Category: First Tastes

First Tastes include initial thoughts and reactions on the food at a restaurant, shop, or market in Portland. Not a full-blown review.

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First Tastes: Pumpkin Spiced Bread at Tabor Tavern

A truly excellent dessert at Tabor Tavern.

On New Year’s Eve, my household has established a tradition of eating at Tabor Tavern, a gastropub on E Burnside in the North Tabor neighborhood. It’s an extension of our previous tradition of eating at one of our favorite gastropubs in Queens, Sweet Afton. After a meal at Tabor Tavern that featured one of their excellent burgers and fries with an addictive malt vinegar aioli, we got this dessert, Pumpkin Spiced Bread, which is one of the best things I ate in 2021.

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First Tastes: Tea and Dumplings at Cloud Pine Tea + Culture

Cloud Pine Tea + Culture in Milwaukie, Ore.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to see an old friend when he traveled to Oregon to visit his daughter, and we had lunch together at Cloud Pine Tea + Culture, a newish (est. 2021) teahouse-restaurant located in downtown Milwaukie. A mix of seriously good tea, delicious dumplings, and great conversation was a nice break from everything. I’m already looking forward to returning.

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First Tastes: Breakfast at Steeplejack

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The stunner of a stained glass window at Steeplejack.

Over the weekend I stopped in at Steeplejack for breakfast before taking care of some errands in the general area. I got a tip off their Instagram page, where they posted “we are slowly rolling out our breakfast program” and I found that hard to resist. I arrived around 8:30am on a Sunday and had a satisfying and tasty breakfast in a beautiful space.

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First Tastes: Dimo’s SPK

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Breakfast sandwich extraordinaire

This morning I headed over to Dimo’s Apizza for their new venture: Dimo’s SPK. “SPK” stands for “salt, pepper, ketchup,” which are add-ons to the classic BEC—the bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich that you can find everywhere—delis, diners, bodegas—in NYC (and the broader Northeast, from what I’ve been told). This weekend it launches and Dimo’s will offer sandwiches and more from 9am to 2pm (or until sold out). There was a line this morning (we got there around 9:15am), but let me tell you—it’s worth the wait.

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