Bakery - On the way out of town we stopped here to check out a bakery many people had good things to say about. I picked out a pesto baguette, an apricot and sour cream scone, and a cinnamon twist. All of them were okay and we'd go back if we were staying in Pacific City again, but it's not a destination type of bakery for us. The scone I personally didn't think worked very well, but that's probably just me.

TILLAMOOK

We reached the coast really early on Friday, way too early to check in, so we drove up 101 to Tillamook to check out the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Dogs are not allowed inside - which made cheese lover Misaki a tad sad - but she was a good girl in crate for a few minutes while we grabbed some nibbles.

We bought a bag of cheese curds (squeaky cheese) mostly for her, but we like them too. Also picked up some fudge (dreamsicle - interesting) and some smoked white cheddar, which is excellent. Since it was lunch time we grabbed some ice cream - vacation calories don't count, remember? I ordered a scoop of the new pumpkin and one of Grandma's Cake Batter. Neither of them, in our opinion, are keepers (last summer they had a Birthday Cake flavor that was much better). Wifey ordered a scoop of French vanilla with a scoop of orange sherbet. That was predictably fantastic - it's sad the orange sherbet is a Cheese Factory exclusive, because it would always be in our freezer.

LINCOLN CITY

On the way home on Saturday we headed into Lincoln City, but stopped first at a random viewpoint just south of Pacific City. Misaki hopped up on the stone wall to check out the view.

We basically hit Lincoln City for three things: coffee, caramel corn and a bathroom.

Mojo Coffee - Here I just ordered a large mocha, which comes with four shots. Really? They understand that if I want a larger size that doesn't mean I want it sweeter and need more espresso without having to order extra shots? (This is sarcasm - I totally agree with this practice.) Starbucks, take note. I enjoyed it and I'd go back (they also use Stumptown beans).

Candyland - One thing we must always get when we go to the beach is caramel corn. It just seems right. This trip we stopped at Candyland, some place I hadn't been for years. It's right in the old "downtown" part of Lincoln City on Highway 101. The caramel corn was okay - it had this odd flavor we still can't place (and oddly dissipated over time). But hey, caramel corn is still caramel corn. We might go back here, we might not. The woman behind the counter could see Misaki and Wifey in the car from inside the shop and asked me about the dog, what breed she was, etc. Then she offered to dog sit if we needed it. I'm not sure if she was serious or not, but, um, thanks?

We stopped at the beach access at the mouth of the D River (I guess they don't like saying "Devil's") for a bathroom break. Misaki took a liking to the beach grass.

CUBANISIMO

And then it was time to head home. At the last minute, just east of Rickreall, Oregon on Highway 22, we decided to take a quick side trip to Cubanisimo Vineyards for wine tasting. A while back another winery had recommended their rosé, so we were in the area and figured what the heck.

Our tasting that day was for six wines, which costs $5 (or nothing if you buy a bottle). As it turned out we liked five of the six, something that has never happened at any other winery we have visited. Usually we like at most one or two, but at Cubanismo we even like the pinot noir, something else we don't usually go for (despite Oregon being so well known for them). It was just before Thanksgiving so they had already started their specials for the very popular wine weekend, and since we liked so many of the bottles we went with the 2010 Rosado de Pinot Noir, the 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (a blend), and the 2008 Estate Pinot Noir. That last one will go very, very well with a nice steak, but all of them were excellent. I urge you to check out the photos of the vineyard and if you are in the area to check them out. The grounds are beautiful and their people very down to earth and knowledgeable.

We came home with three bottles of wine, a case of beer, baked goods, and a ton of great pictures. What else could you ask for from a weekend away? We definitely want to go back to Pacific City and next time may rent a house and stay longer.

Another Visit to Bakery Bar

Wifey and I have a place we really like to hit up for brunch on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It's a small place out on NE Glisan called Bakery Bar, just a block up from Cuban restaurant Pambiche between 29th and 30th. They have a wide array of baked goods, an espresso bar, small and tasty breakfast and lunch plates, make cakes and things for special events, and also serve drinks.

Bakery Bar is in a bright, orange-red building set back from the road with picnic tables and plenty of outdoor seating where one can bring a well-behaved dog (Misaki hasn't been...yet). Service can be a little chaotic. Closer to noon on the weekend there may be a line out the door to sit and eat, though anything can be ordered to go. Inside they have seating for around 35-40 people. (Apparently I wrote about them two years ago...well, they are still yummy.)

We've been enough times now I think I can make some more comments on them. The service is, just about always, not in a hurry. It takes time to be seated, time for a waiter to take your order, time for your food to come, time for boxes and the bill to come, and time for payments to be processed. This is, of course, normal, but at Bakery Bar it's always twice as long as necessary - or more.

So if you are in a hurry and want a quick bite, Bakery Bar is not the place for you. However, if you want to sit back, relax, and enjoy some good conversation because you don't have much planned that day - or nothing planned at all - this is a great place. The atmosphere is lively, the service is friendly, and the food is pretty dang good.

On our last visit I ordered the D-Bear Bowl. I have no idea where the name comes from, but it's their tasty rosemary hash browns topped with sausage gravy, two eggs, and two strips of bacon (optional add-on - of course I said yes). I ordered my eggs over easy (why I'm not sure, since I prefer medium).

All of this together I enjoyed, but by itself some of the elements weren't great. The eggs, for example, didn't have much flavor. Maybe they aren't cage free and the chickens don't enjoy a well-rounded, healthy diet? I have no idea, but they just tasted a tad weak for me. The bacon, also, wasn't anything to write home about, and I would have liked a tad more rosemary in my hash browns (I think they have started using less than they used to). 

But when all of the elements are mixed with the sausage gravy, which is always super damn fantastic...let's just say it's a satisfying meal.

Wifey ordered a special, the eggs Benedict with ham with a side of the rosemary hashbrowns.

This was also a solid dish. The Hollondaise was well done, the eggs cooked well, and their English muffins are always pretty tasty. However, like with my plate it needed a little more...something. Seasoning? Salt and pepper? Not sure.

Also, if you ever go, always order a bourbon caramel latte (which you can add an actual shot of bourbon if you like) - you will never, ever regret that.

We'll go back despite the little things, but I think it's slipped just a bit on our list of places we love in Portland.

Oreos Aren't Just For Kids

I'm probably not the only one in the world who grew up loving Oreos. They were one of the few packaged things Mom would buy, and even then not very often. When we went camping we always bought them and I ate more than my fair share.

When I went to college my roommates and I would scarf down an entire package in a sitting (no, this had nothing to do with munchies - just cause they were yummy).

But diets change and Oreos - with their highly processed ingredients and high fructose corn syrup - just aren't worth the calories anymore. I thought I would never get them again.

That is, until we found this awesomeness:

These are made in Portland by a baker who goes by Miss Zumstein. They are roughly 3-4 times the size of a traditional Oreo and about 75 times yummier. Hard to beat that, isn't it?

We found these at Heart Coffee Roasters on East Burnside and while the price - $1.50 each - seemed steep, we tried it anyway. Worth. Every. Cent. And I'd pay more. Obviously, for legal reasons, she cannot call them Oreos - instead they are simply "Chocolate Sandwich Cookies." Personally I would have gone for "Sweet Awesomeness on a Plate" but I can appreciate the restraint shown in the naming.

