Dining out in Portland, Oregon and other Food Travels
I wish I had braved the cold winds to take a photo of the lightening storms, particularly since thunderstorms like that are rare in Portland with its milder weather, but no matter… at least I got dusk/sunset. These photos are directly off our front porch, which faces north towards the downtown and Mt St Helens.
My brother (visiting from Los Angeles) and I lucked out with a dry day in November after a rainy evening the night before. This worked out great for us to visit Pine State Biscuit in SE for breakfast, then back downtown for visually inspecting and enjoying the sensory aroma all the food carts on Alder Street just as they were opening up for lunch rush, and then shopping at Columbia Sportswear’s Flagship store. With his new forest green coat, he looked like a Portlander rather then an LAXer as we headed to our food tour.
As an extra tip to you readers and secret stalkers, as he browsed the store I ran over to Pioneer Courthouse Square visitor’s center to grab some brochures and maps for my “visitor’s basket” of the guest room and also coupon for 10% off at Columbia. If you are coming to stay at a hotel, go online to the Travel Portland site to get the Portland Perks Coupon Book. In general, whenever I travel I like to go to the town’s visitor website just to see if they have any promotions, and even at a mall or department store you could score a visitor’s discount pass- or as a considerate host, get those for your visiting guest.
I would only recommend Pine State Biscuit as a weekday breakfast because its physical locations is so small. Even on a Friday mid-morning we were holding our breath hoping a table would open up before our food came up. Luckily it worked out, but I don’t like how it takes away from the relaxing experience that starting your day should be on a day off in that you’re anxious about getting a table and you’re crunched for space even when you do get someplace to put your plate down. There are some really great brunches during the weekend, but since my brother’s visit to Portland was on a Thursday afternoon to Saturday early morning flight out I was more limited on choice. In retrospect I suppose I could have picked out a breakfast at a food cart. Then again, this was before he had a coat. Next time bro!
The highlight of our Friday was that I signed us up for a tour with Forktown Tours. I had been on their food cart tours earlier this year in conjunction with Eat Mobile. I thought it would be fun to give them a try again and both celebrate eating (he is after all my brother) and get the story and feel of a local neighborhood, and it would be an opportunity for him to play with his camera. This particular neighborhood tour covered the Alphabet District, which combines Slabtown with Nob Hill (aka the NW 23rd streets area), so you get to walk through a combination of an up and coming area and a trendy boutiques area.
When we met with Jessica, our guide, she passed out a little list and map of what we would be doing- 7 stops! – setting up the anticipation for the tour as we waited for the rest of our group (we ended up being a group of 4 guests, 1 guide). What stops are on the tour and what samples are served vary so what I describe below may differ from other iterations of this tour experience.
We started out at Besaw’s– I’ve passed by several times but never been in. I was pleased that this tour not only made me walk through the door, but it covered the history of the location and that part of town (Slabtown). We learned lots of little trivia, but my favorite was here, with the little historical story that the bar used to have a trough below the bar because it was for men only and hey, it saves a trip to the bathroom… There’s even a picture of it in the back by the current bathrooms (heh). Background stories and history like this is why I like taking a tour, instead of just leading a progressive meal myself.
For our tasting sample we got to start with some bubbly with their homemade pear reduction mimosa, giving us a very festive start. We also were given a small bread size plate sample of their mixed green salad using greens from their literally local source of their very own garden just a few yards away, including fresh horseradish. I had heard of Besaw’s because of their brunch, but this visit highlighted their great offerings outside of breakfast foods- and I think that’s what I would go back for, a meal other then brunch, and definitely make sure to food that utilizes ingredients literally harvested steps away.
Our next stop was Kenny and Zuke’s Sandwichworks, where we sampled reuben sliders with their own hardwood smoked pastrami along with a taster of an india pale ale from a Portland brewery. I don’t recall which local brewery it was- I only took a baby sip because I drank mine and my brother’s mimosa at Besaw’s- but I loved the idea since Portland is such an IPA city to showcase that to a visitor.
