summer sandwiches: fish sandwich and a scotch egg at horse brass in portland

 

 

4534 Southeast Belmont Street, Portland, OR

http://www.horsebrass.com/

It didn't even dawn on me until just now that this was the second "Brass" place Els and I went to in Portland.  We dropped into this British-styled pub for a late lunch with our hosts Nic and Andrew on Monday afternoon.  Looking now at their website, it seems like Horse Brass Pub takes their authentic presentation pretty seriously, but frankly I really wouldn't even know the difference between real and fake pubs.  This one certainly seemed pretty legit while we were there, and I was impressed with their (weekly?) rotating beer list.  The food wasn't bad either, although I definitely wasn't as blown away as I was at other Portland locales.  Maybe it's because Horse Brass focuses on authenticity and tradition, and so therefore their sandwiches are MEANT to be kinda plain and unadventurous.  At any rate, I didn't really have any problems with my fish sandwich, but I did try adding every sauce on the table to it in order to wrangle a little extra flavor out of my lunch.  And, I will add, that Horse Brass afforded me an opportunity to finally try a scotch egg, which I'd been wanting to try for years- actually the fact that Horse Brass has scotch eggs is the reason we went in the first place!  It was pretty interesting, but somehow drier and colder than I'd imagined scotch eggs would be.

summer sandwiches: chicken sandwich & pork sliders at XV in portland

 

 

 

XV, 15 Southwest 2nd Avenue, Portland OR

http://www.xvpdx.com/

 

Most of the places I ate while in Portland I picked based on the recommendation of a friend.  One night, however, I decided to not pick a place in advance of going out and to just see where I ended up.  As I mentioned before, all bars in Portland serve food, which RULES.  Well, they are supposed to anyway.  We were hanging out in one of the bars that kinda sorta doesn't really obey that particular law, but the bartender suggested a nearby bar called XV ("fifteen") as a possibility.  According to their website, XV is a Caribbean tapas bar, but I didn't really pick up on either the Caribbean or tapas vibe while I was there.  It was a Sunday night, so it was pretty empty inside the bar, but there was a DJ spinning hip hop hits and the kitchen had put out a tray of strawberries and pineapple with chocolate and caramel dipping sauces in spite of the relative lack of customers in the club.  I got a chicken sandwich (I think the herb-encrusted one on the menu, rather than the jerk chicken) and Rob got pork sliders.  Because this was a place we had just sort of happened upon and I wasn't really in HARD HITTING SANDWICH JOURNALISM mode, I didn't really pay too much attention to the intricate details of either of these.  BUT I will say that they were both really, really good!  The pork sliders had a sweet and smoky flavor that was especially delicious, but the chicken sandwich was tasty too and even the side salads had character.  I was glad that my suspicion that one could just blindly head out on the town and end up with great food was rewarded, and this bolstered my growing belief that Portland is tightly packed with excellent food options.  This might not be one of the more memorable meals I ate during my visit but it was still very good.

pink's

pink's, melrose & la brea, los angeles

1."THE OZZY SPICY DOG - Spicy Polish Dog, nacho cheese, American cheese, grilled onions, guacamole & chopped tomatoes"
2. "PASTRAMI REUBEN DOG - Pastrami, mustard, swiss cheese & sauerkraut" 

I'd heard so much about Pink's famous hot dogs when I was living in LA, I knew I had to eat there before I moved.  But I had also heard it was popular among tourists, and that there was frequently a long line.  So, after putting it off for a long time, I made it a point to at least go ONCE before I moved- that was over a year ago.  I got some nice pics of my dogs, but then during Halloween of last year I lost my bag that had my digital camera in it (still pretty mad about this).  Since I didn't have the photos anymore, I decided to draw the hot dogs I had eaten, along with a little representation of it.  The first one is the Ozzy Dog- I did that Ozzy from memory and I think it turned out to be a pretty good caricature.  The second is the Pastrami Reuben Dog, and yes, I really did hear a dude walking down 16th Street in San Francisco loudly saying this to his friend, in the middle of the day.  Although I ate these over a year ago, I remember liking them both quite a bit.  The Ozzy Dog was bigger- more like a sausage- and the Pastrami Reuben was thinner like a hot dog.  I only ordered two because I knew it was likely to be the last time I'd go to Pink's in a long time.  The Ozzy Dog was crazy and indulgent (guacamole AND nacho cheese AND american cheese!!).  The Pastrami Reuben was indulgent too, but not quite in the overwhelming way that the Ozzy was.  The lines weren't TOO bad, either- I'd say I waited about 15-20 minutes to order.  I'd definitely go back to Pink's for a special treat next time I'm down south.

