Hollywood Burger Bar Old Fashioned Burger

After having an underwhelming Island Burger at Ate-Oh-Ate, I still hadn't satisfied my craving for a really great burger. I've been to Hollywood Burger Bar on several occasions and while they may have not the number one best burger in Portland, they make a pretty damn good burger. The last time I had attempted to go to the Hollywood Burger Bar it was closed (although it was on a day which the sign said it was open). With no sign in the window to explain the odd closure, it took me a while to warm up to paying it another visit.

This old fashioned Burger Bar has a counter which seats about 10 people and tables for about 5 or 6 more. Orders are taken right at the counter and here's what I ordered:

Original Burger – 1/3 pound ground beef patty on a sesame seed bun with 1000 Island, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle & onion for $5.75. I added cheese for $0.50 and had an iced tea for $1.50. My order total was $7.75.

The burger took a good 10-15 minutes to come up, and the wait felt longer than it was given that the space between the chair and the counter was designed for much shorter people. My iced tea came up pretty quick and it was amazingly strong, so strong it needed a TON of sugar to make it palatable.

The Original Burger at Hollywood Burger Bar

I liked the way my burger came up, presented on a platter with the fries – it felt like a Burger 101 diagram. I piled all the fixings on and took my first bite. WOW! There is a reason why this burger is presented like a Burger 101 diagram: it is a perfect example of how a classic hamburger works, with the mayo on the bottom and the thousand island on the top with the burger and toppings encased in creamy goodness. The crispness of the lettuce and richness of the tomato balance perfectly with the sharpness of the onion and the savory sour pickle. The sesame seed bun is cooked to absolute crispy perfection and encases it all in a sweet and crunchy pocket. And then there's the burger, cooked medium-well, a perfect union between the crispy char on the outside and the juicy meat on the inside. Every element of this burger comes together perfectly.

If Hollywood Burger Bar's burger is a rockstar then the fries are contestants on American Idol. While they tasted like fries, they weren't hot enough to really shine. But, honestly, the burger was so good I could have skipped the fries.

The title of "best burger in Portland" is something that can be debated ad infinitum, so it's enough to simply say that Hollywood Burger Bar's Original Burger is one superb, classic hamburger.

Hollywood Burger Bar is located at 4211 NE Sandy Blvd. and is open Monday thru Thursday 7:30AM – 4PM, Friday 7AM – 9PM, Saturday 8AM – 9PM and Sunday 8AM – 4PM.

Ate-Oh-Ate Island Burger

Restaurant reviews are inherently problematic.  With so many dishes on the menu at many restaurants, it's almost impossible to give a fair assessment of the breadth of food a place offers.  Restaurants have their good days and their bad days. As a writer, it's hard to take one visit and one dish as a complete representation of what a place has to offer. To do it right, you really need to revisit a place over a long period of time, sample many of their dishes and see how they do.

With sites like Yelp, Facebook and Twitter, there is also a need for instant coverage. I know when a place opens its doors, I want to know RIGHT AWAY if it's good or not (as unreasonable as that is). So, in an effort to strike a middle ground and try a little something different, we decided to launch a new style of food review.  Rather than giving a holistic view that sums up a place, we're going to review a dish.  We'll try to hit both new restaurants and ones that have been around a while, the hope being that we'll discover some good dishes and help cross some not-so-great ones off the list to help narrow things down to the real winners on a menu.

Ate-oh-Ate is a new Hawaiian cafe from some of the braintrust behind Laurelhurst Market and Simpatico.  Orders are taken at a walk-up window. Here is what we ordered:

Island Burger – hamburger topped with crispy pork belly,  avocado, shoyu, shredded iceberg, and shaved onion for $9.00. The dish came with the a choice of macaroni salad, green salad or taro chips. We chose the taro chips. We added a ginger beer to the mix for a lunch total of $11.50.

Ate-Oh-Ate Island Burger with Tons of Pork Belly

Pork belly, pancetta, bacon – pretty much anything related to the fatty underbelly of the pig – is hot stuff in Portland and I couldn't resist trying out a Hawaiian "Island Burger" topped with pork belly. When the Island Burger was served I was shocked at just how huge the two slabs of pork belly are. The pork belly was actually thicker than the hamburger patty itself. Since I now subscribe to the "there's never too much bacon" camp, I was excited to dig in and give this burger a try.

My first bite of the burger was all pork belly. Well cooked, but completely dominating, the pork belly fat obliterated almost every other flavor in the Island Burger.  I hardly detected any avocado or shoyu, and the onion and shredded iceberg imparted more crunch than flavor. The bun was well toasted and managed to hold it all together – tasty, but again, it struggles with the pork belly.

It was a real shame to not really taste the hamburger patty underneath the slab of pork belly. The patty looked good but was cooked well done. I didn't get much char flavor from it even though I could see the char.  As I worked my way through the burger I did eventually taste the onion flavors shining through – perfectly and thinly cut, but still  mostly overtaken by the pork belly.

