Reviews

Restaurant Review: Que Pasa Cantina

July 22, 2013February 5, 2017

Mexican food and I are relatively new friends. Growing up, I loved a good plain quesadilla as much as the next kid (occasionally I would even put shredded chicken in it), but beans and tomatoes and onions? Gross. Hated it. Blech. The texture of beans in general is still something I’m working on. But Mexican food has slowly creeped in to my life in the past 6 years or so. In high school, I would’ve way rather gone to Vietnamese or Indian than Mexican.

Here in Portland we’ve got some killer Mexican food. You want a hole in the wall with the most amazing tacos you’ll ever have? Go to Tienda y Panaderia Santa Cruz in St. John’s. You want a line out the door for a delicious bowl of rice and beans and meat and some mystery amazing sauce? Go to Porque No. You want a crazy good Mexican style brunch? Definitely go to Autentica. But a relatively recent discovery has made my go to Mexican list: Que Pasa Cantina.

First let’s talk about the margaritas. Because, let’s be honest, margaritas (margs for short) are delicious, thirst-quenching, and I love the combo of salty and sour. The margs at Que Pasa were great – strong, sour, and just straight up good. Could you ask for more? Yes – at happy hour their house marg is only $5. Don’t want to go traditional? Don’t worry, they’ve got margs with jager, seasonal fruit, grapefruit juice, jalapeño, and of course all different kinds of tequila.

Before I get to the food, I want to tell you about one of my favorite parts of going to Que Pasa Cantina. Aside from the Potatoes Olé (you’ll read about them later), this restaurant also has possibly my favorite waiter in town. He has served us both times we’ve gone to the restaurant, and I don’t know his name, but he’s hilarious. He’s a little quiet, but very suave and with a stellar sense of humor. You can tell the guy is having a great time and doesn’t take anything too seriously. I want to be his friend.

The first time we went to Que Pasa, I had recently discovered pastor (thanks Eliza!), so I ordered their traditional pastor tacos. Pastor is thinly sliced pork that has been marinated in a spice rub of chilies, cumin, and other delicious herbs. The bonus is that these tacos came not only with pastor, but also with pineapple (not uncommonly served with pastor), which is a serious weakness of mine. I have a tendency to, if there’s pineapple around, eat so much that my tongue starts to get numb and little bumps appear. This may be because I have a geographic tongue… but we’re getting sidetracked. Anyway, these tacos were awesome. First, any good Mexican restaurant knows to double wrap their tacos – 2 tortillas please! That way if one ruptures, you’ve got a backup. Makes the whole affair far less messy. Second, the pastor was so packed with flavor and had the nice fruitiness from the pineapple – I was in heaven. My next trip I ordered some chorizo tacos, which were super tasty, very flavorful, and spicy. Loved it.

The first time we went to Que Pasa was with Peter, the producer of Jonah’s new album. Peter told us the greatest secret of Que Pasa. With your dish, don’t get the usual side of rice and beans. Why? Because you can choose to replace those beans and rice with their Potatoes Olé, mashed potatoes with carrots, sweet white corn, jalapeños, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and jack cheese. These potatoes are to die for. I know, they aren’t super healthy (potatoes, sour cream, and hella cheese), but hot damn. I now have bouts of serious cravings for these potatoes. They are so creamy, and I love the occasional crunch of the corn and carrots, and the little bit of spice from the jalapeño. These are definitely on my list of dishes to attempt to recreate.

So there you have it, folks. If you want some bomb.com Mexican food with a side of probably the best mashed potatoes you’ll ever eat, do me a favor, and visit Que Pasa Cantina (just north of the Hawthorne food carts on 12th ave).

Restaurant Review: La Bête, Seattle, WA

June 30, 2013February 5, 2017

Restaurant Review: La Bête // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

This year, my father was lucky enough to have my older sister Emily, my cousin Lia, and me and Jonah in town for Father’s Day. I imagine that, if I have children one day, I will feel lucky to have them around as they get older and venture off into the world. And it’s nice to know that, even as they wander farther from home, they can come back and celebrate milestones with you. This Mother’s Day and Father’s Day were oddly emotional for me, so maybe I’m being too sappy. But I think as I get older, and think about having children of my own one day (a far off day, mind you), I think of my parents differently and appreciate them in whole new ways. I feel pretty lucky in that both of my parents (all four of them, actually, if we include my “step-people”) are strong and brilliant in their own ways. They have been through some incredible trials and have come through those trials even stronger and wiser. I have learned incredible lessons from both of them, and hope to be like them when I grow up.

Anyway, that was an emotional and sappy opening to a post which is really about an amazing meal. It was one of those moments where I feel a lot of joy – to be enjoying incredible food with wonderful people in a beautiful setting. It can’t get much better than that, can it?

For Father’s Day, Darla (one of my “step-people”) made reservations at La Bête, a Seattle eatery I had been hearing about for quite some time. I knew it was one of her and my dad’s favorite spots, so I was excited to learn that’s where we’d be eating. As soon as we walked in and sat down, I knew I was going to like it. The decor was funky and soothing at the same time – gray walls, old tables and chairs, neat art, old silver, beautiful light… Our waiter was very friendly (turns out his parents ran an Eastern European restaurant my dad loved back in the day) and helpful.

First off, we ordered some house made juices (by juicebox) to share. With flavors like beet & lemon & ginger, kale & cucumber, and carrot & orange & turmeric, these brightly colored drinks were a welcome sight, and a nice way to tickle the taste buds before we started the meal.

