Yummy Portland!!!

Yes it’s been a long time, and yes, I am going to try and be better about posting blogs. I have run into a few places that are definitely worthy of some words, and with the new job; I will travel a five state region in the pacific northwest almost every week.

My goal has always been to find off the beaten path places to blog about, and that will not change. Let’s take a look at a recent trip to Portland, OR.

I have been in the Portland area several times in the last few years and thought I was up the best places to dine. Wrong, I did know of a few, but on the last trip I got some recommendations from old high school friends and some new friends, all local to the Portland area. THANK YOU for exposing me to what I was missing in Portland. What a fabulous place to eat, drink, shop, play........ We never had a bad meal while there but below is what stuck out the most!!

Voodoo Donuts

Our walk 6 or 7 blocks from our hotel and back didn’t cancel the calorie intake we ingested at this highly publicized donut shop. Anyone who has watched The Food Network has likely seen this unique morning marvel and the crazy creations they spin out. Our choices consisted of a foursome of the somewhat less adventurous type. Buttermilk Bar (long time Favorite), Apple Fritter (Classic), Mexican Hot Chocolate and Maple Bar w/ bacon (two strips on top). Yep, you can’t go wrong with adding bacon to it!!! The only thing I like more than bacon is bacon wrapped bacon. The first two were nothing to write home about, I’ve had better. For the second half, this is what Voodoo is founded on and for good reason. Make a crazy creation that taste great and it will keep them lined out the door and coming back from more. Only change I would make to the Maple Bar is to crumble the bacon to insure that each bite includes some fatty salty goodness!!! Make sure to get your spot in line but it might be a good idea to check out the web site prior to standing at the counter muttering uhhhh, uhhhh, uhhhh. $

www.voodoodoughnut.com

Portland City Grill

A Happy Hour must. Located downtown at 111 SW 5th Ave. on the 30th Floor your view is a guarantee. I suggest sitting close to the piano if you can, you will still get a great view of the city. The reasonably priced Happy Hour menu is a good reason to go, but don’t think of this establishment as just a trendy place to get started. Stay a while and turn your trip into an attractive dinner setting. Great selection of fresh fish and seafood, nice wine list and comfortable environment. (People Watching) $$$$ www.portlandcitygrill.com

Time For a Beer, I think so!!

Any city that has a “Brewers District” is a must stay and play for me. Most of us here in the northwest are familiar with Deschutes and Rogue as top Micro beer brands. No reason to not venture into each of these locations while in Portland, especially since there blocks apart. Still within walking distance of any hotel in the downtown area (I prefer the walk down-cab back method vs. the stagger back), these beer joints provide tasty beer flights, lunch, snacks or dinner. Dessert Beer, what a perfect end to your visit. Stop by the Rogue for a “snickers”, a version o f the black and tan or maybe tan and tan. Hazelnut Brown Nectar and Chocolate Stout!!!

Not a fan of these Micro’s but still enjoy a good brew? GO TO HENRY’s 12^th St Tavern. With an enormous list of draft (100+) and bottled beer your sure to find one or more to your liking. Don’t be fooled, this is not just the holy grail of beer. Check out their stellar menu for apps, lunch or dinner!! $$

www.rogue.com

www.deschutesbrewery.com

www.henrystavern.com

Café Mingo (aka - Bar Mingo)

Saving the best for last of course! Our new friends met us in the Pearl District of Portland for our last evening in the city. We arrived at this quaint little place (Café Mingo) to find no more than a half dozen tables, additional space in the bar section (Bar Mingo), and of course everything packed and a wait list 45 minutes to an hour long. No worries!! Plenty of night life in “The Pearl”, give them your cell number and head down the street for a pre-dinner cocktail and appetizer.

