Jake’s Famous Crawfish
April 16, 2008
- Jake’s Website
- Location: Pearl (across Burnside)
- Cost to fill up two people: $80-$100
My online buddy Gary was in town, so we caught some glass art and headed to the Pearl for dinner. After sifting through choices, we settled on one I’d heard about, Jake’s, off 12th and Burnside. I’m usually leery of any restaurant with the word “famous” in the title (I mean, Hitler was famous, too, right?), but collegial raves told me to ignore my instincts and try it anyway.
So much for my instincts: It was really good. During the meal I discovered that Jake’s is owned by McCormick & Schmick’s, one of my favorite Beaverton seafood joints, which explains a lot. [Read more]
Press Club
April 13, 2008
- Press Club website (review)
- Location: Southeast Clinton neighborhood
- Price to fill up two people: $20 to $30
Savoy Tavern & Bistro
April 12, 2008
- Savoy Website (Citysearch)
- Location: SE Clinton area
- Cost to fill up two people: About $40
Bunch of us were down in the SE Clinton district on Saturday night, looking for a quiet place to talk and eat. Somehow we wound up in Wisconsin (or at least the northwestern version of Wisconsin) at the Savoy Tavern & Bistro.
Outwardly, the Savoy looks like any other semifunky tiny Northwestern cafe. There were a couple of wrought iron tables outside (with the requisite cute baby and dog), about six small tables inside, and a small, select menu of sandwiches, savories, and entrees that included deep-fried cheese curds.
Cheese curds are salty, milky, tofu-like nuggets, an interim step between milk and cheese, and they squeak against your teeth. They’re pretty common in the Great Lakes states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and hard to find if there’s not a cheese factory nearby. The waitress explained that the restaurant owner’s from Wisconsin.
In any case, we opted for the olive salad as an appetizer (it was good), and burgers with Wisconsin cheese. The service was lovely, the waitress extremely patient with the vagaries of a bunch of art types. Interestingly, the wines were mostly French, definitely NOT from the Great Lakes.
Tip: If the waitress sets a small bowl of creamy goop next to your salad, do NOT assume it’s the salad dressing. Taste before applying to your greens, because it may in fact be your tablemate’s very spicy honey mustard, capable of setting your nose on fire. (ask me how I know this)
Skyline Drive-in
April 10, 2008
- Skyline Drive-in website (CitySearch)
- Location: NW Portland (Cornell & Skyline)
- Cost to fill up two people: About $18
If you’re looking for the old-fashioned carhop skating to your rolled-down window, this ain’t it, although there’s a mural of same painted in the stalls where that used to happen.
But in every other respect, Skyline Drive-in is a 50s throwback, vinyl booths, kitsch and all. Probably the coolest part is that this isn’t a “theme” restaurant, where decorators carefully calibrated the poodle skirt reproductions. Skyline just grew that way. [Read more]
Rose’s Deli & Bakery
April 9, 2008
- Rose’s Website
- Location: NW 23rd St. (Restaurant Row)
- Cost to fill up two people: $20-$25
Live in New York for any period of time, even if you hate it, and you’ll become a delisnob. Delisnobs are those annoying, black-clad folk who kindly remind us that ONLY a New York deli can produce truly delicious pastrami, corned beef, dill pickles, potato salad, lox, bagels, rye bread, etc.
Quest for voltage
April 9, 2008
I want a car that plugs in, if I can ever find one that (a) really exists and (b) really exists where I live.
Car makers make it sound as though all it takes to drive electric is an open road, a plug, and a credit card. The reality, however, is quite different.
Buddy, can you spare the time?
April 6, 2008
Hmmmm. I think the glass me looks a lot less harried.
Whenever this blog stops being about glass for awhile, one or two people will drop me a line about it. Gee, it’s nice that you folks notice. (Thanks!)
This morning, for example, I received a gentle prod about the lack of glassist posts. “Loved the thing about the self-portrait, but what are you working on now?”
Truth be told? Nothing. [Read more]
Ouch
April 5, 2008
Cleaned out the garage. REALLY messy garage. Filled up a 12 foot-long dumpster to the brim.
Everything aches. I think even my HAIR aches.
Thank heavens for my sister and her family. They were down at the Japanese Gardens, caught wind of my project and zoomed over to help. For hours we hauled, demolished (useless hulking cabinets that took up space but wouldn’t store anything), swept, and toted, hefted, carried, lugged.
Now I’ve got a pristine garage with a lot of stuff on the floor, waiting for me to create storage for it. So I’m finally ready for the fun stuff: Planning and building in workbenches and storage to make this a real casting shop.
Well, that and a place to stick the car…
(And thanks, Suzanne, Jerald, Morgan, Aubrey, and Lily.)
Spring resolution
April 1, 2008
After much work, last spring I finally got a good closeup of the backend of a bee:
This spring, I’m resolving to get a good shot of the FRONT end of the bee…
Angela’s earrings
April 1, 2008
OK, you gotta follow me a bit here. Anybody ever catch an episode of Lost in Space, the scifi-with-a-moral TV show of my childhood? Not the movie, the TV show!
No? OK, try this: “DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!”
Got it now? Good. Now…remember the daughter?