To share with the table, we ordered a few “starters,” as we were all pretty dang hungry when we arrived. First up we ordered a chicken liver mousse paté, which came with a lovely salad with grapes and walnuts, as well as some really crispy toasts. The liver was really creamy, but not too smooth, which I kind of like in my liver paté. It was wonderfully seasoned, and disappeared quickly at a table of liver lovers. Next up was the ricotta terrine, which seemed as though it had been lightly seared on the sides, and served under a heap of thinly sliced (and perfectly ripe) honeydew, red onion, and a slew of herbs. The bites were perfection – the cooling mint, creamy ricotta, biting red onion, and juicy sweet melon made a perfect combination. Lastly, we shared a plate of the pistachio coffeecake with rhubarb compote. The coffeecake came on a beautiful little plate, and was still warm when it arrived. Have you ever put a warm pastry in your mouth and the steam is filled with the essence of the spices used to flavor it? These bites were full of cardamom steam, a perfect compliment to the pistachio. The dollops of rhubarb compote and creme fraîche didn’t hurt either.

My cousin Lia and I shared the spring salad and the Spaetzle with apple, chicken, cabbage, and an egg. Both were lovely and unique. The spaetzle wasn’t creamy like I’ve had before – rather the little dumplings were tossed with bits of fruitiness and earthiness, with a yolk running over it all. The star of the salad was the puréed charred eggplant that had been smeared on the plate beneath the veggies, and acted as a kind of dressing. Other big hits at the table were the breakfast sandwich and the waffles with fruit.

Writing it all out, I remember now how wonderful it was, and how being with my family, enjoying new flavors while sitting in a beautiful setting is really one of my favorite things in the whole world. Thanks, La Bête, for offering such a peaceful place and fantastic menu, the perfect atmosphere for us to enjoy while enjoying each other’s company.

Dessert Review: Quinoa Studded Cannoli at Andina

June 20, 2013February 5, 2017

I have done many restaurant reviews on the blog before, but this is my first review of one dish. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to take a picture of every dish at a restaurant, the space, take notes (though sometimes, admittedly, the notes are mental), and I don’t get to really enjoy my meal. In fact, there are places that we’ve gone where I’ve specifically decided not to take pictures so I can purely just enjoy the food and the experience and (usually) the fellow across the table from me.

This dessert, however, warrants its own review. Andina is a wonderful Peruvian restaurant in northwest Portland, serving really unique and incredibly delicious food (and cocktails). When I first went there early in my college career and discovered the quinoa studded cannoli with passionfruit mousse and mango lemongrass sorbet, it immediately became one of my favorite things to eat in Portland. And then, as I continued to eat my way through this city, this dish remained my favorite dessert. Not that others haven’t come close – Le Pigeon’s cornbread with maple ice cream and bacon is up there, as are most things at St. Jack.

Let me tell you about this little dessert. First, the cannoli shell is amazingly caramelized, dotted with quinoa, mostly crispy but with a little touch of that get-stuck-in-your-teeth chewiness. Just like the bruléed top of crème brulée (the most satisfying part, let’s be honest), you whack it with your spoon to crack off pieces. Filling up the cannoli is this amazing passionfruit mousse – extremely creamy and smooth with a lovely acidic zing. And on the side, a scoop of really really good mango lemongrass sorbet. I am not usually a huge fan of sorbet, it’s usually too icy, and I like the smoother texture of ice cream. But this sorbet is velvety and a little syrupy.

As you can tell, I am enamored with this dessert. So next time you’re in Portland, go eat this. You won’t regret it.

Restaurant Review: Boke Bowl

June 12, 2013February 5, 2017

Jonah and I have been on the hunt for good ramen in Portland for at least a year now. After being unimpressed by the bland broth at Wafu, and overwhelmed by the oversalting at Biwa, there was (to my knowledge) one place left to try: Boke Bowl. We went for the first time a few months ago, and I loved it. But we went for an early dinner before a late work meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I thought to myself, I’ve got to tell the people about this delicious food! So here I am, telling you about it.

The restaurant is down on the East waterfront on Water Ave. Walk in and you’ll find a neat hanging menu on the wall, a counter where you order (beware, the wait can sometimes be long as there’s only one register) and then kind of a chic looking cafeteria space. Clean white walls, orange accents and art, sleek IKEA furniture, and long wooden communal tables. Order your food at the counter, take your number, and find a seat. Your number (on a little piece of wood) fits into a groove in the middle of the table, right next to the basket of condiments: hot sauce? Check. Sesame seeds? Check. Soy sauce? Check. Seriously, everything I could’ve wanted to top my ramen with was right there.

Onto the food. At this point, I’ve ordered: Fried Chicken Steam Buns, Pork Belly Steam Buns, the Chicken Rice Bowl, and the Caramelized Fennel Ramen (with Fried Chicken added). Everything has been awesome. Probably my favorite was the Pork Belly Steam Buns. I have a serious weakness for pork belly, and the sauce on top was an awesome and flavorful addition.

The caramelized fennel ramen was delicious. In both their rice bowl and ramen bowls, there are all these little pockets of toppings. In the middle sits your rice or your noodles and broth, with whatever additions you’ve ordered, and then around the edge are little piles of mustard, squash, pickled shiitakes (possibly my favorite thing at the restaurant), ginger… It’s really fun, and it means you get to really build each bite, which I always enjoy doing. The ramen was flavorful without being overpowering or over-seasoned, which is something we’ve encountered. It was playful, but just plain good. I definitely recommend!