I appreciate the generous use of pork belly in the Island Burger, but everything else needed to be stepped up to balance it out – a bigger patty, more onions, and perhaps having the shoyu and avocado on top might have really made the difference. As it stands, the burger feels like a pork fat sandwich. Perhaps, if the pork fat had more flavor to it, it wouldn't have been as much of an issue, but it lacked the real smoky, sweet flavor of bacon or pancetta.

The taro chips which accompanied the burger were delicious. Thin cut and fried to crispy perfection, they were a perfect companion to the burger. The check coming to $11.50 for the burger, chips and a drink felt a couple of bucks too high for a walk up and order restaurant, but not obscenely so. The person who took my order was super friendly and my burger was served in about 6-8 minutes.

I'd definitely give Ate-oh-Ate another shot, but I doubt I'll be ordering the Island Burger again.

Ate-oh-Ate is located at 2454 E. Burnside St., Portland, OR (503)445-6101
Open Daily 11am-9pm

Koifusion @ {1}

Portland's food cart scene is simply explosive. Once thought to be just a sign of the bad economy, Portland's carts have weaved their way into the local culture in a way that shows they aren't just a temporary stop gap or money saving alternative – they are now part of what makes Portland, Portland.

Like any great experiment, the food cart universe continues to change and evolve, including cart clusters like Cartopias in SE and on N Mississippi, and cart-turned-restaurants like Los Gorditos II.

KoiFusion, one of Porltand's most popular food carts, is furthering the experimentation with a "Pop-Up Shop" restaurant.  The pop-up shop concept is not a new one (with temporary stores taking over vacant retail space over the holiday shopping season), but KoiFusion is the first to try to take this concept and apply it to a restaurant.

KoiFusion@1 takes over the failing SOLO lounge in the Pearl (1300 NW Lovejoy) and puts Chef Joe Anderson, formerly of Carlyle and the Portland City Grill, into the kitchen with a menu that expands beyond what can be done in a cart. The most notable addition is the amazingly delicious "KFC – Korean Fried Chicken". These crispy fried bite-sized drumsticks are a symphony of flavors which explode in your mouth. The "KFC" is a quintessential late night craving and a perfect accompaniment to a nice whiskey cocktail. Also on the new menu are Korean spiced french fries, which were equally delicious.

Although KoiFusion knocks it out of the park in the kitchen, the experiment is an abysmal failure on the bar side, with Joshua Palmer, the bar manager from Typhoon/Bo Bar holding on to some of SOLO's vodka heavy drinks.  With a cocktail list completely dominated by infused vodka (with the exception of maybe one or two rum drinks), the KoiFusion@1 drink menu is a complete mismatch with the food. The two cocktails I tried  from the menu were mostly pre-mixed and the bartenders seemed to be completely disinterested in mixing a quality drink. The result was limp, punch-like drinks which were completely dull and boring.

KoiFusion@1 would do better abandoning its cocktail program all together and simply serving beer and whiskey with the spicy Korean fare. As much as I loved the food, KoiFusion@1 is still a bar and unless they can nail down that side of things this experiment could fail.

With the pop-up restaurant concept KoiFusion will have to prove itself every single month, as the SOLO owners can give give them the boot at any time. It's a big bet on both sides of the equation.

It will be interesting to see if the concept is sustainable or if it's just an interesting recession-era experiment. Either way, the food is worth seeking out. Expect long lines and short runs on their Korean Fried Chicken, but plan on grabbing your drinks somewhere else.

KoiFusion@1 is at 1300 NW Lovejoy. (hours will be 4-midnight to start with lunch being added in the near future)

Slappy Cakes Make Your Own Pancakes In Portland

Several years ago I traveled to Japan with my family. It was a culinary adventure as much as a cultural adventure. In Kyoto our friends took us to one of their favorite restaurants which served okonomiyaki, Japanese style savory pancakes made right at your table. While I can't say I loved the funky array of flavors in my okonomiyaki, I did really enjoy the experience of making it myself.

Slappy Cakes (4246 Southeast Belmont Street)  takes all the interworkings of the the okonomiyaki – batter served at your table, mixed with ingredients and cooked on an in-table flat griddle – and puts a distinctly Portland spin on it. Instead of savory Japanese pancakes, Slappy Cakes offers traditional pancakes with a wide array of mix-ins, from uber sweet chocolate chips to savory bacon and blue cheese.

Diners are offered a choice of batters including traditional buttermilk, buckwheat, vegan, peanut butter, and gluten-free.  To this they can select from a large list of mix-in ingredients including blueberries, lavender honey, lemon curd, chocolate chips, cherries, bananas, bacon, blue cheese, fresh herbs and more.  The pancake batter is delivered in a squeeze bottle which makes getting it onto the griddle extremely easy, and toppings come in little gravy boats.

The center griddle at each table does get very hot, but there's enough space from the edge of the table to the griddle that I felt comfortable having my three year old sit at the table and not worry about her getting burned.  When the restaurant is packed (which is often) and all the griddles are going, the restaurant can get pretty hot.

