happy hour honeys

Portland Food Carts: Native Bowl and Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen

2012-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

What: Native Bowl
Where: Mississippi Station Pod (by Prost)
Honeys Heart: Healthy food cart food

I love eating at food carts, but you have to admit, the majority of carts offer less than healthy fare. That's why I was so excited to try Native Bowl.

Native Bowl packs their bowls with fresh veggies, rice, and locally made tofu. Yum!

I decided to try the Broadway Bowl which is made with jasmine rice, garlic tofu, house-made peanut ginger sauce, cilantro, shredded red cabbage, carrots, scallions, and sesame seeds.

I'm not a huge fan of red cabbage, so I could have done with a less generous portion of that, but otherwise, I found my bowl to be quite delicious. Loved the combination of peanut ginger sauce with cilantro.

Doug ordered the Mississippi Bowl with jasmine rice, house-made ranch sauce, barbecue soy curls, barbecue sauce, slaw, and scallions.

Doug was a little apprehensive about what soy curls meant, but in the end, the bbq and ranch flavors of the bowl won him over.

I would definitely recommend Native Bowl if you're looking for a tasty and healthful food cart option!

What: Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen
Where: Mississippi Station Pod
Honeys Heart: Fried pickles

And now we move to the opposite end of the healthy food scale...

Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen is a recent addition to the Mississippi Station Pod. Miss Kate's serves good ol' Southern dishes based off recipes from owner Charles' grandmother, Kate.

I love chicken and tuna salad sandwiches, so I tried Miss Kate's Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwich ($7.50). Charles threw in a fried pickle too. Thank you, Charles!

Even with the addition of rosemary and pecans, this sandwich was a little too basic for me to justify paying almost $8 for it. The flavor of the chicken salad was good, but not unique enough to order again. I felt like I could make this at home.

Doug ordered the Grilled Pimento Cheese & Bacon Sandwich ($5.50).

I don't think I've ever had pimento cheese before- I actually had to look up what it is. In its most basic form, it's cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and red peppers that have been blended together. No wonder this sandwich was so rich! The combination of pimento cheese and bacon on buttery bread was just too much for me. Doug liked it though, so to each his own!

In addition to sandwiches, Miss Kate's also offers entrees like fried chicken and breakfast items like biscuits and sour cream coffee cake. I think I'll try the biscuits if I go back. Obviously Miss Kate's does not skip on the butter so I'm pretty sure their biscuits would probably be worth a second trip!

Portland Restaurant: Lucky Strike

2012-02-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

What: Lucky Strike
Where: 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd
When: Sun - Thurs 4 - 10pm, Fri - Sat 4 - 11pm
Honey's Heart: Dan Dan Noodle and Sauteed Shanghai Baby Bok Choy

I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog yet, but Adam and I got engaged after Thanksgiving! We've been wedding planning and next on our to-do list is hiring a photographer. After meeting with a wedding photographer in SE last week Adam and I remembered we had a Groupon to Lucky Strike.

Founded in 2007, Leopold and You bring Sichuan style favorites from You's hometown. Neither have formal culinary training, but they combine fresh local ingredients and Sichuan spices to their dishes. I am definitely not an expert on traditional Sichuan flavors, but our friends Keith and Rachel have frequented Lucky Strike since Keith's visits to China, claiming it's the closest thing to the real deal that he can find here. Adam and I were excited for some great food while talking about wedding details.

A little overwhelmed by the menu and not wanting to order the typical apps like egg rolls, we asked the waiter for a suggestion. We started out with JiaoZi Dumpling in Spicy Sauce ($6). These pork and cabbage filled dumplings are served with either clear broth or Sichuan style spicy sauce. We opted for the spicy sauce, and although I can be sensitive to spice, I liked that the heat of this sauce didn't overpower it's really great flavor.

For main dishes Adam immediately spotted the KungPao Chicken ($12) sauteed with crunchy peanuts, scallion and sweet and spicy ginger sauce. This is originally a traditional Sichuan style dish and although I can't attest to it's authenticity, it had a different flavor than other KungPao dishes I've ordered. It was spicy with a lot of peppers mixed in, but the sweetness in the sauce made it one of those dishes that you keep eating for the initial flavor and the spice hits you after. I'm not sure we would order it when we go back in place of trying something new, but it was a good choice!

One of my favorite dishes we ordered was the Sauteed Shanghai Baby Bok Choy ($7) with fresh chopped garlic. If you don't like a lot of garlic, don't order this, but I love it so that was fine with me! The sauce on the bok choy was awesome and with the option to add tofu ($2) to this dish I would absolutely order it again.

My other favorite was Dan Dan Noodle ($5). These spicy Sichuan style noodles were topped with minced beef, crushed peanuts, and fresh scallions. Adam and I both loved the flavor in this dish and for only $5 who could pass it up?

Our drinks took a long time to arrive, but once they did I think we were both pleased. I've been ordering a lot of Moscow Mules, or pretty much anything with a ginger infused vodka or ginger syrup, so I chose the Vice is Cooler ($8) with house-infused lemongrass ginger vodka, muddled cucumber and basil, citrus and soda, served on the rocks. Yum! Adam ordered the Hot Toddy ($8) with earl grey tea, lemon, honey and whiskey in the hopes it might help combat his cold.

This was a great first experience at Lucky Strike, I'll be back to check out their happy hour menu featured daily from 3 - 6pm!

Portland Happy Hour: Miss Delta

2012-01-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

What: Miss Delta
Where: 3950 North Mississippi Avenue
When: 3-6pm daily, 10pm to close Sat & Fri
Honeys Heart: Black Eyed Pea dip

Miss Delta serves "Southern family favorites made from scratch" and, I have to say, they do it well.

Doug and I started off our happy hour visit with two of Miss Delta's specialty cocktails which are $1 off during happy hour (beers too). I had a Cucumber Kamikaze ($7) made with cucumber-infused vodka, orange liqueur, fresh lime and simple syrup. Such a pretty little glass and the drink was very refreshing.

Doug had an Outlaw ($7) made with ginger-infused whiskey, fresh ginger, fresh lemonade, bitters and soda. Good flavor but the huge chunks of ginger floating around made it really hard to drink through the straw.

For food, we ordered Corn Fritters ($4) with green chili and black-eyed pea dip. These were delicious. The fritters were crispy on the outside and had whole kerns of corn in them and the black-eyed pea dip was creamy with the perfect amount of heat. And yes, I was eating the dip straight out of the bowl with a spoon. I would do it again too.

We also had Trashy Mac with Gumbo ($6.50). I'm usually a plain mac n cheese kinda gal, but I loved the addition of the gumbo- Miss Delta makes theirs with a roux, seafood broth, tomatoes, okra,
andouille sausage, shrimp, smoked chicken. Yum! (Except for the sausage... you know how I feel about andouille.)

Hopefully we'll make it back to Miss Delta soon to try some more items off their happy hour menu since the Pulled Pork Tacos ($6.50) and Chicken & Waffles ($7.50) sound mighty good as well. Brunch is supposed to be pretty tasty too.

Portland Restaurant: Boke Bowl

2012-01-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

What: Boke Bowl

Where: 1028 SE Water Ave

When: 10 am - 3 pm Mon - Sat

Honeys Heart: Fried Pears

Katie and I were introduced to Boke Bowl over the summer at a World Forestry Center fundraiser. Their food was awesome and we have been anxious for them to find a permanent location. Having heard nothing but rave reviews about Boke Bowl's recently opened restaurant on SE Water Ave, and getting a tweet from Boke Bowl saying "bring it ladies" it was definitely time to hit up this hot spot.

We know this is the darling of the Portland food scene right now and we know we might upset some people by saying this... but we weren't so impressed. Now, before you go getting all defensive, let us explain why:

After placing our order at the counter, we found a spot by the kitchen and began our lunch with Pork Steam Buns ($6). The pork was tender, the buns were warm and soft, and the pickles, though kind of surprising, added a nice flavor.

So no complaints there really. And $2 per bun seems pretty fair. Moving on.

Due to our convenient location, or the generosity of the chef, we were given some complimentary Fried Pears ($2.50) which were probably our favorite part of the meal. The sweetness of the pears, combined with the tart flavor of the vinegar was really delicious.

But then came the ramen. Katie chose the Pork and Chicken ($9), and so did I... I thought. But I was served the Seafood Miso ($10), which ended up being okay with me. Katie's meat-filled ramen was heartier, with a darker broth. The flavor was subtle and lacking the complexity we expected after the pork buns and the pears. A bit of a letdown for sure.

The seafood ramen, made with boiled shrimp, was lighter and we thought more flavorful. You might expect garnishes such as greens, braised bamboo or water chestnuts in a ramen, but we thought the butternut squash in these was a nice addition.

So what didn't we like about the place? Though our bowls were good, and despite the fact that Boke Bowl is competitively priced with other popular ramen places in town including Wafu, Biwa, and Mirakutei, we both felt slightly unsatisfied.

Perhaps we did it all wrong and we should have added some of the sauces on the table or Pork Belly ($1.50) or Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($3) off the menu, but then our bowls of ramen would have been $11 to $13, and that just seems sort of crazy for a bowl of soup (which, come on, is what ramen really is).

Or maybe we just played into the hype too much and set our expectations higher than they should have been. (But really, have you been on Twitter lately? @Bokebowl is blowing up.)

Or maybe we just aren't huge ramen fans to begin with.

Anyway, the point is, we probably won't be going back soon. Which means two more spots open at the lunch table for the rest of you. You're welcome...?

Oh, and we also decided to try one of Boke Bowl's Miso Butterscotch Twinkies ($1.5) for dessert, which we enjoyed because we liked that it wasn't overly sweet. But would we order it again? Probably not.

But hey, Boke Bowl also does a Korean Fried Chicken Night on Thursdays from 5 to 9:30pm so perhaps we should try that?

Seattle Happy Hour: Cactus

2012-01-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

What: Cactus
Where: 2820 Alki Avenue SW, Seattle
When: Mon-Fri, 3-6pm; Sat & Sun, 3-5pm
Honeys Heart: Blue Corn Calamari

After spending Christmas with the fam in San Jose, I flew up to Seattle to spend some time with Doug before we went back to Portland. One night, we met up with his parents to go to happy hour at one of his Dad's favorite hh spots: Cactus, local chain that serves southwestern and Mexican cuisine.

We started off with $5 happy hour mojitos. Tasty, but definitely skimpy on the rum. I appreciate when restaurants offer cheap happy hour drinks, but if they're barely going to put any alcohol in them, what's the point?

Doug's parents said the margaritas are much better. Noted!

Next up was chips and salsa ($2) and guacamole ($4). Yum!

We also had the Smoked Chicken Quesadilla ($4) with bacon. For $4, this is definitely a good deal. Great flavor and pretty filling.

Doug's mom said the Blue Corn Calamari ($6) is a favorite of hers and I can see why. The blue corn coating added a nice crunch and the slightly spicy aioli was a great compliment to the calamari.

Doug's dad suggest that we order the Camarones D’ El Diablo ($6) which are prawns with spicy Diablo sauce and mango–pineapple mojo. Loved the spice on these combined with the sweet mango-pineapple sauce.

Great choice, Marilyn and Dick! I'll go to Cactus with you anytime!

San Francisco Bakery: Miette

2012-01-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

My mom got really into The Next Iron Chef this year and she was a huge fan of Elizabeth Falkner. So when I suggested we go to San Francisco for the day when I was home, it was a given that we would be hitting up Citizen Cake.

But then Citizen Cake was closed. It might be closed permanently- it's kind of hard to tell.

And so, we needed a bakery replacement. Good thing I visited Miette last year with Gabs so I could take my mom and sis there instead.

I'm kind of obsessed with this place. I mean, it's more of a candy shop that also serves cupcakes, macarons, and ice cream than a bakery, but just look at it.

It's so cute inside it almost didn't matter if the cupcakes and macarons were actually any good...

... but they were. The cupcakes were certainly not the best I've ever had, but they were enjoyable and the macarons were flavorful and the correct consistency: slightest crunch on the outside of the cookie, chewy on the inside.

Would it be weird if I redecorated my apartment to look like Miette? Good, cuz I'm going to do it.

Aspirations

2012-01-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

Right now I have a list of all the restaurants, bars, and happy hours I want to go to on my phone. And in a spreadsheet on my computer. And saved in a Google doc that Doug and I share. And on random pieces of paper around my apartment.

But so far I haven't been very good about actually making it to any of those places. So the obvious solution is to post an abridged version on the blog and give myself a two month deadline to make it to all of them (and blog about it.) So here goes:

Happy Hours:
The Box Social- recommended by Eat Beat
Night Light Lounge- recommended by Karissa of Delectable Dates
Nostrana- recommended by Dana (for a girl's night)

Restaurants:
Olympic Provisions- recommended by... everyone
Boke Bowl- see above
Tasty n Sons- ditto

Bars:
Apex- Doug's addition
Firehouse- recommended by Abe of BePortland

I'll keep you updated on my progress...

DIY Happy Hour: French 75

2012-01-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

For the last two years, Katie and I have made a Happy Hour Honeys calendar to give to friends and family for Christmas. The "2012 Calendar of Cocktails" features one drink recipe each month, giving people plenty of time to master the cocktail! The 12 recipes range from traditional drinks such as a hot toddy, to Happy Hour Honey signature cocktails. That's right, we created two drinks for this calendar!

January's recipe is a current favorite, a French 75. Here's a peak at January and the recipe for the perfect cocktail to cheers with in the new year.

Recipe
- 1.5 oz Gin
- .75 oz Lemon Juice
- .5 oz Simple Syrup
- 2 oz Champagne

Shake the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup, pour into a champagne flute and top with champagne or prosecco.

Cheers!

Dallas/Fort Worth, Part II: Fuzzy's, Gloria's and Lone Star Bakery

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

Read Part I of my Dallas/Fort Worth Post here.

Our Sunday in Fort Worth started with some final packing at Kerry's apartment followed by lunch at Fuzzy's.

What: Fuzzy’s Taco Shop
Where: 2917 West Berry Street, Fort Worth, TX
Honeys Heart: Queso and chips

Fuzzy’s is my Uncle Steve’s favorite restaurant in Fort Worth. It’s a local chain with locations throughout Texas and in neighboring states. They serve great, quick tex-mex with a focus on tacos.

Now here’s a sad story, folks. I had a bit of the flu the night before, so in addition to not being able to go out to the bars with my cousins on Saturday night, I also had to take it easy with the food on Sunday. I know. It was the worst. I’m still mad about it. But anyway, I had to order with my stomach in mind, which is why I went with the ground beef tacos.

You know I would have rather had something else… but I had to go neutral. And the ground beef tacos were pretty good. Love that Fuzzy’s makes their tacos special by topping them with feta and garlic sauce in addition to the usual suspects.

But what I liked best (despite the fact that I limited myself to four or five chips for my stomach’s sake) was Fuzzy’s queso with chips. This queso was unusual for me because it’s made with white cheddar. Yum! Sorry, didn't get a pic.

Other choices included Fuzzy’s grilled sandwich with fried potatoes (ordered by Justin) and the nachos (Kerry’s favorite).

After lunch, we spent the afternoon at Fort Worth Zoo.

Fort Worth Zoo has been frequently recognized as one of the nation's best small zoos. We all thought the exhibits were very well done and, at least when we visited, the place was immaculate. Definitely a must-see if you're in the area.

And for dinner that night: Gloria’s!

What: Gloria’s
Where: 2600 W Seventh St. # 175, Fort Worth, TX
Honeys Heart: Pupusas

Gloria’s is my aunt’s favorite restaurant. They serve Salvadorian food as well as Mexican and Tex-Mex food and, like Fuzzy's, are also a local chain.

I first introduced my parents to pupusas, yucca and fried plantains in DC, and since my mom loved all three, I wasn’t surprised that she decided to go for Gloria’s Sampler Platter which features all of the above plus beans, black rice, and a tamale. I chose the same.

My mom and I both loved the pupusas. They were filled with cheese and pork and were just crispy on the outside (the ideal since so one likes a soggy pupusa). The yucca and plaintains were good as well. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the tamale. These tamales were wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks so they didn’t have as much of that corn-y flavor (which I love) as other tamales. Oh well.

Kerry ordered Churrasco Tipico, a plate with grilled churrasco sirloin steak with chimichurri sauce, Argentinean sausage, plantains, black beans and rice.

My aunt ordered Pechuga de Pollo, marinated, grilled chicken breast.

And Gilma, Kerry's future mother-in-law ordered Chicken Flautas. Yum!

On Monday, before Kerry and my aunt dropped us off at the airport, we stopped by Lone Star bakery for some desserts because really, you can’t travel with my mom and NOT get something sweet.

What: Texas Star Bakery
Where: 499 West Harwood Road, Hurst, TX
Honeys Heart: Pumpkin Spice Cupcake

Texas Star Bakery is your classic old school bakery. None of the walls are painted pink, no one’s wearing a cute little apron, and for sure, no one’s been on Cupcake Wars.

But in my mind, that’s fine as long as the pastries are good.

My mom, sister and aunt picked out a few cupcakes while I went with a gingerbread cookie (they're my favorite) and Kerry chose a frosting and chocolate chip cookie sandwich.

You know Mrs. Field’s? They serve these little chocolate cookie cups with frosting on the top. I was obsessed with them when I was younger. Like, I refused to leave the mall without a little bag of five of them (because you had to order in increments of five, duh.) Anyway, Kerry’s cookie sandwich brought back delicious memories of those little guys. My gingerbread cookie was good too.