Heart no longer carries them, but Miss Zumstein's products can be found locally at Pastaworks, Extracto, The Daily Cafe, and others. Or you can, like we did, order them by the dozen over the phone (she also ships) and pick them up at her place on North Williams, by Tasty & Sons and Hopworks Bike Bar.

Look at that...don't you just want a bite?!

So why did we order a full dozen? Well, some of them are going into the blender for the next batch of ice cream: Mocha Madness, a recipe we found via King Arthur Flour.

I have a hunch it will be awesome. And even if it's not, we still have plenty of these grown up Oreos to munch. Oops, I mean Sweet Awesomeness on a Plate.

A Newport Sunset - In Pictures

During vacation a couple weeks back Wifey and spent a couple nights at the Hallmark Inn in Newport, Oregon, right on the beach (and dog friendly - Misaki approved!). The day we arrived the weather was nice, but by about 7pm the clouds had rolled in, so despite our oceanfront room there was no pretty sunset (my favorite part of staying the beach, other than eating a whole bunch of crap).

Then Day 2 it rained all day long...until about 6 (which meant reading most of Chelsea Cain's Heartsick, which was a fantastic book). Then the clouds started to break up off the coast and we actually received a pretty decent sunset. Here are a few pictures as the sun went down (it actually still sprinkled on land, but out over the water it was pretty nice.

Newport is a decent place to spend a couple days. It's pretty laid back and has some good places to eat, in addition to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and being the World Headquarters of Rogue Brewery.

We had a decent meal from Nana's Irish Pub, which wasn't too far from the hotel. The scotch eggs tasted good, but I barely found any sausage flavor at all. The chicken pot pie was very good. They also do food to go, which we did since we had Misaki, and the pot pie came in a piece of cookware ($5 deposit pending the return).

La Maison Cafe and Bakery does fantastic baked goods. Supposedly they do good cafe food too, but again, we had Misaki. Surprisingly hard to find food when the weather isn't nice and we can't eat outside with the dog. We had a decent chocolate muffin (really, a cupcake), and a fantastic chocolate peanut butter pie.

The area we stayed at is called Nye Beach, where there are plenty of hotels and shops. One shop was in the middle of construction but had a sign on it saying Indulge Sweets was coming soon, with a link to their website. After looking them up we found out their original store was 10 miles south in Seal Rock. Since the weather was crappy, we checked it out. Conclusion? Awesome. The chocolate peanut butter fudge had actual peanut butter in it (as opposed to just peanut butter fudge, which sounds like it would be better but never is), the dark chocolate sea salt caramels were excellent, and so was the dark chocolate covered house made marshmallows. Cannot recommend this place highly enough.

On the way home we drove up the coast to Tillamook instead of heading back through Corvallis to the Interstate. Just a few miles north of Newport we stopped in Depoe Bay and took some pictures, then picked up some caramel corn (this is a coast trip must - every single time) at Jordy's Karmelkorn Shop, which we both enjoyed.

Lunch was at the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City. It was nice outside and they had a patio, so despite the wind we sat and ate there because of the pup. Dogs aren't actually allowed on the patio and are supposed to stay in the sand next to it, but Misaki curled up under Wifey's chair to get out of the wind and no one seemed to mind (probably because it's not busy on a Thursday afternoon). Pelican does most of the normal pub foods and it being the coast had red snapper fish and chips. Between than and a pizza with a couple different meats we had plenty to eat (and bring home). Their Kiwanda Cream Ale is very good. Surprisingly clear for a cream, but with plenty of nuanced flavors. Nice to see they have it at the grocery stores at home, along with others, so I'll be checking those out. Pacific City also seems like it would be a nice place to spend a few days, so maybe our next trip to the coast will be there if we can find a dog-friendly place to stay.

Our final stop before home was at Cape Mears, where Misaki took in the sights with us.

I gotta say - we had never traveled with Misaki before on an overnight trip. We thought she'd be fine because she's a quiet, sweetheart of a Shiba, but you never know, right? As it turns out she was fantastic, minding all of her manners and being a good dog the entire time. We'll have to do it again in the summer where we can eat at more places outside, instead of having to bring food or find places that do takeout.

March Tasting Notes

EAT!

Kenny and Zuke's - biscuits and pastrami gravy, Day After Thanksgiving sandwich, cheesecake: Honestly, both of these items fell a little flat for us. The pastrami gravy was just too salty, which if I had to guess may be because the gravy was properly salted but then the pastrami (plenty salty on its own) was added. I'm probably wrong, because I'm not a chef, but that's how it tasted. It was great for a few bites, but after a while the saltiness was overpowering. The turkey (and everything) sandwich was good, but the elements seemed to cancel each other out, if that makes sense. And it needed more gravy - as in, more than none. The fries with the sandwich were very good. We'll absolutely go back, just order something else. And, as usual, the cheesecake was to die for.

Alder Pastry and Dessert - chocolate croissant, chocolate peanut butter cake: This was our first visit to the new Bakery next to Ate-Oh-Ate on East Burnside and it absolutely will not be the last. Both items were fantastic.

Alma Chocolates - chocolate chip cookie, Maker's Mark bourbon bon bon, salted peanut butter cup truffle: All three of these items were good. The cookie, well, was fine, it's just not as good as ours. I will say it's probably not as easy to make large amounts as it is one dozen, like we do at home. And that's fine, it really is, but it just means we'll probably stop buying cookies. I really liked the bourbon bon bon - had a solid but not overpowering bourbon flavor - and I would get again. The salted peanut butter cup is excellent.

Yuzu - gyoza, tori karaage, kakuni ramen, wiener sausage fry, gyu negima: The gyoza was good, the karaage excellent, and the gyu negima (thin sliced ribeye seared and wrapped around green onion) fantastic. I will say, I prefer the rib eye wrapping asparagaus instead of green onion, but that's a seasonal thing - have to go back in a few months. The sausage fry was interesting, a little greasy, and we probably wouldn't order it again. We both loved the ramen. The broth was rich and flavorful, the pork a little but not too fatty, and the sesame seeds and garlic they serve on the side unexpectedly added a whole other dimension. Definitely recommend.

The Dump Truck (food cart) - "Mr. Ma's special" pork dumplings: These dumplings were, well, marginal. The wrappers were thicker than ideal and we could barely taste the pork inside; the only flavor I picked out was onion. The dipping sauce was okay. Probably won't go back.

Ziba's Pitas (food cart) - combo plate with meat burek and cufte in white sauce: The meat burek we've had plenty of times, but this was our first time trying the cufte (pronounced "chuf-tee"), which are meatballs with various spices. Fantastic! The white sauce was very good with it and the ustipaks (bread - but much better according to the menu) I wanted about 12 more of - they were that good. Very moist, but dense. Next time I might order just cufte and no burek (gasp!).

The Whole Bowl (food cart) - Big Bowl, chips: Continue to love Whole Bowl. Fantastic meal, hearty, and fairly healthy. Great change of pace for us.

Mojo Crepes - S'mores crepe: We've been hearing about Mojo for a long time now, but since it's out on SE 84th and Division - far from home - we hadn't been. Finding ourselves in the area we had to stop to check out these stuffed crepes. And honestly? Not impressed at all. The crepe itself seemed soggy, undercooked, and lacking in flavor. Maybe it was our choice of flavors, but it did nothing to convince us we should go back.

