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.

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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.

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.