Saturday, February 6, 2010

Riyadh's Lebanese Restaurant


Riyadh's might be decent if you were literally right in the area (say shopping at the awesome Lounge Lizard vintage shop next door!) and all the sudden realized you wanted Middle-Eastern for lunch. Old-school moderate design, no frills, just a low-key place to grab some food.

We ordered the lamb and lamb/chicken combo mezza plates, and they came out relatively quickly, with friendly service. There was not a lot of meat served with the dishes, which was great for me, but 4 pieces of lamb seems a bit light? The hummus/baba ghannouj/tabbouleh were all amazing though. Totally fresh and in healthy portions. The falafel was unfortunately hard and dry, and in very small pieces. The lamb was fattier than I would have liked, but my boyfriend seemed to enjoy his chicken.

The biggest downfall at Riyadh’s is that they use store bought bread. The bread at Middle-Eastern restaurants is key, and should be homemade, thin and delicious, served piping hot. Instead the bread here is just thick white bread in a circle form, served luke warm.

On the upside, this place is cheap, so it would definitely fill the need for an inexpensive dinner for some. All in all, Riyadh's is just not nearly as authentic as I would have liked, and what I have come to expect from some fantastic Portland Middle-Eastern restaurants. I say skip it.

* Jayne

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Le Hana


Le Hana would be a great spot to catch your weeknight sushi fix in the South Waterfront area if they at least made decent sushi, but they don’t! What gets people in the door, and I guess coming back because there were plenty of tables full on a Tuesday night, is the ½ price sushi deal. As long as you order one drink/person, every roll on the menu is ½ off. Seems like a sweet deal…but there is nothing good about these rolls – not the quality of ingredients, taste or texture. Overall, the rolls were mainly rice, which would did not even stick together. They fell apart in the soy sauce – ugh.

We ordered:

Drinks:
Draft Sapporo and Pinot Noir - Decent pricing on beers, not on wine.

Starters:

Miso – The best thing we ate, however, it is served in wooden bowls. Since you eat directly from the bowl, I wondered how clean wood would get in the dishwasher, and how many people put their lips on them (the wood was cracking in places). Seemed a bit unsanitary…I wished for glassware at that moment!

Rolls:
Rainbow – So the taste/smell of this roll was so fishy I almost got sick at the table. Something was just not right here.
Spider – Nothing mentioned about being fried in the menu, yet it came with fried crab in the center. Huge disappointment.
Spicy Salmon – lifeless, no flavor.
Pickled Radish – mini-rolls, served in just the seaweed, no rice on the outside. Probably your safest bet at this place.

Needless to say I won’t be back, I don’t care what deals they offer.

*Jayne

Sunday, January 31, 2010

21st Avenue

Another great night out in Portland! This time we headed out in my neighborhood, Northwest Portland, for some serious eating and drinking adventures.



First Stop: Tanuki
Just to be clear, Tanuki is a Japanese BAR that just happens to serve amazing food, it is not a restaurant. If you are looking for a typical Japanese restaurant, look elsewhere. Tanuki is extremely small and intimate, with minimal tables, some seating at the bar, and 6 stools at a counter in the front window. Low-key Japanese decorations (hanging lanterns, real (gasp!) chopsticks) in Asian pottery complete the laid-back, warm atmosphere.

We arrived at 7pm on a Saturday night, and I was afraid we were going to meet a huge crowd. To my delight, we were seated in the window stools immediately (which were my preference anyway). The concept here is great - everything centers around drinking. You order food to accent the drinks – so perfect! We decided to start with some hot house Sake (very smooth) and some Asahi beer (a full Liter for $7!). Now for food…oh the menu! I guess it changes all the time, but it is quite a long list of superb Japanese delights. It is organized into different sections, including Saki, Drinking Snacks, Stuff on Sticks, and Plates.
We tried as much as possible, and here is the rundown:

Drinking Snacks:
Oshinko ~ Japanese & Korean pickles. Fresh blend of 5 different types of pickles, all described by the waitress as they were delivered. Perfect with the Asahi!
Myulchi bokke ~ wokked sweet&spicy dried anchovies. These were simply just not good, not in taste or texture. Skip them.
Ojingohchae bokke ~ wokked spicy seasoned dried squid. These went oh so well with our Sake! An amazing drinking snack indeed.
Lap cheong ~ griddled cured Chinese sausage w/housemade HOT fermented mustard. This dish had loads of potential, and the sausage was quite interesting. The sauce, however, was not HOT as stated, and really did nothing to compliment the meat.