sunday brunch at the alcove

 

the alcove, hillhurst & franklin, los angeles

Its been a busy few weeks for me!  Signing a new lease, emptying out two apartments and getting a new apartment set up... and then this weekend, spending some time in Los Angeles!  It can really work up a dude's appetite.  I have to admit to you that I was mostly chowing down on tacos while I was in LA, and that my devotion to sandwiches was perhaps temporarily set aside.  What can I say?  Tacos aren't really a thing in SF and I can't pass up an opportunity to eat at my favorite LA taco spots.  I did, however, manage to get this gigantic sandwich on Sunday before we left LA.  This is from The Alcove, a cafe on Hillhurst which is quite near where I used to live.  Despite the proximity to my previous address, I never ate at The Alcove while I lived in LA.  They have a very nice patio dining area, but it always seemed busy, the prices seemed high and frankly the clientele seemed snooty to me.  Having finally eaten here, I can say that my prejudgments were warranted- seating was absurdly crowded, it wasn't a cheap brunch, and most of the patrons seemed hilariously full of themselves.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised by the food itself.  Everything we ordered came in huge quantities, and was chock full of indulgent ingredients.  I had anticipated that the food at The Alcove was targeted at customers for whom healthiness was a priority, so these giant servings of fatty, creamy, buttery and sugary dishes pleasantly defied my expectations.  My meal was one of the daily specials, a breakfast sandwich (the name of which I've forgotten).  It consisted of a massive (ciabatta?) bun, absolutely stuffed with fried eggs, bacon, sauteed frisee, and melted blue cheese.  Although I usually chafe at paying over 10 dollars for a plate of food, I mind less when I receive as excessively rich a dish as this one.  Everything about it was greasy and filling, and I devoured it with relish.  However, I didn't really care for the blue cheese on it- it was simply too strong and sharp, and made what would have otherwise been a very comforting sandwich into one that was instead kind of aggressive.  That's probably my fault though- I didn't really think about the fact that I was ordering a sandwich with blue cheese on it, and the implications of that decision.  Overall, The Alcove proved to be a great place to get a casually extravagant brunch.

rosamunde!

rosamunde, 24th & mission, san francisco

Okay, so I have to admit that I started this entry several months ago and don't really remember all that much about it today.  This one was, I believe, a lamb sausage. I probably didn't need to load this sausage up with so many condiments, but they all sounded so good!  What I DO remember that this tasted great, that I had an excellent beer with it, and that Els and I had a nice night out.  I guess I'll have to go back and get another sausage so refresh my memory....

camping!!

Els and I spent the weekend enjoying the woods and delicious camp-cooking with some good friends.  For dinner on Friday, Els made some crazy-delicious portabello burgers with smoked gouda, grilled green onions and Inglehoffer's stone-ground dijon mustard.  For a meal made on a little two-burner Coleman campstove, this was fine gourmet.  What is it about cooking in the great outdoors that makes food so extra-satisfying?  Is it the smell of the trees, the gentle sound of the river and songbirds?  Is it the primal satisfaction of escaping the soul-crushing, unnatural grind of city life?  Is it because Els used almost an entire stick of butter cooking these?  Truly, a question for the ages.

last chance for mission burger!

mission burger @ duc loi market, 18th & mission, san francisco

Mission Burger is CLOSING!  Saturday, May 29th is your last chance to get in on this greasy, salty, granulated beef heartstopper!!  In fact, they aren't even making fried chicken or vegan burgers anymore, so its just burgers and fries left.  This pains me immensely, because I heard great things about the chicken sandwich and never got one.  But at least I got to eat a burger before they closed!  I suggest that you make your way to Duc Loi post-haste.  Don't forget, they are closed Thursday!  Don't miss out on yr last chance for Mission Burger!

Father's Office.

Father's Office, Culver City, Los Angeles, CA

Hooooly crap! This might be the best burger I've ever had! It really was that good...

