Visitor Weekend 3, Part 3: Pok Pok!

Who wants a side of frozen feet with Thai food? We do!

Our evening destination last Saturday with S & T was The Oregonian's Restaurant of the Year 2007: Pok Pok. I was so excited! J and I have been wanting to go here since our first week in town. Pok Pok started out as a take-out hut but quickly morphed into a tiny restaurant after it got rave reviews for its authentic Thai dishes.

Did I mention that Pok Pok is tiny? So tiny in fact that it's kinda ridiculous. There are maybe six 4-tops altogether on the patio, and only a few more seats inside. We got there at 8pm and were told it was a half-hour wait, so we went across the street to Matchbox Lounge for drinks.

Here we are, waiting for our drinks...

The bartender was soooo slow that we ended up not even getting our drinks before Pok Pok called over to tell us our seats were ready.

Unfortunately, the seats were outside. And it was COLD. Like, 40 degrees cold. It was so cold that I was thankful to have the warmth from the person who sat in my seat before me. The puny little heater by our table barely helped (and it kept sputtering out all night)

So. The food. We started out with drinks -- J & I got stuff with Japanese drinking vinegars (apparently, a very big thing in Japan and now also in Portland).
My apple drinking vinegar with gin(?) Can't recall the name of the drink of what's in it, but I liked it.

We ordered 5 dishes and all in all, it was good. The boar collar meat was deliciously spicy. The marinated catfish over vermicelli was a nice mix of lime/cilantro/fish sauce. The curry chicken soup with noodles was tasty, but served lukewarm(!). The rest of the meal was ok: the fish sauce wings (named one of Food and Wine Mag's Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2007) was much too salty and a bit burnt. And the special Northern salad (Yam Samun Phrai, made of a whole lot of herbs) was just plain and bland.

Fish Sauce Wings: Fresh natural chicken wings marinated in fish sauce and palm sugar, deep fried, tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic and served with Vietnamese table salad.

Muu Paa Kham Waan (Boar collar meat rubbed with garlic, coriander root and black pepper, glazed with soy and sugar, grilled over charcoal and served with chilled mustard greens and a spicy chili-lime-garlic sauce.)

Cha Ca La Vong (Catfish marinated in turmeric and sour sticky rice, fried in turmeric oil with scallions and dill, served on rice vermicelli with peanuts, mint and nouc cham.)


Final verdict? Pok Pok is good, but inconsistent. Perhaps my expectations were set to high. And the cold weather certainly didn't help my mood -- my feet were totally frozen by the time we left (stupid me didn't wear socks). In any case, Lotus of Siam is still my favorite Thai restaurant.

Visitor Weekend 3, Part 2: Zen and then some at the Chinese Garden

Zen and then some at the Chinese garden

After lunch at Kornblatt's Deli, we headed to the garden of my peeps, the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, for an afternoon of zen tranquility. From the outside, the garden looks dinky; it's 1 square city block, hidden behind a big white wall. There's not even a designated parking lot, just street parking. And it's about 2 blocks over from the start of the financial district. 

But once inside, it's so peaceful! There are, surprising, a lot of little nooks here and there that make the garden seem spacious. The little details are also amazing, like the stonework on the ground (there's a different pattern in each "room").

Mostly though, it's just peaceful. Most everyone walks around quietly or whispers. It's eerie, but in a good way. There's also a teahouse on site, that serves a ton of different high-end teas ($7/pot!) and an assortment of warm Chinese goodies (like dim sum).

The only other Chinese garden I've been to is the one at The Huntington Library in LA -- it's gorgeous too, and bigger, but definitely not as tranquil as this Portland one.

Visitor Weekend 3, Part 1: Christmas fun at Pittock!

Last Saturday was a fun-filled day: a tour of Pittock Mansion, a walk through the garden of my peeps (aka the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), and dinner at Pok Pok. Since there's so much to say, I'll have to divide the post into 3 separate sections.

