Voodoo Doughnuts

We finally made our way to Voodoo Doughnut yesterday - it's a Portland staple, and a must-try when in the city. I'd seen them profiled on many different food programs, so was excited to finally get in line and sample the wares myself - despite the fact that I'm not a HUGE sugary-sweet eater. keith, on the other hand nearly pouted when I told him he could only get 2 doughnuts. :)

The vibe of the place is great, and the options are insane. keith - worried that he wouldn't be able to make a decision - looked up the menu on his iPhone before the line let us into the store. He wanted to be prepared. Yet when he saw the doughnut covered in Captain Crunch cereal, he nearly crumbled under the pressure of the decision!! We each got 2 doughnuts - a suitable lunch, right? With pink box in hand, we went out into the sunshine to enjoy.

My first pick was the Voodoo Doll - loved it! Let alone the quirkiness of the design, it's quite a tasty doughnut. And when you get down to the raspberry jam, you can't help but smile as you're devouring the little person.

I then moved on to the Bacon Maple Bar - this was the reason I wanted to come to Voodoo Doughnuts. Come on, bacon on a pastry? Sign me up!! It tasted like breakfast! And while I couldn't eat the whole thing, I still enjoyed it!

keith started with the Old Dirty Bastard - oreo cookies, peanut butter and chocolate frosting. I don't think it was sweet enough for him. :) Just watching him eat it made me cringe!

And then he moved on to the Portland Cream - a basic but delicious cream filled donut.

Seriously check them out if you're in town. And if you come visit us, we'll take you. It's worth the wait in line.

Facing My Shame

I nearly didn't mention this on the blog. But then decided it needed to be shared. 

I had a craving. Odd one since we never eat "fast food" from chains like this. Never!

But I had a craving. And a coupon. Drat. 

Craving + Hunger + Coupon = Burger King

Lord help me, I enjoyed it.

Be strong. Don't make a habit out of it. 

:)

When I was 17 I worked at a Burger King with Lori (the other half of The Wonder Twins). So every now and then that craving just hits and I can't ignore it. Although it usually only hits when we're making long road trips and it's also a very convenient thing to stop and eat.

Comfort Food, a Hike, and some Beer

This past Tuesday my new friend Kevin took me hiking up to the top of Saddle Mountain - it's an hour west of the city off Route 26. Kevin is an AVID hiker - an outdoorsman for sure. I'm a recovering city boy, so I had no idea what to expect. Luckily he had planned the day to start with a big, hearty breakfast at Camp 18 - a rustic and stunning restaurant full of gorgeous wood & wood sculptures as well as huge plates of warm and delicious food. And naturally, I got a few photos from the inside of the restaurant but neglected to take a photo of the massive pile of biscuits and gravy that was delivered to my table. Kevin managed to put away most of three insanely huge blueberry pancakes and a plate of potatoes.

Fueled and ready to go, we made our way to the Saddle Mountain. Heck of a hike - and well worth it for the views. You get to the summit and you have a full 360 degree view - ocean to the west, and forest all around. And after a great hike there was only one thing left to do - get some beer.

Kevin took me to Lucky Labrador for a few pints. Great brewery with a lively back patio (dogs welcome...of course). I started with the Hellasourus Rex - a lighter German-style lager, and then moved on to the ESP. I got home and keith had ordered pizza for dinner - all in all a great day!

Beaverton Farmer's Market

So we finally made it to the Beaverton Farmer's Market this past Saturday. And can I just say - impressive!! There are well over 100 vendors and they are local selling everything from produce, fresh meats, fresh seafood, honey and flowers to homemade jellies, chocolates, kettle corn and artwork. Quite a spread, and wonderfully exciting to walk through. And now that I have my bearings I'm more prepared for next week. I only bought a handful of things, but seriously could have gone wild. And they have a Folk Music Society so there is constantly live music. Lots of fun, and I can see us taking advantage of this market every weekend for as long as it continues this summer. Here are a few things I picked up on Saturday at the market:

Gorgeous & Juicy Donut Peaches

Kettle Corn for Keith

Lemon Cukes - just because I've never had them

Called Lemon Cukes because they look like lemons. They taste just like any other cucumber, maybe a little milder. And the skin is still bitter!