Making Slappy Cakes is a pretty easy process and something my kids really enjoy. My middle child who is 8 (pictured above) was successful in making his own pancakes and enjoyed the fact that he was able to do it.  We did find that both the peanut butter and buckwheat pancake batters have a tendency to stick to the griddle, so for kids buttermilk is probably the best option.

Surprisingly, make-your-own pancakes are just one small dimension of Slappy Cakes. Beyond their signature dish, Slappy Cakes has an extensive breakfast and lunch menu that's just as worthy of exploring. Filled with local and fresh ingredients, the menu includes classics like eggs, toast, potatoes and bacon while also venturing into more interesting and exotic breakfast options.

If you do order the prepared pancakes off the menu (in the event that you don't want to make them yourself), be prepared for enormous pancakes. A short stack of pecan pancakes is two plate-sized behemoths which are almost impossible to finish.  My favorite item from the menu (beyond pancakes) is the Toad in A Hole, two eggs fried into slices of bread. It's a tasty treat but a little spendy at $9.

Toad in A Hole

You also might not expect a breakfast place to have an extensive cocktail menu, but Slappy Cakes has a notable collection of cocktails including Bloody Marys served by the pitcher. There are a lot of interesting cocktails but I haven't had the opportunity to try them as all my trips to Slappy Cakes have been for brunch.  Also, with Slappy Cakes closing at 5pm every day, the cocktail list feels a little out of place.

The only significant issue that Slappy Cakes faces is managing the flow of customers. Often woefully understaffed lines can quickly form even on off-days with open tables that simply need to be wiped down to have people seated.  While there are some really good servers at Slappy Cakes, they often seem to be overwhelmed, often needing to take up the slack from some of the less than stellar servers. Perhaps the biggest problem at Slappy Cakes is that food is plated on the bar and sits waiting to be served without any sort of heat lamps to ensure they keep warm. This works fine if the food is quickly picked up and delivered, but it's a train wreck when you get a poor server and food can quickly get cold.

The service issues could be easily addressed and if you don't go on the weekends during a rush, the service issues are mitigated (except for one of their servers who may very well be the worst waiter in Portland).

Slappy Cakes is a fun and inventive restaurant who could have simply rested on the DIY pancakes, but they've gone the extra mile with an extensive menu and local seasonal offerings that elevate it to something more than a gimmick restaurant.  Service issues aside, I still think Slappy Cakes is a restaurant worth visiting and it's a place I actually enjoy going with my whole family.

Slappy Cakes is at 4246 Southeast Belmont Street, open 8am-5pm everyday.

This Way to Valhalla

Portland's food cart scene is one of the most dynamic and explosive in the country. What's exciting to see is how the food carts are growing and flourishing beyond the defined cart clusters (or cart villages like SE 12th and Hawthorne, often called "Cartopia").

This month the scene got a huge enforcement when Burgerville decried 'if you can't beat them, join them' and launched its own mobile food cart called the Burgerville Nomad.

But Matthew "Black Arm" Woodard doesn't think too highly of the big businesses jumping into the cart scene. "Cart's are for the little guy, not big businesses to make even more money". Woodard is the owner of Portland's newest food cart, Valhalla. Formerly a welder, Woodard decided to beat the economic downturn with a food cart specializing in Vegetarian and Vegan comfort food. "There aren't a lot of affordable veg sandwiches in this town. Backspace is $8!"

Perfectly Grilled Vegan Sandwhich

Launched on the hottest day in Portland in over twenty years, Portland's newest food cart helps fill the gaps in the dining options on SE Hawthorne.  Located on SE 33rd and Hawthorne, tucked behind the Dollar Scholar, Valhalla serves up a simple and affordable menu that is sure to quickly find a following.

While the menu might be simple, the tastes are anything but. I had the Vegan Garden sandwich, which came panini-grilled on two slices of Grand Central Baking Como bread filled with Tofutti cream cheese, cucumber, sprouts and tomato. The bread was brushed with a rosemary vegan butter and grilled to absolute perfection. All the ingredients in the sandwich were fresh and the tomatoes were bursting with flavor. The sandwich cost only $5 – $3 less than its equivalent across town.

To accompany the sandwich I had a cup of the Vegan Creamy Tomato soup. More subtle in flavor, the soup was not overly creamy and had a nice mix of flavors. It's not your plain ordinary tomato soup and it's clear a lot of tought went into the combination of flavors.

Valhalla's Menu

The rest of my family got the three cheese and tomato sandwich ($4) which featured Boar's Head Cheese on Grand Central Bread.  Also cooked to perfection, these grilled cheese sandwiches were gobbled up in no time.

Next time I visit Valhalla (and there will be many next times) I'll try the Vegan Sloppy Joes which were highly recommended by Woodard.  He also indicated that he'd be carrying homemade pickles that are sure to impress.