The Country Cat - beef brisket sandwich with onion rings, "Hot Brown" sandwich: The brisket was well cooked with great flavor. It had a bit of heat with it which I wasn't expecting but wasn't unpleasant. I'd order it again. The onion rings were very, very thinly sliced - more like ribbons than the rings I expected. Light and fluffy with good flavor. The Hot Brown is an open-faced turkey sandwich with mornay sauce and bacon topped with  bit of romesco. One would think all the flavors would make a rich whole, but for some reason the end result was a tad bland. The turkey seemed a bit dry. Maybe it needed more mornay? Not sure. The home fries are excellent (this was a substitution on our part - who wants salad?).

Immortal Pie and Larder - garlic herb chicken pie, creme brulee pie: Immortal makes pies similar to Pacific Pie Company - small, perhaps individual-sized meat pies, in plenty of flavors. And they do dessert pies. The creme brulee pie was nothing short of fantastic. It seems like it's hard to find good creme brulee around Portland, but this is absolutely good creme brulee and their crust is so light and fluffy. The herb chicken pie was very hearty - Wifey and I split it with a side of veggies and filled ourselves up. AND - it's half a block away from The Country Cat. How convenient. They also sell wines, chocolates, and Belgian beers, among other things, so we picked up a French cotes du rone for a later meal.

Dove Vivi cornmeal crust pizza - corn, quattro fromaggio, pepperoni classico, sausage classico: Dove Vivi won't satisfy a real pizza craving, but it creates one all on it's own. The corn continues to be my favorite, but the sausage and pepperoni slices were excellent as well. The quattro fromaggio, to me, needed something. Maybe more sauce? Seemed a tad dry.

Violetta - corn dogs, yukon gold fries: Corn dogs are absolutely not on my diet (then again, what of this page is?), but when Violetta posted a special for two for $7.50 with the dogs being Kobe beef from Snake River Farms we couldn't resist. Most corn dogs are bad, doughy and greasy disgusting blobs on sticks, but these, these are what people remember when they talk glowingly about the dogs of childhood (provided that childhood was many, many moons ago, and included Kobe beef). That is to say, not my childhood, where I grew up not liking the massed produced crap some pass off as corn dogs. The corn crust on these was very well made, crunchy with a tiny big of sweetness. So. Damn. Good. Oh, and the fries are good too.

Little Big Burger - burger with bleu cheese, burger with cheddar: Something changed with LBB since our first visit, in a good way. The first time we went the burgers were pretty dang good. This time they were excellent. I have no idea what the change was, but I like it.

A visit to Pok Pok merited it's own post.

DRINK!

Wine:

Bergstrom's 2009 Old Stones Pinot Noir: We tried a tiny bit of this wine, but really only bought it to have a red to make boeuf bourguignon. Nothing jumped out at us about the wine itself, but it did great in the whole pot dish.

Ponzi's 2007 Pinot Gris: This was fine. Citrusy a bit, a little sweet, no complaints. Not sure what we liked in it at the Ponzi tasting that made us feel like we had to have a whole bottle though.

Beer:

Bridgeport's Cafe Negro Porter: I wanted to like this one, but it didn't move the needle for me. The coffee was there, chocolate flavors were there, but they didn't seem to mesh very well. I'd drink it again if someone gave me one without any whining, but wouldn't buy again.

Full Sail's Black Gold Bourbon Imperial Stout: I liked this stout, with a nice bourbon flavor and rich chocolate and caramel flavors, but I wanted to love it. I wanted to drink it and say, "Damn - I need to stock up!" That didn't happen. I drank it, liked it fine, and forgot about it. Maybe at $12/bottle it's better that way.

Kona Brewing's Koko Brown: I read about this beer finished with toasted coconut a couple months back and had been keeping my eyes open in the stores I shop at - normally New Seasons and Whole Foods, which stock Kona's other offerings - but finally found it at a closing Haggen grocery. Picked up a six pack for 20% off. It reminded me a little of the Beertown Brown Bridgeport Brewing did last year, which I also liked, but the big difference was the aftertaste of the toasted coconut. Excellent. It's not as good as the Pipeline Porter, but it lives up to the standard Kona has set for itself.

Coffee:

Edenway Coffee - mocha: Shrug. It was near my dentist, so I tried it. I don't need to make a special trip to get it again, and in six months when I go back to the dentist I'll probably try somewhere else. Okay flavor, slightly sweet, nothing special.

January Tasting Notes

EAT!

Olympic Provisions - Strata of kielbasa, yukon gold potatoes, apples, onions with sauce mornay; Smoked chicken salad, apple-fennel slaw on baguette: This strata wasn't as good as the one we had the first time we visited last summer, but it was still good. The apples were large chunks which was a little offputting in such a dish. It was also a little short on the mornay sauce. The sandwich was good except for the vicious amount of horseradish, which was not noted on the menu. Yikes. We like this place, but will probably order something else next time.

Ken's Artisan Pizza - amatriciana pizza, fennel sausage pizza, blood orange galette with vanilla gelato, chocolate espresso tart with pistachio and whip cream: The last top pizza place we go to in Portland ends up being what I think is my favorite. Apizza Scholls, Nostrana, here...it just depends on what's most recent in my memory. Both of the pizzas were excellent, with nice char on the crust, good flavor in the dough, fantastic sauce, and well-made and flavored meats. The desserts were fantastic, which shouldn't be a surprise because they probably came from Ken's Artisan Bakery on the other side of the river. The gelato was very rich and creamy with a nice Madagascar vanilla flavor. The tart's crust was extremely tough and coated with ground coffee for a fantastic after-dinner wake up call, but it's a good thing we shared both desserts; a whole chocolate espresso tart for one person could be a death blow with the richness of the chocolate.

Taste Unique - pollo mediterraneo, orecchiette with aged ricotta, Sicilian cannoli: Wifey and I have been faithfully visiting Taste Unique since not long after it opened, but we had never stopped in for lunch, so we rectified that. The sauce on the pollo mediterraneo (chicken with a garlic tomato sauce) was very good, so good you could taste the freshness. The chicken, though, seemed a tad cold - not sure why. It also came with a side of pan roasted cabbage, which was excellent. The orrechiette (pasta, translates as "little ears") was thoroughly enjoyable, as all of Stefania's pastas always are. The cannoli was stuffed with a pistachio cream I'm not sure either of us were too excited about. As usual, the focaccia was fantastic - the olive oil tasted like it had been pressed earlier in the week it was so fresh.

St. Jack - eclair, chocolate cake (gateau chocolat), latte with chocolate: We can't get enough of this place. This time we just stopped in for treats. The eclair had wonderful vanilla cream and was covered in a decadent serving of dark chocolate. While the pate a choux (the dough) was thicker than we've had elsewhere and gave it a distinctly different flavor, it was still well worth the few bucks. The cake was very good, but not everyone here likes hazelnuts. And the latte? With the housemade chocolate it really is just a mocha, and it was fantastic. Perhaps one of the best around, honestly. St. Jack also makes their own caramel sauce (and vanilla too, I believe - fifty cent add-ons to any coffee drink), so I think a caramel latte will be on the order next time. And sometime we need to go for dinner - the menu looks fantastic. Doesn't that gratin de macaroni sound heavenly?

DRINK!

Beer

New Belgium's Frambozen: In contrast to one further down this list, New Belgium does a raspberry-flavored beer just right. Not too sweet, not overpowering the rest of the flavors, this ale was a nice change. I couldn't sit and drink more than one probably, but I'd recommend it.

