Oven and Shaker: A New Portland Pearl

We are huge fans of pizza, Italian food in general and anything Nostrana owner Cathy Whims does. Anything. Nostrana is one of our favorite restaurants because everything is just really damn good (review here). We go there when we want pizza, when we want a reasonably priced nice dinner, and to check out fresh olive oil every year for their Olio Nuovo (link to the 2010 version we had) series of dishes that highlight the flavors.

So when we found out Whims was opening a new place, a small plates bar with pizza, in Portland's Pearl District, OF COURSE it went to the top of our neverending list of restaurants we need to try. While Oven and Shaker, on NW Everett between 11th and 12th, took much longer to open than many (including I'm sure Whims herself) expected to open, it was well worth the wait.

Wifey and I checked it out on a Tuesday around 4:30pm (open daily 4-midnight). When we got there there were only a couple other tables taken - it's a decent-sized space, much bigger than it looks from the outside - but by the time we left an hour later it was probably well over 3/4 full. It's an open space, with some tables, bar seating, and communal tables as well. The kitchen is open at one end with the pizza oven dominating the area, not unlike the setup at Nostrana.

Food is served as the kitchen finishes it, just like at Toro Bravo and Tasty N Sons, rather than in traditional courses. We ordered three dishes to share and the first one that came was the cazzilli - potato and parmagiano croquettes that are then fried.

Yum! Despite the frying these weren't greasy in the least and the potato mixture inside was soft, practically melting in your mouth. The parm and chives made these little bites quite tasty, and for the $5 price you get seven of them, roughly the length and thickness of two-three fingers.

Our second item was the arancini with saffron risotto, pork, and pea ragu. We had our first arancini at the Garden State food cart. Those were small - golf ball sized - and stuffed with mozzarella and a bit of veggie of some sort. The O&S version is similar, but it's the size of a baseball.

Again, very nicely balanced and even the peas were tasty. The pool of olive oil at the bottom was a nice touch. When we were finished this plate was clean. At $4 this was also a solid value.

Lastly, we had to order pizza, choosing the wild fennel sausage pizza with potato, tomato, chilies, scallions and smoked mozzarella.

Unlike at Nostrana, this pizza comes from the kitchen cut into six slices. It also seems to be a slightly sturdier crust than the Nostrana version. That's not better or worse, just nominally but noticeably different. The middle, for example, isn't nearly as soft and holds its form better at O&S.

We weren't sure about potatoes on pizza at first - and honestly, I'm still not sure - but this worked. The sausage had great flavor and overall the pizza had a great balance. The smoked mozzarella really shined. At $16, this is the most expensive thing on the menu (four other pizzas are also the same price, but many are less also).

All of that for $25 was a very satisfying meal. Between the two of us we polished off everything but two of the cazzilli and one slice of pizza. The service was attentive and seemed to have a solid understanding of the menu, which is always appreciated.

Funny side story: Our waitress took our leftovers back to the kitchen to be wrapped. After what seemed like unduly long amount of time, plus us having to ask for them because the restaurant became very busy, we saw her talking with the manager, who then came over to our table and handed us our wrapped leftovers. He was all apologetic (paraphrasing here). "I hate to tell you this, but I dropped one of your slices of pizza on the floor while wrapping it up. Can I make it up to you by firing a brand new one for you, at no charge?"

Um, yes. Of course you can. Absolutely.

But after he walked away to put in that order for a full pizza to go (remember, $16 value), Wifey and looked at each other funny. "Um," I said, "we only had one slice left over, right? And that's it right here, all wrapped up?" Wifey agreed. Oh, and I seriously doubt it was him who dropped anything, because I never saw him off the main restaurant floor, let alone wrapping up food. That's a strong managerial move, even if it's a blatant misdirection. As a customer I appreciate the manager, who presumably can rectify anything, taking the lead.

So what happened? Did they drop the one piece and wrap it up anyway? Or did they drop someone else's and think it was ours? If we get a free pizza, do we care? Heck, if we are worried about it, we could just throw the one piece away, because we are getting a whole new one, right? No matter what - score!

As it turns out, there must have been something lost in translation. When we opened up the leftovers at home, there was only a single cazzillo (singular of cazzilli?) instead of two, so we assume the one piece of pizza is fine and the other cazzillo was what fell to the floor in the kitchen and likely thrown away. If you are keeping track of home, a single cazzillo cost us about 72 cents...and one dropped on the floor netted us a $16 pizza.

That is more than anyone should reasonably expect, but you can't deny it's awesome customer service. We would have made it a priority to return to O&S anyway because the meal was excellent in every sense, but free pizza? Can't top that can you?

Pizza At Via Tribunali

If you've been coming to this blog for awhile now you know we love pizza. All kinds. American style, northern Italian, New York, Napoletana - anything. And between places like Ken's Artisan, Apizza Scholls, Dove Vivi, Nostrana and Lovely's 50-50 Portland has quite a nice mix of pizza varieties.

But until now Portland did not have a pizzeria with a pizzialo certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. What is that? The short version is they train and certify pizza makers (pizziali) in the making of pizza Napoletana - that is, pizza styled in the history of Napoli (Naples). Why there? Because, it's the best in the world. Anyone who tells you differently simply has not been there to experience it. (Full disclosure: I have. I spent the summer between my junior and senior years at the University of Oregon study at the Universita di Perugia per Stranieri (University of Perugia for Foreigners) and on one weekend trip we took the train all the way down to Napoli where one of my roommates, who had been to Italy before, took us to this tiny whole in the wall pizza place that was simply amazing. I don't know the name, I could never find it again, and I have no idea how it compares to what is considered the best in Napoli, but I will tell you the quality was simply amazing. It's difficult to put into words, to be honest. It's one of those things that when you put it in your mouth you just know you are having a transcendent experience. So yes, I'm a big fan of anyone who gets certified and will never say it's just another certificate. Well, maybe it is - a certificate of being awesome.)

