Bambuza: It's a Yes for Me.

Last Friday Night. June Restaurant Group. Vietnamese Cuisine. South Waterfront. Bambuza.

Wherein we discovered: Deciding which boat to get on can be a metaphor for other really important life decisions. What we think about the pending construction projects in Northwest Portland. Laura got hit on by a guy named Steve with a bottle of Snapple. And I mitigated inappropriate email disasters at work. But before all that, there was the food. And the food was just as good as the conversations.

I think there was a garden on the plate. That's what it looked like, anyway. Bunches of fresh herbs piled on a plate with crepes. I didn't taste that one - no, I was too busy with my own dinner. But it was so beautiful and fresh - I couldn't stop looking at it.

The crispy fried spring rolls, filled with tiger prawns, carrot, pork and taro root were so flavorful and hearty. And the fresh spring rolls were so beautiful, with lettuce at the top, the prawn shining through the rice paper - truly picture perfect. If only I had brought a camera.

I had the lemongrass flank steak noodle bowl - which was so fresh and delicious. The steak was juicy and melded flavors with the herbs with harmony.

The fresh lime juice was sweet and delicious, so lovely with my dinner.

The service was good - always had a full glass of water. And they told me before we even started that they could only take two forms of payment for the 12 of us. That was nice, even though we had planned for that ahead of time, that he warned us. And. They let us sit there and chat for almost an hour after their closing time (we lost track of time!)

I really wanted to try dessert, but I was much too full. I'm definitely headed back there sometime soon - it's right by my house, so easy access to comfort for me. Jealous? (Oh no. That reminds me of the Christmas I was stuck in Logan, Utah going to the movies all day with two friends. As Helen Hunt emerged from the tub naked, my soon-to-be-ex-friend Mike turned to me and said: "Jealous?") Therefore, I withdraw my query and replace it with this one: Join me at Bambuza for lunch?

As they say on So You Think You Can Dance, "It's a yes for me."

Me and Benedict Eat Breakfast

Johns Landing is quiet on Saturday mornings. A few joggers here and there, but overall, it's peaceful and kind of empty. Tucked away from Macadam on Virginia Ave, Porcelli's Restaurant, a former grocery store, seems quaint and homey. And on a Saturday morning, is also peaceful and kind of empty. I opened the door with a little too much force and didn't quite step far enough inside. The door whacked my heel, as well as my behind, sounding a loud THWAP. The one couple eating there stared at me. The waiter just inside the door stared at me. "Sorry... I guess is didn't take a big enough step." I laughed nervously as they all continued to stare at me. After what seemed like several seconds, the waiter finally asked if I was okay. I nodded and made apologies again.

I sat down on the other side of the dividing wall, so that I wouldn't be forced to stare at the couple who was staring at me. I heard them leave a few minutes later. There was soft music playing, but my thoughts were much louder than the music, and I was starting to feel the pressure of solo dining.

The menu was long, but sounded good. There were no words like "fresh" or "organic" or "herbs" anywhere in sight. It was kind of a relief to be honest. I just wanted breakfast without the pretense of the high-end foodie culture in Portland. I ordered orange juice and my good old friend, Eggs Benedict.

It's one thing to eat in a restaurant alone. It's quite another to be the only patron in a restaurant when you are eating alone. There was no people watching. There was no loud music. There was just my thoughts and me. The chef was rearranging glasses at the bar. He stopped just to make me breakfast. Nice of him! Took only a few minutes, then he returned to the bar to finish his task.

Benedict arrived and looked pristine. Creamy, hot. The potatoes were shimmering and spicy. Honestly, it was the best Eggs Benedict I have had in a long time. I enjoyed it and didn't want the taste to end. Though the awkwardness of being the only patron only got worse. Especially when I went to cut through the ham with my knife and fork and my hand slipped. My knife scraped loudly against the plate like nails on a chalkboard and a few potatoes jumped to the floor. Oops.

