The Multnomah village restaurant, a little more poised and sophisticated than its estranged sibling in NW.
We went to the Southwest restaurant recently and found out that while they once were affliated to and shared many menu items with the NW location, that ended a long time ago. Portion sizes at the Southwest restaurant were much smaller than in NW, and everything was pricer. Service was lackluster as well.

This tiny hole-in-the-wall is a welcome surprise. There are maybe 10 tables inside inside this old-stylee chinese-influenced thai place. First, you go up to the counter and order. Aroy has 8 luncheon plates, a curry special, and 43 different appetizers,soups, salads, and entrees. They also have Thai iced tea & coffee, and coconut ice cream with jackfruit and crushed peanuts! A luncheon plate is simply that entree, no soup, no eggroll, but the serving is significant and quite potentially firey. And if you want it hotter still, the proprietors are happy to supply you with hot sauce, hot pepper oils and other condiments to raise the heat level. They are only open 'til 8 pm weekdays, 6 pm on Saturdays.

More photos of Autentica

I was disappointed to not get fresh, hot molletes (soft bolillo rolls with refried beans and fresh housemade mexican cheese) right off the bat. But we did start with fresh, good coffee.

The menu reflects some of the strong points of dinner—the cocktel con pulpo y camaron, for example, but it also reflects the owner, Oswaldo, listening to his customers. Folks wanted more vegetarian options, and now there are quite a few.

The menu is made up of appetizers and antojitos like ensalada con pacotilla aquacate pepinos y lima (bay shrimp with avocado, cukes and lime, $8); ensalada de berros con queso panela (watercress salad with panela cheese and spicy peanuts, $8); fruit salad ($7); the aforementioned cocktel ($8); sopes ($3 each), a couple different tacos ($2 each), quezadilla ($7), menudo, and several types of soup ($8-$10).

Entrees range from an omelet, eggs in a dried chili broth, huevos rancheros, huevos al gusto (eggs any way you'd like them), chilaquiles, enchiladas caseras, bisteak ranchero, and carne enchilada ($8-$13).

While the menu may have changed, the food is still incredible. We started with the ensalada de frutas: papaya, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and pineapple, with a wedge of lime and a monkey dish of chili powder—everything totally fresh and with vibrant flavors. Next came the sopes: you can order them with chicken or chorizo, I always get chorizo. The handmade grilled corn disk is topped with a hash of diced potatoes and your meat, topped with fresh cheese and crema, and slices of avocado & radish. These are just addictively delicious.

Then came our main dishes. The omelet con papas is indeed an omelet with oaxacan cheese and diced potatoes, with pico de gallo on top. It comes with refried vegetarian black beans topped with fresh cheese, and the beans are as runny, rich and comforting as any of the best mexican refrieds, even without the lard. And, the omelet came with blistering hot homemade corn tortillas. Huevos rancheros (eggs ranchero style with ham, beans, and salsa) was pretty darn traditional, with a good ranchero sauce, eggs done right and thin grilled ham.

Other yummy things include chilaquiles con salsa roja, bisteck o heuvos. Now you can order them vegetarian, with eggs, or with a little steak. This is just fried tortillas in red sauce, and it is some supreme comfort food. The eggs in dried red chili broth is soft poached eggs and nopales (brined cactus paddles) floating in a spicy and intensely flavorful broth that begs to be sopped up with tortillas. The enchiladas caseras are homemade enchiladas with chicken or cheese, a red or green sauce, and casera cheese and crema—it's not the cheeseball production you usually get with enchiladas, but a light and delicious (though filling) version.

Our waitress was having the pollo en consome rojo, chicken in a dried chili broth, which I got a good look at and whiff of. Yum. I'll be ordering that next time.

The food is amazing. And the price: two entrees, an antojito and an ensalada, and two cups of coffee for $30 before tip: also amazing.

more pictures of Byways

First, let's look at breakfast, which runs til 11am on weekdays and all day on the weekends. The coffee is good, and hot. The menu looks like the usual greasy spoon fare: eggs & protein, omelettes, pancakes, hash. In fact they serve four different types of hash which look beautiful and taste even better. Griddle fare includes buttermilk pancakes, but also amaretto french toast, and super fabulous blue corn hotcakes with pecan butter. Eggs are treated respectfully and are always tasty. Potatoes are well-cooked home fries—not my fav, but hey. And, I don't know that this is the best bacon in town, but it's sure the best bacon I've had in town for quite a while.

Lunch is more of the same, stuff that sounds unassuming and unexciting until it's in front of you. They have malts, brown cows (coke with vanilla ice cream), rootbeer floats, stewarts sodas and arnold palmers (lemonade & iced tea). The lunch menu is the three Ss: soup, salads, sandwiches. The prices range from $3-$9, and the salads range from tuna salad, chef, cobb, greek, back to chicken salad. French fries accompany all the sandwiches, and they're thick on one side, thin on the other!

The counter makes great seating if you're there by yourself, and the booths, by the display case of vintage travel souvenirs are great if it's quiet or you're in a small group.

This is a small place and popular, so on the weekends, bring the paper and plan on a wait.

Think of a Parisian sidewalk cafe. It might be just like Carafe. There are drinks, and beer (I believe), but the emphasis is on wine by the carafe. This place is not cheap, but it's pretty reasonable, all things considered. The lunch menu is quite a bit cheaper than dinner, with most of the same entrees. I have yet to have something that didn't thrill me to my toes here—mussels, charcuterie, confit, salad, sandwiches, entrees, dessert—yum!

I was there most recently on a romantic lunch, so I didn't get a chance to take notes on prices (though the two of us ate to bursting, sans alcool, for $26). It's got great ambience, and good service, and lunch entree prices top out around $13 (for the bifsteak/frites), with dinner entrees are a bit more (like $20ish for the bifsteak/frites). I keep coming back for the hamburger and the steak, both with great fries. And no one will hold your bad high school French against you.

The downside here is that it's small, so if you really want to get in, make reservations. When it's full, it's noisy. And, like so many French bistros in France, the bathrooms are an adventure. Ask for the key at the hostess stand, and you'll find the washrooms in the parking structure. Hey, but if you've been in a Turkish toilet, you know you've got nothing to complain about.

See also:

• Happy Hour

Greasy and entirely yummy. Nothing on the menu (tacos, lunch plates, fajitas, tostadas, burritos, nachos, and tortas) is more than $6. The carne asada is especially good, but they also have vegetarian versions of most menu items. Avoid the breakfast burrito, and avoid the trailer of the same name on the bus mall—nowhere near as good.

Clays is a little place, with a couple picnic tables out front, and a number of tables and booths built for people who tend to routinely overeat. It's not fancy, and everything is nicely mismatched and vaguely, humanly, kitschy.

The menu is impressive: smoked BBQ hot wings as a starter ($8), chowder/chili/gumbo ($3.75-$4.75), salads ($3.75-$10.25), sandwiches ($7.75-$9.75), BBQ platters ($10.75-$14.75), and even veggie delights (their words, $7.75-$9.75). BBQ purists will freak: there's catfish and salmon, and that's wrong. But I'm not a purist—I don't care unless someone makes me eat it.

When I was there, they had a bunch of beers on tap:

• Bayern Doppelbock
• Widmer Hefeweizen
• Amnesia IPA
• Anchor Steam
• Bud
• Jamaican Red

I ordered the brisket platter, and my companion the BBQ sparerib platter, and naturally, these are huge portions, piles of meat smothered in a sweet, not terribly hot sauce, with chunks of potatoes in ranch sauce (aka, home fries with garlic sauce), a vinegary slaw, and not-quite Texas toast.

