Postcard from Portland, Version Brunch

I know my postcards are usually all in one, but we ate a particularly incredible amount of noteworthy food in the Rose City.  This was our first visit to the Pacific Northwest, and we thank our cousins A&S for being awesome, having a delish baby and cuddly dog, and moving to Portland, OR. 

Today I bring you Brunch.

First up: Simpatica.  The wise cousins wanted to go to Tasty n Sons, but the wait was forever.  Don't worry, we went later in the week.  Simpatica may have been a backup, but it was just what the doctor ordered after a long (but direct) flight.  Please see the exhibits:

The Logger: Chicken-fried bison with sausage gravy, eggs, and potatoes. J is so into the gravy lately.  See, e.g. Jake Moon Cafe and Rooster Cafe.

Short rib hash with ramps, radishes, beet greens, fingerling potatoes, spring onions, and eggies.  That's me, if you couldn't tell.

Smoked salmon strata with onions, kale, carrots, and the best Hollandaise any of us had ever tasted. 

Frittatta with asparagus, speck (smoked prosciutto), chiles, and pecorino romano.  We loved every bite of this brunch, and I would definitely recommend it.  Would I go back next time I'm in Portland? That's hard to say, because there's still so much we wanted to try but didn't get the chance.




We saw a clip on Unique Eats about the Waffle Window and knew it was a for sure stop for us.  They have endless combinations.  Dessert, breakfast, snack, whatever it is, you can find it at the Window.  We ordered, waited, and sat outside in a sort of parking lot picnic area.  The day was impossibly sunny, and we were psyched.

J went sweet---bananas, whipped cream, chocolate sauce.  I went savory--brie, bacon and basil.  WW is a great place for a snack - you could have a bowl of cereal at 9, go to WW at 10:30, and have lunch at 12 without a problem.  It's delicious, affordable, and the variety is super fun.

Pine State Biscuits was on DDD at some point, but we saw it on Unique Eats. Three southern dudes move to Portland and opened a place where you can get it all...on a biscuit.

Sweet tea in a mason jar.  Squeeze that lemon, J-love.

Fried chicken, cheese, egg, on a biscuit.

The Reggie: Fried chicken, cheese, bacon, gravy. (That's J.)

There is nothing not to like about Pine State Biscuits.  Go for a $4 egg and cheese up, or the $8 Wedgie: fried chicken, fried green tomato, iceberg lettuce, and blue cheese.  Get a southern side blackeyed peas, hushpuppies, or collard greens.  The service is friendly, the place is tiny (but adorable), and you should definitely stop there if you get the chance. 

Remember Tasty n Sons from our first day in Portland?  Really long wait (it was Sunday, after all), followed by Simpatica saving the day? Well we couldn't leave it at that.  We had to go.  The day was Thursday, the wait was none, but somehow there were still a lot of people in that restaurant for a weekday.

It's important to get to know your chocolate potato doughnut.  Cut it open.  Savor it.  Share it with your best friend, because there's a lot more to come.

For example, see the below:  Glazed yams, lil' chicken hash, biscuit and eggs...

 

We really liked everything we had at Tasty's.  We had a really hard time narrowing down the menu, so I suggest you go with a group of 3+ to try more stuff.  They have small plates and larger plates, and I pretty much wanted to try all of it.  We sat at a bar-like area and could see the kitchen prepping.  The ingredients were fresh and delicious, and that's what made the food so great.  Please don't leave here without eating the glazed yams.  They were the last thing we lobbed onto our order, and they were my faaaaavorite.

That's it for brunch in Portland.  I hope my memory doesn't dissolve before I get to the other meals...

Have a great week!

Last Midwestern Postcard (For Now)

I don't usually stretch our trips into a zillion posts, but we just ate too many damn photogenic dishes to squeeze them all in.  And I have to tell you about one of the best breakfasts I have had in a very long time.

