Oba

March 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This weekend I enjoyed a stroll around the Pearl District, finished off by the Confessions of A Shopaholic movie. I found the movie more fun than the book actually- the book, and the book series in general (admittedly which I gave up after reading 3 of the books), made me annoyed which how she never seemed to grow and learn to handle her problem with consumerism, debt, and being truthful, plus her rationalizations in the book were stupid. The movie focuses much more on rounding her out as a character with showing much more the exhilaration she gets from shopping so the viewer is more forgiving, and she is implied to have learned better at the film's end. Isla Fischer is quite the talented and likable actress as well, balancing intelligence with bad choices in a sympathetic way. It's not the deepest movie, but it's marketed as fluffy fun so I overlooked its numerous leap from reality and some of the caricatures they use for characters.

I also finally made it to Oba! I have heard lots of great reviews on this restaurant, but never gone since it seemed very trendy, and I just didn't feel like waiting for a table when there are so many other places to try which don't require as much of a wait. Besides, Andina is just around the corner… Well, I was only there for happy hour, but I would like to return again for actual dinner. I had three drinks, the favorite being the guava margarita. The prickly pear margarita was a frightening shade of fuschia, and the mojito not muddled enough to give that minty zing that you get from better mojitos at Andina's or W. At $5, the prices of the margaritas during happy hour were just right, but the mojito didn't deserve it's $10 price tag.

I enjoyed two appetizers with my cocktails. One was the ecuadorian griddled potato cakes of yukon gold potatoes, muenster cheese, achiote and green onions topped with peanut sauce- I thought the flavor profile was good, but it needed better texture instead of just being soft mush.

The other was the chilé-corn fritters with pasilla-tomato sauce andlime crema- this had the much needed crunch that the potato cakes should have had a bit of, but to the opposite end because they were pretty greasy and could have used more sauce to balance out the oil. Despite the sauce you see in the picture, it didn't have enough kick to be that counterweight. Looking around though, I saw many other interesting tapas being enjoyed around me, and the dinner menu offering items such as costillas con sofrito (pound of carlton farms babyback pork ribs marinated in tomatoes, onions, cilantro and kahlua. finished on the mesquite grill) and roasted butternut squash enchiladas with creamy toasted walnut sauce and quinoa salad, among other options, seem intriguing.


Oba also is located kitty corner from Giorgio's though, which was highlighted by Gourmet magazine and other publications for their homemade pasta, and Ten 01 known for its farm-to-table approach and Restaurant of the Year 2008, is only a few blocks away. I may visit those two before Oba for a special occasion, but Oba is the perfect atmosphere for a more energizing trendy evening. Whew, it's a good thing this neighborhood is totally unaffordable to live in- I walked past a listing for an apartment/mini-townhouse and the listing on the flyer was… 1.5 million dollars. Granted, it was by the streetcar line, but… it's by the streetcar, and the train whistling through the railyards here I can even hear from my apartment more than 2 miles away.    

 

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Pudding On the Rice!

February 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment

On Sunday, I had the really interesting experience of heading out to Tigard, and for lunch we stopped at a place whose name intrigued us: Pudding On the Rice. See, I don't just eat at places that I read about in magazines, newspapers, and the internet. I'm no snob- I'll try anything.

It turns out this "gourmet dessert bar" is new to the Portland area, and only one other location exists: one in Provo, Utah. You're quite a long way from home, little gourmet dessert bar! The concept is very clean and minimal, sort of what you'd see if you visited a Pinkberry/yogurt venue, but with one differentiator. They serve rice pudding.

How is that appealing? Well, they have come up with more than 40 flavors of the rice pudding, all made from scratch daily, and include flavors like

  • Berry Manilow: mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries… "um-hum"
  • Bittersweet Symphony: dark rich mixture of bittersweet chocolate infused with vanilla and cream
  • Che's Cake: cheesecake of a revolutionary kind
  • Chupar la Pina Colada: coconut with crushed pineapple with a hint of rum
  • Dream of the Blue Turtle: fine milk, dark chocolate, toasted pecans and caramel
  • The Legend of Sleepy Mallow: marshmallow cream with a hint of vanilla and mini marshmallows
  • The Opiate of the Masses: blend of fresh lemons, zest, and poppyseeds
  • Pavlov's Nog: version of egg nog
  • Peanu Butterfuco: creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate chunks
  • Peter Primate Special: we pay homage to distant cousins with an intelligently designed and naturally selected mix of walnuts, chocolate chunks, and banana cream… evolution never tasted so good
  • Raspberry Rousseau: fresh raspberries, vanilla, and hint of almond…
  • And more…

I liked that the rice pudding was light tasting, similar to what you would find in a gelato but without the fat- these babies are only 70 calories! And, the extra texture of the rice in the pudding (you can add toppings too, but totally unnecessary in my opinion) gives you just enough extra on your tongue to taste so it doesn't melt away like ice cream or gelato would.