Plates:
Wakame-su ~ mixed seaweed salad w/cucumber, lotus & special vinegar sauce. A light and refreshing option in between the wonderful meat dishes we ordered.
Oysters ~ 4 Kusshi oysters on the half w/kimchi shave ice. What else could possibly go better with beer and sake?
Niku dango ~ wild boar meatballs simmered in sweet shoyu bbq sauce. Seriously, we got done eating this and said it was the best $6 we had ever spent in our lives – MUST order.
On top of providing a wonderful atmosphere, food and drinks, Tanuki is reasonable priced – woo hoo! They also have a MEAN Happy Hour from what I was reading, as well as Daily Specials (some you can see on their website).
This was a great night out. Inventive, well-crafted Japanese food served with flare and with PLENTY of drinks. I absolutely loved this place, and I can’t wait to go back for more!

Next Up: M Bar
So if you do dinner and drinks at Tanuki, you really must stop in next door at M Bar. This has to be Portland’s smallest bar, and that is exactly why I have been wanting to check it out. It has maybe 4 tables and some window seats, an extremely small bar with one bartender (I would assume the Owner as well), and one bathroom (which oddly enough is ½ the size of the bar, lol). The place was full but not packed when we got there around 9pm on a Saturday night, and we grabbed a small high-top table. Enjoyed a pint of local HUB Lager and people watched for a bit. This is a good place to grab a beer with a friend, chat without needing to scream, and just have a nice time. I am hoping they throw some seats outside when the Summer comes around…

And Finally: Bar Mingo
What a great concept, design and execution of delicious food and drinks in the perfect upscale location of Nob Hill. Not surprising coming from the Owner of the renowned Café Mingo next door, but still to be noted. We stopped in during an adventure down 21st, and it was the perfect ending to our night. We scored a great corner lounge table on a comfy couch, so I was happy right away! The place was full with an energetic, eclectic blend of patrons: first dates, long-time married couples, young single groups, families – it was great to see.

Bar Mingo has a great cocktail list (go figure, right?). After studying it over, I have NO idea why, but I decided on the Caprese Cocktail (house infused sun-dried tomato and basil gin, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, shaken and served up with a salt and pepper rim. As featured in Portland Monthly). Now, while I fully appreciate the originality of this drink, I did not care for the taste of it at all. I felt like I should be eating it, not drinking it (I should note that that my waitress took it off the bill without me even making so much as a face about it, she noticed I only took a couple sips and then ordered something else. I thought that was a very nice gesture, and we tipped her accordingly). Anyway, next time I am going for the Gin Blossom cocktail.

For an Antipasti, we did the “Cheese,” which was assorted cheeses with wildflower honey and fig salami. Yep, fig salami! Heaven is what this plate was, sweet salami smothered with creamy, salty cheese and all topped on fresh Italian bread. Just thinking of it makes me crave it again.

Now for the most important part of any meal…Dolce! We had the Prolifiteroles filled with gelato and drizzled with warm chocolate sauce. One of the best deserts I have experienced in Portland, and perfectly portioned (two small prolifiteroles/order). I enjoyed every last bite of the warm and cold mixtures and highly recommend this desert to anyone!
Bar Mingo is a relaxed environment to have drinks, Happy Hour or desert without the standard wait at the other near-by restaurants like Café Mingo, Serrato and Lucy’s. So glad this place is in my neighborhood!

Life is good, indeed.

*Jayne