Portland: Donuts, Beer, and More

It is fast approaching that time of year when the travel bug starts biting us British Columbians and we begin exploring our beautiful province and country, whilst also venturing south of the border for trips to Seattle or Portland. I thought this was a good time to condense all that I’ve learned on my trips to Portland and share them here on the old blog. You know, just in case you were looking for a bit of inspiration for your trip.

In my experience, Portland is all about the food and the drinks. Sure, there is an indie scene worth exploring but that ain’t my jam so I am sticking with telling you about the food and booze. On the two trips that I did last year, Portland lived it up to its reputation of being a city all about the beer and donuts (seriously, is it spelt doughnuts or donuts?!). Let’s start with the donuts (or doughnuts, whatever you prefer).

Everyone knows about the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, these are the gimmicky, sweet, brightly-coloured donuts that come with a variety of toppings and funny names (a Cock-N-Balls or Old Dirty Bastard doughnut anyone?). If you see people carrying a pink “Voodoo Doughnut” box around Portland, you know that they are pretty happy with themselves as they have survived the long line-up and now have their doughnut bounty. Consider yourself warned: there is a line-up at almost every hour of the day and they are open 24 hours a day so that’s saying something. There are two locations in Portland and they accept cash only.

A cabinet full of Voodoo Doughnuts

The Loop Doughnut from Voodoo

The Marshall Mathers Doughnut from Voodoo

Once you have visited Voodoo, the donut store that started it all, you should definitely make room to sample Blue Star Donuts. These were the donuts that I actually enjoyed the most and would recommend over Voodoo. Voodoos were fun, but gimmicky, whereas the quality of Blue Star was obvious. They make their donuts from a brioche recipe that takes 18 hours to make from scratch (which they do every day). They speak with pride about the quality ingredients that they use and that they avoid artificial flavours and preservatives (maybe not a big deal for some but I like to know what I’m eating). Their recipes aren’t crazy innovative, yet, they are still intriguing. Some of the flavours are pistachio cheesecake with raspberry hibiscus glaze, a blueberry bourbon basil (delicious), and a blackberry compote with peanut butter powder, amongst others.

Lemon Poppyseed from Blue Star

Maple Bacon from Blue Star

If you are looking for a coffee to wash down your donuts, the coffee that is most famous in the city, and that you’ll be offered almost everywhere, is Stumptown. Personally, Stumptown isn’t one of my favourite coffees (each to their own) but the Stark location, which is in the lobby of the Ace Hotel, is a great spot for people watching and lounging about in the cool space.

Stumptown Coffee at the Ace Hotel

I had actually been trying to find Heart Coffee Roasters (one of my favourites) but I got lost so unfortunately I didn’t make it. I did, however, find Courier Coffee Roasters, which is a tiny little coffee roasters not too far from Powell Books (another must visit) that does great coffee. Other coffee shops worth a visit are Spella Coffee and Barista.

If you are looking for a brunch spot, look no further than Clyde Common. I went here with some girlfriends and we enjoyed a long boozy brunch where you get to make your own mimosas at the table (complete with a choice of two juices). Loved the open space of Clyde Common and the laid-back style, I would definitely return for another meal (they also do dinner).

Breakfast from Clyde Common

If you’d rather have your breakfast fast and on-the-go, drop into Nuvrei. I hadn’t heard about this place before arriving in Portland but whilst walking around the Pearl District in the early morning, I caught a whiff of the smell of baking pastry (probably the best smell ever). I followed the scent and discovered a small line-up at this chic little café. I joined the line (I can never say no to a food line-up) and was rewarded with a buttery, flakey croissant and a bagel sandwich. Other places that I’ve heard do a great breakfast are Pine State Biscuits and Tasty n Sons (I’ve not been to either so I can’t say for sure).

A few posts ago, I raved about Pok Pok, which is a must when visiting Portland. Another must visit, which is very close to Pok Pok, is Salt & Straw.

