Cheesesteak Safari in Portland

Please indulge me as I channel my inner Peter Griffin (aka The Family Guy). You know what really grinds my gears? I’ll tell you. It’s cheesesteak places that do one of the following two things:

1. Use deli roast beef in their cheesesteaks.

2. They are frugal with their meat. As far as I’m concerned, charge me what you want but deliver a good, satisfying product.

With that in mind, I have spent years trying to find the great food spots in Portland. It’s important for me to know which places have mastered their craft. For example, I need to know a good breakfast burrito place, a good pizza place, sushi joint, etc. When I get the craving for a specific food, it’s as simple as me grabbing my car keys & my wallet and I’m off.

Before I start pouring out my thoughts on the Portland cheesesteak scene, I do need to throw out the disclaimer that I have never been to Philly and experienced the real deal. As a result, my conclusions may differ from Philly Transplants that have an acquired taste seeking something different.

For the past ten years, I have diligently combed the area in search of awesome cheesesteaks. It wasn’t until about 5-6 years ago until I found THE SPOT. Whenever you can find THE SPOT that scratches your itchy place; it’s a damn glorious thing. I don’t care if it’s a golf course, a park bench, a restaurant or whatever. Passing through life knowing that you have several aces up your sleeve is definitely the way to roll.

Let's look at my Runner-Ups (in order) within the Portland Area:

1. Tributes (PDX) - This is a NY pizza and sandwich joint in the NW around 23rd and Kearney. I will gladly pronounce their cheesesteak sandwich as very tasty but fairly small for the price. They also lack any hot peppers; not even a jalapeno in the house. Tribute’s does many things well and I commend them on running a rock solid eatery.

2. Philly Bilmos (Vancouver) - My buddy from Philly swears by this place and I don't know why. He is 100% Philly to the core and Bilmo's meets his guidelines but he has yet to make it Grants. I thought Bilmo’s cheesesteak was fine but my pallet is clearly camped out on Grant’s side of the fence.

3. Steakadelphia's (PDX) - They just opened up a new location, on SE Powell Blvd, fairly close to where I live; about a year or so ago. I've been there 2-3 times since they opened. The food tastes very similar to their NE location on MLK. It is a decent sandwich but I’m not compelled to visit there often.

I guess I have three problems with Steakadelphia:

1. Slow service. I know I can call in ahead of time but it shouldn't take 20-30 minutes to make my sandwich with one other patron in the restaurant. This statement is based on a trend and not a single incident.

2. By default, they put a ketchup-mayo sauce on your cheesesteak. Yuck! It can only go three ways from here:

a. I forget to tell them no special sauce; ie a wasted sandwich that I won't eat since I dislike mayo and ketchup.

b. They forget that I ordered no special-sauce and I'm waiting 30 minutes while they remake my sandwich due to the special sauce inclusion.

c. Lastly, I get lucky and they get my sandwich right. I dislike the idea of gambling when it comes to good eats.

3. I have to order double meat to even come close to populating half the roll.

4. Brucci's (Vancouver) - I ate here about 2 years ago. The food was fine but fairly bland.

5. Philadelphias (PDX) - Give me a break. I don't consider myself a wet blanket but I could rag on this place for hours if you asked me to. I guess the best way to put it is that they serve more onion than meat on your cheesesteak; that's a travesty. I should also note that I have eaten here about 4-5 times just hoping that I caught them on a bad day. This was not the case, subpar food on every occasion.

So, who has the best cheesesteak in town? I’ll tell you…

The ELITE cheesesteak in town belongs to Grant’s Philly Cheesesteaks in NE Portland


15350 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97230
Neighborhood: Northeast Portland
(503) 252-8012

Hours: 10am-7pm; Monday thru Friday

(Note: all attached images in this blog post reflect Grants).



Note: This is Grant's Steak Philly with White American Cheese and double hot peppers. The bottom of the roll is laced with yummy cheese.


Let me color in the details with regards to my favorite cheesesteak in town.

- A Grant's cheesesteak starts with 8 oz of chopped sirloin steak. (Half a sandwich comes with 4 oz of Steak). There's always plenty of meat to fill the bun.

- The Amoroso Roll is pillowy soft yet it's strong enough to maintain its integrity regardless of liquid cheese toppings or steak juices.

- There are a variety of cheese options. I highly recommend the White American or the Provolone. I can tell you that the provolone allows the meat flavor to shine the best as well as it being the healthiest of cheese options for your sandwich. With that in mind, the White American (liquid) is sinfully good and it's my favorite. Grant's also carries Tillamook Cheddar, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Real Kraft Cheese Whiz.

- The Peppers. Grants has both sweet and hot peppers. Both of these pepper types have ridiculously good flavor. I tend to double up on the hots because that's my thing. You'll be doing yourself a disservice if you don't try the sweet or hot peppers. You can always pick them off if you don't like them. They are not diced up and mixed in the meat; they sit on top.

