Besaws: Est 1903, and here's to a hundred years later...

Besaws was started by George Besaw and Medric Liberty, they dreamed of starting their own beer parlor and gambling hall. Their dream finally came true and Besaws got pretty popular. It was a cafe that became the most popular meeting place in the neighborhood.

They serve 7 days a week, and they are pretty popular for their egg benedicts that they offer on every weekend from 8am to 3pm. They are located in Uptown Portland.

Weekend Specials!

We decided to try Avocado & Bacon from the Weekend Specials

Bacon - Avocado (US$ 13) Bacon, avocado, potato wedges, Hollandaise sauce, and some English muffins. I checked Yelp and there were so many people saying that this is so good. It was a little disappointing because I actually expected something more special. It was definitely good, but it was not something memorable. I loved the potato wedges, but for a Egg Benedict dish, I wish it's a little bigger and more sauce please! It was definitely a little dry, but the potato wedges were great! (3/5)

Chicken Fried Steak (US$ 15) two eggs, scratch biscuits, and roasted potatoes. It was definitely something new. This chicken fried steak dish is actually "ground chicken fried steak". It has such a nice soft texture, with a mix of crunchiness, with an addition of gravy. Yum! I personally liked this dish, simply because it was something new to my tongue. (4/5)

Chicken Fried Steak - you get to choose how you want your eggs cooked. We decided to go with sunnyside up, definitely no regret.

Croque Madame (US$ 12) Buttered Pullman brioche, shaved ham, gruyere cheese sauce, two over-medium eggs, chives, rosemary-garlic potatoes. Yum! It was good but nothing special, I actually liked their specialties courses (that they serve everyday) compared to their weekend specials. I am not a fan of ham, but this was not bad. The egg was delish and I think it actually tastes better compared to the benedicts, probably because I liked over-medium eggs better. (4/5)

We shared these 3 dishes for the 3 of us, it was a little too much, but if you are hungry, you can definitely go for one course each.

Check out their menu here!

Hours:

Dinner: 5 nights a week

Lunch: 7 days a week

Breakfast:  7 days a week until 3pm

Monday: 7am - 3pm

Tuesday - Friday: 7am - 3pm // break // 5pm - 10pm

Saturday: 8am - 3pm // break // 5pm - 10pm

Sunday: 8am - 3pm

Besaw's

2301 NW Savier St.

Portland, OR 97210

(503) 226 - 2619

Potato Head Garage: Steakhouse Led to Disappointment

This is going to be my first post full of rants, complaints, and disappointments. I've always wanted to try Potato Head Garage simply because of the interior, it looks so grand. Pretty gold chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Magnificent furnitures and table settings. A lot of my friends came here and they said it was nice. I guess different people have different preference, I was curious about how the food tastes and it was definitely the worst food experience I've ever had. It was one of those days where all you want is eat decent food, pay for what you deserve, and get the best piece of meat served and sizzled by great chefs. 

"It was the day when all I wanted to do was spend the night with the family, this place totally ruined it."

When we called for reservation, they told us to just come in. Once we arrived at Potato Head Garage, they asked if we have any reservations and of course we said no. It was really heartbreaking, they told us they have seats for us, and yes we explained the whole story about the reservation thing. After 15 minutes or so, we decided to go somewhere else. When we reached the exit, they told us that they'll prepare us a table. Mixed feelings between disappointments and curiosity, we decided to give it a try.

Bread on the House

Green Beans Salad, it was this mix of green beans with garlic and some kind of spinach. (7/10)

Merlot Red Wine

Cute coasters!

Txogitxu Beef Astigarraga, Spain. It was such a regret that I ordered this. It was not tender at all and it was such a waste of money. A 1 kg of meat, it was recommended, but definitely not the best I've ever eaten. Definitely not a recommendation. (2/10)

Txogitxu Beef Astigarraga, Spain. The sauce was bone narrow butter, it was a little bland, but a great mix for those who love butter. It has little bits of, I guess it was the bone narrow. It tastes like little bits of potato.

Wagyu Ragout Papperdelle, this might be the best food I ordered here. It tastes a bit like Bolognaise, but the sauce is thicker. It also has some bits of cheddar. (8/10)

Putanesca Rigatoni, this is a little more tomato-ish. Very similar to Papperdelle, the only difference is this is more red which means the tomato is stronger and there's more sauce on this. For those who don't really like tomatoes, I wouldn't recommend this. (6/10)

More cute coasters!

