Dining out in Portland, Oregon and other Food Travels
A photo post… the birth of fettuccine. This pasta recipe comes from F’s grandparents… It’s hand written on notebook paper that we keep in my recipe binder. Ok, that version does not have the Kitchenaid like you see here- we also have the hand crank pasta machine, which we still have in our cabinet just in case. Making pasta the old fashioned way is a workout!
Eat Mobile 2013 on April 27 was the sixth annual food cart festival event, a one price but then all you can sample (but to respect the individual cart owners, one taste per cart) event for charity, sponsored by Willamette Week and OMSI, among others (for instance, I totally covet the waxy chapstick that Yelp offers, and this is why I always lean towards Vitamin Water for flavored waters). With 50 carts participating, even a small bite from each is more than filling. The general admission tickets are a steal for such a meal at $20, but since they sell a few thousand tickets, you should expect the lines… or do as I always do every year, buy the $50 pre-tasting tickets for early entrance for an hour along with complimentary beverages from Pabst Blue Ribbon and Bota Box and move fast!
I always find this worthwhile, and have it marked on my calendar every year as a must do event. I have attended previously as evidenced by my previous blog posts in 2012, in 2011 (which also included opportunities to purchase tickets for a special Friday food cart tour and a Saturday food cart tour I also participated) in conjunction with Forktown Food Tours, and in 2010. As many of you know, I don’t own a car so rely on walking or public transit which means I don’t too far (aka across the river) for unknown food explorations, and working full time in Beaverton means I miss many food cart hours that cater to lunch (sorry the after drinking/dancing late night is too late for me!). So this event is always an exciting way to be introduced to what is out there in food carts for me.
My personal picks for favorites among the tastes I had this year included…
The beautiful taste and design of Cheese & Crack‘s adorable little setup that advertised their cart wares (Portland’s second cheese food cart!) during the festival in a rustic charming way, and their taste was mapped out expertly and presented gorgeously. Cheese & Crack’s taste was Castelvetrano olive mousse, Cana De Oveja cheese, pork terrine, and a chocolate filbert ganache with rock salt all served on a handmade special edition Rustic Butter Cracker. No surprise they won the Eat Mobile 2013 Style Award.
Judge’s Choice award winner La Sangucheria with their empanadas, fried fresh and worth waiting in line for. Though since I paid extra for the pre-tasting (totally worth it because if you come with the larger crowd you will inevitably spend a lot of time waiting in lines), the line was only maybe a handful of people, and later I returned and they had gotten into a better rhythm and had more laid out- though once the regular crowd of you know, thousands came in, there is no avoiding being in the weeds.
Hungry Heart Cupcakes, where I turned away from the obvious choice of the “Sweet n Salty” cupcakes with creamy peanut butter frosting and Carlton Farms applewood smoked bacon to reward myself with the incredible apple panna cotta with hard cider caramel and browned butter blondies. I was surprised they didn’t win people’s choice with their sweet but savory treats.
But I did understand why People’s Choice award winner Garcelon’s Soup & Grilled Cheese did get votes, as the spicy crab chowder was complex in flavor and was so comforting.
I liked the taste from Gamila, offering Moroccan American Cuisine, I appreciated the layering of all the flavors of sweet, salty, savory, even hints of sour, and the warm chicken with the cool sauces.
I appreciated Moberi and their super refreshing smoothies powered by bikes, and the aromas in the air that wafted from Bora Bora’s grilled chicken. I couldn’t find a website for Bora Bora so this Portland Food.org forum thread will have to suffice for you to find out more.
Another sweet temptation was Sugar Shop and their delectable goodies of salted caramel gooey stuffed brownies, molasses spiced cookies, and red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. Also, they had the cutest aprons!
I waited in line to finish all my tastes with ice cream scoops from Scoop and Fifty Licks. I can’t decide between you two, I love you both. At Fifty Licks I had the toasted milk ice cream, while at Scoop I had both the Salted Caramel and the Bourbon Buttered Pecan at Scoop. Sorry, you were too good to only have one taste.
