Grüner Restaurant, Portland, OR

I stopped into Portland restaurant, Grüner, for lunch. They describe themselves as 'alpine' European cuisine.
I had heard a lot about their burger, but trying to pace myself, I opted for the spätzle with pieces of riesling braised chicken, Crimini mushrooms, crème fraîche, tarragon & thyme, sprinkled with crispy shallots. It was a beautiful, simple, and delicious dish. I had an elderflower soda as my refreshing beverage.
For dessert, the Bavarian cream trifle with rhubarb sauce was rich and wonderful.

My check came in a book by Nietzsche.

527 Southwest 12th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)241-7163

Portland Food Carts: The Gaufre Gourmet & Koi Fusion

Portland had the most food carts I've seen in any city. They are everywhere in town, and they offer a wide diversity of foods. While I was in town, I managed to squeeze a few in during the days I was there.
In Old Town, I dropped by the Gaufre Gourmet, which made Belgian liége style waffles. The waffle uses brioche style dough not batter, and ends up denser and more rich than regular waffles.
I ordered their ABC Waffle, which is topped with fig jam, camembert cheese, bacon, and arugula. It was really good, particularly the fig jam with the waffle.




Kitty corner to the waffle cart, Korean taco truck, Koi Fusion was parked, so I popped across to give them a try as well.
I ordered their kalbi, short rib, taco and the spicy pork taco. Both were really delicious. The tacos reminded me of the ones from the Kogi trucks in LA, but they were cheaper, and the corn tortillas were more fresh, so they did not have to cook them like they do on the LA truck. Portland win.

Miho Izakaya, Portland, Oregon

I went to Miho Izakaya for dinner my first night in Portland, OR. Even though it's called an izakaya, they admit freely that they are not a strictly Japanese restaurant. Chef Michael Miho hails from Hawaii so there are some items on the fun menu inspired from his home. We were lucky to share some drinks with bar manager Michael Carothers this evening, sampling some shochu as well as several beers from the local Bridgeport Brewing. I quite liked the Hop Czar Imperial I.P.A.
We started with a tasty salad made with warm kimchee and a generous amount of gochuchang. We ordered the 'Ika' calamari salad, a wonderful and tangy salad made with tender squid, and an order of the kabocha squash.

On the menu, my eyes were right away drawn to the beef 'loko-moko' burger. I'm a fan of the original Hawaiian grinds version, so I ordered the iteration at Miho. In place of gravy, they used a Bull Dog sauce, used in "katsu" dishes in Japan. The result is a sweeter and smokier taste that was perfect with the rice, burger, and egg.

Next up was an order of crab and potato croquettes. They arrived with three sauces: hot mustard, horseradish, and a tomato sauce.
The dish of pork belly with sweet egg followed. The pork belly was wonderfully braised and very tender and fatty. The sweet egg was a split hard boiled egg that was topped with sugar and flamed like a creme brulee. It was really good, but I imagine how it would have been had it been a deviled egg.
Our last item was the sesame pork meatballs, a simple but satisfying dish.
By the end of the evening, the great food combined with great local drinks really hit the spot.




4057 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR
(503)719-6152

Happy Hour at PING, Portland, Oregon

On my first day in Portland, Matt and I went to happy hour at PING, a restaurant featuring a blend of Asian snacks and bar food.
I started with a glass of yuzu beer, a drink consisting of Sapporo draft beer with yuzu extract & sugar. It reminded me of a shandy- very light and refreshing.
At Ping, they also have drinking vinegars made from their sister restaurant Pok Pok. I tried a the tart tamarind vinegar with soda. It was also excellent.








We ordered some snacks to tide us over until dinner time.
First up was a Chinese tea egg, a hard boiled egg made in black tea, soy sauce, ginger, star anise and cinnamon. It was a straightforward and faithful version of this snack.

My favorite item was the baby octopus skewer. They were marinated in lime, chilies, garlic, fish sauce, and cilantro. The flavor was a fantastic mix of sour, spicy, and savory.

On special that day, they offered duck liver skewers. They came with a spicy dipping sauce.

I finished off with ju pa bao, a dish from Macau, that was simply a fried pork chop seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic served in a bun that's similar to a torta. It was simple and tasty.





