Dick’s Kitchen Opens New Location in NW Portland
If you’re a fan of great burgers, healthy eating, properly sized portions, excellent service, conceptually-on-point restaurants succeeding and expanding — then you’ll be almost as happy as we were to find out that Dick’s Kitchen is now open in a second location, in Northwest Portland. Finding their second home in a comfortably-sized corner space on NW 21st Avenue at NW Irving, visitors of the first SE Belmont location will be elated to learn that the powers behind Dick’s Kitchen know how to run a restaurant.
In a word, what you want from a great restaurant, when you find out they are growing and adding new locations, is consistency. You want to know that the food, above all else, tastes the way you want it when new cooks are working in a new kitchen environment. You want to know that the new bartender knows how to make the drink you’ve bothered to fall in love with. Maybe you even want to recognize the place as being related to the first location you’ve grown cozy in. Portland Restaurant Review is pleased to notify you of the following truth: Dick’s Kitchen #2 is everything you have come to love about Dick’s Kitchen #1, and then some. [Read more →]
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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Tags:best burger portland·better burger concept·carman ranch beef·cory carman·dick's kitchen·grass fed burgers·laughing planet·nw pdx dick's kitchen·nw portland healthy burgers·paleo diet info pdx·smart diner pdx
For Single Standout Menu Item, we review only one dish, one item or one beverage that we feel deserves its own bit of fanfare. This could be the one dish not to be missed, or the item on which the eatery has built its reputation.
Portland, OR Restaurant Review: Lardo Food Cart in Southeast Portland
Am I getting fat? I’m carrying around a little more weight than I’d like to. Not your problem. One gets into their thirties, spends a few extra years in jobs that involve sitting at a desk, or perhaps one begins a food review blog and next thing you know, there’s a bit extra “you” to love. And it’s right there on the belly. But so be it. I love food and if it’s worth working on, then I’ll fix it.
In some ways, coming from a food culture and surrounded by family members who delight in the celebration of eating, it almost seems like it’s the birthright of the Italian-American. You’re destined to get a bit of pudge — and what do you expect? Carbs deluxe on just about every plate. And competitive eating. And multiple courses. And eggplant parmigiana. And lasagne. And cheese. And everything else. And then you’re fat. Good luck.
For me, growing up in this kind of culture fostered a love of cold cuts, most of which are pork, so discovering a food cart like Lardo over on SE Belmont is like getting a visit from the tooth fairy when you’re five, and putting a couple of brand new dollar bills in your pocket for a trip to the toy store. This is a post about mortadella. Let’s get this out of this out of the way: I love this meat so much that I have dreams about paper thin pillow cases made from mortadella. And I just chew my way to sleep and wake up feeling like I spent eight hours in heaven because of it. So what do you think I did when I found out there was a Griddled Mortadella sandwich at Lardo?
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Rating: 6.3/10 (3 votes cast)
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Tags:best food carts se portland·best pork sandwich portland·food cart lunch se portland·italian style sandwich portland food cart·Lardo food cart portland·Lardo PDX·Lardo se portland·rick gencarelli lardo pdx·se belmont food carts pdx
Portland, OR Restaurant Review: Lucky Strike Chinese Restaurant
Part of me feels like Chinese food in general, and Chinese restaurants specifically, have been around in enough communities for enough years, where a “good” Chinese restaurant maybe isn’t so much about authenticity anymore. That’s not to say that authentic Chinese food is bad, or that there is not any kind of specific intersection between “authentic” and “good” Chinese food, in fact, quite to the contrary, I am sure. Let me explain. The culturahttp://www.portland-restaurant-review.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=1497l expression that is Chinese food has been translated to such a degree, that each of us has developed an individual continuum of taste, quality, etc. — and this may or may not have anything to do with whether or not a restaurant is serving food that Chinese people may actually eat. Make sense? That being said, this is a long overdue review of a couple of dishes at Lucky Strike Chinese Restaurant in the Southeast on Hawthorne. And I think I love eating at this place. I do.
When a single dish at a restaurant pops up in your mind, seemingly unprovoked, from time to time, I think that’s a tell-tale sign that you’ve found something of quality. And this has happened to me several times with Lucky Strike. Now I’ve never seen a Chinese person working there, let alone an Asian person, now that I really think about it, which harkens back to my bringing up the “authenticity” question. Is there a group of exquisite Chinese chefs in the kitchen, and they’re just so busy at work that we in the dining room never actually see them? I suppose it’s possible. But my point in this review is that it doesn’t matter. And maybe further, that it shouldn’t matter. The food here is really really good, and I think people should know about it. Especially because it’s a bit deceptive — almost to the point of it being a question of whether or not the restaurant is even at the address where it’s supposed to be. [Read more →]
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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Tags:best chinese food pdx·best chinese food portland·best chinese seafood portland·chinese se portland seafood·chinese takeout se portland·lucky strike chinese pdx·lucky strike chinese restaurant portland·lucky strike restaurant pdx·lucky strike se portland·se portland chinese food·se portland healthy chinese food
For Single Standout Menu Item, we review only one dish, one item or one beverage that we feel deserves its own bit of fanfare. This could be the one dish not to be missed, or the item on which the eatery has built its reputation.
Portland, OR Restaurant Review: Ate-Oh-Ate in Northeast Portland
I’ll spare you the ga-ga talk if you’re a regular reader, and if you’re not and found your way here instead through some kind of search in Google on something like “hawaiian food portland” or more specifically “Ate Oh Ate Hawaiian Portland,” then long story short — as evidenced by my reviews of both Lilikoi Portland and now Namu Killer Korean BBQ — I love shredded, sweet, savory pork and beef dishes that take the best of Hawaiian-style food and twist it into Portland’s unique style and scene.
Well I won’t spare you ALL of the ga-ga talk over the meal I had at Ate-Oh-Ate in what I feel I have to technically call Northeast Portland, even though the restaurant is on E. Burnside, so it’s really on the line between the Southeast and the Northeast. That being said, it’s there for everyone, regardless of your neighborhood. And it should be there for everyone, because these guys are DOING IT. Whoa. I went into the experience after a week of binging on Namu’s Kahlua marinated pork and cabbage, and with one quick look up at the colorful chalkboard menu inside, I almost pulled the trigger on the same exact dish. Then I saw Katsu, and noticed you could get a porkchop version, and I got sentimental and sad and started missing my time in Japan and the culture’s counter-style food, and then I saw Kal-bi. And it kind of just kept going like that until I thought, maybe I’d get the Katsu but maybe I should also ask the owner what they think the best dish on the menu is.
And so I ended up having my mind made up for me, and that decision was to take down the Shoyu Chicken plate lunch with macaroni and cheese. And here’s how that went for me…
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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Tags:ate oh ate on burnside·ate oh ate pdx·best pulled pork portland·hawaiian comfort food portland·hawaiian food portland·Hawaiian pulled pork portland·Hawaiian style kahlua pulled pork·hawaiian style lunches portland·ne portland restaurants
If you’re a fan of great burgers, healthy eating, properly sized portions, excellent service, conceptually-on-point restaurants succeeding and expanding — then you’ll be almost as happy as we were to find out that Dick’s Kitchen is now open in a second location, in Northwest Portland. Finding their second home in a comfortably-sized corner space on NW 21st Avenue at NW Irving, visitors of the first SE Belmont location will be elated to learn that the powers behind Dick’s Kitchen know how to run a restaurant.
