Portland : Pine State Biscuits & Blue Star Donuts & Trucks!

We're in Portland and the biscuits are calling.

Pine State Biscuits.

P.S.B. started off as a vendor at the Portland State University Farmer's Market (PSU, more important initials to remember) and became so popular, they opened up first one, then another brick & mortar. The original has recently closed to make way for the opening of another permanent biscuitery. Fortunately for all of Portland, they still come to the PSU.

And we were there waiting for them (we and a bunch of other blokes). This is the scene minutes (maybe seconds!) after the 8:30am opening...those aren't people loitering, that's the line-up.

Pine State Biscuit at PSU

But it goes fast, my friends. And Pine State doesn't scrimp on menu offerings just because it's a market stall. They have all their best sellers, including the Reggie (fried chicken, bacon & cheese) and the Moneyball (biscuit & gravy & a fried egg). They have a traditional sausage gravy as well as a mushroom gravy on offer. Being a Canuck, this biscuit & gravy thing is new'ish to me - but once you taste a good one (and Pine State fits the bill perfectly) - you begin to understand the love for this legend of a dish.

Portlandia - Toro Bravo....Bravo! Bravo!

We have set off on a road trip.
And we are eating well.

Portland, here we are. We have missed you. Your food trucks. Your donuts. Your fabulous biking culture. But back to the food.

This stop for us in Portland doesn't target the famous food trucks (sometimes one needs to check brick & mortar places off the list as well). Our first meal is dinner and we're lucky enough to be staying within walking distance of Toro Bravo, a Spanish tapas restaurant, brought to us by the same folks who run Tasty & Sons and Tasty & Alder. First night walk by posed a 90min wait for an inside table and a significant amount of 'table-shark' hovering for the 1st-come-1st-served outside stools. We return the next night a few minutes after opening to scoop a lovely spot on the sidewalk (our seating target, inside, already filled minutes after opening with the first diners lining up 40 minutes before opening...!). We kept our whistles wet while perusing the ample menu with a Spanish beer and glass of sangria.

Toro Bravo Crowds

Estrella beer & Sangria on the sidewalk

All items on the menu sounded amazing and made narrowing down from "feeding an army" to "dinner for two" a bit of a challenge. But we persevered and shortlisted the octopus a la plancha, meatballs, toasted almonds, grilled corn and salt cod fritters.

YVR - Kishimoto - lighting my sushi fire!

Another meal in the Big Smoke of Vancouver while visiting/businessing. We had targeted either Mexican or Sushi and my niece was in a sushi mood....so off we went to try Kishimoto.

Tucked among a million other restaurants and stores on Commercial Drive, Kishimoto can easily be found by the line-up out front. We (being newbies) were not versed in the customs, but didn't fare badly (meaning - when you get to the line-up, go write your own name on the list found at the front door; fortunately, we didn't lose our placing by missing this rather important step).

Once seated inside the bustling room we ordered some drinks and a few different items to share together. The menu is large with selections of sashimi, sushi, inventive rolls & box sushi, donburri, tempura and a whole lot more.

We started off our little buffet with a dish of agedashi tofu - piping hot and delicious....and the picture may be missing a piece as we dove in right away....

The first sushi plate to hit our table silenced us with it's sheer presentation. A cucumber roll.  Yes, a simple cucumber roll. Not sure if they fancied the plate up because it was for my niece, but it was stunning (and then closely followed by our platter, with more stunning garnishes).

YVR - Bestie - the wurst doesn't get much better

Road trip! (well, Ferry trip! at least)

We have popped over to Vancouver for some visiting and socializing (which should actually read, targeting restaurants and dragging friends and family to them, but who's splitting hairs?).

First stop is Bestie, a new sausage restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown, that's bringing the taste of Berlin to the west coast of Canada: currywurst, my friends. Currywurst is a Bavarian sausage cooked, sliced into small rounds, set atop fries and covered with a curry-ketchup sauce.

Nestled into a storefront in Chinatown, complete with the existing signage from a few of the previous tenants, is Bestie. Neon sausage outline to beckon you, stylin' oranage seats to get comfy if there's a wait.

Currywurst: it's a big thing in Germany's capital city - they even have a museum dedicated to currywurst....