Category: Four Things

four

Four Things I Learned This Week is a regular column published on Fridays, featuring four short entries of brief tidbits on Portland‘s food scene.

Posted on

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!”

Posted on

Four Things I Learned This Week (August 20)

Need a custom vegan cake? Ben & Esther’s, Portland’s own vegetarian (soon to be vegan, I believe) bagel shop, can make your vegan cake dreams come true. In their own words: “Need a custom vegan cake for your next event? We got you! Shoot us an email at info@benandesthers.com and let us know what you’re thinkin’!”

Blind Ox Fremont is closing. According to their Facebook page, they are closing their Fremont location due to “failed lease negotiations.” People are super bummed. Join them for a last hurrah at this location (their N Interstate location remains open) on Saturday 8/29 and Sunday 8/29 for $2 pints, $8 growler fills, 50% off packaged beer.

Delta dashes indoor dining hopes for Pip’s. The folks at Pip’s posted on their Instagram, “Our dining room is closed and we are offering to-go only. This will be our business model for the foreseeable future. It is frustrating, it’s not how we hoped things would go, but it is the reality.” We respect their decision and are grateful that they have made it through the COVID-19 pandemic so far! Their donuts and chai remain excellent, so go get some to-go.

Bee’s is still wholesale but you can find her stuff all over the place. Rebecca of Bee’s Cakes reminds us that they are still a wholesale bakery, but with definite plans to open as a cafe in the future (interior renovations continue). Meanwhile you can find her pastries at a lot of spots around town, including Sullivan Gulch’s Steeplejack,  Roseway’s Rosebridge Coffee, and Parkrose Heights vegan coffee house Jet Black Coffee Company.

Posted on

Four Things I Learned This Week (February 12)

Best Donuts in Oregon: Delicious Donuts. According to Food & Wine’s February 2021 roundup of the best donuts in each U.S. state, Delicious Donuts is the winner in Oregon:

“Founded in 2005 just over the Burnside Bridge from the original Voodoo, Delicious Donuts looks like any of the other classic hangs gracing lucky neighborhoods up and down the West Coast, and like so many of them, this one’s family owned, too. But not everybody works as carefully and attentively as Boun Saribout, who owns the shop with wife Penny Nguyen. Their cinnamon roll doughnuts, crunchy fritters, and apple-filled bear claws are famously good, the blueberry cake is like some gorgeous, deep-fried muffin, but don’t get too comfortable, because unless you time it right, you’ll typically take what you can get. Good news, however—you’ll be totally fine with this, because it’s all good.”

The single-location indie donut shop is what I think of whenever someone mentions a donuts shop, and my love for a blueberry cake donut knows no bounds (I miss you, Angel Donuts in Fillmore, CA). Glad to hear of their recognition. 12 SE Grand Avenuea, Portland

Kaleifornia Dreaming. Portland Redditor u/scoobycoup put together a pretty good set of parody lyrics to the song, “California Dreaming,” the title renamed to “Kaleifornia Dreaming.”

“All the Kale is gone.  / And the sky is gray.  / I drove into a tree.  / On a winter’s day.  / I’d be safe and warm. / If I was in L.A.  / Kaleifornia Dreaming.  / On such a winters day.”

Pączki watch. I’ve seen a couple of places where you can find these Polish Fat Tuesday treats—the Gateway Fred Meyer and Popioł (a Polish dinner pop-up in Portland) via Cafe Reina: “Pre-order a box of 4 (pick 4!) and swing by the shop to claim them. We will also have individual pączki for sale at La Reina while supplies last.” 1111 NE 102nd Avenue (Fred Meyer) and 4943 NE MLK Jr Blvd, Suite 101 (Cafe Reina), Portland

Singles For Singles. One of my favorite burger joints in Portland is Bless Your Heart Burgers (love their location on NE 33rd Ave and Killingsworth) and they are offering a Valentine’s Day special that is a little different than a lot of them around town—it focuses on the single (not the couple). “You get a single burger, single fry, and a sparkly beverage of your choosing for $12. We all deserve some ❤️. Singles For Singles will be available 2/12 – 2/15.” Unfortunately (but understandably) they are closed today (Friday) because of the snow. 5410 NE 33rd Avenue, Portland

Posted on

Four Things I Learned This Week (February 5)

[Another revival, please enjoy! -Ed]

Ben & Esther’s, which is now fully vegetarian, announced that their “soon-to-be-famous vegan cinnamon rolls” will launch this Saturday—that’s tomorrow. In the words of the owner, “Come get some. Don’t be a crazy person.” 6912 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Vivienne is making what they call “baby cakes,” which are literally small-sized layer cakes: “That absolutely delicious and adorable Baby Cake is black and white this week. That is, the best chocolate cake layers filled in the center and wrapped in vanilla buttercream and rainbow sprinkles. This cake serves two big pieces or 4 perfect mini pieces.” 4128 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Sebastiano’s is expanding their cheese program, stocking “a selection of Italian cheeses that are curated, cut-and-wrapped by the team at Cowbell.” Like a lot of us, the closure of Cheese Bar on Belmont was a very sad thing, so it’s good to see other places stepping into that void. Sebastiano’s will be consulting with Portland’s favorite cheesemonger Steve Jones, owner of the late great Cheese Bar, on their own cheese program. 411 SE 81st Avenue, Portland

Did you know you can get freshly made perogies every Saturday? Head to St. John the Baptist Ukranian Orthodox Church on Saturdays from 11am to 2pm. Along with perogies, you can pick up stuffed cabbage and sausages—enjoy them hot or take home frozen items for later. 8014 SE 16th Avenue, Portland

Posted on

Four Things I Learned This Week (March 13)

Happy Friday the 13th! So far the spookiest things I’ve seen today have been a strange wintry mix was falling from the sky this morning, and that all the garnet yams were gone from the Safeway. Aside from that, here are some of the things I learned about this week in Portland food.

House Accounts at Bhuna. Local restaurants are looking to alternate ways to keep the cashflow going during this virus crisis, and Bhuna has chosen a kind of pay ahead model. More about these accounts:

“Our community of guests is really important to us. We wanted to get you involved in the continued growth of our restaurant, so we partnered with inKind to introduce House Accounts. House Accounts allow us to reward loyal guests for pre-purchasing their next few meals. You get bonus dining credit to spend at Bhuna, and we get the funds to continue spreading the joy our food brings.”

The credit never expires and they are selling a limited number of accounts. You can participate here.

Inexpensive Eats. The Oregonian put together a list of 40 Best Inexpensive Restaurants this week. Here are some that are located further east:

  • Binh Minh Sandwiches, 7821 SE Powell Blvd
  • Bun Bo Hue Restaurant, 7002 SE 82nd Avenue
  • Du’s Grill, 5365 NE Sandy Blvd
  • Ha VL, 2738 SE 82nd Avenue #102
  • Rose VL, 6424 SE Powell Blvd
  • HK Cafe, 4410 SE. 82nd Avenue
  • Master Kong, 8435 SE Division Street
  • Pho Oregon, 2518 NE 82nd Avenue
  • Pure Spice, 2446 SE. 87th Avenue
  • Tortilleria y Tienda de Leon’s, 16223 NE Glisan Street

Salt & Straw’s March 2020 Flavors. I can attest that the Cinnatopia Cinnamon Bun and Salted Caramel Cupcake flavors this month are particularly good. I also hear the Wild Foraged Berry Pie is a major seller right now, too.

How Coronavirus Is Impacting the Portland Restaurant World. Eater has the staff, time and resources to keep track of the broad spectrum of ways COVID-19 is affecting Portland restaurants, so head on over for updates.