Enter Via Tribunali. Via Tribunali started in Seattle and just a couple weeks back opened their first restaurant outside of Washington with a spot in downtown Portland next door to VooDoo Doughnuts on Second Avenue.

We tried Via Tribunali a while back on a food tour through Belltown in Seattle and really enjoyed it, so when the rumors started up almost two years ago about Portland getting their own outpost, we were of course excited, so on a recent weeknight when we didn't want to cook we checked it out.

First impression? Via Tribunali Portland is dark. Very dark. You walk in off the street and the building is long and narrow, with a bar to the right and booths on the left. At the far end of the bar sits the legendary pizza oven and a few more tables are to the left. In the very back is a stairway that leads up to more tables in a balcony (this is very similar to the setup at Little Bird Bistro and Mucca Osteria, so apparently this style of buildings is common in the older part of downtown Portland).

The tables are lit with candles and are the only thing with which to light the menu. I get the vibe they are going for, but it could be just a tiny bit brighter.

On to the food. We ordered two pizzas (sadly, no pictures since we forgot the camera, but the lack of light would have made it problematic). First was the MARGHERITA (pomodoro, fresh mozzarella, grana padano, olive oil, basil) for $13 (grana padano is a hard cheese, comparable to parmesan, and pomodoro is Italian for tomato, which in this case refers to the sauce).

To be blunt, this is one of the absolute best pizzas we've ever had. It's simple, but perfect. The crust had a nice char, thicker around the edges and thinner, almost soft, in the middle. The sauce also was perfectly seasoned and the cheese was spectacular. We'd get this again in a heartbeat.

Our other pizza was the VIA TRIBUNALI (pomodoro, smoked mozzarella, cherry tomato, ricotta, bufala mozzarella, grana, basil) for $17. This has an interesting presentation. Imagine a normal pizza with toppings. Now, imagine a quarter of it folded to the middle on each side. Then, sprinkle down the middle with bitter greens - that's the Via Tribunali namesake.

Just like with the other, the flavors were were very, very well done. If we had one beef it was with the topping distribution. The sausage and tomatoes didn't make it all over and clumped in spots. Again, the crust was nicely charred and hit the perfect amount of chewiness.

That crust...it's perfect. I told Wifey it transported me straight back to Napoli, it was that good. And really, that's the key to a real Italian pizza - the crust. Toppings are just there for flavor, not as the focus, and at Via Tribunali they take that to heart and execute it very, very well. It's no surprise their pizziali have the Napoletana certification.

Is this our favorite in Portland? Well...who knows, really? I tend to be most excited about whichever I've had last and each one of our favorites (mentioned at the top of the post) has something that is unique about them. This one, I will say, is closest to Italy and brings back those memories of a great two-month stay back in college. I really, really need to return so I can bring Wifey and so we can experience the flavors of Italy together. Until then, Via Tribunali, Nostrana and Mucca Osteria are going to have to be good enough.

We will absolutely be returning and can't wait to go back.

Oh, and one more thing. Keep in mind a key piece of physics if you sit in the balcony as we did: heat rises. And that pizza oven? Super freaking hot. I was wearing a sweatshirt because it was cold outside and by the end of the meal I was sweating. Not good or bad, just something to keep in mind. If you wear something warm, make sure it's a layer and you can take it off. I wasn't comfortable with the shirt under my sweatshirt, so I just suffered.

Have to Mention

If you order a pizza and don't finish it, or take your leftovers to go, they will be boxed in this:

(Photo via Scott's Pizza Tours)

Apparently these boxes are made by a company in Italy and Via Tribunali buys them for their stores. Their logo is nowhere on the box (a sharp departure from any pizza place I'm familiar with), but it definitely is...memorable, isn't it?

February Tasting Notes

EAT!

VooDoo Doughnuts - Voodoo Doll, Lemon Chiffon creuller: I'd never actually been to a VooDoo Doughnuts before, but I know the one just off Burnside downtown always had a line, so I went to the one just off Sandy on the east side, because I had never seen a line there. Well. Apparently this is an old Taco Time or something and the line squiggles all around the inside. If you look in the picture below, you can see them - the cash register is to the left, out of the picture. I stood in line for about 20 minutes for two doughnuts...both were good, but I think doughnuts just aren't our thing anymore. What I couldn't believe was how many people ordered multiple dozens. Are you kidding me?! Do you know how many calories are in those things?!

Sizzle Pie - Don Caballero slice, Wake and Bake slice: Sizzle Pie opened on East Burnside a couple months ago and every review I've seen goes on and on about how great their variety is and how awesome the pizza is. Those people must be stoned. Our slices were a little burnt; my Wake and Bake slice didn't even have yolk on it (three eggs on the entire pizza, of course I get a slice with no yolk...); and I just wasn't impressed with the sauce or really much else. Can't see myself going back with so many other good pizza options in town.

Pacific Pie Company - sausage roll, Sunday roast lamb pie; beef and pinot pie, chocolate caramel tart, chocolate peanut butter pie: Pacific Pie Company first caught our eye at the Beaverton Farmer's Market a couple years ago, where they sold wonderful single serving Australian pies (check out the menu - beef and stout is fantastic). This was actually my first visit to their store on Ankeny, though they are moving now to a new location (bigger, more seating). I picked up the sausage roll and roast lamb pie for dinner (lamb) and brunch (sausage roll) and both items were very, very good. Then, with Valentine's Day upcoming, they had a special pie - the beef and pinot - along with an array of sweet pies. The sweet pies they didn't always have at the Ankeny location (but believe they will more often or always at the new place). The beef and pinot was so balanced, the wine providing a perfect balance to the beef, mushrooms, and everything else. If they had this on their menu all the time I'd have to buy one every week. The two sweet pies, though, were the real star. To be real honest, these might be two of the best desserts I've had in Portland. The chocolate caramel tart was hard but not too hard to chew, and the chocolate peanut butter pie melted in my mouth with goodness. I can't wait until the new place opens, and I can't recommend Pacific Pie Company highly enough.

