Fantastic, monster chicken wings with an Asian twist at Pok Pok
As a follow-up to my recent post on the legendary Portland restaurant Pok Pok, owner Andy Ricker has just published a book of the same name on his unique take on northern Thai cooking. After reading this recipe from the book on phat thai, though, you might agree with me that it’s easier just heading to the restaurant than making it yourself.
Portland could well challenge Seattle for the title of Coffeetown, USA
It’s hard throwing a pound of fair-trade, organic beans in Portland without hitting a coffeehouse. In many parts of town, they’re on every street corner, often with a few more squeezed in between. For all I know, Portland might rival Seattle as Coffeetown, U.S.A.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters is the local heavyweight, with a vast bean empire and some half dozen cafes in town, closely followed by Ristretto Roasters. There are too many independent, often one-off, places to mention. Suffice to say, the expectation levels are such that many food carts offer pots of French-press coffee, sourced from local micro roasters.
Minimalism is in at Ristretto Roasters in Portland
But I might just have to side with the mighty New York Times in naming tiny downtown *Spella Caffè as the top espresso puller in Portland. I walk into this jewel—no bigger than an oversized closet—and am greeted by three uniformed people. Now, this is what I call service. While waiting for the barista to prepare my macchiato, another guy describes their affogato, a gelato drenched in two shots of espresso. I also talk to owner Andrea Spella, who moved to this shoehorn location after the usual burst pipes and overheating persuaded him to abandon his coffee cart. The batches at his southeast Portland roastery are equally tiny, weighing in at 11 pounds.
Don’t let the small size fool you. Spella Caffe’s espresso packs a heavyweight punch
My macchiato to go or to stand (really, there’s no place to sit) is served in a tiny cardboard cup. But boy, does it pack a punch. None of that thinly roasted, sour-tasting stuff here. The thick, full-bodied taste lingers on my tongue long after I’ve taken a pound of roasted beans to go.
Spella Caffe
520 SW 5 Avenue, Portland
Weekdays 7:30 am-3:30 pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday
The best omelette I had on a month-long road trip was at Chow in Bend, Oregon. Note the bottles of house-made sauce in the background
The breakfast specials alone at *Chow—a fittingly elegant eatery in beautiful Bend, Oregon—are almost bewildering in their number and complexity. My server has to read, off a pad, all the ingredients in the French toast, eggs Benedict and omelette specials. I opt for the daily locovore omelette ($12), which today features chicken-apple sausage, caramelized onions, local chanterelle mushrooms and cheese and a slightly spicy sauce I don’t catch the name of. It’s arguably the best breakfast I’ve had on a month-long road trip—light, fresh and perfectly balanced flavours—and comes with a choice of herbed potatoes, cornmeal-crusted tomatoes or creamy polenta. Indeed, every plate that passes, from pancakes to poached eggs, looks like something I’d like to devour.
The kicker, for my meal, is three tall bottles of house-made sauce of varying intensity, so good that I order a mason jar full to take home. I’m not sure why they need to put a squeeze bottle of ketchup on the table; it isn’t worthy of this company.
Owned by David Touvell, the “mad genius chef”, and Shawn Harvey, Chow is located in a restored old Bend house and surrounded by a lovely patio garden. The inside rooms are separated by parted curtains, decorated with local art and furnished with deep, comfy ottomans. It’s the kind of place you want to linger over your meal.
Restaurant designers of the world take note of the lovely, stuffed ottomans
You pay a bit of a premium for breakfast here, but with food this creative and good, it’s still a bargain. I don’t even miss the toast.
Chow
1100 NW Newport Avenue, Bend, Oregon
Daily, 7 am-close
I’m braced for a substantial lineup at *Pok Pok, Andy Ricker’s legendary, James Beard Foundation-award-winning Portland restaurant. But when I arrive on a sultry mid-afternoon, there are lots of empty tables, and I’m whisked straight into the air-conditioned bar. There’s not a lot of character here. The emphasis is squarely on the amazing food.
Pok Pok Thai restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian restaurant of the year 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pok Pok features innovative, northern and northeastern Thailand dishes such as smoky charcoal grilled eggplant salad, sweet pork belly curry and lemongrass-stuffed game hen, with an average price of around $14. But I take a more conventional route with the signature Vietnamese-style hot wings, marinated in fish sauce and sugar, deep fried and tossed with garlic, more fish sauce and my choice of spicy chile flakes. To say they’re the best chicken wings I’ve ever had would do them an injustice. They’re enormous (who knew chickens had such big wings?)—sweet and spicy, meaty and messy. I go through nearly a napkin for each of the six wings, then mop up with a couple of wet naps. A spoon and a fork are recommended for this style of Thai food, but in this case I’m all hands.
