A first stay at Hotel Fifty and a return to Hotel Lucia gave us four nights of downtown convenience, in walking range of places in the Pearl District, and just a hop over the river to the many great restaurants on the east side of the city. We also love the food carts and the farmers markets in Portland. The food scene remains vibrant, challenging us to again squeeze in as many meals as possible. (Sadly, Le Pigeon, Castagna, Apizza Scholls, and Toro Bravo remain on the to-do list.) We joined forces with our friends Henry and Lorna, visiting at the same time, as four can order more – enabling us increased ability to sample from the menus. Pictured is my favorite dish from the trip, but you’ll have to link to one of the following places to find the source of that treasure:

Day 1

• Lunch #1: Nong’s Khao Man Gai
• Lunch #2: H5O Bistro
• Dinner:  Duck Pond Cellars winemaker dinner at H5O Bistro

Day 2

• Breakfast: H5O Bistro
• Lunch: Fenouil
• Dinner: Olympic Provisions
• Dessert: Whiffies Fried Pies

Day 3

• Breakfast: Autentica
• Daytrip: Sake One (Forest Grove)
• Lunch: La Estrella #2 (Forest Grove)
• Dinner: Tanuki

Day 4

• Brunch: Simpatica
• Dessert Sampling: Fenouil
• Dinner: Whiskey Lounge and Pok Pok

Day 5

• Brunch: Tasty n Sons

I mentioned previously that Fenouil tied for top meal this past trip to Portland

The dessert tasting was amazing, and worthy of its own blog post. I present the dishes here for your pleasure.

Hood strawberry and pea amuse bouche (a gorgeous start)

Cornmeal crepe, Jacob’s Creamery fresh ricotta, heather honey, muscat grape and lemon balm salade (an intriguing favorite)

Rhubarb vacherin with almond biscuit, celery leaf sorbet, pink peppercorn meringue (another favorite)

Champagne mango tarte tatin (made with duck fat puff pastry) with salted butter ice cream, passion fruit caramel sauce

Viridian strawberry tart, fromage blanc mousse, lemon balm anglaise, meyer lemon creme

Chocolate souffle with mint ice cream and peppermint cacao lollipop

Dark chocolate tablet with hop macaron, cherries, nibs and hay-infused caramel stick (rich, and structurally stunning)

And then, believe it or not, it was off to dinner.

I don’t want to go overboard with accolades, so suffice it to say that Fenouil will be one of my first stops next time I go to Portland – and I encourage you to do the same…

Yes…hello, Tasty n Sons.

Sitting at the counter, as usual.

Burmese red pork stew with eggs two ways

Shakshuka (red pepper and tomato stew with baked eggs, plus an addition of merguez sausage) – recipe here

Radicchio with parmigianno reggianno vinaigrette

Breakfast board

Chocolate potato doughnut with creme anglaise – our final bite in Portland!

You can almost always expect a wait if you’re headed to Pok Pok for dinner, so we built that into our plan as a chance to check out the new Whiskey Soda Lounge location across the street. I liked the vibe of this place, and the street food-like menu. We got our beloved wings here, and I also enjoyed the fresh tamarind pods – though I wish my spicy bloody mary had delivered more on the promised heat.

Makham Waan (fresh tamarind pods with a chile salt and sugar dip) and the Pok Pok Bloody Mary (with Thai chilies and aromatics pounded in a mortar and pestle)

An open tamarind pod

Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings – always a winner!

I’m not sure what it was about Pok Pok this time around. The food was a bit flat, though still better than so many other Thai restaurants in both Portland and Seattle. Hopefully it was just an off-night.

Yam Samun Phrai (Thai herbal salad with ginger, carrot, parsnip, betel leaf, basil, lime leaf, lemongrass, sawtooth, fried shallots, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, dry shrimp, ground pork and Thai chilies in a coconut milk dressing)

Hoi Thawt (crispy broken crepe with steamed Prince Edward Island mussels, eggs, garlic chives and bean sprouts served with Shark Sri Racha sauce)

Kaeng Hung Leh (classic Northern Thai sweet pork belly and pork shoulder curry with ginger, palm sugar, tamarind, turmeric, Burmese curry powder and pickled garlic)

Cha Ca La Vong (catfish marinated in turmeric and sour sticky rice, fried in turmeric oil with scallions and dill, served on rice vermicelli with peanuts, mint and mam nem)

I liked Simpatica upon seeing the Stumptown coffee for customers awaiting tables. Our group of four soon had a table by the entrance, overseeing both the rest of the dining room as well as the open kitchen. Every dish we ordered was solid, with the steak and prawns the overall winner.

