Leftovers: Mid year edition 2016 or why do I procrastinate so much?

I last posted about my wonderful spring break adventures in March.  Now, my summer break is winding down and I've yet to post about 4 months worth of delicious.  I've done you a disservice. Disculpo.

You'll pardon if I resort to my old standby in the BiGMoUtH blog known as Leftovers.  Basically, I upload all of my pictures from my phone and camera, sort through and if I remember when and where and why I took a picture, it makes it to the page.  That is some major scrutiny so trust me when I tell you that this is some good stuff.  

Reaching back to the beginning of the year, I returned to the People's Pig and actually took a picture of my feast before I plowed in. The lighting isn't the best and neither is my patience when I am sitting in front of the Smoked Fried Chicken plate with Greens and Jo Jos (which I can no longer find on the menu).  This is the most uniquely flavored fried chicken I've ever tried, really.  The smokiness under the perfectly crisp fried batter is what takes it over the top.  The delightful People's Mules (Monopalowa Vodka, Lime, House Ginger Syrup, Soda Water) served authentically in copper cups only enhanced the warm fuzzy feelings this meal provided.  The greens are good, mine are better.  The jojos were delicious and one of the better side options so I hope they're not gone for good.  This chicken is one of those items that you want to order every time you visit the place.  It's hard to break away from something this good. 

Another place we visited earlier in the spring was Newport, Oregon's Ocean Bleu at Gino's.  Nothing new here, same old perfection on a plate.  I ordered the fresh from the ocean that morning rockfish and chips.  I can't even explain without crying.  I love this place and everything about it.  This time around I did dive into my food before I could take a picture and so I leave you with some pretty pictures from the comfy fun dining room and sweet hide-away patio. Someday, I'll actually have to write them a legit review. After all, this is a family who shops locally, supports their local industry, processes their fresh fish on site and even participates in some of the fishing themselves.  Talk about a serious farm to table movement.  

This next place is new to me and I get a bit giddy thinking about them.  They are Donut Byte Labs and they are a food cart  at SW 4th and Burnside.  These little baby donuts are just enough.  Just enough sweet, just enough savory, just enough soft doughyness, just enough delightful crisp.  I cannot quite grasp why people will stand in a humongous line at the pink box place two streets over when this little cart is pumping out these little flavor bombs.  They have passed my favorite three picks for best doughnut in Portland and have rolled themselves to the top for flavor alone. My favorite?  So hard!  OK, please try the Milk and Honey, it is heaven on earth.  Just so you know, I still have tremendous love for Joe's in Sandy, Pip's Original, and Annie's on Sandy Blvd.   

I'm not always out and about eating and drinking, I do plenty of that stuff at home too.  I mean with  someone like K whipping out baby Beef Wellingtons and Bacon and Eggs for days, I consider myself pretty spoiled.  

I enjoy the familiar as much as I love trying something new.  Sometimes, it's a little bit of both.  Headed back to the Portland Mercado, we discovered the newly opened Que' Bola!  Pretty much anything from the carts or vendors at the Mercado can be certified delicious but I was really excited to try the Cuban comfort food served up by Jose Perez and family.  It did not disappoint.  K went straight for the Cubano sandwich with a side of gooey crisp sweet fried plantains. My favorite.  I was looking for the savory sour of Cuban Picadillo.  Delicious green olives and golden raisins pack the sweet and sour punch required for this chopped meat dish.  With a side salad and white rice it is a sizable meal;  I could've shared but I didn't.  Served with a smile, I will definitely be returning to Que' Bola! to check out the other items on the menu at this delightful Mercado addition.   

 

Thank you for your patience while I cleaned out my phone and photos to bring you today's blog. It was stuffed with pictures from our family trip to Kauai.

Mahalo!

Leftovers 2015: Time to Ketchup...

Oh my, sometimes I crack myself up.  Funny stuff.  Not funny stuff?  Looking back at my blog and seeing my last post was in April of 2015 and then looking at my camera and seeing pictures of food that I truly meant to share with you.  Best laid plans and all that.  Here's to actually writing about more of the places and I'm eating and drinking at.  Sláinte.

 Always looking for control and order in my life before I just totally give in to the universe and loose all control, I make New Year's resolutions to eat at home more and eat more healthfully.  That's when I generally whip out these great one pan meals like greens, beets and sausages.  Seriously, it was good but then again, this was January.