Salt & Straw serves scoops of unique and delicious ice-cream flavours worthy of waiting in the fast-moving, but consistent, line-up. Flavours change but can include Pear and Blue Cheese, Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, Stumptown Coffee & Burnside Bourbon, and Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbon. Yum! Try and save some room after eating at Pok Pok for a scoop or two from Salt & Straw. You won’t regret it.

So now that we have indulged in coffee, donuts, breakfast, ice-cream, and more donuts, let’s move on to alcohol! Woot! I was pleasantly surprised with the drink scene in Portland. If I’m not drinking wine, I can be found enjoying some cocktails and boy, did Portland deliver on the cocktails!

My girlfriends and I wanted to drink all of the cocktails on the menu at Saucebox. Seriously, check out the cocktail list here, don’t you just want to sample them all? I can’t narrow down which one was my favourite but I really enjoyed some of the spicy ones (the Jade Scorpion and Kickboxer, for example). The pan-Asian food from Saucebox is decent too, but with the dark, sexy vibe, I would even go just for the cocktails and atmosphere. On a side note, the service we received at Saucebox was outstanding. We had a reservation and the guests before us were late leaving, which wasn’t a big issue for us, but they still offered us all a complimentary cocktail whilst we waited. Excellent customer service!

Another place that does great cocktails, is Departure Bar, which has a roof top bar and serves delicious mod-Asian dishes. Go for the view, stay for the drinks! Trader Vic’s is a tiki bar that offers ridiculously cheap happy hour cocktails (from 3pm to 6pm). Their regular cocktail menu has over 80 cocktails so you will surely find something you like. Try to snag a seat on the patio for some people watching.

Drinks at Trader Vic’s

When in Portland, you must sample the beer. The city is known for it. I’ve lost the taste for beer over the years but I decided to give it a go whilst I was in Portland. When I was there with my girlfriends, we decided to do a fun brewery tour on this:

Ha ha! Yep, lots of fun was had sitting around this bad boy for an afternoon. You pedal your way to three different local breweries, where you are able to sample the different beers on offer. We found this very social and a fun way to see the city, whilst enjoying an afternoon beer tour.

When I was there with my parents, it was in the middle of winter so doing the BrewCycle wasn’t an option so we popped in to Deschutes Brewery, a local brewery, instead. For someone who thought that they were over beer, I sure did knock back quite a few glasses of the Zarabanda brew (the brewery partnered with Chef José Andrés to make this brew).

I loved it. It has been my experience that the food at the breweries has been quite disappointing, so perhaps stick to the beer and eat at one of the great restaurants that the city has to offer.

So there you have it. My trips to Portland in summary. I still haven’t even scratched the surface of Portland’s restaurant scene but when I return, I have a long wish-list to hit up. Feel free to make a comment if you have any questions about any of the places that I’ve mentioned above. Safe and happy travels!

Photo Visit – Ask for Luigi – March 2015

305 Alexander Street
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1C4

T: 604 428 2544
www.askforluigi.com

I normally don’t pay too much attention to the Georgia Straight’s Golden Plates Awards, as my opinion is often very different from other voters so the results usually just leave me irritated. This year, however, I actually agreed with some of the winners. One of my favourite restaurants, Ask for Luigi, won this year’s “Best New Restaurant” award and they beat Cioppino’s (!!) to take out top spot in the “Best Italian” category. I’ve been loving what they’ve been doing ever since they opened so I am thrilled for them (although this win will make it even harder to get a table now).

When I’m asked what I like about Ask for Luigi, I give the same answer that I give about Nook (one of my other favourites); it is unpretentious, relaxed, and provides great food and wine at affordable prices. These are the places that you want to go to after a busy week at work, or to catch-up with friends or your significant other, where you know you will leave feeling happy that you got value for money, but more importantly, that the food was of a high standard. Plus, I love a place that remembers their regular visitors and treats you like a friend when you return.