With fantastic food at good prices, Valhalla should do extremely well and show that great carts can succeed even when they are outside the cart clusters.

Valhalla Sandwich Co. is located at 3279 SE Hawthorne Blvd (right behind Dollar Scholar). Hours haven't been set yet but they should be 11am to around 10pm daily.

Follow Valhalla on Twitter @valhallacartpdx

Burgerville's Nomad Foodcart

If you had any questions about the huge impact that food carts have had on food services in Portland, look no further than Burgerville's new food cart "Nomad".

A rough economy combined with an explosive growth in food carts in Portland has motivated one of the Northwest's biggest chains to jump in the mix in a 'if you can't beat them, then join them' move.   It's not only a significant endorsement to Portland's food cart scene, but a recognition that  both the physics and the economics of running a restaurant have changed.

The importance of Burgerville's move is important beyond the fact that they are trying to keep up with the changing landscape. Burgerville CEO Jeff Harvey seems to understand the potential for using the food cart to expand his business in a way that wasn't fiscally viable before.  Harvey plans to use Nomad to test out new markets, serve markets where a full restaurant isn't economically viable and extend their brand into places they haven't been able to reach before.

The real question to be answered though:  is the boom in food carts a function of the bad economy or do they represent a real and fundamental change in the way people get food? It'll be interesting to see how Nomad fairs and if it becomes central to Burgerville's long terms strategy or just a tool they use to weather the storm of the great recession.

Here's our interview with Jeff Harvey CEO of Burgerville:

For more information on Nomad and Portland's food cart scene:

• Sip Food Cart
• Portland Food Carts
• Burgerville's Site

Choffy Ivory Coast Cacao - Medium Roast

One of my great frustrations is the fact that my body just doesn't tolerate coffee very well. I love the taste, texture and aroma of coffee but it trashes my digestional system, wires me out and gives me massive headaches when I get hooked on it.

Portland is one of the worst places in the country not to be drinking coffee.  My salvation has been tea. Between the numerous tea houses in Portland and my time with Heaven's Tea I've been able to help fill the coffee void.

In addition to tea I've also enjoyed drinking chocolates (which is really hot cocoa for adults) and Chai (which I think could be put in its own class of deliciousness).

Then I discovered Choffy, a unique coffee substitute which uses roasted and ground cacao beans to brew a very coffee-like drink.

I think it's important to be clear right off the bat that Choffy isn't coffee. It doesn't contain coffee, doesn't have the same aroma or taste and wouldn't win a blind taste test against some of Portland's finest.

The Ground Choffy

Choffy is, however, one of the single best coffee alternatives I've ever tried.  Rich and slightly bitter, Choffy embodies some of the very same elements of roasted goodness that are characteristic of coffee, and what it's missing, it fills in with dark sweet chocolate notes that make it akin to drinking a drip version of a mocha than anything else.

Unlike drinking chocolate where you're consuming the chocolate itself, Choffy is brewed like coffee so you only consume the essence of the beans. This cuts way down on the caloric weight of the resulting cup.

There's some semantical debate around the caffeine content in chocolate. While chocolate doesn't have caffeine it does contain theobromine which is also a stimulant. So you do get a boost from drinking Choffy, but it isn't the same as from coffee.

I noticed a nice smooth and easy increase in energy and awareness and an even tapering off of that 'boost' within an hour or so.  I didn't find Choffy to be physically addictive like I do coffee and I didn't get any headaches from it.

Brewing Choffy

Choffy may not be physically addicitve, but it is extremely tasty!  All my tests with Choffy were with the same drip coffee maker my wife uses to prepare her cup of joe.

Choffy is sold in 12oz bags of grounds. You use approximately 4 tablespoons per 12 oz cup. The down side of this is that it is VERY easy to blow through an entire bag of Choffy in a week and priced at $15.00 per 12 oz bag it is considerably more expensive than coffee.

That being said, the resulting drink is worth the expense. I tried Choffy several ways  - straight up, with soy creamer and agave, over ice and blended with ice, creamer and sweetener in the blender.  Choffy held up extremely well in each scenario, producing an extremely drinkable and tasty cup.

Choffy is sold in three varieties including: Ecuadorian, Nicaragua, and Ivory Coast. I tested the Ivory Coast and look forward to comparing it to the other varieties.

Based out of Vancouver, Washington, Choffy is using Portland as one of its key launch pad markets. Orders from the Choffy website are shipped locally by co-founder Jason Sherwood and Choffy can be purchased locally from Food Front Coop.

Be sure to read our interview with Choffy's Co-Founder.

The Final Result of Choffy

How did Choffy get its start? (and what's your role in the company)

Our company started based off of a dream and a passion to help people live healthier lives. We started in a kitchen in Henderson, NV, roasting on cookie sheets and grinding in small food processors. We eventually graduated to roasting Choffy on our bar-b-ques (even after the fateful day when the shed burned down), and now using industrial roasters and a custom grinder we developed.

