No Dishes to Wash

I’m so horrible!!  I went to Bijou, Cafe like a MONTH ago and just now am getting around to posting.  Can you stand it?  It’s not like I have better things to do with my life……  Bijou, Cafe is known for it’s french omelets.  What is a french omelet, you say??  Well, it’s just like a regular omelet. Except the inside is still fluffy and soft.  Basically, you may think it’s undercooked, but they assure you, it is fully cooked.  You get this effect by stirring the top layer of the omelet while the bottom is forming a skin.  If you love runny eggs, you will love this omelet.  If you prefer your eggs like me, hard, ask for the omelet “dry” and they will cook it even more thoroughly.  Bijou, Cafe is definitely hip and chic.  In a big farmhouse homey kind of way.  They use Nustevia instead of fake sugar (bonus points for them in natural food heaven) and mostly organic food.  ( I actually think they use all organic, but forgot to check, so can’t actually say for sure.)  I love the fresh cream on the table, in a little jug…. makes me feel like a tea party.  Did your mom ever let you use milk in your tea set for your tea parties?  My mom never did….  I had the Farmer’s omelet, and, while I can eat the omelet French style, I think next time I will definitely ask for “dry”.  I just can’t get over the undercooked egg feeling.  It had bacon, goat cheese, green onions… pretty good, but again, these chic places (read=Cadillac Cafe)  are all into the smaller size omelets.  I suppose it’s a “correct serving” size omelet.  But they just look puny sometimes.  Caleb had the Cypress omelet, which had potatoes in it, so his was a little bigger, it’s the one in the picture.  (Imagine mine smaller than that.)  Suprisingly, neither of us ate the potatoes, so can’t comment there… they offer toast or fresh made blueberry muffin, too.  The orange juice is just pure heaven, fresh squeezed, the kind when you were a kid you would put your fork through it to collect the pulp.  ( I suppose that if you were to do that as an adult, you would probably get funny looks.  Go ahead and try it though.)  Cool waiter, he was perfectly efficient, although there was a strange girl who’s only job as far as I could tell was filling water… in about a 7 min period, she filled my water 4 times.  I guess I drink a lot of water.  Ok, so I was purposely drinking a lot of water to see how many times she would come.  During weekday mornings, you see this place filled with suit-n-ties doing “power breakfasts.”  Bijou, Cafe is located at 132 SW Third Ave, open M-F 7am-2pm, Sa-Su 8am-2pm.  PS, another funny picture was taken at Bijou, Cafe.  I call this “Abusive wife or waxing gone wrong?”

So for a long time Cadillac Cafe has been a favorite.  I mean, who doesn’t love the place, especially since they remodeled?  But we hadn’t been there in while, and today I was really bummed about my breakfast!  I remember days when your plate was heaped with a huge omelet, and those crispy Cadillac potatoes?  Mmm-mmm-good.  Back then it was, anyway.  I noticed when we went this morning that there was no line.  NO LINE on a Saturday morning.  I though, well, it is only 9:30.  But still, you used to have to camp out to get a table Sat and Sun mornings. Or order to go.  So we waltzed right in, sat down, and ordered.  Everything came super fast, we had mimosas (funny, I told our waiter Justin that I was fine with water, but I got a mimosa anyway, I just figured what the heck, that’s what brunch is for, right?) Caleb ordered the special, which was french toast with pomegranate molasses syrup, but when he got it, there was hardly any syrup on it, Justin said the kitchen was “going light” because it was running out.  So he also brought regular syrup, which was nice, but wouldn’t you think that the kitchen would keep giving normal portions until they ran out, not half portions because they didn’t want to say “We’re out”?  The french toast was wonderful though, dipped in custard, the syrup really tangy.  I had the special omelet, which came with potatoes and breakfast bread.  I subbed the potatoes out for fruit (which cost $2, ridiculous) and all I got was a small slice of pineapple and a small piece of watermelon.  For an extra $2.  You goddabekiddinme.  The omelet was about the size of a Reser’s burrito, and the onions were still raw inside.  It had (some) chorizo sausage, cilantro, tomatoes and sour cream.  For $9, you can get much better omelets elsewhere.  (Like even Elmer’s for heavens sake!)  The breakfast bread was still super yummy though.  And two mimosa’s later, I was not caring as much.  Caleb tried the pear mimosa, really good stuff, and only $4.50.  I think I’m going to be headed for fuller plates next time I want brunch though.  Justin, our server, was attentive and great.  Although I would have appreciated being told my fruit was going to cost me so much, especially after giving up the potatoes. Which brings me to  a funny, at first I just asked Caleb if he wanted my potatoes (he loves hash browns and stuff) and he looks around furtively, and says “Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t really like the Cadillac potatoes.”  But I think he is in the minority, most people love them.  Located at 1801 NE Broadway, open 6am-2:30pm M-F, 7am-3pm Sa-Su.

So I’m really sad when I think a place has so much potential, and just isn’t living up to it.  Take Cooper’s Coffee for instance.  Let me recount the things that have happened to me there….. 