From the BBQ Pork stand - Pulled Pork Biscuits & Gravy - looks horrible, tasted amazing!

Popeye's Fried Chicken

Last Friday we got drove out to the Columbia Gorge for some hiking. Bear in mind the only hiking we've done in YEARS has been from one subway platform to another. But lo and behold, we managed 10 miles. Still - we've walked the island of Manhattan a number of times and that's more than 10 miles. BUT we really didn't think about how 1/2 of the hike was vertical going up, the other vertical going down. Exhausting, and gorgeous views of the gorge.

And by the time we were headed home there was no way I was going to throw myself into the kitchen to prepare anything. So we made a stop and picked up some Popeye's Fried Chicken. I know, fast food. But it's spicy, crispy and delicious. Something tells me I don't want to have it more than once a year, but still we enjoyed it!

And here are a few pics from our hike, just to share. We hiked up to Angel's Rest on the Columbia River Gorge - and then up to Devil's Rest and back down to our car. Whew!

Steak Frites at Lucien

There are things I will miss about NYC. Namely, some of my favorite restaurants - more specifically, some of my favorite dishes at my favorite restaurants. Yesterday evening I went through all 1400 photos on my iPhone with keith and I was amazed at how many of them were of food (okay, not amazed...entertained). One specific dish kept popping up: Steak Frites at Lucien in the East Village. I worked about 2 blocks from this restaurant, and from the moment I found it, it became one of my favorite spots for lunch. Over the years we lived in NYC I took most everyone that visited us to Lucien for dinner. It's a quintessential New York restaurant - small, inviting, loud when it's busy. The dishes are glorious examples of great French cooking, including rabbit in mustard sauce, huge sardines on toast, and much more. Yet I always found myself going back to the Steak Frites. Sure, the steak was always cooked perfectly, and yes the french fries were crunchy, salty & delicious...but the star of the plate is the pepper sauce. I could drink it. I could rub it all over my body and have my husband lick it off. Seriously, it's amazing. I've tried and tried to make the exact version at home, but I can never get it just right. I shall endeavor, and one day I'll get it right.

Until then, as an homage to the restaurant and the man, Lucien, here are the photos of Steak Frites from my iPhone over the years. And if you're in NYC, stop in. Especially during lunch when the restaurant is quieter, they have leftover specials from the night before, and Lucien is likely holding court. Introduce yourself, ask how his family is, and he'll probably send over a glass of wine to your table.

Runner ups for the most photographed dish on my iPhone: Momofuku Ramen at Momofuku; Roasted Pork Buns at Momofuku; Dim Sum at Dim Sum Go-Go; and dishes at Prune.

What I've been eating while staying in hotels...and the reason I need a kitchen. FAST!

Yes the food is delicious. But dear god I cannot wait until I have a kitchen. It's so hard to eat out 3 meals a day AND find healthy options. That being said, I love me some comfort food. :)

A lunch: as we were wandering around looking for furniture options, we decided to get a burger. We've seen Five Guys Burgers around and thought, hey - let's pop in there. Seriously good cheeseburger, my friends! They have a great philosophy of all fresh ingredients - they don't even have freezers. The meat is delivered every day, and the potatoes are in huge sacks in the dining area (and there's even a chalkboard to tell you where the potatoes from - not just the state, but the FARM). Great atmosphere and seriously good food. I ordered my burger & fries, and keith did the same. The lovely girl at the register said "are you sure you each want fries? They generally can serve 2 people." Now I don't like to be challenged - even when somewhere inside of me I know the person "challenging" me has more information and is likely just trying to help. Yet my immediate response was "no, I want my own." Glutton. :) So the food arrives (or rather the energetic guy behind the counter yells "Guest Number 18" over the noise and keith retrieved our food) - and when you're unsure about what protocol is proper in a new place, just look around. Everyone had pulled their hamburgers out from the brown paper sacks, and then ripped open the sack to devour the fries inside. I did the same. Delicious. Fattening. Delicious.