I am the co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Choffy. Since we are small, we all wear a lot of hats, but my primary responsibility is our brand, marketing, and support to our distributor services.

What exactly is in Choffy and what are the different varieties?

Choffy is Brewed Chocolate or in other words, it is 100% Cacao, that is roasted and then ground.  It is a product that brews like coffee in all of it's different formats, but provides a new and unique flavor. We currently have two varieties. We work directly with growers in Ecuador, and the Ivory Coast. Our Ecuadorian Choffy is the most Chocolaty and according to some the lightest. Ivory Coast has a deep cocoa flavor with a hint of earthiness. We are always working on new varieties from other single cacão estates around the world, and showcase them at various times of the year.

How does Choffy differ from 'Hot Chocolate"?

Most notably Choffy is not an instant drink like hot chocolate. We use a minimally invasive processes during production to ensure that our customers are drinking the purest form of brewed cacao.  As a result Choffy retains a lot more of the compounds that are naturally occurring in cacao. The roasting and brewing process is what gives Choffy its distinct robust flavor. Since Choffy does not contain any sugar or instant creme like most hot chocolates. Though like coffee, many people add things (like creamers) to their Choffy to give it their own personalized taste.

So I'm drinking chocolate, how many calories is in it?

Remember, your are drinking only the very essence of what chocolate is made from, so you are going to have a drink that is extremely low in calories. There are only 20 calories in 8 oz. of brewed Choffy. 0 sugar, 0 fat, and 3 grams of carbs.

What's been the biggest challenge so far for Choffy?

I think that the biggest challenge as been launching a company in this tough economy.  People are worried about money. They are not buying as much as they once were, and that has made it a little more difficult than we originally anticipated. Choffy is a unique product. It has its very own properties. No caffeine like coffee, but no sugar and fat like traditional chocolate. People are often interested in how it tastes. Once people try Choffy, they realize that this is a great tasting product with great health benefits, and we hope we have gained another fan.

Is Choffy based in Portland?

Although we started in a little kitchen in Henderson, NV, we quickly realized that the northwest and more specifically Portland was the place to be.  We love being in the Portland area, and the opportunities that it brings to share this product with others. Technically our location is in Vancouver, WA. But we consider ourselves a part of the larger Portland community. It is a community that  loves brewed drinks, they care about healthy, organic foods, and want to make the world a little better each day.

How does Choffy compare to coffee?

Well, It does brew like coffee, and some might say that the taste is somewhat similar, but that is about as far as it goes.  Choffy tends to be less bitter than coffee and the flavor profiles are different. The health benefits are quite different as well.

Is there anything in Coffee that's bad for people?  Is there anything in Choffy that's good for them?

If you are asking if coffee is bad for you, I would say that is a sticky question for people in the Northwest, but actually yes, there are elements of coffee that are bad for the body. Caffeine is one of those elements.

On the positive Choffy is packed with a different stimulant that is good for the body.  It is called Theobromine.  It affects the body by opening the vascular system up and helping to produce an increase in blood flow and help the heart work more efficiently. Choffy is also packed with antioxidants. Cacão has more antioxidants in it per volume than any other food on the planet. One 8 oz. cup of Choffy has more antioxidants in it than 2 full servings of blueberries. Choffy acts as a super-detoxifier, helping your body rid itself of the toxins that tax your system

Choffy also naturally contains some essential minerals that help promote good health:

Magnesium: Cacão appears to be the best source of magnesium of any food. Magnesium is one of the great alkaline minerals, helping to support the heart, brain, and digestive system.  In addition, Magnesium balances brain chemistry and builds strong bones.

Iron: Cacão contains a significant amount of iron per serving. Iron, a critical mineral in nutrition, is part of the oxygen carrying protein called hemoglobin that keeps our blood healthy.

Are any coffee shops in Portland serving Choffy?

No coffee shops here in Portland yet, though many have shown interest. We have some in other states. We hope many other locations will do the same.

Where can you buy Choffy Now?

We have a number of individual distributors here in Portland. They are a great resource for Choffy. Choffy can also be purchased online at drinkchoffy.com. We are happy to say that Food Front Co-op grocery has just started selling Choffy in their grocery store.

What's next for Choffy?

We hope to continue to grow. We hope to be able to share Choffy with more people. We hope to continue to add distributors to our family, and hope that many other locations will be interested carrying Choffy. We don’t believe that Choffy will cure cancer, or that you will suddenly gain 78% more effectiveness in your day, but we firmly stand by fact that Choffy is truly good for you. It is the reason we built this company, “to champion healthy living and wellness in body, mind and spirit for people everywhere.”

Jed Unloads The Soup

I've seen a ton of great business ideas come and go.  Some of them were ahead of their time, others were great ideas poorly executed. Most often though, great ideas go down in burning flames because people aren't patient enough to let their ideas blossom and grow. They want to get from small to huge in a blink of an eye.

