Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Belated, I know. On Cinco de Mayo, we ended up at Tight Tacos for... tacos. In Portland. It always feels weird to me getting tacos up North but you know what? Portland has some serious tacos that rival many a taco truck and restaurant in California! Feel free to assume that I don't know my tacos, but try some of the good places in Portland and then get back to me. There isn't much seating in the tiny fenced off area by Tight Tacos, but I think on a regular day it might not be an issue. As it was Cinco de Mayo, there was quite a crowd. The cooks worked steadily and efficiently. While there was a wait, it wasn't bad. I just gave us time to knock back a few ghetto chavelas. While I don't agree with the name, it was pretty good. There was a little bit of hot sauce and lime juice squeezed into the opened can, and then rimmed with some Tajin chile piquin. It didn't take long for us to devour our tacos before moving onto Pip's , which was parked along the stre...

I love ice cream. One of my favorite ice cream shops, Salt & Straw, recently made the move down to San Francisco! That means instead of driving 9 hours to Portland to get my fix (or an hour and a half flight), I can drive an hour and a half and get some "locally" in Northern California. Some people were complaining about the lines, but every time I've gone to any location in Portland, there's been a line. Maybe not this long, but depending on the time of day, it changes. Either way, the line at the San Francisco location moves relatively quickly and the line pictured below only took about 15-20 minutes. If you just want to grab a few pints, you can skip the line and get them from the fridge and just pay for them. Seating is limited, so don't expect to get a seat (so if you do, count yourself lucky!). There's also a bench outside, but that is usually taken too.  The first time I went to Salt & Straw, I had the bourbon pineapple upside down cake...

When talking about Portland and doughnuts, what do you hear first? Voodoo? Blue Star? My favorite doughnuts have been from The Doughnut Vault in Chicago ever since I tried those, and Top Pot in Seattle. Until I had Pip's.  These little doughnuts changed the game for me. There are only a few flavors but they are all done incredibly well. They are made fresh to order, so you might have to wait 5+ minutes (depending on the line also). The best part for me though, is hot and fresh they are. The inside is so spongy and soft, and the outside has just a tiny bit of crispiness from the fresh fry. If you get these to go, eat them in your car! They are best when super fresh. There is a food truck that goes around to different locations, and also a brick and mortar location. For $4.75, you can get a half dozen of these little bites of heaven. Flavors like honey & sea salt, nutella & sea salt, cinnamon & sugar, and The Dirty Wu. In case you are wondering what it is, i...

Normally I like picking places before I get to a city. Occasionionally I trust someone enough to choose for me (I have trouble finding people who eat the way I do 😅), which is what typically happens in Portland when I visit my brother. This time however, we went with convenience. Sometimes after my nine hour drive, I don't want to get back in a car. I just want to walk. He lives pretty close to a lot of restaurants, bars, and random shops so it works out in our favor.  A few blocks away is Rose & Thistle, a Scottish pub. It doesn't look huge from the outside, but it's spacious inside. I imagine they can get pretty busy. According to their website , the rose is for Portland and the thistle is for Scotland. At the same time, with a little research, I found that there is also a poem titled " The Thrissil and the Rois " which is a Scottish poem by William Dunbar about the wedding of the King of Scotland to a Princess of England. Try reading that after a few pi...

If you couldn't tell, I like themed restaurants and bars. It makes things interesting. One of my favorite themes is tiki. A new tiki bar in Sacramento just opened up, so that is on my list of places to go and check out. It just happened that I was in Portland in December, and Hale Pele was just down the street from where I was staying. With some good reviews and what looked like flaming drinks, I had to go see for myself. The interior is dark, like most tiki bars (that I have been to anyway). Lots of kitsch all over the place. Everyone in big groups and seem to be sharing crazy looking drinks. I couldn't wait to join in the fun! Luckily there was one big table left for the four of us and we took our time looking over the immense menu.  It was pretty hard to choose which drink to start with. So many things sounded interesting, and there were a ton of cool looking cups. We ended up getting the volcano bowl to start. You have to really like rum to enjoy it, as the rum tas...

Happy brunch Sunday! I can't help but think of brunch on a lazy Sunday. Rain or shine. That feeling of not having anything to do, or anything due; where you can just meander over to a breakfast joint and mull over what you want to eat while sipping that hot coffee or tea. That's why whenever I'm in Portland, I like to make a point of stopping by Pine State Biscuits. These fresh made biscuits, the fried chicken, the from scratch gravy, that fried egg, the Tillamook cheddar all combine to make one big happy biscuit sandwich. The first time my brother told me to get the Reggie Deluxe, I was a bit intimidated. It looks too big to eat for breakfast. But no. Trust. You have to trust people. And what happens when you do? Bountiful rewards.  I present to you in all its splendor, the Reggie Deluxe.  So, should you decide to treat yourself to this splendiferous breakfast marvel, know that you have a few locations that it can be accessed. There are three physical s...