December Tasting Notes

EAT!

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

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

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

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

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

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

LATE ADDITION!

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

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

DRINK!

BEER

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

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

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

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

COFFEE

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

WINE

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

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

October Tasting/Drinking Notes

Some tasting tidbits from around Portland for the last month, nothing big enough to stand on it's own.

EAT!

Lompoc Brew Pub, Oaks Bottom - Tachos, fish and chips: Lompoc is a place I've been meaning to try for awhile, but mostly for the beer rather than the food. However, they have this thing called tachos, which is quite pheonomenal to see. First off though, the fish and chips:

The fish was actually really good, beer battered halibut that wasn't overly greasy or too thick with batter. The fries, though, were kind of a mess. Don't they look burnt? They didn't taste burnt, so doesn't that mean the oil was old?

Now here are the tachos:

Yep, it's basically a giant nacho, but instead of tortilla chips they use tater tots. A very interesting idea, but the reality of it was just ho-hum. And it was insanely huge...

Hopworks Urban Brewery - BBQ bacon burger and side salad: HUB, as they call it around town, prides themselves on organic, fresh food, which is pretty unique for a brew pub. Too often these places don't put enough emphasis on the quality of the food - HUB gets an A. The burger was cooked just right, the tomatoes were fresh, the lettuce was crisp, and the side salad was much better than what you'll find at probably any other brew pub in Portland (yes, I'm looking at you McMenamin's). Now, that's when comparing it to brew pubs - in the grand scheme of Portland food it was probably just pretty good. I'd go back.

Tasty & Sons (dinner) - melon and ricotta salad with cured meat; pan-fried yellow potatoes with lardons, chives, and sour cream; Best Damn Chicken Strips Ever; Toro burger; chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream; vanilla bean panna cotta with brandy soaked berries; roasted apple with lardons and cheddar, Aunt Paulie's French toast (lunch): Everything except the roasted apple dish and French toast was birthday dinner for Wifey and I - and every dish was excellent. The ricotta and melon salad was a fantastic start and the potatoes ended up being a smashed and fried potato with the normal toppings - and cooked perfectly. The chicken strips were pretty good fresh (and their fries excellent), but they actually were better the next day for lunch. The Toro burger - from John Gorham's other restaurant, Toro Bravo - justified it's top-ten rating. And the desserts...wow. The chocolate chip cookies - while, still, not as good as the ones in our own kitchen - were crisp and chewy, which is difficult to pull off. The star of the night was the panna cotta - I could eat that every day.

The People's Pig (foodcart) - porchetta sandwich: I'd heard a lot of talk about how good this sandwich was - and it is good. It's also quite heavy and not something I need to eat very often, that's for sure. I'd go back, but probably try something else.

Happy Grillmore (foodcart) - spam musubi, The Chuck sandwich: I went to Happy Grillmore basically because it's right across the street from The People's Pig (which has since moved), and I'm glad I did. The spam musubi was very well done and the sandwich fresh and tasty - it doesn't seem like they try to overdo things like many places. If only they were closer to work...

Flavour Spot (foodcart, downtown location) - sausage and maple, MB9: We stopped here for a quick breakfast one weekend because we had Groupon coupons. The flavors were good, but we both felt the general quality was lacking. The waffle was decent, but could be better. The sausage was decent, but could be better. The bacon was decent, but could have been a lot better. Both of us just couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Pastrami on Rye (foodcart) - pastrami sandwich, Best Brownie Ever: I got the sandwich - again, yummy - because I was there, but I really wanted the brownie. Was it the best ever? Well...I'm spoiled to have been chosen by a very, very excellent baker to be my wife, so my standards are high. This wasn't as good as Wifey's, but we both enjoyed it.

Portland Soup Company (foodcart) - smoked salmon and sweet corn chowder, roasted tomato reggiano soup, Tillamook vintage white mac 'n cheese: The chowder had fairly good flavor, but I wanted a little more salmon in it. The tomato is always good - I could eat this for lunch every day of the week. The mac, though, was superb in its simplicity. They didn't go overboard on the cheese - in fact, some might be disappointed in the quantity of cheese - but the flavor profile was excellent.

The Sugar Cube (foodcart) - Hot chocolate malted, creamy tomato soup, Aric A Strata: Normally we go see Kir for sweet stuff, but she had something new last week so we said what the heck. And it was a cold, rainy day - typical Portland October weather. We both thoroughly enjoyed the soup and the strata, which she said was more of a savory bread pudding with goat cheese, spinach, and tomatoes - it was excellent. And the malted? These are to die for, honestly. They may seem spendy, but it's completely worth it.

