Radio Room

www.radioroompdx.com

The Radio Room, located in the arts district of Portland, was packed two Fridays ago! Our party of four had literally nowhere to sit in the large indoor/outdoor, upstairs/downstairs, this-room/that-room plus bar smorgasbord of seating arrangements. Whew!



Where we sat.
From Radio Room photos.

 Apparently the spot serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and from what I can tell by the looks of it, is that it is crowded during all of those meals. We enjoyed a nice, post-happy hour dining time of 7pm and sampling their seasonal beer on tap while waiting for our meal to arrive. We managed to squeeze in to a nice table situated on the backside of the main room next to a lively party of 8 who were welcoming to our wetness and close proximity. With us that evening was a bottle candleholder we were bringing on our way to an auction, which got many warm comments from the wait staff and the table next door. Friendly place!

For my meal I ate the salmon club, which was recommended to me and two other people at the table dined on as well. It was out of this world! It tasted totally fresh and not fishy, so much so that I would even recommend that a non-fish eater dabble into fish with it. The description of my dish says that it includes “sizzlin’ salmon” and some fresh thick-cut bacon, which I happily gave out as I’m not a bacon lover (I know that’s sacrilege) and some scrumptious red pepper aioli, as well as sandwich toppings. That red pepper aioli really made the meal – it tasted similar to a creamy spinach spread or a good baba ganoush in the sense that what I tasted was a fresh salad concoction and not the individual ingredients.

The stuffed butternut ravioli tempted me, I admit. “Brown butter, sage, hazelnut” all served in a gorgonzola sauce with a baguette. Yes! Additionally, the mix of brie and apples on a chicken sandwich sounds like a winner, as does the turkey cranberry sandwich.

This girl was not a friend of ours!
From Radio Room photos.

If I had to go back tonight, I think I’d eat the whole menu instead. No, in all seriousness I think I’d try out more of the “corners” of the menu. For instance, I think I’d sample the desserts and appetizers. Maybe investigate the macaroni and cheese with its wonderful toppings.

The ambience was slightly noisy, or waitress was slighty airheaded, but with the friendly mood and dark lighting, none of that seemed to matter. The night was destined to be a dark and storm night warmed by friends and good food!

Voodoo Doughnut

http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/


The Voodoo Donut

 Crazy Portland serves up some crazy food items... like bacon on doughnuts and little donut men yelling something about having their sugarfilled liberty being taken from them. Damn they're tasty!

Last Friday, the day before its grand remodeling, I ate a zesty butterfingering donut at Voodoo Doughnut's downtown location. A camera crew was there, assessing the situation come Saturday morning, as was a cool dude walking around with a Voodoo anchor. He was soliciting people to get their photos taken through the nut.

All I wanted from the exposition was a little info on the place, the ambience, and well, its donuts. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't overpriced at all - most sat in the two-dollar range. Their website claims that the nuts start at ninety-five cents and go up from there.



Butterfingering Donut

We were really pleased with our purchases. We bought a raspberry romeo, a chocolate doughnut ring, a dirt donut, and a butterfingering. We walked over to the nearby Powell's coffeehouse to eat our donuts and annoy the quiet patrons, as we sweetened the pondering of existence. I ate my butterfingering first, which was very nice. It's made from their yeasty side of donut life with some crumbled up b-finger bits and gooey glaze on top.

We also indulged in the dirt donut which had pieces of crushed oreos sprinkled all over the top and came with a vanilla frosting. Wow was it good! The raspberry romeo I ate at the house later on (how many are safe to eat in one setting.. who knows?) was excellent. I have an affinity for jelly-filled donuts ever since my bible school days and this donut hit perfection. The jelly wasn't too creamy or tart and tasted fresh - even on the second day. We should have gone back for more, but alas, there's only so much of your life that you can spend waiting in the donut line.

Speaking of which, hey! Guess who we met while waiting in line? We ran into one of the owners and creators of Voodoo, extraordinaire Kenneth Pogson. You may find him on the streets outside Voodoo engaging patient customers warmly or perhaps up on google image searches doing handstands.