A dinner: we are staying in between no-where and no-place right now (best option for dog friendly hotels on a budget). We've driven past Buster's Texas Style Barbecue plenty of times in the last few days, so I thought we'd give it a try. Tonight is the big night - the last HARRY POTTER movie at midnight, so we needed something to fortify ourselves for the amazing, magical and heart-wrenching journey we're about to take (I know, I know...I can't help myself). The restaurant is set up cafeteria-style, which is actually a lot of fun. I got baby back ribs & chicken with mashed potatoes, bbq beans and a beer. Probably 4 days worth of calories in one meal. But yummy in my tummy indeed! There's a "fixin's" bar with all kinds of things you can add on (including making your own salad for free) - and there are tubs of their homemade bbq sauce. I opted for mild, keith went with sweet. Probably a combination of the two would have been even better. Very nice food - don't forget the wet-nap at the fixin's bar. And I can also definitely say one more thing - food service guys in Oregon are damn hot. :)

BJ's with friends & the first corn on the cob

As we continued our trek across this vast country, we made a stop in Denver. The plan was to visit Kate & Deb - who have lived in Denver for YEARS and we've yet to make it out there. So this was the perfect opportunity. The surprise was that we didn't tell Deb we were coming - and her reaction when we popped out in front of her door was fantastic! So what to do when we pop into Denver? Find some place to eat, of course.

Kate & Deb took us to Lala's for lunch and had some fantastic Italian deviled eggs, grilled artichokes and a really nice sliced steak salad (not pictured, unfortunately). The food was really nice, the wine was fantastic, and the company was perfection.

The next day we went into Boulder for some window shopping. We stopped in at a chain called BJ's for lunch (thus the title of this post). keith and I got a flight of 8 different beers - yummy! Kate's daughter, Beth, convinced me that getting one massive and massively stuffed baked potato was an ideal lunch. And it was. No pics of the food, but here are the fantastic gals we spent lunch with. The beer was ranged - based on taste. I'd go for the red again, or maybe even the stout. Delicious!

Kate & Deb

keith, Chris & Beth

Sunday night we had a cookout at Kate's house. Her husband George was grill-master, but took my advice about the corn on the cob he picked up early in the day: husk ON!! So we soaked them a bit in water, and then onto the top level of the grill for 30-40 minutes and the corn was perfect. It was my first of the season, and I couldn't stop congratulating George on a job well done. There's nothing that saps the flavor out of a great cob of corn like boiling it - which is what my family has always done! So if you don't have a grill, leave the husk on and pop the cobs into a 350 degree oven (on a baking sheet) for about 30 minutes. Peel back the husk and use as a handle, and the corn hair comes right off the top. The husk adds amazing flavor - don't neglect it! I hate it when I see people at the grocery store or farmers market husking their corn before taking it home. Such a waste!

Me after enjoying my first corn of the cob of the summer!

On a final note, we've made it to Portland. Tonight I couldn't resist and managed to cook something in the tiny hotel kitchen (chicken, walla walla sweet onions, red peppers, garlic, spinach, parmesan cheese, and farfalle pasta)!

Holly - Niche - St. Louis - cigars & scotch

The first leg of our journey west was nothing all that special (I'm talking food here - obviously seeing our families was a highlight!). And then we arrived in St. Louis, MO. Having emailed back and forth with Holly for months, we decided it was the ideal opportunity for us all to meet and for her to show off her city! Side note about Holly - we met because of the blogs. She and I have had some fantastic and lengthy email exchanges, and covered a ton of various topics. However it always comes back to food. So I knew she would take us somewhere amazing. She showed up at the hotel with gift bags (for ALL - including Max), filled with local goodies (and in true Holly fashion, the gift bags were specialized - mine was much more savory, keith's was deliciously sweet).

We started with a quick walk over to Union Station for some Grey Goose martinis (with olives, mine dirty) before heading to dinner. Holly had mentioned the restaurant Niche, and I was sold from her description. She had been wanting to give it a try, and this was a perfect opportunity to share our love of great food. The restaurant had a great feeling as soon as we walked in - the atmosphere was inviting and relaxed. After ooo-ing and aah-ing over the menu for a few minutes, we decided that - as a table - we could not resist the Chef's Tasting Menu.

First course: Maple Custard. The custard was gently piled into the bottom of an egg shell. There were delicious morsels of roasted mushrooms on top, and the entire thing was topped with a generous pile of bonito caviar. Fantastic explosions of flavor throughout this tiny little dish. From the salty pop of the caviar to the creamy sweetness of the custard - these were definitely flavors I would never have been brave enough to put together on my own. Which is why I love experiencing the creativity of an excellent chef.

