Typhoon!

So yesterday was like the perfect storm for free food. Our regional manager was in town, two people from our office are moving on to new jobs (including GastroBoy) which meant a goodbye lunch, and someone reminded me that Typhoon! had a downtown location. As the office social chair, I set lunch up.

Typhoon! is a Portland-based regional Thai food chain. The locations used to each have special menus, which appears to no longer be the case. The set-up in all of them is up-scale, with elegant interior decoration that is generally minimalist in order to allow the food to be the spotlight. Presentation is important here, but not as important as taste.

Typhoon! is well-known for the tea selection. The menu is vast in that regard, and I usually find it intimidating. Since yesterday was warm, I opted for Pellegrino.

Our group of nine people split a couple of "Nibble Platters" for appetizers. Given the number of people sharing, I fought my natural urge to grab one-of-each from them and instead limited myself to a chicken skewer, a half a spring roll, and a small nibble that I simply can't describe. I was later given a shrimp wonton that otherwise would've gone to waste. All were very, very good.

For lunch I ordered the General's Noodles. I usually opt for Pad Thai, but decided to branch out into something new. The General's Noodles are a thinner rice noodle (similar to angel hair pasta) served with shrimp and chicken, topped with a combination of crushed red pepper, crushed peanuts, lime, and garlic (along with some spices I couldn't pinpoint) and a wonton on the side. I think I would've been happier with the Pad Thai, but with the crushed peanuts, my lunch was close enough in spirit to be satisfying. It wasn't particularly filling, though.



Everyone at the table was very happy with their selections, and they covered a wide range of the menu, so from that I'd say this is a safe place to take anyone with the assurance that they'll enjoy the food. I never saw the bill, but I'd imagine from the menu that the nine of us cost about $150. Not horrible, given the nibble platters.

Typhoon! is excellent, though I prefer Sweet Basil when it comes to Thai, and there are other places I've yet to try. The food is not disappointing, there are several locations (including downtown, NW Portland, Gresham, and Beaverton) and the prices are quite reasonable given the quality of the cuisine.

The Dublin Pub

A bunch of the fellows headed to the Dublin Pub last night for a little bachelor party. And like a good pub, the Dublin Pub had a fairly large menu of items to choose from. Rusty and I chose to share the Nachos, which were priced at $11.00. We opted to to have ground beef added for an extra $1.50.

I admit, in the back of my mind, I was thinking I was about to get ripped off. $12.50 for ground beef nachos? The only reason I agreed to do it was because Rusty and I were splitting the cost.

Before I get to the nachos, let me tell you that right off the bat I was a bit upset with the Dublin Pub. There was a $5.00 cover charge for some band that was playing. I REALLY didn't want to pay the cover, given that I could HEAR the band in the background. It was horrid...some folk singers butchering songs from the '70s. But, peer pressure as it is, I went in (it helped that Rusty covered the cover for me).

So, back to the nachos. About 15 minutes after ordering it, the massive plate of food arrived, piled high with all sorts of goodies; ground beef, cheese, sour cream, olives, guacamole, jalapenos... It was worth every penny we paid, including the cover. Was it the best nachos that I have ever had? I don't know...but it has spark a quest that Rusty and I shall be partaking throughout the summer. We shall be hunting for the best nachos in Portland.

Stanford's

I've been eating at Stanford's forever. Once upon a time, my sister worked at Stanford's. Today, I am headed to Florida with my wife, child and mother-in-law. We are currently at the airport and we just finished dinner at Stanford's. Yes, there is a Stanford''s here at the airport. And the best thing is that Stanford's at the airport is the very same price as anywhere else, a refreshing change from the usual airport restaurant.

I cannot say that any of the food at Stanford's is remarkably unique. But, I have found that it is always tasty. Meals are a couple of dollars more a plate then I would like, but clearly that has not been a hindrance to my returning time and time again.

It's been a long time since I ate at Stanford's on a Wednesday. Do you know how I know? Each day there is a different soup. And Wednesday is cheese soup day. I love a good cheese soup. And the cheese soup at Stanford's is really good. I think it is better then the cheese soup at Henry's. Which I now, all of a sudden, find to be odd...I just realized that Henry's and Stanford's are both owned by Pacific Coast Restaurants. Anyway, neither cheese soup is quite as good as the cheese soup at the Widmer Gasthaus. (you would think they were paying me...but I assure you, they are not).