My brisket seemed a bit lean, and the sauce bugged me, but it was nicely cooked. It just blanches before fattier, crustier briskets like Campbells or LOW. The pork ribs, however, were sweet, juicy, and moist, very tasty ribs. The slaw was sharp and complex. The potatoes—eh. Value for the meal, though, was very good.

Our service was incredible. Our server was the sort who was there when you needed him, and if he was there when you didn't, you sure didn't know. It was the sort of effortless seeming service that you should get with a very good meal, and here in Portland, frequently don't. So that was a tremendous pleasure.

I'm curious about the wings, and I've heard great things about the cold smoked seafood platter (like a lox platter, just not), and the turkey in the garden salad.

The highlight for me was the dessert. We got the apple crisp ($4.75), topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, and wow! It was just a modest crisp, nothing fancy, but so very good, a combination of soft and crunchy and creamy. Next time, I'm gonna leave more room for that!

My favorite mega-tapped tavern is the Concordia Ale House. However you've got to get there, it's worth it. They have 22 taps, and they have a really interesting selection of regional and international beers that you're not likely to have had on tap before. They also have the best pub grub in the city. It's nonsmoking, the wait staff know their beer and are free with the tasters.

Concordia is great, absolutely great, for us beer dorks. And, they have a weekend breakfast that's very good.

They have 20some taps—and they have nothing commonplace on those taps. You know, the stuff that's on tap consistently around town - Widmer, Full Sail, Deschutes - you won't find it at Concordia. But there is this constantly turning over selection of really interesting things. They almost always have a double IPA, a cream ale, a weizen, a couple strong beers - really interesting stuff! There have been times when there hasn't been anything on the menu that I've tried before!

Another great thing is that they give you a draft list, which gives you the name, the style, the brewery, the country. The wait staff seem really into the beer, so they can give you a good description but it's nice not to have to guess from the name. They are also very free with the tasters.

In the cooler, they have over 100 bottled beers, also described in some detail in the bottled beer menu.

Their prices are really pretty reasonable for what you're getting, and you can choose a glass, pint, imperial pint... I love that you can specifically order an imperial pint.

They also have pool tables! It's kinda noisy at times, but gosh, it's awfully good.

Do you like fish? Or are you celiac (gluten-allergic to you, bud)? Or pining for the northern midwest? Need to feel that Green Bay Packers spirit? Get thee to Corbett Fish House. If you don't like fish, you could have chicken, a gardenburger or a salad. But if you like fish, well, you could sure do a lot worse than here.

The menu online isn't up to date, sadly. Appetizers include a number of seafood you'd expect, plus sweet potato fries, packer fries and deep fried cheese curd. Now, the latter is just plain wrong, which explains why it disappeared off our table as soon as it arrived. Packer Fries are their great french fries covered in melted cheddar and pickled jalapeno. The jalapeno is easy to pick off, for those who chose to. Prices range from $2.50-$12.

They offer soups, salads, sandwiches, which I'm sure are great ($3.75-$13). But the fish and chips are the thing ($10-$18). For those of you who care, they follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium guidelines. They have:

• prawns
• oysters
• yellow perch
• walleye
• halibut
• chile-fried catfish

They also have fish tacos, three different types made with halibut and chile-fried catfish, which are yummy, huge and filling.

Everything that is gluten-free is clearly marked, and that is most of the menu, so celiacs have lots of choices here. It's also wheelchair accessible (though there is a lip at the front door).

Of course, fish and chips requires beer, and Corbett offers a full bar. When we were there, they had on tap:

• Mirror Pond
• Alaskan Amber
• Fish Mudshark Porter
• Widmer Hefeweizen
• Terminal Gravity ESG
• Walking Man IPA
• PBR
• Michelob Light
• Pilsner Urquell
• Guinness

Happy hour is 3-5 daily; no drink specials, but they do offer 8 items for $3.95:

• deep fried cheese curds
• fried oysters or chicken strips & fries
• a catfish sandwich
• calamari
• a caesar
• bay shrimp cocktail,
• oyster shooters.

Breakfast all day. Same day service. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, beer and bar. I'm trying to get excited about this, honest. We went in for dinner, and the best part was the fresh draught beer. We ordered a couple burgers, one with a side of chili, the other with a side salad, and an order of cheese fries. The burgers were nothing to write home about. Chili, thick and unspectacular. Side salad, almost inedible. Cheese fries were pricy, soggy, unseasoned and thoroughly underwhelming.

A lot of people love C&S for breakfast.

Essence of China is one of those restaurants tucked inside a building—except for the sandwich board, and the stencil on the door glass, you'd never know it was there. When I hear combination plate, I think dive. And I love combination plates. But this place is quite pleasant and clean and definitely undivey, though they do have a full bar. Lunch there recently was pleasant and good—not the best Chinese food, but reasonable and fast.

I learned a few things while there. Fried wonton are what are more commonly known as Crab Rangoon. Shanghai wonton, however, are wonton, filled with shrimp and pork with a gingery dipping sauce, very tasty and quite a few of them. And, stay away from the combo plates! I got Plate B, aka egg foo yong, pork fried rice, and fried shrimp. The fried shrimp were great, but the pork fried rice neither tasted nor appeared to contain any pork. The egg foo yong was deep-fried and covered with a yellow gravy.

Everyone else at the table must have gotten the memo, because they all ordered off the Specials menu and did fine. An order of Tofu and Vegetables came to the table as Shrimp and Vegetables, but was otherwise fine: shrimp cooked appropriately with an interesting array of fresh veg in a white sauce. General Tso's Chicken was rated an 8.5 of 10, sweet and spicey as expected. The Sesame Chicken was lovely but not really very sesamey or similar to other dishes of the name. And Kung Pao Chicken was solid, filling and good, everything diced into cubes.

I wouldn't go out of my way for this, but 5 of us ate lunch for about $30, which is nothing to scoff at.

Yes, it's a Grateful Dead reference, and a Mount St. Helens reference.

This place is unassuming from the street, except, for all the cars parked around it. It's small—you walk in and order at the counter. They offer chicken wings and all manner of other deepfried things, like french fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, tater tots, mushrooms, pickles, twinkies. They also offer 12 excellent sauces, including a couple that will blow the back of your head off (and I'm a hothead)—lucky for us, they provide celery matchsticks that you can try all the sauces for your favorite combination of hot, sweet, and flavor.

You can order wings by the half dozen, and that's how they do the saucing as well. Each order comes with blue cheese dressing or ranch—your choice.

There are tables, natch, and some reading material. Usually, the food arrives soonish. Of course, if you're eating spicy deep-fried food, you need something to wash it down, which is where the 7 taps of microbrews and Rainer come in handy. And, they even have "Portland Wings" (sheesh, it's tempeh) for vegetarians. Damn. While I can't speak to tempeh and pickles, the wings and fries—it's all good.

I admit, I was drawn in by the offer of free waffles. This last Saturday, they had a free waffle day.

I told a friend who lives in Arbor Lodge about it. "Oh, I've been there", she said. "It's good, but $3 is a lot for a waffle."

Hmmm. So I go early on Saturday morning and am pleased to see a clump of folks standing and sitting outside who are clearing enjoying their waffles. Neighborhood folks who are regulars, who have no idea that today is free waffle day, are ordering waffles and $1 coffee, or lattes, americanos, and mochas. The atmosphere is pure neighborhood.