Meat Cheese Bread - Park Kitchen sandwich, peanut butter and bacon rice crispy treat: The Park Kitchen is a staple for us at Meat Cheese Bread and it never disappoints. This stop, though, was for the rice crispy treat, which they had teased on their Facebook page. I just wanted to taste it, to see if it was yummy or just weird. I'm still not sure what I think. The peanut butter part was good, but the bacon almost seemed to be completely overpowered by the peanut butter. There was a touch of salty and a touch of smoky, but not much.

Little T American Baker - chocolate cake with chocolate ganache: We actually stopped by here for bread, but they didn't have what we needed that day. They did, however, have chocolate cake. And it was amazing. Wifey and I split a slice and we both wanted to lick the to-go container to clean up the ganache.

Bonus coverage - an entire post dedicated to the new Pine State Biscuits location.

DRINK!

Heart Coffee - El Salvador Borbollon: A little while ago Heart stopped carrying our favorite Guatemalan coffee. We tried a couple others but they just weren't what we liked. Then we read on their website they had some new varieties and this one promised milk chocolate, caramel, and orange flavors. Intrigued we gave it a whirl - and are now working on bag number four.

Lompoc Monster Mash Imperial Porter (bottle) - I wanted to get this beer last year but missed out by a few days - it's a small run. Picked it up at Belmont Station this year and while it was okay - the normal chocolate and coffee porter flavors were good - there was something else in there I didn't like, something that made it a tad too bitter for my tastes. Maybe that's what makes it Imperial? Not sure. I've since been told Lompoc's beers are better on tap.

Lompoc Sockey Cream Stout (tap) - Had this with tachos and fish and chips. This was a very thick, almost syrupy stout I personally thought was a tad too sweet. Normally I'm not a stout drinker at all, but this was better than a lot I've had.

Hopworks Urban Brewery Velvet ESB (tap) - This was from Tasty & Sons with the birthday dinner. It's an incredibly smooth beer and HUB's site claims it has caramel and chocolate with a tad of floral - perhaps that's why I like it, having the same flavor profile as my coffee. If smooth is your thing, try this one out. I think it's only available on tap - haven't seen it in a bottle anywhere.

Widmer Barrell-Aged Brrrbon (bottle) - I'm a sucker for beers aged in bourbon barrels. If that's part of what makes up a beer, chances are I'll try it - so when Widmer came out with this Brothers Reserve series issue, I had to check it out. It was disappointing. The bourbon flavor was almost nonexistent, leaving it just a well, regular Brrr, which I'm not a fan of. It's possible this beer should be left to age a little bit more, to really let the flavors develop - maybe if you buy one and keep it for a while it will get better. You can tell me if it does, because I won't be trying out that theory.

Winter's Hill Vineyard - 2006 Late Harvest Pinot Gris (dessert) - Dessert wines tend to be sweet by definition, but this was the sweetest one we've tried - too sweet for us. The funny thing is this is a bottle we bought after trying it at a tasting...so why did we buy it? Who knows.

Alaskan Brewing 2010 Smoked Porter (bottle) - After trying Great Divide's Smoked Porter last month I was excited to check out another; plus, I'd had a couple different Alaskan's in the past and enjoyed them. This one was okay, but I'd recommend the Great Divide offering. There wasn't as much smokiness to this one and it was more bitter - closer to the Monster Mash mentioned above. I've just come to the conclusion, I suppose that I'm a low IBU beer kind of guy. Perhaps that doesn't make me a true afficianado, but I can live with that.

Also returned to Deschutes' Black Butte Porter XXI after hitting the Best After date.

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.

Creme de la Creme

A few weeks back Wifey emailed me this post on Food Carts Portland about a new cart specializing in French food called Creme de la Creme. It sounded pretty dang good, so last week Wifey, Misaki, and I headed out to SE 43rd and Belmont to the new Good Food Here pod of food carts to check it out for lunch.

One nice thing about this pod? They have parking spots! Can't say that for Cartopia on SE 12th and Hawthorne or Mississippi Marketplace on N. Mississippi.

Creme de la Creme is housed in a converted school bus - with lots of bright colors - at one end of the pod. There are plenty of spots to sit down, at picnic tables under some trees on the periphery of the pod and spots with umbrellas within.

The "cart" - colorful, clear menu, friendly people.

Simple French food is the carts specialty, with sandwiches, soups, salads, and a couple basic desserts. We opted for the French Onion soup and a Croque Monsieur sandwich.

French Onion soup

The soup came with a piece of bread roughly the same size as the bowl, topped with melted gruyere. All elements of this soup were simply pretty dang perfect. The bread, despite soaking in the soup, still kept it's shape and the gruyere added a great additional flavor the normal soup flavors. The onions were well cooked, the broth rich, and we'd absolutely get this again.

Next up was the Croque Monsier, a toasted sandwich with black forest ham and gruyere inside, then topped with more gruyere. I love gruyere...

