Hash and My Brother’s Crawfish
October 14, 2008
- Hash Restaurant
- Location: Sellwood district
- Price to fill up two for breakfast: $9
- My Brother’s Crawfish
- Location: Sellwood district
- Price to fill up two for dinner: $??
The last time I checked, this blog was up to about 750 regular readers, which is kinda surprising for a private blog that doesn’t advertise. About a dozen are regular commenters but, interestingly, many, many more send private email about stuff I write. Even more interestingly, much of the private stuff is about restaurants–places to try, funky, not-so-great experiences, etc.
In a spirit of generosity (or maybe sheer laziness), figured I oughta let them speak a bit. So when Oregon Glass Guild members Ed and Donna LaPlante sent a little note about two new restaurants, well… take it away, guys:
#1 …. Hash, in Sellwood
I had a 2 egg, 4 item omelet w/smoked tomatoes, bacon, cheddar and chanterelle mushrooms for $9, yumm! Included bread and a fruit bowl, good coffee too.
#2 …. My Brothers Crawfish , SE 82nd.
This was listed in the Oregonian food insert this past Friday.
We ate there a few weeks ago and had gumbo and etoufee. Both very good, filling and spicy. We also had catfish bites appetizer, very good. This place is in a circular strip mall arrangement you can see from 82nd but only enter from the side street.
There are two Vietnamese brothers from Houston running the kitchen and an attentive wait staff. The inside is dark and comfortable with contemporary art on the walls. They do a lot of take out with bags of spicy crawfish flying out the door, that is what we will try next time.
Thanks, Ed. I wanna give both of them a shot.
Fishwife
July 12, 2008
- Restaurant website
- Location: North Portland (Portsmouth) almost to St. Johns
- Price to fill up two people: $40-$50
If you’re a glassist or ceramicist in Portland, you’ve probably been to Harbor Freight and Georgie’s, right? If you just keep heading down that road (Lombard), almost to St. Johns, you’ll drive by (and probably miss) the Fishwife. That’s a shame, because they run a real fish house.
Bread & Ink Cafe
May 8, 2008
- Bread & Ink Cafe website
- Location: SE Hawthorne district
- Price to fill up two people for dinner: About $70
The Spanish tapas place we aimed for had gone out of business, so Robyn and I strolled Hawthorne looking for the next best thing. I remembered reading about Bread & Ink somewhere, the menu was impressive, and so we gave it a shot.
In the end, it reminded me of the old rhyme: When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad she wasn’t as good as I’d hoped (or something like that). The first half of our Bread & Ink meal was delicious, second half less so, and overall I give it a big, fat sorta.
Bread & Ink has been around since 1982 (which these days makes it a Portland antique, I suppose), and has one of the most eclectic menus I’ve seen in awhile: Waffle sundaes share space with mojitos and morels, you can have fiddleheads and fresh scallops on your spaghetti or chuck it all and have a burger.
We opted for the fancy menu, probably should have done what our fellow diners were doing and stuck with the burger. [Read more]
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]
Paley’s Place
August 1, 2007
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Location: NW 23rd Avenue (restaurant row)
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Price to fill up two people: $50-$75
OK, I’d like these guys just for their website–it’s one of the nicest small business sites I’ve seen in awhile, and they’re also on the glass in Portland list. I probably should call it “northwestern” cuisine–they do.
It’s northwestern, though, because they opt for organic, locally grown and sustainable raw ingredients, and when they get through with it you understand why. In most restaurants, the vegetables are pretty much platefillers. Here, you come in looking for greens. I particularly like what they do with poultry–it’s juicy and flavorful. And, oddly, a colleague ordered a liver dish on the menu that day, and we all loved it.
Again in the not-cheap category–if you are conservative, a salad, entree, veggie and beverage (plus tip) is going to run about $50 each.
Wildwood
April 6, 2007
- Wildwood website
- Location: NW 21st (Restaurant Row)
- Cost to fill up two people: $60 dinner, about $35 lunch
One of the nice things about living in glassland is that, unlike Seattle or San Francisco, Portland area restaurants can get away with earth consciousness and local ingredients and all that Alice Waters-style stuff without sounding pretentious.
Wildwood manages to be quintessential Portland, including a great nod to the arts (there’s a glass wall by Liz Mapelli at the reception desk), and really horrible parking. It’s also pricey–lunch is just as good, not as crowded and noisy (usually) and cheaper.
When Wildwood is on, the food’s very good. It’s not always on, unfortunately–I’ve learned to stay away from anything that looks like a heavy or carb-rich sauce there, and concentrate on whatever’s on the menu that’s as close to its natural state as possible. Grilled meat or fish, cheeses, fresh vegetables, that’s the ticket at Wildwood.
I’m also a creme brulee nut, as I’ve said, and the ones at Wildwood are uniformly excellent (ESPECIALLY if they contain raspberries). But by far the best dish I’ve had there was the simplest, and not on the menu: A co-worker and I didn’t feel like bread–long story–and asked if we could have some carrot sticks or celery or something instead.
The lunch chef put on his thinking toque, lightly steamed some fresh veggies and sent them out with a lemony vinaigrette. It was, simply, the best vegetable dish I’ve had in the last ten years. We nearly licked the plate clean. I ask for that dish every time I go back, and nobody has any idea what I’m talking about.
All in all, it’s a nice place for lunch. And maybe if everyone asks, they’ll put those veggies on the menu.