- I always order onions on my sandwich but I can never taste them on a Grants cheesesteak but I'm OK with that. For the record, I'm an onion fan.

- True Bliss can be achieved when you bring all 4 dynamic elements together: bread, liquid cheese, fresh steak and beautiful, pickled peppers. I'll sometimes throw a few homemade potato chips on top to bring in an additional element of texture to my sandwich (and it works very well).

- It should be noted that Grants has both chicken and steak available for their cheesesteaks. A half sandwich is $5.75 and it’s $10 for a whole.


Let’s get to down to what you need to know regarding Grant’s.

1. They are open Monday through Friday 10-7; sometimes they are closed on weekdays to recognize major holidays. To reiterate, they are NOT OPEN ON WEEKENDS! So if you have any doubt, call before you haul.

2. Their sandwiches come with really yummy, homemade potato chips at no additional cost. You have to eat there to get the homemade chips; they pack Lays with the carryout orders.

3. They do serve fries but they are unnecessary in my book. They are really good but you can’t order a traditional side; you’re looking at an overflowing basket. I would guess that you could split a standard fry between 2-4 people (kind of like Five Guys Burgers).


4. They do have Tastykakes which is a Philly dessert delight; I guess it could be considered part of the Twinkee genre. They may be 1000x better than Twinkees; I’m simply expressing their presence for Philly Traditionalists.

5. You will never, ever need to order double-meat on a cheesesteak from Grants. I don’t think it’s on the menu or even possible.

6. Grants dining room is somewhat small; not tiny but there is limited indoor seating. I would estimate about 8 tables of differing sizes. I recommend missing rush hour at lunchtime. I generally try to plan for a 1:30-2:00 window. Trust me on this one.

7. Food lesson 101. Eat your cheesesteak at the restaurant. To-Go food always pales to fresh off the grill and on your plate.

8. They have one the nicest staffs in town. I’ve been going there for years and I’m always treated with a smile as well as excellent service. It feels more like a family run joint than a typical restaurant.

9. I just noticed that Grant’s scored a 97 for their most recent, health inspection. Well Done!

In closing, I would like to emphasize one final comment about the rare restaurants like Grants. They offer consistency and attention to detail; the customer gets the same product regardless of the economy, kitchen staff or any other variables. It’s my experience that this kind of precision in execution is a rare feat. I would like to thank and salute the great folks at Grants for DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY EVERY TIME.

Tacos in a Beer Garden? Que Bueno!

Yup, tacos and cold suds; that will work. It’s a birthright, a fiesta and a chance to pay homage to our Hispanic friends as well as tip our caps to Old Bavaria. I think it would be wise for some authority, such as Merriam-Webster for example, to work on replacing the words “Oasis” or “Utopia” or “Nirvana” with “Taco and Beer Garden”. At the very least, make an addendum to known synonyms. Kiki Dee once sang, “I got the music in me.” In response to that Kiki, all I have to say is, “I have a spiritual taco and beer garden AND the music in me, so eat your heart out girlfriend.”

Note: I would post a youtube link to the Kiki Dee Band classic but you do not want that song stuck in your head.

About three months ago, this taqueria and separate beer bar magically appeared on one of the main thoroughfares within inner SE Portland (12^th & SE Division). Needless to say, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to check it out. As most Portlanders know, when the weather is nice, you have to take advantage of the sun in every possible way (and tacos and beer are no exception).

I’m going to break this down into a split review.

Los Gorditos

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15250679629/las-gorditas-portland

LGs carries a variety of different meats with a focus on tacos. They also had other items, such as sopes and burritos, but it’s my guess that they mostly move massive amounts of tacos.

A straight up traditional taco with meat, onions and cilantro on a tortilla will run you $2.

They have also a quesa taco (which a naming convention that I think defies the Spanish Language). I thought it could only be queso taco or maybe (longshot of quesa taca). Whatever, my Spanish is muy rusty! A quesa taco ($3) has an additional tortilla with melted cheese and the original taco tortilla has cheese as well on top of the standard taco. The quesa taco wasn’t bad but it just seemed unnecessary to the overall taste of the taco to throw a bunch of cheese and another tortilla at it.

I opted to diversify with three different meat styles/types. I would classify each meat as very solid but not mind blowing.

- Carne Asada Quesa Taco (Steak)

- Carnitas Taco (Pork Shoulder; kinda like pork briscuit)

- Al Pastor Taco (Spicy, Marinated Pork)

All and all, I would say that the taste of the tacos were good. I usually like to load up on the salsa but I was in Apex grabbing beers while tacos were being made. As a result, I utilized minimal salsa/hot sauce due to limited supply at taco deliverance. You can see the hot sauce in the picture; it almost looks phosphorescent with orange/red tones.