Contrary to Portlandia's popular belief, there are three, count them three, Voodoo Doughnut locations, one in Eugene, to fix your sugar needs. Until I travel west, here's to you Voodoo!




Ziba's Pita's

http://www.zibaspitas.com/index.html

When given several blocks filled with good smelling, cheap ethnic food and signs that readily display the accolades these eateries have achieved, you might find yourself in a pickle. I was hard pressed to make a decision on where to eat last Friday. But one of the first food carts I passed in downtown Portland was Ziba's Pita's and the unique-looking menu caught my eye. At first I thought it was Mediterranean food with a Polish spin, but after walking the rest of the carts in the rain I returned to Ziba's and chatted with Ziba. I randomly assumed she was Polish, turns out she's Bosnian. We chatted about the weather and she exclaimed that her sister lives in Lexington, Kentucky. How nice!

Their menu contains ingredients that look like your typical Mediterranean restaurant - like beef, rice and cucumbers with tzatziki-like sauces; however, the dishes themselves look completely different from your standard pita.



While the door to her food cart displayed a Bon Appetit! article about what I presumed to be her restaurant, she proceeded to take my order and then stick something in the microwave. Huh? I ordered the "burek" and thought that she'd have to procure the meat from a turning spit in the back of the food cart. Anyway the food came out of the microwave and we continued to chat - boy can she talk! - and then I was whisked away to eat in the rain under a neighboring awning. Man was it good! A phyllo-like yeastier, sweeter dough filled with spiced beef. The beef was sweet too and not too sharp or gamey. I was really impressed!

The thought crossed my mind to get the zucchini dish "tikvenica" or the spinach roll-up, but then I decided that I shouldn't be so adventuresome. Looking back, I should have gone there or even ravenously sampled two even though I wasn't hungry at the time. The menu also describes "meatballs" which I thought were meatless at first but now realize that they would be nothing like falafel. The meatballs for seven dollars come with a little roll that is described as like bread only better. I can only imagine! This visit reaffirmed my love for the Bosnian spin that I have experienced on many delicacies (baklava in particular!).

Bunk Sandwiches

http://bunkbar.com/

Right now I'm listening to a Portland podcast and trying to find out more about the city full of good eats! My friend Julie posted on my blog asking me about restaurants in Portland and thus, here I post! I have acquired quite the list of good eats - from the microwaved Bosnian cuisine at a food cart that happened to appear in Bon Appetit (that never happens in the real world), to the food network featured donut shop whose location closed the day after we visited (camera crews were present assessing the to-be-incured damage).

So alas I arrive at a review of Bunk Bar, better known according to their website as the bar form of Bunk Sandwiches (http://www.bunksandwiches.com/). It's like a sandwich club, except it takes its sandwiches seriously. I never realized that Portland takes its meats seriously. I was surprised by the lack of vegetarian dishes on the menu, but alas the meats in town are sensational. All taste really fresh and home-cured; however, that could be pure bologna on my part. Food and Wine magazine raves that they "reinvented" the tuna melt and features their oxtail-confit and meatball sub sandwiches. And, after watching the diners, drive-ins, and dive's food network episode on the place, I realize that yes, it's true (my bologna) - they do cure their own pork belly. And it looks really good.



When I dined there recently everyone ingested the cuban sandwich except for me. I should have just taken the hint. I got a roast beef sandwich with real horseradish on it, which I love! The bread on the sandwich was really good ciabatta and my sandwich came with a smattering of chips alongside. The cuban sandwich, which features their pork, was astoundingly good and filled with wonderful peppers tasting of rich olive oil. If I had to return I would definitely hunt down a cuban sandwich, which I normally dislike due to the swiss cheese.

The locale was very cool and calming, although the music was a bit odd. The lights were dim and the main lighting was just provided by candlelight. The interior is a warehouse type of interior and there are pinball machines in the corner. The way you order is by approaching an etched out corner in the wall and placing your order there. You get a number and then they bring the food to you.  The prices are at about 8 dollars a pop (pretty standard actually for portland, a few cheaper for food carts, a few more for full service of the places we went to).

I think all of the food I ate in Portland was stellar. I couldn't put it down it was so good. But I think due to the walkability of the city I didn't gain a point. My wallet lost weight and I gained enjoyment.

