Nong’s Khao Man Gai
SW 10th and Alder Street
Portland, OR

In a way, it was doomed to happen. Given my (somewhat unfair?) comparison of street food from outside North American to the ones in North America, it was almost certain that I had to visit an Asian one for comparison sake. And that brought the eternal question of… Which one(s)? I mean, given that the US can be as multi-cultural as Canada and, in part, I didn’t want to disappoint, I kept looking and looking around. While searching in other sites (Urbanspoon included), all of them seemd to point to two locations: Koi Fusion, which served Tex-Mex dishes with a Korean twish (take that Roaming Dragon, you are NOT the first! ) and Nong’s Khao Man Gai, a cart that sells one and only one dish. While I am sure a lot of you would think that Koi Fusion would have been a better choice (due to a direct comparison with Roaming Dragon), the fact is that I wanted instead showcase what street food ought to be. And, in that case, Nong’s Khao Man Gai was a better option.

I was quite fortunate to go there on a sunny day. The days prior to my visit were a bit gloomy (nothing wrong with that) but a sunny day provides better light conditions! Now, I am not talking about direct sunlight – for comparison purposes, check the ones I took in Mississippi Marketplace (yesterday’s post), where all the pictures of the food were take in such conditions. I am referring to those where you have some form of natural shading to diffuse the light. And, hey, it was mild, it was sunny, what better conditions to be outside for lunch!

The good part was that I arrived at around 11:45 a.m. I parked a block away and could easily see them. What I wasn’t prepared was the line that already formed. C’mon, I know that a lot of people choose to go for lunch “early” to beat the lunch rush but this was starting to get ridiculous! Of course, it might be also due to the fact that Nong’s Khao Man Gai has a really interesting set of hours: while the opening hours were set to be at 10:00 a.m. on weekdays and 12:00 on Saturday, their closing time were not set. Rather, in a true Asian street food fashion, until you run out of ingredients! I guess that added another incentive to be there early enough.

So, after I queued, I had a small wait and there was Nong herself taking orders in a heavily accented English. I will have to admit, for such a thin petite woman, she can certainly command the people inside that 8×8 cart! What was really hilarious though was what followed. At one time, she had to step away for a moment and her second was in charge of the kitchen. Well, nothing wrong with that. Except that is, they were talking in Spanish! Now, I am not being bias or stereotyped or anything. Instead, I will give them kudos. Despite all it is being said about them, you can’t deny they provide a huge percentage of the workforce, specially those that people otherwise won’t do. Now, I am not saying other race/ethnic groups do not do their part: just that the Latino community is more noticeable than the rest. And, the fact that Nong (according to the site, she is Thai) is another example that proves the case. And now, to the food!

First the drink. Now, I could have easily survived with some bottled water I have in the car (hint: always keep some bottles of water in the trunk of your car), I said “why not!”. So, here is their lychee drink. It was OK, not something I will necessarily be crazy about. At least, it wasn’t crazy sweet!

I mentioned above they serve one and only one dish. Here, their Khao Man Gai or, as Nong puts it, chicken and rice. If you have had Hainanese Chicken Rice, you pretty much have an idea of what to expect here. I apologize for not taking a picture of it in wrapped state (yup, it is not served in a container, just wrapped in butcher paper!). This is one of the few cases I was a bit too excited and opened it right away rather than take the picture first. And, while they serve only one dish, they do have some additions, like chicken liver (hey, you are cooking the whole chicken anyway. You might as well server everything!) and, on that day, fried chicken skin (alas, I didn’t noticed it until after I ordered). Also, they serve it in two sizes: a “regular” size and piset which is more of everything. I ended ordering the later.

The order came also with an order of soup on the side which is mostly a broth. It would be a bit difficult to me to describe it as I gulped it relatively fast. I know I was a glutton when I did it; however, I blame it to the fact I was partially choking myself while eating and the soup was closer than the lychee drink at that moment! (Yeah, shame on me). Still, it does follow the same lines my mom did whenever she prepared white cut chicken or Hainanese Chicken Rice: have a side soup along.

Now, back to the main dish. The cucumber I will have to say it was token, nothing wrong with that. If you choose not to eat it, well, nobody will say anything. The liver was dry as expected; however, it wasn’t extremely dry. Now, it is a bit of an acquired taste (probably “metallic” would be my best description) so, if you don’t like liver (and I am not talking foei gras), you will not like this. The good thing is that, if you don’t, just tell them and they will add more chicken!

I made mention above of Hainanese Chicken Rice and you can have an idea of what to expect, i.e. poached chicken. In my case, a direct comparison on my side can’t be avoided. For one, their dipping sauce was almost sweet (despite they mention it is spicy), which contrasts the often ginger-y, almost spicy tones of the dipping sauce used served with the Hainanese Chicken Rice. And despite I got two such sauce containers, I only used half of one – the chicken was good enough on its own. The chicken was tender and moist; however, I would have preferred the chicken a bit more rare. I know some of you might be looking at me strange right now. Rare chicken? Salmonella?! I am not saying rare in that sense, rather the chicken was cooked slightly past a certain point I prefer. I will assume it was done that way as a cover-your-ass safeguard in the case somebody does get sick. So, from that perspective, better safe than sorry approach work for me. Finally, the rice… Given that it is a staple for several Asian countries, different likes/dislikes have certainly developed depending on the region. For me, I have sort of a “depends on the dish I will be eating it with” but, in the case of Hainanese Chicken Rice, I prefer them slightly broken so that, when I put a piece of chicken dipped in the sauce on the rice, it can easily soak that sauce. Here, the rice was a bit more on the whole grain side. In fact, it still had a slight bite to it. Even then, the rice was quite fragrant and easily eaten. So, while not my top choice, it was still good.

