Breakfast in Bridgetown

Check out my latest blog entry at LivePDX.com.

… which breakfast restaurant I am describing in these paragraphs from the upcoming book:

Whenever I visit my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, there are certain traditions that must be observed. Along with the heat, the humidity, the sentimental moments and the family-related stress, I regularly stuff myself on barbecued pork.
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I was out of town for Memorial Day Weekend, and I’m headed off again soon, this time for 12 days! So I haven’t been eating much breakfast, much less writing about it.

I did have a fairly typical experience lately: I was driving down to Sellwood, and you know that place that’s like a big candy house on the left? Chances are, you’ve driven past it a million times and never stopped in. Well, this time I gave another look, and by golly, they serve breakfast! It just never stops.

I did a little digging and found out that it’s called Keana’s Kandyland (5314 SE Milwaukie Ave., 230-7976). Anybody ever eaten there? Willamette Week once called it the “Best Sugar Shack” in town.

Otherwise, I can only offer the writings of other local bloggers. VeganFabulous recently visited Bridges Cafe on MLK and the Bijou downtown. Enjoy!

Today I went to Porto Terra downtown. I bet you didn’t know they serve breakfast, right? I didn’t, until recently. I was kind of excited about it; it calls itself Tuscan, and the website looks nice (“Feed your soul with the warmth of Northern Italy.“)

So we go down there, and well, it’s the Hilton Hotel Restaurant. I suppose it has a certain charm about it, if you like eating with tourists and flight attendants, but if the Benedict is $14, or the Frittata $12, you’d expect it to be pretty good, which it really wasn’t. You’d also expect something better than Smucker’s Jam, and you’d expect them to validate parking for the garage, which they don’t. So, um, don’t bother with Porto Terra.

I do have a more positive reaction to a place, however. Last week for my weekly blog at LivePDX.com, I wrote about Mississippi Station. Not the best in town, but worth visiting. And, for what it’s worth, they have my favorite potatoes in town.

It’s a new group, and not much activity so far, but it might be a fun thing eventually. So if you’re on Facebook, look for it under groups in the Portland network.

… something else coming in that space. I spoke to the new owner today, and he and his partner plan to open, yes, The Blue Pig on Memorial Day Weekend. I asked what he would be doing, and he said “Breakfast and lunch, scratch recipes, two or three steps higher” than what was being served at Gramma Lucy’s.

They’ll have a hard time being as entertainig as Gramma Lucy’s was. And since this chapter won’t go into the book, I might as well share it here:

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I’ll be selling signed, updated copies of my two hiking books this Saturday, May 17, at the fabulous Alberta Street Art Hop.

I don’t know exactly where I’ll be located yet, so I guess you’ll just have to come out and look around, while enjoying all the other artists, musicians, street performers, and food vendors. Should be a grand time and great weather!

Some relevant links:

Alberta Art Hop runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s 17 no-traffic blocks filled with 150 artists and vendors, musicians, local choirs, theater performances, and interactive art events.

My books:

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland, 3rd Edition (2007) will be selling for $15
and
Day and Overnight Hikes on the Oregon Pacific Crest Trail (2007) will be selling for $10.

See you out there!

A friend just hit me with what might be an impossible question: She wanted to know if I know of a breakfast place that would be good for a group on a Saturday morning, i.e. no wait, but good and with space for a group to put tables together.

A group breakfast on a Saturday, with no wait? Especially with this nice weekend coming up?

This problem screams out for The Breakfast Guy!

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While apparently the whole city was out working in their gardens this weekend, I was of course eating breakfast and hiking. What else is there to do, really?

Quickly, because I am too swamped, I’ll say these quick things about Broder and Autentica:

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Not the best piece of writing I ever did, but I stretched out my previous take on Bluehour’s Sunday Brunch, and made it my entry for this week at the LivePDX.com blog. Dig it.

Next thoughts coming up: Broder.