But the clear favorite was the pumpkin-spice cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. The cake was very moist and the frosting not-too-sweet. Good choice, Mom!

And then it was off to the airport! Thanks for a great weekend Kerry and Auntie Kathy!

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX: North Main BBQ and The Stockyards

2011-12-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, my cousin Kerry graduated from TCU (congrats, cuz!), so my mom, sister and I flew out to Dallas/Fort Worth to help celebrate.

Me, Sister and Kerry

You’ll remember that I gained like 10 pounds during my trip to Austin, TX because the food was so good, but I wasn’t sure if I could expect the same culinary prowess in Fort Worth.

While Dallas/Fort Worth has about every chain restaurant you can think of (Joe's Crab Shack, Macaroni Grill, Chili's, even In-n-Out!), my cousin managed to find quite a few tasty non-chains that she shared with us.

First up: North Main BBQ for Kerry’s graduation dinner!

What: North Main BBQ
Where: 406 N Main St, Euless
Honey’s Heart: Pork ribs

My aunt Kathy first heard of North Main BBQ on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, so she recommended it to Kerry and I’m glad Kerry was brave enough to try it. I mean, this is the kind of place you would never go into unless someone told you it was good. It’s kind of a dive. And by kind of, I mean it’s exactly that. Big time.

At North Main BBQ, you can order a sandwich (get a black plate) or you can do it right and eat from the buffet (get a white place).

The buffet is a meat-lovers paradise. Pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken, sausage, sliced brisket and chopped brisket.

The ribs were definitely my favorite but the pulled pork and chopped brisket were excellent as well. Flavorful and smoky and barely in need of any bbq sauce. Yum!

The buffet also features baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw and white bread by the slice.

The baked beans were more like chili beans than the sweet baked beans my mom and I loved in Kansas City, but good nonetheless and my sister, who is practically vegetarian, liked the potato salad and corn slaw.

That’s the thing though. Coleslaw is about as close as you’re going to get to fresh veggies or fruit at North Main. There is none of that there. Not even a measly iceburg lettuce salad. Which is fine, of course, but just good to know in advance.

We finished up our BBQ meal with some graduation cake!

That night, we headed to The Stockyards, Fort Worth's main tourist attraction.

The Stockyards have a bunch of restaurants and bars, including Billy Bob's, the world's largest honky tonk.

This is just a photo of the dance floor. Billy Bob's also has an arcade, a stage, live bull riding, and 20 bar stations. It has a capacity of 6,000. That's one big honky tonk.

Apparently you can also buy beers to go at The Stockyards.

This is very strange to me. It also means that The Stockyards turns into Fort Worth's version of the Las Vegas strip on the weekends.

There's also a bar where you can sit on saddles while you get wasted on $13 margaritas.

I mean, that's not what we did. But you could...

Stay tuned for Part II featuring tacos from Fuzzy's, the fabulous Fort Worth Zoo and Salvadoran food from Gloria's!

DIY Happy Hour: Easy Moscow Mules

2011-12-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, Lauren and I hosted a GINGERbread Holiday Party.

What is a GINGERbread Holiday Party?

Well, it's a holiday party where you eat Thai Ginger chicken and gingersnap cupcakes, and decorate gingerbread cookies, and play Guess the Ginger Celebrity, and drink gingery cocktails, and (ideally) listen to Reba McEntire's Christmas album. Obvs.

You can read all about the party on Lauren's blog here.

I was in charge of cocktails, so I decided to make one of my favorites: Moscow Mules. Usually you make them with lime juice and simple syrup, but I ended up using organic limeade instead and it worked just fine- and made these drinks that much more of breeze to make.

Easy Moscow Mules:

Recipe:
- 1 oz Vodka
- 1 oz Limeade
- Ginger Beer
- Lime Wedge
- Ice

Cheers!

Portland Restaurant: Portland Seafood Company

2011-11-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, Kel was contacted by the folks at Portland Seafood Company about coming in for a special media preview of their menu. She couldn't make it, so I went instead. Lucky me! Portland Seafood Company prepared quite the feast for us AND gave me to opportunity to hob nob with some Real Life Print Media Food Writers (my idols!). And by hob nob, I mean sit quietly while trying to absorb all their food knowledge. Anyway...

What: Portland Seafood Company
Where: 9722 SE Washington Street, Mall 205
Honeys Heart: Whole Rock Fish

My visit started off with a tour of the restaurant. Portland Seafood Company (which from now on will be referred to as PSC because typing is annoying) is located in the building that formerly housed Newport Seafood Grill.

The decor is nautical but in a completely non-cheesy way. Casual elegance, you might say.

Love their lighting.

Here's our table at the bar. These communal tables will be great for the afterwork crowd.

But enough about that. On to the good stuff: the food!

Chef Brian Poor is the Culinary Director over at Portland City Grill as well as at PSC and he came out to tell us all about the restaurant's "happy fish" philosophy. PSC only uses sustainable, high-quality seafood that are rated as a "Best Choice" or better by the Seafood Watch Program at Monterey Bay Aquarium. PSC also encourages diners to ask where their meal came from. Whether you're dining on Penn Cove oysters or Atlantic Quahog clams, they're happy to share specifics.

Ok, so we know it's sustainable and the fish are "happy", but how do they taste?

Chef Brian also explained PSC's culinary goal: to serve simply-prepared, big-flavored seafood dishes. And on that, I think PSC most definitely delivered.

Looking at my notes (professional status!), I think we probably sampled around 20 dishes that night. Here are the dishes I took notes on and/or photographed in order of preference. Get ready to drool a little. And then feel bad for my waistline because yes, I did eat ALL that fried seafood. And some of Kelly's leftover mac & cheese later that night. And then I didn't run the next morning. Cuz I never do. Oops.

Check out this baby. That's a whole Fried Rockfish, fried crispy and served with warm tortillas, avocado, red onion, and red jalapenos and topped with a spicy jalapeño-ranch sauce. It's pretty much DIY fish tacos and since I found this to be the most flavorful of the fried fish I tried that night, it gets the top spot on my list. Grab some coworkers, some local beers and this guy and you're good to go.

These are Steamed Manila Clams ($11.99) with basil, garlic, white wine and thyme, served with sourdough bread from Portland French Bakery. So simple, so delicious. And that bread dipped in the leftover sauce. My god.

This was meant to be a photo of The World's Best Fried Clam Strips ($7.99) but I think it's actually a Spicy Popcorn Shrimp Bucket ($8.99). Anyway, a big deal was made about the clam strips and for good reason. They were quite tasty. Can't comment on the "World's Best" part though cuz it's the first time I had them. But Chef Brian did say: "I'm old, I've eaten a lot. These are the best." Okay then.

Last year, Erica made oyster stuffing for Thanksgiving and it was so repellent that I vowed never to eat oysters again. But these Oven Roasted Freshly Shucked Pacific Oysters ($13.99) had bacon and bell peppers and parmesan cheese and butter baked into them sooo... I ate three of them. And they were awesome.

When this Shrimp Po'Boy ($8.99) (served as sliders for us) came out, I was reaching my food limit. So full. But then the shrimp was so nice and crispy and Chef Brian's "mom's slaw" was super flavorful so I ate a whole slider. But no Old Bay-seasoned fries. Even though they looked really good.

As you can see, by the time I got to the Fish & Chips ($7.99-$16.99), my food coma was such that I did not even care if my photos were fuzzy. So keep that in mind when I tell you that even though I really, really wanted to like PSC's fish & chips, I didn't. I don't even know why. Probably don't listen to me and order them anyway. Everything else was delicious, why wouldn't these be?

Here are Steamed Peel & Eat Gulf Shrimp ($11.99) with butter, garlic and parsley. And bread. The Real Life Print Media Food Writer next to me commented that she was surprised at PSC's choice to leave the legs on the shrimp. Having not often encountered peel & eat shrimp with legs, I was surprised as well.

Crab Bucket ($24.99). Sufficiently crab-buckety, gross andouille sausage and all. Sorry, not a fan of andouille.

NW Dungess Crab Cocktail ($9.99). Sadly, don't remember trying this.Was probably distracted by something fried.

Oh, wait! We should also talk about drinks. And drink-ish things.

This Bloody Mary Oyster Shooter ($2.50) was good. (At least the The Real Life Print Media Food Writer next to me said so. I've never had a Bloody Mary before- shameful, I know. )

This Margarita ($7) was not. More lime please.

[PRETEND THERE IS A PHOTO OF AN OYSTER SHOOTER HERE]

This Oyster Shooter ($2.50) with spicy tequila and lime was good.

This Lavender Cosmo ($1) was not. Super sweet on the front, unpleasantly bitter on the back.

OMG. Almost forgot about the clam chowder.

Super creamy. Plus they have tableside bacon bread crumb service, so yeah. Don't know what they've got floating in there cuz I was too full to care.

But seriously, food coma relapse just from writing this. Can barely form full sentences.

Go here. Eat PSC's simple, fresh and delicious seafood. But skip the cocktails.

Also, they have $1 drafts & $2 house wines for happy hour from 3-6 pm.

Portland Dishcrawl: SE Division Street!

2011-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

As you know, Katie moved back to Portland at the end of June and started a job as the Portland Event Manager and Marketing Director for Dischrawl PDX. This social dining experience is right up our alley...4 restaurants in 1 night with fun people, I'm in! In the beginning of November, LivingSocial sold tickets to a SE Division Dishcrawl as part of Living Social Adventures. I've been on multiple Dishcrawls as a volunteer and Katie's right hand gal, but on Tuesday I had the pleasure of going on my first Dishcrawl as a crawler!

First Stop: Slice Brick Oven Pizza
Where: D-street Noshery, 3221 SE Division St.
Honeys Heart: Alla Vodka Pizza

Slice Brick Oven Pizza is a fully mobile food cart that opened about a year ago by a couple looking to break into the Portland culinary scene. The thin New York style crust is topped with homemade sauces and fresh local ingredients. I prefer my pizza with super thin crusts, so this was my kind of slice.

Jenna went for the Cheese, while I opted for the Pizza Alla Vodka with sausage and caramelized onions and a classic vodka sauce. Both were pretty delicious and a great way to start the night!

Second Stop: Oregon Ice Works
Where: D-street Noshery, 3221 SE Division St.
Honeys Heart: Kevin

Next we walked all the way across the food pod to Oregon Ice Works. I first tried Oregon Ice Works at a World Forestry Center fundraiser and again when Katie and I hit up D-street Noshery this summer, so I already knew I would like this stop! Kevin, food cart owner, Philly native, and Italian ice enthusiast, introduced the two flavors. One was a Bourbon, Peach and Ginger Ice, and the other was Caramel Apple Pie Ice with Caramel Sauce.

They were both amazing, but I think the apple with caramel sauce was the favorite. In the cold, slightly drizzling, autumn night it just tasted like fall. If you're thinking that Italian ice sounds too cold on a winter day, don't fret, Oregon Ice Works also makes soup. Or, if you do want Oregon Ice Works through the winter, without the cold food cart part, ask them about their weekly pint club!

Third Stop: Noho's Hawaiian Cafe
Where: 2525 SE Clinton St.
Honeys Heart: Noodles

A great aspect of Dishcrawl is that you walk to each restaurant. This gives you time to talk about the last place, get excited for the next, check out other great spots in the neighborhood, and not to mention, burn off some calories! After D-street Noshery, the group walked for 10 minutes to Noho's Hawaiian Cafe on SE Clinton and 26th. Noho was there to introduce the gigantic plates of food brought out for groups of 4 to share.

He opened his restaurant, at that location, in 1992. Leaving the corporate world to take a risk as a restaurant owner, he shared stories of how that Clinton street corner has changed over the years and how he cannot imagine doing anything else with his life.

The food he serves is based on his mom's home cooking and the style of meals he remembers growing up with. We were able to sample chicken, pork, noodles, rice and macaroni salad. There was even food left over for some people to take home. Lucky!

This Noho's location doesn't serve alcohol, only because there isn't room in the kitchen to keep it cold, but since this was a special event they brought in Hawaiian beer for everyone. So nice!

Fourth Stop: Bula Kava House
Where: 3115 SE Division St.
Honeys Heart: A feeling of calm...

Last stop was Bula Kava House. Kava is the name for the plant, root, and drink made from piper methysticum, and was first domesticated in Vanuatu (an island nation in the South Pacific) thousands of years ago. Judd, the owner of Bula Kava House, first tried Kava in Hawaii and decided to bring this traditional drink back to Portland, and we're glad he did! We started our Kava experience by learning about some of the physiological effects, mostly muscle relaxation and a general feeling of calm, while maintaining mental clarity. The active ingredients are called kavalactones, of which there are eight different types resulting in different physiological effects for every drinker.

We tried two different types of Kava: Boroguru and Borogu. Boroguru is a strong kava with a pleasantly smooth flavor, fast acting and potent, while the Borogu is a "party kava," more mild and easy with a peppery flavor. Both Kavas definitely had a peppery and (honestly) dirt flavor. But the good news is that you chug (yes, chug) it and chase with a pineapple slice, so you don't have to deal with the flavor for long if it's unpleasant for you.

Kava has historically been used in different ceremonies so we enjoyed ours with a tradition from Hawaii. We clapped once before chugging our Kava to call spirits that we might want there with us, and then clapped twice after to scare away any spirits you don't want there that might have accidentally been called with the first clap.

We will definitely return to Bula Kava House soon. Not only for the kava, but to try some of the sandwiches or pie. Yum!

Next Dishcrawl: A Nob Hill Sandwich Showdown! This could quite possibly be the best Dishcrawl yet. Buy tickets here for only $26!

Seattle Restaurant: Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon

2011-11-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, so aside from Kel's Besaw's & Davis Street posts, we have been majorly slacking. Sorry, we're going to do better! (Maybe.)

Anyway, remember when I was posting about Seattle a lot? Good. Because I'm going to keep doing that...

One of Doug's favorite restaurants in Seattle is Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon, which serves delicious Mandarin/Szechuan-style Chinese food.

What: Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon
Where: 8917 Roosevelt Way NE, Roosevelt
Honeys Heart: Dumplings and Chow Mein

We started off our dinner with an order of Jiao-zi, or boiled dumplings, filled with pork. Knowing we'd be taking some home to share with Doug's parents, we went the the 26-piece order ($13.95).

These were some of the best dumplings I've ever had. The pork was juicy and flavorful, the dumpling dough perfectly chewy and that dipping sauce... so good! We had to ask our server to box them up so we wouldn't keep eating them and spoil the rest of our dinner.

We decided to share two entrees so we could try a meat dish and a noodle dish. Doug had never had Judy's Cashew Chicken with water chesnuts ($10.55), but I convinced him we should try it.

The crunch of the cashews and water chestnuts was a great compliment to the chicken. Tasty sauce too. Highly recommended!

For our noodle dish, we went with Snappy Dragon Chow Mein which comes with a combo of shrimp, chicken, beef and veggies ($9.50).

I've been told that Frank's Noodle House here in Portland has some of the best noodles in the northwest but I'd have to disagree. Judy's noodles are the kind that are so good that even when you're super full from dumplings and chicken and chow mein, you can't help but go back for just a little more. Seriously, this is my last noodle. But really, I'm so full. Ok, just one more. And... commence food coma.

Portland Happy Hour: Davis Street Tavern

2011-11-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

What: Davis Street Tavern
Where: 500 NW Davis Street
When: HH Mon - Fri 4 - 6 pm, Sat & Sun 3 - 5 pm

I wrote a blog post about Davis Street Tavern in March of 2009 that did not properly do it justice. It was before I liked gin. Before I had tried their Champagne Cocktail ($8) and LOVED it. Basically, it was before it had become one of my fav spots in NW Portland.

Since Jen moved to Portland in July I've been talking up DST's happy hour, specifically the mac 'n' cheese. So on Saturday, after checking out the Nordstrom sale and spending sufficient time laying on Jen's couch watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, we finally went to happy hour.

Guess what we ordered first? Cocktails! Jen has never had St. Germaine, so I ordered us the French Pear ($9) with Grey Goose Le Poire, St. Germaine, and lemon, while Jen opted for a Basil Martini ($8) made with Hendrick's gin, basil and lemon. They were just what we needed after our lazy afternoon. Jen tossed around the idea of ordering her martini with vodka, but we were glad she didn't! Hendrick's gin has a cucumber flavor that combined perfectly with the basil and lemon (our waitress described the "flavor profile"). Definitely a drink I would order again!

Choosing HH food was fairly easy. We had already done some pre-HH research and checked out the whole menu online, plus the Velvety Mac 'N' Cheese ($5) with girella pasta and three cheese bechamel was a no brainer.

As mac 'n' cheese lovers we tend to order it a lot, but that's not to say we aren't disappointed from time to time. We do have criteria. I like a mac 'n' cheese that is creamy and not full of extra stuff to make it "fancy," and Jen prefers her's hot. Like steaming, need to blow on it, careful not to burn your tongue, HOT. As expected, this met our standards and maintains it's place as one of my all time favorites.

Sticking with our obvious theme of healthy food we also ordered the Shoe String Fries ($3) served with ketchup and green chili hollandaise and Fish Tacos ($7) with tempura cod, cilantro, lime crema Mexicana. The fries were crispy, salty, and gone by the time we left - yikes! While the fish tacos were fresh and a little spicy.

Following our cocktails we also enjoyed a glass of their Italian White Blend ($5), one of a few HH wine selections. I'd say we made some good decisions! We are already planning to return, hopefully with Jen's mom this weekend!

