orezscu's Profile
Old School Portland Eateries
blackbirdpie:
Taste Tickler is a solid "all American" sub, but the ingredients are fairly run of the mill. More Subway than Bunk, but definitely a notch above Subway.
Food at PDX Gentlemen's Clubs
As I understand it, there are 49 "gentlemen's clubs" within city limits, and that they are all required to feature a food menu as long as alcohol is also on offer. I have heard of only two which make more than a legally-compliant fuss about their food:
1. Casa Diablo, which offers a vegan-only menu
2. The Acropolis, which has a reputation for its steak.
Are there any other clubs where the food is anything more than code-compliant? Typically I see Select-or-lower grade steak, burgers, chicken sandwiches, tenders, fries, and the rest of the Sysco fryolator stuff.
Old School Portland Eateries
Clyde's Prime Rib on Sandy in the ne 50s
Rheinlander (also on Sandy around there)
Taste Tickler subs on ne bwy/14th (there since 1971)
Char Burger in Cascade Locks
Fong Chong in Chinatown
What happened to Giuliana's, San Carlos?
I was sorry to hear that Giuliana's (San Carlos, Laurel St, next to Cowabunga) had closed. For us, it was one of those comforting family restaurants that inexplicably winds up being "your" place. Lazy weekday dinners, birthdays, family banquets, wife went into labor there, that kind of thing. Was it a victim of the lean times, or is it being reborn, as it itself rose from the ashes of Ciao Amore "apres" tax scandal?
ABSOLUTE BLASPHEMY!!! (Seeking Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich)
I really have to recommend The Refuge in San Carlos. Jersey Joe's is, as Yimster says, a decent cheesesteak. The one at The Refuge is, I honestly think, more than a hint above. Also, all the other dishes at The Refuge (including the fries) are leagues above. Yes, it is a shade more expensive, perhaps to the tune of double? You'll thank me in the morning, though.
http://www.refugesc.com/refuge_menu.pdf
Best cocktail(s) in Portland
Kelly at Ten01 is a phenomenon. I agree with the note about the Celeriac, but there are probably twenty other unique cocktails on the list equally as noteworthy. What I do when taking people to Ten01 is challenge them to order the thing they think they would like the least. Without fail, they find their nemesis ingredient reined in or balanced by the other ingredients, and are delighted.
Order off the full cocktail menu, not the happy hour cocktail menu, which is restricted. You get what you pay for.
Choices: Move to Portland or Stay in Oakland?
I moved here a year ago after 33 years in silicon valley/SFBA and have never, ever looked back. Move to Portland, and you can actually afford to eat everywhere you want to go, whenever you want to go! The people are far more friendly, the quality of life is superior, public transportation exists in a meaningful capacity, and you aren't surrounded by the nasty, empty, greedy culture that defines the peninsula. Living here is a cocktail to the bay area's trip to the gym that you plug into Excel from your iPhone.
Best Burger in Portland?
I strongly second the Ten01 burger, either the Happy Hour (4 oz, $6, a steal) or lunch/bar version (might be 8oz, and twice as much). It's local grass beef, and they poele it with butter and garlic and herbs after it's been griddled. It's intensely flavorful and juicy. Pair it with the truffle oil fries and it's hard to top that in burger dining.
Portland fit for Foodies
That's a great starting list.
The darlings that I think deserve your time and money right now are:
Le Pigeon (the chef is in the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog, take that for what it's worth...and book ahead)
Ten-01 (white tablecloth and sommelier, excellent service, excellent exec and pastry chef)
Tabla (Ten-01's more affordable sister restaurant)
Beast (think Ad Hoc fixed family-style menu)
Toro Bravo (tapas, more)
Wong's King (dim sum and exotic Chinese menu)
Nostrana
These are all places chefs go to eat, which I think can be a good endorsement. Like seeing all-Chinese clientele in a Chinese restaurant, you know?
Apizza Scholls is of course worth a trip. One point of guidance is not to put vegetables on the pie, or load it down with more than one ingredient. The crust is so, so thin that less really is more. And it's fantastic. Haven't tried Ken's yet, but they are equally busy.
This is a town of food carts, make sure to hit the pods in SW downtown, and elsewhere:
http://foodcartsportland.com/
Oh, and the Happy Hour phenomenon: so many places up here are milking great Happy Hour menus now, with awesome offerings at arcade prices. Ten-01 has a particularly excellent HH menu with filling mains around six bucks. It's survival mode...
Mid-Peninsula Dining?
Exactly my choices. The Refuge has a high level of sophistication, even for a top-tier charcuterie pub, and most of them actually come from Viognier. Viognier is your white tablecloths, "flights and prix fixe"-type place. The Refuge is the Food of Men; Viognier is the Food of Men on Dates.
Best source for Orange Beef?
Jing Jing in Palo Alto makes a great, saucy version of this dish. Check it out here:
http://www.jingjinggourmet.com/2005/default.asp?cid=12
Local beer for a wedding?
Yeah, I'd say Devil's Canyon all the way. They have a fantastic variety of beers that will please the macros and the micros, and they do regularly source organic ingredients for some clients. They deliver to several restaurants in San Francisco, and are a really professional operation. They've been here for eight or so years and I, too, frequent their Beer Friday.
Best place in SF/East Bay for Belgian beer?