Now let me be clear: this isn't a traditional burger. What I consider to be a traditional burger is one with lettuce, tomato, pickles, maybe thousand islands sauce... you know, and all the other usual ingredients. The Office Burger they sell here is more of a gourmet burger. The regular fries are a-ma-zing! And apparently their sweet potato fries are even better...

here are the ingredients for the burger:

The Office Burger (Dry Aged Beef) caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, matag blue cheese and arugula.

The gruyere cheese was perfectly mild and tasty, though i didn't really get too much of a blue cheese flavor. I'm pretty sure it was obscured by the strong flavor of the caramelized onions and deliciously sweet applewood bacon compote. The applewood bacon compote was basically like a BBQ sauce that tasted completely organic and just sweet enough. The arugula was kind of a odd surprise at first, me being used to watery ice-berg lettuce and all, but not in a bad way. It was super fresh just like everything else.

And of course with all burgers (and possibly all sandwiches for that matter) the most important thing was the quality of the meat (for all you meat-eaters out there). This patty was pretty mind-blowingly good. I asked for mine medium rare, and they delivered it just right. Juicy, flavorful, completely fresh and organic without a hint of artificial flavor. Ridiculously good.

and the fries:

Basket of Frites "A La Cart" garlic parsley aioli

Just delicious little thin fries with a hint of garlic and bits of parsley. Very excellent tartar-like dipping sauce as well. Apparently you have to bring your own ketchup if that's what you want on your fries, but I didn't really mind the fact that they don't have it.

Basically, this is just a frickin' awesome burger. The ONLY negative I'd have to give it is the price: 12.50 for the burger and 2.50 for the fries. But to it's credit, there are a ton of places that charge that much and deliver considerably less. I would absolutely say that it's worth it, maybe just not all the time if your as impoverished as I am. But seriously though, this burger is 12 dollars good. It really is.

shana's pulled pork sliders @ the KO

the knockout, mission & valencia, san francisco

The Knockout, at Mission and Valencia in the Outer Mission, used to be my employer and still is one of my favorite bars in the city.  So imagine how dumbstruck I was to learn that, for the last few months, bartender-extraordinaire Shana had been cooking up some slow-roasted pork and serving sliders during her Tuesday happy hour shift?  It was if some cosmic entity had gone through a checklist of things I think are rad and decided to put them all together in one night.  So last week Els and I walked out to the KO, enjoying the newly extended hours of daylight.  We arrived shortly after the bar opened at 6 and sidled up to the bar.  Thin Lizzy on the stereo?  Check.  Metallica: Behind the Music on the TV?  Check.  Delicious pork sliders? Check, check and check.  Shana's got a serve-yourself type situation going on: there's a crockpot full of sweet, soft and savory pork, and a bag of buns.  Each slider will set you back a mere dollar; they go great with a cold beer, or if you have a sweet tooth, one of Shana's sorority-shots.  I ate something like six of these, I think.  Definitely a great way to wind down a warm spring day.  Tonight's Tuesday, so head out and get yrself some!

The Big A at Smart Alec's

Smart Alec's is a burger place on Telegraph in Berkeltown (or Berkeley, for you college kids).  We stopped in on President's Day after going to Urban Ore (that place is nuts!). I got the big A combo and was pretty excited about it.

I wanted to like this burger!  I remembered it being good from when I ate here long ago with fellow breadxbread contributor Jon P.  I also appreciate that the veggie burger is "the big A" while the more common meat fare is relegated to secondary "big B."  Also I like it when places make their own veggie patties (like my last review) rather than serving up lame boca burgers or whatnot.

But sorry, I didn't like it very much.  Their veggie patty tastes a lot like bread.  It's very flat and grainy.  So when you put it between buns, it doesn't taste much like a burger, it tastes like a BREAD SANDWICH.  Instead of breadxbread, breadbreadbread.  Maybe if I loaded it with more ketchup and mustard (and maybe barbecue sauce?  horseradish? chocolate?)  this would have had more flavor.

Their fries were great though.  According to the fascinating paper with which they line their food trays, the fries are baked rather than fried (they should call them bakes) and have 1/1,000,000,000 the fat of regular fast food fries.  But they don't taste bland and dry, they taste greasy and delicious, like fries should.  So either they're lying or they've figured out a magic fry trick.