So here's the deal: it's a waffle stand in a parking lot. You go up to the window and order. A few minutes later, you get your espresso drink, if you ordered one, and your steaming hot waffle. The waffles are folded in half and wrapped, its contents safely tucked inside, perfect for one-handed eating.

So, fresh baked waffles, made to order, range from $2 for the butter & powdered sugar to $4 for the ham & cheese or sausage & maple. The majority of waffles are $3.50: sweet cream & jam, peanut butter & jelly, s'mores, nut fluffer, peanut butter & nutella, nutella & raspberry jam, and lemon curd with whipped cream. You can also create your own waffle with one ($3) or two ($3.50) toppings.

We saw, and heard raves, about the ham & cheese, black forest ham with either cheddar or smoked gouda. We ordered the way-over-the-top sausage & maple, and the simple elegant butter & powdered sugar. Both were excellent.

The sausage & maple is just that: pork sausage patty and maple spread (100% organic—it appears that most things are groovy with obvious exceptions like nutella) tucked into a waffle, and it does taste like waffles with syrup and sausage, which is to say, one of the great joys of breakfast.

The butter & powdered sugar showcased the waffle itself—slightly sweet, crispy, lovely. A perfect carrier for all sorts of foodie delights.

You can call ahead to order, and, they take credit cards. They even have wifi. And, a $1 cup of coffee.

Now, of course, it's not without problems. There's limited seating, and no roof. And, presenting a waffle as a thing you gobble down like a hamburger means it doesn't seem like very much food. But, make no mistake—these are filling, even if they take a little time to register in the belly.

This little hole in the wall is part of the big high-end Elephants Deli in NW. With grab-n-go coolers, you can get salads, sandwiches, and take away meals, as well as yogurt, and every possible type of chi-chi pop, water, beer, wine, bubbly, etc. Baked goods and deserts wait at the center island. Hot sandwiches and soup can be ordered straightaway in the back. The cost for any of the food items tends to come in shortly before $7, so as long as you can restrain yourself at the drink cooler, it's not an expensive meal.

The drawbacks of the place is that it's popular, and the table situation is tight: like Paris-cafe-tight, not built for our supersized American bodies. Still, you can get lucky and score a table on the sidewalk and watch them tear up the parking lot right in front of you.

more photos of Fuller's

Fuller's is an old school coffee shop, with a double horseshoe shaped counter. It's all counter. Everybody, except the folks that sit outside in good weather, sits at the counter.

The breakfast menu is short, with the general breakfast stuff: eggs and meat, omelets, pancakes, french toast. Prices range from $5.25 to $8.50.

But there are a couple interesting things. Heuvos rancheros at Fuller's is the most interesting and not even vaguely authentic interpretation of the dish. It's so wrong! A disk of egg is topped with cheese, then a mixture of stewed tomato, onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Refried beans with cheese, and salsa are served on the side. No tortilla! Georgia's Potatoes Deluxe takes hash browns and covers them with the stewed tomato mixture, plus spinach and cheese. And, german pancakes are an eggier version of the American ones.

How was the food? Good, simple, delicious. The coffee sucks, though they do have espresso. We had the pig in a blanket, which is a german pancake surrounding link sausage, and the aforementioned heuvos rancheros. Both were great.

The hash browns are absolute standard-bearers. Shredded potatoes (seemingly freshly cut, could that be?), are perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.

Egg dishes have toast on the side, from bread I believe they make themselves.

As good as the food is, the people watching is also superb. It's easy to pick out the tourists with their Powells walking maps and Pearl shopping guides, as well as hungover locals.

• Road Food

photo by Molly Holzschlag

airport & Washington Square locations still open.

There are many benefits to Great Harvest. One, their baked goodies are really good, with lots of varieties of breads, scones, cookies and the like. Two, they have great scones. Three, they have homemade soups (one is always vegetarian) and the best sandwiches in town. Four, they always offer you a slice of fresh-from-the-oven bread. If you're looking for the nouveau european crusty style breads, you won't find them here -- Great Harvest is more Moosewood than french. But it sure is tasty, and generally, a pretty good deal, and, it might even be good for you.

Excellent Japanese style sushi and meals in a quiet serene setting. The prices are right too. With no nigiri above $5 (most is $2.95), and no rolls above $9 (with most under $5), it's easy to have a meal without taking out a second mortgage. They offer lunch as well as dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Excellent, reasonable bento boxes, too.

An acquaintance raved about the cheeseburgers at Hope's Deli. As I sat, hungry and weak, watching a documentary on cheeseburgers yesterday, I was ripe. Hope's serves breakfast and lunch, with a small cheeseburger combo coming in under $5. They serve american and asian style food. And, boca burgers!

So, my cheeseburger was small, dressed with pickles, shredded lettuce, tomato slices and thousand island dressing. French fries were crickle-cut. No-name ketcup on the tables. All and all, nothing to write home about, but cheap, emphasis on cheap, and filling, complete with its own indoor tables.

If you look at the microbrew movement in Portland, Horse Brass is right there at the beginning. According to their website:

Established in 1976, many of Oregon's own craft brewers have been regulars here, enjoying the likes of Guinness and Fullers ESB well before the craft beer movement.

The food menu is stocked with sausage plates, scotch eggs, ploughman's lunches, fish & chips, and pasties, all of them good.

Terran writes,

I think the Horse Brass deserves a listing in food as well under beer - their Bangers & Chips is one of my favorite low-budget lunches in town. Two tasty sausages dipped in sweet hot mustard with greasy potato chips, and a pint of hard cider on the side...mmm.

The breakfasts, particularly the english breakfasts, are a groaning board of food. They do offer American breakfast as well as everything ala carte, but if your cardiologist will allow, do try the full traditional english breakfast with its fried eggs, Irish back bacon, baked ham, English banger sausage, Heinz beans straight from the can, tomatoes, fried potatoes and fried bread.

They pull out the big screen to show English Premier League Soccer live.

If you're a craft beer lover, you've got to go to Horse Brass. Unless, of course, you can't stand smoke.

I'm not sure when it happened, but maybe 5,7 years ago, Hot Lips Pizza got serious. The sauce got consistent, and the ingredients started being higher end or organic or sustainable. Then even more recently, they started making their own berry/fruit sodas, dude, without high-fructose corn syrup! It's a little heavy for me, but berrylovers would probably really like it. And now they make a chipotle and an habanero sauce, and canned jalapenos! Where will it end?

All silliness aside, Hot Lips is one of the best pizza joints in town for pizza by the slice. The pepperoni is wonderful. There are always vegetarian options. There are always salads and cookies or brownies. You've got your choice of craft brews, the homebrewed soda, or normal sodas.

If you like things a little spicy, try a slice with a little habanero sauce on top. Now, damn, that's good.

This is similar to shabu-shabu. You get a broth, in a pot, on a burner, and you get to toss various protein, starch and veggies in, as you wish. Once you've chosen from their 7 asian broths (vegetarian, Ma-la [herbs and red pepper], Thai-style hot sour, pao-cai [pickled cabbage Korean style], xiang-cai [Chinese cilantro with egg], and meat [yes, I know that's only six, but there is another, really]), you can go and load up on soda, dipping sauce, and goodies for your broth.

The goodies vary, naturally, but include frozen shaved meat, meat balls, stuffed wonton, k-crab, frozen and fresh tofu, a couple types of noodles, and then a bar of vegetables. You choose just what you'd like. Then go plunk yerself down in front of your steaming pot of broth, and start cooking. The best thing: you can go back again and again.