I concur, the Refuge is a diamond in the rough that is the Peninsula. It's 100% a chow destination, to use the parlance. I wouldn't be surprised if Tony Bourdain did a segment on it. The food is as excellent as the beer, and the owner is a master charcutier two trained at 2-star places in Paris.
Mack's Smoked Barbecue - San Carlos - ?
Oh, man. That is the "bi-fecta" of peninsula meat eating. You might need to space them out over lunch and dinner though.
Mack's Smoked Barbecue - San Carlos - ?
This place has been open for about a month on the tail end of Laurel, down by Micha's. Secondhand reports are glowing, but I haven't been in nor heard of it on here. Has anyone tried Mack's?
Mack's Smoked Barbecue
1541 Laurel St
San Carlos, CA 94070
(650) 592-4227
Milagro's Cantina, Redwood City
It is perfectly fair to say that Milagros shoots for a higher-end Mexican dining experience, but the execution can be maladroit and the service can be either great or exceptionally dopey. It's a concept restaurant created by the restaurant group that also owns TOWN and Nola. It seems like it belongs in Vegas, and is usually fine. I don't know that it's in the same stratosphere as Rick Bayless.
Z&Y Restaurant--Finally found my favorite dish
That "Exploding Chili Pepper Chicken" (I also don't remember the true menu name) dish is incredible. I was expecting a sauce or something, but no, it's just the most addictively spicy little nuggets of greaseless fried chicken (boneless, dark), sitting in a mound of hundreds of the dried red chilies. I'd never seen anything like it.
Their spicy eggplant was also fantastic, as was the service.
casual italian with teens
If you want to keep it logistically easy down in Palo Alto, students generally think that Il Fornaio is pretty stellar compared to what they're used to. It's levels above the Buca di Beppo they probably hit on group date nights. ...from one who has been there...
The Refuge
Much more like Katz's, based on your description. Made from the "eye of the navel," I think they say. Apparently there are only like 3lbs of this particular cut per cow, and it's largely spoken for by Big Pastrami (I like that idea) so it's terribly expensive to obtain. There's nothing bland about the final product -- has anyone in this thread used "sublime" yet?
The Refuge
This place is so much better for serving Belgian draft beers than challenging and idiosyncratic surefire-loser savory sodas. It's not trying to be a New Yorky place—it's its whole own new thing, and it's wonderful.
The Refuge
The Refuge is a remarkable invention, where draft Belgian beers come together with big sturdy fare by a chef/owner who is a really, really talented charcutier. I've yet to see a dish there that wasn't a solidly conceived and executed winner. The pastrami is thicker and juicier than the archetypal NY style, and when served on thick fresh rye with coleslaw and russian dressing, there is perhaps no better sandwich. I've been a couple dozen times and karma_bites sums it up perfectly. The Refuge is certainly a destination for any SF epicure.
Lunch recommendations for drive from San Francisco to Santa Cruz
If you get out of the airport by 12:30 with your car, etc, you'd probably be best served by something close to the airport. Santa Cruz is easily an hour from SFO on a clear day. One extremely convenient just-off-the-highway stop on 101S from the airport is El Metate on Harbor in Belmont. This is an excellent taqueria (35 feet off of 101, 10 mins south of airport). Non-chain, huge turnover, and gets you on your way. Excellent salsa bar and the best house-made chips in the area.
The drive from SFO to Half Moon Bay, as some others have suggested, is only about 25 mins. Try Pasta Moon in that town.
Best hot pastrami on rye?
Seriously, no claims about hands-down-ness until everyone's tried The Refuge's pastrami sandwich, ideally the one with coleslaw and russian.
Hotel Triton/Union Square very early nice dinner
Thanks Robert, I've read about these places here before and I really appreciate your expert help in pinpointing them to my trip. They fit the bill perfectly.
Hotel Triton/Union Square very early nice dinner
I've got to speak at an event at 6pm in this area, and would like to have a nice "white tablecloth" sort of meal beforehand. I know it's unusual to ask for a restaurant that serves dinner at 4:30, but is there anything within three or four blocks of union square that can accommodate this sort of need at this hour? All cuisines welcome, price no concern. Thank you!
Best Fish and Chips Ever?
Has anyone been to the Rose & Crown lately? I went there for a decade and thought they had the best fish & chips around, but haven't been for a few years.
http://www.roseandcrownpa.com/food.html
This place is just off University Ave in Palo Alto.
Appalling Saul's
Agreed. The Refuge IS a Chow-destination. There is *no* comparison between the product Matt makes there and a typical deli pastrami. It must be tried to be believed. I get it with coleslaw and russian dressing.
Left Bank - San Mateo - don't go :( (rant)
Aladdin market is cool, but it's greasy as *hell*. I have literally had shawarma there where I've resorted to picking the meat out and dabbing it on a paper towel for each bite, and I eat buffalo wings with two hands.
Left Bank - San Mateo - don't go :( (rant)
There's a sort-of ongoing thread about this Left Bank outpost here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/26282#2694414
I anchored this link to my June 2007 entry -- which is in the same vein as yours -- because the thread had been fallow since 2003. I read your writeup and now I'm mad all over again!
Best stuck-in-the-past restaurants?
Those are three great mid-peninsula suggestions. Anywhere the Iron Gate is mentioned, one must also consider mentioning The Vans, also in Belmont, and for Chinese food (and decor) that hasn't changed in 30 years, Hong Kong Restaurant on Ralston. For a stuck-in-the-past breakfast and interior, try Millbrae Pancake House on El Camino.
