Category: food
Posted February 6th, 2007 in food, Milagros News |
As you may gather from our musings and posts, we have been staying close to home these days…we rarely leave the Eastside or Northeast or our neighborhood for that matter. Luckily we have a lot of wonderful diversions near our home and our second home (i.e. the shop).
Speaking of our neighborhood haunts, a favorite of ours since they opened a little over a year ago is Aladdin’s Cafe. It is a little hard to find because they don’t have any prominent signs and it is nestled into the side of a supermarket (Foodvilla on NE 33rd Avenue).
It is worth the effort to check it out. Diyanna and her staff are very welcoming and they feature a vast selection of middle eastern favorites that are very tasty and affordable.
We have settled into a dining routine at Aladdin’s. We get the vegetarian mazza plate as an appetizer to share. This features a selection of tasty compliments for the homemade pita bread that arrives still hot at your table: flavorful hummus, tabouleh salad that is a real gem, falafel – which is a mix of ground chick peas, fava beans, garlic, and spices that are fried in very hot oil to make a tasty treat, baba ghanouj which is a spread made of eggplant, tahini and lemon, and stuffed grape leaves.
We then get chicken shawarma or falafel sandwiches or the delicious lentil soup as an entree. Mila loves the Aladdin style chicken shawarma. Unlike the regular version, Aladdin style sandwiches feature a special house sauce and grilled. If we have any room left after all of this goodness, the fresh made date cookies are a nice treat.
Every time we go, we leave stuffed and with leftovers for lunch the next day. We rarely pay more than $10-12 per person.
Aladdin’s is open Monday – Saturday and is located at 6310 NE 33rd Ave. Bring your appetite!
Posted January 29th, 2007 in food, Milagros News |
Mila’s godparents were in town from Seattle this weekend. As a special dining treat we went to Queen of Sheba for a delicious Ethiopian feast.
For the uninitiated, Ethiopian food is a communal family dining experience. You eat with your hands and all the food is served on a single platter. The platter is covered with a huge round of injeera – a spongy fermented bread traditionally made of the Teff grain – and the entrees are presented on top of the injeera. All you do is tear off a small piece of injeera, scoop up some food in it, and enjoy!
We usually order off of the vegetarian menu at Queen of Sheba but they also have entrees with lamb and chicken. If you don’t know where to start or what to order, don’t be intimidated. Talk with your server about your preference – spicy or not, vegetarian or meat, etc. – and you will no doubt end up with a variety of tasty selections.
Queen of Sheba is very casual and affordable. Kids are definitely welcome there, Mila loves it and what kid doesn’t enjoy eating with his/her hands?
One word of warning, the service at Queen of Sheba is well-intended but also very casual. I don’t recommend going when you are starving and don’t be surprised if you need to make a couple of requests for a drink (speaking of which, give their homemade spicy ginger juice a try!)
If you are in a hurry, we have found that vegetarian meals arrive sooner than omnivore entrees. Since all meals arrive at the same time, ordering ONLY vegetarian meals will speed up the process.
Queen of Sheba is located at 2413 NE MLK Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97208
Posted January 26th, 2007 in food, Milagros News |
What is the Fuentes family secret guilty pleasure? Donuts! Not just any donuts, we dig Tonalli’s Donuts on the corner of NE 28th & Alberta.
This is a family run joint with donuts made fresh daily. They have the right amount of dough and the right amount of love. My special indulgence is the apple fritters ($1.25 each). Jen opts for more classic fare, a glazed donut or twist (65 cents each).
In addition to donuts, they offer cofffee, ice cream, and other sundries but the donuts steal the show. So when your inner Homer Simpson starts bugging you, head out to Tonalli’s. They are open 7 days a week – 7 am – Midnight.
Craving donuts on Mt. Hood? The beer donuts at Mt. Hood Coffee Roasters in Welches are very tasty!