Portland Happy Hour: Besaw's

2011-11-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

What: Besaw's
Where: 2301 NW Savier St (and 23rd), Nobhill
When: Tuesday-Saturday, 3pm-5pm
Honeys Heart: $3 cocktail of the day

I sometimes have a horrible tendency of thinking that NW 23rd stops North of Lovejoy. Walking down 23rd I typically stop once I make it to Kettleman Bagel Company. It's silly though, because there are many places between Lovejoy and Thurman that are absolutely worth a visit including Lela's Bistro, Casa del Matador, Wildwood, Kenny and Zukes, St. Honore Bakery and Besaw's.

Katie, her sister Kelly, and I went to Besaw's HH to celebrate Kelly's visit to Portland back in July. The HH includes a $3 cocktail of the day. Sort of an amazing deal! We enjoyed two Champagne with Rubarb Reduction ($3) cocktails, which were a perfect celebratory drink.

Other HH drinks at that incredible $3 price are the house red wine, house white wine, and all well cocktails.

The HH menu is a variety of $4 small plate food specials.

We chose the Slow Pork Slider with handcut fries.

This was probably our least favorite, just because the flavor wasn't very interesting. The pork was tender, but I think a delicious sauce would have helped this sandwich out.

Next we shared The Original Mac, which was just that, a traditional combination of elbow macaroni, cream, Tillamook cheddar, and toasted breadcrumbs.

Not surprisingly, this was our favorite.

Finally, we enjoyed a small portion of Spinach Dip with house baked focaccia.

This dip was loaded with spinach, much more than some others I've had, and it was great on the crispy pieces of bread.

I've been back to Besaw's twice since this visit for breakfast and would recommend it. It's always super busy on the weekends, so I would try to hit it up during the weekdays!

Portland Restaurant: Brasserie Montmartre

2011-10-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

What: Brasserie Montmartre

Where: 626 SW Park Ave

When: HH Daily 2 - 6pm

Adam and I try to meet my grandparents for dinner about once a month. My parents where in town recently so it was a perfect opportunity for a family dinner.

We started our meal with a couple cocktails. Adam went for the Henry Miller ($8.50), a whiskey drink of course, with St. Germaine elderberry flower liqueur. Not my cup of tea, (or whiskey rather) but Adam enjoyed it.

My mom and I opted for the Poire Pressée ($7) a house infused double-pear vodka poured tall with ginger ale over ice, finished with Yellow Chartreuse and fresh mint. This sounds like a drink I would love since I'm typically a huge fan of ginger, but I felt like it overpowered all the other flavors.

While sipping our cocktails we also ordered an appetizer special. Something to do with octopus, and delicious things. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was SO good. I could have had just this appetizer for dinner.

After apps it was time for wine, and our main course. Adam, once again being a bit predictable, ordered the Brasserie Burger ($14) a brioche bun, grilled onions, tomato bacon jam, gruyere cheese, pickles, and fries. It was a little pricey and messy, but really good. Plus shoestring fries are amazing.

My dad and grandpa opted for the Roasted Half Chicken ($18) with figs, corn, arugula, pickled peppers and chicken jus. Mmmmm.

I was going back and forth between a couple things on the menu, so luckily for me, my mom and grandma ordered one of them so I could try it! The Idaho Trout ($19) with glazed haricots verts, toaste almonds, and beurre noisette was cooked perfectly. Great choice!

Based on our waiters suggestion, I ordered the special Pork Belly Steak with mushrooms, sauteed spinach, and a delicious sauce. It was a huge portion and although it was good, it was very rich. Definitely something that could have been shared.

It was a good dinner, but I think if I return it will be to try their HH.

Portland Restaurant: Beast

2011-09-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

Up until last Friday, the best meal I had ever eaten at a restaurant was the press dinner I was (probably accidentally) invited to at Craigie on Main last spring. I feasted on squid, eel, crispy pig's tails, perfectly cooked scallops, a bourbon ice torte with bacon crust, hot chocolate with cardamom and homemade almond roca.

After the dinner, I got home and called all my friends, spellbound over the meal I had just eaten. Could it get any better than Tony Maws? I didn't think so.

But then Doug surprised me with one of the best birthday presents ever: dinner at Naomi Pomeroy's Beast. And it was wonderful. Amazing. Spectacular.

I don't like to be on blogger duty during special meals like that one, so I don't have any photos from the evening, but I will share that night's menu as well as the advice to go to Beast if you can. Guaranteed it will be one of best meals you've ever had. It certainly was for me.

BEAST'S MENU FOR FRIDAY, SEPT 23:

End of Summer Tomato-Thyme Soup

Charcuterie Plate:

Foie-Gras Bon-Bon, Sauternes Geleé

Chicken Liver Mousse, Leaf Lard Cracker

Pork Rillettes En Croute

Steak Tartare, Quail Egg Toast

Sweet Sopressata

Lava Lake Lamb Loin Chop

Eggplant, Pepper, & Sheep Cheese Tian

Basil & Mint Sauce Vert

Veal & Duck Demi-Glace

Seared Giant Scallop

Ribbons Of Early Fall Vegetables

Lobster Aioli

Cheeses From Steve At Cheese Bar

Armagnac Poached Prune, Fried Almonds

Cardamom Shortbread

Pistachio Pots De Crème

Huckleberry Gelee

Smoked Salt Tuille

Seattle, WA: Red Mill Burgers, Fremont Brewing Co, Pie, Moshi Moshi, and La Carta de Oaxoca

2011-09-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

In Doug's ongoing quest to try to make me switch my allegiance from The Rose City to the Emerald one (p.s. it ain't gonna happen), he's done a great job of introducing me to some of Seattle's smaller neighborhoods that I hadn't previously visited.

A few weekends ago, we began our day in Seattle with a trip to Red Mill Burgers, a Seattle institution.

What: Red Mill Burgers
Where: 312 N 67th St, Phinney Ridge (1 of 2 locations)
Honeys Heart: Verde Burger

The original Red Mill opened in 1937 and was located in Capitol Hill. That location closed in 1967 but in 1994, a new Red Mill was opened in Phinney Ridge.

Even though Red Mill reopened over 15 years ago, lines are still out the door on weekends. That's how good their burgers are.

Why so good? Well, it might have something to do with the bacon...

Yeah, those are stacks and stacks of it.

Doug and I patiently waited our turn in line and then took our burgers to-go so we could enjoy them here:

Golden Gardens Park. Nice, right?

Anyway, back to the burgers. Doug chose a Bacon Deluxe w/Cheese which comes with pepper bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion, American cheese, and Mill sauce.

You can't tell from the photo, but these burgers are huge. And very delicious.

I chose the Verde Burger with comes with fire-roasted Anaheim peppers, jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion (none for me), and Mill sauce.

I've been a burger purist (bun, meat, and ketchup only) for most of my life and have only recently taken to lettuce, tomatoes and sauce on my burgers, so stepping out of my comfort zone with the Verde Burger was kind of a risk... but it definitely paid off.

This in one of the best burgers I've had in quite some time (yeah, looking at you $20 Craigie on Main burger). I'll definitely be back.

After we had our fill of sun at the beach, Doug and I headed to the Fremont area to hit up Fremont Brewing Company, one of Doug's favorite beer spots in the city.

What: Fremont Brewing Company
Where: 3409 Woodland Park Ave N, Fremont
Honeys Heart: Free pretzels & the "urban beer garden"

Fremont Brewing is cool because their "urban beer garden" sits right in the middle of their brewery. And there's free pretzels- always a plus in my book.

Doug and I opted for samplers.

I might have gotten in trouble for arranging our beers by color for the sake of this photo... and not remembering their original order. But hey, Doug claims to be pretty good at identifying beers by taste so it wasn't really that big of a deal...

What: Pie
Where: 3515 Fremont Ave N, Fremont
Honeys Heart: Apple pie

On our way to the brewery, I had spotted a little pie shop called, fittingly, Pie, so of course I had to check it out after we left the brewery. (Side note: Have you also heard rumblings that pie is the new cupcake? I hope it's true. Pie is obviously infinitely more delicious.)

There, we picked up three mini-mini pies for $4. We chose berry, apple and keylime.

The berry was in trouble to begin with because Doug's mom is the absolute queen of blackberry pies and it's hard for any pie to compete... but Pie's berry was pretty decent. I definitely prefered the keylime to the berry though and the apple was my favorite of the three.

Pie also makes savory pies so maybe give those a try too.

What: Moshi Moshi Sushi
Where: 5324 Ballard Avenue, Ballard
Honeys Heart: Cocktail menu glossary

Our next stop of the day was Moshi Moshi, a sushi place located in Ballard, another cute little Seattle neighborhood.

Moshi Moshi may be a sushi restaurant but they are actually better known for their craft cocktails. Their cocktail list reminded me a lot of Eastern Standard in Boston, another cocktail mecca.

For his cocktail, Doug ordered Death Poem ($12) made with Guatemalan rum, rye, grapefruit, lemon, Aperol, cinnamon bark syrup, and an orange twist. He loved it. I'm not a huge fan of rum so it wasn't my favorite.

I chose Mary Pickford (London Edition) ($10) made with gin, pineapple gum, lime, maraschino, and house grenadine. It reminded me a lot of my go-to cocktail at Eastern Standard, Aviation, so I liked it quite a bit.

I also liked that while Moshi Moshi certainly does use what some might call pretentious ingredients, they tone down the snob factor by including a glossary of ingredients on the back of their cocktail menu.

Nice!

Surprisingly enough (given all the food we'd already eaten that day), after drinks at Moshi Moshi, Doug and I were ready for a late dinner.

What: La Carta de Oaxoca
Where: 5431 Ballard Ave, Ballard
Honeys Heart: Mole

La Carta de Oaxoca is Doug's favorite Mexican spot in Seattle and I can see why. La Carta serves traditional Oaxocan cuisine and they serve it well. Very well, in fact.

We started off with an order of chips and guacamole with salsas from the salsa bar.

Homemade chips are always a good sign...

For our entrees, Doug ordered Moletes, potatoes and beef sausage wrapped in fried homemade tortillas with guac, hot sauce and Oaxaqueno cheese.

They were just as good as they sound. I would order them for myself in a heart beat.

My usual order at Mexican restaurants is a side of rice and beans with tortillas. It may sound odd, but I'm a firm believer that if a Mexican restaurant can't do those three things really well, they have no business serving any food.

But... I decided to break out of my mold and try La Carta's specialty: Mole Negra Oaxaqueno made with black chile mole with chicken or pork (I chose pork) and served with white rice and tortillas.

Now I'm no expert on mole (you'd have to go to my dad for that) but this was delicious. Mole has a lot of strong flavors in it (chiles, chocolate, garlic, etc.) and they were balanced perfectly in this sauce. Great fresh tortillas too. Dad, if we ever get you and Mom up to Seattle, we're going here for sure.

Stay tuned for more Seattle posts coming soon!

Seattle Restaurant and Brewery: Salumi Artisan Cured Meats & Pike Brewing Company

2011-09-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

So this thing happens where sometimes (or usually), Doug forgets that he lives in Portland and likes to plan weekend activities in Seattle. That means that I've been going up to Seattle a lot too. I've made the trip up there about three times in the last month and a half or so.

Of course, I can't really complain. Seattle is an amazing city and Doug has been doing a great job of showing me around. (I'll note here that Doug is of the mindset that Seattle is superior to PDX. He is wrong. But that's for another post...)

My first visit to Seattle started with a beer tour around downtown guided by Doug's friend Matt. You can find out more about the tour, put on by Seattle By Foot, here. I won't go into specifics but I'd highly recommend it if you like beer and random historical facts.

Since we stayed with Doug's parents in Port Orchard, my visit also included some happy hours in nearby towns. Silver City Brewery in Silverdale and Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor are both favorites of Doug's family. Silver City has a great selection of beers (Fat Scotch Ale and Whoop Pass double IPA are Doug's recommendations) and Tide's Tavern has a great view from their patio.

My favorite day of my visit, however, was our day spent in Seattle for a Mariners/Sounders double header.

We decided to forgo lunch purchased at Safeco Field in favor of bringing our own sandwiches from Salumi, another Franz family favorite.

What: Salumi Artisan Cured Meats
Where: 309 3rd Ave S, Pioneer Square, Seattle
Honeys Heart: Wine salami and mole salami

Salumi Artisan Cured Meats is a small storefront belonging to the Batali family (yep, Mario's relatives) that sells salami and cured meat products as well as sandwiches and weekly soup and pasta specials.

There's usually a line wrapped around the corner.

While they do have a large room in the back that you can reserve for specially catered meals, Salumi is pretty small, so plan on grabbing your sandwich to go.

The day we were there, Salumi was featuring three types of salami:
- Salumi Salami (the house salami made with a touch of ginger)
- Mole (spiced with chocolate, cinnamon, ancho and chipotle peppers)
- Wine

After doing a bit of sampling, I opted for a sandwich with wine salami, though the mole was a close second choice.

Salumi stacks their sandwiches with sweet peppers and onions, a parsley & capers spread, a garlic spread, provolone or mozzarella (if you want it) and, of course, salami. So flavorful and delicious!

Doug opted for the special sandwich of the day: Pork Cheeks.

Like me chowing down in the background? Anyway, this sandwich was super tasty, but pork cheeks are a little too fatty for my taste. A bite or two was all I needed.

What: Pike Brewing Company
Where: 1415 1st Ave, Pike Place Market, Seattle
Honeys Heart: Naughty Nelly

Following the Mariners game, we had a few hours to kill before the Sounders game started. Doug and his friends are Sounders season ticket holders so their pre-game drinking rituals are pretty well set. Often they'll begin at Pike Brewing Company (which was also a stop on Matt's pub crawl.)

Pike Brewing Company offers around 13 different beers, all brewed on location. You can learn about them here. My favorite is Naughty Nelly, an American Pale Ale named for Nellie Curtis, madam of the LaSalle Hotel where Pike was founded.

Doug also recommends Monk's Uncle, a tasty Belgian with a super high alcohol content.

Pike also offers a full menu, though the only thing I've ever had on my multiple visits are the nachos which come topped with pepper jack and cheddar cheeses, black bean corn salsa, tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos and your choice of chicken, pork or veggie patties tossed in Pike BBQ sauce.

They're the perfect accompaniment to a pitcher (or two).

Stay tuned for more about my Seattle trips including drinks at the celebrated Moshi Moshi and Seattle's best Chinese food!

Portland Restaurant: Lela's Bistro

2011-09-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

What: Lela's Bistro

Where: 1524 NW 23rd Ave (and Raleigh)

When: Closed Mon, Tues - Sat: 11 - 9pm , Sun: 11 - 3pm

Honeys Heart: Beef Bulgogi Banh Mi

Katie, Jenna and I had a dream to get in really good shape this summer by training for a half marathon that Jenna's mom wants her to run next spring. Our runs started small (well, they're still small but that's not the point) and were a loop down 23rd and up 26th/Westover. We first noticed Lela's Bistro prior to its grand opening and added it to our "must try" list on Katie's phone.

We headed to Lela's the day before Katie's interview on More Good Day Oregon (promoting Dishcrawl) to prep and relax.

Katie and I like to share when exploring a new restaurant so we opted to split two Banh Mi, Vietnamese sub style sandwiches. Lela's Banh Mi varieties are all created on 12" baguettes, with aioli, pickled carrots, cucumbers, onions and cilantro served with a side green salad and scallions with a sesame soy dressing. They start at only $4-quite a steal!

While we were originally leaning towards the Pork Belly ($7), our waitress suggested we opt for the Pork Meatball "Xiu Mai" with ground pork, steamed in a light savory broth. The flavors of this sandwich were more mild than our other selection, but refreshing and delicious.

Our second sandwich was Beef Bulgogi with Kim Chi, a Korean style marinated beef with housemade Kim Chi (slightly spicy, flavorful pickled cabbage, served in lieu of picked carrots). This sandwich was probably our favorite, though they were both great. The beef was really flavorful and tender!

Based on a recommendation from a Portland Monthly Eat Beat article stating that Lela's homemade sodas rivaled that of Pok Pok's drinking vinegars, we both ordered the Lychee Raspberry Fizz which were really unique and light.

To make a great lunch even better, we were able to enjoy our sandwiches and sodas on the patio, in rocking chairs, while doing some people watching.

Check out their whole menu here and follow them on twitter at @LeLasBistro .

Thursday Night Supper: Thai Peanut Pasta

2011-08-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

Jenna got a job at Portland Lutheran (yay Jen!) and, even though kids won't be there until the 31st, has been going to her classroom to do lesson planning, create her syllabus', meet their staff and prepare her classroom. With busy schedules last week we wanted something quick and settled on one of Jen's mom's recipes that we tend to crave.

Our Menu:

Fresh Spring Rolls
Thai Peanut Pasta

Fresh Spring Rolls

In place of a salad we opted for Spring Rolls. We already had a lot of the ingredients, it fit with the peanut style pasta, and I made them at my Thursday Night Supper so I knew they would be fast!

Click here for the ingredient list and instructions.

Thai Peanut Pasta - written by Jenna

This recipe has long been a Jenna and Kelly favorite. Although Felicia (my mom) and Vicki (Kelly's mom) always traded recipes and the made the girls their favorites, Vicki is allergic to peanuts so I always invited Kelly over on Thai Pasta nights (affectionately called Peanut Butter Pasta when we were younger). This was our first time making it ourselves and it went pretty well!

