Bun Rieu at Pho An Sandy
Whether you want to avoid seeing people making googly eyes and kissie faces at each other while you try to eat or whether you just want to avoid paying double for a meal served by a frazzled waiter, here are 10 options to escape the trappings of dining out on Valentine’s Day. They’re un-hip and non-trendy. And most are inexpensive and casual, too. Also, because most of these places are rarely slammed, it’s a good list to keep around for a Friday or Saturday night when waiting 45 minutes for a table sounds especially miserable.
Version 2.0 of Extramsg.com’s dining guide and tip sheet for the Portland metro area is finally finished. You can visit it here or by clicking the link at the left under Portland Food News.
The tip sheet has been greatly overhauled. Categories, such as Indian and Sushi/Japanese have been added, but also many of the entries in each category have been updated or completely changed. There’s also a new listing of “Quick Picks” by neighborhood in descending order by price.
Hopefully this tip sheet will help visitors and new residents of Portland — or those looking to expand their culinary horizons. If you would like to criticize or comment on the tip sheet, please follow the link in the dining guide itself.
Plaza Latina’s Bulk Chiles
I grew up just outside of Eugene, OR, home of the University of Oregon Ducks, although I always rooted for my dad’s alma mater, the UCLA Bruins. I still have family and friends in the area and visit at least a couple times a month. When I was a kid, Taco Time was probably my favorite cheap eat. Mexi fries, veggie burritos, and taco Tuesday — hey, it’s a lot better than Taco Hell.
That was before Thai food had caught on in the U.S. I hadn’t even tried Indian food and I doubt there was an Indian restaurant in all of Lane County. It was a decade, however, when Izzy’s still made all their pizza from scratch with quality ingredients and Pietro’s made a zesty and crunchy pie with a crust that actually had a chewy, airy texture like Italian bread, not spongy Wonderbread.
Despite the local government’s efforts to stifle change in Eugene, the town has grown up a lot since I left for college. It’s more cosmopolitan with all the expected international restaurants — Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, etc. As a result, the cheap eats options have gone far beyond pizza and fast food. The following is a quick overview of some of my favorites, some places to avoid, and some places that have unfortunately disappeared or changed hands. I’ve also included a list of known blogs in the area that at least regularly post on food.
The bustling Richmond Night Market.
Our second full day in Vancouver was set aside mostly for sight-seeing, but somehow (I blame myself) turned into a day of eating to rival the previous day’s adventures. The only place we knew we wanted to go was a nice, four-star restaurant for dinner. Portland doesn’t have any. Other than that, we had nothing planned.
Portland is a lovely town. The city itself is nearly as large as San Francisco, Seattle, or Vancouver, its sisters on the Pacific which all share a certain character. But unlike these cities it doesn’t actually sit on the ocean. It is not a tourist city in the same way these are. Its metropolis is not quite the draw of these. It maintains a small town feel that these don’t, really, which has its advantages and disadvantages.
One advantage is traffic. I would much rather drive through Portland, especially during the busy summer season, than any of these cities. Try coming across the bridge through Stanley Park from North Vancouver at sunset. Ugh. There are also very few restaurants in Portland where you have to wait or worry about a reservation.
But tourist dollars and business dollars often make for good high-end dining options. And like Seattle and San Fracisco, Vancouver has several restaurants that rival the best of the best in the States.
Clockwise from top left: Desserts at Pix; Margherita from Apizza Scholls; Cherries and blackberries from the Portland Farmer’s Market; Burger and fries from Cafe Castagna.
Version 1.0 of Extramsg.com’s dining guide and tip sheet for the Portland metro area is finally finished. You can visit it here or in the future by clicking the link at the left under Portland Food News.
The tip sheet suggests quality restaurants in a variety of categories and cuisines, plus places to shop for food. Following these recommendations are a list of dining options on Sundays and Mondays, links to online discussions of Portland eateries, and other dining guides. Finally, there is a list of over-rated restaurants to avoid.
Hopefully this tip sheet will help visitors and new residents of Portland — or those looking to expand their culinary horizons. If you would like to criticize or comment on the tip sheet, please follow the link in the dining guide itself.
“Hold on a sec.” Erik raised a finger as he rapidly fired words into his cell phone and finished his conversation. Scott and I had just come out of Joe’s with some sausage and were surprised he was there. A broker, Erik talks fast and thinks fast. His slight accent betrays his midwesternity, but the clothes, the hair, the sunglasses, the attitude, the wiry build — they’re New York, Vegas, or LA. Scott would later call him the Chicago food scene’s Mr. Pink, but I think that’s unfair. They may share a certain manic passion, but Mr. Pink isn’t cool. Erik isn’t mobster cool, but he’s culinary cool, like a bit of Bourdain without the chain smoking and years of heroin addiction.
“You guys headed to Spoon?” We had set up a lunch with a few LTHForum members at Spoon Thai, one of Chicago’s most well-regarded Thai restaurants. Spoon is known for its “secret” menu, a Thai-language menu that Chowhound and LTHForum patrons, including Erik, had helped translate. I told him we were just heading over there and asked him if he wanted to join us. “No, I don’t want to influence your experience.”
Two days earlier, Erik had set up a special dinner at one of his favorite Thai restaurants, TAC Quick. The day before that, he had generously showed me around town in his car, including a tour of the neighborhood around Argyle and Broadway dominated by SE Asian markets and restaurants.