Goose Island's Demolition: Shrug. The Demolition is a very citrusy, very pale ale, with a lot of bubbly. The flavors were, well, fine I guess. Probably wouldn't buy another one.

Fire Mountain's Oregon Pale Ale: I grabbed this bottle off the shelf on a whim. I needed to grab a pale ale for a cheddar-ale soup (which was awesome!) and this just happened to be in the right place, plus I got to try something new. First off, this is not pale at all - it's more of an amber. I suppose that's how it gets called "Oregon Pale" - we don't do the super pale beers. The flavors were excellent and I can't wait to try their other brews - would definitely get this again.

Dogfish Head's Black and Blue: This ale was made with the puree of blackberries and raspberries, hence the name. Using fruit in beer has to be done just right, otherwise the fruit either overpowers everything else or it becomes a syrupy mess. This one must have had bad puree or something - to me the fruit flavors were a bit rancid. I poured out half the bottle, it was that bad. After trying and not liking three different Dogfish Head brews, I think I'm done with them.

Also, a return to Deschutes' 2009 Abyss got it's own review here.

Wine

Pacific Rim - White Flowers Sparkling Riesling: Ugh. We picked this up as kind of a New Year's drink, but like a previous bottle of Pacific Rim we bought a few months back it simply tasted bitter. There was none of the promised sweetness and came out tasting like a weak champagne.

Coffee

Water Avenue - El Toro Blend: I'd heard of this place but never been there, so when we saw their offerings at Whole Foods we decided this one sounded good. The Toro blend has chocolate and caramel notes - if you have been reading for awhile you know that's what we go for - and is very, very smooth.

Stumptown - Columbia Las Mingas: Whole Foods and New Seasons were out of my favorite Hairbender on the same day - what are the odds of that?! - so we decided to try this one. Like the Water Avenue Toro it is very smooth and brought some chocolate (and supposedly a fruit I can't recall), but it fell short on giving a morning kick.

December Tasting Notes

EAT!

Lardo (food cart) - porchetta sandwich, pork belly and farm egg sandwich, lardo fries: I have to say, these sandwiches were flat-out fantastic. The fries were good, the pork on each sandwich fatty and moist, and the bread held up against the meat and toppings very, very well. Both sandwiches were also good the next day. Taste-wise I could eat this all the time. Unfortunately, doing so would probably kill a person in less than a month. Great, great food, but this is a once-a-year type place, unless you really are focused on gaining weight and clogging your arteries. We'll go back. In 2012.

Sweet Pea's Brulee (food cart) - creme brulee, vanilla marshmallows, s'mores, rice krispie treat w/chocolate: We stopped at this cart because it caught our eye while eating at Lardo. Everything looked so good...and ended up being disappointing. The creme brulee had a decent flavor, but was a little lumpy and had a faint taste of just burnt, rather than crisped sugar. This could be because it was melted with a medium duty propane torch - I don't know. The rice krispies were stale, so that was not good at all. The graham crackers of the s'mores were supposedly housemade, but they looked a lot like Nabisco to us. The marshmallows were average, but despite saying vanilla they were actually orange, which isn't the greatest of suprises. We won't be going back.

St. Jack's - smoked salmon tartine, madeleines, chocolate caramel tart, ham and gruyere croissant: We stopped in here just before the full opening of the restaurant, when just the cafe/bakery part was open, for breakfast. The tartine was magnificent, topped with capers, greens, a generous amount of smoked salmon, radish, and cucumber - very light and full of flavor. The baguettes come from Little T, so of course they are good. The croissant was excellent - one of the best I've ever had. (See pictures here.) The chocolate tart had a very light crust and a rich, full chocolate flavor, one I could eat daily (though shouldn't). The madeleines are baked to order and while they were definitely tasty little bits of baked dough, they didn't do anything special for me. Can't wait to go back now that the restaurant is open.

Little T American Baker - apple danish, baguette: I'll just leave it at nothing I have ever had at Little T has been bad. Just go there, see what's in the case, and buy it. And take home some bread. You will be happy. We go back often.

Foster Burger - Kiwi Burger, Foster Road Pileup: In the neverending quest to try all the best burgers in Portland Foster Burger, a newer place, finally made an appearance in my stomach. The Kiwi burger, supposedly #4 on the list, was an excellent burger, but I thought the lamb lacked a strength of meaty flavor to stand up to all the other toppings. It seemed to have good seasoning on it's own, just not enough of "it" for me to say it's really great. Very good, just not great. The Pileup was kind of a big mess, as one can expect. What was not expected was the insertion of super damn hot peppers, which aren't on the online menu but apparently are on the menu at the restaurant. If those peppers hadn't have been there, it probably would have been sufficiently awesome, but I'm not a fan of the hot. The fries were a solid offering as a side; the cole slaw was horrible. I went here for lunch and was one of two tables with patrons. Sure, it was the week before Christmas and this location isn't near offices (best for a lunch crowd), but it was sad. Can't see it justifying lunch hours if that's typical. Also ordered a pint of Black Butte Porter. BBP was typically yummy, but Foster Burger serves it literally ice cold. That's way, way, way too damn cold for a porter - the vast majority of the beer didn't get touched until the burger was gone. Service was fine, nothing special. We'll go back.

Lucy's Original (food cart) - Jucy Lucy, Bistro Burger: In Minneapolis there are a couple places who claim to have created the Jucy Lucy, which is a burger with the cheese actually inside the burger, placed there before it's cooked up. Up until now this wasn't available in Portland, but the wonderful people who previously ran the Little Red Bike Cafe have started a new food truck specializing in just these kinds of burgers. And they are awesome, very awesome. The Jucy Lucy, with American cheese inside the patty, comes with housemade sweet pickles, which I loved even though I'm not normal a sweet pickle fan - they provided a nice balance to the rest of the flavors. The Bistro Burger comes with blue cheese inside the patty, bacon on top, and a spot of fig jam for a striking contrast of sweetness to the meatiness of the bacon and beef and the robust flavor of the cheese. The wheat buns are also tasty and hold up well under the drippings of the burger, making a napking almost unnecessary. Almost. Will definitely be going back.

LATE ADDITION!

Nostrana - Olio Nuovo small plates, gnocchi in tomato butter sauce, bistecca alla Fiorentina, tiramisu: Nostrana had some special dishes for their Olio Nuovo 2010, which celebrates the new crop of olive oil from Italy. We ordered a special set of three small plates: Manila clams and zolfino beans - clams aren't usually my thing but this was excellent; purees of carrot, lentil, and potato - the oil drizzled over the top made this heavenly; and zuppa alla frantoiana - basically a vegetable soup with a piece of toast and oil mixed in, which was perfect. It really was a very nice set of appetizers and showcased the flavor of the olive oil as well as showed some fun ways to use it. The gnocchi was light and fluffy as gnocchi should be, but the tomato butter sauce - while excellent - may not be the right fit. I should point out this was our choice, so perhaps choosing the pesto would have been a better complement. We also tried a wine flight of reds made from Sangiovese grapes in Tuscany which were supposed to really show off the regions terroir, plus go well with pasta and grilled meat. All three (Dei Rosso di Montepulciano 2007, Pian dell'Orino 'Piandorino' 2006, and Felsina Chianti Classico 2007) did complement the dishes well with notes of leather and some berry. One in particular, the Dei glass, had a soft, buttery aftertaste as well. Not sure I'd buy a bottle of any of them, but we enjoyed them. And then there was the bistecca all Fiorentina. A 50-day aged, two-inch think, one-kilo beast of a steak smothered in Italian herbs and garlic and cooked to the rare side of medium rare before being sliced and arrange on the plate with a side of lemon slices, the steak was a masterpiece. I had seen pictures and this steak lived up to all my expectations. Of course, at $60 (check the dinner menu on the site link above - it's always on there) it better, right? Thankfully we had a certificate for $25 off when you spend $35 or more from Restaurant.com (which I paid $2 for), so that lessened the blow a little bit, but this was still a spendy meal by any stretch. And you know what? I was okay with that - I feel like I got my money's worth. I won't be spluring again for that steak anytime soon, but it was definitely a great meal - and there were leftovers! Oh, and the tiramisu was excellent. We split the dessert and it wasn't all that big, but it packed plenty of flavor. The ladyfingers were still spongy, instead of being a sodden group. To me that speaks of it being fresh, which is a rarity. Of course we'll go back...one of our favorite places in Portland.

Wifey and I also said a goodbye to one of our favorite places, Alba Osteria. That took up it's own post.

DRINK!

BEER

Southern Tier Brewing's Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout: I think the milk stout (milk because it has lactose sugar) part of this beer was very good. The creme brulee part, not so much. The flavoring used, although supposedly brewed with vanilla beans, wasn't up to my vanilla standards. I admit to being a bit of a Madagascar vanilla snob, but this tasted literally like that fake vanilla extract made with "vanillin" - whatever that is. I would try another stout, even a milk stout, from Southern Tier, but not this one.

New Belgium's 2 Below: Many people love New Belgium, but admittedly I have only tried Fat Tire and not been that impressed. This winter offering from them, though, I really enjoyed. It has a nice spicy and somewhat sweet flavor, is nice and light, and smells very good actually. I'd drink more of this.

Deschutes 2010 Abyss: I really enjoyed last year's Abyss and have one of the 2009's I plan on cracking open on January 10th for a certain football game on TV. Personally, I didn't get the feeling the 2010 lived quite up to that standard, though it was still a very good drink and I did buy an extra bottle for saving until the Best After date. Since trying the 2010 Abyss on my own, I've read various reviewers with much more refined beer palattes than I say the 2009 was the worst Abyss and 2010 seems like it could be the best, especially after a little aging. Obviously it's still up to the individual drinker, but I just thought that was interesting. Still, definitely a recommend...and maybe I'll get to the Portland pub to try the Abyss on nitro.

Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws: This is one of the most well balanced beers I've had in a long time. The hops and malt are in perfect harmony and the resulting taste is excellent, with a tiny bit of fruit and a nice sweetness. Supposedly this is a barleywine (11.5% alcohol!) that should age nicely, so I picked up a couple more to save. What's the bonus? It comes in 12 ounce bottles - more special beers should come in 12 ounce bottles.

COFFEE

Batdorf and Bronson's French Roast, Holiday Blend, and Guatemala Antigua Finca El Valle: We wanted to try something new earlier this month and Whole Foods was out of the Dancing Goats and Holiday blends, so we opted for French Roast and the Guatemalan. The French was a rich, dark coffee, but too dark for Wifey and not as strong as Stumptown's Hairbender for me in the morning, so we drank it but it doesn't seem to have a fit for us (we liked it, just not better than our other staples). Holiday is an excellent blend we both liked - smooth, balanced, with nice chocolate notes. The Guatemalan was also well balanced but a little too light for me - not enough caffeine. It's a good afternoon coffee, giving just a little bit of a pick-me-up for the after work writing. As usual Batdorf and Bronson make excellent coffee - haven't had one we didn't like.

WINE

Andrew Rich 2007 Pinot Noir: Wifey and I both really liked this wine. We got the bottle on sale at New Seasons, then used most of it to make French Onion soup. The soup was excellent, if a bit wine-heavy, but the wine also drank very well on it's own. A little fruitiness, a hint of leather, and just a tiny bit of spice for balance. Of course when we went back to New Seasons and wanted more it was sold out and probably not returning. Damn. Rich's wines are at the Winemaker's Studio in Carlton, a place we have been wanting to go anyway, so it might be time to make that trip.

Adelsheim 2009 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris: This wine was supposed to be light, crisp, and bright. It was those things, but it also wasn't very good. We drank it because we can't throw it out (just would be wrong), but definitely wouldn't get again. To me a pinot gris should have at least a note of sweetness in there, preferably something of the peach/pear/citrus category, but this had none of that. Not for us.

Nibbling Through Seattle

One final post on Seattle, this one having to do with some of the city's treats. The Emerald City is a nice one to visit for all sorts of reasons, but ours tend to be of the nibbling variety.

Panorama view of downtown from West Seattle (click the pic for a larger version)

One of our first stops was World Spice, a store specializing in spices and teas from all over the world. We first found this place via Savor Seattle's Off the Beaten Path tour (now defunct - the tour, not the company) and we ended up going back after the tour with a long list of spice blends and teas we wanted to try.

Outside view

If you don't know where World Spice is, you probably won't accidentally find it. It's on Western Avenue, to the Puget Sound side of Pike Place Market, and away from the major market craziness.

Here's a little peak inside the store:

What you see in the foreground on the table is samples of spices (there are more along the wall to the right, and along the window to the left) to give you an idea of what they smell like. The teas are down some stairs to the left, and to the back of the picture is the larger containers the store's employees fill your order with.

There is no air conditioning in the store and the line doesn't move quickly, so that combination can make it rough on a hot day.

For us, we picked up some pearl jasmine green tea, assam black tea, and a sweet chai spice blend to go with the assam. That's a fantastic mixture (the black and chai spice, not with the pearl jasmine) with some warm whole milk and a little honey. We've tried other mixes and blends and they just aren't as flavorful as this one.

Ideally we could find a store just like this in Portland - sure would cut down on the gas. If you have any suggestions, please leave it in the comments!

Our next stop was back up to the crazy part of the market and a cheesecake store called The Confectional. This is another place we stopped at on a Savor Seattle tour, but it's someplace we were going to go anyway.

We had to stop in because we had a Groupon certificate for a six-pack of mini cheesecakes for $12, instead of $22.50. For our six we chose (clockwise from the top left below): peanut butter and chocolate, Seattle's New York style, caramel, quadruple chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate, and cookies and mint chocolate.

All of them were pretty decent. The caramel tasted a little fake to me, but they were good. Are they as good as the New York style cheesecake here in Portland at Kenny and Zuke's? Not even close.

Our next stop was Cupcake Royale, one of several cupcake places in Seattle we have been to before. This is a picture of the West Seattle location.

We had leftover Groupon coupons for two four-packs that we picked up. We ordered a variety, but the seasonal strawberry cupcake was phenomenal. The frosting had strawberries in it and was fantastically fresh.

Unfortunately, no pictures of the cupcakes. Carrying a backpack around and walking sounded like a good idea, but after putting the cupcake boxes in they got a little, well, squished. Still recognizable to be sure and still yummy, but not pretty enough for the camera, if you know what I mean.

Next up was Sugar Rush only a block away from Cupcake Royale in West Seattle, because I needed coffee and because they also sell excellent cupcakes.