1. The first time I was there, they were a little busy, like 2 people ahead of me in line.  It was about 11:30 in the morning.  Both people in front of me had ordered sandwiches, and all I had was a coffee.  Instead of making the coffee first (which would have been the quickest, also since I was headed back out the door, and the people with sandwiches were eating in) they made the sandwiches first.  Which is fine, the sandwich people came first.  But they made the sandwiches separately.  Not together.  Doubling the time it took.  Ouch.  It was a FULL 15 minutes before I got my coffee to go.
2. The next time, my husband ordered a bagel sandwich, and I had a pastry.  Caleb’s sandwich had a orange juice lid in it.  THE WHOLE LID!  And they didn’t even apologize.
3. Then there were a few ok times, where the coffee was nothing to write home about, but they didn’t screw anything up either.
4. But, yesterday when I went with some friends, 2 out of 3 coffees were made wrong and had to be re-made, and none of the coffees were mixed the second time around, so all the syrup and espresso was at the bottom, with the milk on top.  At first I just thought my coffee was gross, and then when I got to the bottom realized what had happened.
5. And today, when giving them their last chance (obviously I am a big believer in many chances) they fed me the most disgusting mushroom gouda quiche I’ve ever tasted.  And this is just a matter of taste, some people may think it’s wonderful.  But it’s full of nutmeg and cloves - NOT a combination that goes well with gouda and mushrooms.  Who the heck is thinking these things up?  

So, obviously some of these things are matters of personal taste, and some are just plain laziness.  But overall, just not happy with Cooper’s Coffee.  And so sad about it, too, because I think it’s a neat little place with cute artwork every month and nice to sit at with your laptop, but unless they get their act together, they are not going to have a lasting clientele.  (Unless there is a big population out there that like nutmeg clove mushroom gouda quiche!)  I haven’t come across the employees being overly friendly, but not really rude either.  Just sort of blah.  So if you have a good experience, let me know, because for some strange reason I really WANT to like this place!  Located at 6049 SE Stark, on Mt. Tabor.  Open daily 6am to 9ish pm.

Buen Provecho is Spanish for Enjoy Your Meal.  And I love the atmosphere at Pambiche.  Every time I go, I just love listening to the Cuban music and enjoy the outdoor seating.  Today I had Lengua en Salsa, which was not as good as other dishes that I’ve had there.  It’s slow braised pork in a tomato sauce with almonds and yellow bell peppers.  I think their oxtail is some of the best stuff around.  And Caleb never swerves from their Vaca Frita, or “fried cow” which is crispy fried shredded beef with onions and garlic, and they serve it with a garlic yucca sauce that is great.  All the entrees come with beans or rice and beans and fried plantains, which are the french fry of Cuban.  Caleb describes their sugar cane lemonade as “sangria without the wine.”  I had a cortadito, which is Cuban espresso with a float of milk, and it was horribly bitter.  They get a special just-for-them roast from Stumptown, but I have to say, espresso making is an art, not just anyone can do it!  The service was SUPER fast tonight, but we also ate early, at 5 pm… we had our appetizer by 5:09, and our food at 5:17, WOW!  

The appetizer was the best part for me, they have these croquetas with different stuff in them, and we tried the jamón, which was a pork paste inside.  It was great, with or without the spicy salsa or banana ketchup.  Since it’s the only Cuban restaurant I know of, we’ll be headed back when Caleb needs a Vaca Frita fix, or me and my oxtail.  Located at 2811 NE Glisan open Su-Th till 10 F-Sa till midnight.  Also serves breakfast Sa-Su 7am-2pm and have a happy hour!  Take out is available. And don’t forget to enjoy the desserts! Buen Provecho!

So I’m all excited to start on my blogging adventure…. and my husband is too sick to go out to dinner.  Since I’m a blogger, you already know I have no friends to go with.   Since I’m so eager to give you SOMETHING, here’s a breakfast to write home about.  Pine State Biscuits.  Known around our house as Pine Street Biscuits, (probably a kickback to the Pine Street Theater).  This place is known for it’s biscuits (boy like that wasn’t obvious.)  It’s a small place, 2 tables for 2 and one table for 4.  There is a bar along one side that seats about 5.  They have a few breakfast sandwiches, some biscuits and sausage gravy, but the one that dominates all (and that I had) is the Reggie Deluxe.  At $9, it’s pretty pricey, but this is no McDonald’s sandwich we’re talking about.  First, you can’t pick it up, you must fork and knife it.  It’s fried chicken, sausage gravy, bacon, cheddar cheese, and egg, on a big biscuit.  I also had a side of grits, which were really good. Very buttery flavored.  My husband, Caleb, had the biscuits and sausage gravy.  His words: “Too fancy.”  I think he was referring to the rosemary in the gravy…. I really need to train him about cuisine.  Overall, I was totally happy with this place, even though it is crowded beyond belief on Saturday and Sunday.  The girl behind the counter was pleasant, the coffee self-serve, and the tables were clean.  I’ll be headed back.  Oh yeah, the hashbrowns are cooked in butter, not oil…. yum! Located at 3640 SE Belmont, open Tues-Sun 7 am to 2 pm, and at the Portland Farmer’s Market. Get it to go if it is busy.  Read more about them in the Portland Monthly Magazine, they were featured in the June 2008 issue as one of the 25 best places to eat for under $25. .