I went for a late lunch a few weeks ago with a friend and we ended up having a long, boozy lunch (isn’t that how all Italian meals should go?) that consisted of the following dishes:

Brussels & crispy pork belly agro dolce– $10

Gnocchi, squash, sage & whipped ricotta – $15

Bucatini all’amatriciana – $15

Olive Oil Cake – $8

Chocolate budino – $8

Although we enjoyed the whole meal, there were a few dishes that stood apart from the others.

1/ The brussels, with crispy pork belly and crunchy hazelnuts, were a great introduction to the meal. I loved the texture of this dish (lots of crunch from the nuts and pork, but a softness from the brussels).

2/ The gnocci was incredibly light and soft, with a hint of earthiness from the sage. A must order.

3/ We both battled spoons over the subtle olive oil cake. We should have ordered two.

If you’ve not been, I recommend a visit to Ask for Luigi to see what all the fuss is about. If you need further persuading (really?!), check out their Instagram feed for some tantalizing food pics.

Pok Pok, Portland

3226 Southeast Division Street
Portland, Oregon
97202

T: 503 232 1387
www.pokpokpdx.com

A lot has been written about Pok Pok. No seriously, a lot. If you have not heard anything about Pok Pok, I encourage you to watch the video below on Andy Ricker, the man who started it all. I love Andy’s enthusiasm, dedication, and the fact that he doesn’t try to Westernize his food. One of my pet peeves is establishments doing a disservice to the foods and cultures that they are representing by dumbing down the flavours to appease Western taste buds. Pok Pok doesn’t do that.

After hearing about Pok Pok for years, I finally had my chance to visit when I was in Portland last May with some friends. It didn’t live up to my lofty expectations. We hadn’t made a reservation and, with the wait for a table being over 2 hours long, I did what any desperate foodie would do and ordered take-out and stood on the street to eat it. Don’t do this. You will not experience Pok Pok the way that it should be experienced. To really enjoy Pok Pok, you need to get a group of friends together, order many different dishes, sample a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and wash it all down with some cocktails or beers.

After a rocky first start at Pok Pok, I am now a convert. I was back in Portland in December with my family and I dragged them across the city to give Pok Pok another try. Thankfully, this time I wasn’t left disappointed. Now I get it. The dishes were interesting and the flavours were bold and fresh – that winning combination of sour, salty, spicy, and sweet. I couldn’t even tell you which dish I liked the most because I liked them all, but for very different reasons.

Hoi Thawt (crispy broken crepe with steamed mussels, eggs, garlic, chives)

 Da Chom’s Laap Meuang (spicy hand-minced pork “salad”)

Muu Satay (grilled pork loin skewers marinated in coconut milk and turmeric).

Sai Ua Samun Phrai (Chiang Mai sausage with herbs, served with pork rinds and spicy green chile dip)

Kung Op Wun Sen (prawns with pork belly and bean thread noodles)

The famous Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings

Be adventurous when visiting Pok Pok – yes, the menu can be overwhelming but try not to be intimidated. Ask the server what they recommend, order some of the favourites (the chicken wings are worth the hype), or just take a risk and try something new. I recommend sampling all of the garnishes, sauces, and spices that come with the dishes – they are there for a reason and will elevate the dish.

You must reserve if you are going with a large group (they will accept reservations for groups of 5 or more), otherwise be prepared to wait. This place is BUSY! If you do end up having to wait, you can put your name on the list and then head down the street to Whiskey Soda Lounge (also owned by Andy Ricker) to have some drinks whilst you wait. If you can’t get in to the original location, there are other Pok Pok establishments around Portland (and New York and LA). I can’t wait to go back to Pok Pok!

Brunch at Burdock & Co

2702 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
V5T 3E8

T: 604 879 0077
www.burdockandco.com

It is no secret that I enjoy eating brunch out whenever I can. As a creature of comfort, I tend to return to my favourite spots (Nook Kitsilano, Au Comptoir, L’Abattoir, West, Ask For Luigi) over and over again, but occasionally I will branch out and try other spots. You know, sometimes you just gotta switch it up.

