Saturday, August 05, 2006

Mission 13 - Tin Shed - 1438 NE Alberta St

I had heard so many mixed reviews about this place. People either rave about it, or hate it to their core. We had to try it and find out for ourselves. Will and I met up with our friend Marsha on a Saturday morning for breaky.

Tin Shed has become a very popular place, which is probably part of the reason why the people that hate it, hate it. We had quite a long wait before we were finally seated. The wait didn't really bother us though because there were so many interesting people to talk to while we waited. Alberta St also has some fantastic people watching. We had lattes before we left and had we not, our hungry tummies could have made that wait miserable. Take note.





I ordered some delicious biscuits and veggie gravy along with veggie sausage. People.. This was some of the best stuff I've ever tasted. Seriously. Will and Marsha also enjoyed their meals. While we were waiting for our food (yes, more waiting) we noticed that the owners of Ramekin's Café were at the restaurant. They are some of the sweetest people. More great people! By the way, Ramekins isn't in the WW Cheap Eats guide, but I highly recommend them. They're around 13th and SE Division.



So here's the secret to enjoying yourself at Tin Shed. Prepare to hang out with fun people, have a little snack before you go, and be ready for some of the yummiest breakfast around. My Tin Shed experience was so good that I actually ended up giving the owner a big hug on our way out and thanked her.

Posted by Steven at 3:41 PM | | Comments

Mission 12 - Milo's City Cafe - 1325 NE Broadway

Will and I were REALLY excited to go to Milo's. Our friend Alan goes there all the time and raves about the place. But in all the years that I've known Alan, we've never gone there together. We arrived in the afternoon and got turned away.

They close right after the lunch rush and then reopen for dinner.

They seemed like really nice folks and the place was filled with yummy smells, so we'll try again.

Posted by Steven at 3:39 PM | | Comments

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Mission 11 - Swagat - 4325 SW 109th Ave Beaverton

This is my favorite suburban Indian restaurant. There used to be a place in Hillsboro called Shalimar that was AMAZING, but it closed down. I'm not sure why. Now Shalimar is owned by the good folks at Swagat and is called Swagath. Boy have I gotten off track..

Swagat has a great lunch buffet on the week days. Lot of yummy things like rice, indian fried onion, naan (flat bread), and many saucy entrees to go along with them.






My personal favorite is "butter chicken". I forget what it's Indian name is.


After your entree, make sure to have some rice pudding. It may sound gross, but it's really good. Sweet and warm. Mmmm..

Posted by Steven at 9:25 PM | | Comments

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Mission 10 - Red Coach - SE Broadway

Posted by Steven at 11:14 PM | | Comments

Mission 9 - Acapulco Gold - NW Vaugn

Posted by Steven at 11:11 PM | | Comments

Mission 8 - Pok Pok - Division St
























Posted by Steven at 11:08 PM | | Comments

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Mission 7 - Helser's - 1538 NE Alberta

Being that I just wrote something up about Helsers on Alberta month before last, I won't write much that's new.

I ordered two scotch eggs and a side of yukon gold hash. I ate one of the scotch eggs and about half the hash at the restaurant and saved the rest for a late lunch. It's good fresh out of the microwave too!

I'm afraid that I love their scotch eggs so much that I'll never want to order anything else from the menu, which is funny because this project is about trying new things. For now, I'll eat their scotch eggs until I'm sick of them.

Posted by Steven at 9:01 PM | | Comments

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Mission 6 - Stanich's - 5627 SW Kelly Ave

I've probably been to Stanich's a dozen times over the years. They have great burgers, but their SW location is tucked away in a neighborhood so it's easy for me to forget about the place. Being just over the Ross Island Bridge from us, it's really not that far away.

Today we had Stanich's for lunch. Will asked me what I was going to order. After replying, "a cheeseburger", he shocked me. He said that he'd like to have the same thing, "for a change".

In all the years that I've known Will, he's NEVER had a hamburger. That is the power of Stanich's. Good burgers, good fries, and all the diet RC you'd like.