But here is what really made me happy tonight at Stanford's. My wife and my mother-in-law decided to split a salad (I do love the salads at Stanford's). Both got a piece of cheese bread. The server brought the salad split into two bowls...and when we got the bill, there wasn't that annoying little split fee that many restaurants charge. And, we were all full and happy for $26.00 (+ tip, which I will not disclose). Stanford's has been my fall-back restaurant for a long time, and it shall remain so.

Burgerville

I feel a bit bad writing this post. Really, JLowe is the resident Burgerville expert. And he has a regular Wednesday night date with Burgerville, whereas I simply manipulated my wife into letting me take us there as we were running late for a meeting last night.

So, JLowe, whereever you may be, please feel free to chime in on Burgerville in a separate post. In fact, here's a new rule: all three of us reserve the right to write our own posts on the same restaurants the others have already discussed. And we reserve the right to write new posts on places we've already written old posts on. However, if more than one of us goes someplace at the same time, only one of us will write up that particular visit.

Anyway, all that said, I went to Burgerville last night. Burgerville is, in my estimation, the best local burger franchise in Oregon, and one of the better burger franchises I've been to nationally, period. And apparently I'm not alone, as the Food Network recently awarded Burgerville with it's "Better Burger" award, whatever that means.

Burgerville offers much more than burgers, though. They have fish and chips (usually a little too greasy for my liking), a wide array of milkshakes (including seasonal ones based on current fresh fruits -- right now, it's strawberry), and exceptionally good fries. And, throughout the year, other things hop on and off of their menu (sweet potato fries, Walla Walla onion rings, the recent Yukon Gold criss-cut fries) as ideas and food staples become fresh and available.

Now, when I was more corpulent, my usual BV run consisted of either two cheeseburgers with extra onion and extra pickle, or one so-altered cheeseburger and the spicy black bean garden burger. And, sometimes, fries, although I've been pretty good about not ordering those for a few years now, since it's essentially a stick of oiled-up calories. I've decided I'm too old to be such a pig, so now I limit myself to one thing. And, generally, that means the spicy black bean garden burger.

The SBBGB has been on the menu at BV now for about 4 years. The inspiration is entirely unclear to me, except perhaps that Gardenburger is a local company and, generally, BV sticks with vendors from the Pacific NW. Though the genesis of the idea isn't apparent, the goodness of it is. The burger is spicy throughout, with the patty offering a hint of spiciness which is complemented and accentuated and amplified by a delicious chipolte-mayo spread and pepper jack cheese. Mmmm!

Last night's was spicier than most. And a little spread-ier than most (they always give extra spread if asked, but I never do, so when the extra shows up, it's a nice surprise). It was, without a doubt, the best one I've ever had.

My wife ordered the fries, so I had a few of hers (she only likes the stiff and crispy ones, while I'm far less picky). The oil was clean, the fries were salted just-enough, and they were fresh and hot.

The other major plus, for me, is free refills. I didn't get them last night, because we were driving through, but BV offers free refills inside, so if you can, stay there for a bit and order a small soda to take advantage of their generosity. They are also one of the few places that consistently offers caffeine-free Diet Coke (if that matters to you) and iced tea that's actually been brewed.

JLowe informed me that he'd had a milkshake. That's his own story to tell -- since we went to different locations last night, that's allowed. The punchline is that the shake that he drank, all for himself, was the one he'd bought for his wife. Priceless.

Burgerville. It's where you go when you know.

PF Chang's

So, yesterday was Administrative Assistant's Day or something like that. We overlords at the office failed to plan for it, and so at the last minute El Jefe put out an e-mail saying that we'd be celebrating today (in lieu of bringing in kids for that special day), provided that we could all agree on a place to eat.

Normally, I love these announcements. I used to work in the public sector, so "free food" meant cookies and bad coffee at a public meeting. I moved to my new employer last fall, and since have had some very nice lunches. And when it's time to have another, I usually jump to the challenge of organizing it, because then I can usually weasle us into someplace new that I'd like to eat for free.