More photos of the bounty of this food cart festival: Ramy’s Lamb Shack with gyros and baklava, Popcorn Publishers and kettle corn, PDX 671 offering tastes of Guam, Creperie Du Lys and their buckwheat crepes, a Lettuce Wrap taste from Kesone Asian Fusion, J Mo’s Sandwich Shack offering meatballs or pulled pork tastes, Pizza Contadino with handmade sourdough crust, Fuego Portland Burritos and Bowls wisely decided to give tastes of burrito bowls, and Thrive Pacific NW gave me a chance for a healthy sustainable taste!
Chez Dodo and a taste of Mauritian Paradise with this deconstructed samosa, Frank-N-Stein is rocking a little red cart, Gaufre Gourmet and their lil liege waffles you choice of a sweet or savory taste (seriously, check out their websites, it is the best I have seen for a Portland food cart, with food porntastic photos of all their menu items!).
Happy Flower Food Company offered cute little Hummingbird Cake with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, I was introduced to the interesting blend of crunch and Indian spices from Masala Pop, Hawaii was cheerfully represented by 808 Grinds and their 808 fried chicken, the Bunk Truck (the mobile truck version of Bunk Sandwiches) gave generous portions of the Cubano sandwich, Taco Pedaler managed making fresh tacos while also offering a chips and salsa bar, Gonzo was rocking some intense sauces with their chickpea fries, and Snoop helped pimp out So Cold Shaved Ice.
It was such an buffet of riches. During the evening, DJ DMoe Funk made waiting so much more fun by giving us music to dance in line or groove to. There was also a culinary stage with presentations of food demonstrations and food science sponsored by Whole Foods and OMSI but I needed to lie down to digest… well at least, after walking briskly back home (I also walked from home to OMSI/Eat Mobile… though I don’t think that burned nearly enough calories to counter what I sampled!)
If any of these pictures intrigues you, please go out and support your local entrepreneurs and visit these food carts! These local businesses work hard to participate in this event and everyday in their food cart (mobile or not), show them that you appreciated the exposure they had at Eat Mobile and give them your money and get some yummy food! You can look up any of these food carts at Food Carts Portland to see what food carts may be in your area and what their menus might offer, and look up reviews and more photos on Yelp Portland and reviews also at Willamette Week.
A few more meals in Seattle… I want to wrap this up and move back to reporting Food Adventures in Portland!
Here, options from the always reliable Serious Biscuit. Here, you see the Serious Biscuit Zach – fried chicken, tabasco black pepper gravy, bacon, egg sandwich and also the Serious Biscuit crispy hamhock, collard greens with smoked onions breakfast sandwich.
Another breakfast choice is Portage Bay Cafe with its local and sustainable food. There, my friend had the Verde Pork omelette with tomatillo-braised Carlton Farms pork, roasted jalapeño, queso fresco, salsa verde garnish. I had the incredible Migas, a flour tortilla stuffed with three chipotle-cumin scrambled eggs, Tillamook medium and sharp white cheddar, fresh basil, homemade salsa and sour cream. Served with fresh avocado salsa, and roasted potatoes, and I added the homemade chorizo sausage, it was so full of flavor that even though I told myself to only eat some and save myself for more meals later, I could not help but eat it all. The Verde Pork omelette was also good in a more subtle way with the braised pork, while mine was a wake up call with the chorizo sausage- your call.
For lunch one day, we took a short 15 minute walk from the office to Baguette Box, where I was introduced to the Baguette Box Crispy Drunken Chicken Sandwich (really just a very creative banh mi). Crispy sweet with a bit of tang and jalapeno bite savory goodness in each of those chicken bites, nestled in a doughy with the right amount of crunchy outside bread vehicle (though also offered in a salad version)! Not pictured- the truffle fries basket which we completely emptied.
After the Seattle Bites Food tour mentioned in my last post, we stopped over at Bathtub Gin for a cocktail (ok, maybe I had 2 and we shared a third) before dinner. This was a destination recommended to someone by my friend, so I had no expectations given the lack of information on the website. But, I was so enamored of the speakeasy atmosphere in the boiler room in a previous life space, even if you have to walk down an alley (Gin Alley, but we saw no signs and just chanced that it was down the alley across from Spur Gastropub) and open a door with only a small plaque sign to find it. I mean, look at these beautifully crafted cocktails!
