pechluck’s blog

Across from F's workplace they finally finished building the Courtyard Marriott, and along with it came a new restaurant that is a twist on a diner: they call themselves the Original, a dinerant. Perusing the menu, I was amused by offerings such as creme brulee french toast, lobster corn dog, duck and waffles (with duck confit), lobster popcorn, pigs in a blanket with kobe frank with cheddar fondue, fried bologna (mortadella, onions, shallot mayo, smoked mozzerella on ciabatta), and a voodoo doughnut burger (natural beef and cheddar on a Voodoo doughnut). I put together a small group for an after work happy hour to see if the execution would live up to the potential in the menu.

I of course immediately ordered the lobster popcorn. When they cut the bag open, the aroma of lobster greeted the table. It actually did taste like lobster. The issue I had was that I have my lobster with butter- and my palate was only getting lobster. More butter! But seriously, it did need more butter. For $5, I was expecting at least AMC theater level popcorn, and this was more microwave quality- and not even the movie theater butter flavor.

Two people (the vegetarians) ordered salads, which hilariously, they each got the other person's salad and neither said anything but just ate it and only figured it out at the end as they reviewed their salad that it was not what they expected. Doh!

Even though I ordered my fried bologna after the other couple, for some reason I got my dish first. Bizarre kitchen timing. My first problem with the sandwich? They also fried the ciabatta. And ciabatta is like a sponge for the oil- making the sandwich greasier then it needed to be. They should have just fried the bologna. It also was a bit weird because the bologna did not taste right- probably because I'm used to only Oscar Meyer bologna. The upgrade in meat was still good, but I didn't get the tinge of nostalgia that I was expecting, and it didn't give the more powerful flavor bologna usually offers compared to other meats. It also would have been greatly, greatly helped by some sour or acid, say pickles, to help balance the richness, or perhaps a really strong cheddar as the smoked mozzerella was not smoky enough. The fries look better than they tasted- they were a bit dry and needed ketchup. This would have been matched really well with Rogue's smoked porter. 

Another diner ordered the pigs in a blanket, which I forgot to take a photo of. The frank portion was pretty chubby- think kielbasa size. And the cheddar fondue meant that fries became cheese fries, bonus! Sadly, for the $9.75 price tag at happy hour, the dog didn't come with fries- he had to poach his wife's fries with her burger (which was $7.25). The pastry dough that the piggies were wrapped in also were a little overdone- they should have been hey, more buttery and moist rather than browned.

The order of the Voodoo Doughnut Burger was greatly anticipated. Honestly, with the level of $5 burgers offered at many other happy hours in Portland, this burger's beef patty just did not measure up. Sure, it was on a doughnut, which turns out was a lightly glazed one, and had the consistency of a small super-soft bun that was a little sweet. I wonder if you could have achieved something similar with Hawaiian bread. I was disappointed they didn't even have a fun presentation:Voodoo Doughnuts are world reknown, after all, for their humorous take on doughnuts, and this dish had no humor to it. And yet, this dinerant offers gummy worms and doughnuts as toppings on its pancakes and waffles. 

Overall, I think they missed the mark slightly, at least with in this initial experience. The enthusiasm and sense of whimsy we had after we ordered just wasn't met when we actually took that initial bite. The premise is obviously comfort food taken up another level, but the issue we had was that there wasn't enough nostalgia and parts of the original that a customer would expect to really appreciate the update that was being done. You need a bit of both- the traditional and the contemporary, and in the samples we tried it just didn't marry them both. We wanted to have fun- and although we did, it wasn't fueled by the food, in my opinion. Of course, I've also tasted attempts of this same concept by Homaru Cantu and Grant Achatz, so I'm a bit spoiled.

All of these photos can be viewed larger at my usual Picasa Adventures of Pech 2009 Photo Album. 

It is unfortunate that will be out of season in August... because look how gorgeous these are! I picked these up from the Portland Farmer's market yesterday for $10. Big, beautiful, but soft and sweet!

Mmm. Looks delicious. From my Adventures of Pech 2009 album

Meats:

This counts right?

Baked Goods:

 Fresh Pasta- no need to make it yourself!

I am coming back for these pies...

And don't forget the photogenic fruit

At Guu with Garlic... Ramune is awesome. I mixed it with ohsu and crushed strawberries for their "Cherry Blossom" drink.

The food was good too. The faves were the salmon carpaccio, fried chicken tendons, and the balls. We also got three orders of the chicken wings. The third one was a surprise- and is why we didn't order another new dish. But, since we took the mistaken additional order, we helped out our poor trainee waiter who couldn't keep up with the two waitresses. Poor guy looked traumatized and nervous.

And the almond tofu dessert truly was smooth and left me room for a taste of La Casa Gelato that unfortunately was not enjoyed by the other travelers I was with.

I flew from Portland on a quick little hour flight to Vancouver B.C. to join 4/5 of my family for a Memorial Day weekend in Vancouver B.C. We had a day that were Chinese themed: Saturday all day. Here are the highlights from my Adventures of Pech 2009 Picasa album.

First stop at the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden:

A Dim Sum lunch afterwards at Kirin Downtown location:

Dinner at Sun Sui Wah in Richmond, BC before going to Night Market:

Seen on the Rose Garden/Pittock Mansion hike:

Seen around my work campus:

And near the Millikan Way Max station:

And on the way to the Farmer's Market from my home:

Larger versions can be found in the Adventures of Pech 2009 Picasa Album

That same day I posted pictures out the bedroom window, I drove to the Gorge and drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway. I stopped at...

Women's Forum Overlook

And then followed the highway to Vista Point. Finally! After driving by it so many times, I finally got up there! It's the little building you saw on the right in the shots above...

Since we'd been to Latourell Falls already (as seen in my previous waterfall post), we went on to Shepperds Dell instead.