February brings one of my favorite holidays of the year, President's Day.  The Saturday of President's Day weekend to be precise: Zwickelmania. Brought to us by the Oregon Craft Beer people, this day brings food, fabulous fun and tasters of fine brew all gratis.  It was this past year that I re-acquainted myself with my favorite stout, Base Camp S'More Stout.  Served complete with a toasted marshmallow on the rim.  Deeelicious!



It was while waiting to head over to another OCB event, the Malt Ball, that K and I discovered Martinotti's Italian Deli.  The most delightful cappuccinos I've ever had.  Sadly, this lovely little world market has closed. It only took me 30-some years to find.  Cannoli just like Mrs Davi used to make and a Tiramisu from heaven.  You may or may not know that Tiramisu is one of the only kinds of "cake" that I actually enjoy.  Tres Leches being my first.

 While we were packing for our trip to Austin, we treated ourselves to a Portland Monthly Dining Out deal and tried out Autentica and although we found the Ceviche Pescado and the Barbacoa delicious and the drink menu amazing, it was a little over-priced.  Let's just say, I would go here again, with a coupon.

 May brought back Farmer's Markets and as soon as the Beaverton Farmer's Market opened we headed over to Money Bowl for some savory sweet hot Rice Noodle Bowls.  Just the thing on a chilly May morning.

 Other discoveries for K and I in 2015 included The Local Cow in Gresham where you will find Rosemary, Garlic, Truffle Oil, Parmesan Fries.  A delightful surprise.  The Burgers here rank up with the best in Portland. Period.

 And tucked away, in a tiny little mini-strip mall we found a wonderful Thai food place.  Truly a hidden jewel.  Sa Bai.  The Tom Yum soup was fragrant, hot and sweet.  Divine comfort food and comfortable prices. Really looking forward to returning here, feeling awful that we haven't as of yet.

For the first time ever, in my life, we ate OUT for Thanksgiving Day.  I couldn't believe it but it was a pretty fabulous experience.  There is nothing like a Mai Tai flight at Trader Vic's to let you know the holiday season has officially begun.

I know I've already told you about the Portland Mercado ( My new Happy Place) but we went back, of course, more than a few times and each time we try something different.  The thing is, there is so much good stuff here, you can!  Always delicious, always a treat.  You need to try the Tlayudas at Tierra Del Sol.  Feast!

2015 will go down in history as the year we discovered Pip's Donuts!  Ohmygawd! You haven't been to Pip's? Who can honestly resist these little balls of goodness?  Crispy, creamy, salty, sweet.  Umami for a breakfast treat!  

And then there is the Mama Leo's in the Roseway neighborhood.  Colombian/Venezuelan/Caribbean cuisine served with simple style.  Don't let the term Gluten free scare you from this dining room, embrace it!  Be careful not to fill up on Patacones before dinner and be sure to order coconut rice with your meal.

Alas, I have no pictures of my food from The People's Pig.  I dove into faster than my voyeuristic tendency could pop up and remind me to pull out my camera and it was really dark in there so the pictures I did take didn't do the flavors justice.  This is some good stuff.  Not your traditional bbq so I won't bother to compare it to other's but it has it's own unique style and menu to delight.  Must Have: The Chicken.  The smoked then deep fried chicken is outrageous.  I would like to try it on a waffle but the sandwich does it fine justice, especially with the jalapeno jelly.  Crunchy, juicy, spicy.  Grab the napkins.  Must Avoid: the coleslaw.  Go with greens (although mine are better) and the corn bread or the dilly potato salad, if you must.  Why do I have such a hard time with sides at BBQ places?  I'll need to explore that more.

So, as you can see, we bounced around a lot in 2015 but I didn't really share the way I should and so I start 2016 with a new resolve and a few new quests ( I still haven't found my quintessential Monte Cristo). I'm getting excited for the festivals to begin again.  First up, ChocolateFest January 22nd.  After all, if I'm going to use the nom de plume BiGMoUth, I'd better act like it.

My New Happy Place

I'm just finishing it now.  The Tequila Tres Leches cake that K and I picked up after dinner.  I love it even more today.  It could be because I stuffed my face silly last night and picking up the piece of cake for a very un-needed dessert was simply to satisfy my obsession with Tres Leches (3 Milks). No, this cake is worth it.  If you really knew me you'd know that means something.  I'm not usually a cake kind of person.  I prefer Pie.  Almost every time.  Tiramisu or Tres Leches would be the exceptions.  So let's talk about last night, and the delight that I found at the Portland Mercado.  Or, make that plural, Delights, we brought home a lot of good food.

