5 Spot's Oregon Breakfasts

It's taken a couple of visits, but I've finally sampled all of the Oregon Breakfasts at the 5 Spot. It's hard work, I know, but I do it for science. And I do it for you, dear reader.

Hazelnut Pear French Toast

For simplicities sake, I'm going to assume you know something about chow restaurants and how the 5 Spot in particular has seasonal menu's based on a theme. What you may not know (but you're probably guessing by now. you're smart like that) is that the current theme is Oregon.

Willamette Farms Three Cheese Frittata

We've all done the road trip down the coast right? Stopped off in Tillamook for some cheese? Of course we have. So of course we would expect some cheese on the menu. The menu delivers (but 5 Spot doesn't. I think Seattle has a law against any food other than pizza being delivered. But that's another post).

Tillamook Fields Scramble

I won't bother detailing each dish. It would probably just bore you. Suffice it to say, the food is great, high quality ingredients, yadda yadda yadda. It's all good. The staff is friendly (and cute) and they can keep up with a full restaurant.

Huge, massive pancakes

Not sure when Oregon is over, so get yourself to the top of Queen Anne. If you go in the morning, don't take a lot of friends and you'll get a table faster.

[where: 1502 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

Cooking with Donald

They made a movie about me (in 1941) about my cooking skills.

I was played by donald duck. Pretty impressive, huh?

Roti

I don't know why I'm not at Roti all the time. I went for the first time recently, after a break of a year or two. Trust me, I won't take that long of a break again.

The mint sauce was really spicy

It's strange, there's are a couple really bad reviews on urbanspoon. I'm all like, what!? no you didn't! But a close read reveals those bad reviews to be all about meat dishes. I've never actually had a meat dish at Roti. I was vegetarian when I developed my love of Indian food; by default I skip to the vegetable section and order Aloo Gobhi. So maybe they specialize in the vegetarian.

Or maybe they went through a bad patch during my absence. If so, they read those bad reviews too, and took them to heart. "No garlic flavor on the garlic naan" you say? Well now days there's about 6 cloves per, in big tasty chunks.

sets up some atmosphere

This time, the Matar Paneer was pretty fantastic, with pleasantly toothy goat cheese and scrummy sauce. I even enjoyed the Aloo Saag, which is something I normally don't do. My dining companion, a huge fan of Indian food, rated the meal in her top 3, nation wide.

Channa Kabob (chick pea paties) make for yummy appetizers (2 of 4)

So, a note on the price. Yes, it's a little too pricey for this blog. Again. Sorry, this keeps happening. The prices are only just over the line, and it's really good, so just save up an extra buck fiddy and get on with it.

Aloo Saag and Matar Paneer, so nice

Finally, the place is nice on the inside. Lots of nice details. I even took a picture of the ceiling (though I didn't come out). The serving bowls are fancy metal things. I really love the heavy steel water glasses; they make water fun!

[where: 530 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109]

my new favorite thing [annie's shitake & sesame vinaigrette]

It's got everything I love: mushrooms and vinegar. What more could you want? Sesame oil? Sure throw that in too. It's kind of japanesey, but it's a great dipping sauce for crusty bread. Better that way than on a salad, actually. It's Annie's Shitake & Sesame Vinaigrette.

How did we ever live with out it? (oh, crap, I can buy it by the case; time to clear out the pantry.)

Juicy Sandwiches and Surly Waitresses at Grand Central

Look, I know it says 12oz on the menu. You know what a tall is. There's no reason to get snippy. It's not like the coffee is something to write home about anyway (unless you enjoy talking about bland coffee. Which apparently I do).

the chicken salad was juicy

But enough complaining. Now to the good at Grand Central Bakery. The sandwiches. They were good (see, I told we'd be getting to the good stuff soon). One of our party got the soup, just as an excuse to get a whole baguette to go with it. The bread, you see, is also very good. It's their specialty; they're a bakery.

turkey curry, turkey, and chicken salad (clockwise from top left)

Ok, so bread: good. sandwiches: good. coffee: bland. waitstaff: surly. What else? pickles? Ok, they were very crisp. We all agreed that you can't get pickles this crisp in the supermarket, but maybe you could at a farmers market. Exciting, isn't it?

interior

And that about sums it up. It also closes out the 1 day Portland trip. Back to Seattle next time. Next up: Grand Central Bakery (not really, but apparently I went all the way to Portland to try a place that is also two blocks from my office. hooray me).

[where: 2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, 97214]

Saint Cupcake

I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so sweets have to be especially good to really get me excited. I'm excited about Saint Cupcake.

Mmm. Dots.

It's because the cake is so moist and delicious. A lot of people focus way too much on the icing. Bah! I say. Without a good foundation a cupcake is nothing. Icing shots be damned!

Outside

The icing is good too. It's only as sweet as it needs to be, is the thing. I like an icing that doesn't hurt my teeth.

Inside

I don't know why cupcake places are always pink and frilly. Are they not manly? Is that it? Are us hairy chested macho men going to have to take cupcakes back from the ladies? I hereby proclaim the start of the start of the mancake revolution.

I'm kidding. mancake? That's gross.

A whole box of them!

Ok. Enough distractions! The important thing here is cupcakes. And they are good. Saint Cupcake is my new favorite cupcake place. I wish it wasn't two and a half hours away.

[where: 407 NW 17th Ave, Portland, OR, 97209]

mangosteen pit

mangosteen pit
Originally uploaded by leff

I know I've been bad, and I haven't blogged much this week. It's been busy. But today we found Mangosteens. Rakka's been looking for them for about a month, then there they were at metropolitan market.

They're really tasty, but I really don't know how people open them up so cleanly. (the picture on wikipedia is beautiful). I think they must use saws or something. I had to hack away at this one with a knife.