We also talked about how Kenny and Zuke’s started at the Farmers Market- and several other businesses that started out as just a small stand at Farmers market and built a following and investment money from that into brick and mortar locations. Yay small businesses and the way that the Farmer’s Market helps incubates them, and a perfect example of how Portland is both a growing city but also so supportive of small and local.
Our next stop was only across the street for St. Honoré Boulangerie to sniff the aromas of wonderful French baked goods and share a bag of Chouquettes, which are little puffy pastry balls made with a pâte à choux and sprinkled with rock sugar. These little bites were a nice light break after the smoky meaty pastrami, and too easy to have a second… or a third…
I was excited that Wildwood was part of our tour. I love this restaurant not only for it’s always changing menu, but that it’s great for visitors because it has a parking lot. They helped found Northwest style cuisine, and are still producting high quality local sustainable food in a very elegant environment. These were my favorite samples of the stops in the tour.
We started with celery root soup- just you know, with butter and topped with black truffle oil. YUM. Wildwood has an amazing bar and craft cocktails using seasonal ingredients and local distilleries, so we also got to try a spicy martini using crème de pêche and New Deal Hot Monkey chili vodka. Then, we tempered the spiciness by sharing one of their daily pizzas, which highlighted autumn leeks and chantarelle mushrooms. Yes, all these samples! This was amazingly generous. I couldn’t believe we still had 3 more stops to go, since we are only 4 stops in! And, I need to make sure I get to Wildwood more often.
Next we were introduced to Sterling Coffee Roasters, which is technically a food cart but when you stand before them they look like they are in a luxe photo. I think they are my inspiration this year for how I want to look this winter in sweaters. We tried samples of their coffee, hot chocolate, and hot chai, all of which had a complex depth that you wouldn’t get from an average coffee chain. It’s next to the Trader Joe’s but I had never noticed it- but I will definitely remember it now. They spoke to us for quite a while about their small business and their knowledge and passion about their beverages, representing well how Portland is such a foodie city and how we are fortunate enough to have these kind of passionate food purveyor specialists even in this smaller city.
We walked along some neighborhood streets to stop and admire two historical houses- one in the Crafstman and the other in the Prairie style. Then, the next stop was my brother’s favorite, PBJ’s Grilled. This is another food cart, this one specializing in fancyified peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using homemade ingredients and unusual combinations. We got to meet both partners and hear about how they got started and think of their sandwich specials while also trying two of their spicier sandwiches (which was good as it was getting cooler now as it was evening and the last part of the 3 hour tour).
First was the Spicy Thai (grilled Challah bread with orange marmalade, sriracha, fresh basil, curry, and PBJ’s peanut butter), followed up the Hot Hood (Challah bread, black cherry jam, jalapeno, apple wood smoked bacon, PBJ’s peanut butter). I wish there was a way I could take jars of their homemade jams and jellies and peanut butter home.
We wrapped up with the itty bitty bites of desserts of Two Tarts Bakery of a cookie with chocolate, and macaroons.
The tour was really fun and delicious. The tour took about 3 hours and less then 2 miles of leisurely walking on sidewalks, along with plenty of sitdown times (and bathroom availability) at all but 2 stops. Don’t eat much before because this tour is very filling with samples, and you want to have room to enjoy all the flavors you’ll be tasting. Just as with the other tours I’ve had with Forktown, this felt just like a friend of a friend was personally taking me around her local area, telling me trivia and recommendations as we walked and chatted casually, and not much like a touristy tour at all. I hope I have an excuse to take a guest on the North Portland tour sometime!
All of these photos are courtesy of my brother and his Canon EOS 60D camera, available in his Picasa album 2011 Portland Visit. This post is pretty photo-intensive (rclick and click Show Photo if you see a little X instead if it didn’t load properly) but all the photos exist. And there are some I didn’t include so you can visit the album for more, or to see them larger.
