AoM: Places to Eat and Drink: April 2017

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Zubuchon

Lechon Flakes

20170420:
The lechon flakes had a nice flavor, but were too crunchy compared to pork floss; I'd rather eat pork floss.

The lechon paksiw tasted good.

Lechon Paksiw

[20170726 Edit]

Zubuchon

Relevant Links:
Zubuchon Website (As of 20170726: "Roasting Soon.")
Zubuchon (Facebook Page)
Zubuchon (TripAdvisor.com)

Saturday, April 15, 2017

20170415:
I was eating the lentil soup and started feeling sick. Oops, I didn't remember that lentils were one of the legumes I should avoid. Ada nicely went to Walgreens down the street and got some antihistamine for me.

Biryani

My medium (spice level) biryani* was not bad.

Menu Description:
X Biryani X cooked in basmati rice with a mix of special herbs and spices. Served with lentil soup and raita. 14.95 to 15.95

The sauce in Ada's fish vindaloo dish had a unique sour taste. I liked how the salmon was soft.

Fish Vindaloo

Menu Description:
Fish Vindaloo Salmon fish fillets cooked in a tomato and onion based specially prepared vindaloo sauce and herbs. 14.95

*My notes didn't indicate which protein I chose and the picture doesn't seem to indicate either.

[20170726 Edit]

Taste of the Himalayas

Relevant Links:
Taste of the Himalayas Website
Taste of the Himalayas - Berkeley, CA (Yelp.com)

Friday, April 14, 2017

Sushiritto

20170414:
I came to Sushiritto for the first time today and I got the Satori.* I liked the spiciness of the wasabi.

Menu Description:
Satori Hiramasa Yellowtail, Cucumber, Pickled Red Onion, Sweet Corn, Ginger Guac, Red Tobiko | Wasabi Mayo

Overall, my order had a nice flavor. It also, as far as I could tell, used good quality fish. 3:57PM PT

*My notes indicate "Sasuri" but there is no "Sasuri" on the menu and "Satori" is the closest match among the menu items - even though the wrong letters are quite far apart ("s"/"t" and "u"/"o").

[20170726 Edit]

Sushiritto

Relevant Links:
Sushiritto Website
Sushiritto - Financial District, San Francisco, CA (Yelp.com)

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza & Grill

20170411:
The lobster bisque had a creamy taste; it's hot.

Lobster Bisque

Menu Description:
Lobster Bisque Fresh herbs, cream, sherry in a rich stock 7.75

Menu Description:
Mini Duck Tacos Feta, tomato, napa cabbage, tomato-cilantro cream 11.75

Duck Tacos

The Brussels sprouts tasted solid. They were neither bitter nor overly sugary. The sauce used was balsamic vinegar.

Menu Description:
Crisp Brussels Sprouts Romano, walnuts, balsamic glaze 8.50

Brussels Sprouts

The mini Kobe beef hamburgers with gorgonzola were also delicious; I was, however, expecting them to be amazing - unfortunately they weren't. 2:57PM PT

Menu Description:
*Mini Kobe Beef Hamburgers Chipotle Aioli 12.5 | Add Gorgonzola or aged cheddar +1

Mini Kobe Beef Hamburgers with Gorgonzola

*Eating undercooked meat/seafood may increase risk of food borne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions.

[20170726 Edit]

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza & Grill

Relevant Links:
Sammy's Woodfired Pizza & Grill Website
Sammy's Woodfired Pizza & Grill - Mission Valley - Mission Valley, San Diego, CA (Yelp.com)

Monday, April 3, 2017

Thai Bloom!

20170403:
After a long day of hiking, we returned to Portland and decided to eat here at Thai Bloom! We ordered from the Happy Hour menu.

Tom Yum Soup

Menu Description:
Tom Yum Soup Famous Thai spicy soup with mushrooms, cherry tomato, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, green onion, fried shallots, and cilantro. $2.99

As of 20180103, I don't know what to make of this note: "Shouldn't eat more than one spoon of the Tom Yum Soup." My best guess, according to the ingredients, is that I immediately reacted to the lemongrass in it.

Drunken Noodle

Menu Description:
Drunken Noodles Stir-fried wide rice noodles with egg, garlic, tomato, bell pepper, onion, and sweet Thai basil. $6.99

The drunken noodles were not bad.