If you have questions, just ask. The Tsais are very helpful, funny, and very real.

Lunch is an amazing $7.50, with dinner $12.50 (I think)—dinner has more seafood, and just more stuff.

I love this place. It's fun people-watching and you get to play with your food. And, you can eat so virtuously, and it's so good.

• Adventure to Hot Pot City (::space:.TUNA:..)
• A hot pot on a cold winter's day
  Dan Cook, The Business Journal of Portland, December 13, 2002

Huber's is known for two things. Spanish coffees, flamboyantly made, and turkey. You're forgiven if you had no idea of the latter. Most people do come for the delicious, potent Spanish coffees and the scenery: the fireworks involved in making a Spanish coffee at the table by a hunky waiter, the incredible old bar done all clubby with the arched stained-glass skylight, the terrazo floor, and lots of stained wood—solid Philippine mahogany paneling, and the see and be seen crowd, most notably, the Blazers. It's Portland's oldest restaurant. The restaurant portion looks out on 3rd Avenue, while the bar is tucked inside, accessible from 3rd or Stark.

We went there with a bunch of scooterists to try out the lunch menu. Here's what I heard and tasted. Almond-encrusted turkey on a bed of spinach (I think) was simple and good. The hot turkey sandwich is the last of its kind in Portland: served on white bread with your choice of yummy dressing or powdered mashed potatoes, it hits the nostalgia button but good. The buffalo burger with fries was good, but overdone. Cobb salad is hard to do wrong, and Huber's certainly does fine. Pan-fried oysters were good, but the breading was distracting. And finally, turkey noodle soup—fine, about what you might expect. Everything, save specials and seafood, comes in under $10.

In the end, Huber's is solid, a little pricey, and unexceptional for lunch. Spanish coffees, now that's something else altogether.

Hunan used to be known as one of the best Chinese restaurants in Portland, back before everyone was so concerned about authenticity, etc. Today, they still make a mean hot and sour soup, and very tasty potstickers. Otherwise, a recent lunch there was an exercise in frustration at worst, and okayness at best.

At lunch, there is the special lunch menu, which is a la carte. Want the General Tso's chicken, which is probably this place's claim to fame? Well, you'll have to order it off the dinner menu. Main courses on the lunch menu range from $6.25-$8.50, and aren't terribly generous. Dinner prices are a bit more, and are quite a bit more generous. Want that Hot & Sour soup? You'll have to order it separately, for another $1.75.

You get an hour for lunch right? Unless you get a half hour, of course. Most places downtown get that, hustling the food out in record time. Not so here. The soup comes out, then the appetizer, then the food. One of our group had to get his to go because it took so long.

So, we ordered General Tso's, beef with snow peas, shrimp in chili sauce, and kung pao chicken. The General Tso's was awful, the meat tough and difficult to chew, though the sauce was nice. The kung pao was referred to as kung poor. The shrimp and beef were okay, no complaints. All in all, they might have been having a bad day.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in town, and I hate to even bring it to your attention, because what if you love it like I do, and suddenly I can no longer get in for my caesar and pasta fix? Justa Pasta started out as a pasta maker, and they still supply many high-end restaurants with noodles and ravioli.

The menu is made up of salads, pastas, raviolis, and specials. If you're being careful, you can easily get a small salad and a small pasta and come away owing less than $10. The caesar is one of the city's best, garlicy and sublime. Soups are consistently fantastic. But really, this is all about the pasta—a couple types of pasta, a couple types of ravioli, a handful of sauces, all housemade. It's great. Specials, always including several lasagnas... great. Cheesecake and other sweets... great. And, the owners are really good about posting the day's specials (as well as a current menu) on the website (imagine!).

Okay, so what are the downsides, then? One, you queue up for food. Grabbing a table before you order and get your food is really frowned upon, and seriously not cool. They have a couple of bottled beers, a couple of wines by the glass, or you can select a bottle of wine while you're queued up. Otherwise, find a seat in their remodeled restaurant/lounge, enjoy a sip of whatever you're drinking, and relax. Pearl Bakery baguette comes almost immediately. The service is efficient and friendly, but you'll have to get your own water refill or fresh glass of wine. (See? Why would you want to go there, really?)

Karam has always been a foodie's wet dream, but I've never been convinced. Sure, it's a nice atmosphere and they have alcohol, they make pita to order (and whole wheat if you ask nicely), and they have a huge, unusual menu. Maybe it's just because I've been such a fan of Ya Hala. Who knows?

We went for lunch, and I was pleased to see a big breakfast menu (15 items from $3.50-$7) also available at lunch. Then I ignored it. Did I mention the lunch menu? With 17 ala carte main courses ($7.50-$19.95), 11 sandwiches ($5-$6.50), 10 pizza/calzoney things ($6-$8.95), 8 salads ($4.50-$9), and 4 stews ($8-$9.95), it might take a while to decide. We ordered the meat mezze, which has one of everything, a falafel sandwich with baba ghanouj, Fatte with lamb, and the lamb shank. The hummus and baba ghanouj are excellent. The Fatte, a layered dish with pita, roasted eggplant, garbanzo beans, pine nuts and yogurt was beautiful and yummy. The lamb shank came in a broth with vegetables, also gorgeous. Portions were huge, and everything was very tasty—we were all moaning over our food. We were groaning, but still ordered dessert (6 from $2.25-$4.50) (katayef bil-ashta and katayef bil-jos) which were also really good.

While there are lots of vegetarian choices and ways to eat cheap, the menu is kinda pricey. And the service—leisurely. Our lunch took over an hour and a half, making all of us late, and for three folks going a bit overboard, cost us $20 each. It's certainly easy to eat under $10 if you show some self-control, but you might as plan for it taking a while. It's worth it.

Kelly's is just what it seems: a smokey bar with breakfast served all day. And while it seems from the outside like a dive, it's just playing. New owners have taken the truism More neon is better to heart, and it's really rather an interesting tavern. And it gets the most interesting when we're talking about beer and appetizers. One in particular, Fried Macaroni and Cheese Bites, is so wrong, and so very right. With 20 taps devoted to micros, plus PBR and a couple other macros that your dad or your cow-orker prefers, everyone can be happy.

Ken's is one of a couple bakeries in town making excellent bread products. That said, Ken's is my absolute favorite. Everything is handmade, using the best organic flours and ingredients, the slow way. The breads are incredible—if you like French-style breads, this is the place. It's a bread-lover's paradise—and an Atkins dieters' nightmare.

In addition to bread, they have yummy sweets—a pain au chocolat to die for. They have awesome sandwiches—the best croque monsieur in town, and they have beer and wine as well as espresso.

They also have a mean pizza night, Mondays, from 5:30-9:30, serving bistro-style pizza.

Downsides? They're often packed, and finding parking on 21st is a pain (though if you're there before 3pm, you can park in Basta's lot). Tables are tiny—great if there's two or less of you, not so great if you're coming in a pack. And, it's a small place. Service can be quite brusque (though it's always markedly better when Ken is around). And, they close early (7pm T-F).

Tuesday is the grand opening of K&Z. I've been a couple times during the soft opening, and while they've been working the kinks out, the food has been right on target.

I've got more photos online if you care to look.

The original Pasta Veloce location, which became La Terrazza, has reopened as La Capanna.