This is the St Peter’s Secret with Apricot brandy, hibiscus syrup, prosecco… followed by a shared Mimaloya, with Reposado tequila, Lustan fino sherry, allspice dram, pineapple juice, lime. Go ahead and admire the wall of beautiful alcohol in this library.
The Dealer’s Choice that the bar saw the bartender make for one table (which then resulted in an order from me and another party at this tiny bar that only fits 8, though there is more room downstairs with couches downstairs) included spicy rum and egg white and magic. It tastes even better than it looks.
After this the third member of this trio of ladies had arrived, so we made our way to The Whale Wins, which I only knew came from the same proprietors of the famous Walrus and the Carpenter. The menu here focuses on a lot of wood fired and local seasonal fresh ingredients that combines Northwest bounty with simple wood-oven roasted preparation but with creative, inspired combinations of those ingredients. They do a lot of plating at a large counterspace area in lieu of an open kitchen, and dishes are often served at room temperature. When first walking in from outside the space was very airy and full of light and straight lines reflecting the renovated warehouse space, but once through the doors you feel like you were sitting in someone’s large prep table in a kitchen of a country estate of Nigella Lawson.
Perhaps we ordered almost the half the items on the menu: 3 of the 6 vegetable plates, 2 of the 5 seafood plates, 3 of the 6 meat plates, and 3 of the 5 desserts. The menu says they encourage sharing, but the dishes are small. I helped drink half a glass of the bottle of wine, but with that Dealer’s Choice still lingering on tongue I had wanted to continue my cocktail adventures, so ordered the Shochu Think U Can Dance featured cocktail with shochu, yuzu, saler, and rosemary, very clean and refreshing. Several other cocktails sounded intriguing, such as the Finner with Jasmine Green Tea syrup with port, rum, pineapple and lemon, but I did have to go to work the next day.
The first dish to appear for us to share was the Local Roots Farm roasted carrots and fennel with harissa and yogurt and so we started out with a rocket launch of flavor.
I think I probably ate more than my 1/3 share of the Rabbit Terrine with Miner’s Lettuce and Shallot Aigre Deux, but I’m a huge fan of terrines and that shallot aigre deux was a wonderful complement. A little messier to share was the Matiz Sardines on toast with curried tomato paste and shaved fennel.
Even messier, crazy messy, but also crazy delicious that we were licking knuckles, was the Roasted Half Dungeness Crab with Harissa Butter. Perhaps I was last to get served from this plate so I just ate from the original plate with all that butter
Around this time the Local Roots Farm Roasted Turnips with lemon and marjoram, and I was torn between wanting these caramelized with hint of citrusy bites but needing to use silverware from the buttery madness of cracking and eating the crabs with my hands. The dilemma got even worse with the arrival of the Roasted Fava Beans with ricotta. Forget peeling to get to those individual beans if I can just eat them like this! All the vegetable plates are home runs here.
And then this incredible steak, the Painted Hills Filet Mignon Salt Roasted, sliced, and served at room temperature with sauce verte, potatoes, and fresh horseradish cream, arrived, and all three of us were quietly rolling our eyes. I tried to take small bites to savor it as long as possible, and saved it for my very last savory bite before dessert. All of us used our knives to wipe the horseradish away and just enjoy the smokiness of that meat. The last dish to arrive was the Mad Hatcher Roasted Half Chicken with parsnip and rutabaga puree, fried capers and preserved lemon. That puree was wipe your finger on the plate clean.
We wrapped up with 3 desserts, Lemon Shaker Tart with Creme Fraiche (the lemon and creme fraiche were excellent but there was something mealy and touch about the tart crust), the Spring Rhubarb Eton Mess (seriously it was a mess, the rhubarb is a bit much though I loved the crumbled meringue, it sounded better in its incarnation the week before that had berries, but I understand the use of whatever is at market), and the Butter Roasted Zucchini Bread with Creme Fraiche.
I am still thinking about how incredible this meal was, and I would return in a heartbeat to either/both Bathtub Gin and The Whale Wins.
The Seattle chronicles continues… Why just visit the market when you can taste your way through it? Not to mention, instead of just eyeing the various vendors, also learning some history along the way? Did I mention it was a food tour with lots of tastes?