Fantastic, monster chicken wings with an Asian twist at Pok Pok
On a side note, a look at Pok Pok’s menu opens up an unfamiliar, fantastic world of Thai cuisine. You won’t find pad thai, green curry or tom kha soup here. That’s because those dishes are all part of the southern Thai offerings that dominate Thai menus pandering to the North American masses. Pok Pok and its offshoots are Andy Ricker’s attempts to bring authentic northern and northeastern Thai cuisine to U.S. palates.
Here’s hoping it becomes a more widespread trend. Because there is more to Thai than pad thai.
Pok Pok
3226 SE Division Street, Portland, Oregon
Daily 11:30 am-10 pm
David Ouellette strums a flamenco guitar at Buttercloud Bakery & Cafe in Medford, Oregon
I walk into *Buttercloud Bakery & Cafe and am greeted by David Ouellette, sitting in a chair and quietly strumming a flamenco guitar. It’s a wonderful way to be eased into a Sunday morning on the road. And it keeps getting better. I could order a fresh-baked biscuit loaded with egg and bacon (just $5.75) or beef brisket. But I get one unadorned—other than melted butter and fragrant house-made plum citrus jam—so I can savour its delicate crumb. The service is leisurely, but everything’s made to order, and who’s in a hurry? Just then, co-owner Gibson Holub comes by with a mini sample of a goat-pear biscuit, hot from the oven. Bliss.
A fresh, wonderful biscuit and plum citrus jam at Buttercloud Bakery
http://www.buttercloudbakery.com
310 Genessee Street, Medford, Oregon
Tuesday to Saturday 7 am-3 pm, Sunday 8 am-2 pm. Closed Monday
Sarah serves up an amazing egg/French toast concoction at her Egg Carton outlet
There are a staggering 700 food carts in Portland. It may be the food truck capital of the known universe, though in this Oregon city they are stationary and organized in pods throughout the city. I’ll write about this unique food culture in more detail at a later date.
But for now, suffice to say there are some free-spirited, independent cart owners experimenting with some mad food combinations to come up with some amazingly creative, cheap, excellent cuisine. This may be the future of dining out, especially for frugal road fooders looking for something new and exciting. Needless to say, it’s worth the long drive alone. I may never leave this nourishing city.
Got time for only one food-cart breakfast and can’t decide between something eggy or sweet? At *The Egg Carton, enjoy the best of both worlds by ordering the Famous FoPo Christo, a combination of, get this, fried egg, bacon chunks, Tillamook cheddar, spicy mustard and strawberry jam, sandwiched between two slices of French toast. Believe me, it tastes a hell of a lot better than it sounds. The French toast alone, featuring thick slices of Texas toast, is more custardy tender than most conventional kinds I’ve eaten. And the jammy mixture in the middle somehow works. Trust me, just look at the picture and then order it. The Ronald is another popular egg-and-cheese choice along the same lines, this time with a cart-made sausage patty, an English muffin and maple syrup.
French toast/egg sandwich at Egg Carton. You know you want one
The Egg Carton
5205 SE Foster Road (Foster Food Cart Pod)
Thursday, Friday and Monday 8:30 am-2 pm, weekends 9 am-3 pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday
I’m waiting for my margherita to come out of the wood-fired oven at the Pyro Pizza food cart. And I must say, it’s a wonderful, 12-inch pie, with a thin, chewy crust, fresh mozza and big basil leaves, all for a ridiculously cheap $7; I’ve paid three times as much for a lot less elsewhere.
$7 for this magnificent margherita pie at Pyro Pizza
Anyway, while I’m waiting, I wander around the southeast Portland food-cart pod and pass PBJ’s Grilled sandwiches. Not bloody likely, I think. But then out pops owner Keena Tallman. “I’m cute and little,” she says, in reference to her name. With a big personality. She’s soon talking me into the merits of grilled sandwiches featuring house-made nut butters paired with jams. While I feebly protest about my impending pizza arrival, she makes me a sample of her award-winning Oregonian—a medley of challah bread, Oregon hazelnut butter, Rogue Creamery blue cheese and house-made marion berry jam (duck is an add on). As I’m wolfing down this “my God, how can this be so good?” grilled sandwich, Keena passes me a little piece of incredible crispy coconut shrimp (it goes with the Spicy Thai sandwich). “Deliciously addictive,” the cart sign says. I’ll say. I’m nut butter in her hands.
Keena assembling my Oregonian sandwich at PBJ’s Grilled
http://www.pbjsgrilled.com
SE 12 Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard cart pod (also at 919 NW 23 Street)
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am-7 pm
Marathon Mouth 