Given the limited seats, when I got my order, I asked somebody who was seated by himself if I could join him. He certainly let me. At that point, the somewhat inquisitive nature of me kicked in and asked how he liked his. He said he really enjoyed it and the fact that he is new to the area (moved a couple of months later) but he has been coming here with certain frequency sort of tells me what I needed to know. And the long queues that was formed outside was just confirming it. To me, Nong’s Khao Man Gai does indeed showcase what I believe street food should be: One, probably two or three, dish(es) made well. Though, it wasn’t the cheapest meal (the regular is at $6, piset for $10), it is still relatively cheap given the amount of food provided and how good it was. For that reason, I will certainly come back without much hesitation (other than the ~650 Km drive from Vancouver to Portland).

Portland Food Carts @ Mississippi Marketplace
Various stands
Skidmore Street & Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR

Garden State
The Big Egg

Continuing with my trip around Portland, specifically that of food carts, one noon, I decided to go around yet another parts of town for that again, street food. At this point, I was wondering if street food was a bit of a misnomer. I mean, they aren’t necessarily sold at the curb but it has been organized to the point some of them are settled on the lots rather than sidewalks, not to mention communal areas/tables for patrons to consume their goods. So, just for sake of consistency, I will assume food carts == street food, despite they aren’t necessarily the same.

For today’s post, I went to a place called Mississippi Marketplace, I assume it name as such because it is located in Mississippi Avenue (interesting enough, there is a Vancouver Avenue; however, I doubt it is named after Vancouver, BC. Most likely Vancouver, WA?). Getting there was a bit confusing for me, as you go through residential sections and suddenly you are in a corner with several restaurants and other services. I have the odd feeling I am getting a bit too used to our city’s layout (or lack of planning)! But, I didn’t care, I was there and ready to eat….

And, once again, what this general area has to offer. There are a total of eight carts here:

Garden State, which prepares sandwiches
Sushi Tree, yeah, sushi!
Magic Beans, which has Middle Eastern
Sugar Cube, for, as you guess it, some sweet treats!
Nuevo Mexico
Ruby Dragon, for vegan (!)
The Big Egg
Dogfeather’s Organic Coffee

Yeah, the restaurant next to the area accept it!

Yup, quite eclectic if you ask me! C’mon, even sushi?! When I arrived at noon, I was partially disappointed the one cart I wanted to visit wasn’t open yet. I sort of panicked: I drove all the way here just to be denied? While almost resigned myself to that fact, I started looking for alternatives and, suddenly, I see them opening! Yup, I ended up being the first customer of the day, hehehehe. So what cart are we talking about here?

Garden State, which sell sandwiches. I know some of you might be disappointed I ended up in a bit of a mundane cart. I mean, a sandwich? I might as well go to Subway! Now, some of you might bash it but I will admit that I used to go to Subway quite often (at one point in my life, they even asked me if I wanted “the same”) and still go once in a while. However, here is one thing I want to point out: While food carts allow some exotic offerings, at times, you just want your basic, well known, almost comfort ones. So, if there is the customer demand, just offer it (but, please, don’t bring fusion as an excuse, OK?). Anyway, after I made my order, it was the waiting game…

Here, their meatball hero. It was a quite straight forwards sandwich: bread, meatball, tomato sauce and some cheese. For $5.50, it might be considered a bit expensive for a plain sandwich so the question would be how good/bad it is. The first bite provided the initial characteristics of the bread… And, actually, I liked the bread! The best comparison would be that the baguette used for banh mi. It was quite crunchy and easily yielded to the bite. From that perspective alone, I knew I had a good start. The tomato sauce was noticeable but, at the same time, didn’t get into the way by overpowering other components. The oddity was the cheese, which, while providing some creaminess, I think I could have done without it.

At that point, the question was what about the meatball themselves… In a way, I had some mixed feelings. The meatball themselves were good: it was moist, felt heavy but I wished it was more caramelized on the outside. It felt it was slightly seared at first (if at all) and then dropped into the sauce, as if it was stewed/boiled rather instead. Again, it was good, just that I felt it could have been better the other way. I guess it is a case where, due to circumstances, that’s what they could provide. Regardless, I will still say it is a good sandwich and certainly enticed me to try more.

After that, I thought I could go for something else. The question was… What? A rice bowl might be too heavy, sushi place was closed and wasn’t really interested in tacos and drinks (yes, there is a cart selling coffee and other drinks). So that left me with The Big Egg. Several of the options looked interesting yet, at the same time, there was something that didn’t necessarily appeal me. Furthermore, I was hoping for something light. Yeah, right. After some tossing back and forth, I ended up going for the Ultimate Sandwich. (With the caveat it might take a while for it to be prepared).

OK, here is a small conversation/argument that went with our sweets expert Mijune (of Follow Me Foodie): In a tweet, somebody asks “who does not like cupcakes” and Mijune replied that I do not. I wanted to add something on the lines of most men do not like cupcakes but they are afraid of admitting it, fearing retaliation or disdain from their love interest/spouse. Instead, men would prefer something savoury like bacon. But, then again, that explanation/argument won’t have fit in 140 characters or less so I didn’t added to that conversation. Of course, I might be generalizing as well (I do know women who prefers savoury, even bitter, over sweets and men who has no problem with sweets). So, in that quest of achieving a balance, that combination of savoury + sweet, there have been some wacky creations, including the maple bacon donut from Voodoo Doughnut (and the variant that can be made in Tim Horton’s) but, still, what if somebody does not like donuts? So, the ultimate sandwich provides yet another alternative…

Behold! The Ultimate Sandwich! A generous helping of Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) & three pieces of Hardwood Smoked Bacon lovingly laid between two pieces of grilled Grand Central brioche & dusted with powdered sugar. So, that mix of sweet and savoury, huahahahahaha! And I will have to admit, this one taste darn good! The slices of bacon were thick and smokey, while the bread had sweetness which was raised into a higher level by the nuttiness of the Nutella. The sugar was too much for me but, otherwise, this was decadent. The fact everything was still warm (as seen above, the Nutella being gooey) made things even better. Of course, this would be a nightmare in the sense of calories consumption but, as a once in a while treat, it can be easily shared by a couple and the argument of sweet vs savoury be put on to rest.

