Showing posts with label oregon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oregon. Show all posts

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Turkey Ice Cream? Thanksgiving Flavors from Portland's Salt and Straw,Now at Joan's on Third

Portland's Salt & Straw small batch ice creams aren't sold anywhere else outside of Portland - other than our very own Joan's On Third, that is! Joan had long been searching for the right ice cream to serve at Joan's On Third, and when they tried Salt & Straw they knew that was the one. They somehow managed to convince cousins Kim and Tyler Malek to partner up. 

Now, not only can you try this farm-to-cone goodness in town, you can also try their fun Thanksgiving flavors. Co-owner Tyler Malek has really gone all the way this year, creating a whole "Thanksgiving dinner" with ice cream.

The first, is the sweet potato and candied pecan ice cream with gooey marshmallow fluff! If you like sweet potato you will love this.
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There's "apple cranberry stuffing." This was a celery ice cream with apple cranberry bread pudding.
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The celery ice cream is lightly sweet, a perfect vehicle for the bread pudding inside. This was paired with Lanson Brut Champagne.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mini Food Cart Crawl: Nong's Khao Man Gai and The People's Pig (Portland, OR)

On my second trip to Portland, a food cart visit was a must, and why not try what is perhaps the most famous of them all: Hainanese chicken and rice at Nong's Khao Man Gai ($6.75)

The order I shared with e*starLA was breast meat. It was tender, but not incredibly special. Instead, the garlicky sauce is really what it's all about! Douse the meat and rice with plenty of it (extra sauce goes for $1).
I don't normally like chicken breast that much, though, and I should've been wiser and ordered like Eat Recklessly did. She asked for dark meat and said yes to the crispy skin! Her plate was 10x better than mine was. I am definitely asking for dark meat and getting the skin next time around.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Cognac Double Decker Bus Tour (Portland Cocktail Week)

Happy New Year everyone! 'Tis time for me to try and catch up on so many old posts, including ones from Portland Cocktail Week.

My favorite part of Portland Cocktail Week was the Cognac double decker bus tour, where a bright red double decker picked us up at the hotel and took us to three bars to sip cognac cocktails and had some great bites to eat.

Our first stop was Imperial, one of Chef Vitaly Paley's new restaurant with Brandon Wise as the bar manager.
We had Vieux Carre on tap and tasted an amazing hickory infused vermouth which really showed off the bar's strength.

platters of charcuterie to accmpany our Vieux Carre
Our next stop is Central, on Southwest Ankeny Street

Saturday, June 4, 2011

PDX Cocktail Stop #2: Teardrop Lounge (Portland, OR)

Besides pies, a maple bacon donut, and Bunk sandwiches, all I wanted in Portland were cocktails. Wandering Chopsticks and I met up with one of her readers for a night out starting from happy hour at Clyde Common. Our second stop was Teardrop Lounge in the Pearl District. Highly recommended by my cocktailian friends, Teardrop Lounge makes their own bitters, uses fresh and seasonal fruits that include local (Oregonian) specialties like marionberry liqueur.

They call their housemade bitters "tinctures" and there is an amazing selection of them. Do you see the Thai Chili and Jalapeno ones?

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I had deemed myself pretty versed in booze these days, but the cocktails at Teardrop list ingredients I either wasn't familiar with or haven't imagined being in a cocktail. Lustau East India sherry? Montinore verjus? Pear butter?

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Bunk Sandwiches (Portland, OR)

Bunk Sandwiches was on the top of my to-do list for Portland. Raves from my friends, Mario Batali's declaration that Tommy Habetz is one of the world's top contemporary chefs (Tommy worked under Batali and Bobby Flay before opening Bunk), appearing in New York Times, and many more. Anyway, I made Wandering Chopsticks drive me there with high expectations.

We waited about 20 minutes in line in the rain. It looks like at other times the lines can be much longer. The music store next door even had a sign up stating that you can't stand in front of the music store for Bunk.

We ordered the much lauded Pork Belly Cubano with ham, swiss, mustard, and pickles ($8)

Pork Belly Cubano
I like the toasted crunchy bread, the silky ham, and of course the juicy, tender pork belly is what distinguishes this Cubano from the others.

Monday, April 25, 2011

How Girls Roll: Beer, Cupcakes, and Beauty Treatments

When The Beer Chicks throw an event with a female brewer, it was only natural to gear it towards the female bloggers out there. That was exactly what happened with Veronica Vega, the only female brewer at Deschutes Brewery (from Bend, Oregon) - and it was a blast.

Black Butte Porter
My fave Deschutes: the Black Butte Porter

Our little party took place at Benefit Cosmetics in Santa Monica, where we also got beauty treatments while sipping beers.
Benefits Cosmetics Santa Monica

OK, first thing's first: the beers!
My favorite of the Deschutes beers was the Black Butte Porter (5.2% ABV). I personally prefer this type of beer, rich and malty. This particular porter is rich in flavor and creamy, yet pretty light and smooth, which makes it a good entry point to darker beers. Christina Perozzi, one of the Beer Chicks, said that she wanted to clear up the misconception that women have that dark beers are heavy and bitter by introducing them to dark-yet-light-and-crisp like this porter.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Pie Galore at Random Order Coffeehouse (Portland, OR)

Days before our trip to Portland, Wandering Chopsticks found an article from Travel+Leisure for the top ten pies in the US, listing Portland’s Random Order Coffeehouse for their vanilla salted caramel apple pie. We just had to go.

Vanilla Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Random Order is a small coffee shop on cute Alberta street, very much like a neighborhood joint. On our first visit after “hiking” the waterfalls, we got three slices of pie and some tea.
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Of course, we had to get their award winning vanilla salted caramel apple pie. The filling is caramel apple and the crust is a vanilla sugar-salted crust.
I’m not a huge apple pie fan, but I have to say this was very good, especially the flaky crust. Random Order makes pretty much everything from scratch, including their crust, cream, and whipped cream.

The Flirty Berry was even better for me, filled with blueberries and blackberries.
Flirty Berry Pie

Portland, OR

Eateries
Bunk Sandwiches
Clyde Common
Nong's Khao Man Gai
The People's Pig
Random Order Coffeehouse
Voodoo Doughnuts

Cocktail Bars
Teardrop Lounge
The Secret Society

Wineries
Argyle Winery
Hawks View Cellars

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, OR)

Voodoo Doughnut is one of Portland’s most popular food/tourist destinations because of their wacky donut offerings, especially since it showed up in Bourdain's show (and was apparently mentioned in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club).

Maple Bacon Bar
Maple Bacon Bar

The line at the original location seems to always be long and we waited 45 minutes to get our pink box, you know the one good things come in!)
It's small and dinky, but we found it fun and kitschy. This is not some fancy gourmet doughnut shop, mind you.
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One of Voodoo Doughnut’s claims to fame is their maple bacon bar, which is literally topped with two slices of crisped bacon. I thought it may be all hype because of its weirdness but it was actually really good! Nickel Diner’s maple bacon donut has nothing against this. I like the texture of voodoo’s donut and the maple icing was sweet but not sticky like Nickel’s. The bacon? Worked surprisingly well. Wandering Chopsticks and I were glad we each got one but regretted that we didn’t each get two.

The Voodoo Doll doughnut is just a chocolate dipped, raspberry-filled bar, but you should order it anyway because it’s shaped like a voodoo doll with a pretzel stake through its heart!
Voodoo Doll Doughnut

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