It was nice to visit today and see it refreshingly not crowded. There wasn’t even really a line at Pine State Biscuit (I’ll post those photos separately). The offerings at the various stands were full of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, eggplants, peaches, and berries. I have been craving tomatoes to put in caprese salad, and in preparation for a tofu tasteoff between Thangh Son Tofu and Bui Tofu, I grabbed some other ingredients as well with tofu in mind. The theme for this week is tomatoes and tofu and mushrooms (I got baby portabella and chantarelles).
There was a lot of garlic at the market which afterwards made me think of all the tips from Caprial and John on roasting garlic for dips- maybe for a weekend where we don’t plan to see or talk to anybody. Perhaps with fava beans, that I can make into hummus? What really caught my eye were kohlrabi- I’ve never made them before, and I hurried home to look up recipe. If I can find them next week, I think I’m going to try them out! I also was tempted by the eggplant but decided to go with the corn on the grill instead for this week… for next week which eggplant should I get to grill, look at the selection!
And maybe at another time trying out those edible Nasturtium flowers in a salad (I’m a little sick of salads after buying pounds of spinach and mixed greens the past month so am on a lil break right now)… and as a reward I can go get one of those little custard tarts, but I’m afraid they won’t be as good as I remember the custard tarts I got in Hong Kong. Overally, it was a relaxing visit to the market with F today as I usually am doing the shopping on my own, so we also enjoyed a picnic lunch thanks to some of the food stall vendors and yay, someone else can carry the reusable bag of stuffs back up the hill for me!
The event is hosted by Portland Monthly in partnership with Fred Meyer and benefits Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. For $17, attendees can try tastings of beer from 10 local breweries and sliders from 7 local brewhouse chefs competing for the title of Best Burger- which the audience gets to vote for (the cost is $12 if not partaking in beer).
The list of brewhouse participants:
The burgers are slider sized, but not really. For the second year in a row, I brought home leftovers instead of throwing out the burgers just because I was too full to finish them/wanted to save room to try them all. I didn't want to be wasteful of my food, and this time I was more clever in that I brought several ziploc bags in my bag. Now onto the burger food photos…
Laurelwood Public House & Brewery, the winner last year, came this year with a TEXAS BBQ BURGER: Smoked brisket, horseradish coleslaw, crispy Walla Walla onions, and Laurelwood’s signature Free Range Red BBQ sauce. Laurelwood Public House & Brewery offered a choice of either the organic pale ale or the organic free range red- I chose the Red in my sample cup
Burnside Brewing Co had the most hype as you watched them prepare their BURNSIDE BURGER: Liquid nitrogen-dipped and duck fat fried beef patty with ketchup, grilled onion, bacon, and cheddar powders, served with dill pickle “caviar”. The condiments teased us as we watched the prep show- dehydrated and food science executed onion, ketchup, cheddar, and duck fat all in powder, along with that white tub of dill pickle caviar…Unfortunately, I think everyone was disappointed that the flavors from those toppings didn't come through, and the burger was slightly dry though I could taste the extra savoryness from the duck fat.
It turned out my favorite and the one I voted for would be BridgePort Brewing Company's BIG ISLAND LITTLE BURGER: Beef and pork belly grind, char siu glaze, house cured pork belly, spicy sambal slaw, cilantro chimichurri, and tangy pickled red onions served on a toasted BridgePort Bakery Portuguese Sweet roll. It was a lot going on, but the sweetness and the herby earthiness of the chimichurri (which seemed more like a pesto to me) and the umami of the pork belly also all individually were good.
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I also really liked the beer they were serving- the citrusy lined ale of Summer Squeeze which has infusion of lemongrass and yuzu.
In a very respectable second place for me was the Widmer Brothers Brewing THE GASTHAUS BURGER: Local Oregon beef, butter lettuce, Inaba Farms tomatoes and caramelized onion topped with smoked blue cheese & Nelson IPA fondue, served on a toasted brioche bun. Messy, but I do love cheese.There were three beers you could choose from and I went with their Okto, a seasonal ale for the fall.