But, in recognition of the fact that the day is for support staff and not the supported, I put out an e-mail asking for suggestions. The first one was Sungari, which we haven't gone to yet, so I was secretly pleased at the initial wave of favorable replies. Then someone threw out PF Chang's. Been there, done that, and not impressed. Someone else threw out Henry's, another place we've been to, and then, somehow, the next 30 minutes turned into an e-mail taunting session aimed at hurting Gastro Boy's feelings (because he works with me) and putting down the PF Chang's contingent (largely, I must confess, out of my chagrin towards Vancouverites, as one had hopped squarely onto the Chang's Bus). I also tried to steer people toward The Hunan, which is one of my top two or three destination Asian joints, but I'd burned my capital in my bid to put down the PF Chang's offensive.

Eventually I created a voting system wherein staff members' votes would count double those of we, the oppressive overlords, and demanded that people weigh in. Pleasantly, Sungari won, with PF Chang's a close second and Henry's a distant third. Hunan wasn't even on the list. Gastro Boy made sure to note along the way that "PF Chang's is Asian like The Olive Garden is Italian," which qualified as the best one-liner I heard yesterday. Either that's saying alot for him, or it's a sad testament to my life.

I attempted the Sungari reservation, only to find out that they couldn't accomodate a group of our size on such short notice. So I grudgingly called PFC, and then loathingly accepted their cheerful and unflinching invitation to seat our full group at our desired time. Curses.

And so, today, we went to PF Chang's. PF Chang's, for those who haven't been there, is an upscale pseudo-Chinese-food franchise which is pretty big among the hipster set. As Gastro Boy was mumbling this morning, as we discussed our lunch sentiments, the young, rich and attractive that make places like these successful don't necessarily realize the difference between good and bad food. Or, more succinctly put (in what I suspect will be the best one liner I hear today), "places like that are good for only one thing: having a couple of cocktails and a Poo Poo Platter before you go a-whoring around downtown."

The restaurant is clean, dimly lit, roomy, and almost sterile in the sense that it lacks any real character whatsoever.



The food is generally solidly okay, never really impressive, and the portions never seem to align with the prices.

All that said, I really enjoyed it today.

We started out with some appetizers for our group: Crab Won-Tons, Salt-and-Pepper Calamari, and Spring Rolls. These were all non-spectacular. We followed up with soup, Won-Ton (which wasn't good at all) and Hot-and-Sour (which was overly thick, seemed fake, and asn't all that impressive in either hotness or sourness).

For lunch, I diverged from the normal Kung Pao tendency I tend to display and instead had "Tam's Noodles with Savory Beef and Shrimp." It's described on the menu thusly: "A unique gnocchi-like noodle stir-fried with sliced beef, shrimp and chili peppers in a subtle abalone sauce."

It looked like this:



(Well, there are a couple of Kung Pao Shrimp there that I stole from a co-worker).

The round, flat bits are the noodles. Altogether, it was very tasty. Spicy throughout, with nicely-cooked beef that was soft-but-not-limp and shrimp that were just plain yummy. And it was surprisingly filling; half of it made it back to the office for lunch tomorrow.

I sampled a couple of other people's dishes, and they were average-to-above-average. Better than some "authentic" Chinese places in town, but not as good as you can get at a non-franchised actual local Chinese joint.

The service was very good today. Normally it's adequate, but I was pretty happy with our waiter today.

For 11 people, with included gratuity, the meal came out to about $215. Not bad, but not terrific.

So, I expected to go to PF Chang's and be underwhelmed. I walked out with a full stomach born of good food. The company may have been a part of it (I have to say that sort of thing, I suppose), but the food absolutely did not disappoint.

Monteaux's Public House

OK, this place isn't in Portland. It's in Beaverton. But, when you visit friends in Beaverton, you've got to eat in Beaverton. Monteaux's Public House isn't a bad choice. I liked it. It's not a chain and if you have kids you won't feel out of place.

I had Dad's Meatloaf. Quite savory. The vegetables were steamed, but still crunchy. Plenty of mashed potatoes. It was a very good, hearty meal. But, it wasn't so much that I felt like rolling over and going to sleep. One of our friends had the the Creole Chicken Fettuccini. Just spicy enough (I got a taste of it).

The waitstaff is pleasant and very patient. All in all, if you find yourself in Beaverton, in need of a good meal, try this place.