Christmas fun at Pittock Mansion
The day was gorgeous! Clear blue sky, crisp wind in the air. So FALL. So perfect for exploring more of Portland, especially with S & T in town!

We started our morning with a trip to Pittock Mansion, a grand, historic house that sits high above Portland. Every Christmas, the mansion is decked out in festive holiday decorations with the theme of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Each room reflects a different line in the poem; there are even lots of tiny, stuffed mice hidden throughout the house. Each room also has a different Christmas tree. On the main floor is a pianist playing Christmas carols on the 18th century piano and the music echoes throughout the house. In short, the place just screamed CHRISTMAS at every corner, and it was awesome.

The house too, is gorgeous. The interior architecture is absolutely amazing and opulent. For example, some of the rooms are curved and the wood floor pieces are also curved, to match the shape of the walls. Crazy cool!

The views of Portland are also breathtaking. Right now, you get a great city view with Mt. Hood in the background, but I bet a century ago there was a lot more trees and empty land. In any case, almost every room has huge windows to show off the view, even the bathrooms!

Some pics for you all to enjoy:

T & J goofing around in front of Pittock Mansion

The view from the mansion. You can see Mt. Hood in the distance.

4 happy kids in Christmasland

Picking a thorn off his foot?

The pantry filled with mice of all different shapes and sizes!

Scary mannequins in the bedrooms. Why did they put those freaky looking covers over the eyes?? And what's up with those talon fingers?

One of the bottom floor cardrooms, decorated completely in miniature Santa doohickeys

Visitor Weekend 2! Foodie time

Yay for more visitors! Last weekend, with K, M and S in town, we packed a lot of outings into 1.5 short days. This post however is all about the food we ate.

Portland is indeed a boozy town: it has more microbreweries than any other city in America. Therefore, the first stop on Friday night was at Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl District. Deschutes is a local microbrewer, and the maker of S's beloved Jubelale -- pretty cool name for a seasonal beer! The place was PACKED. We waited a good 45-60 minutes in the bar before our number was called. It's a good thing the beer here is tasty, because the food is BAD! Like, really really BAD! I didn't even finish half of my dinner. Still, it's a fun atmosphere. Plus, you can get a sampler platter of 6 different beers for like $6 (like Scott did!).

After dinner, we wandered into Powell's, then over to Henry's Tavern. On our way home, we circled around Voodoo Donuts (home of crazy concoctions and names like "Triple Chocolate Penetration" and "The Memphis Mafia") but couldn't find a parking spot. :(

However, the night was still a success because of my new revelation: the Rogue Hazelnut brown ale ("nectar" actually) is now my favorite beer.

Saturday morning was dim sum with my aunt and grandmother at Wong King Seafood in the SE area. Alas, no tripe was ordered but there were some delicious chicken feet to suck on.

After a super fun afternoon of hiking (more on that in another post), we headed to Alberta St. Oyster Bar & Grill for dinner. I've been craving oysters ever since the dinner at Jake's Crawfish. The restaurant was in a great NE neighborhood filled with gorgeous, old mansions.

I was a happy camper because: 1) there was an oyster sampler platter with matching champagne tasting, and 2) pork belly was on the menu! Talk about the best possible food combos! The oysters included my fav Kumamotos. The pork belly was appropriately salty, porky, and crispy. It didn't have as much fat as I would've liked, but then again, Portland's probably more health conscious (read: granola) than SF.

[As an aside -- the nice dinner was to celebrate my 11th anniversary with K. Has it really been that long? Jeez I feel old. But also proud. We've been together, REALLY together, without breaks or anything, for that long. Yay for us!]

Sunday morning: breakfast at the Capital Coffeehouse and Bistro. It's a cute little place just up the street from our apartment. The brunch is pretty mundane, and I wouldn't advise anyone to make a special trip here, but I adore the small, homey feel of the place and the fact that it's within walking distance. No doubt, I'll be back one more time before my time here in Portland ends.

