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"The Gluttonista"
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Rating Distribution
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Review votes:
5136 Useful, 4025 Funny, and 4087 Cool
Portland, OR
Yelping SinceJuly 2007
Things I Lovecocksauce, The Blazers, Fish Sauce, Your Mom, beer, debauchery, meat, booze, hip-hop, trip-hop, funk, soul, jazz
Find Me Incognito
My HometownSea-town, WA
My Blog Or Website When I'm Not Yelping...I am Yelping. There will be plenty of time to not-yelp when I am dead.
Why You Should Read My ReviewsWhy not?
My Second Favorite Website The Last Great Book I ReadB is for Beer
My First ConcertI will never tell
My Favorite MovieBlack Samurai
My Last Meal On EarthPho - lots of chili oil
Don't Tell Anyone Else But...well, if I tell you, I'll have to kill you.
Most Recent DiscoveryMy cat's breath smells like cat food.
Current CrushThe +1
Date
A call to arms. A message of hope. A beacon of light in the dark wilderness, as the maven of Wilsonville, Jen K, beckons: come try our Thai!
A 25 minute drive. A frustrating parking experience. Strip mall.
We have no reservations (aside from the general reservations one should have when dining in a strip mall). We dine anyway.
The company is inspirational, my panang curry is not. The beacon of light fades.
What part of "make it crazy spicy" doesn't translate? Who knows.
I may not be rushing back... for the thai.
But for the company, I'll eat anything, anywhere.
Portland, OR 97205
The Peoples' Sandwich of Portland
Category: Sandwiches
Neighborhood: Old Town
-- The hot tuna melt - tuna salad on a french roll with melted cheese - YUM! Lots of tuna. Very tasty.
-- Portland Über Alles - Seasoned veg on a Dave's Killer roll - very tasty, lots of fresh veggies that are not overcooked with a yummy season salt and cheese. Delicious
-- Breakfast - Egg, cheese, and Morningstar sausage on a Dave's Killer roll. Simple but solidly tasty.
-- Soylent Green - baked marinated tofu with spicy peppers (roasted), pesto, filberts, and some form of tasty sauce (balsamic?). Not a flavor combo that I would usually choose, but a very tasty sandwich nonetheless (served on a french roll).
-- Caprese-ish - as you would guess and described in my first review - tasty.
Overall, you can tell that a lot of love and care goes into these bad boys, along with quality ingredients and creative flavor pairings. The most important aspect to me - I will not be making most of these at home.
Portland used to lack awesome sandwich places, and now with high caliber options like People's, J Cafe, Bunk, MCB, and Melt, we almost have too many choices! This one's easy, though. Add in the fresh cooked chips, and if I'm in the area, I'm sold.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
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10/27/2009
Hot damn! I finally made it into this little sandwich shop and I can say that I was pretty impressed with what I had.
Started out with the Portland Über Alles, which is grilled veggies and cheese on a Dave's Killer roll, as well as a Caprese, which is pesto, mozz, tomatoes, lettuce, and balsamic on a sourdough roll. The veggies in the Über Alles were broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, peppers and onions, all sauteed fresh with a heavy dose of what tasted like a proprietary seasoning salt. This sandwich was so good. Savory, veggie delicious. The caprese was just as good, with flavors, well, like you'd expect from a caprese salad, only on a sandwich.
The prices were hovering in that now-standard-for-Por tland $8 range, but for quality like this, I'd pay it.
The biggest surprise of the day? Each sandwich comes with house-made, fresh-fried potato chips. We got ours hot from the deep fryer, and damn if those weren't some of the best chips I've ever had. Fried nice and dark, with a very potatoey/salty flavor. Bomb.
Yum.
Yeah.
That's what I thought.
The fries are still undercooked.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
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5/31/2009
Double
Double
Animal
Style,
Grilled
Cheese
Animal
Style,
Medium
Soda.
The ultimate meal from In-n-Out.
I wish the fries weren't always undercooked, but it's really ok because it gives me an excuse to order a grilled cheese animal style instead of the fries.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 896-1127
Ironside
Categories: American (New), Caterers
Neighborhood: SOMA
Thank you sir, may I have another?
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 369-0857
Alexandria Cafe
Categories: Coffee & Tea, Greek, Mediterranean
Neighborhoods: Union Square, SOMA
Save yourself the heart ache, tastebud remorse, and financial guilt by moseying about 1/2 block up the street to Seller's Market for breakfast.
This just goes to show that you should never trust a line at an establishment. Lemmings line up. I should check my Yelp app instead of being a lazy lemming, and next time I will.