So, once again, it goes back to yesterday’s post on the concept of food carts. While the food might be common/normal, it is again, that sense of adventure. And then there are some really strange gems that can make things unique/different/interesting. For what it is, a experience of its own and food might not play first string.

Portland Food Carts @ SE 12th and Hawthorne
Various stands
SE 12th and Hawthorne
Portland, OR

Potato Champion
El Brasero
Perierra Crêperie

With me being in Portland for some time (again, for work, not necessarily pleasure), it was certain I had to visit one or two food carts. I mean, after all the noise that has occurred in Vancouver, I had to go to set myself a baseline. After all, my concept and understanding is quite skewed compared to the ones available in North America. See, to me street food is not necessarily food sold on the street; it is beyond that. On one side, it was a matter for some families to earn extra income; in other, as a mean of living. More often than not, these were based on the concept of cheap, mysterious, risky (you never know what you are actually served) and, for the most part, tasty.

The problem I have encountered in North America is that, while some of that concept has carried over, truth is there is too much of that cover-your-ass mentality. Hence, some really wacky requirements, from location, type of food being sold, sanitary conditions (did I say “risky”?), et al have taken away some of it. While that is something that seems to be for good (in general), what is not is the attempt of some food cart operators here to make things “fancy”, as in making things “fusion” or making things complicated or, worst of all, fancy in an attempt to create an edge. Granted, it is all business at the end of the day; however, I believe that that takes away from the spirit of street food.

I know I am digressing here but, please keep in mind, it is something people ought to be aware of, as it might skew things a little bit… So, that brings us back to the corner of Hawthorne and 12th in Portland, a sort of empty lot that has been occupied by some food carts. And, in that spirit of adventure, I went there for dinner and tried to visit as many such carts as possible (based on time, $$$ and stomach volume). So, without further ado…

In this area, there are a total of six carts:

Potato Champion, known for their fries
Pyro Pizza, for pizza and similar dishes
Bubba Bernies, for cajun/creole
El Brasero, a Mexican food cart
Whiffies Fried Pies, for their sweet or savoury pies
Perierra Crêperie, which sells, well, crepes.

Out of these, the only one I knew I had to get something from was Potato Champion (more of that in a moment). From the remaining ones, I had to drop Pyro Pizza and and Bubba Bernies out of the gate. It wasn’t an easy decision but, based on practicality, I knew I had to do it. How so? Well, let’s just say that what they serve, while not necessarily “expensive” (a pizza ~ US$8; a plate of food ~$10), I wanted to try several things. One of their dishes would have been quite filling. In the end, I went for El Brasero to get tacos for comparison purposes and, in a coin toss, ended up getting crepes. Again, not an easy decision but my stomach only had that much space (after all, I am not Mijune! )

Starting with Potato Champion, as their name implies, they serve potatoes, specifically, fries. They seem to make emphasis on it being Belgian (particularly true with some form of sauces) but the interesting part was that of making honour to a Canadian dish. Yes, you can guess it: they have poutine in their menu!

Now, before I start, a quick recap of how I like my poutine: My fries should have a starchy texture with a slight crispy exterior; while the cheese curs ought to be squeaky. The gravy… Well, I am not that demanding, as long as it is not too salty. Basically, what I look for is contrasting texture. In the case of Potato Champion the fries were slightly crunchier than what I expected but, otherwise, it worked well (though, I would have preferred them cut slightly thicker). However, from there, things went south: the cheese curds were almost rubbery not squeaky and, worst of all, it didn’t melt! I mean, I know how most people like it, specifically, either squeaky like I or gooey but it failed to go either side. As for the gravy, it didn’t have a meat-y gravy taste; in fact, it tasted on the herby/acidic side. If I had to guess, I would have to say it was on purpose, given they make it vegan as well. So, while the fries on its own were good, for poutine, skip that and drive ~650 Km north and come to Canada instead. >_<

While I was waiting for the poutine, I walked around and ordered tacos from El Brasero. I ordered two of them: Chorizo and El Pastor. In the end, I was playing a waiting game, which order would come first? Eventually, the poutine came first and decided to sit closer to the El Brasero stand. Oddly, as soon as I sat down, my tacos order was ready:

I think uninspiring would be the best phrase here. They weren’t bad, just that it wasn’t good either. I mean, considering the Mexican population, I would have expected them to be, at least, sizzling hot or have *something* that make them special. I guess my expectations were beyond what they were about to offer. Why I didn’t think they were good. I think mainly because it felt dry, as in no fat/juices overflowing them; otherwise, the construction was fine.

After done with the poutine and taco, I wanted something to close off for the day. Again, it was between Whiffies and Perierra Crêperie. In the end, I went for the later and, after observing for quite a while, it seemed it was the correct decision at the time. Whiffies was mostly empty while there were several customers ordering crepes. Oh, well, here I go then!

