Beaverton is hardly a mecca of good dining. It's mostly chain restaurants where one walks in with low expectations that are inevitably met, or it's a solid mix of brew pubs. Once you attempt to branch out from there it's really hit and miss, even at the same restaurant. There are places Wifey and I have been that were very good the first time, but on a return trip we found ourselves asking what we even liked the first time.
So anytime we find a restaurant in Beaverton with promise, either via an official review or from word of mouth, we have to check it out. That's how we ended up at Du Kuh Bee, a Korean restaurant, for dinner last week. The Oregonian did a couple reviews of the place, one in 2009 and again just recently. The theme of both was the food was very good, get the noodles, and you will be very pleased. Du Kuh Bee doesn't have their own website, but the Yelp reviews were also solid (29 reviews, average of four stars). And hey, I enjoy a good Korean barbecue as much as the next guy, so why not?
Du Kuh Bee is a tiny little place. It's sandwiched between another Korean restaurant, Na Kwon, and a salon on First Avenue in Beaverton, one block off Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. It's a long and narrow space, with about 20 feet deep of two person tables before it widens out to the open kitchen. There doesn't seem to be air conditioning because the front door and back window were open in the evening, but this did allow a nice breeze through the space.
The service was very polite and allowed us the time we needed to choose our meals respectfully. Neither Wifey or I really know much about Korean food - other than bulgogi and kim chee - so it took us until I believe the waiter's third return trip before we knew what we wanted.
All the reviews raved about the dumplings, so we ordered that as an appetizer. They are wraps - similar to a pot sticker or gyoza, but steamed - and stuffed with ground meat and seasoning. They were pretty good, but the dipping sauce didn't seem to affect the flavor at all - very weak.
This also came out with a small dish of kim chee and another of chopped pickled daikon (radish, for lack of a better translation). The daikon was a little sweet and the kim chee not overly hot, so they provided a nice balance with each other and did complement the other dishes well.
All of the reviews said the noodles were handmade, so we had to get a noodle dish. We chose what they called "u-dong", which I don't believe was actually on the menu but was in a picture pinned to the wall next to our table. If you are familiar with Japanese udon, this was very, very similar. It came in broth with thinly sliced fish cake, green onion, and a few other little tidbits of flavor. The broth itself was excellent - some udons I have had in the past have been salty - and the noodles were very good. Again, this was almost the same as udon, which, by the name of the dish, perhaps shouldn't have been surprising.
Our final dish was barbecued beef. I think what I was envisioning (some nice grilled strips of bulgogi marinated beef) and what came out (pan cooked mixed with vegetables) probably contributed to my overall interpretation of the dish, and not necessarily in a good way. The flavors of the dish were solid, but nothing in it jumped out and made me say, "Wow, that's a fantastic dish!" I think part of me just can't get over how something can be called barbecued when, in fact, it was not barbecued. That shouldn't be a negative on the dish itself, but more of a warning as to what you may be getting.
All in all the meal was solid. Fine. But nothing spectacular. I'd like to say we'd eat there again, but with so many other options - and Yuzu a few blocks away that is very good, as well as a couple other Japanese and Korean places that I either have been to and enjoyed or are on the list to try - we probably won't. At the end of the meal we were satisfied, but that's about it. Maybe we expected too much based on the reviews, or maybe the reviews are just relative, who knows.
Showing posts with label Beaverton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beaverton. Show all posts
8/03/2010
8/26/2009
Something New - Salvadoran Food
If you are like me you know as much about the nation of El Salvador as you do about cricket; mainly, that it exists and you don't have anything bad to say about it. Of course, you don't have anything good to say either - it just is.
A nation roughly the size of New Jersey, El Salvador is on the Pacific side of Central America, just south of Guatemala. If you want to know more than that, go to the experts (that's somewhat of a joke, but you know...if you see it on the internet, it must be true).
Now all of that is well and good - but I'm more concerned with the food. Knowing nothing about the nation I had no idea, so when Wifey found this place called Sabor Salvadoreno in Beaverton and suggested we try it, both of us really had no idea what to expect. I mean, seriously - what is it?
