Breakfast in Bridgetown

We all know about the yummy desserts at Pix, but did you know they do a Sunday brunch?

Check it out.

I can’t say I’m shocked by this news. It’s sad, because the people were nice and the concept wonderful. But most people (including me) didn’t seem to think the food was great, and judging from their announcement, the owner was getting pretty burned out:

. . . here I was a woman and a mother leading businesses that promote health, nurturance and balance while myself living a life that was deeply off balance. I kept thinking that was OK as long as it was short term. But as “short term” grew into years, I knew I had to find an end. It had to be some day, so that end is today.

She goes on to say that “you can still find our PB & Ellie’s Healthier Choice Kids’ Menu at Mark Lindsays’ Rock & Roll Café on NE Sandy.”

One of my favorite, funky little breakfast places, Wild Abandon (2411 SE Belmont St., 503-232-4458), has expanded their breakfast service to seven days a week. As they said in the announcement:

On April 21, to mark the momentous occasion of 13 years Wild Abandon officially opened for Weekday Breakfast and Lunch. We’re getting up early, we open at 7AM! Yes, with the popularity of our weekend breakfast the time had come.

Our amazing breakfast chef, James Thompson, formerly of Mothers Bistro is ready and willing to cook you up some of the best breakfast you’ve ever had. Benedicts with creamy hollandaise, fat and fluffy omelets, a whole section devoted to vegan fare, and some excellent lunch options from salads to sandwiches to pasta.

So come on in and see us. Don’t wait until the weekend. We’re here waiting for you. The food is great and the service is quick.

You can check out their menus here. Just remember, they are “oddly closed Tuesdays.”

They also sent out a coupon (2-for-1 breakfast entrees on weekdays), and if you email me or post a comment I’ll share it with you. First five folks get one.

One of the other (very few) breakfast-focused blogs in town did paid a visit to the J&M Cafe (537 SE Ash) this week.

CoffeeGirl’s take was like mine: it’s casual but nice, tasty, and not too expensive. She also recommended their counter for solo dining.

My take on the J&M (read it at Willamette Week) is that it’s nice enough that my parents would eat there, but cheap enough I could treat them.

Last week at Trebol, the owner/chef told me the place was named for a tree in Mexico which, he said, is “a sustainable tree.” I was so flabbergasted by that, I couldn’t even form a response.

So today I read, on an Oregonian blog, that a place called HUB is “Portland’s bikiest, most sustainable brewpub.” What the hell does that even mean?

There is no doubt: “Sustainable” is the new “organic,” which was the new “green.” All of these words are imperative for a place to call itself, and none of them has any meaning at all — or at least no singular meaning that we all agree on.

An abbreviated Crew went to BlueHour this Sunday for their brunch, and here’s what I think, based on one visit.

Continue Reading »

A reduced version of my take on Trebol is now online at the LivePDX.com restaurant blog. And if you want the long version, well, just hang on for a few months and buy the book!

So I was poking around on the blogs, and thought I’d share what I found.

For one thing, Travis over at Portland Food and Ink has the same opinion of Milo’s City Cafe that I do: it rocks. The opposite is true, according to both yours truly and VeganFabulous, regarding Hawthorne Cafe. We both want it to be good, and we both think it isn’t.

I don’t have the same take on Blossoming Lotus as the writer and readers at AltPortland. Or maybe I just caught them on better days. I think the Lotus is pretty good, but I also haven’t been there in a while. Maybe it’s gone south since.

And finally, a blog called Macerating Shallots gives us, this day, our daily group hug for Pine State Biscuits.

I got word today from Mark over at Culinate.com that the Cameo Cafe West, the one on NW Westover, has gone out of business. He was told they lost their lease and had 15 days to get out. I just called over there (at 11:30 on Tuesday) and got a message that “memory is full,” so it seems official.

Can’t say I am shocked by this, but it is the end of a long tradition over there. Prices had gone way up, quality wasn’t good, and even the waitress admitted a month ago that business was way down.

Just this morning I was writing up my chapter on the Cameo East, which is going strong, as is their location in Vancouver. So you can still get “acres of pancakes” in town, and it’s cheaper at the east location, anyway.

It’s always an honor to appear on Portland’s finest food blog, and as of today I am there again.

My review of Detour Cafe has appeared at PortlandFoodandDrink.com, and I thank the Food Dude for letting me be a part of what he’s doing.