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If you are looking for a little bit more before the rice pudding, they also make fresh savory crepes in combinations such as shaved honey ham and swiss cheese; fresh tomatoes, scallions, and parmesan cheese; baby spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and poppy dressing; roasted turkey and cranberry sauce; tomato tepenade, fresh basil, and mozzerella; cheddar cheese and sliced apples. Or, you can choose your own fillings from apple butter, bananas, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cinnamon/sugar, fresh fruit/berries, jam, nutella, peanut butter, and whipped cream. You even have your choice of enjoying it in a paper cone, a la the Parisian Creperies you find on the street.
 
If you happen to be in the area of Tigard's Bridgeport Village, instead of going to one of the many chain restaurants here, give this place a try. It's a refreshing reprieve from the rest of the monolithic suburbia outposts here to grab a light healthy bite in an obvious little labor of love by an entrepreneur.
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Chinese New Year 2009- cleansing day

February 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When Chinese New Year started, I noted that the Chinese Classical Garden here in Portland was going to have a special event on the last day of Chinese New Year celebration. I got there early enough to see the tai chi demostration, and saw little kids making paper lanterns, coloring pictures of dragons, and writing Chinese characters. I opted for Chinese tea and snacks in the teahouse while listening to the Portland Orchids and Bamboo Chinese Ensemble perform traditional Chinese music. – mooncake (which is only edible with tea) and my favorite, turnip cake!

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Unfortunately, as you can see below, shortly before the floating lantern and dragon came out, it got very grey, and it was a bit soggy and sad for the floating lanterns. However, the little boy next to me getting soaked was soooo cute, though shivering by the end. He was looking a little spacey. Reminds me of my brother. Heeee.

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Earlier when Chinese New Year started, I of course ate noodles, and chicken, and potstickers. I still needed some fish though. I wasn't sure what Chinese restaurants in China Block (it's the Chinatown downtown, but I wouldn't call it a town… sure it has the gates, but it's only like 3 blocks!) were good, so I ended up at Typhoon again. At least I had a steamed fish instead of a deep fried one like last time… though that was tastier deep fried. Well, it was a healthy start to the new year at least! And, I had more tea- my favorite tea is the Toasted Rice Flower tea. It smells great, and has a light taste. Another strikeout with the vegetarian dish though- the eggplants were fine, but the tofu salty as if taste was overcompensated for by salt. Well, the three times I've had meaty dishes I've liked them all.

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And look how pretty those are… as opposed to these veggie dishes at Paradox Cafe, which is 90% or more vegetarian/vegan. I didn't even bother to taste the vegan sloppy joe there in that third photo. I had the Solstice Corn Cakes, which are corncakes with apples and toasted walnuts in the mix (I had them with quite a big pat of butter, and the next day with lots of syrup. The parts with the apples were best, the rest needed help with the dryness. Or maybe I was just adding fat. Let's not be picky) and the half portion of "Biscuits and Gravy HOB version" which is herb and onion bread with almond gravy. The gravy was good. The bread was a bit hard, but had some potential in flavor if it hadn't been overdone- and it definitely still needed that gravy. Other offerings here include a sandwich called a Tree Hugger which you can add tofurky to, Tempeh Reubon, Asparagus Sandwich, and Curried Tempeh Tacos, Tempeh Gyro, and 8 kinds of salads, among many other items.

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Cravings for Asian food

December 13, 2008 by Leave a Comment

I'm not sure if it's because I know I'm going to Thailand soon (from the 29 of December to January 11), but this week I really had a craving for some Asian food. I didn't try anyplace new- instead, I went back to two places to see if I ordered something else, would I still like the place.

For dinner one evening, I returned to Typhoon and had the "Three Flavor Fish"- a flash-fried halbut with a spicy sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately when the waiter put it down the stacked fish fell over, but you can see the delicious crispiness all the same. It's quite a bit of fish, and I ate all of that up. Maybe I was straining myself for the last third, but that crispness wouldn't be there if I saved it and took it home. Another thing I like there is there large selection of teas to choose from, so I had a pot all by myself practically. 