Ingredients:

- 1/3 c. hot water

- 1/3 c. peanut butter

- 2 tsp. soy sauce

- 2 tsp. rice vinegar

- 2 chopped green onions
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 pkg linguine pasta
- 2 chicken breasts
- splash of olive oil
- any desired veggies, we used broccoli, peppers and carrots

Instructions:
Cut chicken breasts into strips and cook over med-high with a little splash of olive oil. Stir and turn chicken regularly until golden colored and cooked through. Should cut easily into pieces and show no pink when cooked.

While chicken is cooking, boil water for pasta, and mix peanut butter, hot water and soy sauce in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix rice vinegar, chopped garlic, sugar and green onions.

Cook other veggies until unthawed if frozen or cooked to desired consistency over med-high heat with a splash of olive oil. While doing this, cook pasta according to package directions.

Finally mix all ingredients together and serve. Enjoy with white wine or the cocktail of your choice!

This recipe serves 6, so double for larger parties or it your want delicious leftovers for lunch!

Thursday Night Supper: Picnic in Washington Park

2011-08-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

Washington Park hosts free concerts throughout the summer, so last Thursday we decided to pack a picnic and hit up a concert in lieu of a more traditional supper.

Our Menu:

Curried Chicken Salad with Lettuce Wraps

Hummus with Carrots, Cucumbers and Pita Chips

Crostini with Caramelized Onions

Fresh Grapes

Fresh Cherries

Oh yeah, and lots of wine...

Curried Chicken Salad (adapted from Epicurious.com)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 lb skinless boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain yogurt
5 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
salt
black pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 firm-ripe mango (3/4 pound), peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup red seedless grapes (5 ounces), halved
head of lettuce, washed

Instructions:

Bring 4 cups water to a simmer with chicken broth in a saucepan. Add chicken and simmer, uncovered, for 6 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cover, then let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a plate and cool 10 minutes. Chop into 1/2-inch pieces.

While chicken is cooling, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, curry, lime juice, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken, onion, mango, grapes, and cashews and stir gently to combine.

Serve in washed lettuce cups.

Crostini with Caramelized Onions:

Ingredients:

butter, melted
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
salt and pepper
1 baguette, sliced

Instructions:

For crostini: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush baguette slices with melted butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake 15-20 minutes.

For caramelized onions: Heat oil in skillet on medium-low. Add onions, cover and cook 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

And the rest is pretty simple. Just pick up some of your favorite hummus and pitas chips as well as fresh cucumbers, baby carrots and cherries. Use your leftover grapes from the chicken salad too.

And don't forget some paper towels or napkins. Those chicken salad wraps can get a bit messy!

Enjoy!

Portland Beer Events You Shouldn't Miss!

2011-08-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right, more beer events this summer in Portland...I know you're all super surprised since BrewFest just happened and that was enough beer and crowds to last you until next summer, but get over it and don't miss these upcoming brewtastic events!

What: Beer 'n' Burgers!
Where: Hollywood Fred Meyer, 3030 NE Wiedler
When: Saturday, August 20th, 12-3pm

Beer and burgers, the perfect combo! Portland Monthly and Fred Meyer are hosting this event to benefit Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. Pay $17 for beer 'n' burger sampling in advance online or $20 at the door. If you don't, or can't, drink beer pay $12 in advance or $15 at the door.

Taste beer from these 10 local breweries and be sure to try the burgers and vote for your favorite. Seven local brewhouse chefs will be competing for the best burger title!

- Deschutes Brewery

- Burnside Brewing Co.

- Bridgeport Brewing

- Henry's Tavern

- Widmer Brothers Brewing

- Laurelwood Brewing

- Alameda Brewhouse

- Full Sail Brewing

- Buckman Brewing

- Ninkasi Brewing

A little more on the nonprofit, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. Their mission is to support the Oregon Hunger Task Force with a goal to end hunger by focusing on the root causes, primarily build families' economic stability so that all Oregonians can have the ability to provide and access to a balance, healthy meal. 100% of the net proceeds are going to Summer Meals Program, so sip on beer, sample burgers and know that while you're filling up, you're helping Oregonians in need do the same!

What: PDX Beer Week
When: August 19th - 28th

Apparently Portland has the most breweries in the world, and a lot of enthusiastic beer drinkers, so what is a great way to explore the craft beer community? Dedicate a week to events that help you do just that. PDX Beer Week is basically a 10-day party celebrating Portland and the surrounding region's achievement, and downright passion, for beer!

Start the party off right by hitting up the PDX Beer Week Kick Off Party on August 19th at The Horse Brass Pub (4535 SE Belmont St.) Show up at 5pm and stay until close!

Some other events that we might suggest checking out:

- Katie has had a few of the unique, and amazing, creations from Salt & Straw, an Alberta Street favorite and I'm sure the 5 Beer Ice Creams they have developed for this event will not dissapoint! Check them out Monday through Friday.

- As ladies, we have to promote the August 20th, "The Love of Beer" Premier at Bagdad Theater. This documentary showcases the women of the craft beer industry. Enjoy $3 beers from Deschutes Brewery and Bend Brewing while hearing from a panel of awesome women in the Oregon craft beer scene, followed by the film!

- Ok, we love sushi and Jen has got us hooked on sake bombs, but mix it up with a Beer and Sushi Pairing at Roscoe's on the 22nd. YUM.

- We are totally fans of a good brunch and typically enjoy it with a mimosa, or two, but in honor of PDX Beer Week we suggest hitting up East Burn on the 28th for Ninkasi Brewers Brunch. Brunch is awesome, beer is awesome, so enjoy them at the same time! Tickets are $30 and you get three brunch plates and beer pairing.

There are a TON more events so check out the entire schedule here at the PDX Beer Week website.

Of course, all good things come to an end, so don't miss the Closing Street Party at Bazi Bierbrasserie on Hawthorne Street on the 28th. Lots of different brews, some Salt & Straw ice cream and a damn good time. Have fun!

Portland Restaurant: Dan & Louis Oyster Bar

2011-08-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

What: Dan & Louis Oyster Bar
Where: 208 SW Ankeny St.
When: Mon-Thurs, 11-9pm, Fri-Sat, 11-2am, and Sun 12-9pm

As an early celebration for my Papa's 82nd birthday my parents took Mimi, Papa, Adam and I out for dinner at Dan & Louis Oyster Bar. After fighting downtown Portland traffic, parking, walking through, and consequently breathing in, some serious Portland Old Town garbage/street smells, and taking ibuprofen for my never ending headache, we arrived at our destination.

Dan & Louis Oyster Bar is an Old Town landmark that opened it's doors in 1907. Over 100 years later, it continues to be family owned by the fifth generation of the Wachsmuth family. With quite a reputation and over 100 years in the biz we expected something exceptional.

Dad, Papa, Mimi, Adam and I all started with Oysters On The Half Shell ($21.50 dozen). My mom is not a fan, but the rest of us were pleased with our Nisqually oysters. They are on the smaller end, but not as tiny as the kumamoto oysters I had during my previous visit.

Oh, my Mom, Mimi and I also started with Lemon Drops ($7). Nothing compared to Perry's, but enjoyable.

Adam ordered a bowl of the Clam Chowder ($7.50), which seems appropriate since it's his most recent food obsession (other than nightly sushi). Served with oyster crackers and bread, Adam's clam chowder hit the spot!

Papa, like Adam, wanted a sure favorite and ordered the Oyster Stew ($7.50 single portion). He had been looking forward to it since this is a stew you can't get just anywhere and he had no plans of making at home, but ultimately he felt the stew was "not bad, but not quite as good as I thought I remembered. Neither was the restaurant as a whole."

Overwhelmed by the menu my mom and I decided to each order different things and share. I went for a cup of the Clam Chowder ($4.50) and the Dungeness Crab Cakes ($15.50) off the appetizer menu, while my mom ordered the Calamari ($16.50) with asparagus and shrimp salad. The calamari was alright, but I don't think my mom or I felt like, for $16.50, it was the best plate of calamari we'd ever had.

The clam chowder was hearty and delicious. The crab cakes were good, and by that I mean fried, but I tend to like chunks of crab meat so I feel like I'm getting some serious, real, crab. Also, they were in the most perfect round, smooth, balls. They seemed unreal and I can't help but wonder how they get them that perfect?

The shrimp salad came with the calamari and was really simple. Like the Dungeness Crab & Bay Shrimp Louis ($13.50 half, $22.50 full) that my dad and Mimi opted for, the mixed greens were of a bagged nature. The menu states that the salads are served with "Fresh Romaine," but they instead they were an overwhelming amount of mixed greens that overpowered the less than generous amount of crab. Unfortunately, not the best crab or shrimp louis' this group has had.

Here's the deal. The first thing Mimi and my dad said when they sat down was that this is the place their dad's each liked to come for a delicious specialty that they didn't get at home. So, the history is definitely there, but they need to step it up. There are so many restaurants in Portland that turn out great food at great prices and this isn't living up the expectations of people that used to go there. The consensus was that there is a feeling of nostalgia around Dan & Louis, but it just wasn't as good as everyone had hoped, or remembered.

Still, it could be worth checking out for a cup of chowder and oysters. Maybe hit up their HH Monday through Friday from 4-6pm.

HAPPY HOUR MENU

Oysters on the Half Shell

$15.95 Dozen

Cajun Fried Oysters

$3.95

Garlic Parmesan Fries

$2.95

Oyster Sliders

$1.95 Each or $4.95 for 3

1/2 LB Cheeseburger

$3.95

Fish Tacos

$1.95 each or $2.95 for 2

Portland Happy Hour: Bread and Ink Cafe

2011-08-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

What: Bread and Ink Cafe
Where: SE Hawthorne & 36th
When: Mon - Sat 3:30 - 6:30pm HH, Sun 3:00 - 6:30 HH
Honeys Heart: Raspberry Lavender Lemon Drop

Last week I had back to back babysitting on the Eastside so Jen, Michael and Adam met me for HH on SE Hawthorne in between. Jen and I met at Bread and Ink Cafe at 4:30 (notice the empty restaurant photo above) and started our extended HH by sharing a Raspberry Lavender Lemon Drop ($6.50).

We sipped our cocktail, which was my favorite item we ordered, and perused the menu, ultimately deciding we would be happy to eat anything on it.

Adam arrived next and, being a sucker for anything that even resembles strawberry or raspberry lemonade, ordered the same drink. Since Jen and I had already been sitting there for half an hour, we ordered the Hummus Plate ($4.50) to share. It was fresh and the hummus was really good, but I always feel like I could do this at home, so why buy it?

Michael finally made it back to Portland after a day of work in Salem and we were able to really get started. Michael opted for a couple Mojitos ($6.50) which he somehow managed to finish before I was able to get a sip, but he claims they were really good.

For the rest of our dinner we shared the Black Bean Cakes ($4.50), two orders of the Bacon Provolone Basil Sandwich ($5.25) and some Cheesy Home Fries with Grilled Onions ($3.75).

Next to the drink, my favorite item was the bacon provolone basil sandwich. It was a normal size portion for HH prices and something I would be inspired to recreate at home with my panini maker.

The black bean cakes were slightly disappointing for both Jen and I, though Michael thought they were super tasty. We had hoped they would be a little chunkier and crunchier. Good flavor, but not totally impressed.

Still not completely satisfied, Michael tried to get another order of the black bean cakes, but we convinced him to go with something new. The cheesy home fries with grilled onions were definitely super cheesy! Honestly who isn't going to like potatoes and cheese, but once again I was left feeling like I could make this at home.

As we finished up the cheesy fries a table near us was getting their HH order and I realized we did this all wrong.

This is what we ordered:

Cheesy home fries with grilled onions ($3.75)
Bacon provolone basil sandwich ($5.25)
Black bean cakes ($4.50)
Hummus plate ($4.50)

But, by the end of the meal I decided that this is what we should have ordered:

Grilled asparagus with herbed chevre ($4.75)
Gnocchi verde ($5)
Five grilled Gulf shrimp ($4.75)
Curried chicken with cardamom rice ($5.75)

Well, maybe we could keep the bacon provolone basil sandwich, and of course the drinks, on the list. Everything we ordered was good, just simple, so if I return I would go with some different items. It was inexpensive, the service was great and overall a pleasant break between kids!

Thursday Night Supper: Brunch for Dinner

2011-08-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, we made dinner at my house again, but this time Katie and I created and executed the menu. After spending the day working for Boogie Wipes, Katie and I originally planned a small plates style dinner, but then we remembered we didn't want to spend very much money and we didn't want to make 5 different things.

Instead, we decided on Brunch for dinner which included German pancakes (or Dutch babies), bacon (with option of an egg sandwich), fruit skewers and, of course, mimosas. Inexpensive, easy, and delicious.

German Pancakes

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 5 eggs
- 4 tbs butter

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put butter in a 9x14" pan and put in the oven to melt.

Beat together flour, milk, and eggs.

Check the butter occasionally to make sure it's not getting too browned, then once the oven has reached 425 pull your pan out and add the flour, milk, and egg mixture. Put the pan back in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Take it out of the oven, cut it up and enjoy!

Fruit Skewers

Katie was recently inspired by Jello Shot Test Kitchen's fruit and jello skewers so she thought this would be a cute spin on serving fruit rather than just throwing it all in a bowl. Fruit is always tasty and this presentation does give it a little something special. And best part, so easy!

Ingredients:
- Fruit
- Skewers

Instructions:
Pick out the fruit you want, wash and cut (if needed.) In our case we chose raspberries, blueberries, honeydew melon, and cantaloupe.

Skewer and serve!

Bacon

Ingredients:
- Bacon

So this one is pretty obvious and I'm not even going to write out any steps. Either bake it at 425 for 12 minutes, or fry it up in a pan! To make an egg sandwich (which Adam opted for) just fry an egg in a little of the bacon grease and put on a toasted english muffin with a slice of cheddar cheese and of course, bacon.

Mimosas

For mimosas, we've recently been inspired to change it up with different types of juice other than the traditional orange juice. So far my absolute favorite is fresh grapefruit juice, but last Thursday we tried it with raspberry lemonade which was pretty tasty.

Ingredients:
- Champagne
- Fruit juice (your choice!)

Instructions:
Pour a good amount of champagne into your glass, we just went with normal wine glasses instead of smaller champagne flutes. Also, there's no need to buy expensive champagne. We use cooks because it's the cheapest and we seem to go through these rather quickly!

Add a splash of your favorite juice, garnish with fruit and enjoy!

See you next week!

Portland Happy Hour: Cruzroom

2011-08-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

What: Cruzroom
Where: 2338 NE Alberta St.
When: Sun-Thurs, 4:30-6:30pm and Fri & Sat, 4-6:30pm
Honeys Heart: Pork belly taco ("Green Acres")

So, surprise! Doug came back from Guatemala two weeks early!

To celebrate, we headed out to Cruzroom on NE Alberta (which, not coincidentally, is also one of the stops on my first Dishcrawl) for some happy hour tacos.

We started out with drinks. Cruzroom is big on infusions and during happy hour they're only $4.

I'm currently on a spicy-drink kick, so I opted for the "Deathstar" Ancho Chili-Apple Vodka mixed with ginger ale.

Bad call on my part. I guess I forgot that I don't like spirits flavored with apple. Also, ancho chilis are actually pretty mild so I didn't get that kick I was looking for either. And, if I did ever order this drink again, I wouldn't do it on a hot, summer day. It's much more suited for late autumn or winter.

Doug tried the "Colonel Potter" Double Fig Scotch mixed with 7UP. I was worried that 7 UP might be too sweet to pair with the fig scotch but it was actually pretty delicious. Good choice, Doug.

For food, we started with some Titos ($4): made-to-order tortilla chips tossed in asiago cheese and pico de gallo spice with a side of guajillo salsa and cheese sauce.

Loved that the chips were homemade and the combo of asiago cheese and pico de gallo spice was tasty and unique.

Happy hour tacos are only $2. I tried the Green Acres ($2) with roasted pork belly and apple-vinaigrette slaw topped with cotija cheese and the Broken Bean ($2) made with Halloumi cheese fried extra crispy and served over citrus black beans and topped with a roasted corn and chipotle salsa.

I love anything with pork belly so the Green Acres was the obvious favorite. However, the Broken Bean was also very tasty. I was surprised to find that they used the tortilla as a little bowl, but it worked. The crispy cheese was delicious and nicely complimented by the citrus-y black beans.

Doug ordered the Phuket ($2) with marinated Thai lemongrass chicken fried with a splash of coconut milk and topped with a peanut Asian slaw, the Green Meanie ($2) with slow braised pulled pork in a green tomatillo chili sauce topped with a roasted tomatillo poblano chili slaw and the Green Acres ($2).

He liked the pork belly best ("it's one of the best tacos I've ever had") and liked the Thai one as well. The pulled pork taco was good too, but being the most traditional, it wasn't quite as exciting as the other tacos we tried.

Overall, Doug and I very much enjoyed the food at Cruzroom. As Doug was quick to point out (being an expert about these things), most of the tacos are not at all authentic... but they're still delicious. I'll definitely be back both with Dishcrawl and on my own.

Thursday Night Supper: Sushi and Spring Rolls

2011-08-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

The first Thursday Night Supper was at Adam's and my house, and we felt the pressure to create a fun, memorable, and delicious dinner. For weeks, Adam has been wanting to make sushi since he swears he could eat only sushi for the rest of his life.

