I'm Baaaack! Well, at least I thought I'd try...

 I stopped writing in this blog format close to 6 years ago.  I don't know why.  I guess it was faster, quicker, easier to just do what everyone else was doing and post my quick pic of food and drink and fun on the 'gram.  I stopped taking the time and energy to find the right words to describe my joy and just focused on the insta-joy.  I felt pangs of self-doubt and discouragement.  I compared my work to professionals and figured 'why bother?'.  I'm supposing it just wasn't fun anymore but that's not really true.  I loved writing.  I loved drinking. I loved eating.  I loved writing about what I was eating and drinking.  I didn't get paid for blogging.  I don't have aspirations of becoming America's darling food critic like I did back in my 20's.  That was when I would type out reviews and send them in to various local  news outlets hoping to catch the publisher's eye. The most I received from my Blogger writing days was the occasional extra pour or tickets to a beer fest and it was so worth it. Because I loved it.  And I think I'm going to try doing it some more.  Writing conventions, rules of grammar and Covid 19 be damned.  I just want to sit down and type out some praise and some prose and share with whoever is bored enough to take a few minutes and read about what makes me happy.  Which is what I think might make them happy.  Which is really what makes me happiest.  

Let's start with Breakfast.  I'm getting older and the hustle and bustle of the Brunchtime crowd in Portland has lost it's allure for me.  Plus...Covid...I'm not looking to jump into a super-spreader event but I do still like to go to restaurants that are still open (sadly, so many have closed these past couple of years).  In my heart I had planned a day of gluttony and food hopping.  In touch with reality, I chose to simply have breakfast at a locally famous diner and get there at the crack of dawn in an effort to avoid any crowds.  K and I perused menus and decided on Milo's City Cafe.  We had never been there and the thought of some delicious brunchy food and an outstanding build your own Bloody Mary sealed the deal.  

We arrived at  Milo's City Cafe moments after opening at 8:00ish which on the plus side pretty much gave us the place to ourselves and thwarted potential 'rona exposure but also thwarted some of our build your own Bloody plans.  As our very kind server gently explained, the kitchen wasn't quite ready for the day and so many of the options for the BYOBM were not available.  Regardless she poured us a fabulous drink and grabbed some bacon from the kitchen to zhuzh it up for us.  I ordered my drink with mild spice as I am wary/weary of not being able to finish a too spicy Bloody and this one came out perfect. She made me one with just enough spice to keep it real but not so much to cover the flavor of the vegis and vodka.  

The deliciousness of the Bloody Mary helped soften the blow when I ordered a Crab Benedict but found out that they were out of crab...ok...this is not a new unexpected occurrence.  It's not even one that is synonymous with Covid and our present supply chain issues.  Dungeness Crab is enormously popular and gets 86ed from server boards all the time, everywhere.  I can handle this...OK.  I'll have the Salmon Benedict and K will have the Chicken and Waffles.   

The Chicken and Waffles were good, maybe better than good. I'd even say delightful.  Topped with a crispy leek frizzle and served with whipped butter and a super yummy maple reduction (also known as syrup), the Belgian waffle was standard fare and the herb encrusted chicken fingers on top were  crispy, juicy, herby goodness.  I may have enjoyed them more than K did. 

I may have enjoyed his Chicken and Waffle more than I enjoyed my own choice of Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict.  *Heavy Sigh* Let me just start off by saying that nothing kills my EB vibe faster than a weak English Muffin.  The muffin for an Eggs Benedict should be toasted.  Crispy.  Not burnt, but at least crispy. The muffin is the base of a structure that holds all of that gooey, eggy, creamy deliciousness together. It should be crisp. I'm not sure my muffin saw the toaster.  That being said the top of my SSEB was all that and more.  Lemony, creamy hollandaise poured over a perfectly poached eggs cradled gently by some fairly decent alder smoked salmon.  It had all the right components in all the right places.  It was salty, it was sweet, it was creamy and rich.  It was all sitting on top of a cold, un-toasted english muffin.  

