Breakfast in Bridgetown

Those happy, healthy vegans are expanding their universe. They now have a new location at 1713 NE 15th, as is announced at this terrible web page.

No lunch or brunch now, only dinner. And soft serve. Mmmm, soft serve.

I hadn’t been to Genies in a while, so I had forgotten how good it is — until I went this week and had the tasso benedict with spicy cajun ham. My gosh, that stuff is tasty!

I often get so wrapped up in checking out new places that I take others for granted. That comes with the territory of being the “Breakfast Guy,” and it’s nice to get snapped out of that on occasion, be reminded that sometimes breakfast is just fun and good. And Genies, which always impressed me, also reminded me of that this week.

So go to Genies.

Alright, this might be a stretch, but after writing about 125 of these things, forgive me if I occasionally go out on the edge.

I go the Unitarian church in downtown Portland, and right down the street is the West Cafe. I’ve seen it for years, and the only people I ever knew who ate there were Unitarians. Hard to argue with a place that’s right down the street — then again, if nobody ever tells me, the Breakfast Guy, about a place that serves breakfast, it kind of tells you something, right?

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… can be read right here.

Come on out this Saturday to the big Division-Clinton Street Fair, 10 am to 5 pm. I put all the details, including special guest author information, over at PaulGerald.com.

For future sales events, check out StumptownScribes.com.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this place … which might be because I am lazy and the heat is making me want to go jump in a mountain lake, or it might be because there isn’t much to say.

Meat Cheese Bread (1406 SE Stark) is an efficient, friendly little sandwich place with a small breakfast menu. My friend Beth and I ate there last week, and we both liked it just fine. Among sandwich places, it’s probably middle of the road, maybe better. Among breakfast places, it’s just a sandwich place with some breakfast options. In other words, not much to write home about, but if you’re in a hurry and a breakfast sandwich or burrito will do you, check it out sometime.

I had the Maple, which is slices of bread pudding, shaved fennel, sausage and spicy cheddar. And by bread pudding they basically mean sweet raisin bread. I love me some fennel, so this was a good sandwich to me, with a good mix of sweet and savory and that lovely licorice taste. The cheddar seemed like the wrong cheese for it, but it was fine.

Beth had the breakfast burrito, which seemed quite basic: scrambled egg, hashbrowns, green chile salsa and cheddar. I’ll give them credit for getting the hash browns nice and crunchy, the way I like ‘em. Otherwise, it was kind of a “whatever” dish.

Looking at the rest of their menu, I think the more interesting stuff is offered the rest of the day. And maybe that’s what it’s about at MCB. The folks seem nice, the location is excellent, the food comes out quickly, and they use local ingredients with handmade bread, so they are doing good work, as well.

All in all, a fine place. Just not much of a breakfast place.

I don’t know what to make of this video’s host — I kind of want to punch him, actually — but hurrah for The Brunch Box (SW 5th and Stark – blog — PDXFoodCarts — Facebook) for getting some great exposure over the internet. Check it out.

Somebody finally did it: they combined a donut and a hamburger, and the New York Times reports on the result. Thanks to Food Dude for sending out the link.

Two notable lines here: 1, the writer said ordering this sandwich “may be the most outrageous step away from sanity you’ve taken in a while.” And 2, she nailed The Original, which has the chutzpah to call itself a “dinerante.” I have eaten there and enjoyed it, just haven’t written about it. I couldn’t quite distill what I thought of it, until I read what this NYT writer said: it’s “a super-designy restaurant that wants you to think it’s just a hipster diner.” Exactly! It’s also good, and expensive. And it has a burger on a donut, apparently.

Okay, bear with me on this one.

Whenever somebody builds a new golf course, they first have to clear a huge swath of land. They cut down the trees, level it, then install a completely planned landscape. They build hills and sand traps and lakes, plant trees and shrubs, and of course put in the holes themselves, which are meant to impress and challenge you.

Now think about what a new golf course looks like. It’s a little bland at first, even if you are excited to see it and you look forward to playing a few rounds.

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