Croque Monsieur

We had eaten half the sandwich before I remembered to click a picture, so imagine two of those halves. The sandwich was good. The bread was crunchy, the flavors melded well, and I'd order it again - or maybe go the Croque Madame route next time and get it with an egg. It came with the small side salad topped with a fresh vinaigrette.

One of my favorite things about eating at food carts is we can always take Misaki with us. She wasn't the only dog there at the time, but everyone was properly respectful of personal space, a trait Misaki prizes.

She also, apparently, wanted to try some French food.

Misaki working her Shiba Mind Control

Sorry pups, not on your diet.

Creme de la Creme was a great meal and we will return at some point. If you are in the mood for something quick and French, this has to be at the top of your list.

Wet Hot Beef

Believe it or not, Wet Hot Beef is not the name of something obscene, though it could easily be construed that way. It's the name of a new food cart at Dreamer's Marketplace, just off of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

We came across it via Food Carts Portland and it sounded very yummy, so last week we were in the area and decided to hit it up for dinner.

Deciding to order a little bit of everything, we ordered two sandwiches - the Dressed and Indecent versions - a strawberry soda with housemade syrup, and an order of the housemade sweet onion potato chips. It wasn't busy - I think it was still early for dinner - and our food came out pretty quick.

Let's get the drawbacks out of the way first.

We didn't like the soda. I think, perhaps, the strawberry syrup - made with strawberries from the Farmer's Market - was pretty good, but the mixture wasn't right. Perhaps it was the mixing, maybe it needed something...or maybe it was the fact this nice syrup was mixed with Big K brand club soda. Maybe, I don't know. I do know there is a definite quality difference between something like Coke or Pepsi and a cheap brand (like Big K) cola. Maybe that's the drawback. Or maybe soda just isn't the right choice. Not sure.

The chips were also burnt. They may have been seasoned nicely, but we couldn't tell because all we could taste was burnt potatoes. Maybe it was a bad batch, I don't know, but I won't be ordering those again.

Now the good.

The sandwiches were excellent. The roast beef, as promised, was extremely moist and lean. The bechamel on the Indecent was creamy and good (Wifey would have preferred a tad more). The pickled beets and onions added on the sandwich could have used a tad more flavor - they were overpowered by the meat and the bechamel.

Then again, you aren't coming here for vegetables.

The bread for the sandwich was also pretty good. It tasted fresh and was soft, not overly hard and crunchy. Getting the sandwich in a paper cup was very handy, since there was quite a bit of beef drippage.

Would I recommend this? If you are in the area then sure, but I don't know that we'll go out of my way for it again. And if we do go back, it will probably be just for a sandwich.

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.

Little Etta

I may have eaten at one of the best food carts in Portland this past weekend.

There is a new restaurant coming to the downtown area, just west of the Fox Tower, called Violetta. Their restaraunt space is currently being worked on, but instead of waiting around for it to be finished they decided to open up a food cart - called Etta - in the new Director Park, very close to where the restaurant will be.

Director Park is new - it's similar to Pioneer Square (two blocks away) in the sense it's wide, open, and can be a nice gathering place. The seating is plentiful, the architecture is pleasantly contemporary, there is a water feature, and I believe it's set on top of underground parking. Given the proximity to central part of downtown shopping and business, it's the perfect location.

Violetta's motto is "slow food, fast." What does that mean? It means you get food made to order with high quality, locally-sourced ingredients, and they do it in a timely manner. The menu has burgers, breakfast foods, salads - all fairly basic, but with freshness. That's not to say you won't get this quality in other food carts - absolutely not true - but with them it's a point of pride.

Etta's has been open for a few months now, but this past Saturday was their first weekend day. They did it as a test run to see if anyone would come - and it must have worked out because they are going to be open this Saturday as well.

Wifey and I read over the menu online before we went and ended up deciding we were going to be getting quite a bit of food to try it all out. The first item we ordered was going to be a breakfast sandwich with bacon, but they had a Saturday special of eggs benedict for (I think) $8.50, so we had to get that.

One thing about eggs benedict is the eggs can be messy. Sticking a fork into them can cause yolk to run all over the place, and this being take-out food that could have been a problem. Instead the eggs (there were two in an order) were cooked perfectly to where they still had a bit of softness to them but didn't run all over the place. The hollandaise sauce had great flavor, and the wheat English muffins had just the right amount of crunch. Not only that, they held that crunch even after sitting under the egg and hollandaise sauce for a bit. Two thumbs up for the eggs benedict for sure.