We decided to try it, and figured we should do it right! So we wandered to Beaverton to hit up Uwajimaya, a "quality Asian grocery" since they were sure to have everything we needed.

Our appetizer was fresh spring rolls. I always order them when we go for Thai food and I figured if Adam was going to attempt sushi, I could do spring rolls. Turns out, they're really easy!

SPRING ROLLS

Ingredients:
- Rice Paper
- Vermicelli noodles (or "Rice Sticks")
- Tofu, extra firm
- Green leaf lettuce
- Fresh basil
- Fresh Cilantro
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Peanut Sauce

Instructions:
Cook the vermicelli noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes, strain and run under cold water.

Cut tofu into strips about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the cucumber and carrots into strips, wash the lettuce and chop the cilantro and basil.

Saute the tofu for a few minutes on each side until slightly crispy with a little olive oil, or for more flavor mix in some sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger.

Fill a bowl with warm water and place one rice paper in until soft. Take the rice paper out (and put another in) and lay on a damp kitchen towel.

Fill the rice paper with all your fixings. Roll it up, cut in half, and serve with peanut sauce!

SUSHI

Ingredients:
- Short grain rice (Sushi rice)
- Seasoned rice vinegar
- Nori
- Shrimp
- Avocado
- Cucumber
- Sushi grade tuna
- Sesame seeds
- Wasabi
- Pickled Ginger
- Soy Sauce
- Bamboo rolling mat

Instructions:
Cook the rice according to the package directions. When cooked, pour the rice out on a cookie sheet and fan while sprinkling with a few tablespoons of seasoned rice vinegar. Avoid buying the plain rice vinegar, because then you'll have to make it seasoned with sugar and salt.

Once the rice has cooled, lay out a sheet of nori (the seaweed flat square) on the bamboo rolling mat. Leaving an inch on each end, place a thin layer of rice over the nori.

Lay your desired ingredients for that roll in a strip on the end closest to you. In our case we did a few rolls with shrimp, avocado, and cucumber and a few with raw tuna and cucumber. Mostly we just mixed and matched!

Roll it up, tightly, and using a serrated knife with a little water on it cut into pieces.

Place the rolls on a plate and serve with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce.

Other sushi roll ideas if you aren't comfortable handling the raw fish could be California rolls with crab or using smoked salmon with a little cream cheese and cucumber.

Also, a couple bonus tips: If you want the rice on the outside, lay down a sheet of plastic wrap over the bamboo sheet. And if you're a fan of some spicy mayo, just mix mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce. So easy!

Of course each meal needs a good DRINK!

Ingredients:
- Pok Pok Som pomegranate
- Club soda
- Gin

For this Thursday night, I (well really Katie made them!) recreated the drink that Katie and I had at Ping. We wanted the rhubarb, but that isn't sold "retail" so pomegranate was the next best option.

Instructions:
Mix 1.5 - 2 ounces gin, a little Pok Pok Som (depending on how much flavor you prefer), then fill cup with ice and club soda.

Enjoy!

Happy Hour Honeys Reunite at Ping Happy Hour!

2011-07-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

What: Ping
Where: NW 4th and Couch
When: Tues - Sat 2 - 5:30 pm HH, Tues - Sat 11 am - 10 pm
Honeys Heart: Pok Pok Som

Katie made it through her cross-country road trip, is all moved into her apartment (after a week of being roomies with me again!) and has been working for an awesome new start up - check it out here! So now that everything has settled down, we finally made it to a happy hour. Both a celebratory HH and work meeting - multi-tasking at it's finest - we enjoyed Ping with Katie Burgess, a friend from UP and our favorite Portland Monthly account executive.

Ping was opened in 2009 by Pok Pok's Andy Ricker and a team of impressive Portland peeps including Kurt Hoffman, W+K's executive creative director John Jay, and style consultant Janet Jay. Basically, this sister restaurant had some high expectations to meet.

As you might have guessed, as Pok Pok's sister restaurant, Ping also features Asian-inspired dishes. Owner Andy Ricker described Ping as,"Southeast Asian drinking food - Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese with a definite emphasis on Malaysian/Singaporean stuff." Read more from the founding team here.

Reviews for the spot have been mixed, but we enjoyed our first Ping experience.

To get things going, we ordered the Salted Lime Tom Collins ($5.) Both fans of an original Tom Collins, Katie and I felt that the addition of salt made the drink more interesting, but it wasn't necessarily thirst-quenching since the saltiness begged to be washed down with something, well, less salty.

Like usual, the three of us shared a selection of items off the small plate style menu. First to arrive was the Salapao ($3), a Thai-style steamed bun stuffed with sweet shredded pork and fried shallots. Apparently we were hungry since we finished it before realizing we neglected to take a photo, but no worries, it was one of our favorite items so we ordered another!

Our second favorite from our selection was the Kobayashi Dog ($5), a beef frank grilled with teriyaki, and served with wasabi mayo, cucumber relish, bonito flakes and toasted nori. The large bun slightly overwhelmed this hot dog, but the wasabi mayo added great spice while the cucumber relish was fresh and crunchy. We were glad to have shared it, but for $5 it's definitely a great option if you're ordering solo.

It was about time for another cocktail, but we needed to try something new. We all opted for a well drink with Pok Pok Som drinking vinegar ($5.50)!

This was such a unique, simple and delicious drink we went back and bought some Pok Pok Som the next day (for Thursday Night Dinner!) Based on suggestions from our waitress, I ordered the tequila lychee, Katie went for the gin rhubarb, and Katie B. selected the vodka passion fruit combination. All of them were great depending on your preferred type of liquor, but we decided Katie's combination of gin and rhubarb was amazing!

In addition to our second round of cocktails, we also enjoyed the Wild-Caught Gulf Prawn Skewer ($2 each) and the Roti Dhal ($3.) The prawn skewer was simple and could easily be replicated at home, but with three shrimps on each skewer, it was fairly priced and tasty. A fun component of this dish is the "do-it yourself dipping sauce" where you squeeze the lime wedge into a dish of salt and pepper, then stir. Simple, good and like I said, easy to replicate!

The Roti Dhal is Malaysian flat bread served with yellow lentil curry. This was probably my least favorite dish and I wouldn't order it again, but Katie B. was a big fan. For me, the dish was bland, but perhaps my over consumption of salt has affected my palette!

Ping's HH is affordable, offering good food and drinks with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. It's a nice place to meet up with friends or family to enjoy a communal dining experience and try something different. I've heard good things about the Spicy Mama Ramen ($6)!

So glad to have Katie back in Portland with me and I have a feeling we'll be hitting up a lot more of Portland's HH's now that we're reunited!

Introducing Thursday Night Suppers!

2011-07-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

Problem: So this thing happened where Kelly and I realized that even though we're kinda good (ok, kinda awesome) at making drinks, we don't really know our way around the kitchen when liquor is not involved. Shoot.

But don't worry, we're pretty awesome at problem-solving too and we came up with a solution: Thursday Night Suppers.

Each Thursday, one of our three "member" households (Kelly & Adam, Jenna & Michael, and me &... me?) is responsible for making dinner and a complementary drink.

Every Monday, we'll post the recipes for both the dinner items and drinks we made.

Fun for us and educational for everybody.

Check back on Monday for recipes from our first Thursday Night Dinner: Sushi Night w/ Kel & Adam!

Cross-Country Road Trip, Part II- Nashville, KY: Southern Bred, Kansas City, MO: Oklahoma Joe's and Denver, CO: Biker Jim's

2011-07-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

Read Part I here.

It's been awhile, so to recap: My parents and I loaded up a U-Haul in Boston and drove my stuff cross-country to Portland. We drove down through D.C. to Charleston, SC and that's where we left off...

Day 4: Columbia, SC to Paduca, KY

Stopped in Nashville for a "meat & three" dinner.

What: Southern Bred
Where: 1048 East Trinity Lane, Nashville, KY
Honeys Heart: Bread platter

When I was doing research about restaurants in Nashville, I kept coming across the descriptor "meat and three." I had never heard that before but "meat and three" refers to a plate where you get to pick one meat and three sides. Makes sense.

The meat and three we tried was a restaurant a little off the beaten path called Southern Bred. Our meal kicked off with Southern Bred's signature complimentary bread platter featuring cornbread, biscuits and rolls. Really, I could have just had that platter (or maybe two of them) for my dinner and been perfectly happy. Loved the cornbread, loved the biscuits, loved the rolls. Sorry Mom and Dad for eating way more than my share of those...

And now we'll get the not-so-good out of the way before we head back to the delicious. I had chicken and dumplings earlier on the trip when we stopped at a Cracker Barrel and was surprised that I actually liked it (you know, it being from a chain restaurant and all) so I wanted to try the dish again at a better place. Bad choice.

Southern Bred's version of Chicken n' Dumplings ($9) was a few small pieces of chicken and those biscuits I loved so much from the bread platter drenched completely in the thickest, stickiest white sauce you can imagine. My strategy was to dig a piece of chicken or biscuit out and attempt to shake/wipe off some of the sauce but damn, that stuff was like glue. I overheard some other customers saying how much they love Southern Bred's chicken and dumplings but I really could not stomach more than a few bites. Bet Paula Deen would have loved it though, it was that fatty.

But on to better things. My mom opted for a "meat and two" instead of a meat and three and ordered Fried Chicken with Green Beans and Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes ($8).

The fried chicken was nice and moist on the inside and crispy on the outside and we all loved the sweet potatoes. The green beans were a little overcooked for my taste but I think that's just how they do 'em down South.

My dad ordered the Fried Catfish with Steamed Broccoli with Almonds and Mashed Potatoes & Gravy ($8).

The catfish was very tasty and my dad and I are always fans of a good mashed potato. Nothing too special but definitely satisfying.

Southern Bred was certainly not my favorite food stop of our trip, but it was a great introduction to a tradtional "meat and three." Also, I need that bread platter in my life. Always.

Day 5: Paduca, KY to Colby, KS

Kansas City BBQ for lunch

What: Oklahoma Joe's
Where: 3002 W 47th Ave, Kansas City, KS
Honeys Heart: Baked beans

Kansas City barbecue was what I was most excited for on our road trip and Oklahoma Joe's did not disappoint.

Oklahoma Joe's has won so many barbecue awards over the years that it's kind of ridiculous but I think my parents were a little wary of my choice at first because the restaurant is actually housed in a gas station.

These signs might have helped them feel a little better about my choice:

Yeah, they deal with super long lines on a daily basis. Luckily, we got to the restaurant around 3pm so we didn't have to wait at all. Sweet!

My mom and I both ordered the house specialty, Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($4.99). This was some of the best pulled pork I've ever had. Nice smokey flavor, so tender and complimented perfectly by Joe's sweet Cowtown Barbecue Sauce.

We also shared a side of BBQ Beans ($2.19). Best decision ever.

They might not look like much but let's just say my mom was seriously considering licking the bowl... and I didn't blame her. These beans were the perfect combo of smokey and sweet. So, so good.

I had read that Joe's serves great Fries ($2.55) too so of course we had to try some.

Delicious as well. The seasoning added a nice little kick and they were perfectly cooked.

Next to Husk, Oklahoma Joe's was my favorite stop of the trip.

Oh, yeah. And we passed by the St. Louis Arch on our way through Missouri to Kansas. Pretty cool.

Day 6: Colby, KS to Evanston, WY

Lunch in Denver

What: Biker Jim's
Where: 2148 Larimer St
Honeys Heart: Caramelized onions and cream cheese on a "Wild Boar" hot dog

Located right down the street from Coors Field, Biker Jim's started out as a hot dog cart. The cart gained such a huge following (it held the prestige of being the highest ranked restaurant in Denver on Yelp even as a food cart) that Biker Jim decided it was time to open a restaurant- and I'm glad he did.

At Biker Jim's, first you choose your hot dog. My dad picked Elk Jalapeno Cheddar, I tried Wild Boar with Apricots and Cranberries and my mom played it safe with a traditional All-Beef.

Then you choose a topping. My dad and I both went with Biker Jim's classic topping: caramelized onions and cream cheese.

I had never heard of the combo of caramelized onions and cream cheese on a hot dog so when I tried it on my super delicious "wild boar" I was immediately convinced that Biker Jim was a culinary genius. I was informed later that Seattle's been topping their hot dogs the same way for years and years and so Jim is not quite the visionary I thought. But who cares... it was still crazy good.

We also got some sides: Fries, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Chips.

The chips were my favorite and I could have done without the fried green tomatoes. The fries were good too.

Here's a shot of our view driving into Evanston, WY. Pretty!

Day 7: Evanston, WY to Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City was my last stop on the trip... had to hit up Leslie and Ian's wedding, but my parents were awesome enough to continue all the way to Portland with my stuff and put it into storage. I know, they're pretty much the best ever and I'm so glad we got to take a trip across the country together.

And just in case you were wondering, my parents celebrated the end of their 8-day trip with some drinks at Hubers in Portland. Cheers, Mom and Dad! Those margaritas were very much deserved!.

Cross-Country Road Trip, Part I- Washington, D.C.: Tortilla Cafe & Charleston, SC: Husk

2011-07-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

Surprise! (or not...). It's back to Portland for this honey!

A month or so ago (yeah, been slacking on posting a little) my parents met me in Boston, helped me load up a U-Haul with all my stuff, and drove me across the country to my new/old home: Portland, OR.

I know, they're pretty much the best parents ever. (Thanks again, Mom & Dad!!)

It was definitely a long week. Especially because this is what the inside of the U-Haul cab looked like:

Yours truly had the honor of sitting in that baby bucket seat for most of the trip... fun!

But actually, it was fun. We definitely had some mishaps along the way (ever drive a 11ft-clearance truck under a 9ft-clearance bridge?) and some super long days of driving, but we also got to visit lots of places we'd never been to and ate lots of good food.

Here's a breakdown of our days with more info on our favorite stops:

Day 1: Boston, MA to Wilmington, DE.
Applebee's for dinner in New Jersey. The shame!

Day 2: Wilimgton, DE to Fayetteville, NC.
Stopped in Washington D.C. for lunch.

What: Tortilla Cafe
Where: 210 7th St SE, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
Honeys Heart: Plantains

I was hoping to take the parentals to Good Stuff Eatery, but unfortunately it's closed on Sundays. Boo. But after some quick Yelp research, we determined Tortilla Cafe would be a good replacement.

Tortilla Cafe serves Mexican and Salvadorian food and, much to my mom's delight, has also been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

All three of us opted for the Pupusa Platter ($6.29) which comes with 2 pupusas (corn tortillas filled with cheese or pork and cheese, your choice) and 2 sides.

I've been kind of obsessed with pupusas ever since Gab's mom taught us how to make them in Spanish class senior year (say "pupusa" outloud- fun huh?) and these did not disappoint. However, I think it was the side of plantains that really stole the show. My mom made the mistake of ordering rice and beans as her 2 sides and my dad and I had to fight her off to keep her from eating all our delicious, caramelized plantains. I think she found her new favorite fruit...

And of course we couldn't leave D.C. without visiting my favorite cupcake place of all time (yep, it's official), Baked & Wired.

This time around we tried the Smurfette (vanilla cake with fresh blueberries and lemon buttercream frosting), the Mocha (chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting) and The Tessita (vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling and chocolate-hazelnut satin icing).

Really, a lot of cupcake places could take a lesson from Baked & Wired in terms of both texture and taste. All three cupcakes were perfectly moist and oh-so flavorful. I just looked to see if they ship their cupcakes. Doesn't look like it. I am devastated.

Day 3: Fayetteville, SC to Columbia, SC.
Stopped in Charleston for lunch and a horse-drawn carriage tour.

What: Husk
Where: 76 Queen St, downtown Charleston, SC
Honeys Heart: Smoked Bacon Cornbread

My mom heard about Husk both in Everyday with Rachel Ray and on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Turns out it was opened by James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock and it's kind of a big deal. I can see why.

At the time we ate there, I had just finishing reading Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, so I was especially excited to find that Husk is all about providing high-quality southern-inspired food using the freshest of local ingredients. In fact, Husk's website states that "Brock crafts menus throughout the day, responding to what local purveyors are supplying the kitchen at any given moment." Love that.

I also loved the decor. Simple, elegant and homey all at the same time. Perfect.

My dad and I started off by ordering some local beers. I tried Starr Hill's The Love. Great hefeweizen.

My dad opted for Williamsburg AleWerks's Chesapeake Pale Ale. This was our favorite of the two.

As far as food, we knew we couldn't eat at Husk without trying their famous Smoked Bacon Skillet Cornbread. This, my friends, is what heaven tastes like. I'm sure of it. The smokey-bacon flavor permeated the perfectly cooked cornbread creating an amazing combo of smokey, salty, sweet. Seriously, my mouth is watering like crazy right now. You need to try this.

For our main courses, I tried the Cornmeal Dusted NC Catfish ($12) with hot sauce butter and succotash. The hot sauce butter was not my favorite but I loved the catfish and the succotash.

My dad tried Mark Marhefka’s Grouper ($13) with herb butter and broccoli. I ate as much of it as my dad would let me.

My mom ordered the Smoky Pork Po’ Boy ($10) with buttermilk cheddar and Husk Chow Chow (Southern pickle relish). This was very tasty too.

We also ordered a side of Anson Mills Grits ($15) with Carolina Mushrooms and TN Cheddar. These grits were much thicker than grits I've had before, a plus in my book, and were so richly flavorful thanks to both the mushrooms and the cheddar.

