Al Amir's chicken shawarma dish with rice at lunch was such juicy tender chicken. And the baba ganoush was surprisingly good, with a really smooth appearance and texture that I was suspicious at first, but the flavor was neither too garlicky or smoky. It was a shame that the hummus and rice was pretty bland and the pita bread not fluffy fresh (they are warm but that's it, no different tasting then what you could get at the store and warm up yourself), so except for the chicken and baba ganoush not anything to write about (so I'll just stop now). Karam is just around the corner and I plan to visit there sometime, so perhaps I'll compare then. Certainly I already know their hummus and pitas don't measure up to Madena of the Pearl, though their chicken is better (but then Madena has great falafal- though I didn't try Al Amir's.)
The tapas disappointed though. The bacon wrapped dates stuffed with manchego cheese were great- if you only wanted to taste bacon wrapped dates. And, the patatas bravas (fried potatoes with tomato frito sauce), a classic seemingly easy dish, wasn't spicy at all, though the potatoes were at least cooked perfectly- it was the sauce that failed.
Slappy Cakes takes a cue from fondue, korean bbq, and sukiyaki restaurant establishments but with an American modern cut: pancakes. This newly opened restaurant has its patrons cooking their own pancakes on a stainless steel plate (so no smoky aromas afterwards follow them a la korean bbq). The space is open and bright, with most of the seatings being 4-tops (6 if everyone is skinny) though there are also some that are more like a long "bar" of 4-tops with grills between every 4. Each booth already has all the accompaniments, such as blueberry, cranberry, marionberry, and maple syrups, as well as various hot sauces. Contemporary art along the walls celebrate the breakfast, varying from art showing pancakes in its various stages before consumption (and functioning as a large "step by step how to do this pancake thing" guide for pancake making novices) to photos of people posing happily with one of their menu offerings. The bright core crayola palette puts you in both a happy mood while also evoking memories of the childlike joy of a Saturday morning breakfast with family.
They don't just have pancakes here: there are many other breakfast offerings, and after 11am they also have several lunch offerings from their grill. But, how could I come here and not try the pancakes? There was a choice of buttermilk, pumpkin (the seasonal offering) and I think buckwheat and a vegan version. Everyone at the table got the buttermilk if they were having pancakes- all traditionalists. The batter appears in a squeeze bottle, the easier to make your little round circles. Seriously though next time I come here, I'll bring a stainless steel cookie cutter and make other shapes, though with the squeeze bottle making some basic shapes wouldn't be too hard.
Rather then dipping prepped items in cheese, oil, chocolate, or broth (a la fondue), the prepped items are presented in little gravy boats that allow you to choose whether to cook with them or use them as topping. So you can choose whether to put your nuts in the batter as it cooks, or top them after they are done. Besides nuts like hazelnuts and walnuts, there are also various meats (sausage or bacon), fruits, compotes (orange-ginger marmalade, lemon curd), etc. Honestly, at a $1 for each of these they are making a nice profit, but it's not like I would do this as an everyday breakfast destination.
The pancakes themselves... they were ok. I was expecting amazing batter, but it was average. If the pancakes are supposed to be a blank canvas for excellent add-ins, this might be ok. The toppings were just so-so- nothing that made you just go "oooo". If they wanted me to feel like I was getting more amazing experience then if just not having to put together these ingredients at home, I would have liked to see them branch out to some really amazing ingredients I could have added to my pancake. Maybe unusual flavored butters, seasonal ingredients like squash, or something that I might not think to try, like ricotta or a cup of cereal for crunch with your pancake (rice krispies? granola?). I'll go a little more into ideas in a bit. But, overall, the experience was still entertainingly daytime fun without the commitment of a heavy meal like the traditional do-it-yourself restaurant types as mentioned earlier. I still like the concept a lot.
The stand-out turned out to be the bar. That's right, alcohol can totally be part of your start of the day. I saw the "Whiskey for Breakfast" and Slappy Screw (a twist on the screwdriver but with cinnamon), but opted for the Red Slappy (a red bloody mary- they also have a green version). It packed a good lil kick with spice, and most importantly, along with the usual celery stick, you can also add a slice of bacon to go in the drink. This was awesome. The bar offerings alone are going to bring me back to Slappy Cakes. Next time I might try the pancakes as a shared side though- because I did miss having a sunny side up egg to use my pancake to sop yolk with. I can imagine this place being absolutely packed on the weekends, so I'll just slide up to the cheerful bar. If they could (similar to what Orange in Chicago had) to let people make their own mixes of fruit drinks (i.e. you check a little sheet, a la sushi sheets, of what kinds of fruit you want blended together), that would be so killer.