When I eat somewhere that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere (sorry, places I'm talking about) and it is amazing and I want to hitch it to my rental car and bring it wherever I go next, I'm always surprised.  Whether it's a cafe outside Zion National Park, or, in this case, a place called Cafe Berlin in Columbia, Missouri.  Columbia, home of Mizzou, is basically smack in between St. Louis and Kansas City.  Also known as: the PERFECT place to have breakfast before getting back to STL for our flight.

It doesn't look like too much from the outside--little strip mall, parking lot, interesting color choice, and...er...the font.

Inside it's all earthy and crunchy, complete with all kinds of characters (including us). It has charm (local art, and it's a venue for local entertainment), wit (after the beer list is a listing for a "suicide," aka a lil' of each, which you can order), but most importantly, the food is delicious.  DELICIOUS.

Once again, for the third time in the state of Missouri, I read the words "Breakfast All Day."  Those sweet (yet savory) words. 

I managed to claw myself away from over easy eggs on this day.  I pretty much wanted everything on this menu, but I decided on the Carey Burrito--scrambled eggs, feta, roasted potatoes, cilantro, and apples served with tzatziki.  Sweet, salty, crunchy, hot, cold, omg I can't deal. 

Look at the browning on those potatoes! 

  J also went burrito--he had the straight up Breakfast Burrito with eggs, cheddar, sausage, potatoes, and guac for an extra buck because he's wild like that. 

I'm not sure when you'll be in the middle of Missouri next.  But if you're 17 and applying to schools, this may be a good enough reason to apply to Mizzou. (The admissions office hasn't paid me.)

Fewer Words Friday

I want to wish you a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. In most parts of the east coast it looks like it'll be gooorgeous.  Beach! Beach! Beach!

Today I bring you photos of a brunch from the past that escaped publication.  In short: I liked it, I'd go back, I'd recommend it.  Look at that popover (with strawberry butter).

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Blurry CBH with scrambled eggs.  L was obviously my dining companion.  Not quite Good Enough to Eat, but a solid, adorable brunch. 

Jake Moon Cafe

I've mentioned Jake Moon before--and Sean was all, What's Up With That?  TJP suggested it back in my Miss Albany post, and J and I realized it's really not that far, and is on the way to Thacher Park. 

On a beautiful morning we first gave out water halfway through the Delmar Dash, then we ran our own little Albany Dash before washing up for brunch with D.  When people from DC or NJ ask me what living in Albany is like, after I tell them how my rent payments were slashed (HAPPY FACE) and how little traffic there is (GIGANTIC SMILE), I always tell them how it gets rural fast.  I leave Albany on Delaware Ave, I'm in Delmar in bebeh suburbia, then bam.  Hills, views of mountains, open fields, horses, a goat staring at me on the side of the road, you name it.

Jake Moon serves breakfast all day.  You know how I feel about that. They also have lunch, dinner, catering, and by the by, if you yak on to the waitress about how much you love the apply butter, she'll happily jar some up for you for less than $5.

First up is local cider.  I didn't ask whether it would be hot or cold, because I didn't care. I wanted it either way!  It was hot, served with a cinnamon stick.  Delicious.

I had the Red Flannel Hash - sirloin beef, roasted beets, corn, onions, potato, poached eggs, and sourdough toast.  My dining companions commented that it almost looked like chunky-style chili!  It was very good, but I think next time I'll try the corned beef hash.  The sourdough bread rocks, but I sort of wanted half sourdough toast and half cinnamon raisin.

J had sausage gravy and biscuits with over easy eggs and potatoes--the SOS.  He was feeling happy and somewhat southern.

D had the Bennet Hill scramble, with smoked Gouda, wild mushrooms, and herbs.  She's such a sweet friend that she let me have a bite--let me tell you, this kitchen knows how to make an egg.  How many meh omelets have I had recently? (Hint: too many.)  The gouda was awesome; when a dish has real flavor, you know it's composed of quality ingredients. 
 The place is full of charm, friendly service, delicious food, and apple butter that you want to bathe in.  Or maybe just I want to bathe in the apple butter; I really shouldn't put stuff like that on you.

