Saturday, August 18, 2012

Summer Olympics


Hosted by J & A.

Celebrating the London Summer Olympics.

"the cold war" cocktail
amuse buche of "olympic" tea sandwiches
Welsh Rarebit appetizer
Yorkshire Pudding with Smoked Trout Salad
Moussaka
Trio of olympic puddings

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Portland

Le Pigeon **** - delicious, interesting combinations, great service.

Biwa ****
Smoked shrimp - salty but very smokey and large
Agedashi Tofu - o.k. I'd prefer more bonito, though it was a decent rendition
Saba Shioyaki - nicely done two pieces a good deal
Ramen - broth was a bit underseasoned and not as rich as I like. Noodles were nice and springy.
Smoked Pork Shoulder - o.k. tender, probably a bit to strong for the ramen
ume soda - strong tastes, good when diluted with a bit of water
Prices were very fair.


Nong's **** - delicious chicken, just how I remembered it.

Barista ****- serving Coava espresso - good.

Coava **** - jogged here almost everyday.

Wildwood ****
Pea tendrils w Chicken confit and castelveltrano olives - pea tendrils were pretty woody but the chicken confit was good.

Potato gnocchi w morels thyme and cream - delicate gnocchi but the cream sauce was a bit underseasoned.

Seared Halibut w fennel, grapefruit -excellent sear and sauce to compliment, loved the brightness of the fennel slaw against the sauce

Almond tart w apricot and vanilla ice cream - good tart pastry but the top was a bit too tart and the ice cream not the best

Screen Door ****
I would never put up with a one hour wait in SF, but its ok when you are enjoying Portland's beautiful summer weather. The portions are humongous. Chicken and sweet potato waffle is three giant pieces of chicken and a big waffle. Not much sweet potato flavor from the waffle, the fried chicken is very crispy peppery and moist.

The fried chicken biscuit sandwich was awesome, great FC, w sausage gravy, big chunks of sausage in a peppery gravy. Cheddar cheese grits also good. 
Best fried chicken filet I've had and I still think about that deliciously peppery gravy whenever I have biscuits and gravy.

Tasty & Sons ***- breakfast - Burmese Red pork stew with a sunny side up egg over rice - o.k. the stew is delicious if a bit sweet for my tastes. A filling breakfast. I'd like to try some more dishes here, but the wait is long. I notice that many seats are left open and the tables aren't set up very quickly -- I could not tell if it was due to an understaffed FOTH or intentional pacing for the kitchen to handle all the orders.

Grilled Cheese Bus **- Jalapeno popper grilled cheese - jalapeno, cream cheese, colby cheddar w/ tortilla chips, really nicely grilled not greasy at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

Oven & Shaker - Margherita pizza crust is not crispy or blistered or seasoned, tomato sauce bland and lacking acidity, cheese unremarkable. Service good.

Tabor - schnitzelwich - good sandwich and very friendly service - though not particularly remarkable.

Stumptown on 3rd Ave - good cap

Clyde Common
Truffled popcorn - very salty but I liked it
Snap peas green beans and potato a nice French salad
Fideos in squid ink, interesting full of squid and squid ink, the noodles themselves were like mini elbow macaroni tubes. I was the only one that liked it.
Roasted halibut, good though not remarkable.
Braised pork belly with cheese grits, very nice juicy pork and good char liked the grits.
Braised farro
, I liked it but it was heavy and no one else did.

Papa Hayden  - dessert place, interesting offerings - liked the raspberry tart with whipped chocolate cream base.

Salt & Straw - tried a variety of flavors.  It's high quality, but everything sweeter than I prefer.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Izakaya Sozai ***

Shishito peppers sauteed with garlic very nice. Tonkotsu ramen excellent soup, slightly underseasoned for me, but I'm a saltaholic. Good egg. Chicken skin yakitori very nice, strong sauce with a nice punch.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Mission Bowling Club ***

Vegan burger and regular burger as good as I remembered them. Good home fries. Fried chicken very crispy, but just o.k. nice cocktails.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Austria!
















Hosted by Diane & Harlan

wiener schnitzel with a side of erdäpfelsalat and grüner salat
wine: 2009 FX Pichler Loibner Burgstall Federspiel Riesling

linzer torte
wine: 2009 Husch La Ribera Vineyards Mendocino Muscat Canelli


salzburger nockerl
wine: 2010 Navarro Late Harvest Anderson Valley Gewürztraminer

sachertorte
wine: 2010 Husch Late Harvest Anderson Valley Gewürztraminer