This tiny place with sidewalk and balcony seating has seen better days, but they still make pasta, panini and salads to order, serving the same dishes that PV and La Terrazza did. Prices are in the sevens for panini, $8-$9.50 for salad, and $6.75-$10 for pasta.

The lunch servings aren't bad: a pasta bowl fullish with a couple of pieces of grilled bread, quite attractive. And quite underwhelming. With the Pesto E Pollo, the chicken is dried out (nothing new there, unfortunately), and while the cream-pesto sauce is green, it's not terribly basilly. The artichoke hearts tasted freshly plucked from the can, with the brine still on the interior leaves. And, the pasta was gummy.

I don't want to claim that the original Pasta Veloce was incredible, because it wasn't. But sauces were simple and tasty.

Mind you, it's edible. But for $9.25, it should be a bit better than edible.

more photos of the Little Red Bike Cafe

I've been obsessed with this place for a couple of weeks now, and it's only been open a week.

Lelo in NoPo wrote about the sweetest little restaurant ever, and how the owners were blogging about it. So like a good reader, I followed the link to the Little Red Bike Cafe Blog, and absolutely fell in love with the owners, Ali and Evan.

So I was thrilled and excited when they did finally open and I could finally make it there.

Basically, this is an adorable, charming Portsmouth coffeeshop with light breakfast food and sandwiches, coffee and espresso, milkshakes and housemade ice cream.

On our visit, we tried a breakfast sandwich (the paperboy, $5), a tuna sandwich ($6), a cup of "regular" coffee, an americano, a pot of french press coffee, and a chocolate malt($5).

First of all, the coffee is excellent! This was the first time I've had Courier Coffee and I am a believer! We are so lucky to have so much good coffee in this town and here they serve it strong. If it's too strong for you, ask for a little water added. Yum.

The milkshakes are made from ice cream from Eugene (not with their housemade), and that malt was easily the best I've had in recent memory. Unlike some other malts I've had recently, this was not super-sweet, and not overly chocolately, but it was a perfect meeting (to me) of chocolate, malt, sugar and fat, and it was like the milk shakes I remember (and covet) from childhood.

The paperboy, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. It's a simple sandwich: fried egg, american or cheddar cheese, on ciabatta. It comes with a cup of coffee or tea. You can add veggie bacon or bacon for a buck. And it is delicious, just simple perfection. Grand Central, you are no longer my favorite breakfast sandwich.

The breakfast menu is simple and inexpensive. Three different egg sandwiches for $5 or $6, a bowl of yogurt, fruit, and granola for $5, and various baked goods and doughnuts from Fleur de Lis, Dovetail and Voodoo Donuts. All the breads come from Fleur de Lis as well, and are excellent.

The Tuna sandwich is albacore tuna salad with cheddar, green onions, and apple slices. It usually comes on ciabatta but this time it came on multigrain bread. Other lunch options include turkey, curried tempeh salad, roast beef, BLT and avocado, 2 different grilled cheeses, and two peanut butter sandwiches, with prices ranging from $4 to $6.50.

If you're not a fan of coffee or milkshakes, they do have old-fashioned sodas like Bubble Up, Coke in glass bottles, Sioux City Cream Soda, Nesbitts Strawberry, some Izzy's, Bulldog Root Beer, Vernors, and Yoohoo.

Housemade ice cream can be had for reasonable as well: 95 cents for a double shot in an espresso cup, through 2 scoops for $4.50. I haven't tried the housemade ice cream, but I'm looking forward to it.

They have a couple outside tables, bike parking, and pretty ample parking nearby. They have a bike up window open after 3pm, and they have an everchanging bike-in incentive. But mostly, Ali and Evan are sweet, their space is comfortable, and their food and drinks are divine. I'm so happy to have a destination, now, in Portsmouth!

Lorn and Dottie's has been one of my favorite places for breakfast for a really long time. Favorite is probably not the right word, as there are better places, and cooler places, and places we end up more frequently, but L&D has consistently good food, and consistently short waits. It's very reasonable, very nice, and the city's best kept secret for weekend breakfast downtown. So what's not to love?

So imagine my surprise that we end up there on Labor Day (because all the places I wanted to try on the west side were closed for the holiday! Sheesh!), and find out that they're not open weekends any more.

Hmm, I think. New owners? New cooks? The menu is the same, the prices are the same, and it appears the family that runs it is the same. But all our favorite waiters and waitresses are gone. And it appears the crowds are too, as the place has plenty of open tables and the entire counter is empty.

We order with some trepidation. At this point, we're taking one for the team. It seemed like they had so much more business on the weekends, why would they be closed for them? It doesn't make any sense.

Remembering the old rule, we stick with the starches. This is where Lorn & Dottie's excels. Hot cakes ($6-8.50), plain or with blueberry or banana pecan, dutch babies, german potato pancakes, and the yeasted waffle... oh, the yeasted waffle ($6) is so light and airy and wonderful. But the dutch babies ($9-10) are too. And the potato pancakes ($6-8.50) are great with applesauce, or ask for sour cream.

They offer Banana-Nut Bread($3) and Jalepeno Cornbread ($3), too, both really good. They also have steel-cut oatmeal ($5) everyday, Cream of Wheat ($5) on Wednesday & Thursday , and Zoom ($5) on Fridays.

Not that the eggs are bad; they're not. Really. But the starches are the thing.

So we order a yeasted waffle with Canadian bacon ($8.50) and 2 eggs with potato pancakes and sausage ($9), along with two coffees. Now, this is Starbucks coffee and not really great Starbucks coffee at that, but they do keep your cup full.

The food comes, and it's as good as ever. Delicious, filling, everything we ask of breakfast. So why are they closed weekends? What gives?

T. Spring writes:

Marcos in Multnomah Village has the best egg plant salad you have ever met and some wonderful desserts as well. They are famous for breakfast.

A sweet Vietnamese neighborhood place with an extensive and very reasonable menu. Most dishes are around $7-$8, with the most expensive entrees (seafood and specialities) at $9. Vegetarians, meat lovers, and phoaphiles can eat together. Your favorite Asian coffee, juice, exotic smoothie or beer can be had as well. In fact, microbrews are a mere $2.

A recent meal was $24 including tip, for two beers, salad rolls, pho and bun. Nothing knocked us off our feet (both the pho and bun were fairly subtly flavored), but everything was good honest food, great service, decent atmosphere.

Just got back from dinner at Nostrana. If you've been in the previous occupants (Sue Bee's, Kienow's), you won't recognize it: it's all chic and gorgeous and hard wooden surfaces and a giant wall rack of wine. It's beee-autiful. And the menu is full of all sorts of Italian words that weren't at all recognizeable.

One way to get great service, or better service: take pictures of the place before going in. They'll think you're a reporter (and they'll ask, too).

We had a selection of things from various parts of the menu: a charcuterie plate from Salumi, the Nostrana salad, a pizza with sausage and sweet peppers, a steak, and some semifreddo. The meat plate was delicious, but very spare, 4 different styles of meats from Mario Batali's dad, served with big slices of crusty Italian breads, and a cranberry jam. The Nostrana salad is a caesar made with radicchio, and the serving is large and impressive. We liked it: it has an impressive crunch and the dressing was oily rather than creamy. Radicchio, I'm told, is usually bitter, which I didn't know at the time, but I scarfed my portion of the salad.

The pizza was a 12" version, which comes to the table uncut. I have to agree with the foodies who complain that it should come cut. It just should. The pizza was fine—a crackery crust, a tiny layer of sauce and cheese, sausage and peppers, all in balance. Nice. It's not going to give Apizza Scholls a run for their money, but I wasn't expecting it would.