102 Northwest 4th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)229-7464

Arleta Library Bakery Cafe, Portland, OR

I visited friends in Portland, Oregon last week to attend the First Thursday opening of their Hellion Gallery. Lucky for me, they also love good eating.
My friend Matt took me to the Arleta Library Bakery Cafe for my first meal after touching down in town. Even though it was lunchtime, I took a page from Redneckhunter's must-orders and got the Arleta Library's Portland’s Best Biscuits-n-Gravy.

The dish has house made biscuits topped with a wonderful creamy pepper & rosemary sausage gravy. It is then topped with some thin sliced roasted pork loin. It was surprisingly a lighter dish than I expected. Matt recommended I have the house made ketchup with the potatoes.
He ordered a beautiful Cuban sandwich, and we also shared the house made coffeecake. The cake was warm and had a great crust of sugar on top.
Oh, and here's the second post in a row of a place that's been featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.



5513 Southeast 72nd Avenue
Portland, OR
(503)774-4470

Smoked coconut club sandwich at Memphis Tap Room, Philadelphia

We found ourselves at the Memphis Tap Room in the Fishtown section of Philly, and just had to try their famous vegan club sandwich. Yep, we said it - the evil V word - "Vegan." The "bacon" was made from smoked coconut, with tofu as the "meat" and a tomato-based "mayonnaise."

The chef did an amazingly great job mimicking the crisp-chewy texture of real bacon, and capturing its smoky flavor. I never would have believed I was eating coconut.

See below to see how it's made:



Memphis Tap Room
2331 East Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-425-4460

Coppelia, New York

On our last girls day, petiteseour and I went to the newly opened Coppelia for dinner, a 24-hour West Village Cuban/Latino diner opened by the owners of Toloache and Yerba Buena.

We were very tempted by such delicious-sounding entrees as coffee-braised oxtail and chocolate-glazed ribs, but wanting to eat lighter, we opted to share a bunch of starters.

The ceviche limeno was nice and bright, with sweet potato chunks, and 3 types of corn - large Peruvian kernels, regular sweet corn, and dried crunchy corn nut-style kernels.

We also got an oxtail empanada, which was very sweet. Petiteseour suspected they used plantain in it. And lastly, was the Pizza Cubana, basically all the ingredients of a Cubano sandwich -- roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard -- all on a pizza crust.

We finished it all off with a trio of sorbet/helado -- tamarind mojito, passionfruit mango tequila, and leche condensada.

We have vowed to go back for brunch to try out their dessert basket, with creations by Pinchet Ong. And these pearl sugar cheese bread balls that petiteseour raved about.

Coppelia
207 West 14th Street, between 7th and 8th, NYC, 212-858-5001

Eating in Cape May, NJ

Over the Memorial day weekend, the TIGBG crew took a day trip to Cape May, New Jersey. We rode over from the Delaware shore via the ferry out of Lewes, a pleasant hour long ride.
Our first stop for snacks after we disembarked was The Lobster House. The place has the feel of a tourist trap, but we enjoyed sitting dockside on the pleasant day next to moored fishing boats. I was told by some friends to try their snapper(turtle) soup. We also ordered a small cup of their clam chowder. The snapper soup was very rich and hearty. Too bad, it did not come with some sherry. We were disappointed in the chowder which was not hearty enough.

Our next stop in Cape May was Gecko's, a Southwestern restaurant. We shared some chips with salsa and guacamole and a Ute taco. It's a Navajo fry bread topped with lamb adovada and bean & corn salsa. It came with a chipotle salsa. The lamb was similar to pulled pork, and it was a little spicy. Gecko's is definitely worth returning to as their dinner menu had some delicious sounding plates.

For supper, we went to the Magnolia Room, inside the Chalfonte hotel, for the Sunday supper buffet. Fougoo had heard that the fried chicken was special because the chefs use their mother's old cast iron skillet which is over a hundred years old to make the chicken. Also, a key component to their recipe is that the first fry onions brown in the oil prior to putting the chicken in. The chicken was good, with subtle seasoning. The skin was wonderfully crispy.
The rest of the buffet was Southern style cuisine including black eye peas, broccoli salad, ham, and stewed tomatoes. For dessert, we tried their chocolate cake and tapioca pudding.

The Lobster House
906 Schellengers Landing Road
Cape May, NJ
(609)884-8296

Gecko's
31 Perry Street
Cape May, NJ
(609)898-7750

Magnolia Room
301 Howard Street
Cape May, NJ
(609)884-8409