Pambiche
2811 NE Glisan Street
Portland, OR
I don’t recall/remember/know how or when this began but, somehow, I have been deemed to be the subject-matter expert when it comes to Latin American food. Don’t get me wrong, I do really appreciate people think that is the case; however, I am not sure to what extent my expertise goes, as Latin America cuisine goes in almost all directions: from meat in Argentina, to seafood in Peru, to spices in the West Indies. The list goes on and on. But, rather than taking it for granted, I take it as a challenge. So why bring this? Since our showing of Latin food in Vancouver is heavily skewed towards Mexican, other Latin cuisines have been extremely shadowed by it. The only growing sprouts of other Latin cuisine have been Peruvian (El Inka Deli and Mochikas, which I still have to go) and Salvadorean (Rinconcito Salvadoreño) but even then, they are “forced” to serve Mexican dishes because the public “demands” it. But, given I was in the US, with a heavier Latin, non-Mexican influx, I thought I should give these other places a try. And the place is one of the top rated restaurants in Portland and which Sherman heavily recommended me give it a try: Pambiche.
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Tagged as:
Latin America,
Pork,
Portland
Stepping Stone Cafe
2390 NW Quimby Street
Portland, OR
Hello from Portland!
Yes, finally, after been grounded at work for several months, I am finally travelling again. OK, OK, I was in both Tacoma and Tukwila but, you know what, that does not really count as it can be done as a day trip. However, Portland, while is driving distance as well, is slightly different. By the time you get here, chances are you might want to stay at least a couple of nights.
So, unlike certain other border crossings, this time it went relatively smooth and managed to drive from Downtown Vancouver to my hotel (in Uptown Portland) in about 8 or so hours (with a couple of stops in between – without the stops, it would have been ~6.5 hours), which meant I arrived early enough… To go to an open restaurant!!! Which then again begs the usual question… Which one?
I ended up going to Stepping Stone Cafe for one reason: it is a diner. Granted, there are a lot other restaurants in the area (think a combination of Kits and Commercial Drive) but, at the same time, it has that odd forced “fakeness” to it. So, rather to go to some of the these more “posh” places, I chose to go to what might be the lowest common denominator – but, then again, my reputation for selecting this type of restaurants is quite well know…
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Tagged as:
Diner,
Portland
Johnny’s Burger Stop
I-5 Exit 212
Stanwood, WA
There are time where I believe I am a glutton for punishment (but in a really bad way). On my way to the US, before crossing the border, I decide to “skip” lunch and hopefully find something on my way to Seattle. However, there are times you are not certain what/when to eat and you skip option after option (of course, these options are usually well known chain restaurants). Now, there is nothing wrong with your McD’s if you are hungry but, you always think “I want to get something ‘better’”.
In a wacky way, that’s what sort of happened to me: I was so darn hungry but was still at least an hour away from Seattle so I decided to take an exit and eat first. However, it was the same usual suspects for several exits and suddenly I gave up and take the very next one. When I did, I realized that, after the exit, I had to drive several Kms before hitting those chain restaurants. Almost admitting defeat, I then look at the other way and see Johnny’s Burger Stop, a place that I have seen everytime I drive through I-5 to Seattle because of a sort of unique feature: that chimney with smoke puffing out. As they say, when there is smoke…
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Seattle
Old Szechuan Restaurant
10703 – 103 Street
Edmonton, AB
During my initial post of my BC Day/Heritage Day long weekend in Edmonton, I made a remark about The Lingnan, whose claim to include being part of a show called The Family Restaurant: The Quons. In that post, I wrote “I know, I know, this isn’t authentic Chinese…” Now, here is a key detail, based on ingredient availability and taste, it is almost a guarantee dishes will change (in fact, I am looking forward for a book to be published later this year on this topic. Check details about it here). So, on my last night in Edmonton, after a visit to the Devonian Botanical Gardens, a friend of Trinh (whom I am going to refer as “K”) called, which, in turn, checked with me. While initially I didn’t have any expectations as to what to eat or where to eat, this time, I made a selfish request: Can we try a Chinese restaurant? Given K’s background, it seems like a good idea: to find something Chinese but not Chinese Canadian. (Sorry, Trinh, I knew you wanted to try something “Western”!).
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Tagged as:
Chinese,
Edmonton,
Pork
Furusato Japanese Restaurant
10012 Northwest 82 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
When I first started food blogging, at first, there weren’t that many people reading my posts. Well, in a way, that is expected, given that I didn’t really put too much effort in meeting others. After meeting with other food bloggers, let’s just say things started to improve. For the most part, most people commenting were from here in BC. Except for one, whose “name” was “raidar”. Eventually, I found that Chris (raidar’s in-real-life name), who writes Eating is the Hard Part, was from Edmonton. So, not long after I made all the arrangements for this trip to Edmonton, I started to check with people in that province and Chris’ name popped almost right away. So, as with almost any meeting with food bloggers (and, in this case, it does not matter from what province or country, as it happened with Phyllis), what better place to meet than… A restaurant to break some bread! And given that Chris has written so many times about Furusato, and the endless comparison with Vancouver, I suggested we should give this place a try. And to Furusato we went!
Update: Chris’ post is here!
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Japanese,
Sushi
Tràng Tiên
9449 Jasper Ave
Edmonton, AB
Finally, my posts from Edmonton! As suggested a couple of weeks ago, I went to Edmonton for BC Day/Heritage Day long weekend and, finally, I am catching up with those posts, hehehehe. Actually, at this point, I am starting to wonder if the posts in this month of August will be mostly non-BC based… Other than Minoas Greek Taverna (a min-gathering suggested by Elaine) and Mui Ngo Gai, all the posts so far have been from Tacoma and Edmonton. But, wait, what about the rest of the month, there are still weeks to go, right? Well, yeah… In part! Because, as possibly suggested by some tweets (here and here), I just came back from Portland! (And, yes, there will be some food carts!).
But back to Tràng Tiên… Not sure if you might have or might not have caught up but, when I wrote in last Friday’s post of Mui Ngo Gai, I made reference to “a reader” suggesting order other dishes in addition to pho or banh mi. That reader happened to be Trinh who was my host during my trip in Edmonton. So, putting things to test, I asked Trinh if she could take us to a place she would go for pho or, in her case, bún bò hue. And that’s how we ended up going to Tràng Tiên
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Pho,
Vietnamese
Friesenburgers
308 East 26th Street
Tacoma, WA
Hmmmmm…. Burger…. That quintessential North American sandwich. And I will be more than willing to admit I am at times guilty to have one too many burgers. Something that can be really cheap (and done well) and something where you can also make it fancy for no other reason just because (and, in my opinion, break its simplicity). Despite its bad rap, if done well, it can be a thing of beauty. And, again, who better than Americans for this creation? So, on my last day in Tacoma, on my way back to Vancouver, I had to do a small stop for lunch and what better place, than, well, a burger shop? And that’s how I ended up in Friesenburgers.
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Tacoma