Crepes with turkey confit, pickled strawberries and rhubarb, asparagus, leeks, English peas, onions, bacon and creme fraiche – served with a side salad.

Smoked tri-tip steak and prawns with cippolini onions, agridulce, roasted potatoes and two eggs easy

Fried chicken and waffles with strawberry syrup

The Logger: chicken-fried bison, country gravy, roasted potatoes and two eggs easy

A look into the open kitchen

And the diners…

Factor in my afternoon of sake sampling, then add in drinks at Tanuki, banter with friends (and workers and people at neighboring tables), and the delightful distraction of seedy Japanese slasher flicks on the television, and you can see why it was a rollicking evening. As the lights dimmed and drinks were poured, my photo quality degraded quickly. For better photos, I recommend you check out my friend Lorna’s blog – the camera and camera operator were both far more capable.

I should add that this is far from the most politically correct meal, and it’s served up by someone who prides herself on not being politically correct. (Well, she thinks she’s correct!) I’d like to serve up sake as my excuse, but I can’t. So let’s say that I strive to eat sustainably, etc., but that for this one night, I put myself in the hands of a chef whose skills and sense to make superb Japanese-inspired food continue to astound me. And someone who, politics aside, works hard, plays hard, and takes pride in her product.

Kusshi oysters with kimchi shaved ice – always a favorite

Ojingohchae bokke (wokked dried squid in chili kewpie sauce)

Uzura nikkei (spicy cinnamon tea quail eggs)

Mushroom and duck salad (with duck skin!)

Kyushu hamachi belly sashimi with pickled ne-shoga (ginger root), namashoyu and fresh wasabi

Maguro with avocado, green apple, frozen white ponzu and wasabi

Wild boar steamed rice dumplings (“rags”) with fried shallots, shiso, Thai basil, mint and sweet and sour sauce (a favorite of the evening)

Sake-steamed unagi (eel) noodles with mitsuba and ginger in sweet miso sauce

Shark cartilage and ume (plum) nori roll

Candlenut-seared halibut cheeks with curry-braised pig tails

Jellyfish and Dungeness crab salad with grated sake-poached monkfish liver (and spicy carrot tops!)

Unagi burger with spicy tuna mayonnaise

The evening is getting hazy at this point…this might be sayori?

Beef tendon and caramelized marrow with fried peanuts, candied ginger and cilantro

Beef onglet with kimchi and salt-preserved liver sauce

Here we are at course 16, and time to turn to Lorna’s blog if you want a better look at this pork-belly and daikon in duck dashi (or any of the previous dishes, really)

Trust me…there’s a lot of uni here (and we consider sweet uni dessert!)

You may not be meant to see what’s in here…

• MOMOKAWA NAMA-ZAKE & Italian Prosciutto
• G ‘JOY’ SAKE & Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Tapenade
• MOMOKAWA ORGANIC JUNMAI GINJO SAKE & Sesame Honey Almonds
• MOONSTONE ASIAN PEAR SAKE & Briar Rose Creamery Rosemary & Peppercorn Chevre
• NIGORI NAMA-ZUME & Chocolate (60% Cocoa)

I also enjoyed some Yoshinogawa Daiginjo, which showed me how good a higher-end, Niigata sake can be. But in addition to learning about the sake-making process, I discovered that I like the purity of a good nama-zake (unpasteurized sake).

Murals at SakeOne

From the tour, a description of the sake-making process

Getting ready for sake pairings

Hungry, but not wanting to spoil our appetites with a big feast awaiting us, we drove into the town of Forest Grove and talked about how a taco truck would hit the spot. Then, suddenly, I hit the brakes when I saw a school bus on the side of the road. Not a taco truck, but a taco bus. La Estrella #2 to the rescue – and better than the tacos we’d try in the Yakima Valley the following week.

It’s a taco bus!

Perusing the menu

The bus’ dining room

Tacos, typically tongue, tripe, and one other

Pan con frijoles

Huevos ahogados (poached eggs in rich chicken broth with epazote and lime)

Menudo autentico

The view from our counter seats

After much deliberation and consultation with others in line, I decided to try the coconut creme with almonds and chocolate. Whiffies does both sweet and savory pies, but post-Olympic Provisions, it was time for something sweet. This was fun – fried goodness with Almond Joy-like action on the inside.

The Whiffies-mobile

Whiffies’ menu

Not a good shot of the fried pie, but a good look at the logo!

The scene

Seared spring onions with romesco sauce

Charcuterie plate – we liked the pork liver pate best

Roasted rock cod with morel mushrooms and arugula pesto

Eat MEAT at Olympic Provisions

The menu