The steak was our big ticket item ($22). It was small and came with maybe six or seven little wedges of potato and several leaves of kale, dwarfed on a huge plate and it was dressed in a tomato-pancetta sauce. The sauce seemed unnecessary as the steak was tender and rich, perfectly cooked, with just a smidge of fat or gristle.

In the end, it was a nice experience but one that didn't seem worth $66 to me. I can't fault the food—it was good. I'm sure part of it is my inner cheapskate that wants to feel very full after $66. That cheapskate also doesn't want to rely on guessing or having to ask the meaning of non-English words, and wonders why a main entree is served as this spare, slight thing (what, how expensive are potatoes or kale these days?). Part of it certainly was the service, which was competent but not the level I'd expect for that sort of cash. It just wasn't the epiphany with angels singing that I expect for $66. (though I could occasionally hear opera above the dull roar of the diners)

More photos from Nutshell

NOTE: 10/10/2007: Chef Sean Coryell has left Nutshell. What this means for the food remains to be seen.
(this according to aidensnd at PortlandFood.org)

I just had the most phenomenally delicious dinner. It was delicious and innovative and beautiful and not outrageously expensive.

Nutshell is brandspanking new, in the suddenly happening neighborhood at the east edge of NoPo, on Williams Street. It's casual and sophisticated in the same breath. Concrete floors, painted cinderblock, and beautiful wooden booths. Books for exchange located near interesting beers and wines for retail. And carnivorous plants, gorgeous carnivorous plants.

I've had people I know rave about the food here. My neighbor, who isn't a foodie, told me he wanted to lick the plate. So I was excited to finally get to eat there.

Looking at the menu, I felt a bit of panic. What to order?!? It's a little overwhelming. Salads are $5-$6, a bowl of soup $4, stews $8, veggies & starches $4, featured entrees $9-$11, and pastas and tandoor skewers $8. Even if you decide to order bread ($2) with extra virgin olive oil ($1) and salt (50 cents to $1 each). you have to choose between 5 bread selections, 8 olive oils, 18 basic salts, and 6 premium salts. Thankfully, the staff are helpful, and we ordered the Jamaican Choco Escovitch with a Pearl Bakery assortment, olive oil, and a couple salts to start.

The name, Choco Escovitch, is just so much fun to say, I had to order it. It was one of those salads, like the Singing Pig Greens at Toro Bravo, that really elevates your expectations of what a salad can be. The greens in question included herbs, and were lightly dressed with a creamy dressing made from angostura bitters (but not bitter at all). Thin slices of merlatan squash, with a taste and texture similar to granny smith apples or jimaca, were fanned over the greens, with a tiny edible pansy on top. And on top of that—genius!—what appeared to be tempuraed cucumbers. Yum! The flavors were so bright, flavorful, slightly floral, and dare I say, dynamic.

The next to arrive was our selection of breads with olive oil and salt. This is such a simple thing, and generally so pedestrian. But it was a revelation to try the various breads with the oil, with the oil and salt, with the oil and the other salt. One salt was slightly piquant and showy, the other more subtle and slightly smokey.

The shot of soup is just that—a shot glass full of soup. In our case, it was a chilled creamy french lettuce & chervil soup with lemon, which was so rich and creamy that I was glad to only have a shot -- but again, so flavorful. So yummy.

The Nutshell Jamaican barbeque includes four of the starches (peas & rice, aka the traditional Jamaican red beans and rice; crispy shredded yucca pancakes; Jamaican cornmeal fritters that look just like cheddar puffed cheese balls; and, an orange stuffed with yam, coconut, and mace), house made jerk, fried okra, and grilled eggplant and lilies, as well as a shot of the Marley family drink.

The peas and rice were redolent of coconut, fresh coconut, and the yam had the fruitiness of habanero without the heat. The grilled onions were delicious and sweet, the okra crispy and not at all slimey. The only just okay part of the meal was the eggplant which was grilled, not at all bitter, just not a lot of flavor. But combined with the rest, it was delightful.

My neighbor had raved about Karen's raw living lasagna, and so that's what I ordered.
The lasagna contains no pasta, just a stack of vegetables and sauces. The heirloom tomatoes are easily the best tomatoes I've eaten this year, the sort that need nothing but a shake of salt and pepper (though these wanted for nothing). There were also marinated mushrooms and very thin slices of zucchini, separating the layers of pinon ricotta, pistachio pesto, sun dried tomatoes.

The pesto and tomato sauces along with the creamy pine nut ricotta say lasagna, but everything element of the dish just sang. Beautiful, again, and wonderful balance of flavors. I was really glad they had been so generous with the bread so I could mop up that extra sauce.

Our bill, with two beers, was $33, and walking out, we were both stuffed. I can't wait to go back.

Making food taste good using dairy and meat really isn't that hard. But someone who can do that just with vegan ingredients is a real master. We finally have fine-dining vegan food in Portland, and it's really good. This is vegan food that really anyone could love... and will, I bet.

Update:: The menu has been simplified. But the service in our last couple visits has really gone downhill. We've had servers who seem annoyed that they have to take our orders, servers who expect us to eat soup with our hands, and no sort of concern that we might not be enjoying our meals. We've had naive servers who appeared to have never tried the foods in question. I am hoping these are blips. Sean, Tabla guys, please make the service match the incredible food!

more photos

Reedies and other Woodstock denizens can happen by during the week, but for the rest of us, an Otto's visit means Saturday. And if nothing else, you can identify Otto's by the crowd of people in front.

You can just stay outside, grab a soda from the tub and buy a sausage, but it's worth it to go in. First of all, they have beer on tap:

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Otto's IPA (made by Raccoon Lodge)
• Deschutes Buzzsaw Brown (a seasonal)
• Pilsner Urquel
• New Belgium Skinny Dip (a seasonal)
• Deschutes Obsidian Stout
• Thomas Kemper Root Beer

• Vernors (in glass bottles!)
• Thomas Kemper sodas
• Stewart's
• Red Rock
• Cricket
• Henry Weinhard's
• Green River
• Boylan's
• Crush
• Big Red

The menu will list the sausages on the grill. There's usually wieners, smoked pork sausages, and chicken sausages, with regular, potato or whole wheat buns. For $1.50-$3, you have lunch. Or half a lunch. Whatever. Load up on the limited condiments and take a seat outside if there is one. Cuz there aren't any tables indoors.

I know far more esteemed critics have called Otto's one of the best 10 hot dogs in the U.S., but I don't think it's quite that good. They're tasty dogs but they pale compared to others in SE.

First, let me say: this is a family restaurant. So don't get your hopes up about gourmet or really good. But this greek diner/lounge has a pile going for it. Among other things, if you live in the neighborhood, you'll see your neighbors there. The non-smoking restaurant side is busy, bright, and very diner-like, with an assortment of booths, tables and counter seating. Go at breakfast or dinner, and you'll find kids—not a lot, but some. The lounge side is dark, soothing, busy, and smokey, with its own counter, what seems like thousands of TVs playing sports, and two fireplaces(!). You don't have to drink on the lounge side (just be tolerant of smoke)—and at breakfast time, is about half full, though there's not a lot of folks in for their hair-of-the-dog.

What the Overlook does exquisitely is the diner breakfast. Lots of options, always some cheap less-than-$5 specials, and the food is reliably solid. Get the grits if they have them—you can doctor them up into something fantabulous. The two of us went a bit nuts and still got out for less than $15, not including tip, for breakfast.