Now, I'm not going to write off  Milo's based on my english muffin experience.  I know that as I grow older I grow more particular about how certain things should or should not be and I have learned to leave space for providing grace in situations that may be less than ideal.  It may be a while before I get around to Milo's again because, well, Covid.  We just don't get out that much anymore and I like to spread the wealth, so to speak.  

But I'm still planning on getting out.  I'm still planning on eating and drinking and sharing my thoughts.  So there, even from behind a mask, this BiGMoUtH is getting back to it. 

Brought in for Brunch, came back for Happy Hour

I love Brunch.  Easy enough.  There aren't many silly enough to say they don't enjoy a delicious all-morning-long meal even if it does mean an hour long queue around the block.  But my love for Brunch will keep me in that line.  Better yet, I wake early enough to beat the others to the best spot to "build-your-own" Bloody Marys  or catch the nuanced rays of sunshine on a slightly damp but warming nicely bench on the patio. As Portlandia as my witness, I will not face the disappointment of an 86 board with my favorite biscuits and gravy again.

Nothing gets me to the front of the line faster than the promise of, yes, Fried Chicken and Waffles.  You say I've already talked about my love for this dish of olde made new?  That may be because my love/quest for this perfect dish is legendary.  Enough so that I have been approached by friends and loved ones with the opening line of  "you need to come and try this place's Chicken and Waffles".  They know I will not say no.  More likely I will say "What time do they open?"

This was the case when K and I accepted an invitation (dare I say challenge) to brunch with friends at NEPO 42.  So, so very glad we did.  First off, there was no line.  In Portland. On a Sunday. For Brunch.  Was there something wrong with this picture?  Yes.  But not in the way you may be thinking.  I'll blame the crummy parking situation.  There is only street parking available and it is sketchy but let's not digress into negativity. Inside, you'll find a quaintly decorated, slightly Portlandy but not over the top, cozy neighborhood pub. It holds all of the familiar trappings: pool table, large tv, dark wooded bench booths and a large chalkboard with the taplist (local and extensive) and today's specials.  In the lower left corner you'll also find a small list of the current infusions.  Luck have it, Cucumber Vodka will be there.  Have it in a Bloody Mary. Yes, go there.

Now, let's talk about the delicious food.

In spite of a delicious sounding menu of biscuit dishes and scrambles I had, drum-roll please, the Fried Chicken and Waffles. Delicious fried Chicken and Waffles.  In this case I would place more emphasis on the Chicken than the waffle.  The waffle, although flavorful without being overly sweet, became too soggy too quickly.  The Chicken, however was tasty and succulent and generously portioned.  Two full chicken breasts on top of two strips of peppered bacon on top of the waffle doused in a maple sage syrup. Fragrant, sweet, savory, mmmm.  Yes, I've had better (see Austin), but you could do a whole lot worse.






K enjoyed a delightful combo called Mr. October: A bacon (yes bacon) and cheddar biscuit topped with a fried chicken breast, bacon, sausage gravy an two eggs. Yes, yes, yes! I'll have what he's having. Sounds greedy?  Maybe, but to tell you the truth it would have been my first choice if I wasn't being driven by my quest.  But oh, what a wonderful quest it is.





I was so impressed with this first round of yum that K and I brought some more friends back in later in the week for Happy Hour.  We stared out the window, drooling over someone else's food choice that I would have sworn were corn dogs.  No.  They were the Poppers.  Peppers, stuffed with your typical cream cheese, cheddar, cilantro and spices.  These were not run of the mill frozen poppers.  These were...tender, tasty and filling (plan on splitting your order).  I ordered the Mac and Cheese. Yes, I am a comfort food fanatic.  Although I enjoyed it's blend of flavors, I found it to be more of a Penne Alfredo with bacon and chives than a true Mac and Cheese.  Enjoyable but not what I expected.  K ordered the Chicken and Waffle HH size.  Perfect.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Leftovers...

