Evoe/Pastaworks
October 12, 2008
- Restaurant website
- Location: Hawthorne District
- Price to fill up two people: $20 or less
One of my favorite pasttimes in Provence (besides glassmaking) was strolling through the village on market day then stopping at the local cafe for a leisurely sandwich or charcuterie plate with citron pressé. Small, intensely flavorful and absolutely unpretentious, this was fingerfood made in heaven, about as far from what you get at the mall Subway as a good croissant is from Rainbow Bread.
Well, lordee lordee, there’s a Provençal-style cafe in Portland, and it is exquisite.
Evoe is attached to Pastaworks, a little wine-and-gourmet shop on Hawthorne between the two Powells bookstores. It’s not very big, just a few tables, and whatever’s on the menu is chalked up on giant boards behind the cooking area. “It changes,” said my waitress, “daily. Or maybe more if something great comes in.”
Firkin & Frog
August 28, 2008
- Restaurant website
- Location: Vancouver, Wa
- Price to fill up two people: About $30
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.
Nancy’s Kitchen
March 27, 2008
- Nancy’s Kitchen website (actually, CitySearch, can’t find restaurant site)
- Location: Pearl district
- Cost to fill up two people: $20 or so
Had some time this morning, so Robyn and I tried doing brunch instead of dinner (and since it was on a Thursday, we didn’t worry about lines). We headed for a place called Nancy’s Kitchen in the Pearl, just off Glisan and 16th, across the street from the Mission Pub & Theatre.
The first thing you notice about this place is that you actually can find parking, normally a near-impossibility. In fact, there’s a spacious parking lot, which is a strong incentive to come here even if the food isn’t good.
But not to worry–the food is very good. [Read more]