As it turns out Salvadoran food isn't too far off from Mexican - and it's pretty dang good. We decided to hit this place up last weekend for lunch. It's not much to look at - probably not the place you bring a date you are trying to impress. However, everyone there was very friendly, there was a soccer game on TV in Spanish, and it seemed a little homey.
As usual we ordered a few different things to share, to get a feel for the flavors.
The first item was an order of pupusas revueltas. No, I didn't know what a pupusa was either - had to look it up. The one we ordered was stuffed with pork (chicharron), beans, and cheese. It was pretty dang tasty - which is good, since this is one of their specialities. They are pretty inexpensive too, I think it was just a couple dollars. The dough was light enough and the filling had nice flavor.
We also ordered a chicken tamale. Now, I've had tamales before and never really liked them. Not sure why, they just have always seemed to lack any real flavor. Not true with this one. It is cooked in a banana leaf - not sure if that makes a difference - and the tamale itself was extremely moist, flavored with the chicken meat and some peppers. I surprised myself by really liking this.
The third item was the desayunos salvadorenos - a typical Salvadoran breakfast. This was comprised of some scrambled eggs, refried beans, a sour cream-like crema, and fried bananas. The eggs were eggs, but with the salsa they provided added to them they were very good. The beans were good as well, not the stuff you get at bad Mexican restaurants to be sure. The bananas were also good - very sweet - but I admit that eating an entire banana (quartered) after being fried, that was a bit much. Banana overload because the frying seems to really bring out the sweet. It also came with a side of toast that was actually a miniature loaf of pretty flavorless bread. Overall, a good dish - minus the bread.
We followed all of this up with an order of empanadas. These ones were filled with something kind of creamy but not liquidy (the menu called it "milk product" - whatever that means) - if that makes any sense, and - and were made with plantain, then rolled in sugar after being deep fried. After eating them we were pretty sure they made FROM plantain, not WITH plantain. I'd never eaten a plantain before, but these were pretty good, a distinctively different taste from a banana. We both liked them, so if nothing else we might have something else to add to the shopping list.
For me it was banana/plantain overload, almost to the point of nausea. Of course, that's not their fault - we ordered the stuff. Overall everything was very good and the service was great - plus our entire bill, with tip, came to only $18 - so I think this is a place we'll go back to, perhaps trying one of the meat dishes to see what else Salvadoran food is about. I'd recommend it.
A nation roughly the size of New Jersey, El Salvador is on the Pacific side of Central America, just south of Guatemala. If you want to know more than that, go to the experts (that's somewhat of a joke, but you know...if you see it on the internet, it must be true).
Now all of that is well and good - but I'm more concerned with the food. Knowing nothing about the nation I had no idea, so when Wifey found this place called Sabor Salvadoreno in Beaverton and suggested we try it, both of us really had no idea what to expect. I mean, seriously - what is it?
As it turns out Salvadoran food isn't too far off from Mexican - and it's pretty dang good. We decided to hit this place up last weekend for lunch. It's not much to look at - probably not the place you bring a date you are trying to impress. However, everyone there was very friendly, there was a soccer game on TV in Spanish, and it seemed a little homey.
As usual we ordered a few different things to share, to get a feel for the flavors.
The first item was an order of pupusas revueltas. No, I didn't know what a pupusa was either - had to look it up. The one we ordered was stuffed with pork (chicharron), beans, and cheese. It was pretty dang tasty - which is good, since this is one of their specialities. They are pretty inexpensive too, I think it was just a couple dollars. The dough was light enough and the filling had nice flavor.
We also ordered a chicken tamale. Now, I've had tamales before and never really liked them. Not sure why, they just have always seemed to lack any real flavor. Not true with this one. It is cooked in a banana leaf - not sure if that makes a difference - and the tamale itself was extremely moist, flavored with the chicken meat and some peppers. I surprised myself by really liking this.
The third item was the desayunos salvadorenos - a typical Salvadoran breakfast. This was comprised of some scrambled eggs, refried beans, a sour cream-like crema, and fried bananas. The eggs were eggs, but with the salsa they provided added to them they were very good. The beans were good as well, not the stuff you get at bad Mexican restaurants to be sure. The bananas were also good - very sweet - but I admit that eating an entire banana (quartered) after being fried, that was a bit much. Banana overload because the frying seems to really bring out the sweet. It also came with a side of toast that was actually a miniature loaf of pretty flavorless bread. Overall, a good dish - minus the bread.
