Author: Annie

Restaurant Review: Cup & Bar

May 26, 2015February 11, 2017

Cup & Bar | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

A few months ago, driving south on MLK Jr. Blvd from my house as I often do, I noticed a beautiful industrial space with high ceilings, white walls, and a garage door. Not long after I first spotted it, I was happy to read that it was going to become Cup & Bar, a coffee and chocolate tasting room, production facility, and café opened by Trailhead Coffee Roasters and Ranger Chocolate.

More delicious coffee PLUS luscious chocolate? What more could you want? The real beauty of it, though, is that the two are paired together in the most spectacular ways. Yes, there are lattés and chocolate bars for sale, but there are also mochas, dirty charlies (a macchiato gone wild, topped with chocolate shavings), flights of drinking chocolate, and coffee mocktails as well as beer and wine. The spot takes it a step further with refreshing bites like avocado toast and small sandwiches, plus house made syrups in flavors like orgeat, anisette, and cardamom mint.

My first visit, a work date with fellow bloggeress’ Erin, Meredith, and Mary, was lovely. It was just after lunch, so my sweet tooth was aching for a treat. The Ranger Brownie was delicious – the perfect balance between fudgy and cakey, and the gal working even dug around in the stack of them to find me a corner. How sweet is that? After a couple hours at my laptop, plugging away on some podcasts, I needed a pick me up, so I went for the Cold Fashioned – a mocktail based on the Old Fashioned, but with cold brew instead of whiskey. While I can easily see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea – or coffee, as it were – it was funky, cold, and caffeinated, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

On my most recent visit with Jonah, we both got a dirty charlie. Right as we sat down, one of the miniature garage doors in back opened up, and a gentleman bearing two tiny spoons dipped in chocolate offered us a taste of Ranger’s most recent chocolate blend, called Wildcard, which was dark and delicious.

I highly recommend a visit to Cup & Bar for an afternoon pick me up of chocolate and coffee. I hear they also do tours and tastings, so you can bet I’ll be back to learn more about the roasting processes!

Asian Slaw with Ramen Noodles

May 18, 2015February 11, 2017

A couple weeks ago, we went to the beach. I’ve told you about the beach house before, and this trip was no exception to the perfection that is that little slice of heaven on the Oregon coast. We went for our friend Walt’s birthday: there were three couples, and of course the second order of business was what are we going to be eating ? (The first was “ARE THE PUPPIES COMING?!”) We each decided to tackle one major meal while we were there, which I’ve found is a nice way to plan cooking with friends – no communal google docs full of recipes and grocery lists and confusion about who is bringing what.

For our one dinner together, Walt smoked a pork shoulder and his girlfriend Kylie made this delicious Asian slaw. It was tangy, crunchy, and refreshing, a perfect complement to the smoky rich pork (which we used to make bahn mi). I knew I needed to recreate it at home, and that it would quickly become a staple in our kitchen, since we eat a lot of Asian food.

I loved Kylie’s slaw, but per her suggestion, wanted to jazz it up a bit. I added sliced mango and salted roasted cashews, but the possibilities are endless – grated carrots, mint, cilantro, peanuts, mandarin slices, etc. We paired our slaw with some easy tofu, pressed and marinated in canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sriracha, and orange juice, then baked. It was an easy and delicious meal. My favorite kind.

Asian Slaw with Ramen Noodles

Ingredients

1 large head of napa cabbage
1 package of instant ramen noodles (flavor doesn’t matter – you won’t be using the flavor pack)
1 ripe mango
1/2 cup cashews, salted & roasted
3 Tbl rice vinegar
3 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl toasted sesame oil
Optional additions: sriracha, mint, mandarin slices, peanuts, cilantro, grated carrots.

Instructions

Chop cabbage into bite-sized pieces. I cut mine in half lengthwise, then in half again lengthwise, and then sliced it horizontally from there. Rinse and dry, and put in a large bowl.

Crush up the ramen noodles and set aside. Cut the mango into slices or chunks, whichever you prefer, and set that aside as well.

I like to mix my salad dressings in a small jar – no whisking, just shaking – but you can make yours in a bowl if you like. In whatever vessel you choose, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Whisk or shake until thoroughly mixed. Taste and adjust ingredients as you like.

Add the mango to the cabbage. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and mango and toss to coat. Let it sit for a minute. You can add the ramen noodles and cashews now, or top each serving individually. I will warn you though, that if you add the ramen to the salad and you have leftovers, those noodles will lose their crunch.

Serve, dotted with sriracha if you’d like, and enjoy.