This is the orange marmalade, which, while more pleasing to the eye, is outdone in nom-ability by the apple butter.


We didn't have any 'zerts, but maybe next time we will, just to round out the experience. 

Jake Moon Cafe
2082 Delaware Turnpike
Clarksville, NY

Postcard from Montreal

36 Hours in Montreal?  I had more like 27 hours (not to be confused with 127 hours, also known as almost 32 days).  When my sister said she'd be at a big conference just 4 hours up the road, I jumped at the chance to share the weekend with her.  The ride up took just under 5 hours because I was quite delayed at the border.  The lines didn't look long, but it took forever.  I zoomed back (with no wait at the USA gate) in 4 hours with one short stop.  (And no tolls.  Can you believe that, everyone?)

I've heard tons about Montreal bagels (even in 1987, when I was really too young to be thinking about it).  But I just didn't have time to eat one on this trip.  I know we'll be back this summer, but if I can't wait until then, I may just need to go to Mile End in Brooklyn (a Montreal-style Jewish deli that imports the bagels and smokes the meat in-house). 

Naturally, after parking the car, my first stop was Schwartz's.  The long line outside scared me a little, but it turns out that's for the restaurant.  Anyone can walk in and order at a counter, then either take out or head to the back where there are some tables and stools.  I won't lie, it was hot in there.  Besides the obvious reason (hi, they are smoking meat all up in there), I think it was hot inside a lot of places in Montreal because it was the first warmer day in quite a while after a long, cold winter.  I had the smoked meat sandwich, $5.90.  I didn't make any specifications (I think someone behind me ordered "lean"), and it arrived with a little mustard on rye.  It was delicious, and it smelled like heaven.

By the time I arrived, Sister had already had French food several times, abysmal conference fare, and tapas. When we finally headed out to dinner we didn't feel like waiting too long for our dishes.  Yelp led us to some options for pollo a la brasa, often referred to as "Peruvian chicken" (although in Montreal one place explicitly said "Portuguese").  I remembered the drill from the good old days in Arlington at El Pollo Rico or Super Pollo, and I figured for a low price Sis and I would be chowing down on 1/4 or 1/2 a chicken and some sides.  That's exactly what happened.  We had super juicy tender chicken, potatoes, and decent slaw at Coco Rico. We tried Romado's first, but they close at 8pm--we arrived a little later, and they were actually out of chicken.  We grabbed some pastries from Presse Cafe on our way back to the hotel, which we served ourselves with tea from the lobby (because nearly every day of my life ends with a hot beverage).  The ginormo biscotti was dipped in delish white chocolate on one end and regular ol' chocolate on the other.  Sister happily guessed correctly that the danishy-twisty friend had apple in the middle.

 Is there anything like Diet Coke in a can?  So what if it'll kill me?  Not if something else does first.

 Sweet industrial decor.

Now on to the main event.  You and I both know what I was really looking forward to--brunch.  The fruit of the hen.  My favorite.

I read around on Yelp and elsewhere and decided we should go to Le Cartet.  We waited about 15 minutes, but we used that time wisely in their little shop.  You could definitely do some damage getting takeout and boxed/preserve treats for a picnic.  I stocked up on some made-in-Quebec treats for my best buddy back home, and obviously got a blueberry and chocolate spread that I finished alone in two short workweeks.

Lots of choices here for brunch--you could get anything from a pastry to an enormous plate with many things on it, and every option in between.  We opted for enormous plates with everything on them.  Sister had the Brunch de L'Atlantique: Eggs with smoked salmon (or lox, right Em?), half a bagel with all the typical accoutrements, greens, a little sweet potato and salmon cake, and fruit.  They weren't kidding about the salmon, I know.

I went for the Brunch de Sante: yogurt with granola and blueberries, poached eggs on greens, and grilled bread, cheddar sticks, and a fig.  And it came with coffee and juice, all for $15.  I highly recommend you go there and try it.  Illy coffee.  Luv.

Sigh, home sweet home.  For now.