Pok Pok

Who would have ever known that the best Asian food in Portland would be the Thai food.  I don't think there a lot of Thai people here according to my Thai friend Verde, but he's not always the most accurate source of information.  Anyways, the Thai food is very solid and easily accessible, unlike in LA where the good Thai food is only in Thai Town.

Khao Soi northern thai curry noodle soup, chicken
They do this pretty good here.  Coconutty, spicy, salty, sweet curry with egg noodles.  We always share this dish among a couple of people, but there not a whole lot of noodles to go around.  Next time I want my own!

pickled mustard greens, shallots, chili paste
Next time I'm always gonna throw all this stuff in there too.  I think it'll really kick up the flavor.

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Linguine with Shimeji Mushrooms

This had got to be my most FAVORITE recipe discovery of the year, mostly because it's so easy and doesn't require a lot of extra ingredients that I wouldn't normally already have laying around.  Surprisingly, the dish is completely VEGETARIAN and still excites me.  Just the other day it was "meatless Mondays" in the cafeteria and I was completely disappointed and struggled to find something good to eat.  I ended up fishing out as much chicken in the chicken noodle soup, but I was thoroughly disgruntled with my polenta terrine and steamed zucchinis.

The key ingredient to this dish are shimeji mushrooms which are also known hon-shimeji, white beech, or brown beech mushrooms.  At my supermarket they are sold prepackaged in 3-4oz portions.  I don't do much to them but cut off the roots so they can separate.  I don't even wash them because they're mushrooms and I think they'll just soak up all that excess water, which you don't want.

You sautee them up in a decent amount of olive oil and garlic.  I cut back the amount of oil from what the original recipe calls for, but you do want a good amount because the oil helps create a sauce.

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Tasty n Sons

I have been wanting to try Tasty n Sons very a long time now.  It's an extremely popular brunch place, but the wait can be ridiculous.  There dinner service is supposed to be pretty good too, so I made this my final birthday dinner destination.

Nueve Cocktail octopus, prawns, flatbread
I guess I was imagining a ceviche, but instead found myself with shrimp and octopus doused in cocktail sauce.  I'm not sure what was "neuve" about this.  The flatbread? The saltine crackers?  Major disappointment here.

Toro Spinach
Another underwhelming plate of food.  Despite all the pretty contrasting colors, this was bland and unexciting.

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Le Pigeon

So Dumpling Man and I have tried almost all the big name fancy restaurants in Portland, but there was just one left, Le Pigeon.  I can't say I had high expectations because it's more casual sister restaurant, Little Bird, was just ok and Dumpling Man had already tried Le Pigeon and was not impressed.  However, the executive chef/owner, Gabriel Rucker was awarded the 2011 James Beard Rising Star Chef award for his work at Le Pigeon so that's saying something.

Despite being on their "I'm a Skinny Bitch" diet, Zhu Zhu Hamster and Little Pet happily joined us here for another birthday celebration dinner in my honor.  They stayed true to their diet and only ordered 1 appetizer and 1 entree TO SHARE.  I felt like a fat ass for just 2 seconds when I ordered my appetizer and entree and eagerly approved of Dumpling Man's 2 choices too.

Pigeon fava beans, spicy garlic, pecorino broth
Our dining companions seemed to enjoy this.

Beets mache, feta, peppers
Dumpling Man cannot help himself when it comes to beets.  He just has to have them, no questions asked.

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