Being a big fan of Mexican food, I can tell you of many experiences where a really good, fresh salsa/hot sauce completely changed the complexion and taste of the meal. That’s the one question that remains after my original visit; can the salsa take it higher? Even if it doesn’t, I would eat here again in a heartbeat. There aren’t many places left that you can have a solid meal for $6 plus tip in a nice, casual and friendly environment. As you can see from the pics, there are lots of umbrellas in the event of a really hot day.

Another thing worth pointing out is that you want to have food in the beer garden; they will let you do so. However, the Apex BG does not have any dirty dish receptacles therefore you’ll need to return plates, etc to Los Gorditos for “Here” orders. The “Here” order would be considered the best environmental approach to minimize unnecessary packaging for your order. If you keep things easy, you can get the order to go and dispose of the refuse in the Apex BG.

In summary, I got 3 tacos for $7 and I was satisfied with the portions and the taste. I am not an uber-taco snob with regards to being able to evaluate taquerias but I can safely say that LGs tacos don’t rival Por que No on Upper Hawthorne. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because LG and Apex have their own neat thing going on.

They also carry breakfast burritos. I intend to grab one soon as I’m always looking for the ultimate BB as well as re-visit their salsa/hot sauce options.

Apex

http://apexbar.com/

This place has a very impressive beer collection re draft selections. I would definitely say that they are in the elite of Portland with regards to selection, diversity and numbers of different beers. The tap lines were clean and the finished product was on-point. I believe that the space shared by Apex and LG was formerly a mechanics garage. As a result, the bar itself is pretty small. The beer garden at this bar is going to be very busy when the weather is nice. When the weather turns south, my suspicion is that the place will SLOW down but then again, you always have the taco and beer combo working for you.

I would like to start off by saying that the service was very good and the bartender was pleasant. I’ll tip my hat to personable, service workers who enjoy their gig in the rose city.

The inside of the bar was a little bit sterile. I think of the actual bar as a walk up beer counter. There’s a giant garage door that stays open where folks can come and go with their beers back into the beer garden.

To display the available beer choices, they have cleverly incorporated Digital displays (Flatscreens) to look like schedules at a train station or airport. Next to the name of the beer, they display the brewery, alcohol content and price. I like this.

I had two Engelberg Pils from Upright Brewery that were pretty good. These Pils were straight forward but crisp and a fine partner for my tres tacos.

I bought my friend a Maharaja Imperial IPA that was 10.4% (Avery Brewery); his response was that it was %#@*& AWESOME! I tasted it and concur. It was the smoothest 10% beer that I have ever tasted.

Make sure you bring your ID. A friend of mine was denied access to Apex’s magical beer garden and he certainly appears to be over the age of 21. Don’t feel too bad for my friend, there was plenty of space in Los Gorditos Taco Garden, which is suitable for all ages.

Apex is a beer bar; no hard alcohol served.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: In the beer garden shot, I have obscured the faces of random folks to protect their identities as I don't have consent to post their images online.

In Search of Delicious, Italian Beef in Portland

My connection to one of the planet's greatest sandwich innovations is two-fold. I’ve spent a lot of time in Chicago while on family vacations; Chicago being the birthplace of the Italian Beef sandwich. Secondly, while in college, I nurtured my love of Italian Beef at M&N Sandwiches in Lincoln, NE. One of my friends was so enthralled with M&Ns, that he took a delivery job there to support his passion. It’s important to note that M&N is captained by a grouchy Chicago Native (Norm) who took his craft and his product seriously. His approach consisted of supplying his customers with only the best ingredients which is the Vienna Beef Brand of Italian Beef, Pastrami and Sport Peppers. The pastrami was a bonus meat that won’t be discussed much in this review but it makes for a great sandwich combination with Italian Beef. Needless to say, I know my way around an Italian Beef sandwich.

Definition: An Italian beef is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s.[1] The bread itself is often dipped (or double-dipped) into the juices the meat is cooked in, and the sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style giardiniera (called "hot") or sport peppers.

Italian beef sandwiches can be found at most hot dog stands and small Italian-American restaurants throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs. They are difficult to find outside the Chicago metropolitan area. In some cities outside northeastern Illinois, however, Chicago expatriates have opened restaurants across the country serving Italian beef, Chicago-style hot dogs, and other foods original to the Chicago area.

Today, we will be discussing Wayne’s Red Hots on NE MLK in Portland as well as other Italian Beef Sandwiches in the area.

http://wayneschicagoredhots.com/

I have dined at Waynes about 7 or 8 times since they opened a few years ago. That statement alone is a pretty good indicator of my feelings for this place. I want to love it but it usually ends up being “just ok”, I have to say that they know the recipe and have the right elements but it just doesn’t come together like a symphony of flavors. I’m going to break down each component of the sandwich for you.

Bread: per the definition above, the sandwich is to be served on a dense, long Italian-style roll. Waynes certainly nails the dense roll with 100% accuracy. I think this is the biggest obstacle for me to really enjoying their sandwich. It seems like it a 2 day old Grand Central Bakery roll that doesn’t capture the essence of good sandwich bread. My senses should be focused on the meat but the bread always trumps it.