Now, those who have read a blog or two and hence the, “snob”, in the blog name you should know I’m not exactly easy to please. The staff at Café Mingo had no trouble. Great company, nice wine and a dinner that will likely never leave my all time top 5!! Most always a good idea to order the special at a place like this. Lamb Risotto!!! I savored every bite. One more glass of wine and I would have licked the plate clean. I have only recently began to enjoy lamb and this night was by far the best dish yet. Braised in a mirepoix, green olives, garlic, shallots, tomatoes, rich stock, finished with red wine and served in a velvety parmesan risotto. I salivate still today!! Everyone enjoyed their meal and this is certainly a place I won’t hesitate to visit each time I’m in town. $$$ www.barmingonw.com

There are so many more places in the Portland area I am dying to try. Luckily I will be back at least another half dozen times by the end of the year!! What’s your favorite place??

P.S. – Stop at Oregon Wines on Broadway for a wine flight or two. Oregon gives good wine!! www.oregonwinesonbroadway.com

Bill's Cafe'

I have been avoiding this for way too long. I promised myself early this year that I would be better!! Obviously that didn’t happen.

After being in the San Jose area for the past 4 months and eating out at least 2 meals a day, I finally found someplace worth blogging about. Someplace you should schedule a visit to next time you’re in town.

Bill’s Café has three locations in San Jose. I can only imagine what the other locations are like as I now frequent the location at The Alameda. I mostly go for lunch but have enjoyed breakfast a time or two as well.

Looking at the breakfast menu you will quickly see that this is “THE” place for breakfast. All your breakfast favorites plus other creations that will make you drool just reading about them. I myself love a good Eggs Benedict. The only problem at Bill’s is that there are too many to choose from. Traditional, California, Crab Cake….the list goes on!! Oh, you caught that too. Yep, someone at your table must order the Crab Cake Benedict but don’t be surprised if once they taste it they no longer want to share.

Lunch menu looks to be like your typical café type food. Burgers, Salads, Sandwiches, etc. I have yet to order a burger but have seen many devoured by the other patrons. I usually get one of the many salads they have to choose from. Each salad is fresh as can be and most are accompanied by a warm garlic parmesan breadstick, cup of soup and homemade dressing of your choice. I don’t get too excited about salad. A really good homemade dressing might raise an eyebrow but soup, this place has got soup that will make your toes curl. Each visit I try a cup of the Soup du Jour.
“Excuse me miss, what’s the Soup du Jour?? It’s the soup of the day!! Um, that sounds good, I’ll have that”!!(classic dumb and dumber)
Chicken Tortellini, Minestrone, Clam Chowder, Crab Bisque…….all are crafted to perfection. I have honestly not had soup this good……EVER!!!!

My only disappointment with this whole thing is that I have been in the area this long and only discovered this culinary delight weeks ago!! $$

http://www.billscafe.com/

When in San Diego.......

Finally!!! I have something to write about. Wow, what a great trip to San Diego. I can't say much for the food at the Zoo or at Sea World but the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego is a must visit to anyone in the area. I can't wait for the next opportunity to take the family again.

Rock Bottom Brewery - Gaslamp Quarter

A lot like any other Micro Brewery/eatery you have been to in your home town or while on the road. Good food options on the menu from start to finish and even on the kids menu. Beer is wonderful!!! I had the Nut brown but would almost call it a Stout. Nice nutty flavor with hints of carmel and an almost smokey hops quality. We all enjoyed our food as well. Nothing special about the Hot Wings (just wings) but I did enjoy my Seared Ahi over rice with Asian vegetables. The sauce had a bit too much soy sauce in it for my taste but the Ahi was cooked perfectly. $$$

El Fandango - Old Town

DO NOT GO HERE!!! What a complete waist of 2 hours. Yep, that's how long it took to get our cold tasteless food and get out of there. Service was horrible as best. I didn't even tip!!! I'm not a big tipper anyway but to not get a tip.......ouch!!! I usually would have said something but I could tell it wouldn't have done any good. This place it a tourist trap of the worst kind. Unsuspecting patrons such as ourselves are drawn by the inviting outside patio only to be struck down and bludgeoned by the lack of service and food quality. Had we not been there with great friends it would have been a total loss. :(

Pizzeria Luigi - 25th St.

