rose city
Portland eats, Greek potatoes, and the versatility of chili
Last week, I went on an impromptu road trip with my mom to Portland, a place I used to visit often but haven’t been to since 2019. Foolishly, we assumed we’d be able to survive the 6ish-hour drive on only a bagel breakfast and some car snacks. We exited the freeway near Mount Vernon, following a highway sign for a Subway, ready to eat a sub-par sandwich. The Subway was nowhere to be found, and after driving down the road a little ways we spotted a place called ‘Jerry’s Grocery & Deli’ and decided a bodega sandwich would be just fine. Inside was indeed a convenience store, but it was also an Indian restaurant, which was even better. We ordered a samosa each and took our food to the next rest stop, where it turned out we’d ordered not a plain samosa, but their samosa chaat: a samosa cut open and covered with chickpea curry, cilantro yogurt, and ketchup. It was amazing— perfectly spicy and filling for under $10. I would definitely stop here the next time I’m headed down I-5.
We didn’t have many solid plans for Portland, which meant most of what we did involved food, or killing time until food. (Really, I should have written about this last week, because there’s a lot, but I didn’t have it in me.) The first night, we went to Pink Rabbit where we had excellent cocktails and one amazing dish: the tobiko ahi nachos. The reverse buffalo cauliflower was a cool concept, and the cauliflower was perfectly cooked and breaded, but overall I found the dish too salty. The space was really cool and I would love to go back and try something else off the cocktail menu.
It was still early, so we walked back toward the hotel and popped into Quality Bar for a beer, and had fun picking stuff out of their weird vending machine. The ‘1990s time capsule’ contained, among other things: red sunglasses, a digital pet, a picture of the Spice Girls, and Warheads candy.
The next day we met up with Claire for brunch at the Radio Room, where I was amazed to find that the diner was still in ‘please seat yourself’ mode at 11am— unheard of here. It was busy by the time we left, with a cluster of people waiting outside, but we never felt rushed to leave. They have a vegetarian biscuits and gravy, which my mom ordered and we both liked, and the hash browns were excellent, too. Afterwards, we hit up the sidewalk sale at Parallel Worlds, the sci-fi and fantasy bookstore, and then Claire had to go do some work, so Mom and I hung out in the Alberta district on our own until it was time to meet up again for dinner.
We went to Gabbiano’s, a cute Italian place that Claire would be writing about for an article. It was a warm night, and the table we were at was right next to the open garage door at the front. We ordered too much food, but there was so much that sounded good that it seemed inevitable. All three of the pastas we got— dungeness crab alla vodka, green garlic lumache, and agnolotti carbonara— were delicious.
Right across the road was a cocktail bar, Expatriate, also set to be featured in the article. It’s a cozy and a small list of signature cocktails, but will gladly make something to your taste if you give them an idea of what you like. I just got a negroni because I was too full to make decisions. It was a Sunday so it wasn’t busy, and we therefore didn’t feel guilty about continuing to sit and chat long after we’d paid our tab.
On Monday Mom and I drove out to visit Willakenzie winery. We were stopped for over half an hour for road work on our way there, but that’s life. The tasting and charcuterie lunch we had was really nice, although I definitely feel more at home in a lot of the smaller wineries in BC. It’s going to be a tough few years at home, after back-to-back cold snaps destroyed so much of the Okanagan’s vine growth. Some wineries are replanting entirely, and while VQA requires grapes to be BC-grown, others are considering buying grapes from Oregon and Washington, where climates and varietals are fairly similar. Stone fruits are impacted, too: I’ve been hearing that grocers aren’t expecting to see BC peaches or cherries at all this year. This is the reality of climate change: we can’t bank on what we’re used to being possible forever, available always.