Also in the high mess to eat category was Deschutes Brewery's THE YELLOW BELLY BURGER: Spicy pesto, candied yellow pear tomatoes, whipped goat cheese, and Obsidian Stout braised pork belly perched atop Deschutes Brewery Portland Pub’s classic spent-grain fed Coleman Ranch beef patty and elegantly gift-wrapped with a whole-grain mustard ciabatta bun. Yeah, they can barely get the description to fit on their sign! From one of the photos, you can see from this angle you can almost imagine this looks like the tomatoes are two eyes, and it's a goofy burger face… Heh heh heh. I think I'm delirious from the heat and food.
I also really liked the beer Deschutes brought- they also had 3 options and I went with The Cyclist, a hefeweizen and lemonade brew. It was really refreshing with the tangy citrus really coming through to give a nice summer tartness to the Hefeweizen like a preinfused Shandy.
Just as competitive as all these delicious burgers above was the more simple and classic Alameda Brewhouse's TILLAMOOK CHEDDAR PEPPER BACON BURGER: Frank’s Choice free ground beef, Zenner’s thick cut pepper bacon, Tillamook cheddar cheese on a Kaiser bun. I liked how they didn't throw a boatload of condiments on top- they let the wonderful seasoning of the beef with just a bit of bacon and cheddar say all they needed. Their assembly line was efficient and showed they had thought carefully about the logistics of serving out food so there wouldn't be lines.
Finally, the 7th burger… Henry's Tavern brought the HENRY’S HITMAN BURGER: Brioche bun topped with a burger patty, pesto aioli, provolone cheese, mixed greens, pickled sweet pepper, and jalapeño stuffed olives. I skipped the Henry's Tavern beer for Buckman Brewing experiments of the Ginger and the Chamomile beers
I hope they continue to look for improving space to hold it in- this year I appreciated how it was more spread out in the Fred Meyer parking lot rather then on the streets outside the Whole Food (who was last year's co-sponsor), but it was also Portland's first past 90 degree day… in fact the recorded high temp I believe was 97. Everyone was baking as the heat reflected back up from the asphalt, even as we all tried to hide from the microwave of the sun in some of the shade they tried to provide but just didn't have enough of.
Overall though, this event was organized well with the red and white checkered tablecloths and jars of flowers and fanned out Portland Monthly's that made this event once again classy and beautiful to the eye as well as filling to the stomach, all for a good cause. 100% of net proceeds will go directly to the Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon Summer Meals Program that helps provide funds for organizations to serve meals to low-income children during the summer when school is not in session.
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| Beer 'N' Burgers 2011 |
Starting tomorrow to Sunday… the annually held Oregon Brewer’s Festival. Located by the Waterfront to the river, the festival offers four days with several stages for music and this year 85 breweries each pouring a showcase beer in tastings for $1 or glasses for $4. Also, a Buzz Tent with 8 rarer experimental taps that will be kicking all weekend since they are smaller kegs so that tent will continually be refreshed with new offerings.
To avoid the crowds, I am with a small group that took Thursday(tomorrow) off and will be sitting by the Buzz Tent to keep an eye on the rare beers. Going earlier always means it is less crowded, especially if it is before the after work crowd or Saturday late afternoon/evening people.
Photo from last year’s OBF
You can find the regular beer list here (though I like this list at Portland Beer better since it has descriptions, although the one on the official site has #s for the locations so you can more efficiently plan your various tent visits). The Rare Tap List is overall listed here but Twitter #OBFBuzzTent will announce when new beers are ready to taste all weekend. Entry to the event is free, though you have to purchase tokens and a $6 tasting mug to drink that is reusable the whole weekend in lieu of any entrance cost. There is some food available at the festival thanks to six restaurants that will have booths, but you can also bring your own food. I have XXX Sharp Cheddar and Bergonost cheese from Yancey’s with crackers all ready.
Some beers I am particularly looking forward to that caught my eye from the taplists:
Possible Faceoffs:
Pechluck's Food Adventures
Enjoying deliciousness in Portland & wherever travels may lead me.
My name is Pech, short for Pechluck. I enjoy adventures in eating - dining out and cooking and imbibing for local Portland deliciousness or wherever travels lead.
Disclosure: There may be at times sponsored posts where the ticket to an event or meal or sample product to review was complimentary, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.
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