Reviews

Restaurant Review: Boxer Ramen

January 16, 2014February 7, 2017

The other day, after a trip to the library and a few hours in a coffee shop attempting to plan our trip to SE Asia (we’ve gotten a little further, at this point, and have narrowed it down to northern Vietnam, and have even booked tickets), Jonah and I were hungry. Very very hungry. We were near the library in downtown Portland, and needed something relatively quick and relatively cheap and completely delicious. It was a cold sunny day, and Jonah wanted pho. I started thinking noodle soup, and Boxer Ramen popped into my head.

It’s not pho, but it is really good ramen. The restaurant is inside the New Union way shopping arcade, so it’s pretty much what one would call a hole in the wall. A few larger tables, a few deuces, and a bar, all with stools, line the brightly colored space. And there are 4 options (well, 6, if you count the sides). Sometimes I hate when there are so few options – I feel like I don’t really have any choice at all. But here, it seems to work. There’s the standard, the spicy, the mushroom, and the vegetarian curry. Jonah went for the spicy red miso, and I went for the standard tonkatsu-shio. We decided to skip the sides, though I have heard good things about the okonomiyaki tots.

The food came within about 5 minutes, and we immediately started slurping down our noodles and broth. The soup was rich and warm, and so perfectly what we both wanted. The ramen noodles were really light and tender – not as stiff as some I’ve had in the past. The broth was perfectly savory, a tiny bit almost creamy, and felt perfectly viscous, not too thin, but not too thick. There was a delicious slab of pork belly floating in the soup, which was a nice textural addition, as well as lots of green onion.

As far as ramen in Portland goes, this place is definitely the tops. I can imagine if I worked downtown, this would be a go to lunch spot (though my guess is that there’s a line at lunch time), and it makes a great pre-Living Room dinner too. I can’t wait to go back.

Baking Tools from the Commune

December 10, 2013December 29, 2016

I have told you before about the commune. Kelly, my fellow foodie, had a mother, Caroline, who was also a fellow foodie. She was an amazing cook and baker, and it seems to me that she knew everything there was to know, and in my imagination, she created these incredible culinary masterpieces that I only wish I could have tasted.

Unfortunately, I’ll never meet Caroline, as she passed away a few years ago. But I feel like she and I are kindred spirits, especially as I now own many of what used to be her kitchen accessories. Last year, when Kelly and I worked together, he brought in boxes of her old cookbooks to let me go through them and pick out which ones I wanted. Most recently, the commune was going through her old baking tools and, even though I wasn’t there, they made me a box! It was the sweetest gesture that nearly brought me to tears.

While I know what some of the utensils are (a madeleine pan, some mini tart pans, some regular sized tart pans, some spring-form pans) there are others that I have no clue what to do with. Help? I’m posting pictures here, with numbers in the captions, and if you know what some of the items are, please comment below!

Mystery Baking Tools // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Number 1 on the left, 2 on the right.

I’m assuming the long skinny tray on the left is for lady fingers. The tray on the right is very shallow, and I’m not sure what it’s for!

The molds on the left are number 3, and one guess for those was a paté mold or something like that? The little molds on the right are number 4, and a guess for those was that they might be for petit-fours.

Lastly, the scalloped edged pans are number 5, and the little circular pans (maybe for donuts?) are number 6.

Chipotle Pecan Brownies and “The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York”

December 5, 2013February 7, 2017

Welp, it’s officially time to start making holiday treats and going gift shopping. Last night Jonah and I went to the Holiday Ale Fest, and it really got me into the holiday spirit. In thinking of holiday gifts, I want to tell you about this little book that I think would make a great present: The Unofficial GIRLS Guide to New York.

Now, before we jump in here, let me clarify that this book is the GIRLS guide, as in the TV show. Which I love. The past 2 seasons, my friend Erica has come over every week to watch it with us. The characters are fantastic (I think Shoshana is my favorite), the storyline is ever-entertaining, and it certainly captures certain aspects of being a twenty-something in a big city and not having any idea of what you’re doing with your life. Which I may or may not be able to relate to.

So when my aunt and uncle (of Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook fame) told me they were writing a GIRLS book, I was incredibly excited. Jonah and I rattled off interviews they could do, recipes, etc. But they had already thought of everything. This book is half fan-girl material, half guidebook, with some great recipes sprinkled throughout. Since receiving it in the mail, I’ve loved flipping through it, reading the stories of all the locations – not only because they make up the backdrop for this great show, but also because it’s New York, and there are so many interesting tidbits about all of these places. I’m just sad the book wasn’t out in time for our trip to New York!

