Settling into the Fall Season

After a glorious summer the rain came back with a vengeance.  When it did finally clear up enough for us to go for a walk, the crisp air did us a world of good, everything seem to pop with color. After a grumpy start to the season I'm glad to be getting into the swing of the season, especially since day light savings came and we actually welcomed it this year.

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!

Toshi Sushi Birthday Dinner

We have a family tradition that the birthday person can select any restaurant or meal they want for their birthday dinner celebration. By now It shouldn't be a surprise that Mike selected a Japanese Restaurant for his family birthday dinner. So, on a rainy Halloween night we braved Hwy 26 to find Mike's selected Japanese Pub closed. But not to worry, we were in the land of Portland's Japanese community and we quickly remembered another Japanese restaurant mentioned to us earlier in the week. A few iPhone clicks and we were off to Toshi Sushi. 

Located in a typical suburban stripmall, Toshi Sushi was cozy, friendly and full of Japanese diners! The massive Japanese menu was mesmerizing, but we attempted to order dishes we haven't eaten or seen on other Japanese restaurants. Needless to say, we left stuffed to the brim.

After ordering we each got a started salad was looked basic with bagged lettuce, but boy was it far from average. The sauce studded with tobiko was additive.

Then the appetizers came flying at us. First up was the terrific Ika Tempura (Fried Octopus). These little suckers were gone in mere seconds. But not before Mike got to make an salute to Simpsons Character Kang & Kodos.

We also ordered buttery potato croquettes and two starters we've never had before, both were a huge hits - Takowasabi (pickled raw octopus with wasabi) and Kanitama (crab omelett with kanitama sauce).

Then came our dinners. Dad ordered a platter of sushi with the largest and yummiest looking rainbow roll we've ever seen. The rice was terrific. We were also seated facing the sushi bar and there was only one person making sushi and he cranked out the orders with ease, it was mesmerizing and by this time the restaurant had filled up with several people waiting.

One of the main reasons we decided on Toshi Sushi was we heard they had amazing ramen and it did not disappoint. We ordered a Tonkotsu (pork milk bone broth) and a Negi-Miso (miso broth with green onions and barbecued pork). The broths were wonderful, but the noodles were the stars, chewy, flavorful and just all around terrific.

Toshi Sushi also had terrific Soba Noodles and an order for Soba Tempura was placed. Below the dish of shredded daikon, ginger, wasabi and green onions was the broth for the cold soba noodles. Yummy!

We nearly forgot we placed an order for the Yaki-Onigiri (Grilled Rice) which went really well with the crab omelette.

We planned to meet up with some friends for an after dinner celebratory drink, but we were so full we couldn't even imagine sitting still for the ride home, so we cancelled plans and immediately changed into our sweats. Now that's a birthday dinner!

Basa Basa Chicken

We really liked a lot things about Basa Basa Chicken. The Micro-Restaurant Row design, the decor, the colors, the food, the prices and the location. What more could you ask for? We were on our way to lunch at Basa Basa when we got detoured to the Lone Fir Cemetery, so by the time we arrived we were ravaging and ready for some spicy Korean chicken wings!

Asian style chicken has landed in Portland in a big way and all we can say is about time! Asians seriously know how to fry some delicious chicken, evident by how Asian fried chicken usually means wings and dark meat. Andy Ricker over at Pok Pok founded his empire of restaurants through his infamous chicken wings and the secret is the dark meat chicken and the flavorful sauces. Basa Basa's Korean-style fried chicken came Hawaiian plate lunch style with a scoop of macaroni salad and a scoop of rice. We shared a 10-piece plate lunch ($14) and accompanied with two refreshing Asahi beers. Apparently we didn't have enough grease in our system and also ordered some of Basa Basa's ramen fries.

Basa Basa Chicken comes dressed with three sauces - Korean, Thai and Japanese teriyaki. The earthy Thai was my favorite and the tangy teriyaki was Mike's. You could tell they pre-fry their chicken because the coating pulled away from the meat, but the sauce made up for the shortcut that left the meat bland if eaten alone, which was common since it was pre-fried. 

We weren't sure what the ramen fries were until we got our order and they looked like fries seasoned with the powdered packet you get in a packet of ramen and in a way it was just that, but their own special blend that contained lots of anise and fennel. 

We really enjoyed our lunch and will be back for more chicken wings on their patio when the weather gets better. Also this meal was a steal! 

This is how you spend a Halloween Birthday

Halloween is Mike's birthday and we spent the afternoon in a cemetery of course!

Actually, we're not that goth or morbid, we were actually headed to lunch and accidentally overshot the street and had to turn around when we noticed how peaceful and colorful the Lone Fir Cemetery looked and on a spur-of-moment decision we parked the car and went for a stroll in the rain. 

Last year Travel and Leisure named the Lone Fir Cemetery one of the top cemeteries in the country and as we walked through the nearly empty city cemetery we could see why, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

Also an arboretum with an impressive collection of trees, the Lone Fir is the oldest cemetery in Portland. And for Portlanders you can see where Dr. Hawthorne, the Tibbetts, and many familiar names we see as "streets" have impressive headstones. Situated smack dab in the middle of a NE neighborhood, you could barely hear the street noise; it was just us, the rain and the current residents of the cemetery. It was a peaceful and a really nice detour on Mike's birthday.