Portland dining

Farmhouse Kitchen

May 26, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

This week we are once again highlighting the best local take-out that we had this week, Farmhouse Kitchen Thai! After reading several posts on Eater Restaurant recommendations and seeing a few drool-worthy pics, my household decided to order the Little Lao Table from Farmhouse this past weekend. We were so happy with it! A veritable smorgasbord of delicious Thai flavors, all packed into a single buffet-style aluminum pan for the added bonus of reducing take-out waste. It even came with a couple of Thai iced teas (which we boozed up a bit, obviously) and a kid’s meal of Pad See Ew on the side!

Some of the highlights included the papaya salad which was tart and perfectly spicy, the fried chicken which was so crunchy and tender, and the curry which I gleefully poured over every noodle and grain of rice that I could. I don’t even know what exactly the concoction under the fried egg was, but I do know that I went back for thirds. The meal is advertised as dinner for 2+ a kiddo, but we found that it easily fed 4 hungry adults. For $59, that’s quite the steal! Check them out HERE.

We loved Farmhouse Kitchen this week, but what did you love? Let us know your favorite local takeout in the comments so we can support them (and our tastebuds)!

Arden

May 13, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

We are back this week with another local Portland restaurant that we loved! We ordered takeout from Arden in the Pearl District, who typically strive to provide a full dining experience to help you escape from the hustle and bustle of life. While we can’t currently partake in the atmosphere of this beautiful restaurant, we are luckily still able to enjoy the food!

Chef Erik Van Kley creates hyper-local and seasonal food to help you stay connected to the community. They also have a great wine list that favors local winemakers, and you can even order bottles to go with your meal. We were celebrating my birthday this week so we ordered a bottle of Brut Rose by Patrice Colin from the Loire Valley. It was crisp and dry with slight hints of raspberries which paired perfectly with our chicken dinner for 2.

Our meal came with roasted beets served over house Labneh, roasted carrots and rapini, roast chicken with miso brown butter, wild mushroom spaetzle with herb crÃ¨me fraÃ®che, smashed fried potatoes with lemon peppercorn aioli and some fresh baguette.

Everything tasted phenomenal but the sauces were the real stars of the show. Each one was perfectly seasoned and expertly paired to make all of the flavors of the dish truly sing. I cannot wait to go and support this business again and enjoy the dining room when it is finally safe to do so. In the mean time, you too can support Arden and order online. You can find the takeout menu HERE.

We are always looking for great takeout options to support local! Where should we head next?

If you want to check out the other hot spots we love, you can see them all HERE

*photos courtesy of Ardenpdx

PaaDee

May 4, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

Hot Spot of the week for pick-up/delivery this week is delicious modern Thai spot Paadee! They are rocking out a great family-style dinner to go for $49. This is a fantastic option when you are sick of the sight of your kitchen, but want a tasty and well-rounded meal. Check out the menu and order here.

Their set menu consists of 4 starters/mains plus jasmine and sticky rice on the side. Dungeness Crab fried rice was one, which had wonderfully plump morsels of our fave NW crustacean. The Som Tum Thai papaya salad had the perfect level of spice for our crew, plenty of heat without eradicating our tastebuds! The Ba Me Pitsanulok was a nice brothy offering. Plus, they smartly packaged the noodles and pork belly separately to avoid any potential sogginess. Finally, there was my personal favorite, the Gai Grop Sam Yan. This was a crispy chicken dish with cashew, scallion, and dried chili. Somehow even as a takeout dish, the chicken was so crispy and crunchy and delectable!

As there weren’t any boozy takeout options, I made my own favorite home cocktail which was actually perfect with the meal. 1 1/2 oz gin, 1 oz Aperol, .5 oz blood orange, 2 dashes Angostura bitters all shaken and strained into a rocks glass and then filled to the top with Brut Champagne or Cava. A nice non-alcoholic pairing that is my Thai go-to is one of the Som drinking vinegars with soda water.

If you’re family are heartier eaters, I would recommend ordering a few add-ons from the wonderful PaaDee takeout menu!

What has been your favorite Portland takeout recently? Let us know in the comments!

