3766 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Date of Visit: November 19, 2009
Price for 2 (with tip): $19
Eating at Tabor Hill Cafe was sort of like eating at your grandmother’s house. Well, if your grandmother was a Chinese man, who cooked very basic American food, and also sold bamboo trinkets. Since it’s one of those places neither I, nor anyone I know would ever think to go to, I didn’t really know what to expect, and I definitely wasn’t let down. Perplexed is more like it.
The menu is full of your basic American fare, but for some reason is exceptionally thick. When I got to page 3 I realized why: there are Chinese-menu style pictures of everything on it. It was so amazing, I actually took a picture:
I will day though, that the pictures influenced my ordering decision. When I saw the monte cristo (bottom row, middle photo) I was like, damn that sounds amazing. (Note: it didn’t look amazing in the photo, as you’d expect.) Jared got a grilled cheese with tomato and we sat back and waited. And waited. The place was empty and super quiet, so I felt bad making jokes about the plethora of things to make jokes about there. Eventually the waiter (who I’m pretty sure was also the chef) came out and asked what kind of bread Jared wanted. After that the food came quickly, and when he set down my gigantic side order of coleslaw (for $1.50 extra it better be giant) he explained he just made it fresh.
Luckily for us, the food was actually really good. Super-basic, home-style stuff that on a gray and rainy Portland day was just what we wanted. The coleslaw was really good, just sweet enough, but not too sweet, crispy and good. My monte cristo was the total heart attack on a plate I was after. And Jared said, “Sometimes a good grilled cheese is just what you want.”
Will we make Tabor Hill a regular lunch stop? Yeah, probably not. But at least I can say I’ve been there and I was upset when I left. More confused than anything else.
Speed: Old person speed
Veggie options: veggie burgers, grilled cheese etc.
Monte Cristo
grilled cheese
Nick’s Famous Coney Island
November 18th, 2009 | American, Hot dogs, Lunch on Hawthorne | 1 Comment »
3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Date of Visit: November 17, 2009
Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25
We’d actually tried Nick’s shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn’t good. I’d gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says “Best Burgers in Town” explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return.
But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick’s Famous Coney Island is one of those staple-type places on Hawthorne, it seemed we’d have to give it another shot. I had a great plan: I was going to get a Coney and Jared could get a veggie burger or something else since his in his first experience the veggie coney was more like a “mushy pile of fake meat” than he wanted. It was brilliant really.
On this visit, the fryer was definitely working, and you could smell it the second you walked in the door. Things were looking better already. But when we looked at the menu, poor Jared realized the veggie coney was actually the only veggie option on the menu, so he was stuck getting it again. We ended up with two coneys (one meaty, one not) and both subbed fries for the extra buck. This time the verdict was better, mostly because of the fries. They were awesome. Crispy and simple, just a light sprinkling of Lawry’s (or something similar.) As for the Coney, mine wasn’t bad, but it was definitely junk food (right down to the slice of American cheese.) The “coney” sauce was a little boring, and I ended up with a ton extra on my plate after I’d eaten away the bun and hot dog. Jared’s review was similar, but he agreed the fries made everything better.
I suppose if you are in the mood for a coney, Nick’s is your place. The NYC/baseball theme is cool if you are into that sort of thing and service and prices are reasonable. Personally, I think I’ll go back to Zach’s Shack next time I want a hot dog for lunch.
Speed: Pretty average
Veggie Options: Officially one choice (two if you count a plain veggie dog)
Veggie Coney
Single Coney
2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Date of Visit: November 16, 2009
Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10
People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that’s the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it’s a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I’d be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only cost $8.50. I am sharing this in the interest of full disclosure (take that FTC!), and so that I can stress this discount in no way is reflected on my review, which just happens to be favorable.
Hot Lips has been a go-to pizza place for us for awhile, mostly because it’s some of the best pizza in Portland. Add in reasonable prices (even without blogger discount) such as a $6.50 slice/salad/drink combo and house-made fruity soda Jared is especially fond of, and Hot Lips wins. One thing about this place is that every day the selections are different and I am definitely fonder of some special slices than others. The “taco-style” one I got once was just plain weird, but Monday’s special: sausage, red onions and greens, was damn good. I went with the salad combo, which includes choice of caeser or green salad. I got the green salad, which is lettuce and various root vegetables and grabbed ranch dressing for the dual purpose of dousing my slice in it.