Misaki waiting dutifully for her papa.

Again, no pictures of the cupcakes, but both them and the coffee are highly recommended. Service here is also fantastic.

Lunch came from Bakery Nouveau. Well, lunch and a bunch of other things. Let me see, what all did we get... Chocolate croissant, ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette, a slice of pizza with goat cheese and tomato sauce, a brownie, and two macaroons - raspberry and salted caramel macaroon.

Not a good pic, but you should have seen the others

The sandwich was very good and big enough to split, which was nice. The pizza was interesting. It had a big, thick crust - almost like a deep dish - but unlike anything I've had before. Perhaps this is a French interpretation of pizza? The tastes were good, but just not quite what I'd call pizza. The brownie was actually disappointing. It was okay, just not great. The macaroon wasn't impressive either - there are better at Pix Patisserie here in Portland. The croissant was excellent.

Now, admittedly, we got here rather late in the day for a bakery - after 3pm - so the best stuff had been picked over. Unfortunately we missed out on the twice baked chocolate croissants.

We also hit up Old School Frozen Custard on Capitol Hill (warning, their official site just crashed my browser twice) for some chocolate frozen custard. Very smooth, not too rich, super creamy - absolutely we highly recommend this. We also ordered a treat with vanilla custard and peanut butter atop a brownie - that was pure perfection. So good...the brownie there was actually better than the one we had at Bakery Nouveau, which was quite a surprise. Love this place, and it's quickly becoming a staple for our Seattle trips.

Our final stop was Molly Moon's Handmade Ice Cream. We hadn't intended on going there, just happened to find ourselves standing outside after eating frozen custard. Supposedly this place is a Seattle favorite and there are usually lines out the door, but there was no line at the moment. We went back and forth for a minute, since we had just eaten custard, but figured what the heck. Having heard the salted caramel was very good and that being one of our favorite flavors, I ordered a scoop in a dish.

The ice cream was very good. Creamy, thick, smooth - all of the things that make good ice cream this had. The salted caramel? Not so much. The caramel part tasted either burnt or fake - couldn't tell which - and there was way, way, way too much salt in this ice cream. Way too much salt. It was okay for a couple bites, but after that we both started to get nauseous. The final third just ended up in the next trash can.

We're torn on a return trip to Molly Moon's. On one hand, perhaps another flavor would give us a better experience - the ice cream part was very good. On the other hand, this flavor people supposedly really like didn't match our palettes at all - would a different one be any better? Maybe...have to think on that.

Misaki would like to tell everyone the treat she got at Next to Nature in West Seattle was yummy. (Of course, she didn't eat it until the next day because she won't eat on the road, and it's not something we couldn't have found here at home, but that's neither here nor there. She had a good time on our adventures.)

Mostly a good day...can't wait to go back!

Nibbling Notes

Over the past few weeks Wifey and I have been to a few places for little tastes and while most of them have been good stuff, they haven't all been spectacular. Most of these places I just don't feel I've had enough to justify a complete review (though yes, that hasn't stopped me before), or they only do a couple things. Of course I pledged at some point to do more, shorter posts, so perhaps this should actually be 20 separate posts. Hmmm. Oh well. Here's the quick roundup.

Fats - This place on N. Killingsworth has the feel of an English pub (at least, what I imgaine an English pub is like, having never been to England) and specializes in that kind of fare. We hit up Fats for a weekend brunch, getting there around 11. There was only one other couple there when we arrived and only a couple other diners came in, so needless to say there was no trouble getting a table.Given the English menu, we ordered English food we had never tasted, just seen on T.V. We started off with a Scotch egg, which is a boiled egg wrapped in ground sausage and fried. Awesome. The egg was cooked just right and it had great flavor. I'd been wanting to try one of these for awhile and was not disappointed. For the main course I ordered bangers and mash (apparently on the dinner menu), which is really crushed potatoes (mash) to go with a few decent size sausages (apparently, bangers) and carmelized onions. Everything was yummy - the Guinness sauce poured over it all was very good. Wifey ordered the poutine. It was pretty good, but the cheese was chevre and really couldn't stand on it's own amongst the flavors of the potatoes, bacon, egg, and the thin gravy. A good cheddar probably would have been better. Service was solid. All in all we had a very good brunch, and we would absolutely go back.

Dove Vivi - This pizza place had been on the list for awhile and we almost went here a few weeks ago, but chose Lovely Fifty-Fifty instead. You can order whole pizzas here, but they have plenty of offerings of single slices to choose from. This is a deep dish, cornmeal crust pizza, so definitely not the Neopolitan style I typically prefer. The crust was good, crunchy, and not overly greasy like some deep dish pies. We ordered three slices to go. The first was the Corn, which I would never have ordered on my own but online reviews raved about. Guess what? It was very, very good. The flavors worked nicely. We also ordered a sausage (fennel sausage, carmelized onions, marinated green peppers) - this was probably my favorite. Everything complemented everything else. Our last slice was a special of the day, a ham, mozzarella, ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes - again, excellent flavor complementing going on here. The food was good and it only cost us about $11 for a full meal for two. I still don't think I like it as much as someplace like Nostrana, Ken's Artisan, or Apizza Scholls, but I'd go back.

PBJ's Grilled - I first heard about this place on Eater PDX  (great site, by the way) and being someone who grew up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day, I had to check this new cart out. The owners, a married couple whose names escape me because I am horrible with names (sorry!), are both very friendly, plus they have a beautiful husky who hangs out at the cart with them. The day I went the entire area was completely dead because of the construction on 23rd Ave, but they are optimistic traffic will step up when the cars come back (actually, all of 23rd was a ghost town, which I had never seen before). I chose the Good Morning and the Cynthia to try out their flavors (and the grilling, which was a new concept to me for PBJ). The Good Morning had excellent flavors with bacon, maple syrup, their homemade peanut butter, and blueberry jam on French toast, but the bacon may have gotten a little lost in there, if it's possible for bacon to get lost. The Cynthia, with peanut butter, Nutella, and raspberry jam on challah bread, was simply heavenly. I love all of those flavors anyway, but put them all together on a hot sandwich and that's pure goodness. Absolutely will go back to try some of the other combos (if I can resist simply ordering Cynthia again, which, for some reason, sounds a little dirty). They sit on the sidwalk just outside of the Two Tarts Bakery, so if you hit up one I recommend going to the other as well.

Sterling Coffee - This is a second venture from the people behind Coffeehouse Northwest, one of our favorite places in Portland, so we had to check it out. It's hard to find - if you know where Trader Joe's is on NW Glisan, just west of 23rd, it's to the east side of the grocery story in a tiny little cubbyhole. It's just as good as Coffeehouse, which shouldn't be a surprise, but they put more emphasis on tiny batches of bean roasting, and have two different sources of beans they use each day, one for their milk-based drinks and one for the straight espresso drinks. Their caramel comes from Two Tarts and the dark chocolate is from Michel Cluizel. Highly recommended.