The second item we ordered were the beignets. They come with either espresso chocolate sauce or apple butter, and we - of course - opted for the chocolate sauce. They were wonderful bits of fried dough, with not too much powedered sugar and not greasy at all. A bag of them contained about 10 for $6 - we had a few then and took the rest home to have with afternoon coffee where a few seconds in the microwave were all they needed to be perfect again. While these were excellent, it would be nice to be able to get half the amount. Unless you are sharing 10 of these little guys can be a bit much. Still, very yummy.

Finally we ordered a burger and fries, thinking we'd take that home and have it for dinner later. We did that with the burger, but in retrospect we should have known better thinking we could do that with the fries. We decided to eat the fries with the eggs benedict, since taking them home would mean eating them cold, nuking them and making them soft, or putting them in the toaster oven and probably burning them; none of those options would do justice to their flavor. And these are really good fries. They are handcut from Yukon gold potatoes - our favorite - and fried just right so not be too greasy. Excellent flavor, perfect crunch, and the small order ($3) was plenty with our brunch.

Then there was the burger - wow. Full disclosure: we did not eat this fresh; instead we took it home, put it in the fridge, and then heated it up for dinner. And it was still damn good. They have plenty of options, but we opted for half-pound bacon and cheeseburger for $10 (hey, we were splitting it). Even though it wasn't fresh this was one of the best burgers I've ever had, and I don't give that praise lightly. The pasture-raised beef was cooked just right for both of us, which is amazing since I lean towards preferring my meat medium while Wifey prefers only a slight bit of pink - this was right in the middle (it was probably pinker fresh, but the microwave cooked it a tad too). The accompanying bits - pickles, lettuce, onion, tomato - were fresh, tasty, and nicely proportioned so not to overpower the star, the meat itself. The bun, a brioche from Grand Central Bakery, was also pretty dang good.

The service was excellent too - and like their slogan, fast.

The only thing I didn't love about the cart was the coffee. However, since the French-pressed Caffe Vita was free last Saturday to all customers, I can't exactly complain about it either. I'm not sure if it was the blend, if the beans were a little burnt, or if maybe I just don't like French-pressed coffee, but it seemed bitter to me. It was free though.

And yes, this was the most I've ever spent at a food cart, especially for two people, even if it ended up being two meals and an afternoon snack for both of us. It's handy, though, that they take credit and debit cards - most carts are cash only. It's a little more expensive than other carts, but the quality of the food justifies the cost.

I absolutely, whole-heartedly recommend making Etta a destination on your eating travels. When Violetta opens (website says late May or June), Wifey and I will be there as well. If it stands up to our first trip to Etta, this could very well become our go-to dining option in downtown Portland. Go there. You will like it.

Soup Is Good

Like a lot of people I ate a lot of soup when I was growing up and even in college - and like a lot of people that soup began and ended with the Campbell's brand. It's cheap, it's filling (well, the Chunky stuff anyway), and it's also absolutely horrible for you because it's so packed with sodium. Due to the unhealthiness of it all I'd stayed away from soup up until the last couple years because I guess I just didn't know how good it can be. Plus, for some reason, I just didn't even think about soup as an option for a meal - a sandwich or a burger just always sounded so much better, so much more complete.

Of course, that's a bunch of crap too. A good soup has protein, great taste, and a fantastic amount of vegetables, and if there is anything my diet could use more of its vegetables.

When I hit the food cart pod on 4th and College the other day I didn't have anything specific in mind, until I saw the Portland Soup Company cart. That cart itself begs to be noticed, with the nicely painted and stained wood on the outside it really welcomes you in. Plus, they had tomato soup as one of their four soups of the day, and if I'm a sucker for any soup it's tomato. Plus, they do sandwiches, so I figured I'd try a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

The first cup of soup ($4 each) I ordered (and all of this I brought home to share with Wifey) was Roasted Tomato Reggiano. It's basically a classic creamy tomato, but with cheese and chunks of bread mixed in - and it was pure creamy goodness. A cup of soup comes with half a ciabatta roll too, so there was plenty of bread to go around. There was plenty of tomato flavor and the cheese really came through - and you could tell this was made with some good dairy.

The second cup of soup was a Braised Beef...something. I say something because I can't recall what exactly it was called and nothing on the list of soups on their website sounds right. This soup had a moderate hotness to it (which was a little exacerbated when you ate a whole peppercorn) and amazingly moist beef. It wasn't nearly as thick as the tomato, but wasn't watered down either, and had some peppers and tomatoes mixed in with it.

Both soups were fantastic - not only would I highly recommend them, I'd absolutely get them again (this time in a bowl, which is $6).

The sandwich may have been just as good. They had a couple different options ($4 half, $6 whole - I got whole), but I chose the Slow Smoked Pork Butt sandwich, which also had cabbage and apple slaw. The meat was fantastic. Seriously, I'm not sure it gets much better, honestly. I loved the light smokiness to the meat and it had just the right saltiness as well. The apple slaw lent good sweetness. The bread was solid - not the greatest bread ever, but good enough not to detract from the ingredients. Actually, maybe that's the best choice, so it doesn't take away from the star of the show.

