PSU Row

King of rice from the Middle East, Thai Pasta and Taqueria La Nortento.

Cam, Billy and Scotty made thee adventurous trip up to what I would call PSU row on 4th and college. We where expecting to have pizza but then found out that they do the festival tour during the summer.... I guess they where out in Enterprise doing something there.... anyone up for a road trip and some Terminal Gravity? Have you been to TG? By far one of the best settings to drink beer in.... but thats another story.

Cam visited King because of their name.... he had some rice dish with yellow things in it. He also ordered up a drink that looked like it was coconut milk over ice.  Uh.... I have no idea what it was because (1) Cam was talking about "walking down the isle" and (2) Billy was chomping on some really nice looking deep fried thing and a very big plate of Pad Thai.... the pad thai looked good and was very colorful next to the slice of lime that came with the plate.

So by this time you would think that I would have included a 'Cam sucks!' somewhere in this post..... well the Chile Relleno burrito I had from Taqueria La Notento was by far one of the sucky'st burritos I have ever had. I should have figured this out when I saw some of the PSU athletic directors waiting for their food/burritos. 

A simple way to find out if mexican restaurant is going to have good food is to try their Chile Relleno.... well thats what my Guatemalan dad still tells me to this day (as well as (in a heavy hispanic accent) 'if you wear a condom, its not like you are cheating!'). Rellenos are one of the simplest foods to make and one of the easiest to screw up. There is something about the deep fried crispiness of the egg batter, the soft chile and the melted white cheese that when done right can bring a grown man to tears. As a child in Guatemala my grandmother at christmas time would make Tamales and Chile Rellenos while other family members prepared fresh tortillas and frijoles negros. As a kid I always looked forward to that time of the year and to this day still one of my fondest memories and why expect allot from someone selling "rellenos". This was more like a scrambled egg with a dash of canned green chilies and a hint of cheese. The beans where flavorless almost like they where cooked way too long. The burrito tasted more like a breakfast burrito I might get at McD's, and I am guessing that the McDonalds one would be more flavorful. Honestly, I have had better burritos a Taco Bell at 3 in the morning and would most likely would not visit it again.

No pic's due to Cam sucking and not bringing his camera.

The history of the chile relleno can be found at wikipedia.

that thai place on 4th and Hall

it was good. tasted like it was 'posed to. had another thing that was good too. that had cream cheese in it. got a coke too. it was good

Aybla Med Grill

The line was about 5 deep when I entered it with multiple folks already waiting for ordered items. I figured the wait would be a little long considering the woman taking the orders was overwhelmed. The two folks in front of me tried to pay as they ordered but she ignored them as if their money stank. She took my money on the spot and within 1 minute I have a falafel pitawich with added lamb and omitted onions.

They nailed my order exactly despite how busy they were--nary one onion was on my grub.

The lamb had crispy edges that made it tasty. We aren't talking lamb jerky but it definitely had the sort of caramelized component that makes the mouth water. The falafels were good but a bit dry which seems to be the bane of the falafel existence; it cries out for moisture. Thank goodness for tahini sauce to really soak into the falafels and make for a good pitawich.

I looked at all of the carts with variations on mexican and euro foods and this one looked to be the best of them all and it was a pretty tasty meal. However, other food cart courts have more alluring options so I would probably not make it back to this area.

I just looked at the picture once this was published and it looks very unappetizing in that crude humored way. In person it looked like a yummy meal, but then again, it was overcast and my glasses are dirty.

Thai Express

Thai Express (corner of SW 9th & Washington) is a bit of a misnomer because the single person working there makes all of the orders as you wait. When I arrived at 12:25 there were three people in front of me, 20 minutes later, I had my order.

That said, the Chicken Pad Thai was delicious (tofu, beef, shrimp and chicken are the options). And even though it was $7.50, it was huge, so it will definitely cover two meals.

Everything on the menu--which was pretty varied--was $7.50. I didn't get a drink...

I work kitty-corner to the Portland Building, which has a pretty good take out Thai restaurant in its basement, so I can't imagine walking over to Thai Express on a regular basis. If I were on the North side of Pioneer Square, however, this would definitely be a top choice for me.