I wanted to give you a little sneak preview by letting you in on one of the recipes. I decided to whip up “Agave’s Chipotle Pecan Brownies” a couple weeks ago, and dang were they good. More cake-y and less fudgy, the chipotle brings a really nice smoky and spicy flavor to these sweets. These would be a great unique treat to whip up for a holiday party! The recipe comes from Oberlin’s Agave Burrito Bar & Tequileria (Oberlin is where Marnie, Hannah, Jessa, and Elijah went to college, and where Marnie meets Charlie at the Oberlin College Galactic Safe Sex Ball 2007, which you can read more about in the book). I made half the recipe, and still had a 9×13 pan full of these bad boys, so I’ll give you the halved version, plus the full amounts in parentheses.

Chipotle Pecan Brownies

Ingredients

6 oz semisweet chocolate (12 oz)
1 cup plus 2 Tbl unsalted butter, room temperature (2 1/4 cups)
1 3/4 cups sugar (3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (1 Tbl)
4 eggs (8 eggs)
1 1/4 cups flour (2 1/2 cups)
3/4 tsp cinnamon (1 1/2 tsp)
3/4 tsp chipotle powder (1 1/2 tsp)
4 oz pecans, crumbled to your desired consistency (8 oz)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish/pan (or 2 if you’re using the amounts in parentheses).

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, stirring frequently. While the chocolate is melting, cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the vanilla, mix again, and then add the eggs. Mix to combine – it should be “creamy and lemon colored.” With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in a little bit of the chocolate. Let the mixer stir this small amount in, then slowly pour in the rest of the chocolate and mix until it’s just incorporated.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, and chipotle powder, then stir to combine. Remove the bowl of chocolate from your mixer base, and gently fold the dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and scatter the pecans over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake for another 10-15 minutes. The brownies should be just set in the center of the pan. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for an hour before cutting. Serve them up and enjoy!

Restaurant review: Remedy Wine Bar

December 2, 2013February 7, 2017

Remedy Wine Bar // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

And we’re back! I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was filled with family and (of course) a huge amount of delicious food. Just what Thanksgiving is supposed to be. Now it’s time to get back to blogging!

A few weeks ago I was invited to a blogger event at Remedy Wine Bar, a lovely little spot in NW Portland. First of all, let me just say, is there anything that can be bad about good wine, good food, and good company? No, no there is not. But this spot definitely has something about it. Located on the north Park Blocks, the wine bar is chic and modern, but still cozy, with big windows overlooking the park. The building used to be an old pharmacy (that’s where the name comes from), and it definitely feels like a piece of old Portland, updated to meld with the ever hip Pearl. I can perfectly picture coming here for a glass of wine during First Thursday.

It was a Tuesday night, which is flight night at Remedy – each week they feature 2 different flights of 3 wines each on a different theme. The week I went, it was might Malbecs. Among the bloggers, there were definitely those that knew their wines. I was not one of them. As far as wine goes, I get my motto from a professor of mine and her husband: “If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.” I can never remember which wines are supposed to taste like what, and I can’t tell a fancy bottle from a cheap one. So when I like a wine, I drink it; When I really like a wine, I’ll maybe write down the name or snap a picture of the label.

The folks at Remedy were right there to help us learn about the wines as well as to talk with us about what we were tasting. Josh, who brought us our wine, even got out a big old book to show us maps of the regions our wine was from. Manager Dan Beekley and owner Michael Madigan were incredibly friendly, talking to us about their vision for the wine bar, what they love, what they do. They seem to have an incredible knowledge of wine, and it shows on their menu. Everything we tasted was delicious, and I can’t wait to go back to try more. It was just an all around incredible evening.

In addition to some fantastic wine (my favorite that we tried was the Bodegas Azul Reserva 2009, which you can find on their regular wine by the glass menu), we also got to sample some delicious bites by chef Ingrid Chen. The obvious group favorites were the cheesy bits – like a cheez-it but for grown ups, dusted in blue cheese powder from Rogue Creamery – and the tarte flambe with delicata squash, bacon lardons, and caramelized onions. We also enjoyed the white bean dip (one of the creamiest versions I’ve ever had), the warm olives, some marcona almonds, and a cheese plate and charcuterie plate.

If you’re in the neighborhood, looking for a soothing, beautiful spot to enjoy a glass of wine with some delicious snacks, this is most definitely the place to do it.