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)

Portland - Arrival

Last week, my parents and brother finally reached Portland, and it was my job to take them to places to eat. We went from food carts to something more fancy, American to Japanese, and so on. This was our route: Euro Trash in Downtown Portland > Dutch Bros somewhere near Woodburn > and we saved the best for last, Saburo in Southeast Portland.

Chorizo and Chips! This was personally my favorite, but was not as much for the others. This was my second time coming here and on second thought, it was too salty. The dish was thinly-cut potatoes, sausages, and their special sauce. The egg was a buck addition. 7/10

My brother's and dad's favorite coffee, Dutch Bros Coffee. They said, the 'Kicker' was the best and this was it. I'm not a big fan of coffee, but this was still bearable. 5/10

My summer boost! Jamba Juice before sunset was a perfect wrap.

As I said earlier, we saved the best for last. Tourists, Portlanders, sushi lovers, and YOU must try this! My family always  come here whenever they visit Portland because there's nothing like it anywhere else, GIANT SUSHI. Salmon Belly, Unagi, and Seared Salmon 9/10

This is Big O' Roll, one of my favorites! 9/10

More sushi! Don't come here if you don't want to get addicted. Tobikko, more Seared Salmon, and more Salmon Belly. My favorite among all is the Unagi and Salmon belly. It's absolutely on the top of my good-eats list. 9/10

This is Volcano and it was my first try. It looks good and cheesy, but it was not the best thing in the world. It was still edible, but not as good as it looks. It consists of fish, prawn, and I think there was chicken. There were too much combination, that's why I didn't like it. 4/10

If you were going to visit Saburo's, just be prepared for the long wait. Trust me, it was worth the wait!

When it gets really crowded, sometimes they only allow you to order just once which you can't order more during the meal. This place is tiny, but it serves huge sushi. Enjoy!

Euro Trash
10th & SW Washington St
Portland, OR 97205
FOODCART

Dutch Bros Coffee
Locations in different states

Saburo's Sushi
1667 SE Bybee Blvd
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 236-4237

Japanese Food to Portland Food-carts

Last weekend, my friends and I did some food-hopping. First, we tried this Japanese restaurant in Pearl - Portland, Oregon called Masu Sushi. It was a really nice place, perfect for a casual-fine dining. The place looks fine, but since the food is 'snackish' the dress-code is casual. Happy hour available 3-6pm on Monday - Friday, 5-6pm on Saturday - Sunday, and EVERY NIGHT 10pm - close.

St. Helen Volcano. This was the second best dish I tried. The candle-like on the middle is a cucumber that actually was just for decoration. This sushi contains "Whitefish, crab, scallops, shrimp and avocado, baked with volcano cream sauce, eel sauce, and smoked bonito" The top part tastes like mayonaise with a touch of cheese. It was a perfect mix. (8/10)

This is Japanista, "Spicy crab, spicy tuna, and kawaire with seared hamachi, cilantro, and red jalapeno on top served with hana and sweet chili sauce." This to me was the third best because the sauce was amazing. It was like takoyaki sauce and mayonaise. I'm a huge fan of mayo and so anything with mayo tastes good in my mouth. (6/10)

This was the two Sake that my friends tried. Let's start from the right, it's Bunraku Yamahai, "brewed using traditional methods, this sake is smooth, earthy, and slightly dry. You can keep the bottle!" The one on the left is called Hakutsuru Sayuri Nigori, "sweet and creamy revealing light tropical flavors" My friends thought Bunraku was stronger that Hakutsuru. To them, Hakutsuru was too sweet.

Last but not the least, this was my favorite of all. This is called 'Death by Sushi' it consists of "salmon, unagi, crab, avocado, and cream cheese rolled and fried then topped with masago, green onion, fantasy, and eel sauce. It was a perfect combination of cream cheese and crisp. It was a little bit spicy, but the crispiness topped it. (8/10)

After dinner, we decided to head for supper. We went to Hawthorne Foodcarts and that's where you can find my favorite food-cart. I was talking about Potato Champion, they offer fries with different kinds of sauces. AND, they open from 12pm till 3AM.

This is Fries with Satay sauce. For those who don't know what satay sauce is, "peanut sauce, bumbu kacang, or also called sambal kacang is widely used in cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China." 

Pulled-Pork Fries. This is what I think heaven looks like. Fries topped with stew cooked pork shoulder and BBQ sauce over it. Nothing can top these pork fries. I'm not a porky-lover kind of person, but this made me fall in love. There are different sizes of portions: Small (personal), Medium (Sharing 2-4 people), Large (5 or more). This was 9 out of 10!

Masu Sushi
406 SW 13th Ave
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 221- masu (6278)

Potato Champion
1207 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 683-3797

(Photos credit: Ignatius F S)


Twitter: @cathkosasih
Web: www.catherinekosasih.com