After a quick refresh at our hotel, we walked over to the Seattle Art Museum, known as SAM locally, to start our Seattle Bites Food Tour of the Pike Place Market. We walked past SAM’s “The Hammering Man” on the Corner of 1st Ave and University St. (he hammers slowly every day except Labor day) to meet in front of the cafeteria where we were introduced to the guide and received our reusable bag, a map vaguely outlining some of our destinations, and a radio/earpiece so that we could always hear her no matter where we were as we were walking or how busy the market might get.
Our first bite was right there at Taste, the restaurant in SAM, with a taste of smoked salmon flatbread with crème fraîche and fine herbs. The Seattle Art Museum actually started out with a large collection of Asian art in the early 1900s, but then in the 1990s with the success of the King Tut exhibition, it expanded to the current downtown facility and the original location became the Seattle Asian Art Museum with which it still has links- you can visit both museums in the same week for the price of one admission ticket. About 5 years ago SAM also expanded to create the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park by waterfront park property to showcase outdoor sculptures for free. Taste Restaurant in the museum is close to Pike Place Market and sources ingredients from there, thus the tasting stop we had here.
Next, after a little history of how the Pike Place Market was founded over the price of onions marked up by wholesaler middlemen from ten cents to one dollar in just a year, and the outrage resulted in a City Councilman proposing a public market that would connect farmers directly with consumers. Customers would “Meet the Producer” directly. The first day the middlemen that tried to tell farmers it was a terrible idea and only 8 farmers showed up, who were then sold out in hours. So the next day, more farmers came, and thus it has been going ever since 1907, making it the oldest continuously run street market in the United States. Armed with that lesson, we then walked to the market and now understood the large sign with the Meet the Producer over the market.
Next, we visited Crepe de France where we used the utensils and napkins that had been packed in the reusable bag for us on Crepe de France’s Paris-inspired fruit Banana and Nutella crepe with whipped cream. Pike Place Market’s Crepe de France is actually owned by an Indonesian woman (who you can vaguely see to the right behind the counter, her back turned to us) who we thanked as a group with a loud “merci beaucoup”.
Next, we passed through Post Alley, passing by Britt’s Pickles on our way to Pike Place Market Creamery with its offering of dairy wonderland and the tale of Nancy Nipples the milkmaid (yes that’s her name!). We continued on then on to Pike Place Chowder in the portion of Pike Place Market that is called the The Sanitary Market, as live animals were banned in that area. Pike Place Chowder boasts “America’s Best Clam Chowder” after winning 3 years in a row after competing in Great Chowder Cook-Off in Newport (even though in its history no restaurant outside New England had ever won!). They were told to take a break from competing for 10 years, but they are in the Great Chowder Cook-Off Hall-of-Fame. The sun came out in Seattle as we learned about the music and busking in the Pike Place Market area, and then we visited Corner Produce for some various fresh fruit samples, freshly sliced with a knife in the producer’s hand as we stood there on the street.
We turned back around towards the insides of the market to Saffron Spice for Mom-inspired chicken tikka masala from a classically French-trained South Indian chef, which was then washed down with fresh mango lassi fortified with more fresh fruit from the market.
As we continued our tour, we stopped at some of the tiles of the market floor, part of the renovation from the original wood, and admired some tiles that had numbers. These are part of a love letter from a man to his mathematician wife: her favorite prime numbers are what he placed on the Pike Place Market tiles he purchased from her. We learned also about Rachel the pig who helps collect a few thousand each year to help fund the various social services the Market also provides to the community. I also took some shots of some of the beautiful and colorful flowers of the market, and some of the hustle and lights of the market.
Next was a sampling of hand-crafted sausage by a German master butcher, Uli’s Famous Sausages was followed by a stop just next door to admire the enormous crabs and taste Salmon- Alderwood Smoked and Teriyaki Smoked Salmon jerky from Pure Food Fish Market.
We then walked through the craftsmen part of the Market, and finally, we wrapped up our tour after the Gum Wall with tasting oils and vinegars at Quintessential Gourmet, where the epitome of meet the producer was experienced as he gave us recipes and suggested various combinations of flavored oils and vinegars that blew our minds.
Coming next… the best meal in Seatle of the weekend, at The Whale Wins.
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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