Almost $6 for some shit bagel with a microwaved egg and American cheese? I feel violated.
I accept total responsibility, but the most important thing is that I learned from my mistake.
I've been in a couple of times now... once on a Sunday night for a quick beverage and some wifi, and again on a Tuesday night for their inaugural Trivia night. Both times I've been impressed with the caliber of the bar and the service.
Shanahan's is easily a cross between a solid Irish bar and a sports bar. The physical space is laid out as you'd expect in your average pub. In the front room, booths and tables, 2 large flat screens up behind the bar (visible from the entire front section of the room), and a pool table area. A large smoking patio with umbrellas sits to the side, and a big room in the back with a mini stage and a very nice, clear, projection TV round out the offerings. The decor is a mix of beer paraphernalia. The style is, well, Irish bar meets sports bar. The vibe is chill.
The beer selection is pretty solid, with some international offerings, local micros, and your traditional macros. Their local macros tend towards Rogue and Deschutes, rather than smaller producers, but I am sure that fits with the market. They also sport a full booze bar. The surprising part is probably the food, which stands a good step or two above your average bar food. They offer a full compliment of burgers, smoked meats, and the like, and they have a pretty large list of ample appetizers and meals for happy hour (3-8pm everyday). I had the pleasure of trying the pulled pork sliders (surprisingly good) and this crazy fries/tots/cheese/bacon/onions monstrosity that looked like something off of man vs. food (and yes, it's on happy hour and on top of that, it's served with ranch). It was the first time in a LONG time that I have not finished a plate of food in front of me, and that's saying a LOT. I could imagine the 'hallelujah' moment I would have had if I had first laid eyes upon this spectacle when deep in the throes of shitfaced-induced-hunger, but seeing it for the first time sober just made me shake my head and drop my jaw.
Try it some time. Seriously. I dare you.
What really tops it all off, however, is the service, Both times I have been in, the service has been top notch. Friendly and efficient, and all around quality. The owners interact well with the customers also, and even coming in as an outsider, I felt as welcome as if I were a regular.
All of the elements come together in this bar to form a really high-quality spot to kick back, be yourself, have some brews, eat some good food, and catch a game. If this place were near my house, I would be a regular for sporting events (especially with the big TV in the back).
Based on the awesome service, good food, wifi, decent beer selection and chill vibe, Shanahan's easily comes in at a solid 4 to 4.5 stars. The only down-side? Well, it's in the 'couve. That's about a 20 minute or more drive from my place.
That said, I can tell the owners really, really give a shit about this place, and to me, that means a lot. They obviously truly care about making this bar as awesome as possible rather than simply angling for a quick buck. Kudos to that. I will definitely be back.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 236-7339
Destroy
Category: Fashion
Neighborhood: Northeast Portland
I particularly dig one design they offer. It's a take-off of a Trailblazer's uniform design but says "Destroy" on the front in Blazer font and "Burnside" on the back where the player name would be. Fairly classic design. Picked one up for a friend and he's always wearing the thing. I would have bought one for myself, but then I would run into too many circumstances where he and I would be wearing the same shirt, and the thought of that is just too uncomfortable to bear.
Definitely worth stopping in and checking out.
Portland, OR 97204
Flurry
Category: Fashion
Neighborhoods: Southwest Portland, Downtown
I stopped in on Saturday to check out the selection, and they had a pretty sweet selection of RYZ shoes, some stylin' sweaters, shirts, and jackets, and a bunch of accessories, jewelery, hats, etc. I was tempted to pick up a couple of items but I resisted (trying to save my $). That said, the selection is pretty cool, and there are definitely extra stars in the mix for such a cool endeavor - supporting local designers and local economy (instead of, say, some of the corporate alternatives across the street at Pioneer Place).
Designers participating:
Betty Jean Couture
Christa Taylor
DefYance
Isaac Hers
Janeane Marie
La Merde
Looptworks
Luminita
MAYTEE
O'Pearl Jewelry
Ryz Shoes
Sahlia Michele
Varnish
WeMa
Add in that the people working the space were super nice, and you have a winner. Now only if my budget will cooperate, I could have that slick black jacket I was eyeing...
Happy Valley, OR 97266
(503) 995-6606
Cora y Huichol
Categories: Mexican, Food Stands
I'm doing a complete 180 on Cora y Huichol.
I just had one of the best cart-burritos ever from Cora, and it's making me SO glad I decided to give it a second shot.