Ahh yes. A New York Style delight. You may have seen this place featured on the Food Network - Diners, Drive In's and Dives. Large, thin sliced Pizza, delicious Pizza. Some of the best pizza I have had anywhere. Perfect crunchy yet chewy crust with the perfect amount of toppings but what holds it all together is the sauce. Nice ripe and fresh tomato flavor without being too runny or thick. Try the spinach, mushroom and ricotta pie. It pairs nicely with an organic stout from the beer case. $

Cheese Shop - Gaslamp District

A must for breakfast. I hear the lunch is fabulous as well. A quaint little shop on the west side of the district serving breakfast and lunch all day. All my girls enjoyed there food but I inhaled my corned beef hash. The only other I would compare is from the deli at New York New York in Vegas. Nice crust on the outside and very moist flavorful on the inside. I'll be back. $$

Chianti Restaurant - Gaslamp District

I am saving the best for last. It's been a very long time that I can remember such a great dining experience. Located 5th St. in the heart of the Gaslamp District, Chianti Restaurant is sure to please your appetite for Italian dinning. Great wine list consisting of several local wines as well as Italian wines. All items are Ala carte but reasonably priced for the quality and quantity of food. We ordered two of the salads including a Cesar, Cioppino, Lobster Ravioli and Lasagna. Salads were great, Cioppino was fabulous once I added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and the girls had no complaints about the Ravioli and Lasagna. Great place to take well behaved children or adults. $$$$

Tight Budget?? Try Big Batch Cooking!!!

Today is the day I will officially put the original purpose of this blog on a hopefully temporary hiatus. In addition to trying some new recipes and changing a few of the old ones I am on a quest to discover great meals on a budget. I'll be doing some big batch cooking that will taste wonderful for about $1 - $2 per serving. Where to start?????

"A large stock pot". At Christmas time I found a 20 quart stock pot at Macy's that was originally $129.99. It was reduce by 50%, then reduce again and again and an additional $10 taken at the register. I walked out the door with this pot for $29.99. Deal of the century if you ask me. I have used it three times already with excellent results. Chili, BBQ sauce and Spaghetti.

Everyone knows that spaghetti is one of the least expensive meals a person can make. Costco or Sam's Club is the perfect place to start for this. Get your meat, pasta and sauce making materials in large quantities and cut your cost significantly. I estimate the batch of sauce I made yielded 36 servings of spaghetti sauce for about $1.41 per serving. Keep in mind that this includes 6 pounds of homemade meatballs, 2 pounds of Italian sausage and 1 pound of peperoni sticks. I never said it was low cholesterol but it does taste fabulous. Add some pasta and homemade focaccia bread to this and your still well under $2 per serving.

Stews, Chili, non cream based soup, etc. All can be done in this same manner and freeze extremely well. The best way I have found to freeze them is to place the cooled soup, sauce, etc. into a 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag by desired serving size and gently pushing the air out of the bag, zip it closed. Lay flat in your freezer in a shallow box (a shirt box works well) until frozen. After a couple of hours you will be able to store upright to save space in your freezer. It will keep for months and help stretch you monthly food budget.

As I mentioned, I have done Chili and Spaghetti sauce so far. I have also prepared and frozen a large ham and have plans for a turkey today. These can be divided into portions for soups, sandwiches or future meals and frozen for months as well. Take the time to prepare in advance and not only save time latter but you will also save money.

Upcoming meal preparations; Carnitas, Lasagna, Bahn Mi Pork, Tacos and Empanadas.

Home for a while!!!!