Their gimmick is that if you bring in a test or paper with an A on it you get free fries with your order.  But scantrons don't count!  Anyone know why?

late night chiliburgers

original tommy's, laurel canyon blvd & burbank blvd, los angeles

Ah, Tommy's chiliburgers and Cactus Cooler, two great tastes that taste great together. After getting home from a party on a Saturday night, what could be better than enjoying some sloppy fast food and a good old VHS tape? Unfortunately, shortly after these photos were taken, the VHS was consumed by the tape player and we never learned if they found Spock or not. Dang.

chili cheeseburger

tommy's original world famous, beverly blvd and rampart blvd, los angeles

When I covered the rivalry between In-N-Out and Fatburger, I ignored another one of Southern California's famous burger joints- Tommy's Original. If you've never been to Tommy's before, the concept is simple- chili on everything. Lots and lots of greasy, greasy chili. There are no beans in the chili either; this is all beef chili we are talking about. And if you want to give your stomach a more severe pounding, peppers are offered on the side. As you can see from the picture above, the last time I went to Tommy's I opted for this route. This was a few months ago- my brother was in town visiting me before he departed for a foreign land, and he wanted to grab some Tommy's before he left. We set out for the Beverly location, which is the original location, and lined up with the lunch crowd to order some grub. Its a very popular spot- I believe that there are two separate kitchens to order from, and the line was fairly long for both (although it moved quickly). Once you've obtained your chili-topped goodness, you have to mosey up to one of the counters lining the sides of the parking lot and eat standing up. Pretty old school! I don't eat Tommy's too often, but when I want some greasy fast food its definitely one of my top choices.

urbun burger: portobello burger

urbun burger, valencia and 17th, san francisco

When I first saw the shiny new "Urbun Burger" sign go up on Valencia, I made a bad joke about it sounding like "the rural juror," and apparently I was not the only person this occurred to. It's an awkward name. Their menu looked pretty good though, especially the build-your-own setup, with lots of different choices (5 meats/meat substitutes, 9 sauces, different toppings). It's definitely not the cheapest burger or sandwich you can buy, but given how shiny and "loft-y" the restaurant looks, and the re-inventing-the-burger-as-gourmet-food sound of the name, $7.75 for a basic burger (including fries) didn't seem so bad.

I got a portobello mushroom patty with grilled onions and barbecue sauce. The portobello was cooked just right, grilled through but not too soft. The barbecue sauce was pretty standard, but that's fine by me - "gourmet" "barbecue sauce" is often neither. The grilled onions were plentiful and delicious. Lettuce, tomato and (fresh) onion come on the side with a pickle spear. The bun was one of the best parts of this burger, huge and soft but not soggy, although my portobello kept trying to slide out of it.

Overall, this was a great portobello burger. Their regular vegetarian burgers are made with orginal gardenburger patties, which are not vegan and are also nowhere near as tasty as wildwood burgers (or a lot of other veggie patties). Also I'm pretty sure their top secret "urbun sauce" is the same sauce that's on big macs. But the food was good. I want to go back and try the sweet potato fries.

pesto turkey burger pt 1

Once again, I decided to try out something new from the grocery store. This time, I bought frozen pesto turkey patties, which I believed to be fully cooked and in the shape of a normal burger. However, when I got home I discovered that that they were uncooked, as well as being rectangle in shape. Because the patties were greenish-grey, it was kind of hard to tell when one was done cooking. But I decided to take a risk and call it done. I threw on some of the sharp provolone I had from before, some tomato and red onion, and put the whole mess on a burger bun. It tasted pretty good, but a lot of the flavors were really sharp and acidic and it gave me a little of a stomach ache. I decided the next patty I cooked would be paired with more mild flavors.

fatburger vs in-n-out, round 2

In-N-Out burger, kettleman city

I have to admit, I wasn't always a fan of In-N-Out. I remember when the first one opened up in my hometown, everyone was so excited. I think I was in middle school at the time, and since I was such a Non-Conformist (you can't tell me what to eat!), I was skeptical. In-N-Out seemed to me to be putting on airs- "look at them, with their fresh ingredients and limited menu! Think they're too good to be fast food, eh?". I was a weird kid. Anyway, my opinion on In-N-Out has mellowed over the years, and now I enjoy eating their burgers from time to time (still don't enjoy eating their fries though- those are terrible). This time JoJoJoJo and I stopped at the In-N-Out off of the 5, at the Kettleman City exit. I got the same thing I always get, which is the double-double animal style. Should I assume everyone knows what that means? Maybe not? If you aren't familiar with the In-N-Out menu, a double double is a double cheeseburger, and animal style means extra grilled onions, extra pickles and extra sauce (I think its thousand island dressing). The result is a greasy, salty, dripping mess that is incredibly tasty. I'm sure its terrible for you but man it is a good burger.