SoupCycle is a fantastic example of a great business, based on a fantastic idea that is getting the time and space it needs to really grow. The entire SoupCycle company is comprised of just three people. (Pretty mind blowing when you hear other local start ups like Forkfly have 16 employees!) Owners Jed and Shauna handle every aspect of the business from soup to nuts (quite literally) with some help from one other part time delivery person. The impact of this is a business whose owners are extremely in touch with the actual business and its customers. For example, as part of SoupCycle's regular weekly email to their customers,  there is a request for feedback on each week's soup. SoupCycle makes changes to their line-up based directly on that feedback.

SoupCyle - Soup Salad and Bread

The SoupCycle service is a pretty simple concept.  Every week SoupCycle delivers a container of soup, a box of salad and some bread. If you've got a bigger family they deliver two containers of soup, and two boxes of salad.  One of the things that sets them apart from other food delivery options is that they deliver this soup entirely by bicycle.  SoupCycle 's soup selections are entirely based on 'what's in season locally' and their bread is baked at a small local bakery (Little T American Baker).

For my first SoupCycle delivery I was greeted by owner Jed Lazar and handed two quarts of Potato Kale soup (the vegan option) along with four big slices of french baguette and two boxes of salad.  Jed rides a recumbent bike with an electric assist. By the time he delivered our soup he had already clocked an impressive sixteen miles.

The soup is delivered cold and SoupCycle recommends you put out a cooler if you expect to be away for more than three hours during their delivery days. Many people get the soup delivered to their office so they can take it home from there.

SoupCycle's Amazing Soup

The evening of our first delivery we heated up the Potato Kale soup and had dinner in moments.  The two quarts of soup easily fed my family of five (two adults and three children) with about one serving of soup left for leftovers. The Potato Kale soup was delicious, well spiced, perfectly cooked and brimming with flavor.

I had heard a lot about SoupCycle's salad dressing (which is also impressively vegan) and so was eager to see if it lived up to the hype. It does. The salad is a nice mix of fresh greens, shredded carrot and cranberries but elevates to something entirely amazing with the dressing. With SoupCycle's soup being so good it's hard to say that you should try their service out just for the salad dressing, but it is THAT good.  The bread from Little T was soft and flavorful and I recommend you try dipping it in the dressing!

SoupCycle offers three different options for their soups: vegan, vegetarian and an option with meat.  Jed indicated that their most popular selection is vegetarian even among people who eat meat.

Here's an example of two weeks of their selections:

The Cumin Chihuahua (vegan)
A flavorful cumin-infused tortilla and corn soup.

Cream of Spinach (veggie)
Your mouth will approve of this tasty soup that's full of nutrients. Made with coconut milk.

Chicken Noodle (meaty)
One of the best chicken noodle soups you'll ever taste. Savory chicken, wide noodles, plenty of celery and carrots and just the right spice.

French Lentil (vegan)
Hearty lentil soup with flavorful vegetables, the distinctive taste of red wine vinegar and a touch of Dijon mustard.

Who Framed Ginger Rabbit (veggie)
Sweet and savory carrot soup with a strong punch of ginger.

Clam Chowda' (meaty)
A creamy clam chowder so tasty you'll think you’re dining in New England.

To order SoupCycle, you sign up for a SoupScription on SoupCycle's site which sets you up for a weekly delivery of the soup style of your choice.  SoupCycle bills you the Wednesday of your delivery and you can make changes to the following week's delivery (vacation hold, adding or dropping your level of soup or going a la cart without salad and bread) by Friday at midnight.  SoupCycle soupscriptions start at  $18 for 1 quart of soup + bread and salad (which serves 2 people) and goes all the way up to dinner for 6.

The soup, salad and bread for 4 at $30 ended up feeding 5 of us for a net cost of $6 per person for fresh, local and organic soup delivered.  A pretty affordable option for such a tasty meal.

I knew I liked the concept of SoupCycle but I'm frankly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the whole SoupCycle experience.  It's refreshing to deal with a company so committed to its customers with such a high quality product.  SoupCycle's soups are just plain fantastic and when you combine that with their truly exceptional salad dressing you've got a combination that just can't lose. I highly recommend SoupCycle!

For more information on SoupCycle:

• Visit SoupCycle's Web Site
• Read our Interview with SoupCycle
• Jed Lazar's Ten Lessons of a Bicycle Delivery Service from Interesting Portland
• Bike Portland's Business Booming for SoupCycle

Soupcycle Delivers

One of the things I love about Portland is the way people follow their passion. Portland isn't just a town of great ideas, it's a place where people put their ideas into motion. One such great idea is SoupCycle which serves fresh, organic and locally made soups by bicycle.  I was so intruged by this business I decided to talk to one of the companies founders Jed Lazar about SoupCycle (a full review of the service with pics will come soon).

How did you get the idea for Soup Cycle?
We heard about someone in Texas who tried to deliver soup by bicycle. He made it work for a while, but eventually switched to delivering by truck. To Shauna and I – this was the perfect challenge. We knew it could be done and wanted to prove that bicycles are a feasible form of cargo transportation within cities.