The best dinner we had was that night, sitting at the bar at LeChon. The menu is South American-inspired, and the space is very cool; we were mesmerized by the jellyfish scooting around in the tank behind the bar. The staff recommended 2-3 dishes per person— we got five and still took leftover papaya-mango salad with watermelon radish, and flatbread with chimichurri back to our hotel to eat for breakfast. They have a separate vegetarian menu, and we agreed that the mushroom baocitos were the standout, although the black bean empanadas were also really great. After dinner we went to the Rialto for one more drink, and played two games of pool. It was super chill and not expensive since you pay for the table by the hour rather than by the game, which is how many places tend to do it. A woman complimented my outfit and a man complimented me after he saw me line up and sink a shot perfectly, so it was a great night.
On our last day in town, we had to go to Powell’s, obviously. I treated myself to a couple of used Star Trek novels and a mystery novel that was on sale. Afterwards, since Quality Bar is right there across the street, we sat on their patio to have a beer while I recovered from the overstimulation of the bookstore. The bar is 21+, but is partnered with an all-ages New York-style pizza place next door, and we got a couple of slices for lunch. For dinner, we met up with Claire again at The Taven at Heathman, a hotel restaurant that seemed like a pretty classic chop house on paper, but the dishes we tried— carrot tartare, ocean knish, and endive salad, were unique and lovely. We also met the chef because of Claire’s article, and he was incredibly sweet.
Of course, no road trip to the states is complete without a stop at the Bellingham Trader Joe’s, one of the busiest locations in the country, or so I’m told, because about half of their business is Canadians buying things to take home with them. I’m already worried about my stash of peanut butter pretzels running out.
While I was away, Jeff made a pasta, and he apparently lived on that, the leftover pizza we’d made on Friday, and work food, so when I got back, there wasn’t much in the fridge to cook with. I took a roasted spaghetti squash out of the freezer and made my standby smoky squash vegan mac & cheese with half of it. With the other half, I made a chili using one of my newly replenished stash of Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, adding the squash in at the same time as a big can of diced tomatoes.
I didn’t use a recipe for this, because chili can basically be whatever you want it to be! I went with the usual suspects of onion, garlic, jalapeño, tomato paste, smoked and hot chili powders and lots of cumin, and about three cups of cooked black beans. Usually I fill up the tomato can with water to thin it out, because then I can use the bonus tomato juices that are left in the can. Since the squash also releases some extra water as it cooks down, I didn’t need as much as usual, only about a cup or so. I oversalted a bit, but the juice of half a lime balanced it out nicely, along with some sour cream on top to serve. This was great because chili is always delicious and filling, and it’s another way to eat spaghetti squash that doesn’t try to pretend it’s like noodles, because it isn’t and it never will be.
Also this week, my mom shared in the family group chat a photo of her dinner of grilled halloumi, lemon potatoes, and Greek salad, which made me crave the same. Jeff’s out of lactaid so instead of halloumi I marinated some tempeh and roasted it. Both the lemon potatoes and the salad are easy enough to make without a recipe. Peel and wedge-cut the potatoes and arrange in a roasting pan. Cover with broth, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, oregano, and lots of pepper and salt. I used half a cup of broth and a quarter cup or so each of lemon juice and olive oil for two russet potatoes (if you’re using Yukons or another thin-skinned potato, no need to peel). Roast at 400°F until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the potatoes are tender and lightly browned.
The salad dressing is basically just red wine vinegar and olive oil with oregano, pepper, and salt. My only gripe is that I always tend to forget to shock or salt the red onion before assembling the salad; I find them too intense on their own the first day, and the flavour overpowers the other elements. The second day they were perfect, though, having sat in the dressing overnight.
I also finally fed my sourdough starters again this week, and while they’re not quite active enough to make anything out of (I think I’ll have to feed them again first), I feel a weight has been lifted just knowing I’ve done it. I have yet to make a single loaf of sourdough in this apartment, which seems long overdue, so hopefully I’ll be able to report back on that next week. I’m relying on you all to hold me accountable.
Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so any donations, especially while I’m still looking for work, are greatly appreciated. I’m bogged down with job applications and errands this week so I have nothing to share, but happy summer solstice!