Stay tuned to read about our hiking adventure!

Tapas bravo!

Who: J, M and moi

What: tapas! At Toro Bravo in NE Portland

When: Veteran's Day, after an afternoon of wine tasting

Verdict: AWESOME. The best grilled shrimp I've had in recent memory, and the most amazing squash dish ever. My favorite restaurant so far in Portland.

Griddled bacon-wrapped dates with warm honey
Too sweet for me, but J and M liked them.

Griddled shrimp with chilies.
Unbelievably tasty! Perfectly cooked jumbo shrimp with a hint of lemon, smoke and spiciness. I could've made a meal out of just these alone.

Harrissa stewed fall squash with crumbled sheep cheese
The sauce was amazing and akin to a buttery, rich tikka masala sauce. We were practically licking the bowl at the end.

Squid ink pasta with anchovy syrup, hazelnuts, and egg yolk.
I alone liked this dish; it was on the salty side, but had an excellent, mellow, fish flavor

Roasted eggplant with sweet pepper and lamb ragu
Not bad...reminded me of a lasagna.

Oregon truffle omelette
A perfectly executed omelette with lots of cheese but not a whole lot of truffle flavor.

Churros & chocolate
A sad end to our meal....the churros were too oily; Costo ones are better.

Will-AAAAA-met wine tasting

Did you know that Willamette Valley, Oregon's top wine-producing region, is only ~25 miles outside of Portland? I didn't. Did you also know that Willamette Valley is pronounced Will-AAAAA-met, not willa-met? I didn't. I'm such an obvious non-Oregonian.

Tuesday, Nov 11 was an extremely exciting day for J and I because... we had the day off! Holy cow! It was a much needed break, even if I felt a little bit bad not serving veterans on their own day. We decided to go wine tasting in the Willamette Valley instead.

[Side note: J and I are NOT drinkers, despite the fact that almost every post so far mentions alcohol. Prior to coming to Portland, it was very rare indeed for either of us to drink on a weeknight. Apparently, the water up here is making us more boozy.]

Despite the pouring rain, we headed to some wineries after lunch. Our first stop was Argyle Winery for a champagne tasting. They're famous for supplying the White House with bubbly. Inside their tasting room were a bunch of framed letters like this one:


Haha, I like the same stuff that the Bushes do! In all seriousness, the Argyll bruts were great. Too bad they were $30+ per bottle, or else I would've bought one. I'm also a little said they didn't have a bubbly dessert wine (you know how I like my moscato d'asti!)


The next stop was Erath Winery. So clever with their naming (it's an anagram of Heart and Earth)....except that the sound "wrath" is in it. Of the wineries we visited, this one was the coziest. The lady there was super sweet. They also had crackers to go with the wine tasting, which gives them an extra + in my book. M and J each ended up getting some wine.



Final stop was Torri Mor, a beautiful winery with super expensive pinot noirs ($60/bottle?!) Ehhh. I wasn't at all impressed. Goes to show how developed my palate is.

The drive to Willamette Valley is gorgeous. I can imagine how much more beautiful it would be on a sunny day, especially now with the grape vines a gorgeous golden color. It's definitely worth the drive from Portland.

Visitor Weekend! Part 3: BB's birthday dinner

To celebrate a big milestone birthday for BB, we had reservations at Jake's Famous Crawfish. Despite the snacks and drinks at Henry's, we were game to go to Jake's because it's a Portland institution! This is the original McCormick and Schmick's restaurant and has been around since 1892.

The dinner was fantastic, from beginning til end. Good food, good friends -- that's really all it comes down to. But I'll go into the details anyway. :)

The restaurant specializes in fresh seafood, so they print out a new menu daily. When we got our menus, printed at the top was a Happy Birthday welcome message! Isn't that a nice touch? The wine list was pretty ho-hum, so we ended up getting mixed drinks that ranged from tasty to interesting (mine was a made up of guava nectar, alcohol and ground cloves...too weird of a mix to be called good.) We also scored an awesome private booth by the window.