Why Soup?
Because it's perfect! There are great, tasty soups for every season of the year that use local vegetables.

Why Portland? Does SoupCycle fit Portland better than other cities?
Definitely. This city values healthy foods and healthy lifestyles. We all want to eat scrumptious foods that are good for us, but who has time to put together healthy meals every day? SoupCycle is a Soupscription- it's one healthy meal a week that our customers don't have to worry about. Plus, the city's bicycle network makes bicycle-delivery possible.

How does the expense of a Soupscription compare to other dinner options people can order?
A Soupscription is almost always less than going out to a restaurant, and a lot of times it's less than cooking for yourself. When you make a recipe at home you typically have to buy a lot of new ingredients. If you're like me, you go to the store to shop for dinner and end up spending way more than you meant to. Our soups are $9 for two full servings, or $18 for soup, rustic bread and fresh salad for two people. And that's for organic foods made with local ingredients and delivered by bicycle to you! It doesn't get better than that. Our prices are low because we don't rent an expensive retail space. We just do deliveries, and that keeps our costs down.

How far in advance do you determine what soups you are going to make?
Two weeks in advance.

Do your customers ever submit soup recipes?
They do! I've got a great recipe for hearty chicken and potato soup I've been meaning to make that a customer sent me recently.

What's your favorite soup? Why?
My favorite soup is The Democratic Republic of Peanut Chicken. It's an African peanut chicken stew that's hearty beyond belief and full of tasty goodness.

What's been the biggest challenge for SoupCycle so far?
We've been working for a while on a project to switch the containers we use. Right now, we're using recyclable plastic containers, but we'd really like to be using more durable containers that we can reclaim from customers each week, wash and reuse. We've had some difficulty finding a good solution that meets all our needs, but we haven't given up yet.

Has there been a moment that's made you feel that all the hard work is all completely worth it?
Honestly, I feel like that most of the time. This is a great city to own a small business. People bike by us on the Hawthorne Bridge and tell us they like what we're doing. Our customers love the soups, and it makes my day when I get an emails like the one I got last week: "We love the soup! My family always looks forward to Tuesdays". A few weeks ago made our 3,000th bicycle-soup delivery and we feel really good about that. Yep, it's a lot of work to own a small business, but there have been plenty of rewards.

Right now you deliver Soup, Salad and Bread. Any plans to deliver other kinds of products along with the soup?
We may eventually. We love to hear recommendations from your readers.

Where do you get your ingredients from?
We get most of our ingredients from Ladybug through Organically Grown Company.

How many people do you currently have delivering soup?
Just myself and our delivery Souper Hero Jen.

What kind of bikes do you use?
I've got a recumbent with an electrical assist.   Jen uses a regular upright bicycle.

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SoupCycle delivers locally made organic soups on a weekly basis starting at $18 (including fresh bread and salad). They offer vegan, vegetarian and meated options all delivered by bike!

More info on SoupCycle:

• SoupCycle.com
• SoupCycle on Twitter
• SoupCyle Photo stream on Flickr

India Oven Now on SE Belmont

I always had a love hate relationship with Kinta Restaurant.  I really valued having a vegetarian restaurant in my neighborhood with spicy ethnic food and an ever changing array of fresh vegetable choices.  Unfortunately the idea of Kinta always seemed better than the reality.  Frequently messed up orders and lack of a clear vision plagued Kinta, combined with the hefty competition with a flood of nearby Thai restaurants spelled the end for this local eatery.

Kinta's loss has been India Oven's gain.  Previously located in the dungeon that is the Hawthorne Theater, India Oven moved from SE Hawthorne to SE Belmont into its ideal new location. Even though I am a fan of India food I hadn't visited India Oven in its previous location. The Hawthorne Theater seems like a dump from the outside, so it was hard to imagine enjoying a meal inside.

Days after their move to SE Belmont, I made a point to give India Oven a try. Even though they had completely relocated their business, I found the service and food at India Oven to be right on the mark.  My meal consisted on Vegetable Pakoras, Papadams, Dahl, Vegetable Byrani and Aloo Gobi (which I think is one of the dishes that is a true barometer of a good Indian restaurant).  All the dishes were well spiced with medium portion sizes. Of the three I enjoyed the Dahl the most with perfectly cooked lentils with nice balanced flavor. The Aloo Gobi was solid, not the best I've ever had, but well balanced and tasty.  The Pakoras were a nice mix of vegetables deeply fried and absolutely delicious. I also quite enjoyed the Vegetable Byrani which was the largest portion of the dishes. The final bill was in line with many of the medium priced local businesses but notably higher than going out for local Thai.

The best thing going for India Oven is its new location. Perfectly placed in the heart of the Belmont Business District India Oven should find success where Kinta failed. Even though they had only been open a few days the restaurant was fuller than I had ever seen Kinta.

India Oven is located at 3450 SE Belmont St.