I was quite surprised the one single person was attending the customer and preparing crepes at the same time. One really remarkable thing was the pace in which the crepes were prepared. He never seem hurried and the amount of customers waiting seemed to maintained in check. After a 5 or so minutes wait (though it seemed it took forever), I got my order of peanut butter, banana, honey and cinnamon crepe.

This type of crepes is not one of those things that can be made visually looking good. I mean, it is just a folded circumference! (Though, by then, the angle by which the sun was at made taking pictures somewhat challenging). The first couple of bites were meh but that was because I didn’t hit the filling yet. However, once I hit it… Think of a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a hint of cinnamon. The honey wasn’t too pronounced but otherwise, if you like that treat, you will love this one. As for me, well, what can I say, I like peanut butter and banana sandwich so that should answer the question!

Overall, as I was sort of expecting, street food can be sort of hit or miss. However, if you go to these places, your expectations ought to be low to begin with. After all, it is the experience itself, not necessarily the food the main entincement to come here. The fact the food is good is just a bonus. As for me, well, it was interesting in its own ways but not necessarily in a hurry to come back. In fact, there were a lot of other food carts to visit…

Bamboo Grove Hawaiian Grille
515 SW Carolina Street
Portland, OR

If somebody tells you that business travelling is great, I am willing to bet he/she is lying to you. Granted, there will be some perks when travelling for business, like me being able to visit different local restaurants; however, it also takes a toll on your social and personal life – assuming you have one that is, or to quote that South Park in Make Love, Not Warcraft, “How do you kill that which has no life?”. (If you want to take a partial glimpse of people travelling for business, I highly suggest you watch Up in the Air). Considering my status, I take it in strides and enjoy all the restaurants the city/town I am has to offer. And, in this case, while in Portland, I was looking for something that isn’t found in Vancouver (yeah, despite we claim to be diverse, there is only that much Chinese restaurants I can digest – in the case of Vancouver, it is already way past a dozen too many): Hawaiian. And, among the different options, Bamboo Grove

I will admit I don’t have much of an idea of what they have to offer, aside from what you can see on TV, with meals like the a luau and dishes like poi and loco moco, not to mention Polynesian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese influences. I knew I was taking some chances by not knowing but, hey, at times, that is part of the fun! Arriving to this restaurant was sort of a challenge as well. I knew I had to make a turn on a specific street; however, the street signs were partially covered by some of the trees and ended up going past the one street I had to turn on. After some couple of right turns, I arrived at the restaurant.

Despite it was relatively early and on a weekday, I was surprised I couldn’t sit on the patio: it was full already. As a result, I ended up seated on a table inside. Now, that’s fine; however, there was a MAJOR problem with the HVAC system: they were grilling a large order and part of the restaurant was filled with smoke. Now, it wasn’t a foggy type but it was a form of smoke that you could tell. Anyway, after I got the menu, it took them several minutes to get back to me. So, I started with drinks, in this case…

Guava Lemonade. As I have mentioned in the past, I usually end up ordering diet soda but, for a change, I decided to go for this. What I wasn’t expecting is that being a bit too…. Pink (?) for my liking. OK, OK, what happens is that I grew up getting used to the paler green version so I was expecting something either clear or yellow-ish, not necessarily pink. But, then again, I reminded myself there is red guava. If that is the case, that might explain why it felt towards the sugar-y side rather than the citrus-y cide. After all, it is a lemonade! So, depending on your liking, it might swing both ways – in my case, it swing the wrong way.

Namasu. I guess this would be a Japanese influece as such serving of pickled vegetables would be called that way. In this case, I will admit these were quite good: sweet pickled cucumbers and crunchy onions (though not pungent at all). One thing I would have wished is that this was served slightly chilled but, at room temperature, it worked fine. Now, there is a really funny note about this but more about that later.

Spam musubi. If you reaction is a confused one, yes, you read it right, you see it right. Taking again influence from Japan, specifically from an onigiri, here you have rice (not necessarily sushi rice), sandwiching a piece of Spam (as in luncheon meat, not the email), some egg and wrapped with seaweed. Story goes that Spam was extensively consumed in Hawaii during World War II that it became a staple. So, in this case, I will have to say it is sort of a touch of genius. Alas, while the idea was good, the execution was strange. Don’t get me wrong, it was good; however, I would have appreciated a smaller portion, not to mention had the seasweed been slightly toasted to enhance flavour. After all, this wasn’t sold as a grab-n-go snack… Still, I won’t deny that the Spam (or whatever equivalent luncheon meat used) was actually good (either that or not been fed luncheon meat for years made it enticing that day).

Finally, the main meal… Their Luau style Kalua Pig. As mentioned above, there are some sort of stereo-typical “feast” dishes and I ended up ordering it (rather than a more day-to-day type dish like Loco Moco). Yeah, shame on me but, when you say “pork”, I am in. Now, here is one caveat: if you have seen shows about this, the Kalua pig is usually cooked underground (after making a pit). However, this might not necessarily be “legal” in all places and I am sure Bamboo Grove is not breaking any law. So, instead, I had the odd suspicion this would be some sort of pulled pork. The question is how it was delivered…

But first, the two sides: first the mac salad and white rice. The rice might be more suitable to the Asian palate, as in it being slightly mushy and sticky so, from that perspective I won’t say much. The salad… Well, it might be an acquired taste but I didn’t really enjoy it. Probably because the mayo was a bit thin and had an extremely oily feeling to it? Regardless of the reason, I considered it just as a side and nothing else.

Finally, back to the pork. Alas, the name and description was better than the actual execution. As a pulled pork, it worked fine; however, there wasn’t anything that made it any better than, say, going to a BBQ shop (as in Podnah’s). In fact, I won’t even consider it made “par”. I mean, even some more liquid smoke would have helped, considering it didn’t have a side sauce of sorts. That’s because, on the “juicy” side, it was really good (though, that meant lots of fat on the plate at the end) but some additional layers of flavour would have done wonders.