Looking back, our decadent lunch at Husk was probably my favorite meal of the trip. If you are ever in Charleston, it should be on the top of your list.

Coming up next in Part II: A "meat and three" in Nashville, Kansas City BBQ, and Biker Jim's famous hot-dogs.

Guatemala, Part II: San Pedro/Lake Atitlan and Antigua

2011-06-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Read Part I: Coban, Lanquin, Semuc Champey and Xela here.

Before we hit the road again, Doug and I started our third day in Xela with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast:

Breakfast usually includes eggs, refried beans, corn tortillas, plantains and a piece of local cheese. The sausage on this plate was a little something special. The tortillas were probably my favorite part. Loved that they were so fresh and thicker than you find in the States.

After breakfast, it was time to start the trek out to the beautiful Lake Atitlan. We had been splurging (if a few extra bucks counts as splurging) on nicer Greyhound-ish buses but Doug thought I needed a true Guatemalan travel experience and decided we should take a chicken bus for the first leg of our travels.

Chicken buses come in the form of school buses that have been given a very colorful coat of paint. They get their name from the fact that Guatemalans often use them to transport live animals, including chickens. Three people to a seat is the usual—Guatemalans don't mind getting a little (or a lot) cozy.

We took our chicken bus to Panajachel (aka Pana), a small town on Lake Atitlan, and then hopped on a boat for a 45 minute-ride across Lake Atitlan to San Pedro la Laguna, another small town.

A touristy town, San Pedro tends to attract the "hippy" brand of traveler. The town is filled with cobblestone streets and winding little alleyways that, though charming, made it difficult for me to get my bearings. Good thing Doug had been to San Pedro several times previously and knew his way around.

After checking into our hostel, it was time for some drinks. First stop, The Buddha Bar for a beer.

The Buddha Bar offers pool tables, bench seating and a large bar downstairs with more seating and big, open windows on the second floor. After Xela's chilly nights, the more tropical climate in San Pedro was a nice change.

Our next stop was a lake-front hotel for sangria on their patio.

Beautiful view but the place was buzzing with little gnats. Let's just say our sangria definitely came with a little extra protein in it... gross.

By then it was time for some dinner at Hummus Ya, an Israeli restaurant also located on the waterfront. Fun fact: many young Israelis come to Lake Atitlan after finishing their mandatory military service, so there are quite a few Israeli restaurants and it's not uncommon for signs to be written in Hebrew. Huh.

After din, it was back to The Buddha Bar for some very sad attempts at playing pool. Mostly by me.

Our second day in San Pedro started with some kayaking on Lake Atitlan.

Kinda fun but I'm an idiot and forgot to put sunscreen on my left shin. Major burn. Oops.

After all that paddling, we needed some sustenance so we enjoyed some Por Que No-like tacos at a small taco restaurant...

... followed by a freshly-made smoothie from a little street-side stand.

Since there's not a whole lot going on in San Pedro on a Monday, we spend the rest of the day bumming around the free local public pool which boasted its own full bar. Sweet.

After two days in San Pedro, it was time to hop on yet another bus, this time to our final destination: Antigua.

Doug described Antigua to me as the Disney version of Guatemala and I think that's certainly accurate.

It's the only city where I saw tourists who were pushing 40 and up and though it was certainly picturesque, menus in English and a dearth of dining options offering traditional Guatemalan food do take away from the fun of visiting another country.

We ate a quick lunch at Luna De Miel, a crepe place, and spent the rest of the day walking around the city unsuccessfully searching for souvenirs for my mom (although she does not really deserve them seeing as how she has yet to frame and hang the paintings I got her on Mykonos last summer.)

We stopped for dinner at an Italian place followed by a round at Reilly's Irish Tavern. Yeah, not so Guatemala-y but oh well.

Our final stop of the night was a little bar that featured a secret (kind of) mezcal tasting room. When we entered the bar, I could see through some small windows that there was a second room but there was no obvious way to get into it. Since Doug's all knowledgeable and such, he knew that you enter through an inconspicuous little door that required us to duck down low to get through it. Tricky!

The next morning it was back on the bus for me for a quick ride to the airport in Guatemala City.

Obviously, the parts of Guatemala that I saw were more touristy areas, but I really enjoyed my visit and hope that I get to see more of Central America in the future!

Alameda Restaurant: Burma Superstar

2011-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Guatemala Part II coming soon...

In the meantime, check out this post by Lauren (of Sugar Coated Sisters) about our recent tasty lunch at Burma Superstar.

Guatemala, Part I: Coban, Lanquin, Semuc Champey and Xela.

2011-06-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I made the trip down to Guatemala to visit my friend Doug (check out his blog here). Doug is interning for Semilla Nueva, an organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture development, but he took the week off to show me around the country.

I should probably let you know from the beginning that we were not very good about taking pictures of our meals. Oops. So this is going to be more of a "look at what I saw" than a "look at what I ate" post.

Let's get started:

Doug met me at the airport in Guatemala City and, since Guatemala City is not a very safe place for anyone, let alone gringos like ourselves, we immediately set off for our first destination: Lanquin.

Coban/Lanquin/Semuc Champey

Lanquin is about a 6 hour bus ride from Guatemala City. We started out a little bit late so we ended up staying in a city about 2 hours from Lanquin called Coban.

Not much happening there but I was introduced to a unique Guatemalan method of soda consumption: sipping from a plastic bag.

Doug explained that a lot of vendors prefer to put soda or juice in a plastic bag when they sell it so they can then return the plastic bottle for cash. Makes sense to me.

After our quick overnight stay in Coban, we met our tour guide for the day, Tony, and drove out to Lanquin. We dropped our bags off at our hostel and then headed out to Semuc Champey, a series of small pools on a natural land bridge that crosses the Cahabon River.

Before we hit the pools, we first took a tour of the K'anba Caves. I really wish I had pictures of this because it was probably the coolest adventure-type thing I've ever done.

Before we entered the caves, we were instructed to strip down to our swimsuits and tie our flip flops to our feet. Hmm. It made sense later. At the entrance to the cave, we each received a candle to hold and then followed our guide into the darkness. A few feet in, we came to a pool. In jumped our guide, swimming through the pool with his candle raised in one hand. We followed. So went our tour through the various caverns. There were rope ladders to climb up, narrow rocks to squeeze through and even a 14 ft. jump from the rocks into a pitch-black pool. Pretty awesome stuff.

Following our tour of the caves, we took a leisurely float down the river in inner tubes. Super relaxing.

Then it was back in adventure mode as Tony scampered up to El Mirador, a look-out point, with Doug and me in hot pursuit. It was only a 30 minute hike but by the end I could barely catch my breath and was sweating buckets. It wasn't pretty. But the view from the top was:

After a quick pre-packed lunch at the lookout, we made our way back down the mountain and finally it was time for a (much-needed) swim in the pools of Semuc Champey. So refreshing. I could have stayed there swimming around for hours but, all too soon, Tony said it was time to go.

We headed back to Lanquin and got a little cleaned up before making our way over to Las Grutas de Lanquin caves to do some exploring and try to catch the mass exodus of bats from the cave's entrance at sunset.

We almost gave up but eventually the bats came out in full force. One of the Guatemalan guides leading another group explained that if you caught and ate 100 bats, you would be able to fly. Doug and I agreed that it probably wasn't worth the trouble.

After that, it was time to head back to our hostel, Zephyr Lounge. Not a bad place as far as hostels go. Delicious food and drinks and a great view.

Xela (Quetzaltenango)

Following our big day in Lanquin, it was time to head to Xela, where Doug lives and works. Xela is officially known as Quetzaltenango but is more often referred to as Xela, a shortened version of the city's Mayan name, Xelajú.

We took a bus from Lanquin back to Guatemala City and then from Guatemala City to Xela. It turned out to be about 11 hours of traveling. Long day.

Doug and I quickly grabbed some street food for dinner around Parque Central (see below) and then met his boss Darren for tequila shots and a few beers before a group of us headed to La Rumba, a local theater that has been converted to a dance club. There was a lot of good salsa dancing going on (from the locals) and a lot of bad salsa dancing too (me and the other gringos).

Photo by Douglas Franz

The next day, Doug showed me around Xela. Our first stop was the zoo. This lion was my fave (outside of the squirrel, of course.) Regal but so sad. Love him.

Then it was off to the markets...

Photo by Douglas Franz

... followed by a stroll through the very colorful cemetery.

We also sampled some more street food. Guatemalans love their fried food and mayo.

Doug had been raving about tortas so I obviously needed to try one of those too. Tortas in Guatemala are sandwiches filled with chunks of hot dog, ham, chicken and chorizo topped with mayo, salsa, tomatoes, and jalapenos. The one we got from this cart was not that good but Doug assures that me that it did not accurately represent tortas as whole.

After snacks and our long walk, we needed some refreshments so we stopped at the liquor store to pick up some Quetzalteca, a super cheap Guatemalan rum, and I whipped us up some drinks using limes we had picked up from the market.

Not the best cocktails I've ever made, but when enjoyed on a rooftop with an excellent view of all of Xela, they certainly weren't bad.

Stayed tuned for Part II: San Pedro/Lake Atitlan and Antigua!

P.S. You might have noticed that two of the pics I included are official "Douglas Franz" photos. Yep, he's super fancy. Read more about Doug's upcoming photo show here.

DIY: Cilantro-Cucumber Coolers

2011-06-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Check out my Back Bay Patch column from last week for the full story behind this uber-refreshing cocktail.

The version I'm posting here is slightly different from the one posted on Back Bay Patch. This second time around I used cucumber-infused vodka instead of muddling the cucumber with the cilantro and the result was a much smoother cocktail. The drink does look pretty with the cucumbers floating around in it though...

Recipe
- Several sprigs fresh cilantro
- 1 lime, juiced
- .5 oz simple syrup
- 2 oz cucumber infused vodka
- Club soda
- Ice

Muddle cilantro and lime juice in cocktail shaker. Add vodka, simple syrup and ice. Shake. Pour into glasses and top with club soda.

Cheers!

Washington, D.C.: Good Stuff Eatery, Ben's Chili Bowl, Baked & Wired, DolceZza, Cajun Experience

2011-06-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

The roomie and I have been talking about taking advantage of all the travel opportunities around the East Coast since we moved here, but we didn't manage to actually get it together and go somewhere until a few weekends ago when we headed for D.C.

Before departing, I mentioned our trip to my friend Miranda and she offered to ask her friend Timothy of LA Meets DC for suggestions. We followed Timothy's recommendations closely and, let me tell you, the guy knows what he's talking about. We had a great weekend and ate some great food. Thanks again, Timothy!

On to the good stuff. Literally.

Shan and took the bus down late Thursday night and arrived in D.C. on Friday, just in time to meet up with Shannon's friend Brad for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery.

What: Good Stuff Eatery
Where: 303 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Capitol Hill
Honeys Heart: Spike's Sunnyside

Do you remember Spike from Top Chef Season 4? Yeah, this is his burger place. He also owns the pizza place right next door, We, The Pizza.

Good Stuff has counter service only, which I was a little surprised about at first, but it works. For all the people crowded in there during lunch hour, we were able to order and get our food relatively quickly. It's also pretty cheap.

On Brad's recommendation, I ordered Spike's Sunnyside with cheese, applewood bacon, and a fried egg on a brioche bun with good stuff sauce and "lotsa napkins" ($6.89).

The burger was very rich what with the brioche bun and fried egg plus bacon and cheese but since it was on the smaller side (a good thing in this case), I had no qualms about gobbling the whole thing right up. Would definitely recommend this one. Delicious.

Shan opted for the Good Stuff Melt with melted cheddar & muenster, caramelized onions and mushrooms with good stuff sauce ($6.89).

I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms so this wasn't my favorite but it was still pretty tasty. Shannon did agree though that the Sunnyside was better. So maybe just get that one.

And, because I can never resist french fries, especially when they're rosemary fries, we also ordered Spike's Village Fries topped with fresh thyme, rosemary & sea salt ($3.79).

These were good, but we didn't really have any room left for them after we finished our burgers. Oh well.

After lunch, it was off for some site-seeing before hitting up the (surprisingly happening) bar scene in Arlington. Fun!

We got a bit of a late start on Saturday which worked out just fine since our first plans for the day involved lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl.

What: Ben's Chili Bowl
Where: 1213 U St NW, U-Street
Honeys Heart: Chili Half-Smoke

If you are a fellow appreciator of food, you can't really visit D.C. without making a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl for a half smoke.

Open since 1958, Ben's is famous for it's "half-smoke", a 1/4lb half pork and half beef smoked sausage served with mustard, onions and spicy chili ($5.45).

Shannon and I both enjoyed our half-smokes, though I would probably forgo the mustard the next time around.

We also liked this sign hanging in the kitchen:

It reads...

List of people who eat free at Ben's Chili Bowl

Bill Cosby

The Obama Family

And no one else.

Nice.

Following a stroll around the U-Street neighborhood (lots of good antiques shops!), Shan and I headed over to Georgetown.

TLC junkies like my sister might be shocked that Shan and I skipped Georgetown Cupcake (the shop featured on TLC's D.C. Cupcakes), but Timothy advised against stopping there and I'm glad we listened to him for two reasons:

1) Because this was the line at Georgetown Cupcakes:

And you can't even see the end of it...

2) Because the place that Timothy recommended instead, Baked & Wired, was home to literally the best cupcakes I've ever purchased at a cupcake shop. Really.

What: Baked & Wired
Where: 1052 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Georgetown
Honeys Heart: Cupcakes! All of them!

Also located in Georgetown, Baked & Wired offers several different types of baked goods, including over 20 different flavors of cupcakes, as well as premium coffee. (Get it- baked and wired?)

Love how they display their cupcakes!

Shannon went with the Chai Tea Latte cupcake with vanilla cake blended with chai spices and topped with chai spiced buttercream. I tried the Menage a Trois made with with chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and raspberry filling.

Both were heavenly. The cakes were flavorful and moist and Shannon and I both appreciated that while the frosting was delicious, there was only a thin layer of it compared to most cupcakes at cupcakes shops. That really allowed the cake itself to stand out which I personally think should always be the focus of a good cupcake. Basically, these were pretty much my ideal. Can't wait to take my mom to Baked & Wired in a few weeks to try out some of their other flavors!

After enjoying our cupcakes by a river filled with boats pulled by donkeys (completely true), Shan and I continued our exploration of Georgetown, stopping frequently to proselytize about the joys of Baked & Wired over Georgetown Cupcakes and Sprinkles (sort-of true.) We're pretty sure we convinced a young couple that they should avoid Sprinkles at all costs but you never know about people. Sigh.

What: DolceZza Gelato
Where: 1560 Wisconsin Ave NW, Georgetown
Honeys Heart: Cucumber Vodka Mint Sorbetto

You would think that after finishing off our generously-sized cupcakes Shan and I would be all sweeted-out, but that was not the case. Especially when we eyed the sorbet and gelato at DolceZza.

We decided to share a "small" Cucumber Vodka Mint Sorbetto. This little dixie cup was $5 or something ridiculous like that but it was so, so good. The cucumber and mint combo was very refreshing and the vodka helped bring out those flavors even more. My mouth is watering remembering it.

We walked around Georgetown a bit more (Shannon was kind of obsessed with it) before it was time to make our way over to Dupont Circle for dinner.

What: Cajun Experience
Where: 1825 18th Street NW, Dupont Circle
Honeys Heart: Beans and Rice

Another one of Timothy's recommendations, Cajun Experience is a (you guessed it) Cajun restaurant run by real live Louisianans.

Shannon and I grabbed a seat on the back patio and ordered some Hurricanes to start. They were really sweet and not very strong... kinda disappointing.

For our appetizers, we started out with the Hush Puppies ($4). Very tasty.

I also decided that I needed some Red Beans and Sausage ($6) served over rice. It was so good that I ate most of the dish. That turned out to be a problem later...

For her entree, Shan chose Shrimp and Grits ($17), which earned her stamp of approval.

I went with the Jambalaya ($17), which was really flavorful and had the perfect amount of spice. Unfortunately, I was so full from the beans and rice appetizer that I could barely force myself to eat it. So frustrating! I tried my best but it just wasn't happening. Too bad we couldn't do doggy bags either. Boo.

Following dinner, we hung out at an Irish bar for awhile trying to drink beer but sadly we were still just too full to really enjoy it. Bummer.

The next morning, we stopped for a quick brunch before heading to the Greyhound station for our endless 9-hour ride (not including the layover) back to Boston.

While the getting there and back part was definitely lame, overall Shannon and I loved D.C. and I wish we had gone earlier so there would have been time for us to make a second trip.

Also, did you know the metro stations in D.C. are like Space Mountain?

Awesome.

Portland Food Cart: PBJ's

2011-05-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

What: PBJ's
Where: 919 NW 23rd St
When: Wed - Sun 11am - 5pm
Honeys Heart: Spicy Thai! (or all of them...?)
Follow them on Twitter! @pbjsgrilledcom

Adam has been dying to go to PBJ's for months now and we finally made it Saturday morning. We saw "the boys" (our neighbors that I refer to as "the boys") as we walked out the door and they made the excellent decision to accompany us, because these sandwiches were AWESOME.

Twitter: @AdamVinnyT

PBJ's offers "grilled gourmet peanut butter and jelly creations"on NW 23rd (closest cross street is Lovejoy). Created by Shane and Keena after moving to Portland a year and a half ago, it is their mission to serve natural and organic ingredients in tasty and creative ways, with a positive attitude! This two man - well to be more exact, 1 man, 1 woman - operation is fine tuned. One person is loading on the ingredients and the other is grilling and wrapping up the final product.