Corbett Fish House - walleye fish and chips: I had never had walleye before and this is one of the only places in town to get it, plus they are know for fish and chips so what the heck, right? And they were good - very good. The breading and spices were tasty but not overdone and the fish was cooked perfectly. The fries were fine, nothing special. But would I go back...that's the question. Well, as I said, the food was good. But this dish cost me $16 for three relatively small pieces of fish. Perhaps the fish is expensive, I could buy that if it's true (no idea), but their halibut version is $17.50 - way more than anywhere else for food that is as good and the customer receives more. No complaints on the dish, just on the value provided and the claim it's the best in town. It's good, but the cost probably knocks them out of the running.

Cafe Velo - chocolate chip cookie: Portland Monthly magazine did a piece on Portland's best chocolate chip cookies and Cafe Velo made the cut. They use the famous Jacque Torres recipe, which we have found at home is good, but not as good as this recipe from The New York Times which tweaked it. For the better. Cafe Velo's rendition was not as good as the Torres one we made at home and not nearly as good as the NY Times version. Apparently it's time to open our own bakery.

Also, check out the two restaurants of the month that merited their own reviews: Roost and Little Bird!

Roost: There is a restaurant at the corner of SE 14th and Belmont called Roost. It's not a big place, perhaps seating 40 or so, and the decor is sparse. Not sparse in the sense of poor or underfunded, but sparse in a minimalist sense, all black, white, pine, and stainless steel. Read More!

Little Bird: Last summer I had one of the best meals of my life at Le Pigeon, a tiny French restaurant on East Burnside in Portland run by Gabriel Rucker, one of the most acclaimed chefs in Portland. Around that same time Rucker announced he would be opening a new restaurant in downtown Portland, a French bistro named Little Bird. It finally opened in early December to very good reviews and we've been meaning to make it over there, but didn't make it there until the other day for lunch. Read More!
DRINK!

Coffee

Grendel's Coffee - mocha: VooDoo, Sizzle Pie, and Pacific Pie Company were all part of a couple hour walkabout in same general area on East Burnside. The last stop there was at Grendel's Coffee, a small neighborhood-type place across Burnside from Le Pigeon. The menu has no surprises but the mocha was a very solid offering. That's good, since there is no close alternatives.

Beer

Great Divide's Smoked Baltic Porter: I think I've mentioned this one before, but it's the best smoked porter I've tasted. I need to go buy more. Again.

Southern Tier's Blackwater Series Choklat Stout: This is the second Southern Tier brew I've tried (if you remember, the Creme Brulee was far from a favorite). I was skeptical about this - but yes, bought it anyway - because of the previous experience, but that skepticism proved to be completely unfounded. Imagine if you can the flavors of your favorite mocha. Now imagine those flavors seamlessly blended with a well-balanced stout. Does that sound like a tasty beer? Yes, yes it does. And that beer is this one. Stock up and thank me later.

Blue Moon's Grand Cru: Last year's Grand Cru I like to a certain extent, but this year's was much better. The balance between the citrus and ale flavors was more seamless and they complemented each other, rather than pulling at each other a bit. I also think this year's version had a higher level of accomplishment in the beer component, providing a little more complexity to the flavors. Blue Moon gets a bad rap in the craft beer world because they are owned by Coors, but this beer definitely deserves some attention.

Wine

Sokol Blosser's 2007 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir: We bought this wine because we wanted a nice pinot to go with a beef dish we were making, but after the first couple sips we decided it really wasn't something we wanted to drink. It had way too much spice and tannins for our taste buds...so I found a recipe I've been meaning to make for a while and used the rest of the bottle to make coq au vin (the recipe from Alton Brown I pointed out here). Drinking the wine - not so great. Cooking with it? Fantastic!

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.

September Tasting/Drinking Notes

Pastrami on Rye - Reuben, pastrami - This food cart at the 4th and College pod near Portland State serves up a pretty damn good sandwich. People claimed it was the best in Portland and while I agree it's pretty good, I still give that edge to Kenny and Zuke's. I will say, though, that these were half the price and more of a single serving, so it really depends on what you want. I really liked the marbled rye bread they offer though.

Gladstone Pizza and Coffee - Mocha, sausage and pepperoni - We've been meaning to try this pizza place for a while because foodies kept claiming it was as good as any of our favorites, like Nostrana, Ken's, Apizza Scholls, Dove Vivi, and Lovely's Fifty-Fifty. Well, they were wrong. It's not that this pizza is bad. It's not. It's likely better than some of the middle tier places and I'd put it in the same category as Pizzicato, Hot Lips, and Pizza Schmizza. However, their prices - it was $24 - put them in the top tier category, so that's what they get measured against. And it's just not as good. I didn't hate it or anything, it's just not anything special. Neither was the mocha.

Chinatown Restaurant - normy gai, #5, pork shew my - Wifey and I split all of these dishes and we really liked them all. Next time we'll try some of the seafood they are supposedly known for. Normy gai is sweet rice with chicken, sausage, BBQ pork, bamboos shoots, and mushrooms all wrapped up in a lotus leaf and this was very, very good. The shew my literally melted in your mouth. The #5 dinner combo contained fried shrimp, pork chow mein, sweet and sour chicken, pork fried rice, and a spring roll. I have no complaints...though next time we probably won't get a combo. Sadly, they were out of baked BBQ pork baos. Our waitress offered steamed instead, but it's not the same. Next time.

