November 17, 2007 Podnah's Pit BBQ

Yum!

There are some foodies in my office; Jeff and/or Brendan have set as a goal to eat their way through the top 10 restaurants in Portland as rated by Portland Monthly magazine. They had lunch at Podnah's Pit BBQ in Northeast and raved about it. I looked on the web and found that they started opening for breakfast just about a month ago. So, it definitely sounded like a candidate.

When I looked at the menu on-line I knew I'd be happy but that the others might have a hard time getting something they like. But hey, we rotate picking and I figured I'd please myself and hope the others would find something they liked. The menu is very short.

• Biscuits and gravy
• Smoked trout hash
• 2 breakfast burritons (with or without sausage)
• Ham, eggs, and grits

I wanted someone to order the trout hash so I could at least see it; if someone has it, please post a comment.

I love good biscuits and gravy but rarely order it because it can be so easily ruined; a floury paste with a couple of chunks of greasy pork served over a hockey puck.

But Podnah's knows there biscuits and gravy: there were huge chunks of spicy sausage in a creamy, peppery gravy; no lumps; no grease. The gravy was served in a soup cup alongside two wonderful, light, flaky biscuits. I also had a couple of scrambled eggs on the side. Make no mistake: if you want biscuits in gravy in Portland, go to Podnah's.

The ambience is very VERY low key; it strikes me as what a southern barbecue joint would be. It is a small, narrow building with small old fashioned kitchen tables lining both sides. There were only a couple of spots for 4 people; we actually pushed a couple of small tables together. A few pictures are on the wall. Suffice it to say, if you are going to Podnah's you are going for the food.

There are a couple of small things that keep this from rating 5 stars in my book. They had NO decaffinated coffee. After we ordered, Dianne and Carla ducked out and went next store to get a coffee from a little coffee shop and brought it in. Also, we had to go fetch our own coffee from the back of the shop and the cups were little. But for a little breakfast joint that delivers the goods, this rates 4 1/2 stars.

Podnah's Pit BBQ

1469 NE Prescott St

Veritable Quandry

I enjoyed this restaurant very much. I also had the Eggs Benedict on the homemade english muffins. I generally don't get anything Benedict because I don't care for the sauce which is usually too lemony or tart for my taste. This sauce was just right and the english muffin was good. It was dense, as Howard mentioned, and not at all crispy, but still good.



The service was good and the company was delightful, as usual, with the added benefit of having Murray there, too. It was nice to get to meet Jeff's future father-in-law.



When we ate here a few years ago, I had the steel-cut oats for breakfast. It was so creamy and tasty with just the right amount of fruit, sugar, and cream. I loved it! I was glad to see it was still on the menu. I would have had it again, but it just wasn't an oatmeal kind of day for me.



I would give the VQ four stars for ambience, service, and quality of my breakfast.

November 10, 2007 - Veritable Quandry

We had a special visitor to our group this week. Carla and my son's, fiance's dad, Murray Slovick. He lives in New Jersey and came out for the weekend to visit his daughter's future in-laws. He is extremely charming and we had a blast.

We wanted to show him "Portland" and so wanted a real nice downtown experience. It was a toss up between Mother's Bistro and The Veritable Quandry. We've been to both before and enjoyed them both. The ambience, architecture, and location of VQ won out. So we headed there for breakfast.

Here's the regular 4; Murray was at the controls of his camera.

Ohmygosh; if I walk down the street with that expression, I bet people give me a wide berth.

So many choices, it was hard to decide. I opted for the local made sausage with currants, along with eggs and a potato cake. The sausage was delicious; the eggs were, well... eggs: fried over-medium. The potato cake was a little dense and maybe I was just full, but I didn't eat it all; it wasn't compelling.

Murray (and I think Herb) had the Eggs Benedict on a home made English muffin; they seemed pretty whelmed (not overwhelmed or underwhelmed, just whelmed) by the muffin - dense like the potato cake.

