Excellent Avocado Toast and More at Grand Stark Deli

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While my friend Jen was in town I thought a trip to the newish Grand Stark Deli would be a great way to catch some breakfast before picking up my annual salmon share nearby—which, if you are unaware is a fantastic way to access high quality salmon in bulk (we’ve been doing it for 10 years). The deli is just off the lobby in the Hotel Grand Stark—the historic building was born as Hotel Chamberlain, converted to a local furniture manufacturer for 80 years and reopened as a hotel this past May. The deli serves up a west-coast interpretation of east coast deli food—including some of the best avocado toast I’ve ever eaten.

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Top 5 Posts On Bridgetown Bites, August 2021

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Well, since there’s been content in August, let’s see what was particularly interesting to our readers. As always, thanks for reading!

5. First Tastes: Nepali Kitchen in Northeast Portland

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Despite its failings, there are some gems on Nextdoor when it comes to food. I’ve found direct-access to top-notch sources of Indonesian food, epic Lasagna Bolognese, Texas-style tortillas and plenty of local food recommendations, including the subject of this blog post, Nepali Kitchen. They’ve opened in what seems to be a house on the corner of NE Fremont and 49th Ave (across the street from Stanich’s), with a lovely little courtyard established in the front yard. And the food is excellent. Continue reading “Top 5 Posts On Bridgetown Bites, August 2021”

Four Things I Learned This Week (August 27)

Brokedown Palace burger pop-up at Bar Norman on Saturday. You can look forward to burgers and market vegetables from Brokedown Palace tomorrow, Saturday August 28, at Bar Norman. “They’ll be popping up at the bar with delicious food and fun vibes (think street DJ, skate videos, and lots of chilled red wines)…the perfect way to say byyyyyyeeee to August.” The fun goes from 6pm to 9pm or until sold out. You can still hang out after that, though.

Hit the Spot to Open a Restaurant in Vancouver. Hit the Spot, the popular burger cart that sits in the Human Bean coffee shop parking lot on Sandy Blvd, will open a future restaurant at 2420 Main Street in Vancouver, Wa. “We’ve worked so hard to get to this point. Can’t tell you how great it feels to start with a pop up tent and a bbq in 2014 at the farmers market on the weekends, to going full time late 2018 in a food cart, to finally achieving a restaurant space in 2021.” From what I can tell, this means the cart will close eventually. CORRECTION: They are not closing the cart! The Columbian also reports on their dreams of further expansion. “The goal is to open hit the spot! restaurants in other parts of Vancouver, as well as suburbs such as Gresham and Beaverton.”

Asian vegetables grown in Gresham. Loved this PoMo article on Catherine Nguyen, who started Mora Mora Farm, where she grows bok choy, mizuna,  yu choy, and kabu turnips, among other things. She has an annual CSA (currently there’s wait list) and she provides the veg for Cully’s Matta food cart. Personally, I love farms that grow produce common to diverse cultures, but I’m also the person that was drawn to the mysterious-to-me veg in the unmarked box at Berkeley’s Monterey Market years ago.

Join Wellspent Market’s olive oil CSA. Have you heard of this? It’s really a variant on the CSA model, but beneficial nontheless. Here’s how they describe the olive oil CSA as their way of helping to support their small farm partners:  “It works like this: Early in the year you buy a CSA share for $100. We use the cash to pay the farmers, and when the season’s olive oil arrives here, that share is worth $120. It’s good for anything we sell at Wellspent Market, not just olive oil. Money well spent indeed!”