Chimayzing: A Look at One of Belgium’s Finest Breweries

http://www.chimay.com/

I have met few people who know more about the subject of beer than Serg Ribbenboim, owner of Sergio's World Beers. So, it was an honor to receive an invitation to accompany him and a small group of people to Belgium for 10 days full of amazing brewery tours, crazy beer festivals, and cozy local bars. Out of the 17 breweries we visited, the tour of Chimay was for me the most educational, memorable, and delicious experience.

If you've dabbled in the world of Belgian beer, chances are you've heard of Chimay, the most highly exported Trappist beer in the world. The Trappists make up a Cistercian branch of monks who practice strict, traditional Catholicism. There are many Trappist monasteries in the world, but only seven of them brew beer (Achel, Orval, Westvleteren, Westmalle, Rochefort, Chimay in Belgium and La Trappe in the Netherlands). The Trappists all take the quality of their beer very seriously but have different methods of public distribution, ranging from the extremely exclusive Westvleteren (who does not export at all and limits each guest to one box set of beer to take home) to Chimay (who exports to 40 countries).

As part of our epic adventure, we spent a full day touring the Chimay abbey, brewery, and bottling plant located in the southern French-speaking province of Hainaut in the small town of Chimay. True to form, we were over an hour behind schedule when we left our hotel in northern Belgium and piled into our 2 minivans. After two and a half hours of driving, hungover and under slept, we arrived at the very commercial looking business offices connected to the Chimay bottling plant to meet our tour guide, a small well-kept man named Fabrisse who handles much of the distribution of Chimay beer. He and Sergio happily chatted in French about the fact that we had no accommodations for the evening (also par for the course on this trip), and we started in on the tours. My beer-clouded brain doesn't remember half of the details we heard as we walked through the modern bottling facility and the brewery inside the monastery, but here's the important stuff.



The Evolution of Chimay bottles (from left to right)

  The Chimay abbey makes three types of beer: Red (the original at 7.0 abv), Blue (the strongest at 9.0 abv), and the White Tripel (the newest addition to the Chimay family at 8.0 abv). All beers are bottled in the standard 33 cl and 75 cl bottles completely unique to Chimay. The Blue is the only beer bottled in larger bottles, and incidentally, the only one of the three that should be aged. The automated bottling machines can fill 40,000 little bottles per hour and 16,000 of the next size up. The large 150 cl Magnum bottles are bottled by hand much more slowly. After bottling, the beer undergoes a second fermentation before being exported. In awe we walked through the warehouse where thousands of beer crates and kegs are organized on palates according to the countries they will be sent. Fabrisse furnished us with Chimay caps, pens and plenty of brochures before leading us on the eight km drive to the monastery.

True to the Trappist tradition, the monastery grounds are perfectly kept and simply furnished. Once inside, we walked through the church and the brewery both surprisingly monk-less. As demand for Chimay abroad increases, the brewery continues to expand production, adding new fermentation tanks in every possible space. In this spirit of modernization, Computer equipment that regulates temperatures through the brewing process (a wall of brightly colored dials and buttons reminiscent of a spaceship control panel from The Jetsons) will be updated soon. From the brewery it was on to the tasting room, where each batch of beer is tasted to ensure it is of Chimay quality. Fabrisse said it is best to taste beer around 11 am right before lunch, when the belly is empty and the taste buds sensitive. We compared two versions of Chimay Blue Grande Reserve, a new bottle and one from 1995. Aging really brings out the rich malty flavor of this spicy strong ale. The younger version is brighter, lighter, and more carbonated. We also got to try some of the monk's beer, which has a lower alcohol content than the other three beers and manages to be both light and flavorful. You used to be able to buy this beer in the bottle at Chimay, but after someone put one of the bottles on eBay, they decided to discontinue sales.