Shrimp and Veggie Tempura

Menu Description:
Shrimp and Veggie Tempura Shrimp and seasonal vegetables fried with a light peppered tempura $6.99

The tempura shrimp was mostly flour, this especially disappointed Ada. I liked the tempura string beans.

Fried Calamari

Menu Description:
Fried Calamari Tender calamari dusted with rice flour and lightly fried. Served with a tasty sweet and sour sauce. $5.99

I liked the fried calamari, but I couldn't use the sauce it came with so I used the sweet sauce that came with the shrimp and veggie tempura instead. Speaking of which, the tempura broccoli was delicious.

Orange Ribs

Menu Description:
Orange Ribs A trio of tangy, tender pork ribs braised in our toasty orange ginger sauce. $6.99

The rib was cooked to the extent that the meat was soft and came right off the bone. It tasted decent.

Beef Salad

Menu Description:
Beef Salad Tender flat iron steak with cucumber, tomato, onion, complimented by our sour-lime dressing. $5.99

While I enjoy bo luc lac (Vietnamese shaking beef) more, this beef salad was the next best beef salad dish.

Dancing Shrimp

Menu Description:
Dancing Shrimp Thai version of shrimp cocktail with Thai chili, fresh garlic, and lime. $5.99

The dancing shrimp used a sauce based on fish sauce. It was good.

That's a lot of food.

Going back to the fried calamari, the calamari was flavorless, which Ada said she had already observed earlier. 6:17PM PT

[20170728 Edit][20180103 Edit]

Thai Bloom!

Relevant Links:
Thai Bloom Restaurant, NW Portland, OR (Thai Bloom! Website)
Thai Bloom! - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

Chicken Salad

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Riyadh's Lebanese Restaurant

20170402:
After eating some donuts, Ada and I were ready for dinner. We decided to eat at Riyadh's Lebanese Restaurant.

Lamb (?) over Basmati Rice

Menu Description:
lamb over basmati rice sliced, seasoned and grilled lamb and vegetables served over basmati rice. $9.50

After the salad, the first dish I tried was the lamb. It tasted good.

Falafels

When the falafels arrived, I had some doubt about eating them. I recall being unable to eat falafels from past experience. Thankfully I was right. Falafels contain garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, which are extremely displeasing to my palate (as most legumes are).

Kafta

Menu Description:
charboiled kabobs > kafta kabob mezza charboiled kafta (kafta is made of ground beef with minced parsley, onions, cilantro and special spices) patty served with hummus, baba ghanooj, tabbouli, falafels, pocket bread, and tahini sauce. $9.50

In any case, I liked the kafta.

Chicken Skewers

Menu Description:
side orders > chicken kabob skewers $3.50

The chicken was also good, but charred in some places, and I'm not a fan of overly charred food.

Hummus & Baba Ghanooj & Tabbouli

The kafta had some good spices, but I was close to full, and we got the leftovers to go.

Pocket Pita Bread

[20180103 Edit]

Riyadh's Lebanese Restaurant

Salad

Relevant Links:
Riyadh's Lebanese Restaurant - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

Voodoo Doughnut

20170402:
The bacon donut was good, but the bacon was cold and crisp, so it didn't add to the experience. I would prefer cooking a thick slice of bacon to freshly eat with donut. The donut was sweet.

A box of Voodoo donuts. Items listed from left to right.
Top Row: Bacon Maple Bar, Triple Chocolate Penetration, Viscous Hibiscus.
Center Row: Mango Tango, Sprinkle Cake (?).
Bottom Row: Viscous Hibiscus, Marshall Mathers, Voodoo Doll, Bacon Maple Bar.

Online Menu Description:
Bacon Maple Bar Raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting and bacon on top.

The second piece of donut I tried was the hibiscus. It had a sour flavor. It was delicious.

Voodoo Doughnut Box

Online Menu Description:
Viscous Hibiscus Raised yeast doughnut dipped in hibiscus flavored frosting and black sprinkles.

Third, I tried the M&M's donut. It was disgusting. Ada's said she detected nutmeg, but I couldn't tell. 7:54PM PT

Grape Ape (top), Glazed (right), Portland Cream (bottom)

Online Menu Description:
Marshall Mathers Plain cake doughnut with vanilla frosting and mini M&M's(R)

[20180103 Edit]

Voodoo Doughnut

Voodoo Doughnut Box

Relevant Links:
Voodoo Doughnut Website
Voodoo Doughnut (Wikipedia.org)
Voodoo Doughnut (Facebook Page)
Voodoo Doughnut - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

Online Menu Description:
Voodoo Doll Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake (characteristics of Voodoo Dolls are all different).