Addy's Sandwiches - duck confit and cranberry, turkey and brie - I've been to Addy's before so the fact these were outstanding wasn't a surprise. I wanted to try the duck because that confit wasn't anything I've had before, but the flavors were excellent. The turkey and brie was likewise well balanced. And her bread...it's very, very good. Of course it is - it comes from Little T.

Ziba's Pitas - meat burek - Once again Ziba's burek was awesome. I keep getting recommendations to try the spinach one or the cheese one, but it's almost impossible for me to order anything else because this is so good. Perhaps next time. Maybe.

September was also our month to go back to places, apparently. In separate posts, all with pictures, we returned to:

The Country Cat | Biwa | Apizza Scholls | Screen Door

DRINK!

Adding this section new this month. Apparently we (well, mostly me) drank a decent amount. Oops. Some of these may have been from August too.

MandaRossa Nero d'Avola (red) - We found this wine at Taste Unique. Nero d'Avola is apparently a grape specific to Italy and this wine tasted very mature. That's a good thing. A medium level of tannins with red fruit and a taste of licorice if you really search for it.

Sokol Blosser Evolution (white) - We had never tried a Sokol Blosser wine before, but had been meaning too. Then this wine ended up being used on an episode of Top Chef (by Angelo), so we decided to give it a try. It's excellent. In fact, this might be our favorite wine we have ever tried - so much so we went out and bought two more bottles. Very crisp, you get flavors of citrus and supposedly pear, but we both really pulled peach out of it. Excellent wine.

Sokol Blosser Meditrina (red) - We ended up buying this one because it right next to Evolution at the store. Shrug. It's okay, but we like it better cold, which goes against all wine people will tell you. Why? Cold we can pull out the berry notes, but as it warms up it gets more and more tannic, in my mind, and pretty soon all I can taste is leather and alcohol. That's not good.

Conundrum (white) - We came across this wine online while researching Evolution. Supposedly, the claim was, if you like Conundrum you would like Evolution. Well, we liked Evolution so we figured we might like this. It wasn't bad, but it's not something I'm going to go out of my way to find again (like we did this time, finally finding it at Barbur World Foods). The flavors were okay, but it just didn't have the fruit-forwardness of the Evolution. And it's more expensive.

Full Sail Brewery - Old Boardhead 2010 - I picked up the 2010 version because I thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 version. Unfortunately, 2009 enjoyment did not predict 2010 enjoyment. This year's version was way, way too hpppy for me. Will I try again in 2011? Maybe.

Goose Island Brewing - Matilda - I've just about given up on any beer with fruity notes in it - see the next entry - but this one was very well balanced. the citrus notes were just barely there, but there was enough of malt and yeast flavors to not allow it to be overpowering. I'll try more from them.

Dogfish Head Brewery - Festina Peche - Hands down this was one of the worst specialty beers I've had. All I could taste was peach. Of course, I bought it because it promised some peach, but the peach overpowered everything else in the bottle. It ended up tasting like peach juice with all the elements of cheap beer. This was my first Dogfish beer and I will try others, but I'm going to keep an eye on the fruit content.

Laurelwood Brewery - Espresso Stout - I really enjoy Laurelwood's Porter - which they need to get in bottles rather than just being on tap - so I thought this might be good. It uses Portland Roasting beans in the brewing process. The results were, well, a tad too strong for my tastes. The coffee flavors weren't robust and fresh - it tasted like bad coffee.

Great Divide Brewing - Smoked Baltic Porter - I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this. I mean, I like porter generally but hadn't had a Baltic one before and wasn't sure what to make of the smoked malt idea. Turns out it's fantastic. Absolutely one of the best beers I've had in a while, and one I'll be buying more of. Also, I'll probably try others from Great Divide. As a side note, I picked this up at John's Marketplace in Multnomah Village. I had never been there before and heard they had tons of specialty beers - and yes they do. Belmont Station is pretty nice too, but that's an extra 10 miles further for me from this place. Definitely worth a stop if you like beer - or wine, actually. They have a ton of that too.

A Return to Apizza Scholls

Last year we went to Apizza Scholls for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it, deeming it not a classic interpretation but fantastic nonetheless.

A short time ago we went back, this time bring the camera. We got there right at 5pm, a little later than we wanted (especially after the line from last year). Again, it was middle of the week, so we thought it would be pretty busy. Surprisingly, not so. We were the third party to be seated and the entire time we were there (until about 6pm) the dining room did not fill up.

In fact, even the host seemed a little surprised it wasn't busier. It wasn't a particularly hot or cold day, so I wouldn't think that was a factor - perhaps it was just an anomaly. Fine by me.

We decided to do a split pie this time, ordering a half Sausage & Peppers and half Pig & Pineapple. And yes, I had to get another pint of the Anchor Porter - it's an excellent beer.

In case you need reminding, these pizzas are huge. We didn't measure, but it has to be bigger than 20 inches and cut into eight pieces. Depending on how hungry you are it can probably feed four people. For us we each ate two slices for dinner, then took half home and had two small lunches each. Six meals for $24? That's not bad at all.

The Pig & Pineapple half was pretty decent. Apizza Scholls' sauce is very flavorful and the crust is excellent, so the toppings are really little more than icing on the cake, anyway, and these were solid. I grew up loving this combination, but I think I've come to the realization it's just not as good as many other things to me anymore. Kind of sad in retrospect, but tastes change. It just is.

The Sausage & Peppers side had spectacular flavor. Along with the bold sauce, the red peppers were marinated (maybe even pickled?) to bring an excellent tartness and housemade sausage is one of the better I've ever had. The fennel seeds and other flavors really meld together nicely both within the sausage itself and the pizza as a whole. Next time we go I'm going to be hard-pressed to order something other than this as a whole pie.

Now, this final picture below is what is apparently called in the business an "upskirt shot."

The purpose here is to check for even charring on the crust. Too much black is bad, as well as not enough.