After the tasting, we drove back to a little restaurant in town where Fabrisse treated us to a bountiful lunch complete with all three Chimay beers as well as the tapped version of the Tripel (the only one of the three beers sold in kegs), Chimay cheese (the monks make four types), and delicious steak frites. When taken together, the beers must be consumed in the order in which they were created (Red, Blue, White). The Red is a brown beer that is a little lighter in body than the Blue, but still rich in flavor. The White punches one in the face with hops, but it remains my favorite of the three, and becomes even more vibrant in flavor when it comes from the tap. The restaurant's menu is satisfyingly diverse including a traditional pickled fish dish called escaveche, salads, omelets, rabbit, and steak frites with a variety of three sauces (mushroom, roquefort, and peppercorn). We ate there three times over two days and always left satisfied. Three minutes walking from this cozy culinary gem will bring you to the hotel franc bois, a quaint little bed and breakfast with very comfortable accommodations. There is of course a Chimay auberge where you can stay the night and purchase Chimay merchandise Tuesdays through Sundays.

All in all, the town of Chimay provides the perfect place for a 24 hour getaway. The brewery tour is fabulous, the beer and cheese taste delicious, and the people do all they can to make you feel like home.

- Guest Blogger, Dominique Baser
http://dominiquebaser.wordpress.com/

Zaytun Mediterranean Grill

http://consuminglouisville.com/2009/03/where-to-eat-in-louisville-zaytun-mediterranean-grill.php

While trying Zaytun based on two friends recommendations, we found the restaurant empty on a Thursday night. The emptiness of the place had scared us away once before when we were walking by at the lunch hour, but saw no one inside. Not to compare the place to La Bamba on Bardstown Road, but we were wondering about the quality of the food if no one was around.

Before our food came a couple of Kroger shoppers came in and got to-go orders and two couples came in and sat down. Our food came out beyond quickly – our salad came immediately and our entrees followed soon after. I was impressed by the ambiance in the place: the color tones are chic and inviting, you get to look out large store-front windows onto Bardstown Road, you can kinda see back into the kitchen, they have televisions and pop music playing to delight your eyes and ears. The restaurant could use a tinge more warmth added to it, though. For instance the walls are a little shiny and abrasive. They could be warmed by some velvety furniture or more carpet coverings on the floor.

One part of the meal that was sub-par was our wait staff. They were attentive, but awkward as could be. My waitress spilled water all over my jeans and then wanted to blot it up with napkins. I kindly refused this weird offer and she disappeared and we found ourselves with a new waiter.



Inside of the Restaurant (from Aaron M.'s Yelp.com posting)














On to the important part: we ordered a hero gyro with standard toppings (tomatoes, onions, lettuce), a house salad, and a sampler plate of the vegetarian items (Egyptian-style hummus, baba ganoush, and falafel). The food was unique above all and very tasty. The bread and pita that came with the gyro and sampler plate was warm and sweet and one of the highlights of the meal. The meat was zesty and very flavorful and I would put it second to none; however, to me it tasted as if it was made good by the fattiness of the items (or rather adding butter or grease to them in key spots). The difference between this meal and a meal at Yafa’s, for example, is that Yafa’s never leaves a sour feeling in my stomach – Yafa’s can’t, it’s just fresh food always. Here I was glad and very surprised I didn’t burp my brains out when I went to the gym for my 8-miler afterwards.

Regarding our vegetarian sampler, nothing was lacking in terms of flavor or complexity. However, nothing was outstanding. The baba ganoush, which I had already had some of Yafa’s tops ganoush earlier in the day, was fresh but not quite as tasty. The Egyptian hummus I liked, but had that odd oxidized taste to it that kind of drives me bonkers (is it just a lot of lemon, or what?). The salad we had was phenomenal. It’s dressing was simply unbeatable – it was a simple salad, though, not too much outside standard Greek salad toppings.

There is a constant debate among middle-eastern and Mediterranean foodies about where to find the best falafel in town. My high school French teacher and agree that you can find them at Yafa’s at Theatre Square on Fourth Street; however, Zaytun did offer up some fresh and tasty falafel. I admit I am not partial to their style which tends to be more cooked than not, but their seasoning was scrumptious and their presentation amongst the other items on the plate was perfection! The appearance of the falafel itself is a little questionable: it looks more like a hushpuppy than anything... it’s like a big fried dough ball. But the innards are yummy and warm and the taste is there.