We followed all of this up with an order of empanadas. These ones were filled with something kind of creamy but not liquidy (the menu called it "milk product" - whatever that means) - if that makes any sense, and - and were made with plantain, then rolled in sugar after being deep fried. After eating them we were pretty sure they made FROM plantain, not WITH plantain. I'd never eaten a plantain before, but these were pretty good, a distinctively different taste from a banana. We both liked them, so if nothing else we might have something else to add to the shopping list.
For me it was banana/plantain overload, almost to the point of nausea. Of course, that's not their fault - we ordered the stuff. Overall everything was very good and the service was great - plus our entire bill, with tip, came to only $18 - so I think this is a place we'll go back to, perhaps trying one of the meat dishes to see what else Salvadoran food is about. I'd recommend it.
8/13/2009
Yuzu - Pretty Dang Good
As I mentioned last week in my review of Biwa (or whatever it is - I don't feel comfortable with the word "review"...maybe "experience" would be better?) Portland has a couple other izakayas around that are also supposed to be excellent. Of those, Yuzu in Beaverton is the one most commonly mentioned in the same breath, so we decided to check it out and see for ourselves.
Yuzu also comes with a little bit of intrigue around it. It sits in a small strip mall (actually the former home of Hakatamon, which moved into Uwajimaya a mile away) with simple decorations and nothing to indicate it exists except small lettering "YUZU" on the door and a sign indicating whether or not it is open or closed - their hours are posted in tiny letters and numbers. They don't have a website, so the menu is a surprise when you get there. If you call them, the message is in Japanese.
For what it's worth, they will take reservations, and they open at 6pm. Only for dinner and later (til midnight), and they are closed on Sunday.
Reviewers on Yelp said this place filled up fast and it was recommended to get there early, so we showed up a tad before 6 and waited a couple minutes for the sign to flip to Open. We were the first ones there - the next customers didn't arrive until after 6:30. Good thing we were so antsy. Who knows why it didn't seem too busy - maybe it's because it was Wednesday, maybe it was just and off day, I have no idea.
The long and narrow restaurant has a decent number of tables for the size and some spots along a bar where customers can look into the kitchen a bit. Our hostess/waitress was Japanese as were the cooks as best as I could tell (good sign, right?). The menu is about six pages long, plus another 3-4 pages of drinks, various sakes and other things. She gave us plenty of time to peruse the menu, but not too long - to me, the mark of a good waitress.
Just a point I want to make here - many who don't speak or read Japanese have noticed the wooden art pieces on the wall and that they depict the names of various dishes, and they have openly wondered if there is a special menu for those who speak Japanese. Perhaps, but from what I could tell (and I don't profess to being able to read a ton of Kanji, just some), I don't think so. Those pieces seemed representative of what was on the pages of the menu. For what it's worth.
Wifey's mom joined us for this meal, so we decided to get a few different things (or, seven as it turned out) and share them all. We also opted not to get ramen this time, even though it's supposedly fantastic.
At Biwa each item came out one at a time and we were able to concentrate on enjoying just the one dish, but at Yuzu the rate of dishes coming out of the kitchen was much faster, probably because we were the first ones ordering any food. They didn't come out all at once, but still a very steady pace. While I liked the way the food came out at Biwa, I can't say faster is a bad thing either. It's nice to be switch back and forth and let different flavors swirl around your mouth.
I can't remember the Japanese words for everything we ordered (if there was a menu online I could reference that, but...) so I'll do the best I can here. Nor can I remember exactly what came first, but it probably really doesn't matter.
1 - One dish was a konnyaku, which is made from what is called "Japanese mountain potato" - what exactly that is I don't know. Whatever it starts from it ends up as something slightly gelatinous and a little chewy, which probably doesn't sound that appetizing but wasn't bad at all. If you want to try something completely different from everyday American fare, this would qualify.