Posted by Steven at 4:48 PM | | Comments

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Mission 5 - Detour Cafe - 3035 SE Division

We had breakfast at Detour two or three years ago. It was good, but didn't leave such an impression on me that I wanted to go back. We decided to go back because of the sucky experience we had at Hedge House. Detour was just down the street.

Something seemed different about the physical environment of Detour from the last time we were there. It felt really good. I think it might be the bushes that they put in front of the restaurant that shield it from the traffic on Division. The windows were also open between the indoor and outdoor seating areas. It was such a comfortable place, we could have hung out there all day.

Will and I ordered fritatas. Mine had italian sausage and romano cheese, along with roasted potatoes. This food was great! The best part was their bread. It's baked freshly there on site. Will told me to turn around at one point and we saw them taking more fresh bread out of the office. How great is that?



Instead of having traditional berry jams on the table for our bread, they had a apricot preserve to enjoy with our bread.

We'll be back.

Posted by Steven at 5:33 PM | | Comments

Mission 4 - Hedge House - 3412 SE Division

We thought it might be fun to check out Hedge House on Division for lunch on Sunday. It's one of those places that's probably a 10 minute walk from our house, but we haven't ever visited.

The restaurant looked so welcoming. It was a beautiful day and half the property was shady outdoor seating. As we walked up the steps, the feeling changed.









Waitress - Sorry, but we're not quite open yet.

Steven - Oh. Ok. When do you open?

Waitress - About 8 minutes.

Steven - Oh cool. We can hang out for 8 minutes.

Waitress - Actually, you can't be on the property until we're open. I just sent some other people away too and they'd probably get upset if they saw that I let you wait here.


This was one of the weirdest restaurant interactions ever. The place is seriously inviting. There are seats just outside the door with a sign that says something like "waiting area", but we couldn't wait in their outdoor waiting area. We had to leave the property and come back in 8 minutes. It reminded me of a trick that I used to play on my little sister when we were kids. I'd ask her with a bowl of ice cream in hand, "Would you like some ice cream?" (Like the inviting patio chairs at restaurant) She's say "Sure". Then I'd say, "I thought so". (Like the waitress turning us away)

As we walked away, we talked about how we didn't really want to go there. After all, they just told us that they didn't want us on the property. It put us off so much that we decided to go somewhere else.

Perhaps we'll try again another time, but why should we when there are so many other great restaurants in town?

Sorry Hedge House.

Posted by Steven at 5:22 PM | | Comments

Mission 3 - Skyline Restaurant - 1313 NW Skyline
















It's Saturday morning. Will and I are hungry for some chow.

Will - Let's go to J and Ms!

Steven - Hmm.. I love J and Ms, but we've been there, like, a hundred times.

Will - How about Henry's down the street?

Steven - Umm.. Same thing.

That's when I consulted the guide and saw the Skyline Restaurant on the list.

I told Will that we were going to a secret location for lunch and he was game. Saturday morning was a beautiful day, so the drive up Skyline was really enjoyable. It seemed like it didn't actually take very long to get there. I'm not sure if it was because it's actually closer that you'd like, or the drive was so nice that time just flew right by.

The restaurant reminded me of another depression era restaurant on the Oregon Coast, but I can't remember exactly which one. The environment is kind of old and tacky, but is very clean.

They had some nice breakfast options on the menu. While we were examining the menu, I overheard the party behind us ordering lunch items. They were old that it was breakfast time and they were only surving breakfast. Just a word of warning for those wanting an early lunch!

I wanted to order the corned beef hash, but was a little afraid of what might be served. There is NOTHING worse than hoping for fresh and delicious corned beef hash and then be served a plate of something from a can. Yuck! So, I thought I'd find a second option and then ask the waitress about the hash.

Steven - Is the corned beef hash from a can?

Waitress - No, it's not.

Steven - So, it's not sliced off of some load of pre-fab corned beef hash?

Waitress - Like dog food? No.
Clearly the waitress was on my team. Dog food is the perfect description for that awful canned corned beef, but you can't ask "Is your CBH anything like dog food?".

Our food arrived and it was GREAT! It reminded both Will and I of breakfast food that we would make in our own house. Simple and delicious.