Dry or Wet: Based on my bread summary, you have to go wet with this thing or you will probably dislike the sandwich outright. It’s been my experience that they won’t proactively ask you if you want it dry or wet so be on your toes while placing your order.

Meat: They may claim to be using Vienna Beef Italian Beef but I kind of doubt it. VB Italian Beef is tender and delicious. This meat is fine but not transcendent. In the past, friends and I have ordered Italian Beef kits from Vienna Beef that are far tastier than Waynes. Maybe it’s their method of preparation; all I know is that it’s not the flavor that I cherish. My good friend and Italian Beef compatriot has the same opinion regarding the quality of the meat.

Where most sandwiches shops in Portland are thrifty with their meat, Waynes is not. They load it up as you would find it in Chicago. I have to respect them for that. Because I always find their straight Italian Beefs a bit lackluster, I’ve been going with the BARACK OBEEF on my last two visits. It’s basically the same thing with a Vienna Beef Sausage link in the middle.

Sport Peppers: When you ask for sport peppers, they load you up. It’s another trait of Waynes that I admire. I love sport peppers and when I order them, I want to bask in their loveliness. You’ll note in my picture of my meal that my fries are loaded up with them as well.

Note: I would like to take this moment to blast Zacks Shack on Hawthorne for their paltry distribution of sport peppers. They give you 2 peppers per order on a five dollar hotdog; just enough in quantity to make it plural.

Giardiniera: Waynes has very good giardiniera.

Definition: Giardiniera is an Italian or Italian-American relish of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil. Giardiniera is available as either mild or hot. Hot giardiniera is often referred to as "Hot Mix".

Common vegetables in the Italian version, also called sotto aceti, include onions, celery, zucchini, carrots and cauliflower, pickled vegetables in red- or white-wine vinegar. It is typically eaten as an antipasto, or with salads.

In Chicago, giardiniera is a condiment, typically used as a topping on Italian beef sandwiches.[1] Giardiniera is commonly made with serrano peppers and some combination of assorted vegetables, such as bell peppers, olives, celery, pimentos, carrots and cauliflower and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes, all marinated in vegetable oil, olive oil, soybean oil or any combination of the three oils.

Cheese: You can get mozzerella on your sandwich but it really shouldn’t matter either way. The beef should be the prominent taste with a good italian beef sandwich.

Fries: SOLDIER FIELD FRIES- Nacho cheese, spicy sport peppers. Ask for giardiniera (no xtra charge) to kick it up some more. The fries were the highlight of my meal. As I mentioned earlier, I should be hitting Waynes for the sandwich and not walking away with the fries stealing the show.

Atmosphere: The restaurant is an odd L shaped room. It’s not overly spacious but I’m not going to hold it against the restaurant. I guess I would classify the dining area as adequate but not overly comfortable. There is a bunch of cool Chicago décor which I like but it doesn’t make up for the unconventional space.

Other Menu Items: I have had their hot dogs as well as their straight Italian Beefs. It seems that everything that I have ordered has just been fine but not exceptional. I have dined there enough to have witnessed their best and worst day. I would classify it as an average dining experience every time. I would never go out of my way to recommend it but I may hit it up 2-3 times a year. I can safely say that if I went into 10 random Chicago-land IB joints, I would bet that Waynes would rank at the bottom of the list. I really want to embrace this restaurant but the food is average based on my experiences. They do a lot of things right but it just never comes together.

Links of Interest:

Waynes Links:

http://wayneschicagoredhots.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/waynes-chicago-red-hots-portland

Other Portland Italian Beef Options:

http://www.michaelsitalianbeef.com/

Note: This place is a little bit better than Waynes in my opinion.

Caveats: I would get the combo which features the link and the Italian Beef; get it wet. Just the plain IB sandwich at Michaels or Waynes does not justify a trip to either establishment. Also, Michaels does not carry any hot peppers; pack your own sport peppers or jalapenos if you need the heat. Michael’s claims to have a hot relish but that’s just a joke in my opinion. I would also like to point out that the proprietor has a reputation for being a jerk. I didn’t talk to him but I could read it all over his face. He just oozes an unpleasant disposition. I won’t let that stop me from having a good sandwich; I’m simply providing forewarning as it is common knowledge. Michaels does have good fries as well.

It should be noted that Waynes sells jars of some Vienna Beef Products: Sport Peppers and Giardiniera.

http://www.kennyandzukes.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kenny-and-zukes-sandwichworks-portland

Note: This link is for the Sandwich Works location which is located at 2376 NW Thurman. This place is run by the famous Pastrami folks that operate Kenny and Zukes in downtown Portland. I have yet to eat here but they do feature an IB Sandwich and have done well with their other endeavors. I plan to hit this place in the near future. To the best of my knowledge, they do not serve the IB in the downtown location.