Slappy Cakes has a lot of potential: a great concept. But in my opinion, they need to step it up taste-wise if they want to be more then a trendy stop for the short-term as people try the new idea of going out for a pancakebreakfast out (rather then doing this at home). But, if the taste isn't upgraded, the novelty will fade, and I'd hate to see this be gone when it can be so much more and be incredible if they just elevate the breakfast a bit more. After all, that's what Orange in Chicago did- they brought people in with the concept of breakfast sushi- but people stayed because of the chef's flavor profiles. I still remember those delicious pancake flights (a simple idea, but executed so well that I kept going back to see their new flight of the day. They remain my favorite breakfast place that I have ever experienced). This is something Slappy Cakes could potentially put together. For instance, 3 of the pancake flights I had that I remember- I realize these have multiple ingredients but they could "recommend" certain gourmet combinations to try (and price it up accordingly), or just have some of these as individual toppings people can put together on their own:
- theme Nuts: Salted Cashews with caramelized bananas and cocoa
- theme Nuts: pistachio dust with dried cranberries and white truffle honey
- theme Nuts: chestnut puree with stewed huckleberries
- theme Nuts: roasted lady apples with hazelnuts and brandy
- theme Strawberry: Strawberry-orange & star anise marmalade with toasted almond and orange flower anglaise
- theme Strawberry: nutella cakes with creamed strawberries garnished with toasted hazelnuts
- theme Strawberry: strawberry, orange, and candied fennel salad
- theme Strawberry: roasted strawberries, pineapples, and blueberries with basil syrup
- theme Wine:Merlot marinated pan roasted pineapple, topped with chocolate mousse and grape marmalade,
- theme Wine: butter roasted granny smith apples served with Chardonnay cream sauce and vanilla syrup
- theme Wine: Port poached pears served with hazelnut cream anglaise and Port reduction garnished with candied walnuts
- theme Wine: Champagne poached strawberries served with strawberry cream anglaise dressed with champagne sabayon and jullianed strawberries.
You get the idea. In fact, with some of these components they can easily move their average per person list of toppings to go with their pancakes to more then they pay for the batter. I don't think Slappy Cakes should incorporate much else- in the end Orange's ever-expanding menu started to degrade the quality of their breakfast experience- but they could certainly elevate the pancake. After all, that's worked for some of the best and famous food carts of Portland (waffles, frites, grilled cheese, burritos, etc) to get a foodie following. The number of additional "other" stuff they already have on their menu would probably suffice- though I'll have to go back to taste-test them.
Meanwhile, Lentil Garden offers something unusual which I tried: uttapam. Uttapam is a savory, rice and lentil based pancake essentially, and fried on a griddle with items such as (in my sampler) tomato, onions, carrots, and/or chilis. Their utappam is served with sambar, coconut chutney and tomato chutney. I wanted to drink my coconut chutney down it was so good. I didn't need to because I wiped it clean with my uttapam.
So as you can see, I had some great pancakes recently. :)
It is hilarious hearing our cats run on the all wooden floor of the house. You know how in cartoons, sometimes when a character tries to run, they start moving their legs and pumping their arms but they are still in the same place for a few seconds?
That's what it's like for our cats. They can't quite get a grip sometimes on the smooth wooden floor.
They also sound like 4 cats running instead of 2 because there's so much paw thumping as they try to sprint across the floor of one side of the house to another.
A vacuum just doesn't cut it anymore, so we acquired a third runner unit for our floors. Lobo welcomed it immediately. I'll post a video of the lil Roomba and kitties meeting for the first time once I figure out how to edit it...
I had a sushi dinner on Tuesday night at this place called Mio Sushi. I always pass it on the way home- it's the next stop on the Max line, and I have also seen it in the Pearl, and haven't had sushi in a long time. I ordered the Dynamite- a baked scallop, octopus, giant clam, mushroom, green onion, onion and masago in a special mayo sauce and sweet sauce dish, as well as two rolls and one premium sushi. I didn't even bother photographing the Dynamite because as soon as I saw it, I realized it was a mess. It was more onion then any seafood, and it was just drowned in sauce. I love that sauce, and it was even way too much for me in sickly sweetness. The rolls were ok- the salmon on the Oregon roll (which also had asparagus and crab) was so much better then the roll I would peel it off just to eat it plain sashimi style. The crunchy roll was ok but would have been better if served immediately to show off the crunch. In the back, the premium sushi of eel with special salmon was pretty good, but only two pieces.
My Sammies lunch at 50 Plates fortunately made up for the disappointment. I had a pretty simple lunch ordering off of their Sammies list with fries. The Lil Kahuna Burger of Kobe beef, Canadian bacon, pineapple, and a teriyaki glaze was really good- I saved it for my last bite. I had high hopes for my other sammie of Roscoes, but the crispy fried chicken on a waffle with coffee maple drizzle wasn't crispy at all. The drizzle was more of a glaze and was definitely tasty, but the waffle and chicken needed that crispness of texture. The fries and homemade ketchup were fine sides for the sammies. I finished off with oatmeal creams, hoping for warm soft cookies with the goey marshmellow creme middle... and only the middle was true. The cookies themselves had good taste but were hard.