I just enjoyed an exquisitely-flavored al pastor burrito with grilled onions. It wasn't huge for the $4.50, but what it lacked in size it made up for in explosive flavor. The savory, succulent pork in a tasty sauce with sweet grilled onions, wrapped in a fresh tortilla with some sour cream and god knows what else (I was too busy being blissed out to notice) was simply amazing. I just ordered a pastor burrito, straight up, and it came perfectly appointed - no beans, no rice, lettuce on the outside with a slice of fresh avo, some pickled jalapeños, and some of the best salsa roja I've tried outside of Giovanni's.
Seriously. I'm floored. This a FAR cry from what I experienced last time. I would chalk it up to new ownership, but the ownership is the same. Maybe I just ordered wrong last time, but I today I have seen the light.
Damn. Fucking delicious burrito.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
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6/5/2009 First to Review
The last 20 minutes of my life was a real roller coaster ride. I'm still not sure what to rate Cora y Huichol.
I pulled off the side of the road to grab myself some tacos for lunch. I've driven by Cora y Huichol a hundred times, and every one of those times I've wanted to stop in and check the place out. It's permanence at one spot, the number of colorful signs, the wide array of offerings, and the phrase "tortillas hecho a mano" all called out to me.
Today was the day.
So I stop in and order my usual array of tacos - 2 carnitas, 1 asada, 1 chorizo - so that I can try a good cross section of foodstuffs in one visit. I also snag 2 "vege" tacos for the wife, just in case. 6 tacos, $7.50. I can totally get down with that. Things are looking up! The smells emanating from the truck range from delicious to downright mouth-watering. The offerings include a wide array of mariscos as well. Things are looking up even more! Plus, I can see the bowl of un-pressed, un-cooked tortilla dough sitting just inside the truck. Mmm....
The wait is long enough to know that they're cooking it up fresh, but not so long as to be annoying. Add in a couple of salsa rojas and a couple of avo-salsas, and I'm out.
I get home, anticipation peaking, and proceed to dig in. I love avocado salsa, but this stuff is pretty mediocre. Fairly flavorless. Not impressed. A let down. The first taco, carnitas, is ok, but the carnitas are not all that good. The size is more than adequate for the price, the flavoring is nothing to knock your socks off. Overall, nothing I would come back for. next up, asada with salsa roja.
OMG! The salsa roja is so full of flavor! Roasted, savory, complex, nuanced, chili... mmmm amazing. The asada is ok but not amazing (some inedible gristle, which is par for the course), the size is more than adequate for the price, and the tortilla, well, fantastic. A tad undercooked, but oh so good. I can get down with these.
The chorizo? Yes. Tasty, large, great hand-made tortilla, cilantro, onions and that oh-so-delicious salsa roja. Again, I would come back for this. Not the best chorizo I've had, but tasty.
The final carnitas? Well, it's better with the roja on it, that's for damn sure, and oh, there's a chunk of bone in here... par for the course, but damn, that's a sharp chunk of bone... no... wait... it's a fucking CHUNK OF GLASS! WTF?!? Did that come from the carnitas or the salsa? How the hell did that get in there? This has to be a fluke thing. Glad I didn't bite down too hard on it (oh, wait, I did!). Extra glad I didn't swallow it.
The veggie tacos? Well, they look like beans, rice, onions, cilantro, and lettuce. Technically, it's not even really a veggie taco. I didn't even offer them to my wife after the glass thing. They're sitting, forlorn, in the styrofoam (who uses styro anymore anyway?) container, staring up at me. I almost want to eat the tortillas off of them and chuck the rest. But then I'm kind of afraid that the glass came from the salsa roja, and if I eat any more of this food, you know I'm adding salsa (the best part).
So the meal had it's ups (and they were pretty majestic ups), but then it had it's downs (in the gutter... I mean, c'mon!). In the end, I think I just have to drop a 2 star on them, which sucks, because a good part of me thinks that this glass shard thing is an accident. But who knows?
Damn.
106 Lists
3 Events
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Tree Lighting Ceremony - Pioneer Square
Friday 5:30 PM -
Holiday Ale Festival Day 1
December 2 3:00 PM -
Holiday Ale Festival - Day 2!
December 3 11:00 AM
Oh my gosh.
There's a new kid in town, and its name is Heart Roasters, and it's going to change the game.
A nice big Probat roaster sits right in the middle of the room, alongside some other fun chemistry tools, a halogen vacuum/siphon brewing system and a sleek new espresso machine. Small-batch beans, talented baristas, and amazing tools combine for an awesome coffee experience.
Good stuff. This will easily become my new go-to spot on the east side.
Yum