Second course: Lobster. The lobster was cooked perfectly, and all of the components of the dish meshed fantastically. However I have to give total props to the brown butter hollandaise. It was creamy and delicious and gave you the butter flavor you wanted for the lobster as well as the creamy texture that complimented the dish as a whole.

Third course: Pig Head Fagottini. This was one of the dishes that made us really excited about the menu - I was sold when the waitress said it was actually pig jowl meat. YES - bring it on! And I should say at this point that Holly and I have some fun things in common - one of which is how vocal we are when we eat. Not necessarily talking - but non-verbal appreciation of the food we're enjoying. Lots of moaning and sighing. Amazing food is definitely orally orgasmic. :) Back to the pig jowl - unfortunately it was the weakest part of the meal. The strawberry juice was hard to find in the flavor of the dish, and the meat was certainly not the star. The big flavor of the dish was the pasta cups - and unfortunately pasta just isn't a strong enough flavor to carry a dish. Instead it just created a bit of a bland note. However by the third bite I was tasting more of the components, and perhaps that was the chef's plan.

Fourth course: Sorbet. The sorbet was lemon & basil and was one of the most fantastic things I've put in my mouth in a while. Cold, tangy, herbacious and amazingly fragrant. The basil flavor was wonderfully strong and delicious, and the sorbet did exactly what it was supposed to do - it cleansed our taste buds to prepare us for what was to come.

Fifth course: Beef. This was, in my opinion, the best course of the meal. The tenderloin was cooked perfectly, and the mixture of fava beans, peas and mint was outstanding. Yet the stand out had to be the ramp hollandaise - I could have licked the plate clean (and nearly did).

Sixth course: Rhubarb Napoleon. Perfect and light ending to a gorgeous meal. The rhubarb was as it should be - tart and not too sweet. And while we did not follow the wine suggestions for the menu (we started with a bottle of Illumination - Sauvignon Blanc, and ended with a delicious Chardonnay), I don't think we needed them. This was an outstanding meal, and we got to share it with one of the most fantastic people in all of St. Louis. But the evening didn't end there!

Holly had one more surprise up her sleeve - the address of a cigar bar. SWOON! We hopped in a taxi and shuttled off to Charles P. Stanley. We piled right into the cigar room - keith and I both took suggestions and bought some cigars, while Holly went for something that could be inhaled. :) And with cigars & torch in hand, I finished the package with a glass of Macallan 12 year old scotch. We sat and talked about everything from friends to kids to relationships to sex. An amazing evening in St. Louis, all thanks to the amazing Holly. Thank you for such a fantastic evening - I can't wait to show you around my food favorites in Portland!

Tin foil bag of meat

Before I talk about the amazing time we had in St. Louis with Holly, I have to show you the mysterious tin foil bag of meat that we received today. After walking around the Arch in St. Louis, and then driving all day in the heat (it got up to 106 today), we hit our hotel and decided to be lazy - and to order something in. The hotel highly recommended a local pizza place - The Big Cheese - so we gave it a try. I desperately needed something fresh so I ordered the chef salad. And along with the salad and the pizza, this sack of greasy meat arrived. I have no idea if it was supposed to be for the salad, or the pizza. But I couldn't bring myself to try it - instead I just snapped a photo and tossed it out. But I'm still curious - what is the bag of meat for, and how did it become something that the restaurant includes separately?  There must be a story there...

Red Lobster...come on, really?

My family wanted us all to get together at a premiere dining location in central Ohio - Red Lobster (in the middle of the failing strip of restaurants on Dublin-Granville Road). I don't know what to say - I always made fun of the tourists in Times Square who marveled at the Red Lobster shrieking "it's just like at home!" The best I can say is that the crab legs were actually quite good - and while it pains me to admit it, the ones at Whole Foods are previously frozen as well. So not much difference. But I avoided the salty butter sauce like the plague, knowing it would do unspeakable damage to my insides should it make it to my stomach. So while the shrimp was okay, if second rate, and the lobster was rubbery, I did enjoy the crab legs. Oh...and the vodka soda was just lovely. :)

Day two of our journey west...yet another chain restaurant. Heaven help us...see us out of Ohio quickly, please. :) Although day three is looking up, we're having Massey's pizza for dinner. And while that is in NO way good for me, it's damn delicious and something I look forward to every time I'm back in town!