After breakfast, Herb and Dianne headed home, where I think Herb had to install a new toilet. Carla, Murray, and I walked on the Hawthorne bridge where I got a picture of Murray and Carla:

A pretty nice picture of the waterfront; too bad I only had my phone camera.

From there we took the tram up to OHSU, then explored Powell's, the Pearl, Pioneer Courthouse Square, where they were putting up the Christmas tree, and quick drive through Ladd's Addition in the Hawthorne area.

For dinner that night (I know, I know, this is a breakfast blog) we ate at Higgins, which is my favorite restaurant in Portland. If you are in Portland for a night, I recommend Higgins without reservation (well, actually you may want to make a reservation).

Next up is November 17; I have a couple of places in mind. I'll try to get a report out soon.

I've also made up a little breakfast blog card the size of a business card with the blog URL on it; maybe we'll get a little traction with this.

November 3 - No breakfast

Dianne was out of town visiting relatives, and Carla went out early morning walking with a friend. I slept in and I'm not sure what Herb did.

This week our son's fiance's dad is coming in from New Jersey to visit Carla and me. We are thinking about taking him to The Veritable Quandry in downtown Portland. We've been there in the fall of 2003 and it rated 4 stars. I don't have notes or details from the visit, but I remember liking the bread.

So, we should have a real report next week!

Beginning

Hello, my name is Howard and I'm a train fan.

I live in Beaverton, OR; but grew up in Palmdale, California (Southern Pacific went right through town) and I'd go to La Posada in Winslow, Arizona to watch the Santa Fe railroad in action.

Every few months I go out and take train pictures. I've tried to post them to train picture sites, but never get them accepted. So, I figured, what the heck, I'll make my own blog and post my own pictures!

Other blogs I maintain are

• 4forbreakfast.blogspot.com: A blog of 4 empty nesters who go around eating breakfast in the Portland area


• 2for66.blogspot.com: A blog of my trip with my wife along Route 66 from Santa Monica to Gallup, New Mexico

Earlier this month my wife and I went to Tucson, Arizona to visit our son who is a middle school band director. The occasion was his first ever band concert as a director. While he was working one day, I went out and grabbed some pictures of the Union Pacific. Here is one picture

No group breakfast October 13/20

We didn't go out with Herb and Dianne on either October 13 or 20.

October 13

Carla and I were in Tucson on October 13 visiting our son, Andrew who is a middle school band director at a middle school there. He had his first ever band concert as a director and it was smash hit! We also got to see him perform in the salsa band Descarga at John Jacob's El Parador. We did have some nice breakfasts with Andrew, our niece Annie who is doing an Optometric clinical rotation, and Andrew's girlfriend Sally.

If you are in Tucson we highly recommend Ghini's for their Eggs Provencal with roasted tomatoes and thyme. We also like the cafe in the Congress Hotel across from the train depot.


I totally messed up and didn't get any pictures of Sally; but here is a nice picture of Andrew and Annie taken at the Pima Air Museum southeast of Tucson.

I do have a raft of pictures of trains in Tucson taken Friday morning while we were waiting for Andrew to finish work. ;)

October 20
Herb and Dianne were visiting relatives up on Mt. Hood last weekend so Carla and I were on our own. We went back to Nancy's Kitchen and had another helping of corned beef hash. Yum again.

Broder Scandanavian Restaurant - October 27, 2007

Very good!

Herb picked a good one this week (as usual). This is a small Swedish/Scandanavian restaurant on Clinton around 25th Street. (2508 SE Clinton St.). We ate here a few years ago when it was Henry's; I rated that as 3 stars but have no date or comment on the place. But the new tenant serves a wonderful breakfast.

A lot of traditional (I guess) Scandanavian items were on the menu. There were 3 or 4 things I wanted to try, but decided to go with the Swidish Breakfast Bord. It consisted of a board with lots of tasty bits:

• Rye crisp
• Walnut toasts
• Salami
• Smoked trout
• Grapefruit
• Yogurt and honey
• Lingonberry jam
• Hard cheese

I liked EVERYTHING on the plate. The smoked trout was definitely the winner. The grapefruit was pink and sweet, Herb didn't like it though as I squirted him in the eye at least twice as I was eating. The cheese was hard and a little salty. All in all this was an excellent breakfast. It was nice to eat a breakfast like this and not come away all full and lethargic.