Why is it called an upskirt shot? I suppose it could be a subtle play on the words, in reference to lifting up and looking underneath the pizza, something few people do.

My personal theory is it was invented by someone hoping to bring more hits to their blog. As we all know, anything even subtley mentioning porn on the internet can blow up in a big way. Hey, maybe this post will be my own little experiment...will using the words "upskirt shot" drive my traffic through the roof?

Doesn't matter to me, honestly. What does matter is how very, very good Apizza Scholls is at making pizzas. The pie was again fantastic and flavorful, and it's one I highly recommend. Also good to see that two separate visits both produced high quality food and service - gotta love consistency.

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.

A Lovely Meal

Wifey and I decided we needed a mid-week date night a couple weeks back and decided to check out a pizza place we hadn't been before. We narrowed it down to Dove Vivi and Lovely's Fifty-Fifty. Dove Vivi is off Glisan and Lovely's is on Mississippi Avenue, and since we could pair that with a visit to The Sugar Cube for a cupcake dessert we opted for the latter. Maybe next time Vivi.

Lovely's Fifty-Fifty is the new place opened next door to what was Lovely Hula Hands, a place we wanted to go to but never did before it closed. It's run by the same people, but the focus has shifted to high quality pizza and homemade ice cream from the meals done in the old space. This space is new, long and narrow, with plenty of seating. We were there a little early - 5:30 or so - on a Wednesday and there were plenty of tables. In fact, there were still plenty of tables when we left an hour later. Admittedly that's not exactly a high traffic night, or time, for a restaurant, but it's good to know you can get a table when you want one if you play your cards right.

Fifty-Fifty has their own unique take on pizza. I've seen it described as traditional, meaning like the ones made in Napoli, but I think I must disagree. It's closer to that style than any American style, but I personally think Nostrana and Ken's Artisan Pizza are closer to what is typically Napolitano - that could just be me. That's not to say it's not good - it most assuredly is.

We decided to get two. For us this is practically a must because the first one we will always get is the classic margherita. So what next? You can see the menu at the link above - they all looked good. What we decided on isn't on the menu at the moment; it had fennel sausage, kale, and mozzarella. I wasn't sold it would be a good combination, but fennel sausage intrigued me.

Lovely's crust is very good. It's not as chewy as some, not as thick as others, but it has very good flavor and a crunch to the edges that isn't too much, meaning it's not dry and overdone. The sauce is absolutely excellent - you can taste the freshness of the tomatoes. There is also plenty of it, which we both love (and yes, I realize this is decidedly un-Italian - don't care). The mozzarella on both pizzas was very good, very fresh, and there was a nice drizzle of olive oil at some point in the layering that added another element of flavor.

The margherita was fantastic. The freshness of all the ingredients and the boldness of the flavors working in harmony really stood out. I'd eat this every day if I could. The kale and sausage was also very good. I wasn't sure about the kale, but the nuttiness from the leaves when roasted really made a nice impact on the overall flavor and the fennel sausage added a touch of savory and salty that was very pleasing. I didn't think I would like this nearly as much as the margherita, but it was fantastic. Absolutely would get again...but then again, there are others to try!

We made a point of saving room for dessert because we had heard good things about their ice cream. (Just ignore the fact we had Sugar Cube cupcakes already in the car...) Unfortunately the chocolate chip cookie dough was sold out (sad!), so we got a scoop each of the malted milk ball and the salted caramel. And wow...just wow. This might be some of the best ice cream I've had, and I like myself some ice cream.

The malted milk ball ice cream tasted, literally, like a melted Whopper. I loved these things as a kid - not so much Whoppers specifically anymore, but I like the flavor combination - and this was a flashback to then. On top of the excellent flavor profile the vanilla ice cream itself was very smooth and creamy, almost luxurious. The salted caramel was heavenly... We both agreed we'd go back just for ice cream, even if the pizza was bad - which it wasn't at all. In fact while we were there at least one couple came in just for a cone to go. Right now they are open just for dinner, but I believe they will be open on weekend afternoons in the summer for ice cream at least, if not for meals. And it's completely worth it.

My only complaint about the whole dinner is the booths are wooden benches and they are quite hard. If that's the only issue, you know there is no reason to not give it a visit. Good pizza, nice atmosphere, and fantastic ice cream - lovely indeed.

Nostrana

A few months ago I posted something about a couple pizza places we visited and detailed how I feel about pizza, having spent a couple months in Italy eating the real stuff.

I'm not necessarily someone that has to have authentic Italian pizza to consider it good, but there are key things I do need: fresh ingredients, great crust, and a hot hot hot oven. Now, I loved Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan Pizza, but I don't know that I would necessarily call them authentic - close and excellent, but they didn't give me the same Italian experience I remember from Perugia.

Enter Nostrana. This has been near the top of our list for months, and we finally made it there for lunch the other day. The pizza is supposed to be excellent as well as the rest of the food. When you enter Nostrana you don't necessarily get an Italian feel - instead, it seems more like a mountain cabin, with high windows, a cavernous open floor plan, and a huge bar.

Well, until you look to the back and see the wood burning oven:

The Official Nostrana Oven

By the way, did you know some restaurants don't like it when customers take pictures? Wifey asked and Nostrana didn't mind, but apparently some places don't like free advertising on blogs like this. Odd. The only thing I can think of is maybe they don't think everything is their best presentation... I don't necessarily care that much about perfect presentation, but I wouldn't think they'd serve anything that would embarrass them.

And Nostrana did not. Not in any way. First thing we got was some bread and olive oil.

Fresh Bread, Fresh Olive Oil

Good Italian bread is very airy, with a crunchy crust and soft insides - this was perfect. I will also confess to not being much of an olive oil snob, but after this stuff I might change my mind. It was so fresh I could literally taste the freshness of the olives, something I've never gotten in olive oil before. Apparently I shouldn't buy just any olive oil - duly noted for the next shopping trip.