I hurried and finished my breakfast, rushing out of the uncomfortable feeling as quickly as I could, trying to savor the taste of my Benedict all the while. The waiter came to take my plate and eyed the potatoes on the floor. Damn. He found them. I would have made a joke, like: "Just call me clutzy Carrie!" and then laughed cleverly, but after the door incident, I'm pretty sure he already knew the current state of my clutziness and was not pleased with it.

Slightly flushed and ready to not be alone in an empty restaurant, I paid the bill ($11.75 for Eggs Benedict and Orange Juice), and walked out. They were probably relieved that the awkward, clutzy solo diner was leaving. I know I was.

Add about 10 or 15 people to the surroundings and I'm sure this place is a good place to enjoy the food, which tasted really really good, the little part of the menu that I sampled. So when you are sure you are going to be there, call me, k? I'd like to check it out again, buy my soul can only handle so much solitude under the observation of a chef and a waiter.



Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Seven days a week

The Sturgeon Virgin and the Fake Arrest

Friday night. NW Portland. Andina Restaurant. Atmosphere busy and elegant. But wait. What's that out the window? A guy in a truck. A police car. Are they patting him down. Yep. Oh we'd like water and Diet Coke please. Nice. Oh and some Conchas a la Parilla ( grilled diver scallops with a garlic lime butter sauce and crispy onions) and Papa a la Huancaina (yellow potato slices in a sauce of ají Amarillo and ricotta cheese, served cold) for appetizers.

Is that his girlfriend in the front seat doing scratch-its? Here's your water. What's happening out there?

We repeat the whole story. The most important part: the girlfriend is nonchalantly doing scratch-its while her boyfriend is being arrested. That is totally broken.

Wait. Is the policeman winking at the guy he is arresting? Odd.

Scallops are amazing, buttery, flavorful. Potatoes are lovely palette pleasers. Jeff and I both order the special, which has to do with sturgeon and a lovely sauce over sweet potatoes. Ansley orders Dorado al Rocoto y Kion (roasted mahi mahi over a shiitake mushroom, smoked bacon, and bok choy broth, topped with slivers of ginger, rocoto, and scallion basted with smoking sesame oil, served with asparagus-quinoa fried rice).

The truck guy is getting away! With his scratch-it obsessed girlfriend! The cops retreat to their car making small talk, and maybe even a laugh. Does anyone else think this is weird? Our waitresses do. Extra points for them.

We get our main courses. Is it lame of me to just say Yum? Look at the picture for heaven's sake! It's beautiful. There was a tiny hard boiled egg (quail egg?) on top of the onions and purple sweet potatoes. I was a sturgeon virgin before that night. I'm so glad I gave it up. It was so worth it.

The nice Peruvian lady owner comes over and talks to us. "I guess I don't need to ask you how your food was! The plates are all clean!" She tells us how we need to go to Peru to visit and how beautiful it was.

Turns out, Indiana Jones was headed to Peru on Friday night and we went along with him. I bet it would be much more beautiful in person. Do you think the food is as good there as it is at Andina?

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Lunch and Dinner
Seven days a week

New Popsicle Flavor Pops

The Sol Pops boys have a new flavor: Lemon Basil. I had one. And it was even better than the Cucumber Lime Jalepeno one. Get there early though. On the one sunny day we had, they were sold out by the time I got there. The popsicles are still good at 8:30 in the morning, though - don't worry. I think it's at least one fruit serving. If you're counting. Saturday at the PSU Portland Farmers Market.

A Rare and Necessary Time

Soapbox time. I have written about Write Around Portland a lot. Because I love it and I believe in it so much. You'll not find a more inspiring place to be on Wednesday night, than the First United Methodist Church, where dozens of Write Around Portland participants will read their work from the new anthology, A Rare and Necessary Time. I know that it might seem drastic to say that this reading will change your life, but it also might seem true if you come.