Burdock and Co is a small restaurant, with a relaxed vibe, that is focused on farm-to-table, organic ingredients. The brunch menu at Burdock isn’t your traditional “bacon and eggs” brunch menu. Yes, you can get a benny (on a gluten-free scone), or you could mix it up and try the chili fried eggs on toast with avocado, poached eggs on salt cod polenta, or fried eggs with smokey tomato, black beans, and corn tortillas. If you want something other than eggs for breakfast, the heirloom squash dumplings with chestnut browned butter sauce, or the winter fruit clafoutis, offer an alternative, as does the smoked chili broth ramen or the spicy fried chicken.

Smoked Chili Broth Ramen, Crispy Pig Face, Sprouts – $14

B.F.C. Spicy Burdock Fried Chicken, Kimchi – $16

Grilled Maple Fennel Bacon – $6

German Butter Potatoes with Pickled Garlic and Marjoram – $6

Weekend brunch runs from 10:30AM to 2PM. It appears that they do now accept reservations (I don’t believe that this has always been the case). You’d be best to phone ahead as this place does get busy (and also a little noisy).

Brunch at L’Abattoir

217 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 2J2

T: 604 568 1701
www.labattoir.ca

Brief Description: A chic, unpretentious Gastown restaurant that dishes up French-meets-West Coast cuisine.

One of my favourite restaurants in the city, L’Abattoir, launched their brunch service in December and I have been making regular visits ever since. Brunch at L’Abattoir delivers the same high standards of food and service that I’ve come to expect from this team. Some of my favourite brunch items are the decadent smoked pork belly and eggs with cheddar sabayon, the currant scone with jam and clotted cream (!!), and the breakfast burger.

Let’s go back to the clotted cream for a moment, shall we? If you’ve not had it before, I highly recommend trying clotted cream – it is a rich, thick cream that has the consistency of butter. This Huffington Post article accurately describes it as “basically what you’d have if butter were to get together with whipped cream.”

Currant scone with jam and clotted cream – $7

Minute steak and two eggs, with rösti, toast, and brown sauce – $18

Two poached eggs, smoked pork belly, and cheddar sabayon on home-made English muffin – $17

Potato rösti with crème fraiche and chives – $6

Besides the brunch dishes that I’ve mentioned, there are also house-made pastries (which vary depending on the day), a classic full breakfast with sausage and pork and beans, as well as lighter options, such as the Dungeness crab cakes with eggs, or the quiche with smoked steelhead, leeks and dill. Price-wise, it is a little on the expensive side but all dishes, besides the full breakfast, come in at under $20.

I highly recommend brunch at L’Abattoir if you are looking for a more upscale brunch, if you are wanting to impress someone (Mother’s Day, for example), or for an indulgent brunch with your girlfriends, or significant other. Brunch runs on the weekend only, from 10:30am to 2pm.

Jamie Oliver’s Bolognese Ragu With Tagliatelle

You don’t have to frequent my blog that often to work out that I love Jamie Oliver. Out of all of the “celebrity chefs”, Jamie is my main man. I find his recipes to be the most approachable and, generally, the most simple to follow. As much as I enjoy other chefs, such as Thomas Keller and Gordon Ramsay, their recipes are typically more complicated than Jamie’s (especially Keller who usually has multiple recipes within one dish) so I prefer to eat at their restaurants rather than attempt to cook like them at home.

Knowing how much I love Jamie (and how this directly affects what he gets for dinner), B downloaded the Jamie Oliver app on the iPad for me. I was skeptical at first, as I prefer cooking from a cookbook, but I must say that I’m sold on Jamie’s app. It is so user-friendly – it creates shopping lists of ingredients, it shows you each step of the recipe (with photos), and each ingredient measurement is shown again at each step (no back-tracking to the ingredient list). I love it! The only downside is swiping the iPad whilst cooking. My hands are generally covered in something when cooking and so it is inevitable that you’ll swipe some food on the screen.