2 - Gyoza - Japanese pot stickers stuffed with ground pork - are a stable for us whever we eat Japanese food out. Yuzu's gyoza weren't as crispy as Biwa's, but they were just as tasty. Slightly smaller, but we got six instead of five.
3 - Tori karaage - a deep-fried garlic chicken dish. The chicken was very most and soft, fried perfectly, with a light flavoring of garlic - not strong at all. The outside of the chicken tidbits were almost dry, not oily at all, which is good for me since I'm not a huge fan of oily deep frying.
4 - A salmon dish, lightly salted with a side of shredded daikon. Personally I'm not a big fan of daikon at all, but rest assured it didn't go to waste. The salmon was good, but to me it was nothing special. Nicely cooked, but I think it was the fish itself that held the dish back, not how it was cooked or prepared.
5 - Gyu negima - Thin strips of ribe-eye steak wrapped around green onion and grilled. This was the best dish of the night, with a teriyaki sauce that matched the beef perfectly. The grilling was perfect, the onion actually was a nice complementary flavor (and I'm not a green onion fan). I would go back to Yuzu just to eat this.
6 - Pork belly! Oh yes, I'm a convert to this fatty piece of lusciousness. I don't know if it was as good as Biwa's, but it was still excellent (I'm fully cognizant that - as I talked about in my Whiffies discussion - it's quite possible no piece or pork belly will ever match up to Biwa's from last week). The fatty layers practically melted in your mouth and the meaty layers may actually have been more plentiful. Either way, fantastic.
7 - Yakionigiri - grilled rice balls. We picked two orders of these - two yakionigiri in each order - so everyone was able to eat at least one. Comparatively with the ones from Biwa and Chef Naoko's, these were the smallest, but here an order was for two while the other two restaurants you only received one per order. The grilling was good, but it didn't seem quite as flavorful as the other two.
Interestingly enough, after the meal is when we were served our green tea (which was very good genmai cha - brewed with brown rice) instead of before as I've been used to. Not a good thing or a bad thing, just different - and the tea was excellent.
So here's the deal - would I go back? Absolutely. I want to go back just to try out the ramen - which is supposed to be the best around - and that beef dish was literally one of the best I have ever had. Next time I might take a stab at trying a sake too. Besides, the menu is quite extensive - easily three times the size of Biwa's - meaning there were things I didn't get a chance to try that I need to check out.
Would I recommend it? Most definitely. Some of the dishes we had, like the konnyaku, are pretty unique, dishes you don't find every day. Plus, nothing we had was bad, most of it was good, and some of it was excellent.
But where does it rank on Portland's izakaya scene? Forced to choose, I'd take Biwa over Yuzu, even though it's 15 miles further from home. Perhaps next week we'll check out Syun in Hillsboro, so we can truly decide what's best!
Yuzu also comes with a little bit of intrigue around it. It sits in a small strip mall (actually the former home of Hakatamon, which moved into Uwajimaya a mile away) with simple decorations and nothing to indicate it exists except small lettering "YUZU" on the door and a sign indicating whether or not it is open or closed - their hours are posted in tiny letters and numbers. They don't have a website, so the menu is a surprise when you get there. If you call them, the message is in Japanese.
For what it's worth, they will take reservations, and they open at 6pm. Only for dinner and later (til midnight), and they are closed on Sunday.
Reviewers on Yelp said this place filled up fast and it was recommended to get there early, so we showed up a tad before 6 and waited a couple minutes for the sign to flip to Open. We were the first ones there - the next customers didn't arrive until after 6:30. Good thing we were so antsy. Who knows why it didn't seem too busy - maybe it's because it was Wednesday, maybe it was just and off day, I have no idea.
The long and narrow restaurant has a decent number of tables for the size and some spots along a bar where customers can look into the kitchen a bit. Our hostess/waitress was Japanese as were the cooks as best as I could tell (good sign, right?). The menu is about six pages long, plus another 3-4 pages of drinks, various sakes and other things. She gave us plenty of time to peruse the menu, but not too long - to me, the mark of a good waitress.