Samurai Bento

I have to admit, I chose Samurai Bento because there was nobody in line to order. Normally, as a cart clubber cardinal rule, this is considered reckless behavior as it's usually a bad sign of the cart's overall quality: the lunch crowd votes with their feet and a cart with nobody in line, when others are packing them eight to ten deep, is about as enticing as a dip in the Willamette river after a rainy night. But having arrived late, time was of the essence.
The number of dishes offered on the menu is impressive, and most are displayed as colorful pictures which is helpful since you don't know Japanese (I'm right, aren't I?). I put in my order for chicken katsu ($6) and stepped back just in time for a group of Japanese teenagers to place their orders (things were suddenly looking up). The all-Japanese, three person crew consisted of a friendly young woman taking orders, a grey haired gentleman and a hipster-looking guy with tattoos (a telltale a sign of yakuza, the Japanese mafia - cool!). They worked well as a team, calling out orders in Japanese, dexterously avoiding each other while reaching for steaming pots or chopping something. The katsu came in about seven minutes (not bad). The dish is breaded and deep fried chicken (or pork) cut into pieces and then placed over white rice with a hearty heap of caramelized onion, sweet brown sauce and a cracked egg, garnished with broccoli, carrot and ginger.
The verdict: savory and delicious, but not necessarily light or healthy. I'll avoid the breaded and deep fried chicken next time and go with their grilled option. The authenticity and quality merits another visit. Domo arigato!

Week 4: The Whole Bowl

This week we visited the cartland on SW 9th Ave and Washington. I hit up 'The Whole Bowl'.

Okay, step one: google to figure out what the special sauce is. Answer “Tali Sauce is The Whole Bowl's secret weapon. Referred to by many as "crack sauce", this lemony-garlicky blend has been building local addictions in the Pearl, and now at the new Downtown location, for over 4 years. Sauce devotees have been known to experience a prolonged sense of well-being and tremendous relaxation upon consumption.”

The meal would have been boring without the crack sauce. Ordered the 16 ounce bowl ($5.50 compared to $5.00 for 12 ounce). Brown rice, crack sauce, beans, salsa, cilantro (I asked them to hold the cheese and sour cream). Even with the crack, I’m pretty sure I found the healthiest choice of the entire cartland. It even looked good to eat. They only offered coke and diet coke for drink choices. Boo.

Oh, and that ‘prolonged sense of well-being and tremendous relaxation upon consumption’… I’m not sure if I would call it that or ‘stomach gurgling trying to digest my crack lunch’.

Cart #3.5 - Fuego

Fuego has 11 carts in their burrito making army.

The choices are limited, but solid. You can have flour or whole wheat (50 cents extra), chicken or vegetarian, sour cream (free), guacamole (.75 extra), spinach (.50 extra), hot or mild salsa. Burritos come standard with black beans and brown rice. You choose to have your burrito big or small. There is a price difference of about $1 between the two, but it was obvious that Kendra had burrito envy when she observed the hefty girth of my large chicken"little donkey" (that's what burrito translates into, FYI) and compared it to her small vegetarian.

Pound for Pound, i estimate that the burrito at Fuego will ultimately cost you roughly $2 more compared to most other downtown burrito carts.

The cart that we went to was "out" of spinach and guacamole. But when I looked disappointed and started weeping, the kind lady gave me two dollops of guacamole. Take that guacamole! I ate it, it was pretty good. The brown rice was healthy tasting. The burrito tasted fresh and clean. It was a tad dry.

Comparing Fuego to other burrito carts such as Los Locos, Villenueva, or La Jarochita is a fool's endeavor. The latter burrito carts are bigger, greasier, and make you sleep within 1 hour. The Fuego burrito is light and healthy tasting. What are you into? That's what you need to ask yourself. Do it now. Write the answer down.

Fuego didn't blow my mind, but it will probably not blow my bowels out either. Trade-offs. It's all about what you value. For me, I choose the cheap, greasy, tasty burrito from "sketchy" cart with a 50% chance of explosion. That's just me. That's who I am.