Posted by Steven at 5:03 PM | | Comments

Mission 2 - Laurelwood Public House and Brewery - 1728 NE 40th

A couple weeks ago, I reconnected with my old friend Shelley from high school. It had been years since we seen each other and decided to have lunch to catch up.

Shelley lives in the Hollywood district and suggested the Laurelwood because it's close to home. I'd been there before years ago, and agreed that it would be a great place to meet.

After we arrived, Shelley and I were talking and I told her about the our new WW Cheap Eats blog. After bringing it up, I wondered if Laurelwood was on the list and walked to the front door to look for a sign. I didn't see one, so we continued with lunch.

A week later, I was perusing the guide and there it was, Laurelwood. So, I'm going to write about an experience that I didn't really intend to write about. Sorry, no pictures.

I had their house salad with grilled salmon. The menu confused me a little bit. There was a price for the salad and a price for the additional meats. I thought that the price next to the meat was for the salad plus the meat, when in reality they were seperate. So, the salad ended up costing $15, which was double what I had expected. I'd pay $15 for a dinner, but not for a lunch salad. Shelley ordered a salad that she thought was $4, but it ended up being $6. This place must be upper-end of the cheap eats criteria, because it seemed expensive.

On a positive note, the salad and service was amazing. I probably should have only eaten half the salad because it was huge. The salmon on the salad was grilled perfectly. Cooked enough to not be raw, and wasn't dry at all. It was probably worth every penny, because I've thought about that salad several times since. Perhaps Will and I will go back some time and share the salad on some weekend. :-)

Posted by Steven at 4:35 PM | | Comments

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Mission 1 - Aqui mexican café - 1408 SE 12th Ave.

We arrived at the restaurant around 6:15pm and it was packed. Aqui is a popular place with a small dining room. They had a few magnadoodles by the front door for the kids, and kids at heart, so we were able to entertain ourselves during the wait for a table.


Steven – “What should I draw?”

Will – “Draw a picture of puppy and kitty kissing each other.”

* steven drawing *

Steven – “What next?”

Will – “Three of the tacos that I’m going to eat tonight”

* steven drawing *

etc.


After we were seated, we perused the menu for a while. I had a hard time deciding. They have a lot of tasty sounding options. When our waitress come back, I asked her what her favorite menu items where. She said that she really liked the fish tacos, the chicken enchilada casserole, and some other things that I can’t remember.

Why can I not remember the rest of her suggestions? As soon as she said “chicken enchilada casserole”, everything else that she said when in one hear and out the other. Obviously, this is not a traditional Mexican restaurant. It’s inspired by Mexican food, but something of their own.

Will ordered the fish tacos and I ordered the casserole.




The waitress brought out some chips and salsa (which must be ordered). The chips came with three types of salsa, a mild green, a hot, and a pico de gallo that was rich with onions and cilantro. Mmmm. Very good.

Our entrees came out and it was hard to not immediately dig in.

Steven – “Wait. Don’t eat yet, I have to take a picture”

The cilantro vinaigrette dressing on the salad that came with my meal was to die for and my entrée was incredible.

Will loved his fish tacos too. He offered a bite of his beans and rice. Wow. They had a flavor that I’ve never tasted in beans and rice before. It had a nice blend of spices.

I would highly recommend Aqui.

Posted by Steven at 11:14 PM | | Comments

Our Assignment

Whether you like the Willamette Week or not, nobody can deny the gastronomic bliss that comes with going to restaurants in their annual “Cheap Eats” guide. Will and I have several favorite restaurants featured in the guide that we go to over, and over, and over again.

As a way to break free from the monotony of our usual routine, we thought it might be fun to make an adventure of going to all the restaurants in the guide. We’ve probably been to half or more of them already, so we’ll see how that goes.

We’re putting no time-line in place. We’ll go when we feel like it. Dining out for us usually happens on the weekend. So, expect a post once every couple of weeks.

Why the WW Cheap Eats Guide?

We like to enjoy the finer things in life, but also balance that with frugality. The Willamette Week Cheap Eats guide is perfect for us. The restaurants that we’ve been to in the guide are excellent. They’re not always super cheap, but they’re always a good food value for the experience.

Posted by Steven at 1:21 PM | | Comments