Will I be going back to the Portland Soup Company? Absolutely - I can't wait. You should go to. And as you can tell from Yelp and the review on Food Carts Portland, I'm hardly the only one pleased with their meal. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Some Good, Some Bad

It's been awhile since I threw some little thoughts together, so here's a few things that have been bouncing around.

• Got some dinner from the Che Cafe food cart a couple weeks ago now. I haven't written about it - like I have with all the others - because frankly I wasn't that impressed. It's not that it was bad, it's just that it wasn't necessarily good either.
  
  We ordered a sloppy joe special they had going and meat capellini (beef wrapped bacon in marinara and angel hair pasta). The sloppy joe was decent - almost sweet, actually - and it came with a whole potato's worth of fries. The meat in the capellini was decent, but the sauce wasn't anything special.
  
  The couple who runs the cart was very nice. I'd probably go there again if I was in the area and hungry, but the truth is I'm not in the area that often and I wouldn't say I need to go out of my way for it.
  
• On the flip side, we've now been to The Sugar Cube about 35 times now. You think I'm kidding, but I don't think I am. We've tried all the cupcakes Kir has had so far, as well as some fresh apple pie, malted hot chocolate, brownie with olive oil, mocha panna cotta, hot apple cider, and various other things I know I'm forgetting.
  
  She never disappoints. And I think she never will. In Kir we trust.
  
• Why does the mall always have to be so damn hot? Seriously. It's 30 degrees outside, I come in wearing a coat, gloves, and a sweatshirt, yet someone who runs the mall thinks it needs to be 70 degrees. And some idiot thinks Macy's has to be 75. Really? Does it really need to be that hot?
  
  Especially around Christmas time this is even more annoying, because the collective body heat of all the people ramps it up another 10 degrees. Ten minutes into my little shopping excursion I haven't bought anything but I'm down to my T-shirt and my arms are full of the aforementioned coat, sweater, and gloves. What a joy.
  
  I propose they lower the temperature to 60. I still might be warm, but I probably won't be sweating. I'm sure the employees would hate that, but at the same time when has any store that is in the mall ever cared about their employees? All they do is cost them money, right? (That was tongue in cheek - don't get angry mall workers.)
  
• Speaking of the mall, I always seem to think I need to go there every year to finish off my Christmas shopping, and ever year I prove to myself I'm wrong. It's busy, parking is a mess, they never have anything I want, and what they do have I know I can find cheaper online.
  
  Thank goodness for the internet, Amazon.com, and holiday free shipping specials from just about every online retailer I like to shop from. Maybe next year I'll learn and just enjoy the thrill of shopping from my desk - and getting better deals than I'll ever find in a brick and mortar store.
  
• Batdorf and Bronson, the coffee company I've talked about earlier because of their excellent Dancing Goats blend, did a Holiday blend this year that is very smooth and solid. Some Holiday blends - like Peet's, for example - are too smooth for their own good, but this one has decent flavor to go with good smoothness. It's good for mixing and for having on it's own.
  
  I know you can find it in Portland at Whole Foods, but haven't seen that brand anywhere else.
  
• Why is it joggers feel like they have to run in the street? I mean, we have sidewalks, right? Sure, if there is no sidewalk, fine, but if there is a sidewalk shouldn't there be some kind of obligation to use it?
  
  I get it - sidewalks aren't as smooth as the street and they have that constant up and down at the entrance to every driveway, but at the same time they exist for a reason: so pedestrians don't get hit by cars.
  
  I can't count the number of times since the days started getting shorter I've almost hit a stupid jogger because they can't manage to stay out of the street. You know, the street that is for cars?
  
  This goes for kids too - the street isn't a playground. I'm not saying this to sound like an old man - though sometimes I feel that way - but I'm saying it so you don't die. Thank me later. By getting the hell out of the street.
  
• Quick note to bicyclists: Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway west of Scholls Ferry Road is not a good place to ride your bike. There is no bike lane, the speed limit is 35, cars go 45, and the lanes are narrow all the way out to Highway 217.
  
  Traffic rules clearly state that when no bike lane exists you can use the sidewalk - please do.
  
  I get the fact some people think bicyclists should be afforded the same rules as cars. That's fine. If you are Lance Armstrong and can go 35 miles an hour and accelerate at least as fast as a Tri-Met bus that's fine. If you can't, please use the sidewalk. You are just backing up traffic.
  
• The lovely church I drive by every day on the way to work - that I immortalized forever with their thought process here - seems to have calmed down. After that message there was an innocuous one, followed by multiple weeks of a blank board.
  