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I also went back in Beaverton while running my first Zipcar errand to Petco and Fred Meyer to a dinner at Jin Wah, which I have also blogged about earlier. This time, I remembered to capture the Joy Yee-ness of the place in their photographed food examples, and the largeness of their menu. This time, I somehow noticed the oilyness that I missed the first time- or was willing to overlook because of their drug-like control of me when I have their chinese sausage fried rice. This time, when I tried their noodles, it was a fail. No crispy burnt parts at all! Fail!

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And… Zipcar? What's that? Well, I recently joined Zipcar, which is a membership car coop program in which I pay a small annual fee, but otherwise it's about $10 an hour to rent a car (or $70 a day) and there are several cars nearby in walking distance just sitting in designated rental parking spots (for instance, 8 within half a mile of my house alone). I use my card to just open the car after making a reservation approximating how long I would use it, either doing so online or via phone. I don't pay for insurance, or for gas (there is already an insurance card in the car, and a gas card I can use as well). The use of the car card is pretty cool- it scans it from the windshield, which unlocks or locks the car. The actual key to the ignition is permanently attachedf with a cord in the car. Thieves don't steal the car because unless you activate it with the card, the engine doesn't even work.

I also got a discounted annual fee by buying a coupon book from Whole Foods, and that book has lots of coupons for groceries and restaurants. I've already made the money spent on the book back on savings through my membership savings of not paying an application fee and getting some driving credits, and that's without me using the grocery store coupons in the book. I have often thought of joining ZipCar, but since I know of 3 ZipCars within a 5 minute walk of me (one is only 2 blocks away) and with the addition of that coupon book and the fact that some of the bigger stores like Target, Petco, and such are farther away and would be a pain to go to public transit wise, it just makes sense for me to have a Zipcar.

So I own a car now! Sorta.

zipcar

 

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Chinese for me, Chinese for you…

November 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment

I really wanted some Chinese food, so on the way home from work I stopped at Jin Wah. I had smelled it a few times, since it is located in this mall by the Beaverton Transit Center that my train goes by every day, and there happens to be a Petco also here so I had stopped there for a scratching post and this time needed a cat food refill. This third time, I couldn’t resist.

I was quite pleased that the food here was fast and delicious. They had a huge menu- sort of the equivalent of a small book here like you would get at the big restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown, but in a place the size of the hole in the walls places like Seven Treasures is, although it does have a nicer feel (closer to the bigger Three Happiness). Besides that initial book, there was also a second menu that just had pictures (similar to what Joy Yee’s does in Chicago, but not with photos of all the dishes), I guess in case you have no idea what Chinese sausage fried rice looks like and such?

I came in thinking about chow fuun, but since my tastebuds perked up at the thought of chinese sausage, I ordered that instead…and it was pretty dang good! The veggies I also ordered, which were morning glory stir fried with garlic, was a bit on the oily side and less flavorful, but the fried rice made up for it. It is bizarre that I am raving about the fried rice, but it wasn’t the normal greasy chinese fried rice with hard rice kernals or in a puddle of oil that you would normally expect, it was fluffy and not too greasy given that there are chinese sausages punctuating the dish. The portion was huge, and I still ate that whole thing up on my own!

As I mentioned, the menu is extensive, so there is a a lot of variety to choose from. Seriously. I took a copy of the take out menu so I can order carry-out on the way home in the future, and I can count more than 200 different items on their take-out menu, and I know I saw more in the restaurant, not to mention they also have a specials board.  Although I was really wondering if I made the right choice when I first walked in and saw Thai and Vietnamese dishes alongside the Chinese, and the fact that underneath the English translation of the Chinese symbols was the dish in Vietnamese…

I was comforted to actually see other Asians in the place though, the way the wait staff is dressed reminds me of the outfits at Three Little Happiness back in the 80s (and they have the same stand-offish but efficient serving style), and as I scanned the menu I immediately saw items like jellyfish and home style chicken feet in appetizers, hong kong style pork spareribs, seafood bird nest, sea cucumber with duck feet clay pot, goose intestine with black bean sauce, 15 kinds of egg noodle soup, congee, and fried chinese bread, so I forgave the entries of pad thai and the pho and bun sections. This place has got to be authentic Asian. Yeah, I am totally going back.

The prices are very reasonable, and the restaurant is pretty large to accomodate a lot of customers. It’s not a trendy or even necessarily a nice looking establishment- it’s what you would expect to see in a strip mall- but sometimes, these strip malls hide yummy treasures, and really, I admit I have always have given a wide berth to Chinese restaurants after what I’ve seen in Chicago’s Chinatown and in China.

When I got home, I decided to treat Mew and Lobo to Chinese food too. Sadly, only Lobo was interested.

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