Our first dish was a meatball fettucine with tomato butter sauce, topped with fresh parmigano (apparently Mondays are Meatball Mondays - which probably means grinding up the unused cuts from the weekend, but again, I really don't mind at all).

Meatball Fettucine

This was excellent. The meatballs (which were beef and pork, if I remember correctly) literally melted in your mouth and the noodles were light, not like the thick fettucine you get at American Italian restaurants. And the sauce...wow. I have never had tomato butter sauce before, but it was very, very good.

Secondly, we had to get pizza. We decided on the classic margherita, a simple tomato, basil and mozzarella. Both Wifey and I used to be all about packing pizza with toppings, but recently we've decided we prefer the simplicity of a pizza like this - all the better to enjoy the flavors.

Pizza Margherita

You can see the crust looks properly blackened - it had an excellent crunch in all the right places, but was still soft and pleasing to the tongue. In fact, they served it uncut with scissors, which actually makes it pretty easy to cut. The mozzarella was very fresh - and doesn't it make for nice coloring? - and the fresh basil added just the right touch of "green" flavor.

To be real honest, I could take a bite of this, close my eyes, and imagine myself at a cafe in Perugia, enjoying the warm day and watching shoppers walk by in the main square. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

Nostrana, quite simply, is the best Italian restaurant I've been to in Portland - and the most authentic. (I have not yet been to Genoa, but if you have suggestions on places I should go, by all means leave a comment!)

I'm not going to say the pizza is better than Apizza Scholls or Ken's Artisan though - it's different. It's the most true Italian (you want better? go to Italy), but it all depends on your mood. If you want true Italian, go here. If you just want good pizza, any of the three will do.

Al Forno Ferruzza Pizza

Wifey and I have been meaning to try Al Forno Ferruzza pizza for awhile. If you recall, we were going to go there one night but ended up at Podnah's Pit because apparently Al Forno had a broken oven.

So we decided to try again last weekend. It's an interesting place out on NE Alberta, so let me set the stage a little bit. The building is old and a bit rundown, a cavernous type of place where sound tends to just disappear. The decor is a mismatch of tables and chairs, perhaps meant to be received as eclectic but insteads just seems a little, well, sad. The counter, which has fresh deli items in it for sale, has obviously seen better days.

To be real honest, if it hadn't have received such good reviews on Yelp I might have been tempted to just walk out. At the same time sometimes these kind of places have the best food because that's the focus - it's not on the decor. Of course, sometimes it's also indicative of the finished product, so who knows.

Wifey and I decided to order a small margherita pizza and a calzone with sausage and pepperoni. We went and took a seat in the waiting area, which was a surprisingly comfortable couch near the door. From anywhere in the restaurant you can watch food being made behind the counter - it's a very open room - and we were entertained by seeing our pizza dough spinning 15 feet into the air as it was being readied.

A short while later, after the only other customers finished their food and left, we smelled this odd smell in the restaurant. It wasn't burning food, or really like any food at all. It's been quite a few years since my days at the University of Oregon so my nose may be a tad rusty, but it sure smelled an awful lot like something you shouldn't find in a restaurant. If not that, perhaps a candle or something - I have no idea. Right after that the pizza maker came out and opened the front door for some airflow, muttering something about burnt sage that seemed to be for our benefit. I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying. Could be purely coincidental. I would like to stress I have nothing to base this on except an odd smell. Still.

Our food took about 12-15 minutes to finish (we had ordered to go). The calzone was interesting - like no calzone I have ever seen before. Normally they look like a round pizza folded over on top of themselves, but this one was rolled into a long tube so it looked like a baguette. That obviously has no bearing on the taste, it was just interesting. Perhaps this is something Sicilian? Not sure - I do know I have never seen it before, including in my two months in Italy. I like it though. It's fun, unexpected - a different presentation with the same taste.

The dough was very good and the filling was chock full of freshness. There was no sauce inside the calzone (disappointing to me, but I love sauce), but it did come with a container of sauce for dipping.

The pizza was a nice thing crust with lots of tomatoes to go with the fresh basil and mozzarella. It tasted great, but didn't stand up very well upon reheating - it was so thin it became a droopy mess (thankfully, we've learned to use the toaster oven in such emergencies).

Overall the food was good, but I don't think I'd call it great. It's not on the same level of Apizza Schools or Ken's Artisan Pizza, both of which were outstanding. I'd go back if I was in the area and needed a fix, but I don't know that I would go out of my way.

In Search of the Perfect Crust...Apizza Scholls, Ken's Artisan Pizza

I love pizza. I mean, who doesn't? That red sauce...cheese...toppings...and the crust. Ooooh, the crust...

I grew up on Pizza Hut and that kind of stuff - didn't know any better. When people talked about it not being real pizza, I never understood that. When I was in college Domino's was literally a block from my dorm and had special deals on one-toppings; I can't tell you how many late-night phone calls we made to that place to order pizza while we watched movies and drank beer. It was a lot.

After we got out of the dorms, my junior and senior years, we used Pizza Pipeline a lot - they had a great deal of a pizza and two drinks for $8 or something. The pizza wasn't great, but it was good enough, and it was better than Domino's.

At this point in my life I didn't really understand what good pizza was. Then, the summer between my junior and senior years in college, I went to Italy and lived in Perugia for a summer, studying Italian. I knew the first time I stepped into a restaurant there I was ordering pizza. I mean, what else would I get?

In Italy the toppings are much more basic than what we commonly get in the U.S. There is no Hawaiian (to me, that was sad) and no such thing as pepperoni (actually doesn't even exist in Italy). The toppings are simpler and limited, the sauce is much lighter, the cheese not liberally layered on, and the crust is thinner.