Yep, that's homemade peanut butter!

Their ingredients are sourced, whenever possible, in Oregon including jam from Oregon Growers in Hood River, hazelnut butter from the Willamette Valley, Dagoba organic chocolate from Ashland, Gabriel's Bakery in Portland, and the peanut butter and almond butter, well, that's made with organic nuts by PBJ themselves!

After much contemplation we decided to get three sandwiches, one each and one to share. The sandwiches ended up being pretty big and we totally didn't need three, but we were so excited that it was too hard to choose only two!

The sandwiches are designed to be sweet, savory, spicy, or tarte. I went for the Cream of the Crop ($5.50) with challah bread, strawberry jan, bananas, Gina Maria cream cheese, and PBJ's peanut butter. This was sweet, but not too sweet, and basically had an entire banana on it! The cream cheese warmed and softened with the jam and peanut butter was super tasty.

Being a sucker for bacon, and spicy foods, Adam opted for the Hot Hood ($5.50) with challah bread, black cherry jam, jalapeno, apple wood smoked bacon and PBJ's peanut butter. When he ordered, he timidly began to ask if he could maybe swap the jalapeno for sriracha, but Keena told him to get it with jalapenos or don't get it at all. They know what they're doing!

We shared the Spicy Thai ($5.50), challah bread, orange marmalade, sriracha, fresh basil, curry and PBJ's peanut butter based on a recommendation that it was a "favorite." It was also one of the most unique sounding sandwiches on the menu. Keena loaded on the sriracha and for a second I was nervous it would be too spicy for me, but it was absolutely perfect! Some milk definitely helped with the heat.

Rick, a fan of bacon like Adam, got the other bacon sandwich, the Good Morning ($6) with challah bread french toast (yum!), blueberry jam, apple wood smoked bacon, 100% maple syrup, and PBJ's peanut butter. He claims it was better than the Hot Hood so it's on our list for next time!

Only a couple of their grilled creations have cheese on them, one was the Oregonian ($5.50) which Charles ordered. With challah bread, marion berry jam, Rogue Creamery blue cheese and Oregon hazelnut butter this sandwich was both savory and sweet. Of course we decided it would be awesome with a little apple wood smoked bacon added!

With 12 sandwiches on the menu we still have a lot to try, I'll be back for the Betty ($5.50) with challah bread, Gruyere cheese, bread and butter pickles, white pepper, sea salt, and PBJ's peanut butter. Perhaps a slightly more interesting take on what my dad claims is a delicious sandwich - peanut butter and pickles.

We grabbed a to go menu so we'll be back!

Like many restaurants and food carts these days, PBJ's will also cater! If you have an event coming up, or want to celebrate an accomplishment like Wieden+Kennedy being named agency of the year at The Webby Award, give them a call. Learn more about their catering here.

Portland Restaurant: Siam Society

2011-05-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

What: Siam Society
Where: 2703 NE Alberta St
When: Sun - Thurs 4 - 9pm, Fri - Sat 4 - 10:30pm
Honeys Heart: Happy hour is all hours, every day!

Image by vj_pdx via Flickr

Sometimes when I venture to the east side, especially Hawthorne, Belmont, or Alberta, I feel like I'm not quite cool enough to be there. My look generally lacks in any homemade pieces, bitchin' boots, and edgy haircuts so I contemplate getting back in my car, putting sunglasses on, and high tailing it back to the west side. Not that I'm quite rich enough to be there. Shit. Oh well, I suffer through this feeling of inadequacy because the food is SO good and our dinner last night at Siam Society was no exception!

Last night, Adam and I made the drive to NE Alberta. Alberta is lined with cute little shops, delicious restaurants, and is home to "Last Thursday". The restaurants I have been to on this street are all great, including Tin Shed (great breakfast and daily mac n cheese!), Petite Provence, Bearnie's Southern Bistro, Branch Whiskey Bar (wonderful food, service, and specialty cocktails), and Pine State Biscuits (biscuits and gravy...oh and their homemade corn dogs). And now I can add to that list, Siam Society.

Our waitress (I wish I had gotten her name) was awesome. She was over right away to take our drink orders and offer any suggestions on the menu. Adam ordered a beer from Thailand, Chang, an award winning beer from Thailand to be exact.

We also decided we needed two appetizers, the Sweet Potato Fries ($6.95) handcut and tossed in truffle oil and the Calamari ($9.95) golden fried and tossed with lemongrass, cilantro, garlic and Thai chili. The fries were meaty and came with a vinegar-y dipping sauce, but I liked them plain. The calamari was tender and served with a sweet sauce. Perfect!

Between appetizers and our entree arriving we decided that it would probably be a good idea to order drinks. Both feeling the house ginger ale I ordered "The En-GIN-Neer" ($8) while Adam opted for a Bourbon Ginger Ale ($8), typical. The En-GIN-Neer was muddled mint and ginger shaken with house ginger ale and a generous pour of gin. The "generous" is included in the description so I expect it to be just that, and it was. They definitely make a good drink here.

For our main dishes we decided to share the Phad See Yu ($10.95) wide wheat noodles stir-fried with egg, broccoli, sweet soy and sprouts. I love phad see yu and order it (or yellow curry) almost every time I get Thai food, and this was no exception. Unlike other phad see yu I've ordered these noodles were longer and tasted like they may be homemade by Siam Society.

sorry for the blurry pic...

Based on the advice of our waitress we were stuck between a curry or the Sexy Beef ($14.95), but really the Sexy Beef just sounded so...sexy. We ordered that as our second entree. It was a wonderful combination of tenderloin, Thai chilies, bell peppers, mushroom, and garlic in coconut, served with jasmine rice.

Though I am a huge phad see yu fan, I have to say I think this dish won for flavor. It had the coconut flavor and hints of spice. Really great on the rice! Also it had that fried stuff on top which was really tasty.

Stuffed, we looked at a dessert menu, but simply couldn't eat any more! Ready to pay the bill, our waitress let us know that friends a couple tables down had got our tab...too nice of them! Thanks so much :)

Portland Restaurant: Il Piatto

2011-05-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

What: Il Piatto

Where: 2348 SE Ankeny St, Portland

When: Lunch Tues - Fri 11:30 - 2 pm, Dinner Nightly 5:30 pm

Honeys Heart: Goat cheese fritters!

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Living in NW makes me SO bad about going to eastside restaurants. Which is extremely unfortunate because there are incredible restaurants in NE and SE. Something I have done to remedy this is buy any and all Groupon, Living Social, and Tozmoz deals (those happen to be the ones I get emails from) that feature at least 50% off any eastside restaurant that I've wanted to try. My rationale: I can't afford not to and since I've already paid, I should at least go try it!

One recent example of this is my dinner at Il Piatto, an intimate and popular italian restaurant in SE. Adam and I decided we needed a date night last Friday and made reservations for two. I've heard that sometimes reservations are needed, but we could have easily just walked in, even with eleven Vancouver high school students (yes, an odd number) sitting in the middle of the room enjoying a pre-prom dinner. They were great entertainment while we checked out the menu.

I was tempted to order a lemon drop with lavender simple syrup, but $11 seemed a little steep, so we stuck with water for the evening. Our waitress brought us bread, which interestingly, is served with humus and we ordered hazelnut crusted goat cheese, caramelized onion, and date fritters on greens ($10) and the cornmeal crusted calamari with spicy red pepper aioli ($11.)

The fritters were amazing. I absolutely love goat cheese and the warm combination of caramelized onions and dates was incredible. Also, one fritter was the perfect amount since it is so rich and creamy.

As a calamari lover I was excited to try their cornmeal crusted version, but was really disappointed by the bland flavor and unenjoyable texture. We didn't eat that much of it and I almost never leave a dish unfinished!

Il Piatto's menu offers salads, pastas, and entrees. We thought about sharing a pasta and an entree, but really, we both just wanted pasta so we went that route instead. I ordered the Gnocchi ($14) housemade potato gnocchi, lightly browned, with house cured pancetta and parsley pesto. This gnocchi was denser than other versions I've had, but I liked it. I'm not sure that it would cover a serious pasta craving, but it was filling and the parsley pesto was a nice change. Though I don't think I would order this dish again, I was glad I tried it (the pancetta may have influenced me...)

Per a recommendation, Adam went with the Bolognese ($15) with ground beef "bolognese" simmered in red wine, vegetables, tomatoes, and spices on spaghetti. This dish was really great, definitely a rich, hearty pasta dish with a good amount of sauce. Enough for Adam to pile on a couple slices of bread after the noodles were gone! If I went back I might go for a pasta dish more like this than the gnocchi.

Overall our dinner there was nice. The wait staff was friendly and the food was good, but it wasn't a rave worthy experience and in other reviews I've found that people have really had "hit or miss" experiences at Il Piatto, typically having good food, but poor service and long wait times. You can read other reviews on Yelp or City Search.

I'm not dying to return, but they do have a happy hour menu which I might try to check out this summer. There is also an accompanying Asian inspired lounge, Jade Lounge, that I hope to check out soon.

Portland Restaurant: Toro Bravo

2011-05-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

What: Toro Bravo
Where: 120 NE Russel St.
When: 5 pm - 10 pm Sun-Thur, 5 pm - 11 pm Fri-Sat
Honey's Heart: Google

Have you ever sat around with a couple friends, enjoying HH, talking about a sweepstakes you've entered, but surely won't win...but then you do? That is what happened to my friend Katie last month.

She called and said that she won the "Google Hotpot (now absorbed into Google Places) Jackpot" competition and we needed to choose a place to go to dinner...okay, wait, back up. This is how it worked: The "Google Hotpot Jackpot" competition was meant to encourage people to share and rate places they know with friends and family. Basically, an incentive to jumpstart Hotpot usage. We can argue whether this results in honest and thoughtful reviews since the goal is to do the most of them, but I can't say I was upset with the result! Katie won a dinner for herself and 4 friends at any restaurant in Portland...and we had $750 to spend!

Image via Wikipedia

Honestly, once we began searching it was hard to find a restaurant where we could spend that kind of money that wasn't primarily a steak house, but we finally settled on Toro Bravo, a Spanish inspired tapas restaurant. It was the perfect place to share a ton of different menu items, order bottles of wine and sangria, and celebrate, Spanish style, our friend's birthday who is currently living in Spain (miss you Sofi!)

We arrived for our 7pm reservations, were seated, brought a complimentary bottle of champagne and immediately had a celebrity sighting. Carrie Brownstein of Portlandia was across the room from us. Free champagne, free dinner (except, of course, for Katie's hard work), and a celebrity sighting! This was shaping up to be a good night. We sipped champagne, toasted to a night on Google, and looked over the drink menu.

Katie and I ordered the Sage Seville ($9) with Hendrick's gin, St. Germain, sage, and Fever Tree tonic, while Adam and Cooper opted for a bourbon beverage, The Williamsburg ($8) featuring Buffalo Trace bourbon, Imbue vermouth, maraschino liqueur and Fernet-Branca. Megan went a different route and chose the Amanacer ($9), a tequila cocktail with El Jimador, Aperol, grapefruit, and house grenadine. She wasn't a huge fan, but Katie and I loved it so they swapped. Their cocktail menu is varied, unique and delicious!

Our champagne and cocktails gave us a chance to peruse the menu which is broken down into four sections: Pinchos, Tapas, Charcuteria, and Raciones. We decided to take it section by section.

Pinchos
We ordered toasted almonds with sea salt ($2), marinated olives and pickled vegetables ($3), bacon wrapped dates ($2 ea x 10!), steve's cheese board ($10), and octopus a la plancha "becerrita" ($7). I could have lived without the almonds, marinated olives and pickled vegetables, but absolutely not without the bacon wrapped dates. I want some right now. Of course, you can't go wrong with a cheese board and if you like octopus, you'll love the octopus a la plancha. It was cooked perfectly!

Bacon Wrapped Date and Octopus a la Plancha

Tapas
With some help from our waitress we selected the tortilla espanola with nettles ($7), griddled shrimp and chilies ($9), potatoes bravas ($4/7), basque piperade with duck egg ($8), harira (moroccan lamb and lentil stew) ($4/8), grilled asparagus ($8), hand cut noodles ($9), empanada ($8) and grilled flat bread (with black truffle cheese and arugula) ($9).

Tortilla Espanola with nettles

Empanada with confit beef, almonds, and honey

Some of our favs included the the tortilla espanola, potatoes bravas, grilled asparagus, hand cut noodles and grilled flatbread...which we may have ordered another one of.

Grilled Flat Bread...SO DELICIOUS!

Charcuteria
Out of this section we only ordered the chorizo and manchego with country bread ($7) which I don't have a picture of and honestly don't remember.

Raciones
Now it was time to go nuts. We still had money to spend and this was the biggest section. Again guided by our waitress, we ordered seared scallops with romesco ($14), moroccan tuna with dried cherry couscous ($12), squid ink pasta (with hazelnuts, anchovy and egg yolk) ($12), baked polenta with roast beef, peppers, and onions ($4/8), oxtail croquettes with chili mayonnaise ($14), north african sausages with fries ($8/15), grilled moorish lamb chops ($10/20), jamon wrapped chicken with pisto manchego ($14), house smoked coppa steak ($7/14) and finally the paella toro (with chicken, chorizo, shrimp, clams and mussels, $19).

Scallops with romesco

Paella

Squid Ink Pasta

Something tasty.... ?

Throughout dinner we also enjoyed the Red Sangria ($6/15) and a bottle of the '08 Dominio de Pingus ($60.) So much food and it was all fabulous, but at this point I think we were all feeling a little bit like this...

I wish I had been hungrier at this point so I could have really enjoyed the paella. The squid ink pasta was also really wonderful and I'm glad we weren't scared away by the anchovy syrup and, well, the squid ink. We did our best on this round, but definitely had a ton of leftovers and enough money remaining to send a bottle of champagne to a table celebrating a birthday, though it happened to be the owner of Toro Bravo's sister restaurant, Tasty n Sons, so they were probably getting a deal anyway! Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Thanks again to Google and Katie for such a wonderful night! Google, you can pay for my dinner anytime, how does Friday night sound?

Las Vegas: 10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Bachelorette Weekend

2011-05-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

1) Come prepared
Upon arrival in Las Vegas, we cabbed to Vons (their Safeway) to stock up on snacks, mixers, liquor, and Gatorade. Having a drink in the room gets you ready for the night and snacks that the hotel doesn't charge you for when you get back is crucial!

2) Turn your bathtub into a fridge
At our hotel, the mini fridge was weight sensitive and automatically charged the credit card on file, so we created an alternative. We didn't plan to use our bathtub anyway (and if you even have time, you're not correctly experiencing a Bachelorette Vegas weekend) so it became the perfect place to store mixers and cream cheese! Each floor has an ice machine for easy refills.

Helpful Hint: In order to get enough ice in one trip we recommend filling up plastic bags from your Von's trip.

3) Work the bachelorette angle
Everybody gets excited about two people in love... and the possibility of lonely single bridesmaids (sorry boys, we all have boyfriends.) Regardless, it never hurts to flaunt the bride-to-be with a veil, sashes, pins, and over-sized fake diamond rings. People are always willing to buy a congratulatory cocktail, and promoters like offering free and expedited admission to girls traveling in groups.

4) Take advantage of the open cup laws
The liquor and mixers you bought at the store aren't only for pre-gaming. Here we are enjoying mimosas that we made in our room and took with us to the mall. Much cheaper than buying the yardstick drinks for $18 (though we may have done that too...).

5) Take a Stripper 101 class
Luckily for us, Groupon ran a deal on Stripper 101 classes two weeks before our trip, but I would say it's worth the full price. Not only is it a great group activity and an excuse to wear bachelorette themed clothing, it is hard! Our (real life!) stripper instructor taught us fun and challenging lap dance and pole moves, while getting us up to date on the Vegas stripper scene (though I don't think any of us plan on going pro!)

6) Make new friends
People go to Vegas in search of a good time and hoping to wake up the next morning with incredible stories... hopefully nothing as extreme as The Hangover though! Throughout our weekend, we talked up our fair share of party-goers ranging from London bachelor parties to girls we waited in line with for cabs. Some of us even found special friends on the dance floor... Just admit it, his silver shirt is amazing!

Helpful Hint: Don't forget to take your heels off before you hop up on a lounge seat. Bouncers encourage multi-level dancing, but that doesn't mean they want holes in that classy pleather!

7) Ride the New York-New York Roller Coaster
Riding the New York-New York roller coaster is a must. It's short, but thrilling. They don't run it when it's too windy and we wouldn't recommend it hungover, so plan accordingly.

Helpful Hint: If you're wearing flip flops, don't get too excited! Jenna's flew off her feet and into the track while we were waiting, causing a slight hang up... she did offer to ride shoeless, but apparently that's against the rules.

8) Attend a Cirque Show
There are only a few things you should spend money on in Vegas: one nice meal, cabs and a show. The Cirque shows are incredible. Between the two of us, we've been to Love, Zumanity, Le Reve and most recently, Mystere. All of them were totally different, but equally awesome!

9) Splurge on one nice meal (and good cocktail)
We all came from different cities to celebrate Leslie's future wedding, so we decided it would be nice to splurge on one nice meal (otherwise ladies, you shouldn't be spending much money.) We went to a restaurant in Treasure Island where we were seeing Mystere and enjoyed a nice dinner, a real cocktail, and reminisced about our first two nights. We suggest planning this dinner on the last night of the trip. It's a great way to wrap up the weekend and begin your final night on the town.