Well, alright then.  I just unloaded the contents of my phone into my computer and found countless pictures of food I never shared.  I know that if you're a friend of mine on Facebook,  that sounds highly unlikely, right?  It has gotten to the point when I take a picture of my food, K asks me to please not post it because our friends will think that all we do is eat.  Which isn't true...really.  It is kind of a funny phenomena these days though, food voyeurism.  Not sure if it started back in 2010 when the NY Times asked readers to send them pictures of their food and received hundreds of submissions.  I have the article bookmarked.  I still refer back to it occasionally when I'm feeling itchy for a foodie fix.

Some of the pictures I have taken I may have felt uninspired to write about, or got too busy, or I simply forgot about them.  OR, I have even felt too self conscious to write about my experience.  I get shy sometimes, it happens.  I'm not feeling shy right now.  I'm feeling like I'm in one of those house-cleaning, dust off the cobwebs and clean out the attic moods.  Or better yet, clean out the fridge.  And here are the leftovers.  Some of them moldy and ready to be tossed but some just as tasty or even more so, than the day they were first served.

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There was the night we spent with our good friend celebrating the New Year and working our way through the Stone Vertical series.  I really didn't have much to say besides "it was Epic"  Truly epic. 

Also epic were the shots I took at Timbers games and the delicious offerings from the Food Cart Alliance.  These tots from Timber's Dog House were an extreme example of how delicious tots can be be.

Or how about these somewhat yummy tots with a more delicious Po'Boy and some even MORE delicious gumbo from Roscoe's?  

There are these yummy pics from the Russell Street BBQ in Portland.  We went some time in April in our quest for BBQ comparable to Austin and for the life of me, I don't know why I wouldn't have told you all about it.    The BBQ was delish but I really would have raved on about the drinks like this cucumber cooler and the Frito Pie appy.  So good.

Also in our great search for well, great food, we like to try out different pizza places.  Who doesn't, really?  So far we've found many notables including the pies at Baby Doll Pizza in Portland and these monster slices at Deschutes Pizza Company in Maupin.  Actually, BDP requires more discussion.  I think we'll head there this week for a "refresher" and I'll tell you all about it later. 

   

Deschutes Pizza

Baby Doll Pizza

There were these lovely pictures from the Wet Dog Cafe in Astoria, Oregon.  Such a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon in Astoria.  Great staff, yummy food and look at that sweet taster.  I can't believe I didn't give you a breakdown of those little beers.  Maybe I did and I just can't find it. The more the pity. 

Some more delicious offerings came courtesy of our friends at TeSoAria.  There wine pick up parties are great fun and they always put out a lovely spread of treats created by Joy Olsen with a little help from John and his Traeger.  

I'm not sure if I've ever shared with you my love for OHana on Sandy Blvd.  If I haven't, I have been remiss. This lovely little restaurant serves it up Hawaiian style with authentic family recipes and some of the most ono this side of the Pacific. 

And then there are the pictures that had me uploading my phone shots in the first place.  This morning K and I went on our continued quest for the best Chicken and Waffles ever.  Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen may fill the bill as far as Portland Ops are concerned.  I enjoyed the Chicken and Waffle while K ordered Miss Kate's Biscuit.  Chicken on a biscuit with bacon, egg, and the most scrumptious bacon gravy, Good Heavens! I didn't even know such a thing existed.  The gravy was creamy, spicy buttery sweet.  The biscuit flaky but not dry.  The bacon was, well, perfect.  The Chicken deserves the capitalization I give it here.  Boneless, skinless, battered in a spicy but not too hot flaky crust.  So tender, juicy and delicious. The waffle it sits atop is crispy, fluffy sweet.  Just a drizzle of the delicious maple syrup is needed here.  This is the real deal. Took me back to Ms. P's in Austin. It was that good.  Wash it down with a Mexican coke or a Sweet Tea and we're talking Heaven.    

The rest of the pictures consisted of our trip to Phoenix.  We consumed some really good food in Phoenix, and some really mediocre food.  I'll save that all for a different post.