Cooking

April 14, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

We are still stuck inside and with dine-in restaurants being closed for the foreseeable future in Oregon, now is the perfect time to pick up a cooking hobby! I am a total foodie, and while I prefer to have other people cook for me, I can also whip up a pretty tasty meal. Below are some of my favorite recipes for cooking, baking, drinking, or throwing yourself a mini dinner party! You could even have your friends cook the same meal and do a virtual dinner party via Zoom, Skype, or Google!!

Easy Meals

I’m a mom of a toddler, so easy is basically my go to these days. These recipes taste delicious, are quick, and don’t involve too much prep work!

Salmon Bowls
Super simple grilled salmon, tossed with healthy veggies with a Mediterranean flair. Easy and super healthy too!

Recipe

Shrimp Tacos
Grilled shrimp topped with simple fresh ingredients for a great punch.

Recipe

Chicken and Dirty Rice
Super flavorful one-pot meal with chicken thighs and andouille sausage.

R ecipe

Slow Roasts

Sometimes you just need to let things simmer. I love my Dutch oven and firmly believe that everything just tastes better after it has cooked for 3 hours. These are my top slow-cooked choices!

Pork Green Chile Verde
Slightly spicy, super meaty, crazy tender pork, just the way a good green chili should be. Pro tip – shred up the pork after its cooked, it’s even more tender that way.

R e cipe

BBQ Pot Roast
This pot roast came out so much better than I anticipated. It is amazing on its own or fantastic on sandwiches!

R e ci pe

Braised Short Ribs
Wolfgang Puck knows how to cook, so you can bet that this will be one of the best meals you have ever had.

Recipe

Dinner Party Ideas

It is almost my birthday, and because we are still social distancing, I plan to have a little dinner party for myself. Here are 3 multi-course meals that I have made before that turned out phenomenally! You could always practice some of these recipes and then have a celebration with friends when we can finally see each other again!

Traditional NW Meal
4 course meal with pretty simple recipes to help ease you into hosting a full blown party (for yourself or your family)

Mexican Inspired Meal
4 course meal with some of my favorite Mexican flavors. This is one that is simple to pull off but is sure to impress!

Citrus and Seafood Meal
This one is easily my favorite, but it does require some cooking skills to pull off the protiens. This can be done as the full 7 course meal, or you can take out one salad and one entree to make it 5 courses.

Baking

Maybe cooking isn’t really your thing and you would rather whip up something sweet? Here are some of my favorite things to make when I feel like spoiling myself.

Lemon and Raspberry Macarons
These aren’t exactly easy to make, but they are delicious and I have total faith in your baking skills.

R e ci pe

Key Lime Cheesecake
Key lime pie, and cheesecake are easily my 2 favorite desserts, so why not mash them up? Also DO NOT use regular lime juice, you will do this dessert a serious disservice.

Recipe

Amaretto Apple Crisp
This is so so so good, I think I have made it 6 times. Pro tip – add some Amaretti cookies to the crisp to really make the amaretto flavor shine!

Recipe

Cocktails

Lastly, if you really don’t actually want to spend a bunch of time cooking in the kitchen, we have you covered with some of our favorite drinks! If you don’t want to go and buy special things to make drinks, we also have you covered. THIS WEBSITE will send you recipes that match what you already have at home…it’s a game changer.

French 75

Literally what your dreams are made of.

1.5 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1/4 C sparkling wine
Shake gin, lemon, and simple syrup over ice for 30 seconds, top with sparkling wine.

White Peach Sangria

It’s the perfect no fuss sunny day beverage.

1 bottle pinot gris
1/2 cup Peach Vodka
1/2 cup Peach Schnapps
1 cup soda water
3 sliced peaches
1 cup raspberries
combine all ingredients and serve over ice. If you want it to be more boozy, soak the fruit overnight in the peach vodka.

Perfect Margarita

Honestly, this one is hard to beat.

2 oz white tequila
1 oz cointreau
1 oz lime juice
1/2 oz agave syrup
combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain and serve over fresh ice with a lime wedge.

Hopefully this will all keep you busy for at least a week while we put together another list of great things for you to do! If you missed the last couple weeks we did: Netflix Binges, Books to Read, and Running Playlists.

As always please stay safe and healthy and know that if there is anything we can do for you, we are definitely still here to help!