Find Out How Clean it Really Is

In the past month I've had the unfortunate luck of getting sick after eating at a local restaurant (Bangkok Restaurant).  As I was feeling quite under the weather I spent some time searching the Internet for some site or resource that could have clued me in to the less than clean kitchen that my meal must have come from.

I finally found the Multnomah County Health Department Establishment Inspection Database a fantastic resource that lets you peek into the kitchen and see just how clean everything is.

The results are pretty eyeopening.  On the good side some of my favorites Dove Vivi,Vita Cafe , Kuhn Pics Thai, La Bonita, Vegetarian House and Paradox Cafe all scoring in the high 90's or getting perfect 100.  On the bad side a number of places I eat didn't fair so well.  Nicholas Restaurant had a pretty long list of issues and a paltry 77 score, Pad Thai Kitchen 61,  and places like Laughing Planet and Opposable Thumb Gallery Cafe seemed to have the very common issue of employees NOT washing their hands when they should.

Of course this database is just a peek at one point in time in the life of a restaurant, but it's a good starting point to see just how clean the places you're eating at really are.

Where Will Bigfoot Eat Now

It comes as little surprise the news that Nutshell Vegan Restaurant has closed. In September I wrote the piece In A Nutshell – They're Screwed that took a look at how Nutshell had gone from Portland darling to a restaurant precariously on the edge of the "Portland Restaurant Dead Pool".

That hypothesis became a reality this week when Nutshell threw in the towel and closed their doors.  Perhaps the final nail in Nutshell's coffin came from Alison Hallett who wrote a sharp criticism of Nutshell in the Portland Mercury review: Cracked Up – Nutshell's Unsuccessful Revisioning.

Nutshell's closing is either vindication for chef Sean Coryell (who left the sinking ship) or a sharp condemnation of the owners of Tabla (who also run Ten01, a restaurant which had its own near death experience last year).

To be fair 2008 has proven to be one of the toughest years for Portland restaurants yet.  With a growing list of restaurants closing because of the brutal economy including: Rocket, Kalga Cafe, Banh Cuon Tan Dinh, Genoa, and Carboni’s, the BBQ/wood-fire pizza. We expect at least five more Portland restaurants to join this list befor the year's end. So if there's a local Portland restaurant you don't want to see added to the list, I highly recommend you make sure you dine there a few times before the end of the year, it does really matter.

The Green Dragon Portland

Recently there's been a lot of talk about restaurants closing due to a dramatic drop in business (including the sad news that one of my favorite Portland restaurants Kalga Kafe closed).

This week we received news of an entirely different sort:

The Green Dragon, an extremely popular watering hole for Portland's tech set, and the standing location for the ever growing Beer & Blog has been set to be sold to Rogue on Friday November 14th.

Initial response has been overwhelming negative to word of the buy out with some pretty harsh comments posted over the news the popular brewpub may be transformed into a Rogue Taproom.

The Green Dragon has made its name for the ever changing wide variety of brews on tap, regular 'meet the brewer' events and as the destination of choice for many Portland tech events.

To commemorate the slaying of the Green Dragon Beer & Blog will be holding a final sendoff for the beloved brewpub on Friday (reportedly the last day for the dragon).

The sale of The Green Dragon in such a challenging economic environment lends great weight to the view that the area surround The Green Dragon, Grand Central Bowl and Holocene is destined to be Portland's next big hot spot

The Green Dragon will be missed. We hope other beer bars like The Horse Brass, Belmont Station, Bye and Bye will step up to fill the gap created by the sale of the Green Dragon.

Ed note: Read the good follow up piece in Draft Magazine about the Rogue purchase of the Green Dragon

Sip at People's Food Coop

Despite our sometimes inclimate weather, Portland has a pretty phenomenal food cart scene. While many focus on fairly traditional food cart fair, a handful have unique offerings and are destinations for more than just a main meal.

Of all these food carts Sip is my absolute favorite. Located in the courtyard of the People's Food Coop (3029 SE 21st Ave), Sip is a small airstream trailer transformed into one of the best fresh juice bars in the entire city. Opened at the start of the summer, Sip made its name by offering devilshly delicious vegan milkshakes, so rich and tasty that even non-vegans could be seen licking their cups. In addition to its indulgent delights, Sip also offers a nice range of fresh and organic juices and smoothies.  On a recent trip I had a tropical green smoothie which is by far the single best smoothie I've ever had, anywhere.

With the turn of seasons Sip transitioned its offerings away from milkshakes and on more wintery offerings including hot soups and specialty drinks like milled cider, chai and hot coco. Recent soups have included Thai Red Curry, Vegan "Beef" Stew and Potato Leek.

Sip is a prime example of perfect simplicity, it's the kind of place you can go, order anything, and know that it's going to be fresh, organic and delicious.  There are rumblings that Sip's owner is looking to expand and open a cafe in Portland, an extremely exciting prospect.

Here's a copy of Sip's Menu. Some extremely yummy drinks from one of my favorite Portland Food Cart:

Sip Portland Menu