Restaurant Review: Eb & Bean

April 23, 2015February 11, 2017

Review: Eb & Bean | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Portland is into dessert. This has been made exceedingly clear with the success of places like Salt & Straw, The Sugar Cube, Maurice, and Pix Patisserie. A few years ago, when Jonah and I lived in Sellwood, we occasionally visited a frozen yogurt spot called Nectar, a local “by the ounce” chain with flavors like red velvet, coconut, and peach. I was always surprised when we moved farther north that there weren’t really any frozen yogurt bars in Portland.

I remember the first time I went to a DIY frozen yogurt place, in Tucson with my cousin Lia. My sisters and I were in awe at all the flavors (taro root?!), that it was all right there to taste, and that we could design our own creations – fudge sauce, gummy bears, strawberries, sprinkles…the list goes on and on. At a certain point though, those cups piled high with sweetness became excessive, and I’d always wish I’d had a little more restraint and been satisfied with two toppings instead of seven.

Enter Eb & Bean, the best of both worlds: the frozen yogurt that I crave, but a more delicious, natural option, perfect for conscious Portland eaters and farm-to-table followers. It’s also not self-serve and it’s priced per topping, which is probably for the best – it keeps you from going too crazy! Flavors include the standard tart, chocolate, and vanilla, with three rotating flavors, one of which is always dairy-free (when I visited there was a super creamy delicious cashew rocky road). Owner Elizabeth Nathan studied dessert and pastry in Paris, and her knowledge of ingredients and flavor shows in her creatively curated toppings selection. Some of the most intriguing and tempting toppings included Fleur de Lis cinnamon sugar donuts, Pinkleton’s salted vanilla caramel corn, and Bakeshop marshmallow sauce.

After a picnic at a friend’s house last week, on a perfect 80 degree day, I convinced Jonah to stop at Eb & Bean for some dessert. It was on the way home, I swear. We decided to go a fairly traditional route for our first visit: vanilla frozen yogurt with hot fudge, Bakeshop peanut butter cookie, and toasted coconut. It was so perfectly sweet and refreshing, and felt that much more perfect because the sun was beating down outside.

I highly recommend a stop into Eb & Bean for a warm-weather treat. You’ll find the shop on NE Broadway at 1425, open from noon to 9:30 on weekdays, 10 on weekends.

Weekend Finds 4:17:14: Recipes

April 17, 2015February 11, 2017

It has been an awfully long time since I’ve written a weekend finds post, and I’d like to get back in the game. Mostly because I’ve been finding some recipes lately that are either a) really good or b) look really good and I haven’t made them yet but I plan on doing so soon, and I’d like to share these recipes with you.

1. Pasta Recipes from Bon Appetit

Pasta Recipes from Bon Appetit | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Bon Appetit

I have found two pasta recipes from Bon Appetit lately that I am itching to make, but we just don’t make a lot of pasta these days. One is a meaty Bolognese (with chicken livers – I mean come on) and the other is a rigatoni with lemon-chili pesto and grated egg. Doesn’t that sound interesting?

2. Caramelized Fennel and Farro Salad from Not Without Salt

Caramelized Fennel and Farro Salad Recipe from Not Without Salt | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Not Without Salt

This salad is cool, spicy, fruity, crunchy, sweet, and all around delicious. Jonah made it one night, and it has me hooked on farro. Next time I make it, I’d try going a little lighter on the harissa (depending on the desired spice level and how spicy your harissa is) and maybe substitute apricots for the dates.

3. Matcha Black Sesame Babka

Matcha Black Sesame Babka Recipe from Fix Feast Flair | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Fix Feast Flair

Ever since I found this recipe for matcha black sesame babka, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s mostly a matter of finding the time to make this bad boy, but holy smokes, does that look beautiful (and tasty) or what?

4. Most Recipes on Food52

Food52 Recipes | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Food52

You guys, I knew I liked Food52, but they are KILLING it lately. Things I want to make: pecorino romano cake with candied tomatoes, this fennel salad with burrata and mint, chicken salad with pickled grapes (but mostly those pickled grapes), and this chocolate mochi snack cake. Things I have made that are so good: miso and honey roasted chicken, many iterations of soba noodles including these, and this crazy good asparagus that I could eat for every meal. And I’ll be honest, I’ve yet to make something from Food52 that crashed and burned, so they’re pretty trustworthy.

5. It’s rhubarb season! All the rhubarb recipes!

Rhubarb Season! | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler — Photo credit: Bon Appetit

Things that will be happening in my near future: rhubarb simple syrup to put in all the cocktails (I highly recommend the mojito from Not Without Salt), and this beautiful rhubarb almond cake. I also like the savory rhubarb recipes like the ones that follow that have been popping up all over the place: skillet chicken with rhubarb, beetroot and rhubarb salad, roasted pork belly with rhubarb ginger compote, and shrimp fried rice topped with pickled rhubarb.