Pizzeria Otto

March 16, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

We headed out to try some pizza this past week, and in a city that has SO much pizza, we really dug this place! Located in the hip Foster-Powell area this Neapolitan pizzeria does things a bit differently. The crust is soft and very thin. We typically think of thin crust pizzas as being slightly crisp, or perhaps chewy, but you can hardly even call the dough of this pizza a crust. They flash-cook the pizza in an incredibly hot wood-fired oven. This results in a crisp bubbly ring around the edges and a slightly gooey center.

We wanted to see what else they had to offer so we also tried a beet salad and one of their lunch paninos. The beet salad was fresh with a bright citrus dressing and a creamy goat cheese. It was everything that you have learned to love and expect from a good beet salad. The panino was surprisingly more like a pita made of pizza dough, but so delicious! They stuff the bread with salami, Italian dressings, Lil Mama’s peppers and tons of arugula.

The food wasn’t the only thing that we liked about this cool new location. The dining room is spacious, minimalist, and they have huge windows which let in tons of natural light. I could easily spend all day in this restaurant because it has a great vibe.

We enjoyed everything that we tried and definitely plan on going back to check it out again. We went for lunch and learned that they offer happy hour pricing from 11am to 5pm. So go and get a personal pizza and a glass of wine for cheap for your next lunch date!

In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, Pizzeria Otto is offering takeout pizzas and salads, just call ahead, order, and support your local businesses through these hard times!

Website, menu, and order number can be found here.

Voysey

March 2, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

This week we checked out the elegant speakeasy cocktail bar Voysey! This basement bar can be found by following the red light down the stairway at the back of Loyal Legion. If you don’t have a curious mind, you may not have even known this plush cocktail lounge existed.

Voysey is run by veteran female bartenders and bar managers serving up their own personal cocktail recipes as well as fun twists on some of the classics. As a result, everything on the menu is very thoughtful. If you are not in the mood for cocktails the menu is simple – 5 beer choices and 5 wine choices with a little something for everyone.

There are lots of cozy seating areas and a strong vintage vibe. Pink and red lights add to the ‘old-world’ vibe of the space. The bartender who served us was incredibly friendly, checked in on us just often enough to keep our drinks full, and was super knowledgable about all things cocktail.

We will definitely be going back to check out more of the drinks! If you want to keep current with what they are doing, check them out on Facebook!

Have you been yet? Had you even heard about it? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Top 10 Reasons to Live in Portland

February 10, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher 1 Comment

It is no secret that we both love the city we live in. To celebrate 10 year anniversary’s for both of us, we made this great video of the top ten things we love most! Let us know your top reason for living in Portland and share the video!

Dont have time to check out the video or you just prefer to read about it? Read on below to see the top ten reasons to live here in list form!

#1: Music and arts

First Thursday in the Pearl, Portland Oregon, top ten

We have a ton of rad music venues all over town so you can check out the up-and-comers as well as the big names. Portland
is also home to First Thursday, where all of the art galleries downtown throw open their doors (and their wine cellars)
once a month to the public for free! Then there is Last Thursday in the Alberta Arts district where you can check out the
more affordable side of the arts scene, plus check out fire spinners and breakdancers to boot!

#2: The Craft Beer

Craft Beer and The Portland Oregon Sign, top ten

As of last count, there were 117 craft brewers in the Portland Metro Area!! That means, whether you are drinking
stouts, sours, or simply lagers, your tastebuds will be delighted. Also, SO MANY beer festivals!

#3: The Coffee

Who roasts the best coffee in Portland is always a healthy debate, and we will happily keep on sampling and debating
here until the end of time. Coava, Heart, Stumptown? We could go on and on and on, and probably will with all of this
caffeine in our systems!

#4: The Outdoors

With Mt. Hood to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West, The Colombia River Gorge to the North and Wine country
to the South, there is no shortage of amazing outdoor opportunities. To add to that, the city of Portland itself is
a great place for urban hiking. We have Mt. Tabor, Forest Park, Powell Butte and many more spots to hit the trails
within the city limits!

#5: Housing prices

Ok, ok, it’s not as cheap as living in Ohio. But, it IS the most affordable metropolitan area on the West Coast,
where you can still find a fantastic place to live under $500k plus some pretty cool people to help you do it. We are also known for our super walkable neighborhoods,
so wherever you buy you can leave that car at home!