Now, here is the story with the namasu. Originally, I ordered only the Spam musubi and the Kalua pig; however, somehow I got the namasu instead (it is possible there was a lost in translation, given these two items are next to each other in the menu). So, when I was already half way with the pig, I tried to check with a waitress but, to no avail… It seems the 2 (a third one appeared towards the end of my meal) waitresses were swarmed and couldn’t keep up. That is compounded by the fact the kitchen was extremely back-logged. I mean, other than the Spam musubi which would have required a bit of preparation, the other dishes I ended up eating were close to scoop and serve, yet it took almost 30 minutes for it to arrive to my table! A one time instance? Not sure… Eventually, I was able to flag a waitress and acknowledged the confusions. That’s when I got the Spam musubi towards the end of my meal. I will give them some credit, as they tried their best and comped the namasu.

So, after I walked out (with one of my few instances of doggy bag, given how much food was served), I couldn’t noticed something really strange. I have commented to some people in the past that, if I were to make a perfume, it would be called “Bacon” (obvious inside joke); however, given the issues with the HVAC system, I ended up smelling like smoke but not a nice bacon smell… And, during that drive back to the hotel, it got me thinking, was it worth all that? My answer was no. While some of the dishes were funny as an one time instance, similar to my post yesterday about Voodoo Doughnut, I didn’t feel anything outside of the ordinary. Would my experience have been different had I ordered the Loco Moco instead? Well, I am willing to try the Loco Moco again but not sure if that place will be at Bamboo Grove…

Voodoo Doughnut
22 SW 3rd Ave
Portland, OR

Voodoo Doughnut Too (Location visited)
1501 NE Davis Street
Portland, OR

There are times that restaurants will do almost anything to get an edge over its competitors. Adding something extra can entice customers to come back and, who knows, make it a local attraction. In Vancouver, Cactus Club has celebrity chef as “food architect” but, still not all dishes work for me, not to mention the environment in general. However, such “innovations” can be more basis. As basic as making it visually appealing while maintaining the regular/default recipe. Such is the case of Voodoo Doughnut, a successful doughnut shop in Portland. The premise is these pieces of fried dough serves as a blank palette for some wacky decoration and motif. The question for me would be: how does the doughnut actually taste in the end???

Original location.

Voodoo Doughnuts Too, the location where I ended up purchasing the good.

Now, when such small independent join opens and success hits, it would be only a matter of time it would expand. In the case of Voodoo Doughnuts, it seems being open 24 hours wasn’t enough, it opened a second location in Portland as well as a third location in Eugene, OR. When I originally decided to go to Voodoo Doughnuts, it was already past 8:00 p.m. when there was still a small line. However, after queueing up for over 5 minutes and looking that it wasn’t moving (not to mention the people ahead of me was already waiting for a while, I decided to call it quits). So, before I drove back to Vancouver, I decided to give it another try. Alas, this time, the queue went around the corner! Nope, I wasn’t that willing to wait so, instead, I chose to go to their second location in Portland.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that busy but, still, the same goods were available. So, without further ado…

Clockwise from 12:00, Old Dirty Bastard, Lemon Chiffon Crueller, Marshall Matters, Apple Fritter (below it), Arnold Palmer, Voodoo Doll, Dirty Snowballs, Triple Chocolate Penetration and, in the middle, between the two Dirty Snowballs, the Mango Tango. Below some of these, the Maple Bacon.

And, just in case, some close-ups.

Lemon Chiffon Crueller, Marshall Matters with the Apple Fritter below it.

Mango Tango, Arnold Palmer, Voodoo Doll and Dirty Snowball.

Now, for the most part, I am not that much of a doughnut eater. Sure, once in a while for kicks but, given the option, doughnuts will not necessarily “cut” it. So, when I dropped by Mijune’s place (as she is the first person after border crossing), my expectations weren’t that high. That also brings a side note: there were a couple of hours between I got them and actually eating them. So, there might be small chances things will be skewed due to transit time.

Anyway, for the most part, I didn’t care for them. Reasons are several but, in general, if you take away the fact they have that decoration motif, there isn’t anything else that makes them stand out from the rest. In fact, some added parts takes away from the doughnut instead. For example, in the case of the Triple Chocolate Penetration, the cocoa puffs were flat which resulted in some wacky biting experience. One that went really south was the Mango Tango – in this case, the jam inside had a wacky taste that wasn’t too “natural” and didn’t match the overall “sweetness” of a donut.

Three of them sort of work: the Voodoo Doll which has a raspberry jam filling that actually worked (unlike the mango one), plus the pretzel can provide some savour overtones if required; the Old Dirty Bastard, which chocolate was able to salvage some of the overall doughnut and the Maple Bacon which provides some savouriness, though, without it, as a maple doughnut, it didn’t work (the sweetness was really strange).

Yeah, one of their signature doughnuts, the infamous Cock-N-Balls. When I was at Mijune’s place, her parents arrived and, to say the least, they had a giggle as well. But, how to eat this doughnut? At first, it was cut as if the penis was castrated, just to find out there was no Bavarian cream in the portion. So, we had to end up cutting the testicle side so to show the cream. Well, at least anatomically that is correct…

Actually, I will admit, this doughnut wasn’t bad. I think had the cream distributed more evenly (at the cost of anatomic precision), it might have been easier for consumption. Otherwise, for giggles, oh, well, it works.

