Emanon, February 18, 2005

[Rick] I guess I'll be the first to comment on this one. I thought the place was charming. Located on NW 17th, it's just a small restaurant that seemed to be frequented by the locals. I got the impression most of the clientele was familiar with the surroundings and the people that worked there. Nothing fancy, but very homey and comfortable.

My first cup of decaf was fresh brewed, which meant a short wait, but it was worth it. And it was kept hot. Most of the entrees include a scone. Mine didn't, but she brought me one anyway since I was the only one of us who wouldn't get one. Nice touch. I had the cinnimon scone, while everyone else had the cranberry-orange. It was great! I ordered the Emanon Burrito, which was enjoyable. It had cheese, mushrooms, spinach, green onions (I think) and eggs. It tasted good and I got filled up after only half of it.

I'll give it ***. There were a couple of other things on the menu that I'd like to try, and of course, I'd like another scone!

[Bake] We didn't go out this weekend. Bake and A.H. have birthdays in February, so we got together along with another couple and went out for dinner Saturday night. Then back to Bake and Carlita's house for cake and champagne. Very fun.

Our dinner was at the Romano's Macaroni Grill at Tanaasbourne Shopping Center. I had the Chicken Scallopini (sp?). I love that - I need to get a recipe so I can make it myself.

Next week, my little sister (another Di) will be coming up and we'll drag her along to breakfast.

Beaterville

[A.H.] My ratings will probably be the most conservative as I feel going out for a meal should be better than average to start. I will rarely give a 5-star rating as this leaves no room for improvement and anything below 2-1/2 stars I would not recommend or go back. Some in the group may say I am too critical; I tend to believe that my standards are high and I have a discriminating palate! That said…. Beaterville is my type of Mom & Pop Saturday morning breakfast place. No fancy-schmancy stereotype chain type furniture or atmosphere here. Waiter / busboy mentioned he had tried everything on the menu and could help us if we needed. No 4 ounce tea cup size coffee cups here! Mugs were kept full. No frilly garnish to wade through to get to the meat and potatoes either! I had a bacon & cheese omelet ala carte; (trying to watch my caloric intake). Omelet was a little flat, I prefer the fluffy whipped up eggs for my omelet, otherwise all ya got is an egg pancake. That said it was still pretty good. Overall a comfortable place with no pretense of formality and a decent, basic breakfast place. A bit eclectic inside, but that just ads to the ‘charm’. We’ve been to quite a few places in the past 3 years so I give it 3+ stars on the 1 to 5 scale. Worth a try or second visit, but still have a long list of places to try.

Carlita, here. I also enjoyed The Beaterville Cafe very much. I had one of the vegetarian dishes they offered, the Spudabaker. Potatoes, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, and pepper jack cheese artfully combined. Every once in a while the four of us will revisit one of our favorite eateries. This one is a definite do-over in my book.

Beaterville

[Rick] I enjoyed the ambiance of Beaterville. They had funky "art" around the outside that I would have explored in depth had it not been raining so hard. The inside was decorated with hub caps, front grills, pictures of older cars, etc. Since my dad and brother have been working on old cars for as long as I can remember, I felt right at home.

The first thing the four of us do when we enter an eatery, is order coffee--three regulars and one decaf. I'm the decaf and I judge a restaurant by how well they take care of me. If it's early enough, I usually get a cup of freshly brewed coffee, which is nice. But then, I'm generally forgotten, even though the others are constantly getting their coffee warmed up. At Beaterville, the waiter gave me a different colored cup to help him remember I was decaf. And after one slight mishap, he was very good at keeping my coffee hot. Made me feel kind of special! [Bake says being special is not always a good thing. I think I'll ignore him.]

My Green Eggs and Ham were good, but then I'm a fan of feta cheese and basil. Unlike Bake, I enjoyed the potatoes. They weren't the best I've ever had, but they were spicy enough without being overdone. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive. I would also rate this place a ***1/2 and would like to go back. There were a lot of things on the menu that I'd like to try. Carlita's Spudabaker looked really good!

Beaterville Cafe Feb 4, 2006

[Bake posting here]
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Today we went to Beaterville, Cafe on N. Killingsworth in Portland. This was an A.H. pick. A great place to use as our first posting to the blog. A little funky place with pretty darn good food. Overall I'd give this 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. I had a bacon and pepper-cheese omelette. Carlita had the "Spudaker" - a mixture of potatoes, vegetables, and cheese. A.H. had an omelette and Rick had "Green eggs and ham" - a pesto omelette with ham.


The wait staff was coureous and helpful. Service was fine. The food was good. I don't normally have an omelette, but thought I would today. It was pretty darn good. However, it wasn't a real "fluffy" omelette as much as unscrambled-scrambled eggs folded over bacon and pepper-jack cheese. The biscuit was nice, the potatoes a little dull.

We use a very subjective 5-star rating system (and we don't always agree). Anything with 3 stars or above is a place we would go back to. 5 stars is excellent. It's got to be pretty dreadful to get less than 3 stars, but we haven't handed out 5 stars to many places.

Introduction

The Beginning
Back in February 2003 the four of us (Howard, Carla, Rick, and A.H.) went out to breakfast at the Wildwood Cafe in McMinville, OR. It got to be a somewhat regular "thing" that became our thing.

What We Do
We try to go out to breakfast every Saturday morning. The rules are simple and breakable. We try to pick non-chain places and pick a different spot each time. We go back and forth picking; whoever picks, drives. We kind of keep our lists secret from each other. We've eaten at fancy and we've eaten at dives. The more funky and hole-in-the-wall, the better we like it (within limits!).

Who We Are
We are 2 empty-nester couples from Beaverton, OR (a suburb of Portland). We met at church years ago and our kids went to the same high school (four of our five kids were/are band-kids where we were involved as band-parents). Our kids are now in college, graduate school or graduated.

We found that hanging together on Saturday mornings is a great way to keep connected and a good way to start the weekend.

Purpose of the Blog

We've been doing this semi-regularly for 3 years now. We thought it would be fun to share our Saturday breakfast experiences with whoever is interested. We especially hope to get some responses and ideas for new places to try.

As we go out, we'll let you know where we went, what we had, and what we thought of it. There are four of us and we may each publish our own opinions.