  I was so curious I almost pulled in one day to see if the church had moved or gone out of business. (Can a church even go out of business? I have no idea.) Then, right about the time I'd decided to stop in there, a new message cropped up, just as innocuous as the one before.
  
  Are they done with the craziness? It's weird...after I posted that earlier note the message was just up for a couple more days before it came down, and since then, no crazy. It's odd, because there was plenty of crazy before.
  
  I seriously doubt anything I write could influence anyone to do anything, but it's an odd little coincidence. Maybe I should be worried...
  

Coming soon - more kitty and puppy pics!

Fishing the Frying Scotsman

We're big fans of fish here at the blog. Wifey and I love the fresh salmon and halibut - some of the healthiest fish, not to mention the yummiest - you can get here in the Northwest. And while we love the salmon on a cedar plank on the grill or a foil wrapped pouch of halibut with lemon, butter and some spice, deep fried fish and chips is never a bad thing.

Enter the Frying Scotsman, a food cart run by a bona fide Scot over in the NW Industrial Area of Portland. It's in an area without food options directly nearby, tucked into a garage. The handy part about that is if its raining, customers don't have to worry about waiting in the elements for their flaky fish to finish frying. Say that five times fast.

The cart offers a few different kinds of fish - cod, halibut, red snapper, haddock - as well as a daily soup and chips (or fries, or cooked potatoes - whatever you want to call them).

Wifey and I decided to go for one each, so she ordered halibut - something we both love - and I ordered haddock, a fish neither of us had ever eaten. Each order came with two pretty good sized portions of fish and what looked to be an entire potato each. The breading is light and not oily, something I'm a big fan of since that overly oiled fish and chips you get some places just makes my stomach turn.

The halibut was every bit as good as one should expect from halbut - flaky goodness. The haddock surprised us. We weren't sure what to expect but it has a sweet flavor to it that gives it nice contrast to the rest of the meal. Note to self - keep an eye out for haddock in the store... This is apparently the most traditional fish used, so it's good to know we can be appreciative of the classic.

The chips were plentiful and yummy. Not a lot of seasoning, but just the right amount. It also came with a tartar sauce and some coleslaw (strong on the onion). We also ordered a cup of the soup of the day, a vegetable barley which was very good.

So, two thumbs up from us. But, don't listen to what we say, know this: The two people who ordered before us in line were both from the UK (I'm sorry, I don't know the accents well enough to place them exactly, to know if they were English, Scottish, Irish, Welsch, etc.) and both were extremely appreciative for this cart existing because it reminded them of food from home (my interpretation - they seemed happy). One guy even bought his food to "take to the pub" with him, which I thought was interesting.

The prices are also good. Halibut is the most expensive at $7.50 an order, but that's a lot less than you usually find it around town. Cod and snapper are $6.25, and haddock is $6.50 (prices include the chips).

Good stuff - go and enjoy.

The Sugar Cube - Heaven in a Cart

I think we've made our love of cupcakes pretty clear, but just in case you aren't sure: we love them.

But, as good as any of those cupcakes in that post are, they can't hold a candle to The Sugar Cube food cart operated by Kir Jensen at the Mississippi Marketplace in North Portland. Kir apparently had a similar dessert cart previously, but had to close, re-plan, and has opened this new outpost of goodness.

Her cart is pretty - looks like Neopolitan ice cream, and you can see plenty of great pictures here. Sorry, no pictures from us - it was raining like hell when we went.

We happened to go opening day, last Thursday. Her menu is a tribute to sweet deliciousness and although small, it's amazing.

Our first item was something called Beer.Cheese.Bacon. It was a Guinness and ginger spice cake topped with Fifty Licks (a local brand) Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, bacon praline, honey, and white cheddar. I'm not usually a big fan of spice cake, but all the flavors here - which don't at first glance seem like they should go together - work in the best possible way.

The whole reason we actually stopped by was for cupcakes though. Foodies all over the Net have been lauding Kir's cupcakes and we've been chomping at the bit to get a chance at them, since we missed out the first time around (what were we thinking, coming late to Portland's food scene?!). The Highway to Heaven, in particular, was top of the list. She's doing a cupcake a week for now, and has a few she will be working into rotation. Thankfully opening week included this one.

Thankfully, as in thank the gods of chocolate across all universes. This chocolate buttermilk cupcake is easily the most moist (say that five times fast) we've ever had, and when she fills it with salted caramel center and tops it with chocolate ganache. It's absolutely, hands down, the greatest cupcake ever. No arguments. I will fight anyone who declares otherwise. Okay, maybe not, but I can't fathom anyone disagreeing after giving this a bite.

That was enough for one day...but we went back on the weekend. Since those cupcakes were simply so damn good and it might be a couple weeks before they are available again, we went back. I mean, how could we not? Pouring down rain or not, how could we turn our backs on the greatest cupcakes ever?