One thing about loosing your job is you don't travel much anymore. Go figure. Yep, as of December 19, 2008 the doors of my company closed leaving many good people out of a job and spending much more time at home. One of these has turned out to be good and the other obviously not so good. I love getting to spend time at home with my girls doing homework, playing dolls and cooking. As you may have gathered from past blogs, I love to cook as much or more than I love to eat. I have created some new recipes, redefined some old ones and tried several new ones. For the next month or so you may see more recipes on the blog than restaurant reviews.
So, for all you cooks out there, send me your favorite recipes; I'll try them out and let you know what I think. Or just watch for recipes I post and you can do the same. Happy New Year!!!

Pink’s and Randy’s

Many of you have heard of these famous locations in the Los Angeles area especially if you watch the Food Network but have you been there?? Until Monday I would have said no as well.
Not exactly a health conscious line up for an afternoon of eats but with my meeting being cancelled it allows me the time to visit these locations that I've heard great things about for years.

Pink’s Famous Hot Dogs
Since 1939 this family owned hot spot has been is in the same location dishing out world famous chili dogs, burgers and much more. I have seen numerous TV specials about Pink’s and have always wanted to taste what all the hype is about.

I had no problem finding the place and must have been very lucky with parking and only waiting in line for 15 minutes. From my understanding the short wait I had would be admired by many. The wait was both good and bad for me. Good to look at the menu over and over and bad because……… I got to look over the menu over and over.
By the time it was my turn to order I had easily changed my mind a dozen times but ultimately settled on the Chili Dog with Kraut, the spicy version of the Chicago Dog and an order of Onion Rings. Yep………ouch. I think this is about as close as one could come to defining a “Gut Bomb”.
Everything was pretty good. Would I drive out of my way to visit again? Probably not, at least not by myself. I would go again with someone who hadn’t been before. The Chili Dog was better without the Kraut, great Onion Rings and the Chicago Dog was the bomb.

Randy’s Donuts
Built in 1952 this place has appeared in many movies and is always recognizable by the huge donut on top of the building. Only 8 miles from Pink’s or 30 min drive I had to do it. Another one of those seen on the Food Network, I again must see what all the hype is about.

First of all, let’s air some dirty laundry. I LOVE DONUTS!!! There I said it. I’m not talking about the donuts purchased at the grocery store or those mass produced chunks of cardboard like substances in the cellophane packages and white boxes located at the same place you buy fuel. I’m talking about the donuts made fresh daily with real ingredients by people who like to shake things up a little and try to think outside of the donut box.

Randy’s is it. Lots of choices and priced very reasonable. I always like to find out what the workers eat when they eat at their place of business and this day is no different. She tells me the only one she eats is the Buttermilk Donut. Um……ok……butter good, milk good and donut, well, we already covered that. This donut ranks right up there with the best I have ever had. Crunchy glazed outside with a nice tender inside beaming with buttermilk flavors. I wish I had gotten at least a half dozen before driving away. I also tried a Devils Food Cake but it failed to meet the upper rankings of the donut scale. Will I go back?? Yep, anytime. Lots more on the menu to explore in addition to adding a 6 pack of buttermilk to the order.

http://www.pinkshollywood.com/
http://randys-donuts.com/

Cool Hand Luke's 2

After getting some negative reviews from a reader or two in regards to my comments in March about Cool Hand Luke’s I felt it necessary to try the newly opened restaurant in Eagle.
Keeping a very open mind I meet my family after returning from a weekly trip. Walking in the door I am thrilled to not have the same complaint about the loudness of the music. The restaurant is clean, nice and the service is great. Should be, it just opened right!!!!
Truly, everyone working here is very nice and eager to serve. My problem…….the food is so blahh it makes me think I’m dining at Sizzler but paying double the price. We tried a variety of dishes including an appetizer and salad, but the group all agreed that the most eatable thing was the salad and bread.
I have not been to the one in downtown Boise and have no future plans to. If you’re looking to try the one in Eagle I suggest you do so in the very near future or it may no longer be there.