The highlight of the night was, hands down, the raw oysters. YUMMY briny goodness. For fun, we started with a half dozen oysters mix from the Pacific NW. These were such tasty, tasty things that we had to get another half-dozen. Mmmm. The whole restaurant probably heard us Mmmm-ing. These were fantastic and creamy and made your mouth feel lush. Really, I could go on and on.

We all could've easily had more oysters, but decided instead to order other dishes to make it a more well-rounded meal. My halibut was wonderfully prepared if a little bit boring. M's seared ahi was not only beautifully presented, it had a nice peppery edge to it. BB had extra oysters, plus a soup and salad.

And for dessert: a chocolate cake slice for the birthday girl. Happy birthday, BB! We've celebrated 19 of them together already, and I know there are many, many more in the future. I hope you enjoyed the weekend!

Visitor Weekend! Part 2: beer and books

Saturday was the perfect combination of shopping and food. Not only did we hit the mall (and I finally found my Jcrew hoodie on sale, yippee!!), we also made a pitstop at Powell's Bookstore. All day long, BB kept promising it would be a booklover's paradise. She went on and on about how big the store was, how impressive the selection was, how even she could spend 2 hours getting lost in their aisles. I myself had driven by it already and thought it looked, well, boring. And old.


Well. I was most foolish. Powell's is what part of my heaven would look like! Aisles upon aisles of floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with books of all different types. There are, like, 5 stories of this craziness. The store takes up an entire block in the Pearl District. It is MASSIVE. And yes, it is an older store, but that doesn't really matter when all of the book covers are gleaming. It reminds me a little of Shakespeare & Company (the most fantastic little English bookshop in Paris), but not as cozy.

We all ended up leaving with an armload of books. I've already flagged this place as a Must Return before I leave.

We also stopped by Henry's Tavern for happy hour (yes, even on Saturday!). If Powell's is a booklover's paradise, then Henry's is made for beer lovers. They advertise over 100 "well chosen" beers on tap. Some of the tappers (or whatever they're called) had a cool label or figurine head. I chose my first drink based on that alone. Check it out:


It was extremely crowded, and we had to fight to grab some bar stools. The food prices were great (everything between $2-$4). Considering this place is known for drinks and not food, the eats were pretty good. Between the four of us, we managed to try about 7 different types of beer. Note to others: never ever order a Black Cherry Stout. It is disgusting and tastes like cough syrup. The bartender very nicely gave us a shot taster first. Smart man. He said most people who order it end up hating it, so he wanted us to try it first.

Henry's is also on the Must Return list. I think K & SS (when they come visit next weekend!) would love it!

Visitor Weekend! Part 1: Mother of a good time

This past weekend was a bust in terms of studying. Zilch got done. Instead, it was pretty much all playtime. M & BB came to visit! On our agenda: shop, eat, shop and eat. We accomplished our goals completely. Good job, us!


Friday night started at Mother's Bistro in downtown Portland. J and I walked by this place during our first week and thought it looked totally charming what with half of the restaurant done up in French country decor and the other half called "The Velvet Lounge." We unfortunately just missed happy hour, but no sweat -- we don't mind drinking past 7pm! It was packed to the gills that evening and our host was a crazy cool half-Asian gay dude who teased us about how tall J was (he didn't believe that tall Asian girls existed).

I was hoping to get a table in the Velvet Lounge (which had that slick sultry vibe thing going on because of its velvet booths and eclectic music) but we were led to a table in the main dining room. I'm not a fan of shabby chic, but the room was very pretty in a cozy, antique way. There were glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling every few feet, including a massive gorgeous one in the front room. The food itself was decent, though not spectacular (so no point in posting the food pics.) This place also falls into the BTDT zone, but it was a lovely way to start the weekend off.