Mike's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated another birthday with another terrific sushi/Japanese food celebration. We decided to try one of Portland's oldest Japanese restaurants and it was worth the wait. We ordered a little bit of everything including a chef's selection sushi platter and our own selection of sushi as well as a terrific mackerel oshizushi (press box sushi), agadashi tofu, tempura, and of course some karage. It was a wonderful meal and the sushi was terrific. 

 

Scenes from Birthday Weekend

For the last five years we have traveled somewhere to celebrate my birthday, but this year we decided to celebrate at home in Portland and it was one of the best birthdays in memory. We celebrated for four days with special dinners with family and friends, eating whatever sweets I wanted, a relaxing massage, equally relaxing walks around the city and exploring places we've wanted to check out for awhile. It was a bonus that the weather was nice and sunny. 

The day started with a surprise new camera lens, which I quickly used to document turning a year older. Mike's gift wrapping skills have gotten so good I didn't want to open it!

We started the day with brunch at the always busy Tasty & Alder, John Gorham's modern steakhouse. We've eaten at his other beloved restaurants Toro Bravo and Tasty & Sons, and we were not disappointed. It was an epic brunch with the best house chili infused tequila Bloody Mary; radicchio, bacon lardons, and a six-minute egg (they had me at six minute egg); Korean fried chicken; Wagyu steak frites; and the Carlton Farms pork schnitzel. They even surprised me with a birthday chocolate potato donut.

We then roamed around enjoying the wonderful spring day, admiring the city's architecture and getting used to my new camera lens. We purposely selected high protein brunch items in order to have energy to walk up the street in search of cake and french pastries.

We decided to take advantage of the terrific weather and wandered into the Lan Su Chinese Gardens, a place near and dear to us because it was where we got married. 

Soon it was time to meet up with my parents for dinner at one of our favorite Italian Restaurants, Piazza Italia. After a day wandering around we were ready for a week's worth of carbs and wiped our plates clean. 

The following day we enjoyed another terrific breakfast at the Portland Penny Diner. Opened only Monday-Friday until only 3pm, I decided it would be the perfect place to meet my girlfriends for a birthday lunch, where we were treated to the yummiest birthday lemon bar. And since it was my birthday I decided to treat myself to some delicious locally roasted coffee at Heart Coffee Roasters and it was well worth the somewhat high price. 

Soon it was time to head back downtown to meet friends for our quarter-annual birthday celebration at the amazing Paleo/Gluten-Free/Vegan Asian restaurant Departures. The crispy squid was amazing, so amazing we took one bite and immediately placed another order. 

My birthday weekend continued on with my favorite Abu Shiro ramen at the east side's only Japanese izakaya Yataimura Maru, some time at a garden center surrounded by blooming spring flowers, and my mom's insanely good eggrolls noodle bowls. 

It was such a wonderful birthday that I am already looking forward to getting another year older and celebrating all over again!

Love, Anne

Memorable Meals: Portobello Vegan Trattoria

There aren't many vegan restaurants in Portland that are worthy of celebrations, and due to that fact we have eaten at Portobello Vegan Trattoria numerous times. However this time was different, we were celebrating a wedding!

After the short and sweet morning ceremony, we enjoyed a 4-course tasting menu that had us thinking vegan makes for a great wedding menu. Who can resist beautifully cooked and arranged vegetables? The tasting menu portions were perfect and the flavors were absolutely terrific. Honestly, it had us looking at Portobello in a new light and we look forward to our next visit - who's birthday's next?

The stuffed figs appetizers were amazing.

Starters of Beet and Asparagus Salad & Squash and Carrot Soup.

The pasta and grain course was particularly good and was difficult to decide which dish to have. The Tomato Gnocchi, Artichoke Risotto, Mushroom Cavatelli, or Roast Corn Ravioli? They were all delicious.

We wiped our main course plates clean. Trumpet Mushrooms and Pesto & a Portobello Steak.

The dessert course included many of Portobello's vegan ice creams, including in root beer float form, but we stuck to more adult desserts with the best Strawberry Basil "ice cream" we've ever had, a Berry Tart and a Peach Panna Cotta. All three desserts were terrific.

We don't think it simply was because we were celebrating such a joyous occasion that Portobello, a restaurant we've eaten at many times, was so delicious this time; but it was by far the most memorable meal we've had there so far.Cheers!

Deli Bar & Ode to Mike

This post originally started as a review of the new Kenny & Zuke's Deli Bar Restaurant that recently took over the Pix Patisserie space on Williams Avenue, but after going over the images I need to address something more important: how incredibly patient my husband is. He has endured painfully long waits to eat while I photograph his food. He has quickly turned into my favorite subject to photograph due to his natural photogenicness, but also his patience and humor. Thanks Love, you're the best!

This is what Mike looks like while we're waiting for our food.

This is what he looks like when I'm photographing his food.

This is what he looks like when I lift my camera to take a quick snap of him and his patience.

And this is what he looks like when we get our food!

Ok, now onto Deli Bar, the new restaurant from Kenny & Zuke's, the East Coast style deli. We love Kenny & Zuke's and we were so excited when they opened a second restaurant close to us! Pastrami Fries! We decided to split one of their brunch time sandwiches called the Meshugaletta, an ode to the Muffaletta (mmmm....we will make it New Orleans to try an authentic one, this we promise you!). Kenny & Zuke's take on the muffaletta is made with their housemade pastrami, roast beef and turkey, as well as salami. This thing was massive and I ended up taking out half the meat just so I could take a bite. Luckily we ordered bloody marys to wash it down, garnished with pickled beets, cauliflower, and a green bean, it was one of the best bloodys we've had in awhile.

A pile of meat we took home and ate with baguettes for days!