Order a real deal Vienna Beef Italian Beef kit here:

http://www.tastesofchicago.com/

http://www.viennabeef.com/store/

Note: Ordering from the top link will allow you access to more products like Chicago Deep Dish Pies, etc. I have been very happy with Tastesofchicago.com.

My favorite Sandwich place in Lincoln, Nebraska:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/m-and-n-sandwich-shop-lincoln

Note: I don’t think Norm at M&N knows what the internet is but he makes a mean sandwich. Also, don’t argue with him; just play along like he knows all (when it comes to his sandwiches; he does). Get the Italian Beef/Pastrami combo with sport peppers; it is divine. Tell him that Chief sent you.

My favorite Chicago-land Italian Beef chain:

http://www.alsbeef.com/company/locations.asp

A Fine Slice of Portland

Pizza and Beer take me back to my boyhood days of listening to the soundtrack for “The Sound of Music” with my Mom. You know, “These are a few of my Favorite Things” and so on. By the way, John Coltrane does a really nice version of this song as well (sans the cute Rodgers and Hammerstein lyrics of course).

The subject of pizza and grading a good pizza is a tricky task. Let me just say that I once ate pizza for about 300 days in a row (or dang close). I used to work at the majestic Pizza Oasis in the late 90s while I was busy locating the inner Chief. I’m hoping to get there soon so that I can take you all down a trip through my memory lane. The reason that I’m mentioning my work in the industry is that there is one big thing to consider when discussing pizza. Grabbing a slice and ordering a pie can be two COMPLETELY different experiences. Ordering a pizza with your favorite ingredients and getting it fresh out of the oven are two big factors with regards to achieving optimum taste from your ‘za. There are some places which can master a pie but can’t master a slice and vice versa.

There has been a recent renaissance in Portland with regards to awesome, whole pizza pies. Since there are so many great places popping up, I would rather delay on discussing whole pies until a later date. With that in mind, I feel that I have had plenty of different slices around this town and have identified my favorite slice. The obvious beauty of grabbing a slice is that you don’t have to agree on toppings with anyone and you can grab one whenever you have the hankering.

Today, we discuss Bella Faccia on 2934 NE Alberta St. The name is Italian for “Beautiful Face”. This wonderful little nook has been on my radar for about the past 4-5 years and I still rank it at the top of my list.

A few bullet points of interest:

* It is a relatively thin slice of pie yet it is firm but not crackery.

* They make 18” pies and make their slices out of those.

* The only to go or dine-in whole pies that they make are 12” and 18” ones. I can only conclude is that they really pay strong attention to their crust and achieving the desired output.

* Due to the emergence of the Alberta neighborhood, I think they get a pretty solid traffic flow which means that their pies are always pretty fresh and not sitting around for awhile. Note: I remember I grabbed some slices from an unnamed place in my neighborhood and their slices had been out for some time. Anyway, my jaw was sore for 3 days from chewing the old crust of two slices. I felt entitled to that crust but paid the ultimate price (well, the second ultimate price; I do have a pulse and all).

* They have indoor seating with a comfortable ambience as well as a decent-sized outdoor area in the back.

* The staff is solid and not pretentious even though they seem to have an indie flair. I’m cool with that; being young and hip is all about the indie vibe these days in Portland. I used to be young and hip and a hippie-rocker guy during my pizza days and I was dang fashionable.

* This seems to be a polarizing slice. People either love it or they are not into it. The knock that I hear is that the pepperoni is greasy. We’ve all seen unnamed friends dab their pizza with napkins to decrease the grease factor. This seems like a logical gameplan for such instances.

As you can see from my scintillating photos, I mixed it up on a recent Friday evening. I had to get a pepperoni slice as I’m a big fan of the pig. In addition to pork, I’m also very fond of Greece and the magical combination of flavors that they have cultivated over many centuries. I forgot the name of the Greek slice and it’s not present on their online menu; I think it was tri-something. Regardless, it was an olive oil based pie with spinach, tomato, feta and garlic. As you can see from the picture, these slices were executed to dang near perfection. I like my pizza to be cooked that 1-2 extra minutes. To wet my whistle, I opted to have a pale ale which came from the Hazed and Infused Brewery. The beer was pretty dang good; after all it was Friday night, the sun was out and I was about to kick off the weekend on a positive note.

In summary, there are many places to grab a slice in Portland. No matter whom the vendor, a slice always seems to do the trick and satisfy the urge. If you are up for a little road trip and a potential pizza windfall in your life, you may want to check out Bella Faccia on Alberta. In addition to a great sliceria, this area makes for a great stroll as it has a lot of great bars, shops and the trademark Portland vibe. I believe that they have last Thursday every month which is the evil twin to First Thursday in the Pearl. I would definitely say that the Mississippi and Alberta neighborhoods have far surpassed the Belmont and Hawthorne districts with regards to having a cool, unique identity.