10.) Go with the flow!
Most importantly, when in Vegas, let loose and have fun! We guarantee you'll have a better time if you don't over-plan the weekend. Just go with the flow and be ready for anything!

GOOD LUCK!

Boston Food Truck: Roxy's Grilled Cheese

2011-04-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

What: Roxy's Grilled Cheese
Where: Cleveland Circle (sometimes)
Honeys Heart: Fried Grillos Pickles

Confession: I have a little crush on the Roxy's boys. Or a big crush. Whatever. Their grilled cheese is delicious so it's allowed.

Anyway, when I finally made it out to Cleveland Circle a few weeks ago (before the Roxy's truck went "missing"), I was faced with the very difficult decision of just what grilled cheese to order. Eventually, I decided on the Green Muenster with muenster cheese, guacamole & bacon.

It was quite tasty and not too goopy either (a potential problem when you're combining guac with melted cheese).

And, being the glutton I am, I of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to try some beer-battered Fried Grillo's Pickles.

I was a little worried about how the pickles would hold up on the T ride home, but they arrived safe and sound and still nice and crispy. Yum!

Basically, Roxy's needs to get their act together and get back to Boston ASAP because I desperately need to try some of their other grilled cheese offerings. And eat more fried pickles. And maybe let the boys tease me about tweeting while I'm waiting for my order. (Shhh, don't tell the bf.)

Boston Restaurant: Saus

2011-04-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

What: Saus
Where: 33 Union St, Faneuil Hall
Honeys Heart: Liege waffle with salted caramel and berry berry sauce

So I think it's safe to say that I was the last food blogger in all of Boston to actually try Saus. This is very sad to me as I have been following Saus's blog since this time last year (true fan alert!!)... but whatever, I'm over it (not really).

Anyway, the important thing is that I finally did make it over to Saus a few weeks ago with Anna and Andy.

Saus serves Belgian-style french fries (pommes frites, if you're nasty) and leige waffles. That's it. Since there's technically only two things on the menu, we obviously needed to try both.

First up was a Belgian Pommes Frites ($7), aka a large order of fries.

Now, the fries were pretty decent as far as fries go, but the real draw is the 9+ dipping sauces that Saus offers. Each dipping sauce is 75 cents, though you do get a free sauce if you order a regular or Belgian-sized fries.

Our sauce selections were:

Truffle Ketchup- Tastes exactly like it sounds. Ketchup + truffle oil. Good, but forgettable when compared to the other options.

Cheddar Duval- Delicious. Reminded me of a beer and cheese fondue I tried to make in college if it had turned out like it was supposed to. Get it.

Bacon Parm- Heavenly. Get this one too.

And then came the leige waffles. Leige waffles are made with pearl sugar and as the waffle cooks, the little chunks of sugar caramelize. That means you get a nice sweet crunch with every bite of waffle.

Saus's Leige Waffles ($3.50) are best enjoyed with one of their waffle dipping sauces (75 cents).

I went with Salted Caramel.

I love caramel but I hate when desserts get super sweet so the waffle with salted caramel was about as good as it gets for me. At least, that's what I thought until one of the owners offered to add some Berry Berry sauce to my waffle so I could try her favorite combination. Yeah, so a leige waffle with salted caramel and berry berry sauce is basically perfection. I licked my plate. (I'm not lying, it was kind of pathetic... but worth it.)

Anna went with the Lemon Cream sauce.

Too much sweet, not enough sour for me. But Anna loved it.

Andy took the Nutella route.

And really, when is nutella ever not amazing? Good choice, Andy.

So, overall, I was definitely justified in stalking this place's blog for all of last year and I have deemed Saus worthy to be added to my "Official List of Restaurants to Drag My Family to When They Come for Graduation."

Also, you should know that this place is open late- until 2am on weekends. Cheers to drunk food that actually tastes good when you're sober!

(Though I do have to say, 75 cents for sauce? You guys know your fries and waffles are nothing without them. They should be included in the price no matter the size!... Or not since they're awesome and probably worth paying extra for.)

Playing Catch-Up

2011-04-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been over 2 weeks since either Kel or I have posted... We've definitely been slacking but we promise to be better!

Here's what's coming up:

Vegas recap of Les' bachelorette
Boston posts about Saus, Roxy's Grilled Cheese and $2 Taco Night at Tremont 647
Portland post about Toro Bravo
NYC recap of my recent weekend visit

And if you are feeling really deprived and need to read some HHH-ish articles elsewhere (shameless plug alert!), check out my City's Best pieces about Batch Ice Cream and the pig's head at Craigie on Main, my Time Out piece about spring dishes, and my weekly column for Back Bay Patch.

Cheers!

Portland Happy Hour: Produce Row Cafe

2011-04-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

What: Produce Row Cafe
Where: 204 SE Oak Street
When: HH Mon-Sat 4-7pm, Mon-Sun 11pm-2am (Food Only)
Honey's Heart: Potato Skins

Typically when Joe and Adam venture off to HH I stay home or have a HH of my own to attend, but recently the three of us tried out Produce Row Cafe (per Joe's suggestion) in the Eastside Industrial area. I'm glad I went though because we did receive one of my favorite group nicknames ever, "the power trio." I'm assuming this was because we sat at the bar and ordered a lot of food, because I didn't even order a drink!

I think what originally caught Joe's eye was the whiskey and beer pairings on their menu, but what caught mine was the food selection and renovated restaurant at this increasingly trendy location. The bar has 4 areas with slightly different vibes. The bar area has a large bar and communal style dining tables. Behind that is a lounge-y area with sofas, which looked nice to enjoy a drink, but incredibly uncomfortable to eat at as it required eating with your plate sitting in your lap. In the back corner there are booths and outside has a covered, heated patio area. It was BUSY when we got there so we decided to take a seat at the bar.

Adam and Joe both ordered, and greatly enjoyed, beer and whiskey pairings ($6, $7) and I stuck with a water. I was nursing a cold and decided to be responsible, but the drink menu looks pretty good and I wish I had ordered "The Elder" ($8.) I suppose that's a reason to return.

On to the food selections. Adam and Joe both ordered the Pulled Pork Sliders ($6 - they're so matchy matchy) while I opted for the Ruben Sliders ($5).

My "sliders" were bigger (since it was essentially a sandwich cut in triangles), and I think better, though both were absolutely satisfying. Of course since I didn't order a drink I had to order extra food to make my time there more interesting, so I also got a side of the Baked Mac and Cheese ($4.50). It was hearty, but I have to admit I'm a sucker for just plain old noodles and creamy cheese (like at Davis Street Tavern) so this wasn't my fav.

Finally, probably one of the tastiest, gilty pleasures of the night was two orders, yes two, of the Potato Skins ($4) with peppered bacon, scallions, cheddar cheese and cili-spiked sour cream. They were awesome.

Since I didn't try any drinks, and the regular menu looks good and fairly priced I'll likely have to return. I have recently talked to a Portland native who has just returned from 2 years in Korea and was sad to hear that this Portland establishment has changed and no longer offers what sounds like some of the biggest sandwiches EVER. I guess I'll have to get his thoughts after he goes back and tries their new menu...a real compare and contrast.

Boston Restaurant: Max Brenner

2011-04-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

What: Max Brenner
Where: 745 Boylston St., Back Bay
Honey's Heart: The Fantastic Chocolate Popsicle Fondue

"So, are we doing dinner or dessert first?" our waiter asks Anna and me when he comes to take our order. Max Brenner, I have a feeling we're going to be friends...

Max Brenner (the restaurant) is an Israeli export that focuses on chocolate, though the menu also features a number of dinner items like salads, burgers and pizza in addition to the multiple dessert options.

Yesterday was the restaurant's opening day, and while I know it's a gamble to visit a restaurant so early, Anna and I have been waiting forever for Max Brenner to finally open its doors. Also, we have a bitch of a class on Thursday nights, so we needed a special treat.

Because Anna and I are responsible adults (for the most part), we decided some "real food" was in order before we got to the good stuff.

We shared the The Brenner Burger ($13.95) which is topped with Max's secret barbecue sauce, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, and an onion ring and served with waffle fries dusted with chili and cocoa powder.

The burger was very rich what with the brioche bun, cheddar and onion ring, so half was plenty for both of us. I liked that they put barbecue sauce on the burger since that's what my dad always does when he barbeques burgers at home, but Max's is pretty generous with the sauce, so ask for it on the side if you're not a big fan.

I thought it might be strange for the fries to be dusted with cocoa powder, but the combination of chili powder and cocoa actually makes for a pleasant twist on the usual waffle fries.

Ok, onto the important part:

Max Brenner divides its "sweets" menu into a few different categories: Waffles & Crepes, Sweet Icons, Frappes, Classics with a Chocolate Twist, Fondue, and Max I Scream.

While I was tempted by the frappes (that's Boston-speak for milkshakes), I ultimately decided to go for The Fantastic Chocolate Popsicle Fondue ($7.95 for one, $13.95 for two).

The dessert comes with a vanilla popsicle (by Magnum!), pure melted milk chocolate fondue, crunchy chocolate wafer balls and candied hazelnut crunchy bits.

Such a great idea! I preferred the candied hazelnuts to the chocolate crunchies (I'm not that big of chocolate person), but overall I thought this was a really fun, really tasty dessert.

Max Brenner also offers a number of chocolate-y drinks including dessert martinis, hot chocolate, and coffee with chocolate. Anna loves sweet drinks, so she decided to try the Suckao ($4.95), a "Do It Yourself Concentrated Hot Chocolate Shot."

The idea here is that you add the chocolate to the heated milk in the cup (warmed by candle), determining for yourself how chocolate-y you want your shot to be. Then you suck it up using the silver spoon/straw. Maybe Anna and I took too long photographing our desserts, but when Anna added the chocolate to the milk, the whole thing just got clumpy as the milk was not warm enough to melt the chocolate. Anna said she probably wouldn't order this one again and I support that decision.

Of course, one chocolate shot is not enough for a sweet-lover like Anna, so she also tried the Apple Pie Cinnamon Waffles ($14.50) with white chocolate cream, vanilla flake crepe ice cream, and candied pecans.

The waffles were tasty, but a little sweet for my taste--one forkful was enough for me. Also, kind of random to throw those chocolate crispies in on the side, don't you think?

Max Brenner also has a little sweet shop in the front where you can buy souvenirs like the "Alice Cup"...

...as well as 24 different kinds of bonbons.

Oh, and as far as service went, the waitstaff was obviously on their toes for opening night. We got asked a bajillon times if we wanted more water or if we were done with our plates. That got a little annoying, but I'll chalk that up to opening night exuberance. Our waiter also split our burger and put our desserts on two separate checks without asking us, which Anna and I liked at the time... but now that I think about it, what if I wanted to treat Anna? Could have made it awkward.

Overall thought, Anna and I agreed that we'll definitely need to come back again with Shannon and Erica so we can try more of Max's sweets. I can already hear the Euphoria Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Sundae calling my name...

Boston Restaurant: UFood Grill

2011-03-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

What: UFood Grill
Where: 201 Brookline Ave in Landmark Center, Fenway
Honeys Heart: Unfries, turkey burger and froyo

Last night I had the pleasure of attending my first Boston Food Bloggers dinner at UFood Grill. (Look, Ma. I'm a real blogger now!)

UFood is a fast food chain that focuses on providing customers with "great taste you can feel good about." Essentially, they're serving your favorite fast food items like burgers, fries and pizza, but making them as healthy and flavorful as possible. They'll also get those items out to you in 3.5 minutes or less. Nice.

Now, you all know how I feel about chains. I'd much rather cook my own food (bleh!) then be dragged to Applebee's, Red Robin or, god forbid, McDonald's. But sometimes you really do just need a quick, cheap meal, and in that case, I'd definitely choose UFood over the other fast food spots here in Boston. (Sorry Ufood, if you ever make it out to CA, I'm still going with In-N-Out.)

Over the course of our evening with UFood, we were given the opportunity to sample several dishes from their rather extensive menu. I'll start with my most favorite, and work my way down.

#1 Unfries

UFood bakes their fries ("unfries"-get it?) so you don't have to feel bad when you're stuffing them in your mouth one after another like I was. They were nice and crispy (not soggy like the baked fries I've tried to make at home) and not at all greasy. Definitely my favorite food of the night.

#2 Turkey Burger

UFood's Chipotle Turkey Burger is served on a multigrain bun with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, lite jalapeno jack and spicy chipotle mayo. I'm not usually a fan of chipotle, but I loved this burger. It was juicy and flavorful and I actually really liked the chipotle mayo. This burger with fries would be my meal of choice.

#3 Chocolate-Vanilla Swirl Froyo

Mmm... froyo. Can't go wrong with that. This fat-free chocolate and vanilla swirl was creamy and delicious. Lots of flavor going on there so you don't feel like you're eating something fat free. Already planning on popping over to the Downtown Crossing location for some of this when I need a break from doing hw at Emerson. Ufood also serves original tart and wildberry tart froyo.

#4 Smoothies aka "Smuuthies"

Oops, didn't take a picture of these but they were also a favorite. I think we tried Berrylicious, Stawbanilla, and Passionate Peach. All were very refreshing.

#5 Falafel Wrap

UFood's Fresh Falafel Wrap is made with baked falafel, roasted red pepper hummus, pickled beets, lettuce, tomatoes and spicy tahini sauce. I'm not a big wrap person but I did think the falafel was tasty and the tahini sauce had a nice hint of spice to it.

#6 Tofusion

The Tofusion UBowl comes with organic tofu, veggies and a ginger-soy glaze. The glaze had a touch of sweetness and I really liked it with the tofu, veggies and rice. According to the vegetarians at my table, the tofu was very nicely grilled compared to what other restaurants often serve.

#7 Pesto Pizza

The pesto pizza had just the right amount of garlic, but it's also simple enough that I could make something like this at home.

#8 Bistro Salad

I also enjoyed the Bistro Salad with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, feta, walnuts, dried cranberries and blueberry-pomegranate vinaigrette, but like the pesto pizza, this is something that I could recreate on my own- and I rather spend my money on dishes that I can't make myself.

So, obviously lots of yummy options. However, there were some dishes that I can't recommend. Those include the Chicken Tinga UBowl (somehow the sauce tasted watered-down and extremely spicy at the same time), the Turkey Sausage Pizza (way over-seasoned), and the Better Bacon Cheeseburger (cardboard-y turkey bacon ruined that one for me). Can't win 'em all...

Overall though, I was impressed with the quality of food UFood produces and I really enjoyed sampling their menu items.

It was also great to share a table with the ladies of Foodies at Work, The Apron Archives and Frugal Foodista. Hope I can make another one of these blogger events soon!

Austin, TX- Part III: Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill

2011-03-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday brunch was always one of Nick's and my favorite weekly traditions when we actually lived in the same city, so on our last morning in Austin, we decided brunch was definitely in order.

(Catching up? Read Austin-Part I here and Austin-Part II here.)

What: Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill
Where: 303 Red River, Downtown
When: Brunch served Sunday 10am-2:30pm
Honey's Heart: Pigs in blanket, sweet potato casserole, cornflake fried chicken tenders

Moonshine serves its Southern comfort food for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday and hosts brunch and "Sunday dinner" on Sundays.

Brunch at Moonshine is served buffet style and costs $15.95 per person. Nick and I thought that was a darn good deal considering the variety and quality of the food offered.

There was green chile cheese grits, sweet potato casserole with molasses, cornflake fried chicken tenders, chicken fried steak tenders with chipotle cream gravy, biscuits, corned beef hash with peppers and onions...

... waffles, pancakes, french toast, bagels, muffins, cinnamon pinwheels, apple and peach turnovers, cappuccino bundt cake, and bread pudding...

... omelets and scrambles, roasted new potatoes, sausages, toads in a hole, pigs in a blanket, garden salads, pasta salads, fresh fruit and more.

Now, I know there are several different buffet strategies out there (check out The Sporkful's podcast on the matter), but Nick and I are of the multiple-plate persuasion. We prefer to fill up our plates moderately, then return to the buffet with fresh plates after we've finished each "course." That way we can try new items as well as return to our favorites from the course before. The couple next to us preferred the load-your-plate-with-as-much-food-as-possible-so-you-don't-have-to-stand-up-again strategy. Definitely not for us.

Here are Nick's first round picks:

He went back for more cornflake fried chicken tenders and pigs in a blanket. Good choice.

And mine:

I too had another pig in a blanket (or three?) during my subsequent rounds and more sweet potato casserole as well. Jealous of that waffle, sister?

To help wash it all down, we each had a mimosa ($3.50), which are also available by the carafe ($18).

By the time Nick and I left the buffet, we had each had three plates of food (actually, Nick might have had four) and were stuffed to the brim. Everything was so tasty and there were so many options that we just couldn't help but keep eating. But that's the sign of a great buffet, right? (Or maybe just a sign that Nick and I are fat kids. Hmm.)

One final note on Moonshine: be prepared for a long wait if you don't get there right when they open their doors at 9:30am- this place is definitely not what you'd call a well-kept secret.

After brunch, Nick and I booked it back to the hotel so we could check out and catch our Greyhound bus to San Antonio. I wasn't really ready to leave Austin, there seemed like so much more left to explore, but it did feel good to sit down for awhile following that enourmous meal...

Next up: San Antonio. Stay tuned!