The first pizza I ordered was a quattro formaggi (four cheese) and I was really thrown at first. There was no tomato sauce! At this point in my life I couldn't even comprehend the idea of pizza without red sauce... At the same time, it was the best pizza I had ever had in my life - no joke.

Over the course of my two months in Italy I tried a lot of pizza. A lot. I probably ate it 4-5 times a week and had some favorites in Perugia - at places I no longer remember the names of. I also learned about the simple wonders of the margherita pizza (cheese, roma tomatoes, basil) and that the best pizza comes from down south in Napoli (Naples).

If you have read the book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, you'll know what I'm talking about. In the book, during the Eat portion where she spent four months in Italy, she goes to a place in Napoli that is supposed to be the best pizza in the world and is blown away. That was my experience too.. I don't think I went to the same place, but it was perhaps the most memorable meal I had in two months.

One of my roommates had been to Italy before and took a few of us to this place. Napoli isn't the most welcoming city in the world for tourists, but if you know where you are going, you will be rewarded. I was hopelessly lost as Max weaved us through neighborhoods and down streets probably not wide enough to handle my old Honda Accord, let alone a SUV. We stuck out like sore thumbs as Americans, with the locals keeping an eye on us as we walked by.

When we finally arrived at the place, it was tiny. Two tables, in the front portion of what I am pretty sure was a home. From what I recall - and my memory is a bit dim since it was over ten years ago - there were only two options to order, and we got one of each to share. The toppings were fresh and fantastic, just as they always were in Italy - but it was the crust that was the revelation. The dough was the perfect amount of chewiness, cooked just to a crisp without burning, and left your stomach so happy you could literally eat this for days - and damn the consequences.

What's the point of all of this? It's just a way of establishing credentials, so you know where I'm coming from if I say I like a pizza or don't like it. I'm not one of those who will call something bad if it doesn't live up to the legacy of Italian pizza - good food is good food. However, I probably approach pizza from an Italian point of view. That could be why I'm not exactly excited by the thought of Chicago-style (though I have never been outside of Chicago's airport and would absolutely try it) and no longer can accept the standard American-style pizza as even edible.

Still, when people whose opinions I have come to respect tell me there are places to have excellent pizza in Portland, I'm going to listen. Pizza has become huge in the city with chains like Pizzicato and Pizza Schmizza - both pretty good, but not excellent - sprouting up around town like randy bunny rabbits.

There are a few other places that have received rave reviews from Portland's foodie nation, places like Nostrana and Al Forno Ferruzza (which are absolutely on the list of places we need to check out), but we have recently been able to check out two of the biggies - Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan Pizza, both in Southeast Portland.

Apizza Scholls

The recommendation was to get to this SE Hawthorne pizza place right at opening, at 5pm, because they are always busy and they don't always stay open until closing time - if they run out of dough, that's it. It seems they have changed a little bit so that the dough is no longer so finite, but it's still crazy busy. We got there at about 4:50 on a weekday (I think it was Thursday) and the line outside the door was already 10 deep. Thankfully, that meant we still were seated immediately when it opened. (If it's important, Anthony Bourdain stopped by here on the Pacific Northwest episode of No Reservations.)

We ordered the Apizza Amore with the hot capicollo (smoked pork shoulder) and it was excellent (it was a big pizza too!). The crust was not classic Italian, but rather more of a well done American style - and that's not a knock in the least. The capicollo was fantastic, a nice kick but not too hot. I also ordered an Anchor Porter, which I had never had before and found it to be just as good as my favorite Deschutes Black Butte Porter - something else to keep my eye out for.

It took about a half hour to get our food - we weren't first on the list - but it's a comfortable place. If you do have to wait, there is a bar where you can get a drink while you wait for a table, or even order to go. I would absolutely recommend this and Wifey and I will be going back at some point.

Ken's Artisan Pizza

Wifey and I hit this place up on a Wednesday night after the general dinner time, thinking that even if it was still busy we could get food to go (which they only do Tuesday-Thursday). As we walked in I noticed it definitely did not have a pizzeria vibe; everyone was drinking wine, which while it's a nice fit with pizza just seems wrong to my American sensibilities, you know? Maybe I'm just not immersed enough in the culture of wine - working on that.

It was also definitely busy. The hostess took our name and said it would be a 20 minute wait, so we asked if we could order to go. After checking with the chef she came back and said sure - then we'd be out of there in 5-10 minutes. So we ordered a margherita and a soppressata (spicy salami), to get a sense of what they do.

I'll say this for Ken's (this is the same Ken who owns Ken's Artisan Bakery on NW 21st, which is fantastic) - their pizza oven is the best I have ever seen. It's huge. The cooking area is open to the entire room so you can watch the staff work, which is amazing. It reminded me of a place I had lunch at in Assisi (as in St. Francis of) where I was seated not too far from the wood fired pizza oven and could literally watch the pizza cook. Ken's doesn't have seats quite that close, but you get the idea.

Our pizzas (all of them are 12") were done in what seemed like five minutes or less, which was outstanding. They had a nice balance of cheese and sauce, and for the margherita the fresh basil gave it a punch of freshness and flavor that was comforting. The soppressata was a thicker cut (compared to how it's usually cut) and had a kick but wasn't too hot - excellent.

The crust was amazing. It is more in the Italian style, thin with a nice chewiness. The slightly burnt edges gave it a great flavor from the wood burning oven, making it seem that much more authentic.

Yes, we would absolutely go back.

***

Was one of these better than the other? I don't think so - they aren't even the same style of pizza so judging them against each other isn't fair. However, they are both great eats and get definite recommendations from Wifey and I. Are they the best in Portland? Hard to say yet, but Al Forno Ferruzza and Nostrana will have a lot to live up to. Plus, that's not all - there are two foodcarts that come highly recommended as well, Wy'East Pizza and Give Pizza a Chance. And we'll have fun checking them out!