There are some good pictures at Bella Faccia’s website that I’m not going to hotlink. I would encourage you to check it out if you are interested.

Until next time…

http://www.bellafacciapizzeria.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bella-faccia-pizzeria-portland

All Out Blitz

I debated referencing the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop in my post title but that's not very “punk rock”. Nor is it probably fair to put "Blitz in the Ladd" in such esteemed company as Punk Rock's Elite. Don't get me wrong, I watched the movie, 'Rock and Roll High School', and that wasn't the essence of cool either but you got to cut the Ramones some slack. For those who are scratching their heads about the song, Blitzkrieg Bop, it's the Ramones tune that starts out "Aye Oh, Let's Go...", that was featured in the comedy classic, National Lampoons Family Vacation. Think Rusty and Audrey in the back of the Family Truckster with their headphones on. Ah, the days of summer road trips in the family station wagon. Don't even try to tell me that today’s minivans have the same panache as station wagons. Station wagons were tanks without the rotating cannon. Only in America can the everyman own some guns and a wood paneled tank. Hmmm, I seem to recall a James Garner and C Thomas Howell movie with a similar plotline except there was an actual tank involved.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088224/



Anyway, this little write-up is to recap on my recent visit to a sports bar in SE Portland in Ladd's addition called "Blitz in the Ladd". The Ladd's area is inner SE Portland near the Hawthorne/Division area. It was a Saturday afternoon and the troops were restless. The gang had a few, collective objectives:

- Find a decent place to watch an NBA Playoff Game without subjecting the non-sportsfan friends to the torture of 3 hours of basketball. In other words, find a place where a TV wasn't the sole diversion.

- Find a bar in the SE that doesn't terribly suck. I love SE Portland and it's great in so many ways. However, the bar options always seem limited.

Pretty meager requirements for that warm fuzzy feeling that accompanies good times with good friends on Memorial Day Weekend. No "rain camping" for this kid.

Initial impressions upon walking in the front door:

1. This place is pretty big and spacious.

2. There is a giant bar and they serve liquor (if that is your thing). I like the option.

3. There’s a lot of natural light if you are there prior to nightfall. I like light. To be fair in assessing this establishment, I think my review needs to be broken into two summaries: Blitz as a dining establishment and as a bar.

Let’s start with the positive. The Blitz is a pretty dang good bar.


Upside (Bar):

1. They have the following games: foosball, pool, two long shuffleboard tables (free), ping-pong tables and steel point darts.



Note: If you want to play ping pong, you better bring your A game. There are some hardcore pongers in the house that appear to spend all day there.

2. They have many nice big screen HD TVs. This would be a great place to watch a Blazer game.

3. The clientele seemed closer to my age which is nice. I feel a little out of sorts hanging with 21 year olds at the bar.

4. It seemed like a neighborhood bar. People were actually friendly and social; can be hard to find in Portland at times.

5. I think that they have about 10+ beers on tap.

6. They have at least 10 nice, new leather couches for relaxing.

7. Overall, I think they did a really nice job of filling a large space to make it feel comfortable and cozy.

8. They have a big garage door that they will open when the weather is nice. I like that touch as well.

9. We were able to hop on the shuffleboard without waiting more than a few minutes. Pretty remarkable for 8pm on a Saturday night (and the bar was pretty well populated).

10. They had really good service.



Downside (Dining Establishment):

1. The food was either bad or bland.

2. We got some fries and onion rings as appetizers and they were fine but the portions were pretty ridiculous. I would equate the amount of fries similar to a Biggie Fry from Wendys same with the Onion Ring portion size.

3. After a couple more hours, we ordered some main courses.

a. I ordered a fresh made pizza with pepperoni and jalapenos. It’s hard to make a pizza with these ingredients bland but they did it.

b. My friend got a Margareta pizza and same thing. It was so bland, she ate 2 small slices and called it quits.

c. My other two buddies got burgers based on our server’s recommendation. The burgers looked weak and got poor reviews from my friends. I’ll actually quote one of them for your reference, “The burger was horrible. Low part of the night. How can you mess up a burger?”

4. I noticed on the menu that they had asparagus on the menu for like $2 or $3 bucks. I saw someone ordered it and it looked good. I think it’s impossible to mess up asparagus so I will probably seek that out next time; if I’m in need of nourishment. How can they mess that up?

In summary, a great bar to hit up with your friends. Especially if you want to watch some sports and even if you don’t want to watch sports. I would grab something to eat before you get there. I love bar food and am pretty forgiving because I expect less from a bar kitchen. I think they should probably fire their kitchen manager or order their food from a different supplier. For a space that big, they have the opportunity to sell a lot of food; I can’t believe that they haven’t noticed how poor their food product is. If this place comes up with one signature dish, they could really make some bank.

I believe they also have a Blitz in the Pearl in NW Portland. I have not visited that site nor do I know anything about that place as a bar or dining establishment. The Blitz in the Ladd is hands-down the best sports bar in SE Portland (far better than Grand Central, Claudias, Bucket Brigade, etc).