Verdict - coming up next.

intro
part 1 - fatburger
verdict

fatburger vs in-n-out, round 1

fatburger, north vermont & hollywood, los angeles

This was actually my second visit to Fatburger- the first time was when my pal (and potential breadxbread contributor, if he ever responds to the invite) Dan was in town. But that time I got a spicy chicken sandwich (which was great), and this contest is about burgers. Speaking of contests, if you eat a triple "kingburger" (kingburgers = 1/2 lb patties, so a triple king = 1.5 lbs of meat) in one sitting, they'll put your photo on the wall at Fatburger. I am going to do this, as soon as I run a marathon or save someone from drowning or some other accomplishment that would justify eating a triple kingburger. So anyway, this is the first fatburger I'd ever had. I opted to get the regular size burger, with a 1/3 lb patty, and that ended up being plenty of food. I don't think I was able to finish my fries, even. I'd say it was a pretty good burger- I see why this place gets comparisons to In-N-Out. The ingredients all seemed fresh and I didn't have the same sense of having eaten industrial products that I get from going to McDonald's. The burger had both pickles and pickle relish, and being a fan of all things pickled, I appreciated that. By fast food standards, this was a pretty great burger.

tomorrow - In-N-Out!

intro
part 2 - in-n-out
verdict

sandwich over-stimulation pt 2

Veggie chiken patty with potato salad

alexander's brite spot, west sunset & glendale, los angeles

Chicken breast on focaccia


veggie chicken patty with fixins

sandwich over-stimulation pt 1

fromin's deli, wilshire & 19th, santa monica

Open-faced turkey with gravy

the fix burgers, hyperion & tracy, los angeles

Ostrich burger with cheddar

fromin's deli, wilshire & 19th, santa monica

Pastrami on rye

fromin's deli, wilshire & 19th, santa monica

Turkey pastrami on rye

chix patty sandwiches

JoJoJoJo and I had a BBQ a few weeks back, with some non-meat-eating friends. We brought some Morningstar Farms Chix patties, I think just the standard kind, and grilled them. We also had bought a tin of sliced jalapeño peppers for a pizza we were making later, and I tried dicing up some of the peppers and mixing them into a bowl of pickle relish. On the first sandwich, this was not entirely successful. The flavor of the jalapeño didn't really come through, although the sandwich, which was a pretty straightforward composition, was good. The white sauce you can see is ranch dressing, which came in a little 50 cent package. After the first sandwich (and possibly a few beers) I decided to try making a weirder sandwich on the second go-round. This time I added several slices of jalapeños in addition to the mixed relish, a lot of cheese, and a pretty generous helping of ranch. I was pretty happy with it, although my standards may have been chemically lowered at that point, and later on I ended up with some heartburn. That's the price you pay for innovation, I guess!

buffalo burger

the fix burgers, hyperion & tracy, los angeles

This Silverlake-based burger joint never seems very busy whenever I walk past, but I saw that they offer buffalo and ostrich burgers when I peeked at their menu, and decided that was too interesting to pass up. So JoJoJoJo and I swung by for lunch one day, ending up with the whole place to ourselves. When you order a burger, you have the option of picking out one of their tasty-sounding sauces like "peppercorn ranch", "spicy sour cream" or "dijon bistro sauce". I decided on the "picante hot sauce", and jack cheese, since I thought a stronger tasting cheese would prevent me from being able to taste the buffalo meat, which was the whole purpose of the visit (some may think that the "picante hot sauce" would cover the flavor of the meat, and yeah thats true, but also I love hot sauce). JoJoJoJo and I split some tasty garlic fries which were covered in a sort of roasted-minced-garlic spread, and then I dug into this burger. It was good, but I'm not sure my sense of taste is sophisticated enough to be able to distinguish the differences between buffalo and beef. The patty was dense and the meat had a smokey flavor, and the hot sauce was really good. All around it was a good meal, although perhaps my one gripe would be that the prices were high enough that I wouldn't be able to eat here very often.