Albina Green
5128 N Albina Ave (in the same building as Big City Produce)
(503) 546-3183
albinagreen.com
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get there via trimet
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We went in a while back, while it was owned by someone else, and it was one of those tragic things: someone who obviously didn't have restaurant experience, opening a restaurant, trying to be too many things to too many people. Its claim to fame was a $5 Oregon Country Beef hamburger. It was simply too tragic to write about.
But I heard that they had new owners, and so, back I went, and for breakfast, the meal that is probably hardest to screw up. But they did.
Quick overview: they're open Wednesday-Sunday. They serve breakfast til 2pm, as well as sandwiches, salads, and after 4pm, small plates. The menu does not look overambitious, which is a good sign. They have three beers on tap (one micro) and about a dozen bottled beers, most micros. They also do mixed drinks.
The place is filled with album rock memorabilia, posters, and most notably, album covers: hanging from the ceiling, and covering the menu. I should have seen getting a Grateful Dead album as a bad sign.
Breakfast is eggs+carbs, french toast, and some omelets. We ordered an egg-sausage-toast and cheesy hashbrowns, and a breakfast burrito without sour cream. In a reasonable amount of time, our breakfast came. It wasn't clear if the eggs+carbs had cheese on the hashbrowns, and the waiter wasn't sure either, but the waiter did know that the burrito, served enchilada style but with no sauce, didn't have eggs in it. But they were coming.
The overeasy eggs were overmedium, and the cheesy hashbrowns were just odd. They were browned, but soggy. Surely, adding ricotta, asiago & parmesan didn't help. The eggs had little puddles of grease, as did the burrito. And the eggs for the burrito arrived, scrambled very hard.
The breakfast was inexpensive, at least: $15 before tip. But it will be a while before I give them another chance.
Posted at January 23, 2007 * add entry to del.icio.us