Salt

We finished packing up our things early Monday morning in anticipation of the movers arriving around noon. It was a hectic day full of last minute issues - the local Time Warner location was closed, so I had to travel down to the UWS to turn in our DVR; our bank didn't allow the moving company to debit the full cost of our move until I approved it; the rental car was late; blah, blah, blah. So we finally headed out, leaving our apartment and New York City behind. After about an hour and a half we realized that we hadn't eaten much of anything during the day, and we had another 8 hours of travel ahead of us. So out of desperation, we pulled off somewhere in Pennsylvania, and the only place that looked promising enough for a meal was the restaurant chain Chili's (serious desperation here, folks).

I figured I could get SOMETHING fresh and delicious. Wow, was I wrong. The chips and queso (not my first choice) - chips were greasy and coated in salt. the Queso was not queso...in fact I don't think there was cheese in it at all. Instead it was a brown glob of hamburger meat and salt-riddled sauce. My chicken tacos arrived, and lo and behold the chicken was salty! But worse, the two side dishes (simple rice and beans) were so salty I couldn't even eat them.

So day 1 of our journey west consisted of salt, salt and more salt. When did this become a trend? Or has it been a trend and I just haven't noticed? I mean, for the last decade I've eaten organic and fresh and I've steered clear of restaurant chains (especially fast food chains), so maybe this is normal now. Do people think that salt = flavor? Why? And how can I convince them otherwise??

Momofuku

This past weekend I had two of my high school friends come in for a visit: Lori & Chrissy. As Lori put it, we spent the entire weekend walking and laughing. I think that truly sums up the weekend. :)

Lori arrived first on Thursday, and based on the number of times I've mentioned Momofuku restaurant to her, she decided that was her first destination in NYC. It's in the East Village, not too far from my office, so off we went.

There's something so wonderfully relaxing about a carafe of cold, unfiltered sake in the middle of a warm weekday. And from there, I insisted she try the roast pork buns - absolutely one of my favorite things to eat in this city. The fatty and delicious slow-cooked pork slab is heaven, and it is served on it's own little cloud - the steamed pork bun. Simply delicious.

And apparently the laughing and the sake got to me, because I forgot to snap a photo of my Momofuku Ramen (my absolute favorite - I think it's because of the poached egg on top of everything). At this point Momfuku is an East Village staple - and I highly recommend it. So does Lori.

A Tale of Two Frittatas

Matt invited us over Friday night for dinner.  This was the furthest into Queens either of us have ever traveled before.  Isn’t that funny?  The directions lead us on a 10 minute walk from the subway (turn left at the Bear with One Eye…if you reach the Burning Man you’ve gone too far), and we were greeted by the smell of a homemade frittata awaiting our arrival.  Hash browns, peppers, sausage & bacon – yep, delicious.  Followed by shortcake with fresh berries – and everything was lubricated with vodka Seabreezes.  Sigh…lovely Friday evening.  Thank you Matt!  And here’s the fluffy frittata before we carved it up.

But then on the way home, I couldn’t stop thinking about frittatas.  So the next morning as I was shopping at the farmers market in the rain, I concocted my own frittata in my head.  Yes, we had a frittata for dinner and then a frittata for breakfast.  So what.  J  But I was intrigued by the “hash brown encrusted” idea, so decided to take my own stab at it.  Turned out great – and it was fun to build this frittata.  I took a very different approach than Matt – I used my hash browns as a literal crust, giving the frittata a crunchy base.  Quite tasty – and I didn’t mind having back-to-back frittatas at all!!