Still, I'll go again- there were several other things on the menu I wanted to try, including a chicken and fennel mac and cheese, a miami special sandwich with mojo pork and gruyere, and turducken salad. Taste-wise and presentation wise everything was great- though execution was a bit lacking, at least at this lunchtime visit. Maybe it would be different on another visit- I'm willing to give them that chance.
Recent deliciousness in my life, which has been few because of the inside and outside work on the house. I hope to amend that soon now that that days are colder and darker- need something to keep me happy through the winter!
Casa Del Matador's Braised Carnitas plate offers a huge big enough for two slow-cooked pork shoulder with orange, allspice, cinnamon and bay leaves- it is just as tender and juicy but with a subtle twist as it sounds. Served with rice, black beans, and your choice of corn or flour tortillas and the usual side fixings of sour cream, guac, tomato salsa... seriously though, you really only need the meat and rice. And maybe some sort of tequila beverage
More photos at wulfspirit server
But just compare the last two photos of the last post with these:
Who would plant a poor tree in a post of a wall- stupid! Not the tree's fault, but it had to go. Also there was a wisteria tree- pretty, but planted to start like a tree and then trained to wrap around electrical cables on the side of the house so it would eventually ruin the house instead of on trellis or arches that we wouldn't be screwed if it decided to break- so the wisteria too had to go, a pity. Never even got to see it in bloom. I guess the intent was to have to growing as an arch by the kitchen door, or maybe go around the porch- but why steel cables specifically for this purpose weren't put in is a mystery. Of course, this is the same house that put the washer/dryer in the basement and expected the water to go uphill and then drain down... We had plumbers in this week to put in pipes so it would be upstairs off the master bedroom instead, but there's still the task of moving the washer/dryer to tackle next weekend perhaps.
In the front of the house, the rhododendrons were cut back. I'm sure the whole thing looked beautiful in the spring, but the amount of growth was unwieldy.
Also finally revealed! After much ivy and blackberry pulling, the stairs in the back of the house that lead to two mini decks (which are in total disrepair: there used to be a gazebo, bench swing) can now be seen:
View from up there:
Before
After the first dumpster was filled... and then after the second dumpster was filled this weekend...
Dumpster 1: clearing the ramp to the stairs and revealing the front porch
Dumpster 2: revealing the area below the front porch by cleaning back the "front yard"
I take no credit, all I did was do clean-up assistance and sweep and poke at a "katamari ball" of vines and weeds down the stairs towards the dumpster once it was already pulled. Both dumpsters were filled! And we'll need the dumpster again... and nothing has really been done to the "back yard" yet.
So in the past few days, I have gotten married, and we have purchased our first house and will be moving into it together after our honeymoon. We have 2 weeks (well, 1.5 weeks now) until our cruise honeymoon to Alaska, and then 3 weeks until we move into our home.
Our house which we just closed on Monday was a listing F found on Craig's List, which is different since all the houses we have seen so far are from the mailing list of a Prudential listing agent- she sends several a week with quick descriptions and then a webpage with some photos. This particular house stood out though because of the area: F can continue to walk downtown to work, and I can head to the Max station to get out to Beaverton. This particular broker also deals with bank-owned homes. This particular home is a short-sale.
F also took some videos of
-Going up from the bottom of the street up to the front door (obviously the plants have overgrown):
-The first floor floor of the house which includes a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a guest bathroom as well as a large dining and living room area (and fireplace)
-The little back deck that you can access the 2nd floor master bed/bath from going upstairs
-The master bedroom and bathroom
Although it is an older home- actually built in 1910, the previous few owners have put in a lot of initial work already to bring it up to more modern standards. Looking on the internet for a bit of research, the asking price is below the last purchase price of the home, and most of the homes around it are equal or quite a bit more than this house, so it would be a great investment.
We also snuck a look at another home on the market on the other side of this house's neighbor, and our handyman friend loved it as well but it was way too much for a first time homeowner to tackle. We even met our neighbor and he talked a bit about the work the previous owner, a doctor, had sunk in and the guy also talked a lot about what he did for his house... which now is registered as a historic home. The home we had snuck into was actually the architect's home itself! We know that the neighbor on our other side that we hadn't met (who actually has a garage, neither of the 3 homes I have just talked about does) also has a home in great shape and also part of the Jacobberger home row if we make an assumption based on the fact the gate to his home says Jacobberger on it. So that makes two of the houses on one side and the house on the other side all Joseph Jacobberger homes.
It's a little unnerving how excited F is about the house: he has been researching the landscaping around it for more than a week! He never likes planning ahead this much, but after being exhausted by the wedding project I managed, I'm glad to let him be the project manager of the house project. We just got the keys yesterday, and he already cut some of the weeds, checked out the roof, and set up the garbage, water, and electricity.
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