Barista II - Wifey and I were in the neighborhood, on NE Alberta, checking out some pet stores and I had to see the new digs for the second Barista. The Pearl location is small, but this one is cavernous. Tons of windows for natural light, plenty of seating, a large work area for the baristas, and a lot of empty space (actually, a surprising amount). I think that was by design. Like with the Pearl location the drinks are excellent, but this time owner (and champion barista) Billy Wilson himself was in there making drinks, so I got a mocha made by a Portland coffee legend. Honestly? It may have been the best mocha I've ever had in the city, but that may be all in my head. I don't know what all is involved in being a champion barista, but even if Billy doesn't always do the daily work anymore he still has it. And he seems like a nice guy; another customer dropped a glass sugar container on the concrete floor, shattering it, and he just laughed about it, making jokes about seeing some guy who ran out the door do it. As an owner I'd find it a little hard myself to do that, but he took it in stride. Experience, I suppose. Oh, and they serve Nuvrei baked goods, so you know they are awesome. Wilson is in the process of getting a liquor license here, the idea being beer will be served in the evenings on tap.

Half and Half - This little shop in downtown was a place that had been on the list for awhile for coffee and pie, but we just hadn't made it there. Well, we found out it was closing a couple weeks back, so we decided to go. People raved about their deviled eggs, so we got one of those, a slice of buttermilk pie, a mocha, an Oreo-like cookie, and a William Tell sandwich (sliced apples, turkey, onions). The eggs were fine, nothing special. The pie was interesting, something I had never had before. I was intrigued enough to find a recipe to save for someday, but it wasn't the best thing I have ever eaten or anything like that. Mocha was solid, but not spectacular, and the sandwich was just pretty good. The cookie was okay, but the one at Heart (see lower) is better. Overall I'd give the place a decent 3.5 stars out of five, but it's not a place I'm going to lose any sleep over not going to sooner or miss because it's gone.

Wong's King - There are a ton of Chinese food places in Portland, but most of them simply pander to the American styled Chinese foods people think of as real Chinese food. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's just not real Chinese. Wong's had one Portland location (plus restaurants in Estacada and Sandy) up until a month ago, out on 82nd, and while we had heard very good things online, it's quite the trek for those of us on the west side (yeah, I know, not like we don't go everywhere anyway...). But, they opened up a new location in Beaverton, on Beaverton-Hillsdale where the China Moon buffet had been. Thankfully they totally remodeled the interior, making it much more upscale looking. The menu is quite long and you can find dishes with American styled flavors a well as a whole bunch of things people who are connoisseurs of Chinese food should be overjoyed to find. Us, we aren't Chinese food adventurous yet, though a few more visits to Wong's may change that. We've gone twice now. The first just the two of use, and we ordered orange chicken, Chinese onion pancakes, crab and cream cheese wontons, and steamed pork and shrimp dumplings (shumai) topped with fish eggs (I should bring a notepad to keep track of this stuff). The second time was with a family group of 10 (which they first misplaced our reservation and then sat us all at a table better designed for eight, but we managed) and we ordered the family style meal for 10 A (there were three different ones I think - I really wish the menu was online). That included all sorts of things, including an appetizer plate that included duck, chicken, a vegetarian mushroom wrap, and jellyfish (!), crab maw and fish soup, an entire crispy chicken, a fantastic spicy garlicky prawn dish, clams in the shell, honey and walnut shrimp (my favorite, even though I don't typically like walnuts), pork and shrimp fried rice, a bamboo, mushroom and vegetable dish, and an entire dover sole (very pretty presentation), and some other goodness. Both times the meals were very good, and I'm excited to go back and do a little more exploring on the menu. It's not that cheap of a place, but the food is excellent and the service is great, if a little overbearing during non-busy times. Oh, and yes, I did eat jellyfish - my way of getting back at all those ones who stung us while we were in Mexico a couple years ago. It tastes the way you would expect jellyfish to taste - a little gummy like with little natural flavor. Probably won't be high on my list again, but I'll eat it.

Kenny & Zuke's - This place isn't new to the blog, we go here a lot to the deli part of it. The only reason I'm calling it out special now is the other day I had lunch there with a co-worker and ordered the turkey, pastrami, and...tongue!...sandwich. I have never before eaten tongue. Flavor-wise it tasted like beef. It was very tender (the pieces were chopped in similar size to the pastrami), very meaty. However, it was also difficult to take a bite out of the sandwich and tear the tongue chunks, so I ended up getting a big piece of tongue when I took a bite. Not a good or a bad thing, just a different thing. It was pretty good and I'd eat it again if the mood struck me. Oh, and get the cheesecake from the deli - it's the greatest thing ever. On second though, don't - more for Wifey and I!

Heart - I actually found this place on Twitter. They did a good job of raising awareness of their opening and what they were going to do, and built up a buzz around other coffee-ophiles in Portland. (Is that a word? It is now.) The space on East Burnside (right next to a great pet store called Meat and a block away from the awesome Screen Door), is clean and open, with the entire sitting area situated around Heart's roaster. The drinks are good and while I'd like the mocha to have a little more chocolate the subtlety is growing on me. However, their Guatemala Finca Villaure beans they roast (the light blue sticker - if you go you will see what I mean) are fantastic. Wifey and I go in there just about every week for a new bag of beans for making daily at home. I think we've tried at least three others of their regular stock, but this is our favorite. I ordered a siphon coffee once, which comes from this crazy machine and has almost no bitterness, with the Ethiopian beans and it was pretty amazing how clearly all the tasting notes showed through. If siphon is new, try it out - it's something fun to try at least once. Heart also has plenty of yummy treats at the counter - Wifey and I recommend the large Oreo-looking cookies, which are excellent. They also have a similar styled one that is peanut butter we need to try.

A Slice of New York - This place is dangerous. We had been to the location on Barbur a couple times and enjoyed it (called New York New York), but not in a couple years. Then a few weeks back they opened up a location inside the Lamb's Thriftway in Garden Home, where I stop for milk every so often on the way home from work. The first time I was in I think a new employee had just burned something, because that burnt crust smell was all over and the owner didn't seem very happy. The next time Wifey and I were there and hungry. No burnt smell. So we ordered a sausage, pepperoni, and onion (I think it was called Rye Beach), and it was a very good New York styled pizza, just like we remembered. Surprisingly there wasn't too much grease. The crust had a good crunch and it ended up being a solid five servings. The pizzas are a tad spendy - it was $24 for a 18-inch, which is a small for them - but it's good stuff. Again, it's not Neapolitan, but good in it's own way and a style we like very so often.

Sheridan's Frozen Custard - Sheridan's is a frozen custard chain based in the Midwest, and their location in Eastern Vancouver, WA is the closest to us by far (next closest is Henderson, NV). Frozen custard, if you haven't tasted it, is amazing. It's creamier than ice cream, smoother, and absolutely better than frozen yogurt (and yes, probably a little more fat and calories, but whatever). Old School on Seattle's Capitol Hill is very good, and Tart on SE Division in Portland (two doors down from Taste Unique) is okay. This place, though, even though it's a chain, is pretty damn good. We drove out here on a whim one Saturday and it took much longer than we thought it would, but it turned out to be well worth it. Despite the fact we were just going to get a little in a dish, the specials with the pretty pictures caught our eye and we ended up each getting a concrete (kind of like a Dairy Queen Blizzard) in the regular size, which is actually a medium and, as it turns out, more than enough. Wifey ordered the Lemon Bar while I ordered a Espresso Toffee one - and both were really, really good. So good, in fact, that it's good this place is 30+ miles away from home. Awesome. Definitely recommend.

Hunh...apparently we eat out a lot. You would think we didn't cook....but we do. Fresh asparagus last weekend at the Beaverton Farmer's Market! And strawberries! Both were good...should have bought more.