Sweet Potato Caramel, the sweet potato tastes ordinary. The ice cream was vanilla, it was okay, not my favorite. (4/10)

Overall, I was really disappointed with the whole experience. Bad food, overpriced (obviously), and bad service. The only thing I like about this restaurant is probably the interior, sure it was inviting, but it was so not worth it. I will not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Potato Head Garage
Jalan Jendral Sudirman Kav 52-53
Jakarta Selatan 12190
Jakarta, Indonesia
(021) 57973330
WEB

Bucket List

Inspired by Wanderbites' Wanderlist, I would want to make my own list of places to go & blog.

Jakarta, Indonesia:
1. Tak Kie Kopitiam
2. Potato Head Garage
3. Bakmi Loncat
4. Ragusa
5. Colette & Lola
6. Nasi Goreng Gila
7. Kaihomaru
8. Ayam Suharti
9. Sarang Oci
10. Bubur Sanki
11. Bakmi Kadut
12. Pisa Cafe
13. Altitude Enmaru
14. Altitude Salt Grill
15. Ninotchka
16. Sop Konro Karebosi
17. E&O
18. Gado Gado Taman Sari
19.

Indonesia:
1. Bebek Bengil, Bali
2. Naughty Nuri's, Bali
3. Jimbaran, Bali
4. Batagor Kingsley, Bandung
5. Bumi Aki, Puncak
6. Mirasa, Puncak
7. ?

Portland, Oregon:
1. Pine State Biscuits
2. Nong's Khao Man Gai
3. Yuzu
4. Pok Pok
5. Voodoo Doughnuts
6. Screen Door
7. Ned Ludd
8. Tasty & Sons
9. Salt & Straw Ice Cream
10. Podnah's
11. Biwa
12. Du Kuh Bee
13. Five Guys
14. Papa Haydn
15.

USA:
1. Tapioca Express
2. Facing East, Seattle
3. Piroshky, Seattle
4. Gino's, Chicago
5. Pike Place Chowder, Seattle
6. Sprinkles
7. Paseo
8. ?

Others:

1. Jamie Oliver's, Singapore

2. Ippudo ichi

3. Wild Honey

Comment below for recommendations of places I should go.

Remembered Spring Break: Chicago, Illinois

Eat like a boss, eat like you have no tomorrow

So apparently, I just checked my drafts and looks like I forgot to post my Spring Break holiday blog. And here goes my late post. This was on March, 2013.

This year, the precious one week holiday I decided to book a ticket to Chicago, IL or known as the third most populous city in the US. This city of architecture surprisingly got good foods that worth the wait.

Pre-Thanksgiving

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but my tummy is already in holiday mode. My cousin came for a visit to Portland, Oregon and so I took him to a few popular restaurants here. I yelped, googled, and researched on some popular places for breakfast and dessert. When I typed in 'Breakfast' on Yelp, I was attracted to Tasty n Sons, which was on the top results of my search. I ate here before, I believe it was last year and this time, somehow the food tastes better. It's either I was starving or it was really good.

Tasty n Sons located in North Portland, around 10 minutes from Downtown Portland by car.

We waited for around 15-20 minutes, googled their dishes and finally got our seats. After we ate at Tasty n Sons, we went to a dessert place called Papa Haydn in uptown Portland. In total, we had 6 meals before sundown today, definitely one of the best food culinary experience in Portland!

Tasty n Sons food menu!

Tasty n Sons drinks menu!

 Here's a clear look of the menu from their website.

After several minutes researching on what we think is good on this place, we decided to try 4 different dishes, for two.

We tried the Griddled bacon wrapped date with maple syrup & almond, it was $2 each and one was not enough for me. Yum! I actually thought it would tastes weird, but it surprisingly was delicious. Usually dates have seeds inside the fruit, but here they replaced it with almond. I almost threw them away, then the waitress told me that they're almonds. (9/10)

This is Burmese red pork stew with short grain rice & eggs two ways, it was really good. It was recommended by the waitress. We googled it to see how it looks, then it was so mouthwatering that we decided to order that right away. (9/10)

To me, the over and easy egg was the thing that makes this dish even better. The barbecue sauce was just enough to add flavor to the rice. It was pork, over and easy egg, and rice. I usually don't like pork, but this is one of those 'yummy pork' exceptions. (9/10)

This is how the place looks like. Kitchen near our tables, it was interesting to see them cook. It made me hungry, especially when I saw them preparing the food while I wait for my seat.

Another look of the place. There are shops out from the glass door and a butcher shop called Chop that I found quite interesting. You should check them out while you wait.

This is, Polenta & Sausage Ragu with mozarella & over easy egg. I was quite disappointed of this dish because it looks good when I googled it, but it didn't tastes as good as it looks :( The egg and sausage ragu was alright, but the polenta was a little too much. According to Wikipedia, Polenta is coarsely or finely ground yellow or white maize (cornmeal). (6/10)

When we waited for our meal, the table next to us ordered this and it looks so good! This is Potatoes Bravas with over easy eggs and aioli. It was hard for me to judge this meal. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't bad either. The sauce was something new to me, something like tomato based sauce, but also a little sweet and a teeny bit spicy. I wouldn't count this as my favorite though. (6/10)

We finally finished our meals at Tasty n Sons. I've never been so full for quite some time, but there's always place for desserts, right?

Next stop, Papa Haydn! Located in Uptown Portland, but they also have another branch on Southeast Portland. I personally liked the one in Uptown Portland better because of the location and the atmosphere of the place is very... I want to say 'fine'.

The first sweet treat that we tried was Six Layer Glace. This is an ice cream cake with layers of vanilla, chocolate, banana, and gianduja ice creams with fudge and hazelnut croquant with an addition of a few blueberries. It was not bad because I actually needed something cold, but not just plain ice cream. (8/10)

This is a Chocolate Cube, I personally thought that the display was too pretty that I didn't want to start digging into it. A bittersweet single origin Cordillera Cocuy chocolate shell filled with dark chocolate mousse. Served with vanilla ice cream. I actually liked this better probably because of the dark chocolate mousse that they served inside the cube. It literally was bittersweet. The outer part of the cube was really thick and hard, try knocking on it. (9/10)

DIG IN! :')

The price per person at Tasty n Sons is around $10 to $15. On Willamette Week, they were awarded for "Restaurant of the Year 2010"

The price per person at Papa Haydn is around $8 to $12.

Tasty n Sons
Hub Building
3808 N Williams Ave, Ste C
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 621-1400
YELP

Papa Haydn
701 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 228-7317
YELP

Another Branch:
5829 SE Milwaukie Ave
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 232-9440
YELP

More on 'Chart House'

A couple of months ago, I posted a blogpost about my favorite dessert place, Chart House. I am just going to add a few dishes that I tried last night. It was my first time to try their entree courses and I actually thought the dishes were not too bad.

They offer a set menu (appetizer, entree, and dessert) for $29.99 every Sunday - Thursday.

Appetizer:
Chart House Chopped Salad

OR

Clam Chowder

Main Course:
Short Rib
Fork tender with Cabernet demi glace, served with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes

Macadamia Crusted Shrimp
Topped with mango salsa served with Asian green beans & peanut sauce

Bronzed Tilapia
Pan seared, savory balance of sweet & spicy, shallot butter & crabmeat, served with coconut ginger rice

Dessert:
Chart House Famous Mud Pie

Hot Chocolate Lava Cake, click here for the review (10/10)

Prime Rib 16oz. This was medium-rare, it looks really raw and red. At first it doesn't look that appetizing, but once you've tried it, it was chewy, soft, and doesn't taste raw at all. (8/10)

New York Strip*

Chart House Famous Mud Pie. It was not as good as the lava cake. It was basically ice cream cake with chocolate syrup and cream to me. (6/10)

Clam Chowder (appetizer) Click here for review. The clam chowder from the $29.99 course is slightly smaller.

Filet Mignon*

Calamari*

*I didn't get to try these dishes

The price per person was around $40 per person, gratuity tax not included. I wrote a review on this place a few months ago, click here to read the post.

All pictures by Ignatius F (instagram: predsusanto)

Chart House

5700 SW Terwilliger Blvd
Portland, OR 97239

(503) 246-6963

WEB

Viva Las Vegas!

A few weeks ago, I went to Las Vegas with my family for a few days. It was definitely one fat week. I gained a few pounds after the trip and am trying really hard to lose those now. Day 1 was not as tiring because it was kinda late when I reached there. I wanted to go to Gallagher's Steakhouse in New York New York, but sadly it was closed. Then, I found this 24 hours restaurant called The America which is also in New York New York. Here goes my probably the longest post in this blog:

Huge US map and its resources on the ceiling. PRETTY :')

Oregon <3

Their Caesar Salad was overpriced and too much cheese. I was hoping for something healthy, but they gave me this instead.   It was too cheesy for a salad, but because I love cheese, I loved it.  5/10

This was my personal meal. It was huge for a single portion and it was fresh and good for the price. The crisp was evenly perfect. I would come back for the Fish and Chips. Luckily, it was not fishy at all when I ordered this. The tartar sauce was my favorite. 

This was my mom's turkey burger. I didn't try it though, but she managed to finish the whole thing, so it must be good.

My brother's Macaroni and Cheese. It was cheese with macaroni. The cheese was gooey and so thick that he couldn't finish the whole thing. 7/10

Sirloin Steak. Honestly, this was not the best thing I've ever tasted. It was not tender at all. Definitely not gonna come back for this. 4/10

Honestly, I don't recommend this restaurant for late night supper because it took us almost an hour to get our meals. The service was horrible. The next day finally paid off, my dad finally had his wish came true. He has always wanted to go to Gallagher's Steakhouse in New York New York, but he never had the chance. This place is quite unique because the meats were dried and aged to the bones that's why it was really tender.

Meat display in front of the restaurant.

Filet Mignon, it was the best steak I've ever tasted. The tenderness was beyond perfection. It was totally worth it. 9/10

The Prime Rib was huge! It was more than enough for the 4 of us. It was tender but a bit too salty. The sauce was a perfect combination with the meat. 9/10

Filet Mignon, :') BEST

The Asparagus was great. The sauce tastes like butter and mayonaise, I think it's a mix of those two. 8/10

The next day we ate lunch at a food court in MGM. We had Bonnano's New York Pizzeria for lunch and it was okay. Perfect meal and size for brunch.

My dad's Caesar Salad. Definitely better than America's, no offense. Though the cheese looks more, but it was not as salty. 7/10

This was our pick from the displays. We had to pick any different choices from what they had. We had scrambled egg, bacon, hash brown, and patties. The hash brown was my favorite! 7/10

Spaghetti and Meatballs. This was also good because it was not too tomato-ey and or sour/salty. I wish there were more sauce though because the pasta was a lot. I loved the meatballs, tasted kind of like Ikea's. 8/10

The next day, we had a one night stay at Hard Rock Hotel. My brother, dad, and I decided to go for the happy hour in Pink Taco which is also located in Hard Rock. It was a mexican bar, but their food was not bad. Their happy hour meal started at 3 o'clock till 6, and everything was 5 dollars. Check out their Happy Hour Menu.

Corn chips, complimentary by Pink Taco

3 different sauces for the corn chips. Top left was my favorite, it was some kind of bean with a mix of BBQ.

So this was my favorite, Pink's Chicken Nachos. We ordered 2 portions of this because it was amazing. The level of crisp and saucy was almost equal. I am craving for this all over again right now. 9/10

Flautas. It was something ordinary, but pretty extra for its price. 7/10

Tijuana Steak Tacos. Not the best, but it was still edible. It tasted plain because there were no sauce and too dry. 7/10

Cheese Quesadilla. I thought Quesadilla was something like a lasagna, turns out it's this. I was a bit disappointed because I didn't think it was worth it. It was plain and dry. I was hoping for something meaty and saucy. 7/10

For dinner, we went to Venetian and ate at Noodle Asia. We were so tired and we couldn't say no to a Chinese Restaurant nearby. I wasn't sure whether the food tasted really good or maybe it was because I was too starving.

Fried Rice with Prawn and Vegetables, it was really good! The sauce was creamy and the fried rice was not too seasoned and the rice was soft. Everything was cooked well. 9/10

Wonton with Dumplings, it tasted really good after the soup was poured into it. Before, it was plain and it didn't taste like anything. The soup was warm and tasted even better after a long tiring day. 9/10

Roasted Pork, this is probably heaven for almost everyone, but not me. I am not a fan of porks and so, I can't say that this tasted good. The sauce was thick and not overly poured which is great. The side sauce was actually something new to me. It was a bit spicy but tasted like BBQ. 6/10

It's finally the end of this post. That was a lot of 'food-porn'. Last but not least, here are all the restaurants I mentioned in this post:

The America
New York New York Hotel & Casino
3790 Las Vegas Blvd SLas Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 740-6451

Gallagher's Steakhouse
New York New York Hotel Casino
3790 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109(702) 740-6450

Bonnano's New York Pizzeria
3799 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 597-5007

Pink Taco
Hard Rock Resort & Casino
4455 Paradise Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 693-5525

Noodle Asia
The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 414-1444