So went back, and got two more to bring home with us. This time we also checked out the Ultimate Brownie, topped with fleur de sel, chocolate ganache, and olive oil. Wait, what? Olive oil? Yep, we were skeptical too. But just like with the bacon and cheese mixed with the ice cream and spice cake, these flavors complement each other in a spectacular way. I believe the comment I heard from somewhere - might have been from my mouth, might have been from Wifey's - was "Where have you been all my life Sugar Cube?!"

It's that good. I know, this all sounds over the top and ridiculous, but I only save that for the best, and this is the best.

Unable to stop, we also ordered a Hot Chocolate Malted. It's a malted Ovaltine drink, whole milk, Venezuelan milk chocolate, whipped cream, and smoked Hawaiian sea salt. Again, it's not flavors I would think of mixing, but it was fantastically good. Personally we had never had Ovaltine before and really didn't know what to expect, but given the quality of the other items we figured it had to be good. And it was. It's not like some of the rich hot chocolates/drinking chocolates we've tried from places like Sahagun or Coffeehouse Northwest, but it stands on it's own as a fantastic drink on a cold, rainy day. And we've had a lot of those lately.

So, if you are keeping score, that's four fantastic items and nothing less than that. If that doesn't make The Sugar Cube a must visit, along with all my hyperbole, I don't know what will.

Check out Kir's Twitter account for updates. Her plan at the moment is to be open Thursday-Sunday from noon-7 (5 on Sunday), but that's very likely will change. With the Prost German pub right there, there is definitely the possibility of people needing yummy sweets late night, and she plans on taking advantage of those customers (that came out weird - not in a bad way, just presenting them with options).

None of these items will break your bank. Just go. Why are you still reading?! Go!

Late Night on Hawthorne

There is a pod of food carts at the corner of SE 12th and Hawthorne that I have written about before a tiny bit. A couple months ago Wifey and I hit up Whiffie's for a fried pie after a great dinner at Biwa and left not all that impressed.

But, we've been meaning to go back. Wifey has had a hankering for something called poutine from a cart called Potato Champion. Now, I had no idea what poutine was, but apparently it's a mixture of french fries, cheese curds, and onion covered in gravy. And guess what? It's Canadian food! Who knew there was such a thing?! It originated in Quebec, I hear, so it's not French - just has a French name since it came from French Canada.

We've been meaning to get back to this pod for awhile, but were limited by the fact most of the carts there - including Potato Champion - don't open until 8pm. To be real honest, we just aren't out that late too often. And we have this rule about not eating past 9, so that kind of limits the opportunities. The other day we said screw it, we have to go.

Parking in that area isn't ideal, at all. There is street parking, but we tend to park across Hawthorne, which means navigating four lanes of traffic in the dark with no crosswalks. Okay, I lie - there is a light about a block away, but jaywalking is so much easier. And I'm probably exaggerating; traffic there at that time of night isn't that bad. Still, it's not great.

We got there a little after 9pm. The pod has a nice covered area to sit and eat - nice when it's raining - and it's quite the hangout spot. There were a decent amount of people there, but thankfully no line for us.

Potato Champion specializes in one thing: french fries. Their menu is small and they put a lot of focus on what you dip your fries in. A lot of the sauces look intriuging (ketchup and truffle?), but the star is the poutine. Wifey and I ordered a single order ($4.50) with extra gravy (+ $.50) - the extra gravy came at the recommendation of people sharing online.

I'll be honest here - that's plenty for us to share, let alone one person. There were a decent amount of fries, big chunks of cheese curds, large cuts of onion (but not too much), and all of it smothered with a very good gravy with plenty of flavor (not a typical brown beef gravy, like the picture on the Wikipedia link above). It was fantastic. All the flavors melded nicely. I'm not entirely sure we needed the extra gravy, but it was hardly bad.

We highly recommend this place and we'll be going back, to try the other fries and for more poutine. Maybe not at the same time.

Since we get to this area at this time so rarely, we decided to try another place that's been on the list for awhile too: Perierra Creperie (no website, but they are on Twitter and have good reviews on Yelp).

Now, I've had crepes before and I love them. The light wrap filled with sweet or savory is quite the tasty treat. However, I've never had them like Perierra does them. They make the typical crepe slightly crunchier than I've had it, but for good reason. After cooking the crepe they fill half of it with the desired filling (there are at least 10 each options for sweet or savory), then it gets folded in half and then thirds before being slid into a handy wrap so it can be eaten on the go.

After the poutine we elected to go sweet, so went with the S'mores crepe (it was $5 or $6 - can't recall which, it being two days ago and all). I believe the chocolate was Nestle chocolate chips (I think, that's what it tasted like to me...) and all folded together fresh and hot inside the wrap it was a fantastic dessert - nice and tasty. We'd definitely go back to try some of the other flavors - and they also do shakes and smoothies.