Upon finishing my review, I decided to read some of the reviews on Yelp. There are a lot of negative comments regarding the poor service and other factors. I would like to make the disclaimer that I have only visited Blitz one time but all 4 of us had a grand time. Outside of the food, they nailed it and I’m looking forward to returning in the near future. I hope that my next visits are as satisfying as my first visit. All and all, it’s a safe place to test drive at least once if you are looking for a sports bar in the inner SE.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/blitz-ladd-portland

Note: This was my second review and preceded my blog. As a result, I only have two pictures that don’t really capture much. Future pics will be far more telling than these inclusions.

Whiskey Soda Lounge- A Restaurant Review

Sounds like a bar, right? Well, it is technically but I would imagine that 99% of the folks here are coming for the food (or their nearby sister restaurant: Pok Pok). What kind of food are we talking about? I guess I would classify it as gourmet Thai street food. The proprietor of this establishment has been in the spotlight for the last few years with his restaurant, Pok Pok, which is just across the street. Pok Pok is a little different in that it’s not a traditional sit down restaurant but more like an open air street food vendor with a covered shelter for diners to be protected from the elements (from what I have visually gathered by driving by it frequently). I have never been to Pok Pok due to the massive crowds that are always present. My recent visit to the WSL allowed me to sample the signature dishes from Pok Pok while enjoying no waiting period and a sunny Friday evening in Portland. Normally, I prefer to eat inside but we ate outside as the weather was too nice; especially after 16 straight days of rain.

Let’s proceed with the dining and drinking experience. Since we were at a place called, “Whiskey Soda Lounge”, it was only natural that I started with a house specialty cocktail. I ordered the Tamarind Whiskey Sour which contained: tamarind, lime juice, palm sugar and bourbon on the rocks. It was yummy and significantly sour; the presentation was nice as you can see for yourself.

Upon successfully finishing my first cocktail, I opted to switch over to Singha beer which proved well timed with the heat from the food that we ordered. Let me just start out by saying that I really enjoy typical thai food and I eat it once a week or so. This dining experience was completely different from my usual Thai food experience. I would classify each of the following dishes as appetizers, tapas or whatever you want to call them. The descriptions are taken from the menu.

1. Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings: Fresh natural chicken wings marinated in fish sauce, garlic and sugar, deep fried, tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic and served with Vietnamese table salad. Our daytime grill cook Ich Truong’s recipe from his home in Vietnam.

Review: A Portland cabbie recently hyped these wings as the best in town. He even went so far as to brush off my favorite wing joint. To be fair, these wings and the other aforementioned, buffalo-style wings are prepared completely different. They looked really hot but weren’t that bad. My friend mentioned that he thought they tasted a little gamey. I think I have to agree. I thought the preparation was very good but the quality of the chicken itself could have been better. There wasn’t any sauce on the actual wings; it was more like the chicken had the “perfect skin”. In other words, the exterior of the wings were dry. I would be interested to try these wings again in the future to see if the chicken quality was a fluke. Perhaps a Saturday visit would be best to let them go through the week’s back inventory with Friday’s heavy traffic.

They looked divine and were tasty (just not transcendent).

Note: I'd like to take this moment to give shout outs to two of my favorite dogs: Ike and Chewy. Both of their names appear in this posting.

2. Miang Kham: Chiles, ginger, peanuts, dried shrimp, lime, shallot and coconut with betel leaf wrappers and ginger sauce.

Review: My favorite of the dishes that we ordered. Leaf tacos (that’s what I call them dangit!); who would have thunk it. The leaves tasted great. The texture combination was fantastic. The leaf was soft, the peanuts and dried shrimp crunchy, chiles were hot and everything worked wonderfully together. On the surface, I would have thought this would have been my least favorite dish in contrast to the “touted” wings and various beef dishes. I guess you just never know. We ordered a second instance of these leaf tacos.

3. Neua Sawan: Deep fried marinated dried beef with lime leaves. Served with a spicy sauce.

Review: This was pretty good. It tasted like warm, thick, soft beef

jerky. A lot of flavor with a significant sodium kick that I imagine came from some type of soy marinade. The dipping sauce was tasty; it was spicy chile oil. I enjoyed this in round 1 and we went for a follow-up 2^nd order which was a bit over the top for me. The waitress asked us if we wanted to order any rice out of the gates and I thought it was a foolish question. In retrospect, it would have been nice to have some blander food to cleanse the pallet during the course of our pseudo-appetizer meal. I was also thinking that some pickled ginger would have been welcome to refresh the old taste buds.

4. Jin Tup Roht Dii: Slow grilled beef seasoned with a little bit of salt and MSG, pounded with a sledge hammer and served with naam phril kha, a chile-galangal dipping sauce.