We had gone looking to simply "check it out".  Friends had shared pictures from the Grand Opening a couple of weeks ago and I was excited to see how it turned out.  We entered the vividly glowing building through the foyer that holds Cafe' Revolucion.  That is where I first saw the Tequila Tres Leches.  Sitting in a lovely pastry case next to an equally scrumptious looking flan, this particular Tres Leches indicated something a little special with it's fresh lime slices sitting atop the pillowy whipped cream frosting. If there was truly tequila in the cake, I couldn't taste it but no matter.  The cake itself was the perfect spongy white cake consistency just slightly soaked in sweet condensed milk.  The frosting was creamy, cool and carried the lime flavor through out the layers of lusciousness.  Granted, it was the first thing I saw and I wanted it immediately but thought we should have dinner first.  With eight food carts and the beer/wine shop, Barrio,  calling our names, I decided we would return for it later in the evening.  Barrio is definitely worth looking into.  Growlers and bottles "to-go" along with a fine tap list and wines from Latin America to savor "in house".  After K and I gathered all the food we could carry we picked out a prime seating location and took in some highly enjoyable and lovely people watching.  We plan on spending many of our summer days parked in this same spot.

I enter the main room somewhat timidly, afraid to miss a single thing.  There are good things happening all around us, including a meat counter.  You can tell this place is poised to become a hub of the community.  The perfect neighborhood hang, with meat counter to boot.  A juice bar with line out the door, a dulceria (sweet shop), and did I mention the meat counter?

The lure of fresh spicy chorizo drew us quickly to The Don Felipe Chorizeria.  There we found Salud and Angelica and their absolutely delicious chorizo.  Hard to choose between the Red Chorizo, one of the best chorizos I have had or the exotic Green Chorizo, styled after chorizo popular to the Toluca region of Mexico just southwest of Mexico City.  We chose green this time and K whipped up chorizo and eggs this morning that were so fantastic I am still smiling about it 8 hours later.  Seriously. This giddiness may take me through Monday.


Let's get back to last night's dinner:  8 food carts, all highlighting cuisine from deliciously diverse regions of Latin America.  Salvador, Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico; amazing, but now what to choose?  Again with the choices people.  Good thing I choose to come back another couple hundred times, this place wins.

K and I do finally choose to sample off of three different carts and with fabulous results I must say.
First: our appetizer.  Yuca Frita from Que' Bacano.  Oh sweet heaven above.  These Yucca Fries are cut into little wedges and fried to crispy perfection.  Dense and moist, served with a garlic sauce that makes ketchup bow it's head in shame.  Enough for two to enjoy as a starter or just make it a deliciously reasonable meal.  But who said I was reasonable?












On to Fernando's for a Tuc Burrito.  A delicious vegi burrito featuring Nopales.  I cannot bring myself to go through the tortuous task of preparing and cooking cactus segments and so I am really happy I have found a place that will do it for me and then wrap the "leaves" into a big fat burrito full of goodness. The menu here is so enticing I can say that at least three of my next five trips to the Mercado will include a fresh, spicy delectable burrito from here.  All of the  burritos at Fernando's EASILY serve two.  Thank goodness I was splitting this monster with K.

Normal people would have stopped there.  By now, you've deduced I'm not normal people and so onto Mixteca. Hailing from Oaxaca, Mexico, Paula Asuncion easily makes some of Portland's most delicious tamales.  She's won awards for them for crying out loud. She started selling her tamales at Portland area farmer's markets in 2012 with business training and support from Micro Mercantiles.  But I wasn't here for the tamales this time.  Not this time, for there it was- a dish that is interpreted very differently everywhere you go but almost always turns up with delightful consequence: Mole (MOH lay). I like to say it slowly, drawn out, Mooooooooh laaaaaaaay.  The Mixteca cart at the Mercado had Mole, either in a full plate meal or as a bowl.  K and I went with the bowl: shredded chicken, black beans, white Mexican rice w/ veggies, Mole Negro sauce and topped with the Mixteca salad, a spicy lime-dressed coleslaw.  Authentically tasty.

And THEN we went back inside to purchase the Tres Leches.  To bring home.  To eat later.  K grabbed a fork and handed it to me.  "For the ride home".

Take note: Serious heart and soul went into this food.  Actually, serious heart and soul went into this entire venture.  The Portland Mercado is an incubator for small businesses and an economic development project of Hacienda.  Micro Mercantile runs a beautiful kitchen here, available for small businesses to use for a reasonable rental fee.  While we were there, a small cooking class was using the space.  This place really is a win-win situation for this neighborhood and this community in general.