Two carts, two thumbs up - both are worth your time.

Melt In Your Mouth

Last month I did an entry about finding sandwiches in Portland and my thoughts on what are considered the best spots in the city. Literally a couple days after posting that entry someone posted on Twitter (it might have been Barista, might have been Coffeehouse Northwest, can't recall) about a new sandwich place up on NW 21st, between Irving and Jefferson they claimed was excellent.

So natuarlly Melt Sandwiches shot near the top of the must visit list (website here, but it's only a shell so read about them on Yelp).

Saturday was hair did day for Wifey, so I went out on the prowl for some good eats, with this place on the list to pick up lunch. After reading through the Yelp reviews we had already picked out what we wanted without ever seeing the menu - pot roast sandwich for her and the chicken for me.

When I walked in, not too long after 11am, the place was empty of customers, with just the cashier/order taker guy and a couple people in the kitchen, which is semi-open. Well, I guess it is open, just not right next to the seating. He explained to me the concept of Melt - hot sandwiches with high quality ingredients - and talked about their new Happy Hour menu (yep, they also serve drinks). I glanced at the menu for only a few seconds before ordering, which I think surprised him a bit since I also told him this was my first time in.

After I had paid for the sandwiches I happened to notice a tray of chocolate cakey-looking things. They were round - about two and a half inches diamater - and tall, roughly the height of one and a half cupcakes. I asked what they were and he told me mocha brownies, then also added all their desserts were homemade just for them. Well, I had to get one of those two.

Both sandwiches were excellent. Wifey's pot roast was perfectly cooked and came with a light amount of gravy and onions. If you think back to the yummy pot roasts mom or grandma made when you were young, then hack off a piece and put it on a sandwich, you have this. Oh yeah, it was good. Very good.

While the pot roast was a simple flavor done very well, my chicken sandwich was a veritable medley of goodness. The chicken was moist and well cooked, and along with that on the bread was avocado, apple-wood smoked bacon, onion marmalade, jalapeno orange mayo, and pepper jack cheese. It wasn't hot at all, just had a nice little kick, and I loved the orange flavor mixed in with all the others.

Both sandwiches also came with potato chips.

The mocha brownie was decent, but not great. There were bits of bean grounds in it, which were weren't expecting and are not quite sure we liked. It was also a tad dry for my tastes - I admit it, I love the gooey ones - but it was obviously done with a lot of attention to detail. If you don't like gooey you'll probably enjoy the brownie more than I did (but like I said, it was still good).

So yes, we loved Melt and we'll definitely go back. Of course, the question now is, where does it rank with the other big three (Meat Cheese Bread, Bunk, Kenny & Zuke's)? You won't like this, but much as I did with those three I'm copping out again. Here was my conclusion about those three:

So is there a winner here? I mean, after all of this I should pick one, right? That's the whole point of having a "throwdown" isn't it?

Well, I can't. See, in my view all three of these places - while all serving sandwiches - fill a different niche, a different craving.

Meat Cheese Bread is perfect in its simplicity, the place you go when you don't want something out of the norm but still want it to be good.

Bunk fills the need to challenge your taste buds, to present you with the chance to try something you never thought you would eat, or maybe just never thought of putting on a sandwich.

Kenny and Zuke's is the place to go for variety, the place that harkens back to what many people think a sandwich shop should be (and after experiencing it, not having been to one in New York, it's hard to disagree).

All three of these places also serve various breakfast foods which I have not tried, but plan to at some point.

In all honesty, it just depends on your mood and what sounds good - all three are excellent and will make your stomach happy.

I have the same conclusion here. See, Melt has a different thing to set them apart from the other three - hot sandwiches. That's not to say the others don't have hot sandwiches or you might not go there for a hot sandwich, but this is Melt's trademark and from what I can tell they do it pretty damn good.

Simply put, you can't go wrong.

***

I checked out a food cart at the 10th and Alder pod of carts for lunch the other day, Addy's Sandwich Bar. I picked up the ham and gruyere sandwich. The ingredients were very good and worked excellent together - I love a good gruyere - but I think the star was the bread.

Addy's mini baguettes she uses for these sandwiches come from Little T American Baker (yep, if you read the blog you've heard me raving about them before) and they are absolutely perfect. A light crust on the outside, not too hard it makes your mouth raw, with amazing softness inside. This sandwich made me want to drive up Division to get some of these rolls myself.

Overall the sandwich was very good and it's quick and easy and cheap. I'm definitely going back because I need to try the chocolate, sea salt, and olive oil. Putting that on those baguettes sounds simply divine; just thinking about eating that makes me feel French.