This and That - While Loving Air Conditioning

Funny - I just got an email from a friend who lives in the Phoenix area, telling me he feels sorry for me. Why? Because the Northwest is getting hit by heat the likes that has never been recorded. Oh, and he'd like me to note it's supposed to be 114 in his fair town today.

And he feels sorry for Portland?!

Well, there is no other way to put - it sucks in Portland right now.

Monday was 103 - broke the record for that date.

Monday's overnight low was 74 - broke the all-time record for any date.

Tuesday was 106 - broke the record for that date (was "only" 101).

Tuesday night's overnight low was projected to be 75 - yep, another record. (Apparently it only got to 71...oh well.)

Today (Wed) was originally projected to be 108, but has dropped to 107. 107 would break the record for the date, but 108 would be the hottest Portland temperature ever recorded. (The actual temp only reached 106 - how sad! I have to deal with this hell and we don't even get an all-time record for it?! Hell, 107 was the day's record, so we hit 106 and got nothing but misery...)

If current models hold true Portland will be over 90 degrees through Monday or Tuesday, which would be a string of nine or 10 straight days. Only once in recorded history has Portland had a string of eight such days.

And in other news, it was 126 in my attic yesterday. I think that's a record - though I might have to update that this evening based on today's heat.

I think it's safe to say I'm happy the air conditioning was fixed last week. Even though it is functioning perfectly now, it's just too damn hot. I was getting worried when my downstairs was 78 last evening (instead of the set temp of 74), but the cold air was blowing. It's just too damn hot outside for the air conditioner to keep up. Thankfully once the sun went down the temperature inside the house started to decrease as well. At 9pm last night it was 87 upstairs in the office. Fun times.

I'm blowing the max AC in my car on the way to work. At 7am. That's insane.

My mother-in-law is staying with us through this heat wave because her house doesn't have air conditioning. She went home to water some plants last evening and her thermostat registered 88 - on the lower floor of the house.

Yep, it's a scorcher. In the words of the weatherman: "This will be the kind of heat wave you tell your grandkids about."

Well, I won't be telling MY grandkids...I think you need kids for that to happen, if I remember correctly. I could be the old guy telling someone else's random kids at the park...but that probably has no good outcome. Plus, what kids care about weather anyway?!

There is one good thing about being stuck at home because walking outside - even to the car - has me dripping sweat off the end of my nose, and that's getting caught up on my favorite kind of pursuits. That's right, the sedentary kind!

What I'm Reading: Just finished up Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue. While to most people a history of the English language and how it got that way doesn't seem that exciting, it was actually really interesting to find out how words came to be, and how they morphed over the years. Plus, Bryson can make just about anything interesting, and he can make the normally interesting hilarious. If you have never read him before, check out A Walk in the Woods or The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Or any of his other books - you can't go wrong.

Next up is Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour - based around his first television series on The Food Network. Two chapters in and I'm loving, just like all his other books. Interestingly enough, I never saw this show but it apparently has no life at all on DVD, possibly because of how much he disparages the Food Network. No Reservations - one of the best shows on TV - is all over the place, but not A Cook's Tour. If you like Bourdain's show you must read Kitchen Confidential.

Oh, and after that, who knows? I have some newer books I'm on the waitlist for at the library, plus the 50 or so of my own books I haven't read yet.

What I'm Watching: We watched Revolutionary Road on Blu-Ray last week, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett. It was a pretty well done movie - the acting was good - but I just didn't find the story all that enthralling. Horribly depressing yes, and I can see the pathos in the characters, but that doesn't mean the story is automatically a must-watch. The movie we watched before that was The Reader, a movie that was acted just as well but the story was more compelling. Yes, apparently it was a Kate Winslett phase.

Netflix has since sent us The Watchmen, but we haven't carved out 3+ hours to watch it yet.

On TV we are watching the aformentioned No Reservations and America's Got Talent, plus Mental and Better Off Ted. Superstars - lame but oddly compelling - and the Terrell Owens Show are being grabbed by the DVR as well.

Maybe by the end of the summer we'll get to some of the HBO shows we have on DVD...The Wire? Entourage? The Sopranos? Have Season 1 of all of them (and Season 2 of The Wire), we just haven't gotten to them yet.

Maybe I need to take a vacation to catch up. :)

We also tried a couple of food places last weekend, neither of which merit their own post. We drove west out Baseline Road towards Hillsboro from a place we stop at regularly - more on the Mutt at some later date - and found a coffee place called Insomnia and a pizza place called La Bella Vita.

Insomnia was fine - got a mocha, my staple - but nothing special. They serve Sleepy Monk Coffee, which can be found in Cannon Beach, OR, and they do a decent job of it - it's just not special enough for me to go out of my way for it. Also, we picked up a cookie as well, one of the fresh baked goods they carry (from a local place whose name escapes me now). It was, well, not that great. Wifey can do a better job with her eyes closed.

At La Bella Vita we picked up a personal sized BBQ chicken pizza. It was mid afternoon on a hot day, but it was also completely dead. I mean completely - as in no one else in the place. I think our purchase barely justified paying the two employees working for the time it took our pizza to cook. If you click on the link you can see users on Yelp loved the place, but we weren't that sold. The crust was good - nice taste, good thickness - but it wasn't better than Pizza Schmizza, another local chain. The toppings were solid, but it wasn't as good as Pizzicato. Both of those places are closer to my house, so you can see where I'm going with this. Plus, neither of those places get better than three stars our of five for me, so that must mean La Bella Vita gets a max of two.

And yes, you should get a taste of what comes out of the home oven - we actually made pizza on Monday, and it was roughly a hundred times better with homemade crust, high quality meats and cheeses, and fresh veggies.

So if you happen to be driving by and need pizza or coffee these two places aren't terrible, but there is little reason to make a special trip.