Just a point I want to make here - many who don't speak or read Japanese have noticed the wooden art pieces on the wall and that they depict the names of various dishes, and they have openly wondered if there is a special menu for those who speak Japanese. Perhaps, but from what I could tell (and I don't profess to being able to read a ton of Kanji, just some), I don't think so. Those pieces seemed representative of what was on the pages of the menu. For what it's worth.
Wifey's mom joined us for this meal, so we decided to get a few different things (or, seven as it turned out) and share them all. We also opted not to get ramen this time, even though it's supposedly fantastic.
At Biwa each item came out one at a time and we were able to concentrate on enjoying just the one dish, but at Yuzu the rate of dishes coming out of the kitchen was much faster, probably because we were the first ones ordering any food. They didn't come out all at once, but still a very steady pace. While I liked the way the food came out at Biwa, I can't say faster is a bad thing either. It's nice to be switch back and forth and let different flavors swirl around your mouth.
I can't remember the Japanese words for everything we ordered (if there was a menu online I could reference that, but...) so I'll do the best I can here. Nor can I remember exactly what came first, but it probably really doesn't matter.
1 - One dish was a konnyaku, which is made from what is called "Japanese mountain potato" - what exactly that is I don't know. Whatever it starts from it ends up as something slightly gelatinous and a little chewy, which probably doesn't sound that appetizing but wasn't bad at all. If you want to try something completely different from everyday American fare, this would qualify.
2 - Gyoza - Japanese pot stickers stuffed with ground pork - are a stable for us whever we eat Japanese food out. Yuzu's gyoza weren't as crispy as Biwa's, but they were just as tasty. Slightly smaller, but we got six instead of five.
3 - Tori karaage - a deep-fried garlic chicken dish. The chicken was very most and soft, fried perfectly, with a light flavoring of garlic - not strong at all. The outside of the chicken tidbits were almost dry, not oily at all, which is good for me since I'm not a huge fan of oily deep frying.
4 - A salmon dish, lightly salted with a side of shredded daikon. Personally I'm not a big fan of daikon at all, but rest assured it didn't go to waste. The salmon was good, but to me it was nothing special. Nicely cooked, but I think it was the fish itself that held the dish back, not how it was cooked or prepared.
5 - Gyu negima - Thin strips of ribe-eye steak wrapped around green onion and grilled. This was the best dish of the night, with a teriyaki sauce that matched the beef perfectly. The grilling was perfect, the onion actually was a nice complementary flavor (and I'm not a green onion fan). I would go back to Yuzu just to eat this.
6 - Pork belly! Oh yes, I'm a convert to this fatty piece of lusciousness. I don't know if it was as good as Biwa's, but it was still excellent (I'm fully cognizant that - as I talked about in my Whiffies discussion - it's quite possible no piece or pork belly will ever match up to Biwa's from last week). The fatty layers practically melted in your mouth and the meaty layers may actually have been more plentiful. Either way, fantastic.
7 - Yakionigiri - grilled rice balls. We picked two orders of these - two yakionigiri in each order - so everyone was able to eat at least one. Comparatively with the ones from Biwa and Chef Naoko's, these were the smallest, but here an order was for two while the other two restaurants you only received one per order. The grilling was good, but it didn't seem quite as flavorful as the other two.
Interestingly enough, after the meal is when we were served our green tea (which was very good genmai cha - brewed with brown rice) instead of before as I've been used to. Not a good thing or a bad thing, just different - and the tea was excellent.
So here's the deal - would I go back? Absolutely. I want to go back just to try out the ramen - which is supposed to be the best around - and that beef dish was literally one of the best I have ever had. Next time I might take a stab at trying a sake too. Besides, the menu is quite extensive - easily three times the size of Biwa's - meaning there were things I didn't get a chance to try that I need to check out.
Would I recommend it? Most definitely. Some of the dishes we had, like the konnyaku, are pretty unique, dishes you don't find every day. Plus, nothing we had was bad, most of it was good, and some of it was excellent.
But where does it rank on Portland's izakaya scene? Forced to choose, I'd take Biwa over Yuzu, even though it's 15 miles further from home. Perhaps next week we'll check out Syun in Hillsboro, so we can truly decide what's best!
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