Review: This sounds great on paper. However, I thought it was chewy, tough 5 day old brisket that had been slightly warmed up. As I said before, I was shocked that I enjoyed the leaf shrimp tacos the most. I think that this dish was probably executed to perfection and just didn’t jive with my taste buds.

Summary: For the dining experience as a whole, it was fun and I would do it again. They had a great, attentive staff that took excellent care of us. They were professional, focused and paid great attention to detail. That being said, two of us chalked up a $90 tab (pre-gratuity) in about 80 minutes. I think I can safely say that I enjoyed the experience more than the food (based on the overall value). It was fun to have something out of the ordinary but I’m not sure how anxious I would be to hit the WSL up again in the near future. I’m still interested to hit Pok Pok up at some point this summer; I understand that have some great ribs.

A few additional notes: This was a rather ambitious dining experience for my 2nd posting. One of the appealing factors of this blog was forcing myself to get out and try some places that have been on my "to do" list. I consider myself a foodie but also an everyman. I think you’ll find that my future dining experiences are a bit more standard with regard to the type of fare. Please disregard any minor formatting issues; I did my best to resolve them.

A few related links:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/whiskey-soda-lounge-portland

http://pokpokpdx.com

http://www.whiskeysodalounge.com/

My Favorite Gyro (but not really a Gyro)

Depending on your pronunciation of "gyro", you may have caught onto my "oh so clever" reference to a a Peter O'Toole film that bored the heck out of me when I was a kid. Yup, it was one of the films that the parents wanted to see at the movie theater and I suffered through every minute of it. Boy, did I suffer. You know when they pair Larry Appleton (Balki's roommate from Perfect Strangers) with the magnificent Peter O'Toole, hilarity should ensue but it didn't (at least not for 9 year old Matt). I still have a gut hunch that I would hate that film today but you just don't know until you revisit things at a later time. If this is somewhat ringing a bell and you want to suffer a horrific flashback, you can read the film summary here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084370/

Moving onto the reason why I started this post. This thread is dedicated to an incredible "Gyro-like" sandwich that I had last week in downtown Portland. It was a Doner Kebab wrap aka "The German Gyro but better". The phrase "The German Gyro but better" is posted all over their menu. To make it even better, the name of the place is "doner kebab". That's like a gyro joint called GYRO or a pizza place called PIZZA. Regardless, when you are the only one in town, I guess you have the flexibility to be straight forward.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/doner-kebab-portland

Doner Kebab (it's 5th and SW Washington); next to the old greek cusina. They are open Monday through late Saturday Night.

Recapping my dining experience...

I got the spicy doner wrap and it blew my mind/confirmed my faith in a higher power. I ordered the spicy rendition as I dig spicy/hot food. The spicy kick was not overwhelming but very noticeable. It was actually perfect for my taste. I gotta say that the sandwich/wrap was in the top 3 sandwiches of the past 365 days for myself.

A few other things of relevant note:

• I ordered it with extra meat (why not? It was only an additional $2) and instead of putting the meat on the sandwich, they brought out a small bowl of meat shavings with a side of their spicy, yogurt sauce. This gesture really allowed me to appreciate the taste of their magical meat with the utmost clarity without having to weigh in the wrap, lettuce, feta, etc.
• I'm not generally a big sauce guy as I hate mayo and the like. I gotta say that the yogurt sauce was great. The sauce was the vehicle for the heat, as in spiciness.
• The fries were a bit odd. They weren't bad but they didn't knock my socks off. Bottom line is the place is called DONER KEBAB and not UNIQUE FRIES. I would get the fries in a heartbeat though.
• I think next time, I may skip the fries and go for their Mediterranean salad as I absolutely adore the horiatiki genre of salad.
• The restaurant is run by authentic Germans. Can you beat that? They were extremely nice to talk to and the service was great. It's rare that I can say that when discussing Portland restaurants. Don't be surprised if you hear the clientele talking in German; kinda cool.
• The interior decor is definitely not traditional Portland but I like it's uniqueness.
• If I worked downtown, I would eat at this place at least once a week.
• The biggest shocker of my experience was that the doner kebab meat was turkey. I would have thought that it was lamb or beef. On a side note, Doner Kebab can be any kind of meat; this establishment happens to serve their doner kebabs from the turkey realm.
• They are open until 4am I believe on Friday and Saturday night for the post-bar rush.
• Oh yeah, my favorite gyros of all time are from the Latin Quarter in Paris. With that being said, this isn't a gyro and this is Portland.
  
• I think my doner kebab wrap, extra meat, fry and dr. pepper came out to $12.00 (sans tip). A very fair deal for the quality of food, excellent service, clean environment and overall dining experience.
  

You heard it here first, I'm raving over a turkey sandwich wrap with yogurt sauce. I never, in a million years, thought that I would be saying such a thing. This place gets a 10 out of 10. It's such a no-brainer that I figured I would use this awesome dining establishment as my first food review for my new blog.

Stay Classy Doner Kebab,
Chief