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]

road food (oregon coast trip)

My so and I went on a Goonies trip this week. That means driving up and down the Oregon coast, which is fantastic. Since this isn't strictly a Seattle food blog you get to hear about it. The food parts anyway. (If work is really boring today, you can read more about the Goonies parts)

Astoria, OR. Home of tasty mexican

We learned that Astoria sports some incredibly tasty Mexican food at El Ranchero Dos. Of course, it was about 3pm and our first meal of the day. Our judgment may have been... off. I think I would have enjoyed eating a phone book at that point.

Pizza a Feta (Cannon Beach, OR) makes crab pizza

Cannon Beach (home of Haystack Rock, the famous 'Goonies Rock') is an 'upscale resort town', so it's full of over priced surf and turf restaurants. Like Doogers. Which I went to once, and that was enough. Instead Rakka and I wandered around until we found Pizza a Feta. We fell prey to the Coastal Seafood Fever, or CSF, and ordered the crab pizza. Rakka loved it. I thought the crab was good and the pizza was good, but they didn't much meld together. The crust was fantastic.

This is where cheese comes from

Since it was only another 30 miles south (of Cannon Beach) we just had to go to Tillamook, home of Tillamook cheese. They don't have factory tours, they just have a factory with windows. You can walk around the observation deck and watch what goes on. Of course, most of the stuff was closed down for maintenance. They were doing some packing though. I got some video of the magic cheese rotator.



They also have free samples, and a store. At the store you can buy Tillamook cheese at grocery store prices. In other words, no factory special discount.

free samples! the extra sharp cheddar is the best!

Of course, Tillamook also makes ice cream. Since we were on the Goonies tour we got some rocky road.



Oh, and there's a cafe.

the ice cream counter is in the background

I got the grilled cheese. (what else?)

grilled cheese, a pickle and some chips. classic.

Rakka got the 'gobbler', which was a grilled cheese with turkey on. I think she was expecting some fancy stuff like lettuce. It didn't happen. But it was, what, four bucks. Mine was the best grilled cheese I've had in a while. The homestyleness was refreshing after the fancy grilled cheese sammiches that Seattle is famous for.

To sum up, the Oregon coast was not only fun and beautiful, it was tasty too.