Mini-Post - Long time no see! A few new-ish thoughts for 2014 Portland Food

Remember us?

We're still here. More or less. We both have maintained too-busy lives with wives and kids and what-not. We continue to eat a lot; we just haven't sat down to write as much. Sorry.

So what if we hardly write anything anymore? There's still food to eat, and there will still be occasions to write about it.

Here are a few thoughts on a few places.

Where to Get Brunch and/or Portland's Best Fried Chicken: Screen Door. Great Bloody Mary's, most of the time. The chicken is Portland's best, in a family establishment, until someone proves me wrong.

Other quality brunches: Delta Cafe; Tin Shed; Jam; Toast; anything else named after a breakfast item

Where to Get Thai Food: Sweet Basil. Solid menu, seasonal items, plenty of flavor, and take out portions are generous. My biggest knock is that the spice level you choose doesn't necessarily determine what you get.

Other quality Thai: Chai Thai; Pok Pok (though I don't really consider this Thai, you'd stop reading if it didn't get mentioned); Tom Yum

Best Dinner for People Who Like to Drink Beer: Tabor Tavern. Portland has lots of beer, and lots of places to eat food with it. Most of Portland's more major local breweries have a brick-and-mortar restaurant presence, and many of these are quite fine. Tabor Tavern has a number of taps with a number of higher-end micros, and augments that with a very solid menu. Try the fish and chips if you want a tavern food staple with a twist.

Other quality food/beer hybrids: Burnside Brewery is the only one that really merits getting their name on the list. If you're trying to pick between the ubiquitous McMenamins restaurants, go to the Black Rabbit in Troutdale (for a slightly better kitchen and the campus surrounding it) or the Blue Moon because that puts you close to the rest of the action on a weekend or evening.

Best "Chinese" Food: The best Chinese places are a bit non-traditional. In Portland, Lucky Strike gets the nod. Although if you want more typical Chinese-ish cuisine with something special, go to Thien Hong and get the pepper salted squid. In fact, just get 4 orders of that and eat it until your gut bursts.

Other quality Chinese: Wong's King (also good for a dim sum brunch); The Hunan.

By the way, every single place I've listed is one where kids can be, but none of them are kid magnets. So they strike a nice balance.

Send us your food thoughts. We'd love to be relevant again.