In Sisters, OR

We drove through Sisters, Oregon a couple times in the past month, so here are a couple tips. Why were driving through will be made clear in the next blog posting... (Ooh, foreshadowing!)

Sno Cap Ice Cream - I'm not sure I've had milkshakes this good before. The first time through I ordered an orange creme shake and Wifey ordered vanilla and chocolate swirl soft serve. They make all the ice cream themselves, and this was spectactular. The second time through I ordered a peanut butter shake and Wifey went with pineapple; again, excellent. Like with Sheridan's it's a good thing this isn't in the neighborhood, but three hours away isn't overly bad. Right? I mean, driving there for a shake isn't weird, is it? They also do burgers and other basic diner foods, which I hear are decent, but the ice cream is the star.

Sisters Coffee Company - Just a couple blocks away is a very good coffee place. They roast their own beans and boast quite a good sized menu of drinks as well as a vast array of beans from various places around the world to go with their own blends named for parts of the high desert. The first day we drove through it was a Thursday, so mid-day the place was pretty dead. I ordered a large mocha, which comes with three shots of espresso, but was offered a free fourth shot because they make them two at a time and they had no other customers to use the extra one with. Why yes, yes I will, thank you. The second time it was a Saturday and it was pretty busy, so no extra shot. Interestingly enough, I thought the fourth shot made it smoother, so maybe next time I go in I just pay for a fourth shot.

In Seattle

A few weeks ago Wifey and I went to Seattle for the day. We had bought tickets to a food tour via Groupon, which is a cool site where users can buy what amounts to gift certificates at reduced prices. Very cool - we've used it a few times already and been pleased. We also had a few other places we wanted to check out in West Seattle, so we left home early and spent the entire day.

Seattle Food Tours, Belltown - Our tour was in Belltown and started at Lola, a Tom Douglas restaurant. There we had fresh pitas with various dips, which were good, and yes, I'd absolutely eat there. We had very good pizza at Via Tribunali (excited one is coming to Portland), good sushi at Shiro's, a teasingly small bit at Branzino's, an only average brownie at the Macrina Bakery, a sparkly chardonnay (which I'm not much of a fan of) at The Local Vine, and some very yummy tapas at Txori, which has since moved out of Belltown and isn't on the tour anymore. It was an interesting taste of the different places and our guide was, well, interesting, but if we do say so ourselves you get much more bang for your buck from the Savor Seattle Food Tours. Yes, they cost a tad more, but I think you get more food and one of the great things about Savor Seattle's tours is at each place a representative of the restaurant will come and talk to the group about their food and answer questions. On this one - like the one we did in Portland - you don't really get that. It makes for a better tour and a better experience.

Marination Mobile - This truck in Seattle has drawn many comparison's to Portland's own Koi Fusion - which is one of my favorites - and it just happened to be in West Seattle the Saturday we were there, so we added it to the list of stops. Well, being named the best cart in America by GMA is a plus for them as well, even if it did inexplicably beat out Portland's Garden State. This was our lunch that day - or, well, part of it - and we ordered the kalua pork sliders, and a taco each of kalbi shortribs and spicy pork. All of them were excellent, but I think the spicy pork was our favorite. The nunya sauce is damn good. Is it better than Koi? I have to say...maybe. I need to do a side by side, but that's not exactly easy (maybe if there is a Seattle-Portland cart meetup again we will have to go). Koi has better tortillas for their tacos, I do know that, but the insides I really need a closer comparison than months apart. We loved it though, and would definitely eat this again.

Sugar Rush Baking/Coffee to a Tea - By now you may have learned we have a cupcake fetish, so any time a new place opens in Portland or Seattle it gets added to the list. Sugar Rush, plain and simple, is right there at the top with the best. Their frosting is a perfect mix of creamy and sweet without overdoing either one, and the cupcakes are moist (not the moistest, but pretty close). We bought a Big Smooch, which is lemon cake, with lemon buttercream frosting and filled with raspberry - it was awesome. I love raspberry, but it wasn't even necessary in this the lemon was so good. We also ordered a Mocha (chocolate cake and espresso buttercream), which was excellent. The mocha I ordered here was also very well done, better than I was actually expecting. This place jumped right to the top of the best cupcakes in Seattle in our mind.

Yellowleaf Cupcakes - And this place to the bottom. Sad. We hit this downtown Seattle spot after our tour and it happened to be not long before closing, so everything they had left for the day was 40% off. Score! The cake part of these cupcakes was perhaps the best we have tasted in both cities. So why is it on the bottom of the list? Frankly, the frostings were horrible. They had very little flavor or sweetness. I'm guessing this is on purpose, but for us, the frosting is part of the equation of flavor, not just a pretty topping. This was very bland, almost nauseating. Again, the cake was excellent; the frosting not so much. Sad.

Bakery Nouveau - If I could only eat one place the rest of my life it would absolutely be a bakery. And given how much I love French baked goods it would be a French bakery. And since this is the greatest French bakery I have ever been too (never been to France...yet) I could simply live in the dining area at Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle. I'd never have to leave. They make sandwiches on their baguettes (which, admittedly, we didn't get but looked amazing) as well as so many pastries it's heaven. We ordered a twice baked chocolate croissant, which came warm with plenty of chocolate filling (sometimes you just get a small chunk of hard stuff in the middle, even at supposedly good places) and the entire thing literally melted in your mouth in an array of goodness that can only be described as...well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Mmm... We also brought home a slice of chocolate cake which has 64% chocolate mousse in it. Was it good? Oh. My. Lord. Yes. Not surprisingly this place is pretty popular, so be prepared to wait in line a few minutes, but it moves pretty fast. On this Saturday morning they had at least three people helping customers, so we were there no more than 10 minutes, even with some people having to be shaken awake from shock when asked what they wanted. No, that wasn't me. Honestly. I would drive to Seattle just to go to this place, then get in my car and drive home, and not feel like I wasted any time at all - it's that worth it.

Eats Market - We stopped here expressly for one item - an ice cream sandwich. Going in I thought maybe I'd get a sandwich, but after eating at Marination and Nouveau, I just wasn't as hungry. We wanted the chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream, but apparently the only cookie they had available was the chocolate brownie cookie, so we ordered that with vanilla ice cream and chocolate dipping sauce. We actually thought about getting two, but good thing we didn't - it was pretty dang big, and filling. It was good, but chocolate cookies aren't a favorite - chocolate chip cookie would have been better. The ice cream, which they make themselves, was fine, but nothing I need to go out of my way for. I'd eat here again, maybe, but I don't need to go out of my way.

Caffe Vita (Olympia) - As we left Seattle I needed coffee for the drive home, so I wanted to go to the one on Capitol Hill that I had such a great drink at before. However, it was late in the day and Capitol Hill was crazy busy so there were no parking spots. No worries, we decided, we'll stop at the one in Olympia on the way home, about an hour (or less, maybe) from downtown Seattle. As we drove through downtown Olympia we passed Batdorf and Bronson, the company that roasts very good beans (Guatemala and Dancing Goats) we buy at our local Whole Foods. Unfourtunately they were closed, but we'll have to make a point of going there sometime. Downtown Olympia is...interesting. It reminds me a bit of Salem or Eugene, a little older, smaller, but still with a surprising number of homeless-looking people and riff-raff. My drink from here was fine, but sadly not as good as the Capitol Hill location. Oh well.