Chris’ Hash-Brown Encrusted Frittata

2 large Russet potatoes

1 large sweet onion (1/2 for shredding, ½ sliced)

1 ½ cup chopped Shitake mushrooms

4 pieces thick-cut bacon, fried

Olive oil

Butter

Salt

Pepper

6 eggs, beaten with 1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. fresh thyme

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

I used a food processor to shred the 2 potatoes and ½ of the onion.  Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan, and spread the potato/onion mixture out evenly.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper, and allow to cook over medium heat until the potatoes brown completely on the bottom.  Once browned, use a plate (or another pan, or some other flat surface) to help you flip the potato mixture over all in one move – you want it to stay together so that it forms a crust.  I put a plate over the pan and inverted everything so that the potatoes plopped down onto the plate in one motion.  Then I slid the potatoes back into the pan to cook the other side. 

At the same time, cook the bacon and then once done chop into ½ pieces..  And in another pan, heat up some olive oil and cook the onions for 2-3 minutes (with a sprinkle of salt), and then add the sliced mushrooms.  Cook for about 6 minutes, until the onions are tender.  Set aside.

Once the potatoes begin to brown on the second side, it’s time to build the frittata.  Spread the onions & mushrooms out evenly over the potatoes, then do the same with the bacon.  Finally, pour the beaten egg mixture over top of everything and then evenly distribute ½ of the cheese.  Cook on the stove for 3-5 minutes until the sides of the eggs begin to cook through.  Then put the entire pan under the broiler for 5-7 minutes or until the egg in the center is cooked through.  Remove from the broiler and spread on the remainder of the cheese.  Slice and serve.

Porterhouse Steak

Whole Foods has a really nice butcher station.  They dry age their own meat, and sometimes I can't help but splurge.  Last night was one of those nights.  I knew I was getting steak - I was in the mood to celebrate the coming of the weekend with something rich and decadent.  I saw the massive dry-aged porterhouse steaks, and couldn't pass them up.  Despite the fact that they were about $30 each - come on, I'd easily pay that or more in a good steak house, and I KNOW I can cook a steak just as good (or better) than a steakhouse.  :)

I grabbed some baby bella mushrooms and Stilton bleu cheese to top off the steaks.  And for vegetables, the bag of baby carrots just called out to me - as did the artichokes.  So I was set to head home and...wait.  With keith's new job he usually doesn't get home until 7pm - that's not all that late, but in an effort to shape up I've curtailed my weekday eating habits so by 6pm I'm nearly drooling with desire for something of substance to put in my mouth.  So I simply make a habit of having some little tidbit to munch on.  I found this cute little box of vine-ripened tomatoes from a local greenhouse and they serve as the perfect snack.  And I have to tell you, when I pulled the first tomato off the vine and smelled the spot where it was attached to the vine, I was transported.  It's things like smelling a tomato off a vine that I completely miss here in NYC.  The smell is at once comforting and hopeful, earthy and uplifting.  Seriously, I think I stood in the kitchen deeply inhaling the fresh tomato smell and completely forgot that I wanted to eat the juicy vegetable.  :)

Oh right...I was telling you about the steak.  I have a pretty typical way of cooking steak (given the fact that I don't have a true grill, just a fantastic indoor one that doesn't do steak justice).  I heat up a large skillet - really, really hot - usually with a touch of oil (unless I use the cast iron).  At the same time, I heat the oven up to 450 degrees.  The steak gets seared like crazy on both sides in the pan, and then thrown in the oven.  And my secret - at the very end of cooking I drop a pad of butter over each and let it melt into the steak.

I made a raw artichoke salad that I placed overtop the steak.  It wasn't necessary - at least not on top of the steak.  I have a new appreciation for artichokes because of past episodes of Molto Mario - and I'm learning to be quicker as I break them down.  It's still pretty time consuming and challenging.  I also served it with some baby carrots that I boiled for about 4-5 minutes, drained, and then tossed in some brown butter, salt & pepper.  YUM!

There isn't much to this recipe, so I'll just give you some details.  The mushrooms I cooked in oil for probably 15 minutes, until they were soft and delicious.  For the steak, salt & pepper each side, then sear both sides in a hot, hot pan for maybe 4 minutes (until really browned and lovely).  Then into a 450 degree oven for no more than 6-8 minutes (I'm a mid-rare kind of guy).  At the very end, throw a piece of butter on top and let it melt.  Pull out the steaks and let them rest for 5 minutes.  Pile the mushrooms on top, and then crumble some Stilton over top.  No steak sauce - no nothing, don't you dare.  Especially with a cut of meat like this.  :)