No Dishes to Wash

Ya Hala’s has been around for a while, and it is always busy at dinnertime on weekends. They are going to be expanding as well, doubling their seating area. Anyone who is a fan of homous (hummus), or pita, or baba ganouj, will love this place. Try their veggie mezza… they will serve it family style if more than one person gets it, and the portions are plenty. Hummus (which is garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini and olive oil blended together), baba ganouj (which is roasted eggplant, garlic, tahini and olive oil), aranabeet (one of my favorites, cauliflower deep fried in olive oil), falafel (don’t ask, I don’t like it so I try to stay away from it), stuffed grape leaves (rice inside), tabouli (a parsley salad with wheat germ, tomato, onions and olive oil, all minced up), and pita bread. (more…)

You know, I should really make a rule that I can’t complain about a restaurant until I’ve eaten there twice. But that would mean that I only got to half as many restaurants…. and that would be sad. My husband and I hit Romo’s again tonight, because we had a lovely $10 off coupon. Actually, what really happened is that I was going to make ribollita, an Italian vegetable soup, and it didn’t sound good to Caleb. Note: when you want to go out to dinner, tell your husband you are making something totally unappetizing to him. (more…)

So my sister and I are RIDICULOUSLY early for a movie at the Academy, (hats off to Kit for telling us the wrong time) and we decided to stop in and have some chips and salsa at Romo’s.  It’s been open since January 2008 (although I thought it was still in it’s remodeling stages then, but hey, you have to believe the owner) but due to poor marketing (insert, no marketing at all) nobody’s heard of it. (more…)

I thought this had some good information… The Reggie Deluxe would certainly be listed here. I was amazed at how many calories were in a low-fat muffin!  And the Onion Blossom… whew!

Welcome to my brand new blog, No Dishes To Wash.  How nice it is to go out to eat!!  But don’t you hate it when you go somewhere, drop $50 (which was really more than you wanted to spend for a weeknight dinner) and it was horrible?  You didn’t have your water refilled the whole time, your food was too salty, or cold, your waitress was rude…… and you just can’t get all your money back, even though you wish you hadn’t spent it there!  I’m endeavoring to make that a smidgen better for you, by telling you my experiences of local PDX restaurants.  Feel free to suggest restaurants that you would like to know more about, or leave a comment about your favorite place or favorite waitstaff.  And most of all, ENJOY your hard earned money being spent!