You should check it out. You won't regret it.




From the Write Around Portland website:

Spring Anthology Release Party & Community Reading - Wednesday, May 28

Be the first to hear the extraordinary writing of our spring workshop participants at our community reading, celebrating the release of our new anthology, A Rare and Necessary Time. Readers include participants from our workshops for veterans, women with metastatic cancers, adults living with disabilities, at-risk youth, transgender adults and many others.

Date: Wednesday, May 28th

Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm

Location: First United Methodist Church - Collins Hall, 1838 SW Jefferson [MAP] at the Goose Hollow TriMet Max stop.

The reading is free, ADA-accessible and everyone is welcome. Light snacks and drinks provided, and anthologies will be available for purchase. Financial donations and donations of new journals welcome and appreciated.

Long Weekend Movie Roundup

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: My favorite line from the movie was Indiana Jones to his Raiders of the Lost Ark amore, Marion, referring to his past girlfriends: "They weren't you, baby." Which is exactly how I felt about this movie. It wasn't him. It was an old, overacted, forced version of the Indiana Jones I used to love. It wasn't you, baby. The stunts though, those were killer.

The Visitor: Subtle, intense, lovely. Richard Jenkins is amazing, smoldering emotion, and releasing himself to love strangers and changing his life because of it. I loved it. Inspiring.

Baby Mama: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are laugh-out-loud-kick-the-seat-in-front-of-you hilarious. And they made me want to have lots of babies.

Holy Yakuza, Batman!

I've never ever been in a mood where I say, "Gee whiz, I am really craving sushi. I just have to have some." Now mind you that I have said that about probably every other kind of food, but just not sushi. It kind of scares me, sushi. I always get a picture in my head of someone doubled over, throwing up into the garbage can. "Bad sushi," they say, heaving away, their face pale and stressed. Don't ask me why. My head is a mystery.

I am on the email list for Beast (which I am totally going to eat at sometime) and a couple of weeks ago, they mentioned their next door sister restaurant Yakuza in their newsletter. They said that Yakuza, though formerly a full fledged sushi bar, was now more "Japanese gastro pub" with the best burger in Portland. Hmmm. Intriguing. I take the claim of best burger seriously. And I take it as something that I must investigate.

I got there before my friends did and ordered an appetizer. Fried goat cheese with caramelized onions and honey with grilled bread. I'm not sure that I really need to describe that any further because, hello! Fried goat cheese? Yeah.

I asked the waitress to surprise me with a drink. Muddled apricots, nutmeg and vanilla with soda water. Yum. So good. When Jeff arrived, we ordered the grilled asparagus with pistachio pesto. I so love asparagus. It was delicious and beautiful. I wish you could have seen it before we devoured it.

Kristin arrived and we ordered sushi. Now I can't remember the name of it, but it had Japanese eggplant and avocado in it. Oh my gosh - it was amazing - the flavors were strong and intense and melded together to be a kind of super hero sushi, saving my mouth from boredom. Oh and we also had sashemi. I really have no idea what kind of fish it was, but it was delectable. I quite enjoyed it!

Unbelievably, we then ordered entrees. I ordered the burger. Jeff ordered the duck. Kristin ordered more sushi. I was totally full, but when they brought out the Kobe beef burger, piled high with goat cheese, arugula and potato crisps, the smell alone made me almost cry at the work of art in front of me. I gripped firmly and took a big bite. The flavors really ignited my taste buds beyond anything I have tasted before. I really mean that. There was something spicy in the burger and the subtlety of the goat cheese, the crunch of the potatoes and the crispness of the greens - all together, this beat out Cafe Castagna's burger by a long shot.

The duck was good, too (I only had a bite) but I'm super glad I ordered my burger. All night, I just kept thinking about my fairly boring week and how it had turned out to be quite exciting after all. Sushi, sashemi, goat cheese (fried!), and an amazing rich burger in one night. Awesome.