Herb had the hash and I don't think he was as happy with it, he said it tasted like burnt popcorn (ugh). His rating will probably be less than mine.

The only dings are that the coffee was not hot; so if you didn't drink it quickly then you'd have 1/2 a cup of cold coffee. And service was a little slow; although our waiter was very nice and helpful.

I recommend this as a good place to go for a break from the traditional eggs and spuds.

I keep forgetting to get pictures; this picture is of Dianne and Carla as we left. I'm trying to remember to get more pictures.

Overlook Restaurant

The Overlook is the workhorse of breakfast places. There's nothing trendy about it; but it is no greasy spoon either. It's a good place to go when you want eggs, your favorite breakfast meat, shredded hash browns and toast or pancakes, waffles, etc. I had eggs and German sausage and it was fine. The eggs were the way I ordered them. The sausage was sliced and grilled and tasty.

The restaurant was clean and the wait staff was friendly. They had several big screen TVs up and running the news on Saturday, which distracted me a little bit; but if you're just in there for a quick bite, you might enjoy it.

They have a lunch and dinner menu, as well, and their dessert case was the first thing I noticed when we came in the door. The last thing I noticed on our way out the door was a GIANT cinnamon roll in the case. It was reminiscent of the rolls that the old Rose's used to offer in NW Portland. The Overlook also offers Cinnamon French Toast, and I was thinking that maybe I should have ordered that.

Overlook Restaurant - October 6, 2007

I changed my mind about going to The Roxy; just couldn't face the thought of surly waitstaff this morning. Instead, we went to The Overlook Restaurant at 1332 N Skidmore Street in North Portland just west of I5 and just north of the Fremont Bridge. Portland Citysearch has it listed as a Greek restaurant; but it didn't seem like it to me. It is pretty much a basic diner and deserves maybe 2 1/2 stars. The waitstaff were very pleasant (a big plus), but we didn't get any more coffee once they figured we had finished breakfast.

I had a waffle and bacon; pretty basic stuff. All-in-all not a special restaurant for comemerating (sp?) the first posting in over a year and a half.

We have gone past this place a few times in our jaunts to North Portland and St. Johns. Carla and I saw it again last weekend when we were headed to the Polish Festival which is held next to Kaiser hospital the last weekend of September.

I got a little micro SD card for my phone and spent most of the time at breakfast trying to figure out how to get my pictures to the card so I could then get them to my computer and post to the blog. Finally, I got a picture of the restaurant sign, which is what originally interested me and made me move it to the top of my list.

And a picture of Dianne:

Hopefully Dianne, Herb, and Carla will reactivate their accounts and post their thoughts.

Start it up (Again)

Changes

We've been going to breakfast; we just haven't been blogging. I'm going to try to keep this up again and see how it goes.

One change is, that I don't think people can track us very well from our aliases, so we (at least Carla and I) are going to go by our real names.

I (Howard) originally started posting as "Bake" - from my mother's side of the family (Baker). Carla went as "Carlita".
So, Bake ==> Howard
Carlita ==> Carla

We'll let Rick and A.H. decide how they want to be identified. I know who they are :)

Preview of this week

It's my turn to pick this week and I'm starting to feel like the cupboard is getting bare. But I've felt like that before and we haven't run out of places yet.

I've been considering "The Roxy" on Stark, but it sounds like the wait staff are brutal. It reminds me of a place (forget the name) we went a while back that had a sandwich advertising board outside that said "You eat here because we let you". I just don't need that; wait staff aren't slaves, but if we are going out for a nice time, I just don't want to have to cut through a fog of bad attitude to get there.

Anyway, I think I found a place for Saturday; if I keep my energy up, I'll post an entry!