Overall, I didn’t believe it was worth the hype. Again, for giggles at first, it would be fine. In fact, I was tempted to write something in Twitter on the lines of: “Who wants some Cock-N-Balls?” and list a couple of food bloggers. Of course, that would have lead to all sort of misunderstandings. But, past that, I am not convinced it is worth the price of admission. In fact, I would rather go to Tim Horton’s. Now, I know some of you might be looking at this funny but, hey, at least when I can do this:

Yes, as suggested by Matt of Vancouver Slop in this post, I went to Timmy’s and order a Canadian Maple donut (actually, I ordered it as part of a meal with a sandwich) and asked for a side of bacon (the challenge was to “convince” them to have the bacon as a side rather than “in” the sandwich. How does it compare? As mentioned by Matt, it is not as crispy, thinner and was a bit more oily. However, it had a more smoke-y taste than the Voodoo Doughnut ones. Furthermore, there is one winning point specially if you are up for cream: The Timmy’s version have cream inside. So, since the novely wore off for me, I don’t have a hurry to go back.

Podnah’s Pit BBQ
1469 NE Prescott Street
Portland, OR

Yesterday, I wrote about Slabtown Ribs and Barbeque and how I left slightly disappointed. So, for dinner, I thought… Should I give another BBQ place a chance? Hey, why not! So, yeah, a vegan/vegetarian nightmare!!! Huahahahaha! OK, enough taunting… I had more than one place in mind: Russell Street Barbeque and Podnah’s Bit BBQ. I ended up choosing the later because, well, given my affinity for holes in the wall, I thought this might be a place I would like more.

Getting there was a bit of a strange drive. In fact, it wasn’t near a major street but somewhat inside residential areas. As a result, I though I was going the wrong way, not to mention, when I finally got to the correct area, I had to circle around. I simply couldn’t find it! Anyway, when I finally found it and walked in, I was given the options to sit anywhere. I was so tempted to sit outside but, given there was a larger party behind me, I ended up inside in a table for 2. Hey, I am not such a jackass and horde those large tables for the sake of better light, you know!

I initially read in their menu they have Boylan soda but when I said “diet Coke or Pepsi”, I wasn’t expecting they would serve this. It was quite interesting, I must say. I was almost like drinking sugar cane juice. Oh, notice the small jar? Yup, rather than serving you a glass and refill as you go, how about just give you a jar and a glass and, when you are (about) done with the jar, refill the jar instead? Efficiency in my mind, I will have to say!

Here is a challenge of mine. Since I am usually dining by myself, there is only that much I can eat and, at the same time, it might be unfair if I try only one dish (or, in a BBQ place, only one meat). Yeah, I admit it but, as I say a lot of times, if it isn’t good (enough?), don’t serve it! So, I ended up ordering the two meats option and, for kicks, I added some ribs (their special of the day, that night). Yup, that was A LOT OF MEAT!!!!

First the sides. Given all the meat I have been (and would be) eating, this is my token side of greens. Though, of course, a bit more on the side of “yellowish, almost brown” greens. Yup, here is collard greens. It was slightly bitter but something I like. What was more interesting was the random pieces of bacon in it! Yup, I indeed liked it, hehehe. However, as mentioned, if you are used to not so bitter vegetables, this might not have been for you.

Beans, yup, more beans! I know a lot of people might think twice about eating so much but, again, I grew up eating this so I am used to it. Similar to the collard greens, it had some random pieces of meat which, as usual, it is good. Now, depending on you like yours, there wasn’t that much sweetness (think molasses added); in fact, it was almost on the soup-y side. Furthermore, it was chalkier than the ones I had earlier in Slabtown. I won’t list it as an issue because, again, I am used to it.

And, of course, some corn bread. I will have to say these were quite good! It had some pieces of corn kernels baked in and, in the argument of all cornmeal vs. flour + cornmeal, it felt they used all cornmeal, which resulted in a crumblier cornbread. It would have been better had they baked in bacon or something like that but, hey…

The brisket. It is quite obvious that the brisket here is different from the one I had in Slabtown. On one side, it wasn’t as pink and there is a more noticeable smoke ring. Depending on how you like yours, these were average. In fact, if I had to do a more direct comparison with the one from Slabtown, these were slightly overcooked and somewhat on the bland side. So, alas, there were no overall winners in the brisket department… >_<

Pulled pork and one of the ribs. First, the ribs: these were NOT in the falling off the bones category… However, that was because of the membrane on the back was still holding it together. But, you know what? I didn’t care about that fact because it was really tender and smoke-y. Almost pure pork goodness! Some of the side sauces (in the squirting bottle) did add some different dimension but those weren’t really necessary. By itself, it was good.

As for the pulled pork… Ah, it was a thing of beauty, pure pork goodness. It was still juicy and, once again, similar to the rib, it had its hint of smoke-y taste. In fact, the pulled pork was what I finished first!

Given my bias toward pork, I guess I was “doomed” to finish it first so, from that perspective, that says a lot. The “bad” was that I had so much food that ended up packing it to go. And guess what was packed? Yeah, the brisket only. The following morning, I had that brisket as breakfast and, after they being nuked (yeah, blasfemy!), they were actually not that bad, thought slightly salty by then.

In the end, it was a bit of hit and miss – overstating the obvious, beef was the miss and pork was the hit. But, again, my bias towards it… Would I go back? Well, that might be a contention issue: given it is somewhat out of the way, I might not necessarily do so but it might also depends on the one other place I didn’t go. So, until I visit Russell, I will leave it as a question mark.