#6: The FOOD

Whether you want a dive bar burger or an upscale prix fixe menu, whether you are a level 5 vegan or a strict carnivore,
Portland has you COVERED. Perhaps it is because of the sheer number of James Beard award winners we have, but Portland is definitely a food destination. Did we mention there are amazing food carts EVERYWHERE??

#7: The Wine

Oregon is home to over 700 wineries with more than 1000 vineyards that grow 72 different grape varieties! You can tast wines
all over the state, from the Gorge to the Willamette Vally and beyond. Particularly if you are a fan of Pinots, your tastebuds
will be happy here!

#8: Festivals

Portland Rose Parade and Festival, top ten

There are music fests, film fests, and over 25 different beer fests throughout the year! We host board game
conventions, trivia nights, a rose parade, and cultural celebrations. In Portland, you will NEVER be bored!

#9: Public Transportation

We have great public transpotration (including a super cool aerial tram!) and we’ve been named the most
bike friendly city in the US! We just got electric scooters, and we have hands-down the best airport in the world!
Seriously. It even has a free mini-cinema!

#10: Environmentally friendly

Here in Portland, we love being green! Whether that means leaving no trace while backpacking the Oregon wilderness, rocking
those re-usable bags, or our excellent city-supported composting, we are an environmentally friendly bunch of folks. We’re
actually just really friendly in general as well!

Bonus!! We Keep it Weird

Corner Chicken Musician, Portland Oregon

Home of the ‘World Naked Bike Ride’, the UniPiper, the Belmont Goats, Portland’s Adult Soapbox derby, The Big Float etc. We
have a person who plays the violin on street corners dressed up in a chicken suit! Existing out of the box is not only
accepted, but encouraged in Portland, so be your quirky self!

Do we have the same top ten reasons as you do? Let us know in the comments!

Want to check out some of the places that we love around town? Head Here to view our hot spots!

Want to see some of our ‘best of’ lists? Head Here to check them out!

If there is anything else that we can do for you, don’t hesitate to reach out and be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter!!

Blank Slate

February 10, 2020 by Jessica Berger and Tekela Fisher Leave a Comment

Hot Spot of the week is awesome craft cocktail bar Blank Slate. I visited this place on a whim after hearing that they would be projecting the Oscars on the big screen complete with specials on oysters and champagne. Over the course of the evening, it became clear that this is the bar that I have been missing in my life.

We started the evening with cocktails, a Negroni for me and the Winter’s Cup (Sloe gin, rosemary, soda, deliciousness) for my friend. Both were absolutely delectable and made me want to try every drink on the menu. I will have to return for that chance, as I needed to take advantage of the bubbles special next. I ended up choosing the Spanish Cava, which was bright and crisp.

After enjoying a round of a half dozen Kumamoto oysters (they were wonderful), we ordered the rest of our meal. While the menu at Blank Slate isn’t extensive, it is well-curated and perfectly executed. We were excited to see that they use Fressen bread, so we ordered the Soppressata sandwich and the Mushroom toast. We LOVED the attention to detail that went into these dishes. Even something as simple as a thin spread of high quality butter on the Fressen pretzel roll elevated that Soppressata sandwich to drool-worthy heights. The trumpet mushrooms on the toast were perfectly roasted and they made use of a phenomenal finishing salt to make it just *that* much more delicious.

The decor is worth mentioning as well. I loved the wallpaper, a black background covered in greenery and white flowers. Hanging plants in the windows and a beautifully designed bar make this place feel simultaneously chic and cozy. Our service was the same, attentive but also warm and friendly. I felt welcomed like I was a regular, which I fully plan on becoming.

Have you checked out Blank Slate? What did you think of this awesome NE bar? Let us know in the comments! If you would like some info about Blank Slate, you can find it here.

Do you know a spot we should feature next? We want to hear about your favorite places in Portland!

Contact Us!

Farmhouse Kitchen

Arden

PaaDee

Cooking

Easy Meals

Slow Roasts

Dinner Party Ideas

Baking

Cocktails

Pizzeria Otto

Voysey