Posted January 25th, 2007 in food, Milagros News |
Last night there was someone knocking at our door. I’m always a little hesitant to answer the door when no one is expected but in answer to my “who is it?” was a small voice, announcing “Tamales for sale!”
A young boy and his mother were going door-to-door offering still hot, delightful tamales with chicken or pork fillings. I can’t resist fresh, homemade tamales – it truly is a weakness – and I immediately purchased a dozen.
I love these masa-filled treats and have enjoyed tamales all over these United States and Mexico. I have had a lot of great tamales, many mediocre, and a couple of clunkers. No matter how tasty, every tamale is judged against the greatest tamales of all time – my grandmother’s tamales. My grandma Connie’s tamales were a key part of my childhood. At gatherings of my extended family they were always anticipated and even expected.
We left California when I was seven and moved to Chapel Hill, NC. These days it seems like every town has at least one passable Mexican restaurant but this wasn’t the case 30 years ago. My mom was bearing the burden of providing us a menu of authentic food.
My mom – although capable – has never enjoyed cooking. So we did attempt to eat at the one Mexican joint in town but after overhearing this exchange by a waitress and a customer…
“What a TAY-co?”
“It’s kind of like a sandwich”
“What’s salsa?”
“It’s kind of like ketchup.”
…we didn’t give it a chance.
How did we make it through? Grandma Connie and FedEx! Every now and then she would bestow upon us a huge box of homemade tamales. Made only a couple of days before, frozen and then placed on an airplane to us.
The tamales would never last long. How could they? They were the ultimate comfort food. Delicious reminders that someone three thousand miles away loved us and kept us in her thoughts even when she was in the kitchen.
So, although I’ll keep looking, I know that I will never find a tamale as good as my grandmother’s but I hope that you do.
Posted January 18th, 2007 in Family Outing, food, Milagros News |
Lately we have been treking to NW Portland for family cafe time at Sip and Kranz but this doesn’t mean that our regular NE Portland hang-out has fallen out of favor.
Urban Grind Eastside is definitely kid-friendly. It boasts good coffee, fair prices, free wifi, an ample TV-FREE play area for the kids, and a comfy atmosphere for the adults. We were there last week and, as always, enjoyed the community-oriented feel of the Grind. Parking is always a little funny in the area but -unlike downtown- it is free.
Urban Grind Eastside is located at 2214 NE Oregon Portland, Oregon 97232
Posted January 2nd, 2007 in Family Outing, food, Milagros News |
For many years I lived in Boston trying to become a rock star or at least make enough off “my art” to enjoy something more substantial than Ramen Noodles. To make ends meet, I had a job delivering art to Manhattan once a week. We would fire up the truck at 4 am deliver to galleries in town, double park a lot, hit a “Ray’s Pizza” for lunch, and make it back around 10 pm for a couple of beers at Foley’s.
The job made for a long day but I enjoyed the opportunity to soak in NYC once a week. The galleries we served and much of the art we delivered were models of modern design. Modernism – its simplification of form- has always captivated me but part of my admiration is no doubt based on my inability to ever be that unadorned in style.
Like it or not, my sense of style bounces between hippie and grunge (thus I always have an excuse to be unkept). I am much too cluttered in thought and deed to ever inhabit any structure found in the pages of dwell (even though I subscribed to the magazine for many years). Regardless I remain captivated by crisp, clean lines, and different shades of the color white. Which explains in part why my new crush in the world of kid-friendly cafes is Sip and Kranz.
What will you find there? Wonderful modern atmosphere, tasty, affordable and simple cafe fare (salads, sandwiches, etc.), good coffee, beer and wine, free wi fi, and a glass-enclosed play area for the kids – so you can watch your kids with the volume off. Other than my desire to tear the BIG SCREEN TV out of play area, my only complaint is that I can’t walk there.
All said, I could easily spend an entire day at Sip and Kranz counting the different shades of white. Hopefully they will never require a dress code.
Sip and Kranz is located at 901 NW 10th Avenue in Portland near Jamison Square.