Slabtown Ribs and Barbeque
2606 NW Vaughn Street
Portland, OR

Let me ask you this: whenever you see smoke coming out from a restaurant (hopefully, from the exhaust), what comes to your mind? Good food, doesn’t it? So how about when it comes from a smoker? Or how about it coming from a smoker on the street at 7:00 a.m.??? Yup, that’s what happened when I passed by Slabtown Ribs and Barbeque during my stay in Portland. Every morning I passed by, I could see that smoker parked in front of the restaurant (which, otherwise, I would have passed by without noticing!) and wondered myself: “wow, that’s starting early!” And, of course, given you see actual smoke rather than the pressure cook/boil the meat, grill it, toss it with sauce and serve it (like, say, Montana’s Cookhouse), that was incentive enough to try to have some (real) BBQ goodness…

Unlike most of my other meals on this trip, I was fortunate (?) enough to be able to come here for lunch. Hey, you know, one more post for this trip! But, as experience tells me, the lunch menu at times can be slightly skewed toward easily made dishes compared to dinner ones (i.e., lunch rush crowd). However, as I say, if you can’t handle it, should you be open (in this case, for lunch)? Anyway, the dishes offered was quite simple but, then again, BBQ, by then it is just a matter of chopping and plating.

As for the food, the special that day was beef ribs but, when you are fully suited, ribs might be somewhat dangerous. As a result, I ended up ordering other dishes, namely…

OK, first the side dishes, starting off with baked beans. It had a smoke-y taste and a slightly chalky texture. Depending on how you like yours, it might be a detraction or you might like it. One note is that it wasn’t sweet so, if you were expecting yours that way, it might not be for you.

Mac-n-cheese. Actually this was quite interesting. It was creamy (though not extremely cheese-y) and the noodles could almost be “slurped”. The “bad” was that there wasn’t any other tones. Cheese and noodles and that was about it. One thing that might swing both ways is that the cheese startled to curdle a little bit. Depending on the person, he/she might like it or not.

OK, finally to the meats. I chose to go for their Texas plate, which has hot links and brisket. Here the sausages with the side sauce. In this case the Kansas City Classic. Yeah, I know I partially shot myself here. After all, it is supposed to be Texas BBQ, why should I try a Kansas type sauce? Oh, well… But back to the sausage, I wasn’t impressed at all. It wasn’t bad (for instance, it had some “snap”) just that there wasn’t anything that made it outstanding. In fact, it felt… Average?

Finally, the brisket. Again, when sauce was given as an option, I was hoping for it to be on a side, not necessarily smothered. Oh, well. As for the meat itself… No, it didn’t work for me. It was tender, fine; but I couldn’t taste any smokiness in the meat. In fact I was wondering if there was a mistake but when I didn’t see a pronounced smoke ring, I basically just considered it as braised-like brisket instead.

Overall, I can’t say I was enjoyed it. Granted, it filled my stomach just that, after seeing the smoke while walking to the work created that sense of anticipation. Alas, it didn’t deliver…

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.

One thing that I liked almost right away was how it is set up: similar to a lot of places in Latin America (even Miami), the restaurant “spills” over the sidewalk. It might be a nuisance to some but, hey, that is part of the charm. Of course, this concept might not necessarily work in Vancouver due to our “wonderful” weather. As I arrived, they use a system similar to that of Guu and other restaurants here in Vancouver: put your name in a waiting list and they will call you as they go. And you know what? Here is the big advantage of going to a restaurant solo: In most restaurants, they will have a bar or tables for two; however, since most parties are of at least 3, you are almost guaranteed a table! As a result, I was able to “jump” the queue of three parties ahead of me and get a table right away!

Since I was able to browse the menu on-line, I already had a good idea of what to order. In fact, it was more of a matter of what *else* to order. In fact, I was so engrossed with my entree that I didn’t pay attention to the drinks. Initially, I was going to go for my “default” – diet soda; however, after quickly looking at it, I saw something that I thought might be interesting…

Limonada con guarapo. OK, a brief lesson: During the XVIII and XIX century, one of the main crops in the Caribbean was sugar cane. And what you do with a lot of sugar cane? (Aside from sugar, that is?). How about some alcohol in the form of rum? Of course, not everybody is into booze and here is one of the other uses: Just chew them for the sugary taste. Alas, in this case, the “lemonade” overpowered the sugar cane “juice” (the guarapo of the name) and the sugar cane was dry.

Croquetas de bacalao con papas, a fish croquette. No, it is not as gross as it sounds. While I could “taste” the texture, the taste of the fish wasn’t there. Now, we are not talking about that fish taste, instead, slightly salty and some sweetness as well. Still, it was actually quite good, just that it felt slightly short.

For my main, I went for the Plato Cubano or Cuban platter – The typical Cuban plate. Adobo marinated roast pork, served with your choice of Cuban beans & rice. Dinner served with yuca con mojo. I know Sherman and gang went for the tongue and ox tail and what not. While I am sure they might have been good in their own ways, my yardstick is pork. And this one would suit me fine.

The yuca con mojo, yuca as mentioned previously is also known as cassava and “mojo” (not “mojo”; the “j” is a soft “h”, rhymes with “coho” as in coho salmon) is a olive oil, garlic and sometimes lemon “sauce”. However, here is the big epic fail: the yuca shouldn’t be fried; instead, it is boiled so that it develops a slimy external texture. Furthermore, the garlic/oil didn’t really come out; instead there was some wacky “sauce”. Now, it wasn’t bad, in fact, I am sure a lot of people will eat it fine. However, that is not yuca con mojo! Want to see how it is supposed to be? Check the one I had in Guantanamera!

Ah, the pork… Sorry, I am a pork/bacon person… In this case, these were cooked quite well but, at the same time, there was something I thought it should have been better, as if there was something that ended up “short”. Probably because there was no crackling? Probably because I was expecting a bit of sweetness in it? Otherwise, it was a fine piece of pig roast.