Salt & Straw

20170402:
Ada and I decided to come to Salt & Straw and wait in its long line.

When we finally reached the front, we sampled several of the flavors.

1) Pear & Blue Cheese. This tasted mostly like pear. The blue cheese was not apparent. It was delicious.

Salt & Straw - double scoop in a waffle cone (mine)

2) Ramen Ice Cream Flavor. This flavor tasted weird when the saltiness hit.

3) Arbequina Olive Oil tasted exactly like olive oil.

4) Petunia's Cookies & Cream with Raspberry Swirl had coconut and so it tasted different. Ada's didn't like it. I found it strange.

5) Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache was delicious. Caramel taste. Chocolate has a salty taste

6) Coava Coffee & Cocanu Craque tasted like coffee ice cream.

Salt & Straw - ice cream in a cup and waffle cone on the side (Ada's)

7) 180 Xurro and Xocolata tasted awesome; I especially enjoyed the chocolate chunks.

8) Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper mostly tasted like strawberry. I detect a hint of balsamic. I did not, however, detect any hints of pepper.

9) Honey Lavender tasted like lavender (as in tea). Ada thought it was good. 5:28PM PT

Remark: I don't remember where the samples end and where my final chosen flavors begin.

[20180102 Edit]

Salt & Straw

Relevant Links:
Salt & Straw Website
Salt & Straw - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

Tasty n Sons

20170402:
We ordered the Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit with fried chicken and the Burmese Red Pork Stew.

Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit

Menu Description:
Boards > Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit select: fried chicken. house cured bacon. house sausage 10

The Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit was delicious. Ada said it was good. I liked the softness of the biscuit with the chicken. We both used Louisiana's pure hot sauce.

Burmese Red Pork Stew

Menu Description:
Bigger > Burmese Red Pork Stew short grain rice, eggs two ways* 14

The pork was sweet and not a stew. The dish was essentially braised pork with a fresh fried egg on top. It was sweet, though not overly sweet, and there was occasionally a nice caramelized layer. I loved it.

Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit - cross section

[20180102 Edit]

Tasty n Sons

Burmese Red Pork Stew - a look under the egg

Relevant Links:
Tasty n Sons Website
Tasty n Sons - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

Saturday, April 1, 2017

SHO Japanese Restaurant

20170401:
Ada and I ended our day at a Japanese restaurant near our hotel.

Habanero

Menu Description:
Roll Sushi > Habanero (yellowtail & habanero tobiko) 8

The habanero tobiko was tasty.

Jidori Chicken Breast Katsu Curry

Menu Description:
Gohan > Jidori Chicken Breast Katsu Curry fresh panko breaded deep fried chicken 12

The chicken katsu curry was not bad. Perhaps a compliment taking into consideration that I'm not a fan of katsu curry.

Snake River Farms Kobe Flat Iron Steak

Menu Description:
Snake River Farms Kobe Flat Iron Steak w/garlic miso or oroshi ponzu steak sauce16

I ordered the Snake River Farms Kobe Flat Iron Steak medium rare with oroshi ponzu steak sauce. It was a tasty steak, but it was not as good as the average steak. The sauce was the winner here. If it weren't for the sauce, the steak would just be the same as any regular medium rare steak.

Hamachi

As I have more chicken katsu curry, I note that I don't have an allergic reaction to the katsu curry.

Finally, I ordered hamachi. The hamachi had a wonderful texture. It was a great finish to my dinner. As a fish, it was denser than salmon, was firm, and had a rough texture.

[20180102 Edit]

SHO Japanese Restaurant

Relevant Links:
SHO Japanese Restaurant Website
SHO Japanese Restaurant - Portland, OR (Yelp.com)

PDX Empanadas

20170401:
After eating at Dona Lolas, Ada and I had some room for more food and ordered two empanadas from PDX Empanadas: #1 and #5.

Chicken Empanada

I noted that the chicken empanada had a beer taste. (On 20180102, while making this post, I realized the menu description explicitly lists beer as an ingredient!)

Menu Description:
Savory > #5 Chicken (thighs) onions - sweet peppers - beer $4.50

Pork Empanada

I dropped my pork empanada twice.

Menu Description:
Savory > #1 Pork (shoulder) dried cranberries - plums - tomatoes - herbs - s. peppers $4.50

[20180102 Edit]

PDX Empanadas