This bar can be quite cosy. Ten taps, three with a beer engine, and the largest selection of spirits in the state of Oregon. Just recently had the worst lunch in recent memory there, with abysmal service to boot. They have a new chef, and supposably will have another one in a month.

One part community meeting space, one part resale shop, one part Av0n distributor, one part diner, it's one big jumbled mess and it's Pattie's. They must be doing something right, as they've been in business since before the turn of the century (this last one at least). Breakfast there is unexceptional, and it's not for a lack of not trying. The taco meat that appears in an omelette is just unseasoned hamburger. Does the cook use salt and pepper? Everything appears to be in some sort of food service packaging, and truly, in some sort of chaos.

This is the sort of place that makes me think, yeah, if I were willing to give up my life, I'd be able to have a diner-cum-resale shop. The dining area is clean and tidy, but one of the counters is completely covered with stuff, including a soda fountain which has had better days. I admit, looking at the piled up stuff (merchandise? a goodwill donation?) unnerved me, and sort of lowered my expectations. And lowered expectations are good—no one is going to confuse this with John St down the way.

They have a full lunch menu of antojitos (snacks) and platas including carne en su jugo, machaca, pollo entomatado, tinga and albondigas, as well as all the shrimp favorites and carrot, potato and oat patties (no, really—and singlely, not together). They call their food southern Mexican style, and the cashier speaks excellent english and is very personable.

It's all about the lunch, and burgers, and cash. You have limited choices: essentially burgers and fries, and a couple other things that are afterthoughts. You can get a cheeseburger, or a double cheeseburger. You can get it with bacon. Don't get uppity though -- there's one kind of cheese. The burger comes on a pillowy bun with krinkle cut fries.

There is something so delightful about this place. It's not cheap (a bacon cheeseburger is $7.50), and as they only take cash, not always so easy, and the food is not by any stretch of the imagination gourmet. Maybe it's the sea of maroon vinyl, or the strange enclosed garden out the window, maybe it's the homemade shakes, or maybe it's the fact that it's so insanely fast. I timed it today—6 minutes between ordering, and having a cheeseburger of my own. Anyways, it's great in an anti-bistro burger sort of way.

Okay, so I didn't eat in the dining room. I had a catered lunch at a meeting.

When I think of catered meals, even from nice places, I think of premade sandwiches wrapped in saranwrap and steamtable fare. My expectations are lowered. I'm happy if anything tastes at all like the original foodstuff.

But I was much impressed with the Red Star. I'm writing this from the standpoint of if I had eaten in the dining room: those were my expectations. And they were met, ably.

Much to my surprise, we were offered a smaller version of the lunch menu. Appetizers range from $6-13, and we tried a clam chowder, crab-salmon cakes, a beet soup, grilled asparagus salad, a caesar, and a roasted beet salad. The presentation was gorgeous, and everything I tried was excellent and nuanced.

For the entree, there were a range of choices: salmon, cheeseburger, fish and chips, quesadilla, chicken breast sandwich, prime rib french dip, new york steak, and mac-n-cheese ($10.50-$24)—we tried all but the first two. Again, beautiful. The mac-n-cheese was as good as a homemade version, with a nice crust. The steaks were thick and grilled to order, and so flavorful. Everyone else raved about their food, and everything looked so good, enough to make you think, maybe I should have ordered that.

We also had dessert—also lovely and tasty.

My lunch, if I had paid for it, would have been $30. Was it worth it? Yeah, I think so. The atmosphere of the place is definitely business lunch, but the food was good. And was beautiful. I don't know that I'd be going there every month, but once every year or so? Why not?

If you are here from anywhere else, you might just think of the Spaghetti Factory as a chain, which is true. This is an excellent place if you want salad, pasta and dessert on a budget if you stay away from the alcohol. You'll see lots of families there, just for that reason. That, and the menu is very kid friendly. However, let's just be serious: the pasta sucks. But the prices are inexpensive, the drinks strong, and the view of the river downright intoxicating.

This is just a little corner cafe/diner: tiny, really, with a couple of booths, a few more tables, and counter seating. In nice weather, they have a patio as well. It's the sort of place that you can ID from the street because the windows are all fogged up, and there's a line of people reading newspapers.

Yes, they did trademark "You eat here because we let you", so there is a bit of attitude, theoretically. Sometimes, there's enough folks staffing; sometimes, it's just Denise (who's worked there since the beginning of time) and someone else working the entire place. So yes, your (Portland Brewing) coffee cup and water glass won't stay full.

As noted, the coffee is not what you come here for. They do serve expresso, or drinks if you need some hair of the dog.

And they do serve lunch. Not that I can speak to that.
The breakfast menu is huge, and there's always more on the chalkboards. If you can't see them, ask, or just make a point to check them out.

There are traditional breakfasts ($4-$8.50) which are egg, protein, potatoes, toast, including some absolutely excellent scrambles. If you fear you aren't getting enough pork in your diet, try the meat lover's scram. It has, of course, ham, bacon, and sausage in bite-sized chunks with a little jack cheese—delicious and easily two meals.

Potatoes are big slices, fried on the griddle—they don't do it for me, but they are a good excuse to have some homemade salsa.

The ala carte menu ($3.50-$7) has favorites like a decent biscuits & gravy (which you can get as a half order), and the Tichenors (Tichenor's choice, the dilemma, the other dilemma), which is home fried hash browns covered with all manner of things.

The griddle menu ($2.50-$6) includes pancakes, french toast, waffle, and blintzes. The pancakes are huge, covering an entire huge round plate (and you can get real maple syrup for a surcharge).

And finally, there are 3 egg omelettes ($7-$8.25).

With a big menu and a lot of specials, you have choices, and they all seem to be solid. The heuvos rancheros are a favorite, a delicious (and completely inauthentic) carb-fest of corn tortillas, refried beans, ranchero sauce, eggs, potatoes, and pickled jalapenos. Yum! And you can add avocado.

Whenever I have friends staying in NW, this goes on top of the list for what to do for breakfast.

Thai Noon is the oldest Thai restaurant on Alberta Street. When you consider that Alberta was all but deserted a dozen years ago, you know it hasn't been there so long. But it appears to be holding its own against Thai newcomers like fancy Siam Society, and newbies Halo Thai and Monsoon.

They don't have the hugest menu, and like a lot of Thai food in Portland, it's sweet without the balance of heat. However, they're fast, generous, and consistent, and just about everything on the menu can be ordered vegetarian.

Tonight we ordered chicken salad rolls ($2 for $3.75), which came immediately. They were premade, but not old, and they actually did have a bit of spice to them.

We had barely finished these when our noodles came. Their pad thai may not be the best in town, but it's sure not bad—a generous portion dotted with protein. Pad Kee Mao was also large, and yummy even if it wasn't hot and spicy enough.

You can get a cocktail ($4.50-$8) from the connected My Thai (groan!) Lounge, most with super cheezy names. There is also beer on tap: Widmer Hefeweizen, PBR, Bridgeport IPA, and Black Butte Porter.

There is a special Specials sheet that comes, along with the menu, which also has specials. Seven appetizers range from $3.50-$7, two soups (tom yum and tom kha—$7.50-$9), and three salads for $6.25.

Entrees include a dozen curries and stir-fries, three noodles, and two fried rices, for $7.50 vegetarian, $8 with chicken, beef or pork, and $9 with shrimp. You can swap in organic rice for $2 more. And the eight menu specials include a couple salmon dishes ($7.50-$12).