Moros y cristianos, the Cuban version of rice and beans. If you are not used to this, it might be a bit difficult to explain. In this case, the grainy texture of the beans came out and “infused” itself into the, otherwise, bland rice. However, at the same time, I can see who are not used to eat this combination not liking it. So, in a way, it can go both ways.

When the waitress walked by and asked how things were I told her some of the “issues”, specially that of the yuca con mojo (the fried vs. boiled “problem”). I think she might have overlooked had it been another customer; except that, in my case, I was telling her that in Spanish. While she didn’t offer to change my dish (I was already done by then), at least she did get the gist.

Now, by what is being written here, you might think the restaurant was bad. That is actually not the case. Other customers were enjoying their meals and, had I not known any better, it might have enjoyed it. But the problem is that my expectations are different so, from my personal perspective, it falls short.

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…

Now, this diner also has an interesting reputation: it was featured in Man vs. Food (haven’t seen that episode so can’t comment about it). Whether it being feature is good or bad I can’t say: what matters here is that it has some reputation. In that episode’s case, the “food” was pancakes but, despite it might taste good at any time of the day, I want something more “diner”. And, somewhat similar to what happened in Acme Cafe, I chose to go with some diner type dishes. But, first…

A green salad. Nothing exceptional, nothing wrong either. For the most part, a textbook salad. I could be nitpicky if I wanted to (distribution of tomatoes, for example) but, you know what? Is a *** salad and chances are you will be tossing it yourself! So, not much to comment about…

Yup, I ordered *two* dishes! Meatloaf dinner and mac-n-cheese! See, here is the little dilemma I had: I wanted to try both but knew that, if I ordered both, I won’t have finished them. When I told that to the waiter, he suggested I ordered the kids size portion of the mac-n-cheese! Now THAT is a brilliant idea. I wonder if next time I visit a restaurant (by myself, I must add), I should order several child size portions!

But, to the food itself, starting with the mac-n-cheese. While there wasn’t anything crumbl-y on top, I didn’t really needed it or expecting it. It just happen that I prefer what people would call macaroni with cheese sauce: something simple, no fuzz. So, if there were nothing crispy on top, it won’t have matter to me. As for the mac-n-cheese itself, alas, I wished it had more cheese flavour (it was somewhat uni-dimensional), as the creaminess was there. Still, it was quite enjoyable to eat to the point I almost finished it!

Moving to the meatloaf, it was served with mashed potatoes and some steamed vegetables (which happened to be steamed spinach). To me, this mash was really short of being a fail: if we took the gravy out, it would be completely bland. Furthermore, it felt slightly dry. Come to think about it, it look so “white” and lacking some skin or some clumps that made me wonder if this was made from a package (nothing wrong with it). The reason behind my suspicion is that the gravy used was quite similar you could make out of packed ones! OK, I might be stretching it, the gravy was decent but couldn’t shake away that feeling…

As for the meatloaf itself, it was “sliced” a bit too thin to my liking. But, hey, this is nitpicking! Fortunately, it wasn’t down to a paste consistency and still had some “chunks”. Furthermore, it had some seasoning, including what could have been chili peppers (I started to sweat lightly). Of course, I could be mistaken here… But then there was the gravy again… Actually, it worked fine but I would have preferred it not be poured on top.

One thing that I noticed about their patron is that they seem to be feeling themselves at home, the waiter was joking with them and so did other customers. I think I was the oddball that night… The food wasn’t extraordinary by any means; however, given the type of food, should I have expected it to be? At least, their key dishes with some minor tweakings would be enjoyable. In the meantime, given its simplicity and its “it is what it is” type location, I think I would feel comfortable and come back.

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…

Now, Johnny’s does not have BBQ, instead, they make burgers and only burgers (OK, OK, some variations plus sides like fries and onion rings). Being literally in the middle of nowhere, I wasn’t going to be too demanding. In fact, my only demand was “feed me!” Looking at their menu, I knew decision making wasn’t going to be that difficult, as it narrowed itself down to two candidates: their mushroom burger and their verde buger.

The first option, the mushroom one is self explanatory; the second one would be something in lines of a certain burger shop in Seattle: … Yes, verde burger here means a grilled green pepper. I admit that is quite a brilliant idea so I saw no reason not to order it.

Now, they do not offer “combos” so, in addition to the burger, I ended up ordering their onion rings. I will have to admit, their onion rings are quite good. The “batter”, which looked like a cornmeal type batter, gave it a quite crunchy external crust, while it “sealed” the onion inside. The onion, on that note, was cooked through, though, I wished it was “warmer”. Granted, you need to let these rest before serving but…

As for the burger, I will have to say that the construction of it looks quite good. Pieces of veggies… stacked and then the patty on top, with the green pepper… Taking a bit didn’t reveal an extremely juicy burger; however, tastewise, it was quite meaty. Won’t compare it to Friesenburgers; instead, on its own rights, I think it would be a burger I would eat again. There were some shortcomings, though, but I also believe it might be due to me overlooking it. For example, there wasn’t much of a sauce in the burger but, given there is catsup and mustard on the table, I guess it is up to you to add it yourself. Otherwise, I don’t think I have much to “complain” about this burger, as it is, for the most part, a textbook burger!

OK, there is one thing I must “mention”: it is not necessarily cheap. A single burger (one patty) was ~$6, which, for a basic burger, in American standards can be above the average cost. But, then again, it is located in the middle of nowhere (~10 miles; ~16 Km north from the Premium Outlets) so that demands a bonus. But, you know what, since it was quite well made, I certainly won’t mind dropping by for another one if I happen to be in that exit and I am hungry!