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Review: Tasty n Sons

I normally wouldn’t write a first impressions piece on a restaurant in its first week of business, but I have gotten lots of emails asking for information. Since I found Tasty & Sons is pretty good, I decided to go ahead and tell you what I think about this new venture. Owned by John Gorham of Toro Bravo, Tasty &
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Review: Hot Pot City

[Updated 10/10/09 - Hot Pot City continues to give the same level of quality and service as we discussed in the original review we did here in 2007. However, the restaurant seems to have been "discovered". There are often long waits, especially for counter seating and during prime lunch hours (12-1:30pm). Weekends often fare a bit better. Service can be brisk or completely overwhelmed.]

Meat Cheese Bread

2008 was the year Portland sandwich shops blossomed. We went from a town with hardly any decent options to an embarrassment of riches. From what I hear, more are on the way.

The secret ingredient that is setting these shops apart is the staff; they actually have a chef, and workers who are passionate about making the best damn sandwich they can. This leads to innovations that rise beyond the

Review: Bunk Sandwiches

What I like most about Bunk is, though it has only been open for a few weeks, it’s already a dive. Sit in the back next to the stacks of bread, and you’ll know what I mean. It’s like being transported to the East Coast, where sandwich shops are a dime a dozen. The only difference is, this one is clean and the sandwiches are damn good.

Bunk was opened in late November 2008 by Tommy Habetz, last from Meriwethers, previously of Ripe. When I asked him how he came

Tastebud Pizza

There was a time when pizza lovers had a devil of a time in Portland. But today there are Portland dough masters who treat the humble pizza with as much respect as does an old country pizzaiolo.
Dough that rises for 24+ hours, imported wood burning ovens, sky high temperatures, just the right amount of char; today the finer points of pizza making are all taken into account with delicious effect.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza, Apizza Scholls, Nostrana and others have raised expectations here for what constitutes good pizza. Some offer a refined pizza

Kinara Thai Bistro

It seems like there are hundreds of Thai restaurants in Portland, with little to differentiate them. Pasty noodles, dried out meat, and curry paste from a jar seem to be the norm. When I stumble across one that is actually good, I am always surprised. Kinara Thai Bistro, next to the Lincoln High athletic field in the Goose Hollow area of Portland, is one of those restaurants.

In Thai mythology, the name Kinara, comes from the fabled half-human half-bird that represents purity, mystery and excellence of character. According to their website, they have patterned the restaurant on those qualities: they

Biwa

It’s hard to be terribly impressed with Japanese restaurants in Portland. Aside from a couple of outstanding examples, Japanese restaurants here are fairly mediocre and formulaic. Sloppy mayo-filled sushi rolls, pasty overcooked udon noodles in packaged broths, and sugary sweet teriyakis are Portland’s curse. This is most apparent in our lack of good noodle shops and absence of the wonderful
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