Jared got two slices, a vegan foccacia and a plain old cheese. He really takes advantage of the sauce and pepper bar, which offers plenty of ways to spice up your slices. (God, I really just typed that.) But it’s just another thing that’s rad about Hot Lips. After trying out a bunch of the pizza places on Hawthorne (Oasis, Vincente’s, Rovente), I must say, Hot Lips would still be a favorite even if we didn’t get that discount.
Speed: Pretty quick, though they do reheat your slices
Veggie options: yep, even some vegan ones.
Vegan foccacia and cheese slice
lunch combo with special slice
1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Date of Visit: November 13, 3009
Price for 2 (with tip) $17
If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it’s Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we’d never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it’s my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we’ve both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that’s as close as possible. Don’t tell Jared about this, since when he drives we usually end up on places past 39th. Anyway, enough of that tangent, back to Thai Spoon.
The lunch menu looked pretty standard: curries, noodle dishes, stir-fried items. The menu specified all items came with a veggie egg roll, and the non-noodle dishes with white rice. Most items were $6.95, with a few costing $7.75. So far, so good. I went with the Pad Kee Mao, a.k.a Drunken Noodles a.k.a. Spicy Noodles. I don’t really understand why this dish has so many names, but I do know it tastes good. Jared got the red curry with tofu.
As we waited for our food to come, I tried to explain to Jared that normal people actually talk at lunch, instead of posting pictures on twitter and then telling the other person to check them out. We were both glued to our phones when a nice surprise showed up: a starter salad. Super basic — just iceberg lettuce, carrots and some crispy wontons with peanut dressing — it almost instantly won me over.
When our entrees came I remained pleased. The egg roll was super skinny and somewhat resembled a cigar, but perfectly crisp and a nice addition to my noodles. Both the curry and the noodles we’re appropriately spicy. I ordered mine mild and it still had a nice, but not overwhelming kick, and Jared, who is tougher than me, asked for more kick and got it, but said it wasn’t inedible at all. All the ingredients were good and in a decent ratio, and I honestly have no complaints about this place. They were even playing cheesy pop music (Ace of Base anyone?!)
Speed: good
Veggie options: standard Thai
house salad
Pad Kee Mao
Red Curry
1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd
http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313
Date of Visit: November 12, 2009
Price for 2 (with tip): $22
The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you’ve been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and as it turns out, Barley Mill is actually very well catered towards the midday meal.
Missing from the menu are the heartier (and more expensive) pasta dishes, as well as pizza. Instead there is a plethora of sandwich, wrap and burger options not found at every other location. So basically, tons of lunch food, not so much for dinner. Another perk of this place, especially over the nearby by Bagdad, is the service. At least on our visits it has always been good. It seems more adequately staffed overall, and we literally had two servers doting on us the whole time, replacing our drinks without having to ask, etc.
I went with the Tequilla lime chicken sandwich, mostly because if you put avocado on a sandwich I am going to order it. I wasn’t disappointed: tender chicken, avocado, lettuce, tomato, tons of melted cheddar cheese and spicy mayo. They did load up the red onions, which I as usual, opted to pick off. It was a bit messy, but overall good, and they were kind enough to provide a sharp knife with all the burgers so you could cut them in half. Another point scored for Barley Mill.
Jared felt bad ordering his usual, a communication breakdown burger, since we already covered that, and went with a standard Beer Garden Burger instead. I just asked for his review, and he said, “It was a good veggie burger, better than just a plain garden burger. And the size was ample.” Profound really.
So there you have it. 20-plus years on the corner of 17th and Hawthorne, The Barley Mill must be doing something right and we were not let down.
Speed: Faster than the Bagdad
Veggie options: Several sandwiches and any burger can be made veggie
Tequilla lime chicken sandwich
Beer garden burger