Finally, there are lunch specials (M-F 11:30-3) too—10 different entrees served with chicken or tofu for $5.50.

But I've been motivated to get over there lately, now that I am completely infatuated with grits, and I know Tin Shed's got 'em. Unfortunately, I was a little undercaffeinated, so I didn't take a lot of notes.

The inside is a nice, but small and crowded space. The outside, under a giant roof, and backed by a giant fireplace, is almost twice the size of the interior, and really pleasant on a nice day. That patio is a great place to dogwatch, as many folks bring theirs with them. Inside or out, you serve yourself coffee and water.

They have a big new breakfast menu that debuted 4/29/2006. We ordered Huevos Ranchitos, Roll Over, and two sides of cheese grits.

Now, we habitually order the You Gotta Have it, which is eggs any style, meat, toast or homemade biscuit, and potato pancakes or grits. I love potato pancakes (really, I just love carbs), so that's what I always end up ordering. It's good, solid, great biscuits—what's not to love?

Huevos Ranchitos is just like the ranchero version, except there is no ranchero sauce, there are 2 layers of tortilla, as well as jalapeno-stewed black beans and rice, scrambled eggs, homemade salsa, sour cream, and green onion (they own stock in green onion). It was tasty but it would have been better if everything if the things that should be hot: like beans, rice, and eggs, actually were. The rice was all clumped as if it had come out of the cardboard carton in your fridge. The beans were not spicy at all, but they did have a nice cumin flavor.

The Roll Over starts with a layer of potato pancakes, then a layer of scrambled eggs & sausage, then a layer of bacon gravy. I expected this to be a conflict of interest, what with the sausage and bacon, but it tasted great. However, nothing on my plate was consistently hot either. The gravy was the warmest element, but it had hot and cold spots (ooogh).

The grits were most disappointing. They're plain grits with grated cheese added almost as an afterthought, and the grits were so not hot that the cheese wasn't melting. Butter, also not melting. I finally sent them back to be nuked.

To their credit, we complained, and they comped us for one meal. We saw some other plates going back to the kitchen, so maybe someone was having a bad bad day?

Unfortunately, we had a really lackluster dinner there recently as well.

Other reviews

• Portland Blog

Don't bother with the salads - proceed directly to the protein: chicken, cooked to order sirloin, lamb, roasted pork, salmon, prawns, or tofu. In addition to grilled meats, they now have a roaster, and yesterday's specials included roasted pork and rosemary roast chicken (which was really good). Add some perfectly steamed veg and white or brown rice, or—la pièce de résistance—garlic mashed potatoes. Maybe add some potstickers if you're feeling greedy, and you have enough food, delicious, luscious, wonderful food, for two meals. This, all, for usually less than $10.

The surroundings are fine, clean, cheerful, though tending to be full of business folks talking loudly on their cell phones. A condiment station has sauces (including a spicy peanut sauce that occasionally zaps ya) and seasonings, to-go boxes, and just about anything else you'll need. On nice days, you can sit outside at tables on the sidewalk, and the garage-like door opens and lets the fresh air in.

Drawbacks: this place is popular. It's not cheap. Getting to the ordering area involves stairs and there is no apparent wheelchair access. And those porcelain plates laiden with piles of food are heavy!! Still, the folks that work there are masters of customer service. I, who eat there maybe 4 or 5 times a year, was greeted like a regular; I dropped a fork and one of the guys runs over with a new one. Generally, you just feel a bit coddled: good food, nice service, a respite from work.

According to the Willamette Week, there is no more lunch service. Valentines is a lounge with small plates. Sigh.

I think all reviews of Wong's King are obligated to begin thusly:

There are other Wong's King, owned by the same family, but the only one you have to take seriously is Wong's King Seafood on SE Division in the new Chinatown. The ones in Sellwood, Sandy and Estacada? You'll get a decent American Chinese meal. But if you are looking for serious high-end Cantonese, get thee to WKS.

Dim sum, a competitive sport.

Word to the wise: have your whole party there when you're seated: if you hold seats for your flakey friends who don't show, you'll be personas non grata in the dining room. I know this sadly from experience. You can get away with this stuff at Fong Chong, but not here.

Within 10 minutes of being seated, every table in the large banquet hall is full. And the carts have already begun. I would have loved to have one of those picture menus so I could accurately name what we had. But everything we had was really good.

Some of the things we had:
-shumai
-shrimp dumplings
-chicken paws (feet)
-congee
-BBQ duck
-sesame balls
-han sui gok (pork in sweet sticky rice then deepfried)
-sticky rice in banana leaves
-spareribs
-ginger chicken
-humbow
-wu gok (mashed taro in sweet sticky rice then deepfried)
-shrimp dumplings with chives
-BBQ pork pastry
-shrimp paste on sugar cane
-deepfried shrimp balls
-shrimp in rice noodle
I admit being too greedy with the eating to take notes.

Whenever we needed something, be it a fork, 10 glasses of water, a glass of 7up, more shrimp in rice noodle, soy sauce and chili oil, we just asked one of the cart ladies, or one of the staffers gliding around the room, and our wish appeared in a matter of moments.

So we ate to a Mr Cresote level, all of it delectable, and for ten people, it was $86. So it was $10 plus change per person.

Eating off the dinner menu is a little more intimidating.

A great start to a meal is ordering a BBQ plate (we've had the duck, pork and duchess chicken and they were all good) and some soup. Even old standbys like wonton and hot and sour soups are really something altogether better.

We ordered several seafood dishes, one a suggestion and another a memory of another meal at WKS, and they were both very good—not what we had expected, but something better entirely.

Most entries ring in within a couple bucks of $10 and portions are generous. For $50 including tip and a beer, two of us ate to bursting, and brought some food home.

Other Press:

• Hidden in Plain Sight: Wong's King Seafood
• Portland Food and Drink
• Royal Dumplings: A new Southeast Portland outpost of Chinese cuisine does dim sum right
  Nancy Rommelmann, Willamette Week, 1/26/2005

more photos

The hot dog here is all-beef with a satisfying snap, served on a toasted bun. You can substitute veggie and turkey dogs for no extra charge; or a red hot, cheese filled, or sausage of the day for a buck more (when we were there, it was linguisa). The red hot is a nice variation, with enough spice to make you take notice. You can get the usual salad dog, chicago stylee, or a Coney Island, as well as more unusual toppings like olives, salsa, cucumbers, sour cream, and cream cheese. Try a red hot St. Peppers if you are a bit of a tiger. Prices range from $2.50-$4.50.

So, fries. With cheddar, big chunks of jarred jalapeno, chili—yum. The fries are krinkle-kuts, and not a huge serving. The chili—ah, it's okay, not great—more like a chili sauce than chili. The cheese fries aren't as good as others in town, but still, cheese fries! ($2.50-$3.50)

Of course, a frosty beer is the best side to a dog. They have four beers on tap (when we were there, they were Lucky Lab's stout, Sierra Nevada Pale, Lompoc's C-Note, and Pelican Kiwanda Cream Ale, for $3 a frosty glass. Bottled beers are also $3. Happy hour, from 4-8 everyday, means drafts are 50 cents cheaper (and PBR a $1.25).

You can eat on the Hawthorne sidewalk, inside, of course, or on their back patio. Non-smoking until 10pm.

Sadly, the quality tends to dip when Zach isn't around, but if he is, this is a great cheap eat.