Step-by-step guide, complete with pictures.

Helpful ingredient list.

The first time that I used the app I used it to cook Jamie’s Bolognese Ragu with Tagliatelle. I am a sucker for pasta and was quite happy with the end result of this one. I don’t normally serve pasta when hosting dinners but I could see the benefit of this dish as, once you’ve got it in the oven, there is really not much else to do besides cooking some pasta. Easy! That gives you plenty of time to hang out with your guests whilst you wait for your sauce to cook up. If you really wanted to save some time you could easily make the sauce a day ahead, which would also allow the flavours to develop. A great dish to pair with a bottle of Italian red.

Jamie Oliver’s Bolognese Ragu with Tagliatelle – Serves 4

1 lb good quality ground beef
1 lb fresh tagliatelle
1 red onion
1 clove garlic
2 stalks celery
1 small bunch fresh Italian parsley
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 X 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 dried red chile
2/3 cup organic chicken broth
2 oz Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white wine
1 pat of butter
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350F. Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Trim and roughly chop the celery. Whiz in a food processor until finely chopped. Pick the leaves from the parsley and put to one side. Finely chop the stalks.

Put a medium oven-proof saucepan on a medium heat and add a lug of olive oil. Crush the fennel seeds and dried chile in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt. Tip the veggies from the food processor into the hot saucepan with the chopped parsley stalks, rosemary sprig and crushed spices. Stir well and fry gently for a few minutes until soft.

Add the ground beef, turn the heat up and fry for a few minutes – the beef will start to release all its juices. Keep stirring until the juices boil away and the beef begins to fry again.When it all smells delicious, stir in the tomato paste. A minute later, add the wine. Once all of the wine has evaporated, add the canned tomatoes and the broth. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and place in the hot oven to cook for 1 hour.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Take the ragu out of the oven and check the consistency. If it’s a bit watery, place on a medium heat for a few minutes to reduce and thicken up. Otherwise, leave covered to one side. Add a few pinches of salt to the boiling water and drop in the tagliatelle. Cook following the package instructions. When the pasta’s ready, scoop out and reserve a mugful of cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander.

Tip the pasta back into the hot pan and pour the ragu on top. Stir everything together then have a taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. If the sauce is a bit thick, add a little of the reserved cooking water until you get a good consistency. Finely grate over the Parmesan, then add the butter and stir through. Chop the parsley leaves and sprinkle over the top. Serve with extra grated Parmesan to be added at the table, if desired.

12 Days of Cookies – Shortbread Cookies – Day 12

As much as I have enjoyed being back in the kitchen, I breathed a large sigh of relief as the last batch of cookies went in the oven. After 12 days of baking a new recipe every day (and all of the cleaning, photographing, and writing that comes along with it), I am exhausted! It has been a good experience but I can’t lie, at times it has been a challenge. I decided to finish with a simple, traditional shortbread cookie. Although shortbread doesn’t rate highly on my favourites list, others seem to love these classic, buttery morsels, and I’m all about giving the people what they want. Seriously though, I was so tired when I made these that I just wanted the quickest recipe with the least ingredients – ta da!! – shortbread to the rescue!

With only four ingredients; flour, sugar, butter, corn starch, most home cooks have these ingredients in the house so you can throw these together at the last minute if you have some guests coming around and want to serve them some fresh, hot cookies. Plus, these are so easy to make that you could have your kids help with these ones.

Things I’ve learned about baking 12 batches of cookies in 12 days:

• Baking is finicky and difficult.
• I am not patient enough to deal with finicky recipes or making cookies look pretty.
• You go through a LOT of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour when baking 12 batches of cookies.
• Any cookie that is stuffed with candy is a crowd favourite.
• You really can’t go wrong with jam in a cookie. 2 of my favourites were the PB&J Thumbprints and the Raspberry Cream Cheese Pastries.
• Cookies are a good conversation starter.