Same reason for skipping Bridal Veil (also seen in previous waterfall post). Unfortunately Wahkeena, the next waterfall, was packed- there was no parking anywhere. I was annoyed that I had to keep driving on by, but it is a 2 lane historic road, so I couldn't turn around to circle or make the line of cars behind me wait. Needless to say the Multnomah parking lot from this highway was also packed, and I kept driving. We didn't do Oneonta because of time constraints and I didn't have my hiking shoes. The trail here is not paved like the others. But, we did see Horsetail Falls, and hike up to Ponytail Falls to walk behind the waterfall, which was a 1 mile steep hike but worth it.

I'll get you next time Wahkeena and Oneota!

From Album Histroic Columbia River Highway 

In the post about Mt St Helens, I visited when it was a cloudy, rainy day. However, without even leaving the city, on a clear day the view can be pretty magnificent. For instance, here are shots from the "Big Pink" building downtown (the tallest building in the city)- just out of an office window, of what you can see.

Looking North- to Mt St Helens...

And just with a zoom on the camera lens...

And then Mt Hood with the digital zoom of the same point and shoot camera:

Today is one of those clear days. Here are shots just out of my bedroom window, which looks north...

I loved Belly Timber. Maybe the service was a bit slow to get to our main courses (we finished our cocktails, bread, appetizers, and salads and still waited noticebly for the entrees to appear), and it is a bit loud (we heard the belly laugh of a guy from somewhere in the house that we couldn't even identify, but it echoed all around us...). You definitely do not feel any privacy. But, the food is so good.

We started out with bread with softened sweet butter and coriander salt and chili salt.The butter and salt was great- the bread was chewy in the crust and doughy in the middle.

For salads, I didn't order a salad, but was given one because the waitress got the order wrong. By pure luck, the salad I would have ordered is what she misunderstood! And, it was delicious. Perfectly cooked, the flavors and textures were well balanced. Look at how beautiful that small plate of asparagus with poached egg, duck bacon, and pistachio vinaigrette looks. Wonderfully savory rich starter. The other salad, beets, watercress, and carrot with goat cheese vinaigrette was very mild and a bit salty. Would have preferred this to be premixed rather than having all the sauce at the bottom as it made it uneven. Except for those small quibbles, it was still a good salad- just not as good as the asparagus (though of course, seemingly healthier)

lso as a snack while waiting for our entrees was the menu item that immediately caught my eye on initial scan: housemade fries with bone marrow aioli. Good, but I had high hopes for these and they did not match those expectations, though the fries were still crisp and tasty (though they could be even crispier). The aioli was more creamy with a subtle bit of meat in the after-taste, but it was very tame despite the description. I guess I am a frites connoisseur as they were not on the caliber of the crisp fries I’ve had at Firefly in Washington DC or the duck frites in Chicago at Sweet and Savories, or even the truffle fries at Rockit in Chicago. The fact that I can recall these fries off the top of my head so specifically says a lot about me.

The dinner entrees included for the vegetarian, first a side of stinging nettles risotto with asparagus, spring onion, lemon and grana. This dish was going to be shared between us, and it disappointed us both. At first, at the top, it was ok- not outstanding, but not bad. But, then the oil collected at the bottom and was just too much. The lemon was a nice addition to this though- the rest of the ingredients just didn't balance out to anything.

The other vegetarian dish was an entrée of swiss chard, currants, and pine nuts inside of phyllo and resting atop ricotta salata and aged balsamic. This had a lot of flavor- in fact didn't really need the butter phyllo as it weighed the dish down with its butter content (ironically since the phyllo is supposed to be light) - but maybe some other starch as a better counterweight would have been perfect. Great flavor inside the dough though- every forkful was a burst of intense juices and textures.

I had the best dish though: simple in description, but just genius. I ordered the honey poached chicken breast, then topped with crumbled crispy skin (genius combination! You get the juicy moistness and the crispy goodness) accompanied with glazed carrots and tarragon. Well executed, excellently balanced dish. If I could criticize anything, it is only that the chicken and carrots alone were so wonderful that the tarrogon seemed like a runt tagging along on the plate- but it didn't hurt the dish though, I’ll take seconds please!

The little bite of dessert, Stumptown custard with caramel foam, is like having an airy coffee for dessert. Yum, a perfect ending.

I went out to Mt St Helens this past Saturday to test out what a visit for my parents and two siblings would be when they are here in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, putting the trip off from the previous weekend to this past weekend didn't give Portland any clearer weather. In fact, it alternated bizarrely from 70s and sunshine to hail and 40 mph winds during the afternoon. When we first got there around lunchtime, it was very misty and mysterious and peaceful, and we went straight up hoping to get to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Then we found out it is closed until May 18. Oh well. At least it will be open when my family arrives.

We then took the return trip back in which we pulled over at various pullouts on the road and at a few viewpoints. Even though there was actually snow when we got high enough, the roads are wonderfully well maintained and clear, and as we got down the sun of course came out.

We didn't walk more than 1/4 a mile and that was only at the first stop by the lake on pavement, no hiking at all. All other shots are from pullouts and various visitor center and viewpoints. I would say that going up to the top and then working your way down is a good way to see Mt St Helens so you can see the epicenter, and then follow the trail of what happened as you go down the mountains.

Don't expect it to look like the pictures from 10 years ago with all ash and mud and grayness. Instead of being a place of destruction, you can really see the area recovering and earth pulling itself up by its bootstraps, which is more a place of rebirth. It was a really different experience from my visits to Hawaii's Volcano Park- instead of feeling like I was on another planet, I felt much more enveloped in the context of the life that was here then and now, which was a neat experience.

Here are some of my favorite shots from our cameras that day.

Warning for animals against getting fat: