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.

Kenny & Zuke's: Pastrami Heaven

Last year, I used to come here to eat the Pastrami Burger, almost every Thursday for a few months. Not so much anymore, but it is definitely still my favorite place to eat. After months of not eating here, their meals tastes better and I got the chance to try different dishes. The first time I came here, I never heard such thing as "PASTRAMI", probably because I grew up in Asia.

Kenny and Zuke's is a Delicatessen owned by Nick Zukin and Ken Gordon. They felt that there were not that much Jewish food and more particularly Pastrami in Portland, OR. They started their business at a little farmer's market in Hillsdale, then got popular and was expanded to a standing room for brunch only at Ken's old restaurant, Ken's Place. And finally, not long after that, they finally decided to open a proper Delicatessen that bears the name Kenny and Zuke's.

Salt and Straw: Savory Sweet Ice Creams

Would you like to try a savory yummy dessert? We got one here in Portland, it's called Salt and Straw! This ice cream place offers weird kinds of flavors. Ever tried a SEA SALT with Caramel Ribbon flavor? or Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked PEPPER? Think of some weird flavors you would want to try, they might have it here. Seasonally, they change their specials menu and so you can come back every season to try their new unique flavors. They started out their business as a food cart. As they got very popular, they finally opened an actually shop, and now they have 2 shops. Their food cart is located in SE Division (closed for winter) and the other 2 shops are in NE Alberta and NW 23rd (Uptown Portland)

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

Boke Bowl: BEST FRIED CHICKEN BUNS!

I just got home from one fine dinner and a well spent Friday. My friend recommended this Japanese fusion restaurant that she tried. She said that the Ramen was not that special, but the steamed buns were YUM! and I agreed.

Boke Bowl is located on Southeast Portland, around 5 minutes from Downtown Portland by car. These are the things that they offered:

It was packed when we came and there was a short queue before we could order. We had to order and pay before we could find our seats, that's just how they roll.

The cashier right near the entrance. PAY BEFORE YOU EAT!

KITCHEN

KITCHEN

KITCHEN

PACKED! :( lucky there was an empty table just enough for us.

Finally got our table and this is how crowded it was.

Pork Ramen. I honestly thought it tasted a bit weird. There's something about the noodle that I don't really like. It wasn't as soft as usual and the soup tasted kind of sweet which is weird to me. They gave such generous pork meat though. (7/10)

Probably the best Fried Chicken Bun I've ever tasted. I will definitely come back for this. It was really crispy and seasoned well. The bun was soft just like Chinese buns, YUM! It was really delicious, one bun was just not enough for me. (10/10) 

Seafood Miso. This was my friend's, he said it wasn't that good.

Seafood Miso close up

Pork Belly bun, my friends said it was not that good compared to the fried chicken. I didn't try it because I don't like pork :|

YUM! Table full of food is always the best.

I will definitely come back for you!

The price per person was around $15-20, I feel that the Ramen was not that worth it. I LIKED THE BUNS A LOT THOUGH! :) They open at 10:30am to 3pm on Monday to Wednesday on Thursday to Saturday, they open at 10:30am to 9:30pm.

Boke Bowl
1028 SE Water Ave
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 719-5698
WEB