Now that the 12 Days of Cookies challenge is completed, I’m going to focus on getting ready for my parents upcoming trip. Yes! After almost three years (!!!) apart, my parents will be spending Christmas and New Years (and my birthday!) with us in Vancouver! Can you tell I’m just a wee bit excited?! We have a bunch of Christmas stuff planned for them whilst they are here and we are taking a road trip down to Portland and the Oregon Coast. I. Am.So. Excited!

Happy Baking!

12 Days of Cookies – Glazed Lemon Cookies – Day 11

After days of heavy rain here in Vancouver, I think I was desperately looking for a “zing!” when I selected Martha Stewart’s Glazed Lemon Cookies to bake for Day 11. When you use real lemons (not a weird bottled lemon juice), you can certainly taste it; your saliva glands get all tingly and you may, or may not, make an ugly I’m-eating-sour-lemons face. These cookies called for lemon juice and lemon zest for the cookie and for the glaze, so there is no denying the citrus kick in these.

Do you remember on Day 8 when I said I was too lazy to make the glaze for the Chewy Oatmeal Cookies? Well, in an effort to redeem myself as a baking slob, I did make the glaze for this cookie and personally, I don’t think the cookie needed it. Without the glaze, the cookie was a good balance of slightly sweet and a touch of citrus. When I added the glaze, they became too sweet and too citrus-y. See, there is a benefit to my laziness!

The appeal in these cookies was, not only in the gentle hint of lemon, but also just how quick this recipe was to pull together. If you also skip the glaze, these cookies could be fresh on the table in 30 to 45 minutes. Boom! Cookie bomb. I’d absolutely bake these again…sans lemon glaze.

12 Days of Cookies – Outrageous Chocolate Cookies – Day 10

I love a good chocolate cookie, however, I prefer a rich, dark chocolate cookie to a sweeter chocolate cookie. These Martha Stewart cookies claimed to be “outrageous” but I’d say that they were more “lacklustre” than “outrageous” for me.

Although the texture and consistency was exactly as the recipe described – soft and chewy, with a crackly, shiny top – I had expected them to have a deeper chocolate flavour, but instead I found them to be overly sweet. Even in my picture (below), it’s hard to tell that they are chocolate on chocolate. If I make them again, I’d make them with a darker chocolate (rather than the semisweet that the recipe called for) to add more depth of flavour.

One thing these cookies had going for them was that the recipe didn’t take very long to come together at all so if you were looking to make some chocolate cookies in less than an hour, give these a try.

Martha Stewart’s Outrageous Chocolate Cookies – Makes 2 dozen

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring between each, until almost melted; do not overheat. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

12 Days of Cookies – Rolo Stuffed Snickerdoodles – Day 9

We are closing in on the end of “12 Days of Cookies” and one of the most important things that I’ve learned from this baking challenge is that any cookie stuffed with candy is likely going to be a winner. The Chewy Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookies from Day 6 have been my favourite cookie so far and so when I saw that this was another recipe that called for more candy to be added to cookie dough, it was quickly added to the list.

This recipe isn’t rocket science. You start with the very simple recipe for Snickerdoodles (this cookie dough is lethal for eating out of the bowl – I couldn’t say no to numerous taste tests) and then wrap the dough around a Rolo. Voila! Rachel Schultz’s blog has helpful (and tempting) pictures to guide you through mastering wrapping dough around a Rolo. That brings me to another thing I’ve learned from the baking challenge – there are some really talented food bloggers out there. The daily search for cookie recipes had led me to discover some pretty cool new blogs.

Now, back to the cookies, see that indent in the middle of the cookie in the picture? Yeah…that is a gooey chocolate/caramel pocket. Get in my face!